Aquascaping

[Balticbob]

Hi all
I've just started Aquascaping my 260litre aquarium and I'd like to know if I'm going in the right direction with this? Any tips or ideas greatly appreciated.

 

[FishFinatic77]

I think, if you maybe stacked the wood in the middle, with that nice tall piece in the center, and then some rocks around it, that would look really nice. Then you could get some nice, tall plants to fill out the back, like Pogostemon stellatus octopus (my personal favorite), Elodea, Valisineria, etc. Maybe some crypts, java fern, and anubias near the wood. Then maybe you could create a nice carpet on the bottom.

 

[evanb]

I think definitely get some tall plants to fill out the back and maybe even consider getting some black backing so as to draw more attention to the plants and fish. Great start though, it has a heap of potential.

 

[Wills]

I agree with above that you might need some more plants. Lets look at your current plants - am I right in thinking that the taller plants at the back are Hygrophila Siamensis 53b and the ones at the front are Pogostemon Helferi?

Its important to take the plants out of the pots and the rock wool that they come in. The Pogostemon helferi may suffer in a tank with regular lighting and no Co2 but to give it the best chance you should take it out of the pot and plant each plantlet a few cm apart.

I cant quite work out what your substrate is? Is it an aquarium soil or sand?

Wills

 

[Balticbob]

I think definitely get some tall plants to fill out the back and maybe even consider getting some black backing so as to draw more attention to the plants and fish. Great start though, it has a heap of potential.

I would love to put on some Black Backing,but my Tank is close to the wall and I have very little space to be able to attach it.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A black or dark blue background (construction paper or I once taped on a black garbage bag!) will help the plants pop. Tall plants in the rear, shorter plants in front and some floating plants on top (I like water sprite).

 

[Balticbob]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A black or dark blue background (construction paper or I once taped on a black garbage bag!) will help the plants pop. Tall plants in the rear, shorter plants in front and some floating plants on top (I like water sprite).

I would love to put some black backing on my tank,but the problem I have is my tank is very close to my living room wall and I can't get behind to fix anything to it! Any ideas on how to fix it would be appreciated???

 

[Essjay]

Can you get to both sides of the tank? I recently changed the backing on my tank; it was a bit fiddly but with 2 people it was doable. I used one of those plastic backgrounds so it was stiff, unlike a bin liner. I cut it slightly narrower than the back and attached black electrician's tape to the sides. Then one person at each side of the tank, we lowered it down the back of the tank from above. I stuck the tape in place on one side then took the other side and stuck that in place. We did lift the lid off before starting so all that remained was to tape the top edge by leaning over the tank.
I used a black background so the black tape blended in.

 

[Wills]

You can get black backing that you just wet and slide into place think it would be doable in narrow gaps

 

[Balticbob]

You can get black backing that you just wet and slide into place think it would be doable in narrow gaps

Do you have a link to where I could purchase?

 

[Balticbob]

Hi all
I've just started Aquascaping my 260litre aquarium and I'd like to know if I'm going in the right direction with this? Any tips or ideas greatly appreciated.

Update! Plants have grown fantastically.

 

[Balticbob]

I agree with above that you might need some more plants. Lets look at your current plants - am I right in thinking that the taller plants at the back are Hygrophila Siamensis 53b and the ones at the front are Pogostemon Helferi?

Its important to take the plants out of the pots and the rock wool that they come in. The Pogostemon helferi may suffer in a tank with regular lighting and no Co2 but to give it the best chance you should take it out of the pot and plant each plantlet a few cm apart.

I cant quite work out what your substrate is? Is it an aquarium soil or sand?

Wills

Its sand and fine grave substrate with some soil to. And the plants are growing well.

 

[Balticbob]

Hi all
I've just started Aquascaping my 260litre aquarium and I'd like to know if I'm going in the right direction with this? Any tips or ideas greatly appreciated.

This is an update of how my scaping has progressed. What do you think?