e.lark

58g Oceanic
175w 5500k MH pendant
dual Fluval 304
Co2 through diy reactor
inline hydor heater
Flourite/Eco complete substrate
Gregg watson dry fert and trace

Plants:
Glossostigma elatinoides, Elocharis acicularis, Eusteralis stellata, Didiplis diandra, Rotala Indica, Limnophila Indica, Rotala vietnam, Cryptocoryne balansae, Hemathius micranthemoides

Fish:
Otocinclus, Corydora panda, Albino Aeneus, Julii, Metae

Shrimp:
Neocaridina denticulata sinensis cherry, Caridina japonica Amano, Caridina gracilirostris

Thanks for looking, comments and advice appreciated.

BigFoot

Very NICE !!!!!!!!!!!!

richy

It's a little too "green" for my tastes. I like splashes of color here and there every once in awhile. Also, the right side of the tank is too bare. Seems empty, lacking... It looks better than my tank though!

e.lark

Thanks for the comments. I'm looking for some plants with a bit more color, any suggestions? I thought about trying wallichii instead of the vietnam, I just don't know all my plants yet so I'm hesitant to place an order.

On the right, It didn't alway look bare until the Didiplis d. filled in and made it off balance. Everything was anchored to the left and triangled down with the driftwood angling back up. I'm now thinking it wouldn't look so bad continuing planting all across. I was thinking of maybe making some mounds of Riccia there. Any suggestions?

dennis

Not a bad looking tank Ernest. It is hard to see in the photo what is happening in the back left corner. I get the feeling the photo does not do it justice.

The foreground and center mound looks nice, the two work well together. The glosso has a strange line near the front glass that is distracting and I don't know where it comes from. Knowing glosso though, I am sure it will grow out in about 3 days I like what is happening in the center with the Pogostemon stellata and the stand of Rotala indica to its right. The R indica (or is that didiplis?) on the left either needs to go or fill in more. I find the limnophila to distracting in its present location, Possible it would look best moved to the back left corner, allow the H. micranthemoides to grow in some more and trim it so it tapers back from very low in the front to about 1/3 the height of the tank, where it meets the limnophila. Or, for the left side, try keeping the H micranthemoides low as a mid ground plant would work nice with a slightly taller stand of D diandra behind that and then the Limnophila in the back corner

Try to propagate your C balansae more so you have a little bigger stand right behind the thicker wood branch. What is the low rosette plant in the center of the tank? The leaves are a little wide for this layout, IMO but would look ok if pushed back a little farther so they are less prominent. Also, you should add 1-2 more these plants at the base of the mound just to the right of the ones already there. Adding 3 of these plants, or a denser stand of hairgrass right where the back glass meets the right side of your mound should add nice transition to the open are from the mound without making it look to filled in. Right now you have great depth due to the openness of the right corner and I would not add any plants other than what I already mentioned. If you do add something, I would recommend you use a very shallow stand of grassy plants like Vals, C. retrospiralis or Cypress. I would not add anything with leaves wider than 1/2" but personally I would not add anything. I might consider replacing the rosette plants you have with Bylxa japonica, which will stay a good height and have fuller but more delicate appearance.

Very nice tank. Keep up the good work and please continue to update this post with photos

e.lark

Thanks Dennis for the detailed reply. You are right that the photo does not do some portions of the tank much justice but I'm first to admit there are a number of problem areas. I think there is some confusion in the pic to the plant order so here is a pic labeling the plants. The small plant in the front unlisted is a dwarf Sag. I agree Bylxa would look much better than the Sag and the Limnophila would look better achored in the corner. The C. balansae was a very new plant when the pic was taken, they are four plants and should fill out shortly. Thanks for the tips, I will move some things around and look into getting new plant or two.

e.lark

I fixed the glosso in the front that made a strange line along the glass. moving the R. Indica to the center and Limnophila in the corner looks much better now. I bought some Blyxa japonica to replace the Sag but it's still only a small plant. I'm going to try out some Pellia that was included, I tied some to a rock to see if I can get it to mound up. Do you think I could put Pellia to use in this scape?

mauricio

Hi very nice tank its to green for my tase but maybe you could add some coler with more fishes like german rams, congo tetras or rainbowfishes but nise non the less one questin were can i get the impeler for a 304 fluval they dont seem to have a web site

|squee|

It certainly looks better! Just bush up the stem plants at the back and it's going to be a very nice tank.

I'll be interested to see what fish goes in though. My first thought was harlequiens, but they might not do well on hindsight. Rummy noses? Silver tetras? I'm no good with colour matching

dennis

Nice job, I think that looks better. Give it a few weeks to fill in then decide if you have the look you want. This scape will work good with careful and judicous pruning, especially with the Rotalas and the Didiplis. The Bylxa shuld really help with the midground. Pelia would be nice at the base of the thicker wood, about 1/3 the tank's length from the left side.

Keep us updated please. I really can't wait to see the Crypt filled in. Eventually you may want to replace the limnophila with something less "frilly" (admitidly though I don't like limnophila so I am biased) If it were my tank, I would replace the Limnophila with a stand of P stellata, Ludwiga Cuba or Ludwiga Pantanal.