Psylant Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Hi everyone,This is my first real attempt at a community planted tank. I'm looking for any aquascaping or plant keeping advice that you feel might improve the look of the tank. I'm not going to get CO2 though so keep that in mind. I'd like to get some foreground plants but I haven't had much luck with them, so any recommendations for fairly easy ones would be nice. My fish always dig them out.... The cories go bananas if something disturbs the sand and they dig for a good 20 min. There must be something they like in there. It's a 90g tank and I have a Finex Ray II on it for lighting. The tank is dirted with pool filter sand for a cap. I dose a little liquid ferts (Excel, flourish, and iron) after my water change on the weekends. There are 5 or 6 kinds of anubias in there (flowering), java fern, an amazon sword, some type of bacopa, crinum calamistratum and natans (flowering), and some other plant that grows about 6" a day. Whatever it is, grows like a weed! Rotala? For fish there are many large rainbowfish, a few roseline sharks, a couple SAE, 13 various cories, and one bristlenose pleco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogfish Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 You could try marsilea for your foreground, my cories dig mine up a bit at first but i'm more stubborn than they are. Another species might be dwarf sag but it does get a little tall if you're going for that carpet look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Pygmy chain sword is another good foreground plant that does well w/o CO2. The "weed" looks like Hygrophila polysperma. Looks good! :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekbottom Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Can you flatten out the substrate profile at the front of the tank? Also, lose all the stuff off the top of the tank, sometimes it's not just what's in the tank that makes us satisfied with our work. One of the chain swords would probably be your best bet for carpeting, and should move fairly quickly. Echinodorus tenellus would be my first choice and then Lilaeopsis brasiliensis but that might be a little slower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 IMO need more varied plant heights. Throw in some sort of rock, some sort of wood to have a more natural landscape/ecosystem. Don't be shy to break the water surface with plant or wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psylant Posted February 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Thanks for the replies so far! Keep 'em coming. You could try marsilea for your foreground, my cories dig mine up a bit at first but i'm more stubborn than they are. Another species might be dwarf sag but it does get a little tall if you're going for that carpet look. I ordered a bunch of foreground plants from Poland via ebay this past fall. None of them made it . There was a bunch of that marsilea and it was floating all over the place. I bet I replanted it 20 times for each stem. I'm willing to try again though If I can find some. I think I had more trouble than I should've because I suspect the plants were grown emersed. Pygmy chain sword is another good foreground plant that does well w/o CO2. The "weed" looks like Hygrophila polysperma. Looks good! :thumbs: I'll see what I can find for pygmy chains around here. I think you're right on your ID of the weed too after googling it. I throw out about 3-4 feet of it every weekend. It's unreal. Can you flatten out the substrate profile at the front of the tank? Also, lose all the stuff off the top of the tank, sometimes it's not just what's in the tank that makes us satisfied with our work. One of the chain swords would probably be your best bet for carpeting, and should move fairly quickly. Echinodorus tenellus would be my first choice and then Lilaeopsis brasiliensis but that might be a little slower. I can try to flatten out the bottom. I might have to add a little more sand. There's dirt under there somewhere so I don't want to move it too too much. I can try to find a place to place all my stuff on the top but I have too much tank for how little space I have haha.I'll see if I can find any Echinodorus tenellus on here. Thanks for the suggestion. I like the way it looks and should contrast my large leafed plants nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-Influence Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Get some wood and then cover it in moss .... Can't go wrong with moss ... Blake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 When we judge the planted tanks in the CAS home competition, there's a few things we look for(that I can remember...); are the filter tubes and heaters hidden, is there a focal point, is there different layers to the tank(including substrate and plants), how healthy are the plants, how balanced and clean is the tank, does the livestock inhabit different levels of the tank and is it a good mix? Hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psylant Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Get some wood and then cover it in moss .... Can't go wrong with moss ... Blake I have had trouble getting moss to "stay" where I put it. It's always floated away and clogged filters. Advice on a type of moss and method to attach? When we judge the planted tanks in the CAS home competition, there's a few things we look for(that I can remember...); are the filter tubes and heaters hidden, is there a focal point, is there different layers to the tank(including substrate and plants), how healthy are the plants, how balanced and clean is the tank, does the livestock inhabit different levels of the tank and is it a good mix? Hope this helps... A little bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogfish Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 Cotton sewing thread works well to attach flame moss. Can't see the thread after two weeks worth of growth. Can't see the wood after a month.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-Influence Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 Tie any kind of moss too wood and it will attach .... The only moss iv not been able to get to attach is flame .... Xmas , willow , fissiden all attach quick ... Or find wood with holes and crevices and stuff the moss in . Blake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psylant Posted February 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 Thanks for the replies. My only experience with moss is java moss. It wasn't fun. I was unclogging my filters every day for about 2 months. lol I'll try to find another type of moss here on AA, along with Echinodorus tenellus and whatever else people can throw at me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psylant Posted February 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Thanks to ckmullin for some plants I picked up today. Hopefully it will add a splash of color and some different heights of plants to the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda4 Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 i have tons of the dwarf sag if you would like to try, it does get a bit tall for foreground. I use well water, no Co2, just ferts once in awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psylant Posted February 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 i have tons of the dwarf sag if you would like to try, it does get a bit tall for foreground. I use well water, no Co2, just ferts once in awhile. If I'm heading up to the Cochrane area I may take you up on that. I'm almost never in Calgary anymore, let alone Cochrane though! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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