[Garuf]

One week one from planting, hope you like it, critique is as always welcomed.

 

[thief]

Wow very nice layout you have. Suprised noone posted yet. The plants look very healthy for only being there for a week or so. It has a nice jungle feeling but I think the Background need to fill in more. Post more pics and tell us more about your tank Specs.

 

[Garuf]

Tank specs are as follows
Lighting 2x24 watt hot5 osrams
Filtration is a measly eheim 2224 hydor inline heater fitted
Co2 is pressurised via a rhinnox 2000
substrate is ADA amazonia and silver sand.

The background is rotalla green but I'm having issues with dosing and seemingly slow growth so I'm in the process of upping doses and trying to boost growth.

 

[needhelp]

wow thats impressive i hope mine fills in like that on the sides good work

 

[severumkid]

Real nice tank....bery peaceful...but you will have a lot of work to keep it in the same feel..IMO

All the best.

 

[xavierj123]

I'm new to this hobby. Did you grow those plants in another tank first and then plant this one or did you just go out and buy all those huge plants? They must have cost a fortune if you did. I priced some plants for the first time yesterday and it looks like this hobby might be too expensive for me.

 

[prBrianpr]

I spend $100 in my 3 gallons cube and it isnt finished yet. I alredy have the half of plants.

 

[Garuf]

I have bought all other the plants especially, yes it's expencive but that's what forum swap shops are for, as long as your co2 is high and ferts good then you can turn 20 stems into 40 in 2 weeks or 80 in a month...

 

[Ravenous]

This hobby is all about how much you want to put into it. My girlfriend and I have approx. $500 in two tanks so far. If I were starting I would get the walmart 10 gallon. With hood, lights and tank you are only looking at $30. One bag of flourite and you are looking at another $15. Light bio-load fish and you can get away with the $15 HOB water filter. Water test kit online would be another $20. Another $20 bucks for ferts. Start with a few easy plants, $3-5 a pop at my lfs. Trade/sell for more plants and fish. You can find your own driftwood and rocks, no need to buy that stuff.

Tank/Hood/Lights-$30
Flourite or equivelant-$15
HOB filter-$15
Water test kit-$20
Ferts-$20
Approx~$100

Plants/Fish~$15-$50

So for $115 to $150 you could have a fairly nice starter setup and work from there. Do your research and buy used and you could probably half that price to start. Of course the full blown ADA and pressurized CO2 will set you back $300-$600, but you don't want that for your starter tank. I just setup my 25G Tall tank for $330 including the stand and coralife lights I thought that was pretty inexpensive myself in this day and age of $10 movie tickets and $500 videogame consoles.

As for the OP, I think this looks very natural and I am quite impressed with the how aged the aquarium looks this early on. Is this a true ADA rimless tank or did you remove the rim yourself? I think this would really "pop" with a black background. Are you sure you have enough light? It just seems a little dark up front but that could just be the camera.

 

[coseal]

it looks great! what lily pipes do you use?

 

[jackh]

looks really good imo

 

[Garuf]

Hey guys, I use Powerman lily pipes. They're not good, not bad.
Here's the tank as of today, Saturday is maintenance day so I'll probably trim and double up the stems.
anyone have any tips on trimming neasea?

 

[Garuf]

Initially I was happy with the varying textures and plant choice of this tank, but now I've thinned things out and tried to get things under control I'm not so sure I like it any more. Something just doesn't sit right on the right hand side, I think It's the e tennelus but I don't know. I have some downoi available and also some staurogyne but I don't know where these could go, and if I add them to the right then the left hand side will become unbalanced.
Here's the newest picture I have to show what I'm working with.



Critiques openly encouraged, I need help improving this scape.