# Artistically challenged noob needs help with aquascape



## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Please help me design my aquascape. I have no ability to do anything artistic, and my knowledge of plants species is limited. Here's what I'm dealing with:

46g bowfront
2x39W T5HO
ADA Aquasoil Amazonia
Daily Excel + dry ferts
Probably DIY CO2 (I'll give a try at least)
GH: 12
KH (before AS): 10
KH (after AS): 3 
pH (before AS): 8.0
pH (after AS): 7.2

Some pictures of the tank with driftwood are attached. Tank was drained for pictures because AS is still causing cloudiness. Yes, puffer and walrus will be remaining. This is actually my 10 year old daughter's tank, and she's insistent.

The small pieces of driftwood probably won't be remaining. They are from a medium sized piece I broke up for some smaller tanks. I'm just finishing the tanin leaching in this tank.

First question I have is regarding the size of the big piece of driftwood. Seems a bit big to me, but personally I don't mind that much. There's more ways to position it than I can count. My daughter and I settled on what you see. It has a burled side, which currently is face down, and resting on some smaller driftwood so there are more hiding places underneath.

General planting plan is:


In the back right, behind the diftwood, I want something real bushy that shrimp can hide in. I'm thinking maybe Cabomba, but some variety would be nice.
In the back left, I want to avoid small leafed plants near the filter intake, so I was thinking amazon swords.
In front, anything that will creep and is small in height to fill the space. I thought it would be cool if it looked like the puffer and walrus were resting in bed of green.
I'd like a few medium sized plants, maybe some attached to the driftwood, like anubias, or just in front of the driftwood in some places.
BTW, occupants will be:


BN Pleco
Mollies
Guppies
1 Angel
Kuhli loaches (probably 4, not purchases yet)
1 SAE
RCS, Amano, and Ghost Shrimp
Gold and Nerite snails
I'm totally open to suggestion here.

thanks,

Chris


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

First off I would loose the background and the decorations.

Start with easy to grow plants like Hygro for the background or corner. Cabomba would work also maybe some Bacopa.

For a foreground the easiest plant to start with is Glosso... but it will need to be trimmed from time to time.

That driftwood will look fine when you get plants growing all around it. Right now it looks big but when it it contrasted by a well growing planted tank it will look sweet!

Swords are easy to grow also but get BIG. Trying to force one in a corner might be troublesome.


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

I would start out with an amazon sword in the back right corner. it looks to me like there is enough room for one, and once they get big they look great! then in the back left corner i'd go with something grassy. probably jungle val to start out with, and maybe after the tank is well established you could find some blyxa aubertii to use. For the rest of the background, hygro. polysperma (rosanervig or not) would look good, and if not then stargrass always looks good. the driftwood looks awesome, you could find some really good places for anubais nana or petite in there and maybe some java ferns on the back of the DW.
for the midground, i like to use ludwigia, rotala, or bigger crypts. Ludwigia and Rotala grow kinda slowly for me, so its easy to cut into nice bushes.
in the foreground, go for dwarf sag in the corners and glosso in the middle.

just go to your LFS or the SNS and grab whatever pops out for you as attractive. Take people's advice into consideration, but mostly use what you think looks good. I have the exact same tank, and i'm really enjoying it, so good luck with yours! its a fun size tank to have.


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## blackrocks (Dec 16, 2008)

I would change ur background to SOlid black. and get rid of those decorations. that piece of drift wood looks interesting. With the right selection of plants your tank will look amazing. 
I am in the process of setting up and 36G bowfront. Im waiting until my lighting that i ordered gets here before i add my plants but some of what im am going to include are;
Pennywort, hygros, anubias, banana plant, amazon swords. (there are more that im going to be using i just cant remember the names right now). 
Your planned Stock sounds good. When ur angel grows he might try to make a meal of your guppies.
Im my tank im going with 

1 Angel fish
10-12 Harlequin Rasbora
4 cory cat fish
2 Otocinclus catfish
1 Bristle nose catfish
2 cockatoo cichlids or 2 keyhole cichlids
Red Cherry shrimp ( if i can find any around Atlanta)

The is alot you can do wiht a 46G planted aquarium. Take ur time stocking it.


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Thanks for the info so far. Let me address a few things here.

Ornaments: This is officially my 10 year daughter's tank. It's in her room, and she got it a few months ago as a gift for being brave enough to go through a not so fun medical procedure. The ornaments are one of the first things she picked out for the tank, and she really likes them. They are bubblers, burping a bubble ever few seconds or so. Although I'm making this a nice planted tank because she'd like it that way, and so would I, I don't want to hijack her tank, so I really want to make the ornaments work as best they can rather than pressure her to OK their removal.

Background: Sure, this can go. Low on my list now until I get the tank stocked with plants. In the end I'm hoping it won't matter much if the plants grow in well enough. It's blue on the backside, so I could always use that too, but black is probably better.

Driftwood: I'm glad to see it's getting positive comments. Originally we had one of those fake driftwood pieces you get Petsmart with the fake mini plants on it. I never liked it much and had been keeping my eye out for the right piece of driftwood. Finally ran into this one at PetCo and had to have it. (If you think the background, ornaments, and fake diftwood we had are bad, you should have seen the blue gravel we started with!)

Vals: I'm a bit hesitant to use them because this plant more than any other seems to be one mentioned a lot as being sensitive to Excel. I'm willing to give them a try, but don't want to count on them working.

Amazon Sword: I was hoping to put it in the back left rather than back right. This way it is near the filter intake. I figure it's probably one of the better plants to have there because of it's bigger leaves. Any reason you thought it would be better on the right? This is the area I wanted to have more denser growth to provide shelter for the shrimp.

Angel Fish: I told my daughter when we bought him we'd likely have to trade him in for a smaller one day. She's ok with that. However, I think he may have already eaten the only two amanos I added to the 10g the Angel is currently in. I've had him for a month, and this is the first I had him around shrimp. The two I amanos I added to the tank I never saw again.

Thanks for all the plant recommendations. I'll have to look into them since I'm only familiar with a few plants at the moment.

thanks,

Chris


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Ok, I've done a bit more reading on the suggested plants. Lots of fine choices there, and I have a much better idea of what to do now.

One question I have is where to plant medium height plants. Seems that all the middle space is occupied by the driftwood and the ornaments. I don't think there is room in front of or behind the driftwood. Maybe I could wedge one that is not too bushy in just behind and ornaments, depending on what goes back in the corner there.

Another option would be small plants attached to the front or top of the driftwood. The only one I could come up with is the Petite Nana. I think the Java Fern is too big for this, although could attach to the back as suggested. Are there any others that can attach? Maybe java moss. I've had some for a little over a month, and what it seems best at is clogging the filter intake.

One more simple question. How do you attach plants to driftwood. I know eventually they'll hold on themselves, but what do you do until the roots attach? I was actually think of using a staple gun to fix a staple in place with enough room to wedge a root underneath.

thanks,

Chris


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## IrishRover (Dec 4, 2008)

Ok, so no staples....

You have several decent options...monofiliment (fishing wire) its plastic so it doesn't come off until you want it to and safe. String (sewing) it eventually comes off on its own, or waxed string, which last longer. The downside is yes, you may see some string or monofilament, but not soo much and it does come off eventually. 

Look up anubis for putting on the driftwood too. Never tie too tightly, use your best judgement, and java moss does take awhile to cling but will spread quicly enough, may need a trim eventually.


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

You can super glue the rhizome to the driftwood. same a salt water guys glue frags in their tanks. Use the super glue gel works best. you can glue under water if need be or easy enough to drain jsut below where you want the plants and put a touch of glue press and turn the rhizome in it and left it dry for a minute then fill back up. a little bit goes along way too.

Craig


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Super glue? Never would have guessed that. Maybe I'll give it a try if the water is low enough.

I figured fishing line would probably be one of the answers. My concern was that it would show too much if wrapped around the log, which would be needed in some case. Maybe I can use a sharp knife to lift up a small sliver of wood that can then be used to secure the line close to the plant, rather than wrapping all the way around.

As for my plant selection, I guess you could say my choices are "all of the above". :icon_bigg I know, too much variety probably won't look good. My plan is to propagate the ones that do well (and I like the look) and remove rest. After deciding on this approach, I just also saw it recommend in another thread. Most of these plants are only $1.99 at aquariumplants.com. I'm only spending more than that on the ones I know I want, or I can use in my 10g low light tank. This would include various anubias', java ferns, and crypts. Here's my list:

*Tall:*


Sword, Green Melon (Echinodorus Osiris)
Cabomba Green (Cabomba carolina)
Myrio, Red (Myriophyllum heterophyllum)
Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis) - polysperma not available
Heteranthera Stargrass (Heteranthera zosterfolia)

*Medium:*


Ludwigia Peruensis (Ludwigia peruensis)
Rotala Magenta (Rotala macrandra v. 'narrow leaf')

*Short:*


Baby Tears (Hemianthus micranthemoides)
Glossostigma (Glossostigma elatinoides)(grown in pots)(top quality)
Subulata, Dwarf (Sagittaria subulata) 10 Plants per order

*Low Light* (I'll use these on or near driftwood or in 10g lowlight):


Nana (Anubias barteri v. ‘Nana’)
Petite Nana (Anubias Pygmy Nana)
Coffeefolia (Anubias barteri v. ‘Coffeefolia’)
Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)
Java Fern, Lace (Microsorium pteropus v. ‘'Windelov')
Crypt, Walkerii
Wendtii, Red (Cryptocoryne wendtii)
Wendtii, Green (Cryptocoryne wendtii)

thanks

Chris


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

the walrus & puffer made me laugh.. Definitely keep those..
Aquascaping doesn't have to be serious.. Here are a few of my favorite fun tanks from Oliver Knott
http://www.pbase.com/plantella/image/89878194
http://www.pbase.com/plantella/image/91734325
http://www.pbase.com/plantella/image/97133642
http://www.pbase.com/plantella/image/97133650
http://www.pbase.com/plantella/image/71041448


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

mistergreen said:


> the walrus & puffer made me laugh.. Definitely keep those..
> Aquascaping doesn't have to be serious.. Here are a few of my favorite fun tanks from Oliver Knott
> http://www.pbase.com/plantella/image/89878194
> http://www.pbase.com/plantella/image/91734325
> ...


Thanks! :smile: Those are some great tanks. I especially like the panda tank and the cow tank.


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## Sarge (Sep 29, 2008)

you don't have to wait for the water to be low to use superglue in the tank, once you squeeze a bead off, it forms a shell, and dries slower in the water, press whatever you need to press together and it'll explode like a gel cap but reseal itself. I use KrazyGlue to attach old suction cups to airlines sometimes... :-/ no problems here


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## davemonkey (Sep 21, 2008)

I've used the super glue method and can vouch for it, but all-in-all I prefer fishing line.

As far as your scape, just start with 'something' and go from there. I had no clue what I was doing when I started. After many, many months and several adjustments, things started coming together. You'll get a feel for how different plants grow, look, and contrast with other plants. And you'll start to get a feel for how you want it all to come together. Most important thing is patience.  

I look forward to updates as they come! Hopefully this thread will help me convince my wife to get another aquarium....for our daughter, of coarse... :icon_wink

-Dave


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Where can I find more pictures by Oliver Knott?


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## zavikan (Jan 5, 2009)

wow, those silly scapes were AWESOME. the panda one was great, and the skulls felt like I was seriously looking in on some ancient amazon massacre scene....not like I want that feeling in MY hallway...but.. 

Seriously though, ditch the background ASAP. You will be amazed at the improvement of the look. I was like you, and had it low on my priority list. For such a simple change, if I ever make another planted tank, the background will be the FIRST thing to go.

James


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

cjp999 said:


> 46g bowfront
> 2x39W T5HO
> 
> GH: 12
> ...


Diy Co2 would help the ph to decrease without any ill affects. I have read that some mix in RO water to lower the paramerters during water changes. 

I think a banana plant by the characters . Then some Hygro wisteria or willow in the background would add to the beach theme. 

I love your theme. :hihi: Now I am looking forward to when I move and break my tank down. Doing things as cheap as possible I will use oil-dry for the top layer. I believe it will look grey.

Where did you get the ornaments?


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## Vladdy (May 6, 2008)

The background should be one color, or else your eyes will focus on the background more, making the aquarium look as if it has less depth and will make it look less 3D. And take out the little ceramic figurines. They don't look natural. Turn the background around to the side with only one color. Then it will look very nice.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I love the ornaments. Where did you find them? Do ornaments have to be for aquarium?

For background I found using material best, for it is cheap and easy to change. It won't stay taped to the tank so you have to tape in on a board and then onto the tank. One used velcro to keep it on.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

any update on the new tank?


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Sorry, haven't been lurking around here in a while. It's been close to a year since I first got the tank. I've added DIY CO2 (3 bottle, 1 swapped out each week, REX reactor). Still use normal dosing of excel and EI. Water changes around about 60% every two weeks (just don't have the time for weekly changes).

Plants that failed:


Glossostigma
Myrio, Red
Ludwigia Peruensis
Rotala Magenta
Plants I pulled out because I didn't like how they were doing. Some were limping along (like stargrass, which initially did great) and some just grew too much (wisteria)


Heteranthera Stargrass
Cabomba Green
Baby Tears
Wisteria
 Plants that did well:


Subulata, Dwarf
Anubias Nana
Anubias Petite Nana
Anubias Barteri
Java Fern
Java Fern, Lace
Salicifolia Hygrophyla
Amazon Sword
Red Melon Sword
One Amazon sword took over the left side, so I pulled it and pruned back the smaller one. I planted a couple of babies the large one produced in the back right, but they are only a couple inches tall right now. I think I eventually want the sword all in the back right and the Hygrophyla on the left. Recently the BNP has been munching on them. Strange that he didn't seem to notice them for 9 months, and now he likes to eat them. The Red Melon Sword was pruned back recently to remove a lot of BNP damage.

As for algae, I get some green stuff on the glass, but it's not to the point of me noticing it until a couple of months have past. It looks like what I believe is GDA, but it does't seem "dusty" and does not scrub off that easily. Maybe it's GSA, but is doesn't grow in spots either. Not worries. It comes off with a few minutes of mag-float scrubbing.

The other algae problem is black splotches on the plants. I'm not sure what this is. I thought BBA was raised tufts (kind of furry looking) but in my case it very flat and does not not come off, even when scrubbing with a rough sponge. Spot dosing with Excel seems to get rid of it for a short time.

The fish have all been doing great. Only one death of last 9 months (the last of 3 Indian Glassfish, which never did adapt). Mostly there are a bunch of female mollies in there now. I need to get rid of most of them and start adding something more interesting.

Snails have been a problem. They don't seem to survive well in this tank. Nerities slowly die off. A large number of baby Golden Apple Snails I added never seem to grow much past pea size, and most eventually died. In my other tanks the nerities seem to be surviving well, and the baby Golden Apple Snails all grew quickly. The other (4) tanks are all low light. Two get EI and Excel. They get the same water changes as this tank, but none of AS like this tank.

I'll post a picture soon.


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

46g-1.jpg


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Wow!! How it has changed. I love it!! Are the ornaments still in there? What ferts are you using? Are you injecting Co2?


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Hilde said:


> Wow!! How it has changed. I love it!! Are the ornaments still in there? What ferts are you using? Are you injecting Co2?


Yes, the ornaments are still there, in the same place. Note I caught the walrus in the middle of burp (the bubble looks like a reflection). The ornaments are somewhat hidden by the sag that's worked it's way over the the left side of the thank. I was hoping to get something shorter growing there (glosso), but haven't had much luck.

I'm using EI dosing of KH2P04, K2S04, and CSM+B. No KNO3 because my nitrates are over 40ppm out of the tap. It dips to about 15ppm after two weeks, which is when I do my water change.

I use DIY CO2. Three 2 liter bottles with a REX reactor. I swap out one bottle each week. I also use Excel (just the recommend dose).


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## jman (Sep 7, 2009)

What an improvement!


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

I know this post was from a while ago, but it didn't seem to get answered, so...



Hilde said:


> Where can I find more pictures by Oliver Knott?


Right here.


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

jman said:


> What an improvement!


Thanks! Still needs a bit of work. The Amazon Swords need to fill in again, and I would like to get something shorter growing around the ornaments, but I probably just don't have the right conditions for that.


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