[niko]

I'm currently setting up this tank - an 18 gals. tall.

I'd be glad to hear any suggestions about choosing the plants. Please remember that the tank is small - as wide as a standard 10 gal. and 12 or so inches high.

Pretty much the tank has no limitations about the light - it has 64 watts of spiral CF's and I can add a 15 watt NO if needed. It's a CO2 injected tank.

I lean toward Valisneria nana (extremely thin leafed kind) for the background, Anubias or stargrass for the middle, and glosso or H. callitrichoides (if I can get any) for the foreground.

--Nikolay

 

[tsunami]

Nikolay,

Your driftwood arrangement looks like it has a lot of potential --for a shorter tank. In this tall tank, I don't see it working. Do you have longer pieces which can be used in their stead?

I solution I have found with narrow tanks is to build up the midground with pieces of driftwood and rock. I cover these with epiphytes such as mosses, Anubias, and ferns. It's a very vertical arrangement --almost like building a verdant reef but not building the wall of rock and wood all the way to the back.

The plants in the background should have small leaves or grassy leaves. Cyperus helferi or Eleocharis montevidensis might be nice for the background. The foreground could look really nice with Hemianthus callitrichoides.

I am starting to prefer keeping tall/narrow tanks simple as far as plant arrangements are concerned. Garden like stem plant arrangements have just never worked out to my liking in these types of tanks due to the width.

Carlos