James Squires Planted 30 Gallon

Hi all,

Decided after a lot of reading about and admiring of all the other planted tanks on this forum that I'd like to have a go at aquascaping myself. You all make it look so easy but after finishing my first 'scape' it has become clear to me that it is a lot harder than I thought! I think I have a lot to learn!

I have two tanks. A 30 gallon community tank and a 10 gallon fry tank. I've started planting both tanks now but this thread can be dedicated to the 30 gall.

I'd been running an Undergravel filter previously so first thing I had to do was purchase an external. It now has an Eheim 2213 cannister taking care of the filtration but as yet I haven't stripped the UG out. I ran both filters together for a week in order to build the bacteria colony in the new filter.

Due to the UG filter situation I obviously had been limited to larger gravel as the substrate so at this stage I still have no nutrient enriched goodness down below. Hopefully I can successfully add this at a later date without too much interruption to the tanks inhabitants. My smaller tank does have a decent substrate.

Lighting also needs an upgrade as it currently only consists of one 30Watt tube giving me a miserable 1Watt per Gallon.

I've now introduced a DIY C02 system to the tank consisting of a yeast mixture (im also a fan of homebrewing beer!) running to a homemade reactor (water pump and gravel vac style!) which seems to work quite well. I am yet to see results of C02 added growth (due to only recently turning off the air pump to the UG filter) but the reactor is certainly diffusing the C02 effectively.

I ordered a bunch of plants online that seemed to be attractive, fast growing and good for newb's like me. They included Java Fern, Wisteria, Anubias, Rotala Indica, Java Moss, Hygrophilia Corymbosa and Ludwigia. I already had some Blue Stricta and a few swords. Put them all together and here's the result! Sorry about the pics, go gentle but please comment and give suggestions! I need all the help I can get from you guys!

Very nice for your first planted tank, but the foreground needs alot of work. If i were you i'd take out the stonecave and that white thing it would give a better overall impression. What kind of fertilizers are you adding if any? how do you like your new filter? ive been wanting a Eheim canister for awhile now... what media are you using in it?
good start,
Alex

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the comments. I agree that the foreground needs lots of work!

At the moment Im only dosing the tank with basic nutrients. I dose once weekly (with water change) with a product called 'Basic Gro' and dose daily with it's sister product 'Daily Gro.' I plan to purchase some better stuff (any suggestions?) but thought that for now I'll use what I've got especially seeing as until now I'd had the UG filter running...

The Eheim Canister seems great. At the moment Im just using the supplied media (ceramics, bio ball things and sponge pads.) Is this ok or do you think I should change this?

Cheers,

JS

Speaking as a beginner myself, I think its best to forget the word 'aquascape' and concentrate on the word 'learn'.

The first things we need to do as beginners are learn about which plants work in which lights, in which parts of the tank, and which plants grow to overshadow others, and which get too 'leggy', and, and, and........get my gist here. lol

I am just aiming at jungle rather than scape on my first tank, and as it progresses (2 months in now) I am already learning that some plants are better at the edge whereas when I got them they looked better in the middle etc. etc.

I'd just let yourself watch and occasionally prune for the first few months, learn how to control algae, and then start to play once you've got a tiny grasp of the basics, as I am sure it will take eons to learn to master the scape.

Enjoy the growth, and watch how they grow (leggy on the perimeters, bushy in the centre etc.)

I started moving my plants about after a week, and after a month and after 6 weeks, and some of them just said 'I give up'

Good luck matey, this can be the most, frustrating but intoxicating part of the aquarium world IMO

I love it but it drives me mad sometimes.

Enjoy and good luck

God I can get so ballsy when I drink . lol

Andy

Andy,

Thanks heaps for the kind and intelligent advice. I too am aiming for a 'Jungle' first off. I will sit back and just watch it grow for a few months, pruning the stem plants as they surface and replanting them to help fill out.

I've been a bit slack in posting this update but this photo was taken exactly one week from the original planting and the growth is very pleasing. All the Water Wisteria on the right is going nicely and the grouping in the left hand corner is taking off also. Im very pleased from one week of growth, particularly being that it's very basic setup.

There's been a lot more growth again since this photo was taken and on Thursday I will take the 2 weeks growth pics.

BEFORE:



AFTER:



Comments as always are welcome and appreciated.

JS

Looks really nice JS, do you get much algae?

Sam

Ditto SuperColey1`s comments. It is the same process I am going through and your final scape will come later.

Your choice of plants seems pretty good and well informed.

I have just one little criticism for you to think about. That Buddha like statue stands a little too proud from the substrate. Bury it a little deeper so that the substrate is just above its head, and it can no longer be seen. You well then be well on your way to having a terrific, natural looking backdrop for your fish.

Cheers, Dave.

Hi Sam,

Thanks for dropping by. Not much algae around anymore. Some of the Hygro arrived from the Internet supplier complete with some BBA but that's under control now. There are still a couple of affected areas but it's much better than how the plants came. Hopefully it's on it's way out... fingers crossed and touching wood and all that!

I've got 3 Bristlenose patrolling the bottom of the tank. Those guys help but I've also noticed the 2 Kribs and my ever increasing population of Platies have a good peck at the BBA which is what's got it under control.

I also have some of these plants in my other tank which a few Otos are now cleaning up for me.

Cheers,

JS

Dave Spencer said:

Your choice of plants seems pretty good and well informed.

Click to expand...

Thanks Dave, they should be too cos you're one of the informants! Reading posts from yourself and Sam and George and ..... everyone else on here has helped a lot.

Dave Spencer said:

I have just one little criticism for you to think about. That Buddha like statue stands a little too proud from the substrate. Bury it a little deeper so that the substrate is just above its head, and it can no longer be seen. You well then be well on your way to having a terrific, natural looking backdrop for your fish.

Click to expand...

LOL! Fair call, this is the wife's contribution to the tank! One day (hopefully soon) it will simply disappear!

Cheers,

JS

End of week 2 photo update. Jungle continues to form! Its amazing watching this tank grow from week to week.

Sorry the photo's aren't much chop! I'll work on that!



Cheers,

JS

Nice little buddha you got there man, now you just gotta achieve the state of perfect enlightenment with the tank!

Looking very good with great growth. The latest photo is very good.

The budda would look great with a java moss wig and a bit of mossy chest hair.

nice mate

but sand over gravel, having converted i would never go back to gravel, i find most peeps who have gravel are beginners who have yet to discover sand as a substrate, what do you think mate? Especially for planted tanks

Edit: or like you say, peeps who use UG

Quick photo update guys,

I've shuffled a few things around, trimmed a few plants and let things grow a bit wild again. Here's the messy result in need of some maintanance again:



Cheers,

JS

Looking good plenty of lush green growth. Think the right side could do with a bit more order though?

Sam