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If you had this tank? Its a 55 gallon that will be housing 2 BN plecos, kuhli loaches, harlies, and a couple mollies. I would prefer to be low light and no CO2. So what would you do with this setup?
What would you do..
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Sorry about the reflection of my closet doors..
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I can see anubias on the wood. I think that would be good. Are valls the grassy type plants? There is a reddish low light plant that I have seen before but I cant remember the name. Its a stem plant.
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Your first design challenge will be to bury the thick end of that wood. You have to hide that saw mark. You could have it sticking out of an embankment of substrate held up buy rocks. I always like tanks that work with elevation. Plant some large rooted plants in that higher plateau, then plant the lower flats with grassy foreground plants.
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I didnt think about the saw mark. My plan is to have a dim light shining through the hole in the back through colored tissue. The floating plants will help with the moonlight affect from the top. Im going to work on hiding the saw mark tonight.
Rock and sand/gravel should hide the sawed base of that wood.
I'd definitely agree with anubias on the wood, as well as maybe some java fern.
Swordplant planted in the rock/substrate mix that hides the wood base, vals in a clump on the other side, clump of crypts on the open area at the left.
I'd definitely agree with anubias on the wood, as well as maybe some java fern.
Swordplant planted in the rock/substrate mix that hides the wood base, vals in a clump on the other side, clump of crypts on the open area at the left.
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An update
I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules by posting on an almost 1 year old thread. I figured since it was mine that it would be the same as starting a new thread with the same topic.
But anyway, here's an update. So the tank I started last year was just filled with water in December. I have added some Harlies and they are doing good. I had some "do the do" yesterday. It was interesting to watch. I know for the ease of things I probably should have planted before I filled the tank and added fish but my driftwood stayed afloat for almost a month and I was still unsure about what plants I wanted.
I still am going to keep it low light/ low tech. Right now I have a shop light with two, 48", 32 watt, 6500k bulbs in it about 3 inches from the surface. (Didn't measure the distance from the substrate.) I'm considering swapping one bulb for a 10,000k for viewing purposes. Maybe somebody can weigh in on that.
My thoughts on the plants; Skip Java ferns because I really don't want to remove the driftwood in order to tie the plants to it. The crossbar at the top makes it a real pain. I'm thinking Jungle Vals in the left and right rear corners then some ludwigia in there and some crypts in the foreground. I really don't want more than 4 types of plants ad I don't want it to get too crowded looking. Some tanks look really good like that but because my background is so detailed, I don't want to cover it up too much.
If anybody has any suggestions, ideas, dos or don't see please feel free to chime in. My goal is to be planted by this time next week. Not sure where to order from either. I checked some listings on Aquabid but their "packages" come with 10 different types of plants. That may be realistic in comparison to nature but I want to keep it a bit simple.
Ok enough for one post I guess. Below are a few pics.
Thanks for the help!
I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules by posting on an almost 1 year old thread. I figured since it was mine that it would be the same as starting a new thread with the same topic.
But anyway, here's an update. So the tank I started last year was just filled with water in December. I have added some Harlies and they are doing good. I had some "do the do" yesterday. It was interesting to watch. I know for the ease of things I probably should have planted before I filled the tank and added fish but my driftwood stayed afloat for almost a month and I was still unsure about what plants I wanted.
I still am going to keep it low light/ low tech. Right now I have a shop light with two, 48", 32 watt, 6500k bulbs in it about 3 inches from the surface. (Didn't measure the distance from the substrate.) I'm considering swapping one bulb for a 10,000k for viewing purposes. Maybe somebody can weigh in on that.
My thoughts on the plants; Skip Java ferns because I really don't want to remove the driftwood in order to tie the plants to it. The crossbar at the top makes it a real pain. I'm thinking Jungle Vals in the left and right rear corners then some ludwigia in there and some crypts in the foreground. I really don't want more than 4 types of plants ad I don't want it to get too crowded looking. Some tanks look really good like that but because my background is so detailed, I don't want to cover it up too much.
If anybody has any suggestions, ideas, dos or don't see please feel free to chime in. My goal is to be planted by this time next week. Not sure where to order from either. I checked some listings on Aquabid but their "packages" come with 10 different types of plants. That may be realistic in comparison to nature but I want to keep it a bit simple.
Ok enough for one post I guess. Below are a few pics.
Thanks for the help!
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The pics
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I'd be planting the backdrop and the wood with Anubias 'Petit', thread leaf java fern and moss, maybe Bolbitis as well aka this wonderful tank and this incredible tank.
You don't have to tie fern, moss and Anubias on although moss would look better treated that way. Gel super glue works on wood underwater. You can also tie plants to small rocks or glue substrate to the bottom to weigh them down if there is a pretty good spot that will hold the plant until it grabs the wood. Mr. Amano also uses wire to tie plants to rocks, no reason you couldn't just use something like that.
Plan where you want the dark plants to grow to accent your powerful hardscape, don't do patches or plant every single line between 'rocks'.
You don't have to tie fern, moss and Anubias on although moss would look better treated that way. Gel super glue works on wood underwater. You can also tie plants to small rocks or glue substrate to the bottom to weigh them down if there is a pretty good spot that will hold the plant until it grabs the wood. Mr. Amano also uses wire to tie plants to rocks, no reason you couldn't just use something like that.
Plan where you want the dark plants to grow to accent your powerful hardscape, don't do patches or plant every single line between 'rocks'.
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This underwater lost civilization theme is nice! I never even considered planting the background too. Thanks for the tip!
"That may be realistic in comparison to nature but I want to keep it a bit simple."
Nature actually likes to keep it fairly simple as well. The Dutch are the ones that decided to plant tanks like gardens with dozens of different species growing together. As I was saying in the MS forum I collect plants, in nature at most you MAY find five-six different species together in a given "moment".
Nature actually likes to keep it fairly simple as well. The Dutch are the ones that decided to plant tanks like gardens with dozens of different species growing together. As I was saying in the MS forum I collect plants, in nature at most you MAY find five-six different species together in a given "moment".
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The 5th China Aquascape Contest(CAC2015)
CAC is China’s top aquascaping contest, annually gathering lots of aquascaping industry practitioners and enthusiasts both from China (including HK, Taiwan and Macao) and other countries, like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, etc.
The 5th China Aquascape Contest(CAC2015), will be held at the same time and same place with Guangzhou (China) International Aquarium Show(GIAS2015) on May 9-11, 2015 at China Import & Export Fair Pazhou Complex.
This is an challenging and interesting game with huge bonus for the top players. If you are aquarium aquascaping masters or lovers, don’t miss the chance to demonstrate your skills and great potential.
Now all people can apply to the organizing committee for participation. If you want to become one of the players, pls contact Caroline([email protected]) for the needy details.
Ms. Caroline Zhang
GIAS2015 & CAC2015 Organizing Committee
Tel: +86 20 2918 8160/+86 15871350609[censored] [censored]
Fax: +86 20 8257 9220 [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored]
E-mail:[censored][email protected]
Web:[censored]www.fishgz.com/index.php?lang=en/
CAC is China’s top aquascaping contest, annually gathering lots of aquascaping industry practitioners and enthusiasts both from China (including HK, Taiwan and Macao) and other countries, like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, etc.
The 5th China Aquascape Contest(CAC2015), will be held at the same time and same place with Guangzhou (China) International Aquarium Show(GIAS2015) on May 9-11, 2015 at China Import & Export Fair Pazhou Complex.
This is an challenging and interesting game with huge bonus for the top players. If you are aquarium aquascaping masters or lovers, don’t miss the chance to demonstrate your skills and great potential.
Now all people can apply to the organizing committee for participation. If you want to become one of the players, pls contact Caroline([email protected]) for the needy details.
Ms. Caroline Zhang
GIAS2015 & CAC2015 Organizing Committee
Tel: +86 20 2918 8160/+86 15871350609[censored] [censored]
Fax: +86 20 8257 9220 [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored]
E-mail:[censored][email protected]
Web:[censored]www.fishgz.com/index.php?lang=en/
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Here's an update: I've added Java moss, a Java fern, bacopa, Stauro Repens, crypts green and red, and a sword. There is also another plant I got but can't remem the name of it. It's all growing nicely with only root tabs and flourish. I am currently fighting green spot algae though. Thanks for stopping by!
Oh I added some Anubias nana petites too.
Oh I added some Anubias nana petites too.
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