Beginner To Intermeated Rescape

[iroc]

So the many sorted tales of my tanks scape are most likely not forigin to most of you but this is my journey from beginner to the next level. I wanted to do plants that are less like weeds are more planned out. I have been slowly working toward this but now was the right time. (all shots except for complete tank shots are 320 x 240 to load faster)

1st we have the tank in it's complete overgrown state.

So in this rescape the 2 biggest goals were to remove all of the Hygrophila difformis and to add a substate so a ground cover could be sucussful.

The 1st step was to completely empty the tank, I did this method for 2 reasons, 1 I had previously put about 1" of gravel under my sand (thought it would help with roots) and since I was adding substrate I wanted just put the sand back. I also wanted to create some different plains in the scape and not just have 1 level (thought when the plants grew in it would add some depth)

I stored the plants in a clean sink while I got my other suplies ready, and the fish were put into a 5 galon bucket with the filter running off the side

The next big step was tp clean the sand of all the gravel.
"Drity" sand

I did this but using a strainer, and a extra bucket. 1st I put some water in the bucket, then I would put a couple of handfuls of sand into strainer, 1/2 submerge in the water and rapidly sway it from side to side ( kinda like sifting for gold) the gravel would get cought in the stainer while the sand would sink into the water

The process and result

Notice just gravel in the strainer

and the clean sand

next I got together my materials

the substate ( I ended up laying a 1" - 1 1/2" layer on the low areas and a much thicker under the raised portion)

I pulled some slate out of my 55 gal to make a devider between the high spot and the lower area

After I added the substate and the slate to my design, I added my sand and put the driftwood into the tank for placement ideas ( excuse the pic it was extremely sunny in the room)

Then I added all the plants. current set-up is

3 bunches X Microsorium pteroptus (java fern)
All driftwood covered in Vesicularia dubyana (java moss)
1 X Anubias Nana
3 X Ammannia gracilis
4 X Alternanthera reineckii
1 X Cryptocoryne wendtii
6 X Blyxa aubertii
6" X 6" bunch of Lilaeopsis brasiliensis


And the 1st day results are below, I will be updating this thread and answering/ asking any questions that come up

 

[blue acara]

nice post iroc. tank looks good, i like the wood on the left and going across the tank.

 

[Bozza]

Thanks for the indepth steps in how u transformed ur tank. I look forward to seeing how it grows

 

[stang1]

Tank looks great, big improvement.

 

[cardinal sinner]

I thought the 1st tank looked great. The 2nd looks even better! Well done

 

[Themuleous]

Really like the rescape, its always nice to get in and move things around and you've certainly done a good job of it. The wood gives a nice structure to the whole scape, and the plants can only add to this as they fill out.

Sam

 

[iroc]

Thanks for all the support, I am very happy with the new scape, I can't wait until the carpeting fills in that is what I have been waiting for

 

[iroc]

Does anyone have experence growing Blyxa aubertii, I am having a really hard time finding info on it's growing properties

 

[iroc]

My Blyxa aubertii looks horrible, it seems like it is being eating away but I don't have any fish in the tank that tend to nibble on plants. I'm not sure if this is a common transplant issue with this plant or not. When doing google searches it's almost like this plant doesn't exsit I'm not sure what to do really except wait it out and see it I end up with a healthy plant

Guess I am still a newbie to all this

 

[Dave Spencer]

I don`t know whether you have read this, but it does seem to be a fragile plant.

http/www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=37

Dave.

 

[iroc]

I hadn't seen that, thank you. I think maybe I just need to wait it out to see if the plant recovers or if not needs to be replaced........... still learning

 

[iroc]

So here we are one week into the new scape. The Blyxa aubertii has had a very hard time, and lost a lot of it's folage. I have read that it is a very hard plant to grow and matbe wasn't the wise choice, but I have moved it from being accoss the rear of the tank of the right hand corner and horefully this area will have less movement from the filter and allow the plant to get stronger. My Lilaeopsis brasiliensis has started forming runners and is doing very well in terms of not losing peices. I added 2 X Crinum thaianum (from my 55 gal low light tank) in the area I removed the Blyxa aubertii. This tank will be ready for some new fish in a lil while.

Now some pics

Whole tank

Close up of the root clift

And of the Lilaeopsis brasiliensis shooting off runners

I'll post more updates as things change