Planted 52

[mbsqw1d]

Did you tell him Santa isn't coming because it breaks lockdown rules?

I'll let you tell him

 

[EllRog]

I'll let you tell him

You still have to pick up the pieces mate. Can't dodge responsibility that easily

 

[AilyNC]

Magic defies physics. Santa will still fit.

I have very little space on my taller tank. I got a rock after setting it up and that was a pain to fit in.

 

[AquaBarb]

Yeh its not easy the most annoying part is that I had to cut the cabinet down for it to fit, and I still didn't give myself quite enough room! lol
Its ok for maintenance to be honest, but when it comes to hardscape, I need to make sure it's going to fit through the gap! My son raised a very good point the other day about Santa Claus...!

Santa can use his magic key

Tanks looking good dude

 

[mbsqw1d]

Decided I'm going to get rid of vallis in this tank. The fish, shrimp and snails will not be happy about this decision, but its final. I've made my mind up. Its a step towards being able to scape the tank into something that isn't just random and overgrown - something the inhabitants love, but not me!

Before

Vallis

Nearly there

 

[AilyNC]

My Vallis isn't taking at all.im envious of yours!

 

[Phalloceros]

wow that looks so much more spacious

 

[mbsqw1d]

wow that looks so much more spacious

Still a long way to go. Big job that i havent got round to yet and keep making excuses lol
I almost made a start the other day and then noticed I was disturbing a berried shrimp, so didnt want to risk scaring her into dropping her eggs! So left it.. lol
Hopefully this weekend I'll make some progress and will report back

 

[Sgooosh]

I have just one thing to add. Enter your awesome tank in the August Tank of the Month which starts on August 1st!

it is worthy

 

[Sgooosh]

I dived in with both feet when setting up my Fluval Roma 200 this last month. Luckily, I've held back on stocking the tank with a haphazard selection of fish, as it stands, I have 12 x peppered corydora and basic selection of plants.

Since re-joining this wonderful forum 10 years on from leaving the hobby, where I had a 125 litre community tank, I have been inspired by a number of members' setups, notably @Russjw and @seangee and guided by some sound advice, notably @Colin_T , @Lajos_Detari , @ArmchairAquariest, @Retired Viking, @PheonixKingZ .

Just before "lock-down", I got my hands on a 2nd hand Fluval Roma 200 , the 1 metre length complimented a space I have in the back room perfectly. The tank came with a Fluval E-series 300w heater and an APS 1400 EH+ canister filter (the previous owner had a salt water setup). Hardware wise, I've added a Nicrew LED light and the notorious DIY co2 paraphernalia (citric acid and bicarb).

At this point, I had no 'aqua-scape' in mind, all I knew is that I wanted a planted tank and I wanted corys. My partner insisted that I should get goldfish, some quick reading steered me away from this - I couldn't be bothered with the inevitable rehoming of them once they outgrew the tank.

One month on I have sand substrate, a couple of pieces of driftwood, and rocks from the beach. Java Fern, Anacharis, Vals and 3 x Anubias. Other than some GHA, the tank and its inhabitants appear to be thriving (Colin_T walked me through medicating (salt) one cory which looked to have bacterial infection).

Current layout:

View attachment 109639
A: Vals, B: Anacharis, C: Anubias, D: Java Fern,
E: Rocks, F: Filter Inlet G: Leaf litter (almond),
H: Heater (22C), I: Driftwood
View attachment 109641

I recently trawled through images of aquascapes and worked out a design that I'd be content with if I can pull it off. I'll need a couple more pieces of wood and a handful of plants (which I've ordered: Ludwigia palustris, Hygrophila Siamensis, Eleocharis parvula, Echinodorus bleheri, Alternanthera reineckii)

Planned layout would resemble:
View attachment 109640
A: Vals, B: Anacharis, C: Anubias, D: Java Fern,
E: Rocks, F: Filter Inlet G: Leaf litter (almond),
H: Heater (22C), I: Driftwood
J: Echinodorus bleheri, K: Hygrophila Siamensis,
L: Ludwigia palustris, M: Alternanthera reineckii,
N: Eleocharis parvula


I'd be removing a large amount of anacharis in order to achieve this - would it be wise to do this gradually given its efficiency at nitrate removal?
The aim here, and with what @seangee had mentioned concerning low light plants - anubias and java fern in mind, the Vals (A) would create a canopy over the anubias (C) and Java fern (D) on the right. And once the Echinodorus bleheri gets to a good height, this should perform the same task for the two plants on the left. Additional plants K, L and M are to add some focal points and will provide me with more of a challenge and hopefully do well from the co2.

Hindsight is the devil and I'd love to have planned this a little better before adding the fish... ah well. Once I'm satisfied, I can crack on and get the corys some tank mates

what ferts do you use?

 

[mbsqw1d]

what ferts do you use?

TNC Complete and TNC Iron with TNC root plugs

 

[mbsqw1d]

Right. Finally got round to making some changes and adding the piece of bogwood. Thought I'd do a recap of this thread with pics..

In the beginning..

After the planted cycle... (I was happy with this scape but had to pull it all out when the barbs were misbehaving)

And now...

All the vallis has gone (back right) and ive put some crypt crispulata in its place - look forward to that growing and filling out the space.
New piece of wood is left, in front of the sword (Echinodorus Impai) which is growing far larger than anticipated..
Still got some frogbit knocking about

 

[mbsqw1d]

 

[AquaBarb]

View attachment 128550
View attachment 128551
View attachment 128552

Looking good @mbsqw1d

The red plants are very striking

 

[mbsqw1d]

Looking good @mbsqw1d

The red plants are very striking

Cheers bud, yeh im much happier with it. Im on the verge of pulling the sword out though, its massive! The leaves are bigger than my hands. If I do I think the red plants will go in its place so, back left. Might keep the centre clear and then when the crypts grow out back-right, it should frame it nicely. Saw your update earlier, looking spectacular, do you not suffer from algae at all? Your plants look perfect