# My simple layout.



## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

This is my first attempt at anything slightly resembling an aquascape.. In the past I've just been trying to stuff any and every plant I found appealing into my tank.










specs:
29 gallon
pressurised c02
110w pc
GW ferts
Flourish

comments/suggestions welcome


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Well, I am sure some will comment on the discus so I won't

That is a good start for a triangular layout that gives lots of swimming space for the fish. All in all you have the basic idea right. I would recommend though that you make your initial layout larger, about 30-50% larger, as the hardscape will be quickly lost as the plants grow. Once the small rocks disappear then much of the weight of the composition will be lost and the tank will seem poorly balanced. I would recommend at least 1 more larger rock so that 3 are visible. If you wanted to add more smaller ones, the 3 more that are about 1/2 the size of what you already have would help to balance and "plant" the hardscape in the tank. Makign everythign bigger and spreading it out will give you more room to plant the stem plants. with a tank that tall, the small foot print you have for th estems will be quickly eaten up makign the arrangment seem top heavy.

Excellent job planting all that glosso. I don't envy your tweezer fingers


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

Thanks for your advice Dennis! Initially I wanted to have more rocks but I was only able to source a single rock like this.. I ended up splitting it in half so I would at least have 2.. ](*,) 

behind the larger rock half a lot (about 10+ stems) of shorter rotala tops are hidden from view at this point, once it grows in I plan to keep it manicured just above the rocks to keep about 50% of the upper portion clear for swimming space and probably shorten the bacopa on the right to give a smoother transition to the glosso.. I don't plan on letting anything obscure the view of both rocks.. unless the glosso starts getting thick then these tweezer fingers go to work again..


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## vishy_100 (Jul 1, 2005)

Looking good I love glosso lawns, you may also want to give micramthemum micramthemoides a shot and maybe ludwiga arcuata. Amano has some nice tanks around that size in his books if you need extra ideas. Looking good, keep us updated,
Matt


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

Thanks Matt! The plants you suggest look wonderful, I'll try to keep an eye out for them and I'll be sure to post some updated pics once it grows in a bit.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

OK...I will comment! A discus in a 29 gallon tank! Thats like putting a baby Oscar in a ten gallon tank!  Its a good simple layout that will take shape when the plants grow in. It will be interesting to see in a couple months.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

I think the layout is a very good start and should look even better with more growth.

Is it me or are there actually two discus in there?

In any case, strongly recommend removing the discus. I would also remove the clown loach. Both species need larger tanks...


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

I am surprised that no one has been more critical with this layout other than taking out the discus. 

The goal of an aquascape is never to be simple but to be minimalistic (if that is your goal). The few rocks and stem plants on the far left are just not a good start. Not only do you not have enough plants to ward off algae and the like in the beginning stages, your rocks are so small that even when the plants in the background do grow out they will be totally overwhelmed. So:

1) Find bigger rocks

2) Plant more stem plants, plant more densely, and increase the spread farther to the right.

3) Place the discus in a larger aquarium

Keep us updated on your progress! Don't want to scare you away, but I think it is really important that you address these issues if you want a successful layout.

Carlos


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

ya since Discus are soooo active they require a big tank for reasons other than water quality..  

the goal here was to open the tank up as much as I could for the discus, even tho they hardly use all this open space I've provided.. and to create a nice glosso lawn.

dont worry, the loach was a tool to remove some snails.. I guess he could find his way into my 210 gallon 2ft arowana tank ^^

anyway, joking aside, thanks everyone


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

small update, the collector in me couldnt resist and added some HC (same reason I have these fish.. :axe: )










thank you for your reccomendation of fert routine geared towards my higher bioload Plantbrain, its working out well..  








last wc was wednesday


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## Rek (Jul 19, 2005)

nice tank

29 gallon what L are? tnks


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Some nice plant growth. Still, the rock arrangement is poor and makes little impression. Although your goals are to make as much open space as possible for the fish, I think you've pretty much shot a foot into creating a good layout.

Carlos


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

Rek said:


> nice tank
> 
> 29 gallon what L are? tnks


Thanks! I think it should be about 110L.



tsunami said:


> Some nice plant growth. Still, the rock arrangement is poor and makes little impression. Although your goals are to make as much open space as possible for the fish, I think you've pretty much shot a foot into creating a good layout.
> 
> Carlos


I do agree with you, tho it is pretty rough trying to put larger rocks in such a narrow tank.. even with rocks this size I dont have much room to plant in front or behind. I've been thinking of upgrading to a 75 for a while so maybe we'll see a second attempt soon.


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## dmartin72 (Oct 9, 2004)

I for one do not think that you need larger rocks. Once those stem plants grow in a little and you do a trim to get nice and bushy, I think it will give a more balanced look to your scape! Plus the glosso with thicken up to help fill about another inch or two up from the ground. I've always liked this type of scape. It is very reminiscent of Amano's Discus tank he did a long time ago. Just a lot smaller.


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

Thank you David!


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

me like  
simple n beautiful


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

mor b said:


> me like
> simple n beautiful


Thank you!


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## mxpx4318 (Jun 4, 2005)

yep, I love the way the glosso has really filled in, I noticed your pics were labeled w/ days, that's amazing the change in the glosso from 7-15, I hope mine does as well (I get to plant it tomorrow, that'll be fun fun fun).

Phillip


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

mxpx4318 said:


> yep, I love the way the glosso has really filled in, I noticed your pics were labeled w/ days, that's amazing the change in the glosso from 7-15, I hope mine does as well (I get to plant it tomorrow, that'll be fun fun fun).
> 
> Phillip


Thanks, I was pretty amazed myself! I think the trick is to have plenty of ferts, co2 and not have the glosso shaded by anything. I followed the excellent planting guide here: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=9137


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## fishfry (Apr 15, 2004)

I think your aquascape can look very pretty if you let the stem plants get a little taller in the back corner. I think the aquascape definitely meets your expectations.


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

fishfry said:


> I think your aquascape can look very pretty if you let the stem plants get a little taller in the back corner. I think the aquascape definitely meets your expectations.


thanks! I just replanted some rotala tops back in the corner earlier today so we'll see how it fills in.


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

update: removed the less dominant discus, clown loach and SAEs (they ruined my HC attempt and crowded the tank[smilie=e: ).. anybody want some glosso? 

[IMG]http://img471.imageshack.us/img471/355/day296fd.jpg[/IMG]


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## DiPpY eGgS (Jun 3, 2005)

Looks great!

If it was my tank, I would remove the fern and put more stem plants in it's place. Then I would trim the Glosso way down because the plants underneath might rot, causing your mat to come up... I'll take the extra Glosso!


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## holocron (May 29, 2005)

I think its a great tank! It's always so sad to see the glosso overrun itself though eh? for about 4 weeks it just looks amazing.

Hope you're discus are doing ok.


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> Looks great!
> 
> If it was my tank, I would remove the fern and put more stem plants in it's place. Then I would trim the Glosso way down because the plants underneath might rot, causing your mat to come up... I'll take the extra Glosso!


Thanks! Excellent suggestion, I might try it with micramthemum micramthemoides as suggested earlier.. my only worry is that its a somewhat shaded corner with equipment and my lack of skill to create a good stemplant to forground substrate transition.. but this plant might make it easier.

My plan for the glosso is to pull up the whole mat and replant.. its alot more work but I never seem to get a nice even look trimming it back, I tried it a bit with this one and that is why it seems somewhat uneven already.. with very little trimming.. altho I do not own any specialized scissors. so I will have much glosso to give away, PM your mailing address and I'll try to send it out as soon as I get motivated enough for the replanting session. (should be this week or early next)



holocron said:


> I think its a great tank! It's always so sad to see the glosso overrun itself though eh? for about 4 weeks it just looks amazing.
> 
> Hope you're discus are doing ok.


Hahaha.. thanks! ya.. with a high revving tank glosso can really move and look great for a while, but after about the fourth lap over itself my tweezer arm and back start to ache just looking at it.  I really hope I can get something out of the few shreds of HC I have left floating around and eventually replace the glosso with it.. grows a bit slower at least. 

The Discus seems to be doing quite well even in my hard water (KH~15) I'd say I bought him about 5-6 months ago at ~2". They do eat like pigs but I find a feeding cone really helps with this. I had read on discus forums that most people have trouble growing them out in planted tanks.. but mine seem to be growing ok.


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## holocron (May 29, 2005)

> Hahaha.. thanks! ya.. with a high revving tank glosso can really move and look great for a while, but after about the fourth lap over itself my tweezer arm and back start to ache just looking at it. I really hope I can get something out of the few shreds of HC I have left floating around and eventually replace the glosso with it.. grows a bit slower at least.


I hear ya, thats exactly what I ended up doing as well. I had it with glosso replanting so I switched to HC. Right now mine just started to grow (4 week dormant period). It's much slower then glosso thus far. Looking forward to what it looks like when fully carpetted. Good luck with it!



> The Discus seems to be doing quite well even in my hard water (KH~15) I'd say I bought him about 5-6 months ago at ~2". They do eat like pigs but I find a feeding cone really helps with this. I had read on discus forums that most people have trouble growing them out in planted tanks.. but mine seem to be growing ok.


Cool. I am growing out some discus in my 50g planted too. So far I haven't really noticed quick growth, but they are getting bigger nonetheless. I actually don't mind if they stay small. I should perhaps try the feeding cone, most of my food gets lost in the plants and my nitrates/phosphates pay the price.


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