myrxseven

Hello all, I am very new to the planted aquarium thing. But have been an aquarsit for close to ten years. So I wanted to share with you all what I have.

Lighting-150w Sunpod Metal halides
Filtering-Fluval 205 Canister (no carbon) suggestions?
Attached to filter I have a Fluval Surface Skimmer
Co2-Nutrafin Canister
Substrate-4inches of Planting substrate with Clay on top

Plants-Scarlet temple
Water Wisteria
Green and White Acorus
Moneywort
Red Ludwigia
Green Mondo Grass
Frill
Java Fern

Inhabitants-Flying Fox

I think thats about everything, I hope you all like. Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time, and talk to you all soon!





Most recent right before water change and cleaning.

JBarlak

why so much wattage?

trenac

Welcome to APC!... The mondo grass & Acorus is not a true aquatic plants. They will soon die if not removed from your tank. The tank itself looks good. You may want to rearrange the wood & rock so they are not laying flat down.

myrxseven

Thank you very much trenac, I have removed the mondo grass and the acorus. I also moved the wood and rock a litle bit.

Here are some updated pictures after a cleaning and water change.







Let me know what you all think! Also if any of you have any ideas for more plants!

cs_gardener

I rather liked the arrangement of wood and stones before, it was a sort of happy jumble. The current layout is very symmetrical and rather stark. The flat stones are also covering up a lot of potential planting area (an utter horror to someone like me with severe collectoritis - must use every available millimeter to get more plants in tank! ).

I can't tell if the rhizome for the java fern is above the gravel or not. If it's below the gravel it will rot, so pull it up so just the roots are covered or tie it to some driftwood or a rock. While it will take a while, java ferns can get very large (leaves over a foot long and 1.5" wide) so it helps to be able to move it easily by attaching it to a small piece of wood or rock.

You've got some great background plants with a nice mix of color and texture but you could use some fore and mid ground plants like smaller crypts, Anubias nana 'petite', and maybe a ground cover like Marsilea minuta.

BruceWatts

The shale like rocks look totally out of place to me and the wood is too dead center. I would redo the middle and foreground as the back ground plants look very good so far.

Bruce

cassiusclay

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH where did you find a 15 tall ive been looking for one to use as a nano reef in. BTW you may want to cut the lights down to PC's. or a 70 watt HQI bulb 150 is enough for a much larger tank. algae will follow soon if you dont just a thought.great job for a 1st timer though i wish my 1st tank looked so clean and to the point good job!!!!!!
EDIT:the stem plants will do much better if you un-bunch them and plant them individually with a tweezers its a pain but they will do MUCH better!!!

aquaphish

Since you have the flat rocks, and if you want to use them take a hammer to them and break them up into smaller chunks. Once this is done then stack them up like a wall. If you can do say one corner of the tank, about 1/3, with an elevated area using the rocks as a wall this will give you a better look if you want to use the rocks. You will now have an elevated like plateau that you can add plants.

myrxseven

Will the stem plants still do fine in bunches. Or do you recommend planting individually. I have about 125 stems total.

cs_gardener

The stems will do better planted individually. When they're in bunches light can't reach the bottom of the plants so lower leaves tend to die off and sometimes the stem itself will disintegrate. Try to plant each stem far enough apart so that the ends of the leaves just touch the neighbor -> Hygrophila difformis should be planted further apart than Bacopas. This will also give you the ability to trim the tops off and leave the bottoms when the stems are tall enough in order to encourage the plants to branch and grow into a denser clump.