# Aquascapers Challenge



## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

**Disclaimer** - I'm hoping to make this fun to read in order to keep you interested enough to help me in the end.

I wanted to call this thread the Designers Challenge, but that was taken by a home improvement channel and didn't want to get sued.  That said I'm turning to the experts and the more experienced alike, which if your reading this but it hasn't sunk in I mean you. :hail:

I've been my worst enemy at my attempts with planted aquariums and I have finally been on the right track thanks in great part to some of the help from this site and others. I've gone through a great deal of expense with my many trial and errors getting poor if not flat out wrong information from my NJ LFS over the years. Sadly yes over the years because frustration would set in causing me to give up. Now that I've shared my sad story and completely done the opposite of what the Disclaimer implied I'll need you to draw you back in.

Now I'm back with a 120 gal planted aquarium and was able to find a decent selection of plants at a LFS that was reasonably price in comparison to other LFS. They gave me good advice and suggested easy growing plants which have done really well in my tank. So your mission if you choose to accept it is to help aquascape my tank.

This is what we have to work with.
Tank = 120 gal (Length 60in Width 18in Height 28in)
Lighting = 1.83w/gal Total 220 watts (4x55w CF (2) 6700k & (2) 9325k) -considering adding 2 96w
Substrate Mix = Flourite 60%, Sand 20%, Eco-Complete 10%, small and large pebel 10%
Filtration = AquaClear110 (water level is high so it doesn't release to much C02), Rio1700 for C02 Reactor 20lb C02 tank
Fish = 40 Rummy Noses, 30 Cardinals, 1 Clown, 7 Ottos, 1 Large Catfish Syn something, 3 Corys, 15 Ghost Shrimp, 1 Japonica Shrimp
Decorations = Big piece of driftwood, Big boat for the Cat to hide, Gargoyle

Plants (hope I've identified them correctly)
Wisteria, Ludwigia Repens, Ludwigia Brevipes, Narrow Leaf Ludwigia, Bacopa Monnieri, Nesaea Crassicaulis, Cryptocoryne Wendtii, Marble Queen Amazon, Amazon Sword, Hemianthus Callitrichoides, Dwarf Sagittaria, Parrots Feather, Water Sprite, Fox Tail
Notes: out of all these plants the HC isn't doing to good, and the Nesaea Crassicaulis only looks good when it's closest to the top.

I'll post pictures soon when I figure it out.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

If you haven't seen this, you might want to read through it. Personally, I am of the opinon that one person's perfect scape is another person's 'jungle' and another person's 'lightly planted tank'. So much of it is personal style, likes, etc.

Do post some pics and I'm sure you will have folks chiming in with various suggestions.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Well I think I've managed to get small enough file sized to attach the pictures. Let's see how this works out with opinions coming. I attempted to take the pictures in 1/3 so I would lose to much of the detail. Don't mine the back I have to squeeze back in there to clean the water stains on the outside of tank sooner or later.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Thanks Bert I had read that article but I have a hard time applying the concept with my size tank and plants. Most of my plants are stems and I feel terrible about clipping them cause I butchered them the 1st time, but I'm getting better.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Well as you can tell from the dates it been a while and many attempts I finally just let the tank sit for while doing very little. I had a relaps and focused on fish again mostly Tetras and my favorite blue rams. But Feb. tank of the month winner Jessie has re-inspired me and a few other cool journals I'm getting around to reading.

It's going to take a little more effort but I have 1 or 2 plants I have nurse back to health. I'll take and post better partial pics when I get the chance.

Before (bad hack job.)









After (certainly getting more attention)


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## Kongo (Apr 15, 2004)

looks nice


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

It's looking good and you're getting a much nicer flow to the tank. Is there any reason why you're keeping the crypts in pots? The pots are a little distracting.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

*Kongo* Thanks Still a work in progress.

*CS_Gardener* The small ones I hope to trade locally I don't have another tank to transfer them out to yet.

To be honest the large ones in the back are in clay pots too, I'm hoping it will save me some time. Cryps have a tendency to spread via roots and created mess trying to move them not to mention getting rid of the new plants was a challenge. The tank with hood is 5 ft tall making it difficult to access from the top. Removing the 5ft hood alone is doable but awkward. I'm hoping the tank will fix itself once of the other plants fill in.

Building a short stand and better design for my hood making more accessable in my future.  But I'm going to experiment on one of my 55gal tanks first.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Well I have my new DIY hood over my 120 tank, 2 80w GE 6500K and 2 55w GE 9325K PC.

Changed the hood from an unmanageable this









To an easier maintenance friendly with more lighting this









This is what it looks like with both T5 and PC on









Still working on the aquascape but I'm trying to determine what kind of plants I really want. The far right side behind the big rock is pretty much set I'm happy with it although I need to spread the stems further a part since they've grown.

More Pictures off DIY Hood.
http://s258.photobucket.com/albums/hh251/jay973_photos/hood/?albumview=grid


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

It's looking good! I like the right side as well, it has a nice blend of colors and while it's a bit untamed it's not a total wilderness. The left is cool too, although the far left stem plant is a bit too much. Maybe trim it down and spread it out a bit or something - it's drawing too much attention to itself. I like the Anubias, moss? covered wood, Crypt? and airy stem plant combination (can you tell I'm not good with ids?). I can't tell what is in your central valley but it doesn't really tie your two sides together. Overall, it's coming along nicely and has definitely improved since your last pictures. Keep up the good work!


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## AmberLynn (Mar 30, 2008)

i think your tank looks great..
i love that theres some open space
makes it seem more well, for lack of a better term right at this moment.. open..
im not as smart as these other guys, but hey.. lol
keep up the good work


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I thnik it has potential. First I would put a dark background on the back glass, either black or dark blue. Go to a fabric store and buy some black felt. I would strengthen what you have leaving the groups of tall plants on each side and build up the foreground. Perhaps slope up the center some and completely carpet the whole area and foreground or have some focal point just left of center that is higher than the foreground but still leaves the upper two thirds empty space. Maybe a piece of wood with various small plants around it.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

*CS_Gardener:* Thank you, The plant on the left is a Rotala Rotundifolia which I agree it's taking up that whole left side but it's playing two parts: cover for a ship that is home to a very large Spotted Raphael Cat and the tank is my grow out tank. I will be trimming it soon to move plants into my low tech 20g, where I'm trying to breed rams. The ship is a large and difficult to blend in I've tried getting plants to attach to it but all I've manage to do is get Algae. Which by the way is the same thing attached to the driftwood...LOL but I can live with it. I enjoy watching the fish over it I would swear they look like there grazing..LOL There are plants in middle there Hygrophila Difformis (water sprite) that hasn't filled in yet but it's growing fast.

*AmberLynn:* Thank you, I really like the open middle and I hope to keep it like that in the front which is why I'm growing out some Glosso. As much as I enjoy my attempts at a planted aquarium I love the comic relief my fish add. There are a lot of people with years of experience on me I'm only going on this for 2 yrs now and for the 1.5 yrs all I managed to grow was algae at alarming rates. The good news is there are place like this to get us on the right path.

*Robert Hudson:* I'm with you I definitely want to get something back there that pops. It just turns out that I bought an extendible squeegee in order to get the back glass clean. I managed to get water deposit buildup on there. I think I can picture what your saying and I'm hoping to get a little closer as some of the other plants mature it's taking a little longer than expect 

Thanks for the Replies

A little off topic but my 20g Rams have eggs so I hope to have that heavily planted from the 120 some day.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

It's been a while since I've posted updates on my 120 gallon. One the tank was out of service for sometime and two I've been doing a lot of research to make sure I get the results I want. Before I started with an algae tank and tried to make it planted which only gave me poor results.

10/14/08 SMS Charcoal - Drift wood - Crypt Wendtii - Blyxa (just for the sake of having plants in there.)









10/15/08 Added a few more fast growing stem plants thanks to NJAGC memebers









10/23/08 plants still aclimating to my tank









11/01/08 Noticable growth









11/09/08 Filling nicely.









11/19/08 Minor changes moved some plants round









I haven't decided the aquascaping yet I'm still looking for a little inspiration.  I think its a significant improvement over my previous attempts now that I'm better informed and local club support I get to see what other people are doing in the hobby. I would recommend any interested in a planted tank to look for local clubs as an excellent resource for information.


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## gasteriaphile (Nov 25, 2008)

The last post was March of 2008. I wonder if the threads on this Forum are arranged alphabetically? I will check after this note and see. But meanwhile, for anyone who also got interested in this thread, here now in December, I can add the following suggestion.

One of the first books on aquascaping that I ran across (after Amano's) was produced by a pair of Japanese: Satoshi Yoshino and Doshin Kobayashi. It is called The Natural Aquarium: How to Imitate Nature in your Home (1996); isbn 0-86622-629-x. It can still be acquired; I got mine on amazon.

I think the title and subtitle are not appropriate. The designs are not "natural", but they do exhibit good design principles. What I like about this book, over say Amano's, is that they show you how to do it. There are over 20 different layouts featured, exhibiting several different biomes. In each case, the authors show you a good photo of the finished product, then they give plan view and perspective drawings of the design elements (plants). All of the plants in the design drawings are labeled! So you can see exactly what they did. Complete specifications are also given as (DATA) too: water temp., tank dimensions, illumination stats, substrate, etc.

I got this first from my local library and liked it so much I bought it.

Hope this helps, g


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Here's the image with the background on. I'm still playing with plant placements but it's coming along and filling in nicely. I have to do a better job of taking pictures because my ability doesn't give it justice.










Flora:
Anubias barteri v. 'nana'
Anubias barteri v. 'nana petite'
Blyxa japonica
Bacopa monnieri
Echinodorus cordifolius (Tropica Marble Queen)
Echinodorus osiris (Melon Sword)
Hydrocharis morsus (Frogbit)
Hygrophila corymbosa v. 'Angustifolia'
Lobelia cardinalis sp dwarf
Ludwigia inclinata v. verticillata 'Cuba'
Ludwigia repens
Microsorum pteropus (Java)
Myriophyllum mattogrossense
Myriophyllum pinnatum (Green Foxtail)
Pogostemon stellatus sp narrow leaf
Rotala rotundifolia sp green
Rotala rotundifolia sp Colorata
Sagittaria subulata (Dwarf Sagittaria)
Taxiphyllum sp (Flame Moss)

*gasteriaphile:* Thanks. I'll look into that book it might just make a good X-mas gift.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

You've come a long way. When you compare all your layouts you can really see your skill level improve. Your groupings are tight and thick, you have a definate foreground. Your tank flows from one side to the other. The plop of dwarf sag standing alone in the front middle is a bit overwhelming. If it were growing toward the middle from a side or something I think it would be better. It also seems like it's a little too tall. Maybe another plants, shorter would be a good idea as well.

You have come a long way! Keep up the good work.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Your new layout is a great. You've really improved a lot in how your arrange your plants and the wood is excellent. I agree with Texgal that the sag is a bit overwhelming. I think it would work better used as a midground plant or near the edges of the tank. While you have a beautiful, lush background, the fore and mid-ground really don't connect with it and it would improve the overall look of the tank to work on developing them (I'm still working on developing good mid-grounds, it's harder than you think it should be).


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Tex gal and CS_Gardener thanks for the comments you are both dead on about the dwarf sag. and I knew it would get completely out of control as it did in the previous setup, it creeps all over the tank if you let it. 

I was keeping it temporarily until I could figure out what to do as a foreground plant HC, Glosso, or something else. I recently took the plant out as it's not one of my favorite and replaced it with Blyxa which is much more appealing and won't be an eye sore as it fills in. It will also buy me sometime to experiment with other plants.

Midground plants have been quite a challenge for me too. I find my self having to trim plants more frequently to keep them to size or some of the ones I prefer are to slow a grow and buying a substantial size of Anubias for example would be costly.

Plant placement is still a work in progress I've been use digital photos as a tool this go around to help me scape. The still pictures, at least for me, make it easier to plan or envision changes. I guess the livestock in the tank easily distracts me...LOL


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## gasteriaphile (Nov 25, 2008)

Jay, you haven't mentioned an algal problems. Is that because you have not had any? or ??
With all of that light it's a wonder you haven't if that is the case. And, IF you haven't had any problems, then I would be interested in the things you think you've done to avoid same. Your plants are very healthy looking and the design is coming along. Regards, g.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

*gasteriaphile:* I did have diatom problems early on getting the tank established and unfortunately recently added hair algae from another infected tank via plants. Algae control are RCS, Otos and soon to be added a pair of Starlight bushy nose plecos, but luckily nothing serious to contend with.

I've never had a tank this densely planted as you can see from the last attempt I'm still learning as I go. I have plants that I'm learning show deficiency pretty quickly. I could tell you I've been doing water changes every 2 weeks with RO water and using equilibrium. 1/4 tspn of CSM +B; 1/2 tspn K; 1.09ppm of KNo3; on alternating days when I remember. Lighting is 8-10hrs.

The problem is the science behind a planted tank has to many possibilities and what may work for one person may not work for another.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Well I'm still playing around with plant arrangements but when will that ever end. I'm having problems growing Blyxa for some reason it seems to be a PS favorite. There always covered in baby PS it drives me nuts. I've also been getting less growth since my temp was raised to 80-81 degrees but since Discus maybe out of the question for now. I may just lower the temp again just to see if I get better results again.

The plastic floating around the back left side has Ricca which I'm trying to grow compact again. The original plant became larger than a dinner plate and it was to big to float around this tank.

Algae is becoming more of a problem the SAE seem to just rip at it floats off and starts growing somewhere else. I've been removing it where possible or hitting it with Excel elsewhere which has worked great. I plan on experimenting with peroxide to combat algae as well soon, some people swear by it at least for the driftwood some plants maybe to sensitive.

Here are a couple of shots of the tank the way it is now I'm trying to grow out a few different plants for NJAGC's next club meeting.

Left side









Right side


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Try some root tabs under your blyxa. They are heavy root feeders, I have found. Make sure they are not shadowed by the stem plants in the back. Very lush!


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Poor attempt at a whole tank shot but here it goes anyway.


















Thanks Tex Gal I guess I'll make the attempt. I'm not sure the Blyxa is even rooting all that well maybe that will promote growth, although when it was growing/spreading there wasn't anything in the gravel then either.

I am going to put 4 80w T5's on there sometime this week instead of the combination of PC and T5's I have on there right now, along with a trim in a few days. My Repens is over 2 feet tall as it curls to the top of the tank.


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## jay973 (Aug 14, 2007)

Please excuse the poor pic as I've been playing around with manual settings on my point&shoot digital camera. It is also a little cloudy because of disturbing SMS while replanting.










I've made small changes to the scape using the trusty compound miter saw to make to cut a few pieces of driftwood into shape. I've cut a few plants on the right side short than usual because I was replanting tops this go around. Luckily they are fast growers so I hope to have them visible over the driftwood by the end of the week. I'm devising a plan for the left side sense that small space was originally my grow out area. It will be due for another trim by the end of the week so I hope to do a better job at it.

Rummy Nose are schooling nicely but the Cardinals a still hiding amongst the brush :yawinkle:


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