# My Aunt 4 ft tank



## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Hi
This is my aunt's tank 1st step. Manage to put in the hardscape of driftwood only and progress have been slow. Will update when the rest of the plants are in.

I'm planning to put in java fern, java moss, other slow growing and low maintenance plants. Any suggestion on plants/aquascaping/... is appreciated.

The light for this tank is about 1.5 watt/gallon only. I may want to increase it to 2 depending on growth rate and look.

*Parameters*
Light - 1.5 watt/gallon
Filter by Eheim Classic 2217 (i think). 
Substrate - Aquaclay

Things are moving slow as she lives quite far away and I am always busy...

Anyways, here it is... Step 1 - hardscape


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## amber2461 (Jun 15, 2004)

It looks nice.


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## punie (Jan 10, 2005)

My humble opinion, if i may, is that you should move the dirftwood slighly out towards the front and right of the tank, by about 1 - 2 inches?

This way you can tie the nice bushy look of javaferns on the driftwood yet have a contrast of colours and leaves by planting some nice stems behind this hardscape.

Fill the foregrounds with Echinodorus Tenellus, a low demanding plant which also compliments the setup with its 'spikey' appearance and structure. Chucking some small clumps of nanas tied to wood/rocks strategically at the base of the wood and some bits of grey granite stones should help provide a nice contrast to the dark colours of the driwftwood.

All in all, a gorgeous piece of wood you got there!


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## mlfishman (Apr 4, 2005)

*whoa*

whoa there, I think your in the wrong forum....but that was extremely nice of you to notice....

>>All in all, a gorgeous piece of wood you got there!


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## Aaron (Feb 12, 2004)

If this is the only hardscape you will be using, I would slide over the wood to dead center and go for a triangle layout, sloping down from left to right. As it stands now, you will have a hard time working in plant material left of the wood as you are right up against the glass. You only option would be Java fern on the wood. In time, the fern will obscure mostly all of the wood as it would have no where to go but right. You definitely do not want to put that gorgeous piece in a position where it will eventually get swallowed by the plants.


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Hmmm... Good comments. They make a lot of sense.

Will try to center the wood and redirecting the branches. 

I was thinking of java fern (narrow leaf) and normal ones on the wood. 

For the left side, either put a big piece of wood there to tie ferns to it or plant some tall plants. However, the substrate is just aquaclay, no fertilizer or anything there. Moreover, I don't want to put stem plants as they are higher maintenance. Don't want to be travelling to help my aunt maintain her tank... ;-)

I have no experience with crypts but my impression is that it needs better substrate that what I intend to put in. For the ground, I am thinking of pure moss tied to flat rocks. Thinking about mini-pelia as well, if I can get my hands on those... ;-)

Hmmm... will figure it out and update when plants are in.... ;-)


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

mlfishman said:


> whoa there, I think your in the wrong forum....but that was extremely nice of you to notice....
> 
> >>All in all, a gorgeous piece of wood you got there!


Am I in a wrong forum... If yes, could the moderator direct me to another forum?


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## dmartin72 (Oct 9, 2004)

I think he was referring to the sexual innuendo from 'punie'...'gorgeous piece of wood.'


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

dmartin72 said:


> I think he was referring to the sexual innuendo from 'punie'...'gorgeous piece of wood.'


  I'm kinda slow in all these things... Also, I am quite new here, thought I was really in the wrong forum ;-) Thanks for pointing it out.


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## richy (Nov 8, 2004)

It truly is nice. I wonder if how it would look if you flipped the wood so that the "branches" are hanging down rather than facing upward. This would require the end of the piece to be touching the glass, but I would imagine it would look like the bottom/root of a tree protruding into the water, say, like, in a river system or something. I can't find anything that nice around here, unfortunately... Good luck and keep us updated as you fill it in with the plants. Can't wait to see the final scape.


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## |squee| (Feb 3, 2005)

Actually I feel it's too much to the left of the tank, I'd move it more to the right. The right side looks really really empty in its current position


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Agree with you Squee. Over the weekend, I moved the wood to the middle, added a few pieces of non-branchy wood on the left to be covered completely with java fern. Plan to do a triangle shape with left side totally covered with fern. Didn't take any photos though but plan to when almost completed.

Richy, that is a nice suggestion. I plan to do that probably in another aquarium with different wood. For this one, the wood structure is kinda hard to achieve that as they are chosen to achieve the current look. Thanks for comment.


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Update to the aquarium after 2 weekends. Tied moss and plants and awaiting growth now. Plan to add a little more light to make it 2 watt/gallon and CO2 which I have bought but unfortunately, solenoid missing the valve. Will exchange it later.

Anyways, here is the tank.


The middle bunch of plants is not planted and are floating. Going to leave it there as some reserve plants if I need to do more planting.

Sorry, didn't have any other photos.

Comments appreciated.
;-)


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Plant moss around the branches coming out of the base. Use regular Java fern to fill in the back left area. Followed by Bolbitus sp. or Narrow leaf Java ferns to fill in the midground. Then you can use Anubias sp. to fill in the crevices towards the base's bottom. And finally a grassy-sp. around the base. Try HC as a foreground plant, it complements the aquascape nicely.

Also, you should get rid of the white pebbles; they are quite distracting. Try using bigger/dark rocks around the base to help emphasize it. And try sloping the substrate more, making the bogwood appear on the highest point. Smooth it out, too, to make it less distracting. 

Otherwise, I think this tank can become a great aquascape. What fish do you plan on housing here?


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Raul-7 said:


> Plant moss around the branches coming out of the base. Use regular Java fern to fill in the back left area. Followed by Bolbitus sp. or Narrow leaf Java ferns to fill in the midground. Then you can use Anubias sp. to fill in the crevices towards the base's bottom. And finally a grassy-sp. around the base. Try HC as a foreground plant, it complements the aquascape nicely.
> 
> Also, you should get rid of the white pebbles; they are quite distracting. Try using bigger/dark rocks around the base to help emphasize it. And try sloping the substrate more, making the bogwood appear on the highest point. Smooth it out, too, to make it less distracting.
> 
> Otherwise, I think this tank can become a great aquascape. What fish do you plan on housing here?


Thanks for the comment. The foreground, I am planting mosses. The rocks you see is tied with moss. When it grows, it will cover it up. I don't have base substrate for this and also the substrate is quite thin. Therefore, not planning to have anything that need rich substrate.

As for fish, I am getting congo tetra and some smaller schooling tetras. Perhaps 1 or 2 lily gourami... Now, I am waiting for the plants to grow first before deciding on this.

BTW. Is the nana in front distracting... I am thinking of replacing it with something else.


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## Aaron (Feb 12, 2004)

Have you considered not even using a substrate and putting your moss rocks on the bare bottom? I found it easier to clean this way as the moss loves to trap a lot of detritus. The bare bottom made it a lot quicker to clean up the mess. 

Try putting the Anubias on the substrate instead of attaching it to the wood. It will look a bit more natural and will serve as a nice transition from foreground to hardscape.


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Aaron said:


> Have you considered not even using a substrate and putting your moss rocks on the bare bottom? I found it easier to clean this way as the moss loves to trap a lot of detritus. The bare bottom made it a lot quicker to clean up the mess.
> 
> Try putting the Anubias on the substrate instead of attaching it to the wood. It will look a bit more natural and will serve as a nice transition from foreground to hardscape.


Thanks for the advice. Make sense, the nana on the substrate. I think I will try that out when things grows.

I agree and found it to be true that cleaning the detritus is a hassle. However, it is hard to let go the substrate as it looks nice, the color clashing with the green.


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## mlfishman (Apr 4, 2005)

*humor*

Sorry, that was just my obnoxious sense of humor getting the best of me.....your in the correct forum.



dmartin72 said:


> I think he was referring to the sexual innuendo from 'punie'...'gorgeous piece of wood.'


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

*Update 17/July/2005*

Update to the tank after some time of letting it grow. I just went to her house to put in congo tetra, kuhli loach and cardinal tetra. Previously added quite a number of cherry, bee and blue.

Click on photo for bigger picture.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Oh wow! Nicely done.


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## BigFoot (Jan 3, 2005)

NICE TANK!!!!!!!!!!!! I just wish mine looked that good.


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Thanks for the comments. I am now waiting for the fern and nana to grow more to fill up the left side. I have not put any fert in so far, will recommend my aunt and teach her to dose fert.


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