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40g - First Attempt at Aquascaping

aquaticmaniac

Member
Joined
18 Oct 2008
Messages
215
Location
London
I was asked to post photos of my set up by a very nice person who gave me some plants. So, you have SteveUK to thank for my crappy photos. I'm really miffed about the photos, honestly. But it's the best I could do with a broken camera that I can't adjust the settings on :D

Please ignore the algae, rocks holding down the wood, and copious amounts of paper and junk behind the tank. Yes, I will one day have a background or clean it so you can see the blue wall.

I hope to add some moss (any moss) to some of the wood, add more Rotala or other stems. I'm not entirely certain what I want to do to the right side. I'll let the HM take over that or moss, or something else low growing; maybe even some more stems to hide the filter. You can tell I'm new to aquascaping. This is my very frist aquascape, so be nice! :p

fts40gfront.jpg

fts40g.jpg


Flora:
Crypt (wendtii?)
HM
Rotala sp. green
Limnophila sessiliflora


Fauna:
Physa... :mad:
Annoying little ramshorns

I haven't decided what sort of fish I would like to add. But I MUST have shrimp again.
 
That has a lot of potential, personally I'd leave the right hand side fairly clear...

Tank needs a good clean out though, there's algae/muck all over the rear and the filter etc...which you know already :) An old credit/store card is excellent for quickly stripping algae off glass, followed by a water change with a siphon to remove all the scrapings from the tank.

What is your lighting/CO2/fertilisation regime etc?
 
if you have a snail problem get a small loach or tow. but remember this will leave you with a greater problem. you could try to hand pick then out or wait for them to congregate on a lump of cucumber. or perhaps an assasin snail. 8)
 
Thanks every one! I appreciate the feedback.

The algae problem is primarily because this tank used to house quite a few goldfish until they were upgraded. Quite a lot has died off, and I will give it a clean as well.

I want to get assassin snails. I think they're pretty, hah 8) The snails don't bother me that much, though. I'm pretty sure I saw some assassins at my lfs, along with some dwarf corydoras (YES!). But I'll have to save before I stock it.

Lighting: 2wpg (want to upgrade in the future)
CO2: 2 DIY 2L bottles...yes, yes, pressurized would be way better, but I can't afford it at the moment. At least I'll learn something :)
Ferts: I've been dosing trace elements on a triweekly basis (about 30ml total). It's some bottled product by Nutrafin. I would like to get something better, but I'll have to do some shopping around, as this could get quite expensive :rolleyes:
 
if its a 40G 2wpg is plenty really. you should be fine with that.
the Nutrafin stuff is ****. i had some and it really wasnt much cop. get some TPN+
lastly, dosing smaller amounts more regularly is better. :)
 
Wow Leah, the hard scape looks great :) Glad the plants arrived OK. If you need any more plants, let me know. I might be able to sort some more out for you. Give the tank a good clean out and some water changes and it should come right :)
 
Nick16 said:
if its a 40G 2wpg is plenty really. you should be fine with that.
the Nutrafin stuff is ****. i had some and it really wasnt much cop. get some TPN+
lastly, dosing smaller amounts more regularly is better. :)

Yeah, I was under that impression :) Where can I get TPN+? I read a thread on here that suggested it would be quite expensive to dose a larger tank with it. What about dry ferts or an alternative liquid fert mix? I know of someone who sells his own mix on another site.

Wow Leah, the hard scape looks great :) Glad the plants arrived OK. If you need any more plants, let me know. I might be able to sort some more out for you. Give the tank a good clean out and some water changes and it should come right :)

Thank you! I might give you a shout, and see what you have. I did a 10% WC yesterday, but didn't go for the algae on the back there. It certainly needs it. I'll give it a go.
 
BINKSY1973 said:
Hi Leah.

As others have said hardscape is looking good.

As for an all in one solution you should try James c all in one solution, this based on TPN+, it is made by mixing dry ferts, and dosing every day.

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm

Cheers Gordon.

Thanks, Gordon. I think I've seen that before, but didn't bookmark it.

hi,
love the hardscape :D .can't wait to see it with more plants.
neil

I can't either! Thanks
 
There is definitely the foundations for a nice triangular scape here. What I would like to see is low foreground plants becoming increasingly more sparse as the eye moves to the right of the tank.

Dave.
 
Dave Spencer said:
There is definitely the foundations for a nice triangular scape here. What I would like to see is low foreground plants becoming increasingly more sparse as the eye moves to the right of the tank.

Dave.
Have you got any example pictures/links that could demonstrate that? Not wanting to highjack the thread but I like the hardscape and a picture paints a thousand words!
 
I like it . looks good and as the others say with some good plant selection will look great.

I don't think you need to upgrade the lights but the tubes could be replaced. They look a little yellowy to me :)

Something that would be closer to white would give the tank an instant freshness.

AC
 
Dave, that's what I had in mind. Thanks for the feedback.

Paulo, thank you! That's very helpful, and a wonderful article. I'll definitely be looking at those sources again :)

AC- thanks! It's not that yellow in person, but they could probably do with a change.

I'll update if there are any big changes :D
 
There are no real major updates from me, but I'll ramble a bit.

Everything is growing well, and unfortunately even some algae. I need to get some potassium phosphate and nitrate, especially. I cleaned all of the algae off of the back, surprisingly with ease.

I was wondering, does anyone think a red plant would look nice somewhere in my 'scape? I'm not sure if my lights are good enough to bring out the red hues in Ludwigia repens, for example. Any suggestions? Repens was just an example; the leaves are a bit too round for my tastes :)
 
The hardscape that everyone loved so much has been changed. Not by me, but by my husband's 2 CAE's :rolleyes: They've rearranged all my efforts. It's turned into something I didn't quite have in mind, but still not that bad, I guess. The plants survived better through a 7 day period with no light than 2 days with the CAEs.

The fish are happy, so I'm happy. Soon it's going to be left in the hands of my mother-in-law, so there won't be many more pics.

3691994510_3260157d39_o.jpg
 
I like the hardscape a lot more now, there's the makings of a great mound aquascape! It's got great potential.

Can I borrow your SAEs to do my hardscape? :lol:
 
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