Tank Doesn't Look Right...

[onidrase]

Note, I'm not able to really buy anything new for the tank right now (I'm putting my money toward a new tank for my female convict and her -hopefully- future mate) and I think if I just rescape it a bit I can have a prettier looking tank.

Anyways. Here's what I'm working with.

(the tank water is leaning not because the stand is on a slant or something, but because I live in a crooked house.)

In a nutshell, the tank consists of this:

2 medium size pieces of mopani wood
1 large piece of something that was simply labeled "driftwood"
1 Java fern anchored to a decent sized piece of driftwood
1 Java fern not anchored to driftwood
2 anubias nana anchored to nothing
2 anubias barteri (that's what they were sold to me as, but the tall one looks a lot different than the short one, the short ones leafs fan out a bit, whereas the tall ones point upwards.)
Quikrete play sand substrate
150 watt Aqueon Pro Heater
75 gallon marineland biowheel filter

Tank dimensions 30"Lx12"Wx24"H

Stocking
9 black skirt tetras
6 red eye tetras
5 black khuli loaches
1 Firemouth cichlid
1 Convict cichlid (temporary)

I tried reading around about aquascaping and such, and ultimately, it just made my head hurt, and I could use a little guiding hand, here.

Advice, suggestions, criticism, and compliments all appreciated.

 

[Zikofski]

tank looks gd to me if i had to make a change maybe moving the two plants n the right to the back maybe turning the woods around flipping them try just playing around one day u do a water change if you want to buy something something like new sand may help different colour? aquascaping is a mind hurting experience lol

 

[LucyB]

I think it would look better with some tall plants at the back

 

[Lufbramatt]

Its difficult as the proportions of the tank are weird, with it being tall but shallow front to back. Maybe you can swap your small bits of wood for a single big bit of wood (similar to the bit in Zikovski's tank above^ ) that you can put in diagonally, say from top right to bottom left, to use some of the upper area of the tank. Then put your plants around the bottom of the wood so the wood leads your eye down to the plants.

You could get some vallis to put along the back of the tank, it will grow tall and make the most of the height, and cover up the filter intake.

 

[onidrase]

Its difficult as the proportions of the tank are weird, with it being tall but shallow front to back. Maybe you can swap your small bits of wood for a single big bit of wood (similar to the bit in Zikovski's tank above^ ) that you can put in diagonally, say from top right to bottom left, to use some of the upper area of the tank. Then put your plants around the bottom of the wood so the wood leads your eye down to the plants.

You could get some vallis to put along the back of the tank, it will grow tall and make the most of the height, and cover up the filter intake.

Some vallis.. Doesn't ring any bells I'm bad with my plant names. Can you tell me a bit more about these? What sort of light do they require? I've been trying to stick with low lighting plants, as my tank only has a tiny LED bar on the top of the lid, I'm unsure of what sort of light it puts out.

I'm gonna play with it a bit in just a moment, pictures coming soon

 

[StandbySetting]

Here's what I'd do:

Shift the wood that is high lighted orange into the red position, and the wood highlighted blue into the green position. The pink lines separate the tank into thirds and moving the wood into the positions I have recommended would create a focal point represented by the yellow circle.

I hope that makes sense, then I'd just add more plants taller ones at the back, smaller at the front etc.

 

[Lufbramatt]

vallis looks like tall grass, long thin leaves. Seems to be pretty easy to grow, it survives and grows fine in my african cichlid tank with normal T8 lighting, sand substrate and no CO2, fertilisers or anything. Might be worth getting some tube lights though in the long run, your other plants will appreciate it. Nothing fancy just one or two 24" tubes on a cheap arcadia ballast.

 

[onidrase]

here's what I've got now

Still debating on if it's better, worse, or about the same

I'm having a bit of trouble with Jim's piece of driftwood, honestly. (Jim is my java fern, respect his authority)

The smaller driftwood piece on the right side of the tank is kind of a hassle now, but all the khuli loaches love it, and for good reason. It doubles up as a very nice cave, as the back of it is very flat and hollow. So I want to keep it, even if it is a problem.

The bigger piece, (which is actually two pieces of driftwood, one mopani one something that isn't really named) tangle together pretty well, I can make a lot of different positions with them, but so far, I like this one best.

More advice, criticism, hatred, trolling, compliments, praise, or maybe some worship is appreciated

thanks, guys

 

[StandbySetting]

Try moving what you have now just to the left a tad and slope the substrate towards the rear.

 

[onidrase]

vallis looks like tall grass, long thin leaves. Seems to be pretty easy to grow, it survives and grows fine in my african cichlid tank with normal T8 lighting, sand substrate and no CO2, fertilisers or anything. Might be worth getting some tube lights though in the long run, your other plants will appreciate it. Nothing fancy just one or two 24" tubes on a cheap arcadia ballast.

Easier said than done the light is built into the hood, and I kinda like the hood, it opens up completely, and dodges the filter quite nicely, so I don't have to remove the entire hood if I want to add something big or do a good sand clean up or clean off the driftwood. I also like the moon lights on the LED bar, though I don't use them as much as I used to maybe some day, but I think I'll stick with the silly LED thing for now.

I might try for some more java ferns, though, do those get tell enough, do you think?

Try moving what you have now just to the left a tad and slope the substrate towards the rear.

Alright, trying it now, no guarantees the substrate will stay in the back for long my firemouth loves scooping it and shooting it at the front and side of the aquariums he may be small, but he gets work done during the day

Should I move the entirety of what I have to the left, or just the bigger piece?

 

[Baccus]

Just my personal preferance but I always like to look at my tank and imagine its a small slice of creek that I have captured and put in captivity. So I generally try to place large timber to one side and imagine where the flow from the creek head waters is coming from, by doing this I can put the plants on the lee side of the timber/ rocks and make it look like they naturally would have sprouted in a protected spot. Also by imagining where the flow is coming from in my little pretend creek I am also able to pile the substrate in the places that it would naturally accumolate.

But then that's just my taste

 

[StandbySetting]

All of the wood to the left, basically so there there is no symmetry.

 

[This Old Spouse]

The anubias need to be anchored to some wood. I'd probably have a piece or two of wood pointing upwards to fill up some of the vertical space. I have this same tank, and that was always a problem. Still is ... I'm going to look for some driftwood that's from the root ball to take up as much space as I can.

One thing I've found in scaping is that it always looks more natural to me to tuck plants in next to the wood so it looks like what you'd find underwater in a lake or stream. And since you don't have any cory, I'd throw some small stones in there to break up all that ground.

 

[onidrase]

The anubias need to be anchored to some wood. I'd probably have a piece or two of wood pointing upwards to fill up some of the vertical space. I have this same tank, and that was always a problem. Still is ... I'm going to look for some driftwood that's from the root ball to take up as much space as I can.

One thing I've found in scaping is that it always looks more natural to me to tuck plants in next to the wood so it looks like what you'd find underwater in a lake or stream. And since you don't have any cory, I'd throw some small stones in there to break up all that ground.

Agh, do they really have to be anchored? Mine have been thriving moreso than any other plant I've had just planted in the substrate as so, I was thinking of getting some rive rocks and laying them around the base of all the anubias once I could.

Also, I do have the khuli loaches, which seem to sift the sand around and dig around in it as much as I would expect from a cory cat

If the anubias need anchoring, could I just anchor them to a smaller stone or something rather than driftwood chunks? Jim's driftwood anchor is a big hassle as it is I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it.

I've finished my scape playing for today, though. Gonna give it a rest for a while, let things settle in for a few weeks while my Jim's are having little Jim babies which I want to make use of, and such. I'll post a picture of the result once it gets to my email.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Anubias and java fern both need to be attached. If you do put them on the substrate, only bury about half the length of the roots. Tying them to a small stone with cotton thread and putting them on the substrate is much better. They will do good for a while planted, but eventually just rot away.