I have been in the process of tweaking this 29 gallon tank. It has been set-up for about 2 or 3 months. I have just added some driftwood, moved around some plants, and am seeing "what works" for me. Most of the plants have not reached maturity. Let me know what everyone thinks...
I plan to change a few more things around next week. Ideas I have...
Remove the Rotala indica in the far back right corner and replace it with Rotala wallichii. I also thought about taking out the hairgrass and filling that front right corner in with more of the lobelia. I also might place an aquarium lily somewhere in the midground off to the right for a focal point. Any comments about these ideas?
Tank Specs
Light - Two 65w compact fluorecents (6700K)
Substrate - Eco Complete
Ferts - EI dosing and excel
Presurized CO2 injection
XP2 Filter with inline CO2 reactor.
Fauna: Three swordtails, two black mollies, 5 SAE, 5 oto cats, 2 amano shrimp, yoyo loach, and about 30 nerite snails.
Your scape is really nice! I love the layout of the plants and the different textures.
I would suggest atleast trimming the Rotala in the corner, if you choose to keep it. It just sticks out to me when I first glance at the picture. Rotala wallichi would be a good choice there and I think it would look better than R. rotundifolia.
Very nice tank. I agree with the 2 above that the Rotala should be switched out. I like your idea of removing the hairgrass and adding more Lobelia. Right now you have a lot of different things in front and it's a little distracting. Or move the hairgrass slightly behind the Lobelia and have the Lobelia go a bit further toward the corner so they overlap.
I do agree it is a little busy in the front....going to see what to do about that.
Do you think the Lobelia and Anubias are too much alike in size and texture?
No, I like that they are similar (helps with continuity in the tank) but slightly different to create interest. I have the same combo in one of my tanks and I know that the Lobelia is a distinctly brighter green than the deeper Anubias green.
I like your tank a lot. I think the rotala in the right corner will look fine once your stargrass grows up. I do think trimming it to make it bush is a good idea, so it won't look leggy. I also agree with cs_gardner that the lobelia and anubias compliment one another and are different enough to be interesting. The hair grass does seem a little too fine for the layout. Maybe the plant to the right of the anubias could go over there too.
Even if you didn't do a thing it really is a pretty tank. Reminds me of my 10g shrimp tank!
The plant to the right of the anubias is a split leaf java fern (I know, this isn't the right name) Anybody interested in this plant??? I may sell it as this is the area where I am considering putting a dwarf aquarium lily as a focal point (or you can provide a suggestion as to what I can do with it). Also, the hairgrass is already gone! Although I like this plant a lot, I find it hard to fit it into any of my aquariums. Once I make some more changes and things grow up a little more I'll post some new pics
Hmm...and maybe someone can link me to a good page that has suggestions on how to take good pics. I have a nikon D40, but I can't seem to get the pics to turn out clear and with good color. I turn the flash off, jack up the ISO, and set the white contrast to sunlight. The bright green plants always seem to be overexposed even when I turn the exposure compensation way down. Also, I've been using a tripod, but don't have a macro lens. Someone told me that I need to get an external flash, but that is WAY out of my budget! People must be getting better pics than I am, without an external flash???
Matt
Hmm...and maybe someone can link me to a good page that has suggestions on how to take good pics. I have a nikon D40, but I can't seem to get the pics to turn out clear and with good color. I turn the flash off, jack up the ISO, and set the white contrast to sunlight. The bright green plants always seem to be overexposed even when I turn the exposure compensation way down. Also, I've been using a tripod, but don't have a macro lens. Someone told me that I need to get an external flash, but that is WAY out of my budget! People must be getting better pics than I am, without an external flash???
Matt
Update....
Things have filled in a little so I thought I would post some new pics. I have got some new plants since my last pics. I pulled out the rotala indica and put in some rotalla wallichii. I also put in a dwarf aquarium lily...which has just started to put up two new leaves and I put some moss on the piece of driftwood.
This still has a ways to go before it all fills in but the right side is already looking good. I think I need some driftwood on the right somewhere but havn't decided where to work it in yet. I may just wait till the new plants fill in and then decide.
Sorry for the poor photography. I havn't figured out how to keep the bright green plants from washing out.
I have discovered that SAE love to gobble up Rotala wallichii. I removed them, and the Rotala is now recovereing. What a beautiful plant! It's my new favorite.
Some new tank shots. My new plants are filling in and I got some manzanita driftwood. Things are starting to fill in more and more all the time. If I hadn't just trimmed my ludwigia arcuata the other day these shots would be A+ I'll have to get the cam out again in a week or two. I had a present surprise in this tank this morning....dozens of baby mollies. That always makes me smile. And holy crap...aquarium lily grows like mad and took over my tank in a weeks time! Very soon I'm going to add some more moss to those new pieces of driftwood. Just haven't got around to it yet.
and a few shots for you mbuna lovers out there....
matt the tanks are looking amazing...i love the last pic of the mbunas too! i love the planted tank its so nice and the layout is great dont change a thing
??? Well there is a nerite snail in one picture. Are you talking about a plant? Middle left is ludwigia arcuata and middle right is Pogostemon yatabeanus. Lower middle is Anubias nana.
Brad, Thanks for the nice comments! I'm sure I will not at all follow your recommendation to not change a thing. I'm always monkeying around with things to keep myself satisfied :-D
I like the right side a lot better than in the beginning. Do you think you might want to trim down the lotus so it's leaves stay short so you can see the R. Wallichi in the back? Maybe let the Rotala Magenta in the back corner grow up a little so you can see that color. I just love the lobelia. It's a really pretty tank.
What's the midground plant on left in front of the giant hygro that looks kinda like bacopa leaves?
I agree about triming down the lotus. Is there a trick to keep that thing short? All it wants to do is shoot to the top of the tank! This was supposed to be dwarf...hmm. Not so dwarf to me, but beautiful. I swear it pops 3 new leaves a day!
I like it, nice job. I'm anti-trim, the more natural looking the better. I say move the R. Wallichi, perhaps toward the front? perhaps left front? I like the big lotus, makes it look real.
As you can see things have really filled in nicely.
Besides my moss being full of hair/thread algae, everything else is doing great. I ended up pulling all the moss of the wood and I'm not sure if I'm going to try it again because I'm afraid it will come right back. Any opinions here? I'm already using excel. I can't have SAE because they LOVE rotala wallichii!
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