How Do You People Do It?

[aparker2005]

Hey everyone............I'm 20 years old, and I've had fish since I was 6 years old. I now have a 30 gallon tank with guppies, mollies, and platys. I was looking at a lot of pictures of people's tanks on this forum..........and I'm just wondering how you people have such amazing looking tanks. I'm mainly talking about all of the plants/wood. It looks like a place where you would really find fish out in the wild, and they're all SO beautiful. I can never get my tank looking that good. This week, I was going to buy a lot more plants for my tank, but whenever I plant mine, they still never end up looking as "natural" and beautiful as you people's. Is it just very easy to do and I just not have creatvity? Just looking for some setup advice!

 

[dc3]

I'm kinda in the same situation as you - never had a good looking tank... If you're going the planted route - bump up your lighting - it does make a big difference - my dad's running T5's and a CO2 setup (there are some inexpensive options - saw one the other day for $26). Best thing to do is look for a used setup...

 

[aparker2005]

anyone else?

 

[StuCarr]

Do some research down in the planted forum. It takes as much research and knowledge to keep plants as it does fish.
I have set up a planted tank and keep researching. You don't have to spend a lot of money on lighting or Co2,you just need to know what plants will work with yor setup.
Stu

 

[aparker2005]

also, i've seen tanks on here that have plants planet everywhere and I'm wondering how you keep the tank that clean. Whenever you do clean it, is it a pain to have to take all of the plants out, or do you do it a different way? Thanks

 

[vinylman]

I read a good point once that when a fishkeeper has gone as far as he/she can with stocking their tank, they then turn to aquascaping. As for cleaning the tank, I've never had a problem. It just takes a little forethought; which plant to put where, which will grow up, which one will grow out. Like the main part of fishkeeping, preparation is everything. Aim for at least 2 wpg lighting-wise, and even tricky-ish plants should grow. My tank is around 70% planted, I do a little trimming every water change and I've never had any problems. For example, I'd never had any luck with Cabomba; they always fell to pieces. A couple of months ago, I stripped the tank, put in a layer of Tetra Complete substrate and changed the bog standard single 40w hood for an Arcadia overtank Luminaire. Simply doubling the wpg has had an unbelievable effect. I'm now trimming the Cabomba at every water change, too. Have a go, get creative and look at as many tanks as you can.

 

[Yazan]

It's a brain buster to get your tank looking good you have to think of ideas you never came by.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

one tip i've learnt along the way is less is more

stick to just a couple of species of plants and get loads of each one, same with fish (obviously depending on what numbers they like to be kept in etc).

try and get too much and you get noah's ark syndrome, it all looks a bit crowded, busy and messy. everything will sit much better together if you don't try to combine too many things.