Voo's Tank

Well this is my tank that i've been trying to get planted. I think it's going ok at the moment; i've just added some new plants at the back so i'm yet to see how they come out. However i'm having trouble deciding what to do with the foreground. I want a carpet along the front but unsure what to use.

I've got some riccia but i'm not sure whether i like it enough to make a full carpet from it. I have some mats of it at the moment as you can see in the picture, but i dont like being able to see the mat underneath. Also, i'm limited in that it will only grow on a mat/slate underneath it and makes it difficult around plants and wood that i have.

So I tried with a small amount of Hc but this soon got pulled up by the shrimp or apple snails, so i gave up on that. All that time planting it root by root just for it to be pulled up

Then i ordered some glosso. What i received what all brown and i think most of it is dead, although some green leaves have appeared but not enough. I did get in touch with who i bought it from and they said to wait a week, which i have done now. I'll probably get on to them tomorrow about it.

I also have a mat of pelia, that was another thing i had tried but again, it only grew where the mat goes.
I've got some small patches of hairgrass on the left side of the tank, and some more just infront of the wood. This i am unsure whether to plant all across the front or maybe plant glosso and keep the small patches with hairgrass.That on the left of the tank is tall hairgrass which has been cut down and has started growing across the front of the tank. My only complaint about hairgrass is that it can sometimes look messy. Stuff floating around gets caught in it, especially dirt which gathers around the base of the plant. And does it need combing of some kind? Looks messy and unorganised.



Btw ignore the white suckers on the right side of the tank. forgot to take them off when hatching some brine shrimp.

Here's the tank so far:




My other question is what to fill the rest of the wood on the right with. I've started planting some java fern along the top of it and there's some moss growing on the tip and down the right side, although it's hard to get it to show in a photo. The wood is in a ¬ shape, with a passage through in the corner. My problem comes in that the middle is concave, so getting moss to stay attached became a problem. I might have to make holes through it to get the moss to attach better. Moss was one option, or i was thinking of maybe trying to find some Fissidens?



With the last plant order i decided to get some banana plants. These just seem to float around and do as they please and are starting to bug me. I know they're not meant to be planted, but what can i do to keep them in one place?

Lighting is 2.5WPG, i am dosing ferts and CO2.
Thanks

Looking good, I like the slope. Don’t have much in the way of advice, I like the pelia nice dark colour. I guess you could cover the edge of the mats with sand until the plants spread, with the hairgrass, I have used a comb on it not a very fine one and with water changes give it a good hoovering. Pity about the glosso, I got some from greenline it was in very good condition and has been growing alarmingly fast. Riccia is beautiful when it establishes it takes a while and its high maintenance. I have never had the banana plants but I sometimes cut very thin strips of plant weights and weigh the plants down with them just put it where it isn’t easy to see.
Looking very good so far.

Thanks for your reply.

I might try greenline and see what their glosso is like if i decide that's what i'll try carpet with.
As for the pelia, i think that needs replanting as it's starting to come loose from the net. Took ages for it to grow like it has though.
The riccia, i might still keep a mat of this somewhere. I do have a lot of it floating at the top right. It gets stuck behind the filter intake which is good and means it doesnt float all over. When i redo the mat, do i cut the larger pieces of riccia so that it'll grow again? Does it reach a certain size then stop growing?

NIce layout are you planning on a particular style? If you built the right side up, you'd have a nice triangle effect

I don't have any particular layout in mind, that might be my problem though - i'm not sure what i'm after. My other problem might be too many different plant species... what do you think?

Not sure i can see where you mean to build up. Do you mean where the wood is? Infront of it? I havent got a clue about all these triangle layouts I was going to try and get the wood covered in something though. It's half covered at the moment.

Anyone else got any ideas?

voo said:

Anyone else got any ideas?

Click to expand...

hey that red plant, what is it? ive been loking for something like that

The red plant is called Red Ivy. Not totally convinced by it, this is the 3rd time i've tried it. Other times it lost all the leaves and didnt grow. It's new at the moment, although it's already lost quite a few leaves.

voo said:

The red plant is called Red Ivy. Not totally convinced by it, this is the 3rd time i've tried it. Other times it lost all the leaves and didnt grow. It's new at the moment, although it's already lost quite a few leaves.

Click to expand...

is it not meant for fish tanks?

I'm not sure. It's on the javaplant and tropical plant websites so it might be an aquatic plant. I just think it's a really delicate plant and i havent had much success with it. It's actually a lot brighter than it looks in the photo

I never noticed till i just looked back at the photo from 1 week back, but the indian fern next to it has grown to the waterline and really bushed out. It's a great plant, really liking it

About the Red Ivy, I think most people have a problem with this one, LOTS of light and plant food/nutrients are needed in order to stand a good chance for this one to grow. It is however a true aquatic, it is just a really hard one to grow... Ipersonally think that if you want a good "easy" to grow plant with a similar look, go for the red water rose... roots will grow quickly and they dont lose their leaves as much, only maybe the odd occassional one and it keeps the red colour rather than becoming pale like the Rotalas if the conditions are not perfect...

Hoefully the attached will show... its one that I have had in my tank for a couple of weeks... the pic is not a good one, but it give you an idea of the foliage.

I think mine is just about hanging in there, it hasnt lost that many leaves since i first planted it. I have just over 2wpg, however i dont think it's growing that fast. Certainly not compared to the indian fern next to it

Indian Fern is a great plant to have once it take a grip of your tank... I really like it. If you can keep theredivy going then it can re-generate to your tank and light conditions, but when it does you may find that it stays pretty green rather than the vibrant red colour depending on the lighting conditions and the amount of nutrients as I said earlier. red Ivyis pretty hardy and will survive if you give it time and space, the true test of how friendly your tank is for plants is whether the Ivy survives or thrives...

Just noticedalso that it looks like sand substrate you've used... if you find any plants struggling, bury ahole into the sand, fill it with gravel and plant the plants back into the gravel "pot" that you have created... some plants hate being constricted by sand...

Try running wood or rock in a serpentine fashion through the middle of the tank or make a path about 1/3 off to one side leading to the back, sort of a break ibn the wall of rocks/wood.

This will divide the foreground and the background plants effectively and give the tank some sense of a layout and stability over time.

Basically it'll look better to your eye(most folks seem to think so) and be easier to handle.

I'd really slope the sand towards the back much higher, that will give more depth to the layout, who wants to the see a bunch of sand in the front of the tank?

Using the terrace/dividing rocks, you can build the layer much higher and it'll be easier to keep it there.
Generally folks do better with fewer species and larger groups rather than many species.
Looks better.

Some small green wendtii crypts might look good as would E tennellus for the foreground.
Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks for the advice.

As for the slope, i think to redo it now i'd have to take everything out. I used some large rocks and then filled in with gravel to make the hill, before adding the substrate on top. When i upgrade the tank i think i will do as you suggested and make the slope go towards the back.