here is my tank when it was around 4 mos i think after the first pic i think after a week i decided to up my lights to around 3 WPG via a DIY hood ( that burned haha)
here is my tank that was taken a couple of weeks ago as you can see the small plants literally took over my entire tank !! i did a bad mistake by not researching really well on my plants before picking them im gonna remove some of em and redesign my plants with a trial aquascape
kenneth, you are definitely right to remove those swords you planted in front. They are too big now, and will grow MUCH MUCH bigger. Swords simply out-grow tanks-- anything smaller than a 200g tank will probably, eventually, have to remove larger swords. 13g is definitly too small. That sucks of course because the roots run really, really deep.
Good luck finding some small plants to use in the foreground-- I would recommend dwarf sagitteria for easiest option, though it might also be too big to be appropriate for this tank. Just to say, fine sand is not the best option for top substrate in a planted aquarium-- it can cause compaction that crushes or suffocates roots. I thought the earlier gravel was much better for the plants, and looked much more attractive.
You should be proud of your plant's health and growth though! It shows you know how to do it-- now go out and get some more plants.
btw i added the sand in front for my 6 cories, i think they now love me for doing it and the compacting effect... im starting to notice it but it only covers the front of my tank but its slowly invading the whole tank !! hahaha
yup, i placed the sand of top of my gravel, its doing okay. for around 2 mos now but its getting mixed up with the gravel, it works okay but i dont think itl last long i shouldve used a divider or something
What about some Crypto Parva, or Glosso for the front. My motto is "If ya can see substrate, there's room for a Plant". Never forget, more plants, More oxygen for the Fishies. ............
Well Done. Keep the on coming,. It's the Only way to stay Sane, specially with Fufanfufu learking.
That's FuFu......
yup i added the sand in the tank while the fishes where there ( i used my gravel vas as sort of like a funnel to place the sand where i wanted it) im gonna try a carpeting plant next time but i gotta move my other plants first heheh