Craynerds Rekord70 Planted Tank

[Themuleous]

Sorry I was being an idiot, didnt see you had done that, most people just add to the end of the thread. This seems a good way of doing it thou, as you say you can see how in progresses all in one place.

Sam

EDIT - you gonna have a glosso carpet? I quite like just the white of the sand

 

[Bloo]

Looks fab - like it a lot

It's just quite confusing editing the first picture and then adding comments at the very bottom - I couldn't make sense of some of the coments, as they related to pictures that weren't there !
So it might be easier (and nicer) to see the actual change progress

 

[craynerd]

I thought that the original plan was a nice idea, but because I’d filled the background up with stem plants, cambomba and elodia, I felt the tank had no depth! It all just looked a bit TOO planted, like I’d just shoved/crammed as many green plants as possible into the tank!

I’ve changed it now and removed the java fern from the background and left it out of the tank completely. It was a lovely plant but a bit too big for my tank; it was blocking out a lot of light and taking up a lot of room on that back row. I’ve also made a more dense collection of cabomba on the right hand side which also nicely hides the CO2 ladder.

I`ve added the red "alternanthera cardinalis" and "cardamine lyrata" to the right hand side to build that up a little all behind the new small piece of bog wood! All that is missing now is like a mid sized, lettice like plant for behind the bog wood, precisely behind where the platty is in the picture.

One concern, is the plant at the foot of the original long bogwood, is it aqautic? I got is yesterday, it has roots but the leaves are very firm, and just wanted to make sure! I hope it is since it’s a lovely plant!

I`ve now cut the combomba down near where the java fern was a left a large cravis/gap just to the left center of the tank, allowing you to see the full depth of the planting and also giving much more depth to the tank! It also opens up a bit of background for you to see, which again is nice! The fish swim down the gap which also really makes the tank look much bigger and deeper!

I did this yesterday and can honestly say that the pictures (i`ve taken a few) really don`t do it justice! I dont understand why either! They make it look much more plain than before, but in real life i can honestly say it looks much more sculpted and thought about...the pictures just don’t convey this!

AS always! I’m open to as much constructive criticism as you can give! If it wasn’t for you previous views i wouldn’t have thought of doing half of what i have.

PS !! with the java fern gone, more light was getting to my bottom plants and both my riccia and glosso was perling last night!!!!!

 

[craynerd]

I dunno now...looking even more, has it lost character without the fern! I`ve still got it in a bucket i can cetainly put it back in...it just blocks light for my riccia and glosso!!!

Maybe i should just leave it and i`m sure it`ll all look different when it grows a bit...glosso carpet, riccia carpet!!! java fern!

java fern...vote out of tank or back in?

 

[lljdma06]

The plant at the foot of the bogwood looks an aweful lot like Japonese Rush to me, a non-aquatic plant. It is also a more temperate plant. A cryptocryne would be a good plant to replace it with.

Either a cryptocryne or a lotus would be a nice suggestion for the centerpiece plant where the platy is. I can just see lotus leaves peaking over the bogwood. It would look very attractive. But the cryptocryne would block your riccia and glosso less. Or have you tried Barclaya longifolia? It is another stunning midground plant that produces beautiful orchid-like flowers in the aquarium.

I like the tank better without the java. But that's just me. Perfect solution, buy another tank for the java!

 

[Themuleous]

Hi Chris

I like it now you've done some remodeling. To my eye the variation in height gives you more to look at and makes a bit more of a feature of the central bogwood. The red also breaks up the green too which adds more depth and variation to the whole scape.

When you say the foot of the bogwood, do you mean the righthand end? If so it looks like fountain grass, which is semi-aquatic and probably wont survive very long. If you take close up pic I can see which one you mean for sure.

Keep up the good work

Sam

 

[Alex_]

i like how your driftwood is placed and i would remove the corkscrew vals they should not be used as a foreground plants.

 

[craynerd]

ummm, thanks for your comments. The vallis in the foregrown is only very low and for now it gives the tank depth! i am getting some more plants today to finish the whole tank and maybe i shall replace it....thanks again for giving me the time and thanks for your comments!

 

[craynerd]

UPDATE: 5 APril 2006

OK, well i took you advice and removed the non-aquatic plant and also made a few more changes like condensing the cambomba together in the right hand corner since it was taking over the background.

I also have removed the vallis in the forground and replaced it with a water cabbage.

Added a tiger lotus to the back left behind the bog wood.

Added Barclaya longifolia behind the riccia and infront of the right hand piece of bogwood.

Added a whole range of vallis`, giant valis to the right infront of the filter, and at the back and replaced the cabomba in the tank center with straight vallis kindly donated by a TFF user! Also a small piece of java moss in the whole where the two bits of wood meet.

If you look carefully, there is also a crypt growing between the roots at the foot of the long bogwood going across my tank.

Glosso is growing and riccia is growing well

As always, advice and comments welcome....as you can see, i do listen!!!

Chris

 

[jimbooo]

you seem to be picking this up fast chris, well done. one tip on the glosso though. it will not grow into a compact carpet the way you have planted it. it will end up more of a hedge than a lawn. i'm not sure what look your trying to get but if you do want a lawn effect this is the painfull process you need to go through.

there are 2 types of glosso (not 2 species but bare with me). some of your glosso is growing upwards. ie the roots are at the base and the chain of plantlets grow upwards, on top of each other. these plantlets will keep growing up and up and not spread sideways as such.

the other type is where you get a plantlet, roots on the bottom and side shoots forming a chain along the substrate. these are the ones you want to plant, bin the others.

when you find a horizontal chain split each plantlet from the runner so your left with one root and 2 glosso leaves and a side shoot. plant this plantlet with tweezers in the substrate with the leaves just poking through the sand.

repeat this about 40 times and leave it be for about 2 weeks keeping co2 levels up. in 1 weeks you'll have something like this

which with a bit of luck will continue to grow into this

if your not looking for this effect just ignore me and carry on. I thought you'd be interested in this little tip though

 

[craynerd]

Ahhhh..Jimbooooo, dont depress me! Yes your right in your presumption, i do want a carpet!

Bugger...glad you have said!

Right, i know i question a lot of instructions, but sorry, once again i`m confused.

Luckly i had too much glosso and have been floating a little at the top of my tank. I`ve taken a picture and labeled a few pieces just simply so that you can refer to areas more easily!
I think i understand what you mean with the side runners, like D has the horizontal side runner (is this called a rhizome?) (which is actually running vertical in the picture!!) i dont understand the cutting bit tho!

Thats a bit upsetting to be honest, since i`ve actually been SEARCHING and planting pieces that look more like A !!!

Hope you can help further

Chris

 

[jimbooo]

sorry mate i know it's frustrating but if you want a carpet that is the best way to do it.

in the second picture (D) the bit your looking for is between 4 and 5. but for some reason almost all of the glosso in the picture is growing upwards. this happens when it's grown in low light. probably at the LFS. if it was sitting in there tanks for a while then it'll be reaching for the light and ends up growing upwards. it's going to be hard to make a full carpet with the glosso you have.

leave it be for now if you haven't already pulled it all out and i'll send you some of mine after my PFK visit. sorry i'm not touching anything until the photographer has come on the 20th april. 95% of mine are growing properly so you'll have a good selection of plantlets to start with.

this is all a learning curve, you've managed fantastically so far in such a short time so dont beat yourself up about it.

when i send it i'll cut up 3 or 4 plantlets ready to plant so you can see what you need to do. i'll leave the rest intact as when cut they will die in the post if not planted quickly.

 

[Dubby]

Chris, wish you luck with the glosso. There is another option to get the carpet look, use the riccia and spread it across the front of the tank. I think it will look lovely.

 

[craynerd]

Jimboo...that is a fantastic and genrous offer, of course i will give you some ££ for it!

It would be very appreciated!

I can`t wait for then! My LFS must have had it in the shop for a while since there is three left that i didnt buy and they were still there yesterday! It was very poor quality and tall stuff when i got it. However this hasn`t been helped by the fact that i`ve been looking for the wrong type to plant in what i had!

Thanks again jimboo and your comments dubby.

Regards
Chris

 

[craynerd]

Hi Guys,

Well i`ve let it settle a little and i have to say that the plants really are shooting up. Cabomba is growing by the day and the riccia is doing really well also. Vallis is surviving with some growth and the glosso as established in previous posts, is growing upwards

So i decided it needed a prune, and a good one at that. I`ve cut it this morning and taken pictures just now.

Does anyone else seem to think it still looks a little crouded...maybe i should totally remove some plants now?

Also, it a 72l = 19 g tank with 15 cardinals, 2 plattys and 2 ottos. I`d like a few more fish in it, a) have i room and B) what sort of fish would you suggest, i think i want something not as bright, that`ll mix in with the background nicely?

Also, has anyone noticed the quality of the pics has seriously reduced, the blacks are no longer as black and the pictures are much less defined...i can`t undertsand why since the settings on my camera are the same i`m sure?!!?


Anyways, as always, looking forward to some good advice and comments
Chris