George Farmer
ad aqua
I am due to become a father (again) very shortly - my wife is due in 2 weeks. Consequently I will have little spare time to maintain my tank the way I would like to. At the moment I have lots of fast growing stem plants that look great but need constant pruning and re-planting, a time consuming task – I probably spend over 4 hours a week “fiddling around”. My plan is to keep the heavily planted look but make it more “Nature” and less “Dutch” by removing/replacing some of the plants and moving things around.
This is my plan so far.
1. Remove and discard my 2 Echinodorus blehri (Amazon Swords). It will be sad to see them go as they have been in the tank from the start – over 2 years old. I do, however spend a fair bit of time removing leaves every week so time will be saved. Also being gross-feeders I expect the nutrients in my substrate will last longer without them. I will have to remove virtually all the other plants prior to this as the root structure will be massive and will disrupt the whole substrate.
2. Discard all stems plants except Hydrocotyle leucocephala (Pennywort) and Limnophila aromatica. These will be planted strategically to become weaker focal points. The Lily will remain where it is – not too sure how big the root structure is.
3. Move my bogwood/attached Java fern and moss to hopefully achieve the “optical centre or golden ratio”. I have some more additional bogwood that I may use and attach some Riccia fluitans. These will become the main focal point.
4. Replant hairgrass with additional purchased hairgrass to achieve a lawn effect running the entire tank foreground length.
5. Purchase lots more Vallisneria spiralis and Vallisneria gigantea (Straight and Giant Vallis) to form curtains on the left and right sides and background. These should grow quickly absorbing nutrients that my discarded plants used to do. I realise they’ll need thinning out regularly due to them sending out runners but this will be less time consuming than pruning and re-planting. I think the dense reed like look will look great. I’ll allow the leaves to trail on the surface providing shelter for the fish and shading the Java fern/moss.
I think the hardest things will be positioning the focal points. I’ve only just started to get into the artistic side of aquascaping. I seem to have cracked the science side of things, I’m actually content with my equipment now (although I wouldn’t say no to pressurized CO2!)
Any comments and suggestions would be welcome. I’ll take some photos as I progress.
This is my plan so far.
1. Remove and discard my 2 Echinodorus blehri (Amazon Swords). It will be sad to see them go as they have been in the tank from the start – over 2 years old. I do, however spend a fair bit of time removing leaves every week so time will be saved. Also being gross-feeders I expect the nutrients in my substrate will last longer without them. I will have to remove virtually all the other plants prior to this as the root structure will be massive and will disrupt the whole substrate.
2. Discard all stems plants except Hydrocotyle leucocephala (Pennywort) and Limnophila aromatica. These will be planted strategically to become weaker focal points. The Lily will remain where it is – not too sure how big the root structure is.
3. Move my bogwood/attached Java fern and moss to hopefully achieve the “optical centre or golden ratio”. I have some more additional bogwood that I may use and attach some Riccia fluitans. These will become the main focal point.
4. Replant hairgrass with additional purchased hairgrass to achieve a lawn effect running the entire tank foreground length.
5. Purchase lots more Vallisneria spiralis and Vallisneria gigantea (Straight and Giant Vallis) to form curtains on the left and right sides and background. These should grow quickly absorbing nutrients that my discarded plants used to do. I realise they’ll need thinning out regularly due to them sending out runners but this will be less time consuming than pruning and re-planting. I think the dense reed like look will look great. I’ll allow the leaves to trail on the surface providing shelter for the fish and shading the Java fern/moss.
I think the hardest things will be positioning the focal points. I’ve only just started to get into the artistic side of aquascaping. I seem to have cracked the science side of things, I’m actually content with my equipment now (although I wouldn’t say no to pressurized CO2!)
Any comments and suggestions would be welcome. I’ll take some photos as I progress.
