Path To Stannock

[Andy Vox]

Right so this is my third re-scape of this tank. It's taken me some time to get to a position where I feel comfortable growing a variety of different plants trimming them and getting the best out of them.
It's quite easy to throw loads of plants into a tank in a bizarre manor, collecting new ones every time I go to the LFS or look online with no plan of where I want the tank to go, so I have been planning this one for a few weeks. I know exactly where I want it to get to. I'm imagining that there will be some troubles along the way so I'm prepared to take them as they come and adjust accordingly.

Tank: Juwel Rio 300
Filtration: Fluval 305 and Penn Plax Cascade 1500 - Koralia for extra debris removal and increased flow (linked to light timer)
Ferts: EI
CO2: Fire Extinguisher with TMC regulator and homemade Rex Grigg style reactor made from clear pipe.
Heater: Hydor 300w Inline
Substrate: Eco-complete capped with Tesco Cat litter with Aquarium Plant food substrate capsules and some EI fert salt underneath.
Lighting: Arcadia 4 x 54w T5HO - Light period - 2 bulbs for 7hrs with a two hour blast of 4 bulbs.

Plants:
Amazon Sword
Glossostigma elatinoides
Hemianthus callitrichoides (my nemesis of a plant)
Limnophila sp. 'Mini
Crypt wendtii brown
Cryptocoryne wendtii "Broad Leaf"
Anubias Nano
Java Moss
Java Fern
Giant Vallis
Pogostemon helferi
Bacopa monnerii
Some other stems which I can't identify but I like the colouring of them!

Fish:
15 Otocinclus, 20 Neon Tetra, 1 Sailfin Plec, 5 Amano shrimp, 5 Bumblebee Shrimp, Alot of red cherry shrimp.

So this is it so far, please ignore the massive rocks holding the wood down, I've boiled them and soaked them for a few days but they would sink so I've resorted to these as weights for now.

I'm going to wait for the wood to sink and once I have some growth I'll get some decent shots with my SLR.

It doesn't look like a lot without the carpet plants grown in, but im hopeful that it will look decent once they do!
Any advice, thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Noahs ark6]

Looks great, looking forward to seeing it with the carpet grown in

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Wow, gonna look awesome once grown in.

 

[Andy Vox]

Cheers guys.
I took a trip to Green Machine last weekend, had a good chat about my current layout, spent lots of money and came away with a new vision. So this is what it now looks like, seems to follow the "golden rules" more closely, something which I haven't been a fan of in the past... But hey we all change and now its done I can see why these rules need to be followed.

I need a few more mid level plants for the middle, any ideas?
I'll add a full plant list later, as it has changed dramatically.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Wow, really nice re scape there mate, midground? how bout some Hemianthus Micranthemoides? Nice bushy lime green plant would look awesome there.

 

[Andy Vox]

Cheers Steve, like the look of Hemianthus Micranthemoides, I'll get that ordered. Could do with one possibly two more midground plants, there are a couple of places where I've added glosso (front right, middle back as it comes down to the substrate level, between the two central rocks near the wood) which could do with something that'll grow up more than the glosso but not too much. The substrate gradient should help with the transition but something to help make it less harsh would be useful.

I cannot wait for the 1-2-grow Rotala macrandra to grow over the wood behind the microsorum, it should add a great point of impact if I move the lighting slightly forward and prune it to encourage forward slanting growth in a bush like fashion. Just hope I can get the reds to pop out as much as some I've seen.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Are you not using the HM in those areas then? Could look good , esp if you spread it out and keep up with the trimming. You have pressurised CO2 in this scape? If so providing you have a good diffusion method the plants should keep their red, think there is a thread on here about keeping plants red somewhere.

 

[Andy Vox]

I was thinking of using it in one of the areas then potentially using something else in the other areas but it might look good with just HM, I'll get a couple of pots and see how it looks. There are a few places I've used stems that I think will be a nightmare to keep at a suitable length, so I might need some different midground plants to replace some of those otherwise I'll be trimming it every two minutes.
Yeah I'm using CO2 with a rex grigg DIY reactor attached to the external filter outlet so the diffusion is 100% constantly lime green drop checker.
I'll have a search and see if I can pull that thread up.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Sounds good, do you get any pearling?

 

[Andy Vox]

For the first time for a very long time I am getting some pearling. I'm getting a lot from the glosso, should be fantastic once the glosso carpet grows in.
The reason I went down the rex grigg style reactor route is that I got fed up of all the bubbles flying around the tank.

 

[Andy Vox]

Added some more pogo helferi, pogo erectus, anubias, hm and hc.
I think it's getting there now, I'm going to leave it and see where it goes then decide what to do/remove/add.

Any thoughts or opinions are welcomed, still a work in progress.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Looks good dude, is there anything coming up in the gap between the stems at the rear?

 

[Andy Vox]

Yes there is, that's where my 1-2-grow Rotala macrandra is, so it's just out of sight but has grown massively over the last week. I'm hoping that it'll grow through and forward into the gap covering that whole area and be a great focal point of red leaves. We shall see.

The 1-2-grow stuff is really amazing though. Tempted to do a tank from just that next time, you get loads, it grows well and is always healthy and free from nasties.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I know mate, my Rainforest journal has a carpet plant swap to 1-2 grow Staurogyne and over a month it spread like wild fire.

 

[Andy Vox]

I was looking at staurogyne once I get bored of glosso (it's a touch weedy) what's it like as a carpet plant does it require a lot of trimming?