60x30x30 - where to take it from here...

[nry]

Okies, current picture:

The r.green in the centre was put in to get some plant mass in there. Rocks get a nice algae covering every 3-4 weeks but this scrubs off easy enough and seems to be something I have to live with as many others here do the same

I've got a cheap koralia nano copy coming from China though apart from a touch of algae on the lower leaves of the staurogyne, things are very clear now.

I've really got no clue where to go from here. I really like the rocks/wood, but the planting really isn't working for me. I wonder if I've got too little going on, whether I should re-try a HC carpet now I have more time on my hands and the algae has gone from the substrate, whether perhaps an Iwagumi-style layout would work with the rocks...

I seem to happily get the hardscape to my tastes but struggle with getting the planting to the same levels.

 

[nry]

Okies, moving forward - the rock below hasn't been put back in after I gave them a scrub last night:

The tank just felt so much more spacious, and I felt it left more scope for planting. I've got some HC on order for the front, with some r.rotundifolia to go in place of the rock, or I may be inclined to move the back-left crypts forward and put the r.r. at the back rear and keep looking for some vallis mini twister to go between them. Thinking of planting up the whole rear of the aquarium at the moment, and introducing a little more variety to the mid-ground plant choices.

 

[RudeDogg1]

what are the lil forground plants

 

[Garuf]

Hemianthus callitriodes.
Give the rotalla a cut and replant the tops, and repeat. Get it all really dense. Then I'd say up the co2 and dosing, you'll get much faster regrowth and it'll look better than ever.

 

[nry]

HC has been planted, rotala is very dense now, though I thinned it out a bit this week and sold some stems on. Vallis mini twister on it's way to fill in the gap between the rotala green/rotun, though I'm wondering if long term I may spread the vallis all along the back wall, I love the height of mt, it is perfect for a 12" height aquarium.

 

[Richard Dowling]

Keep us updated with the Pics, It'll look fantastic once the HC Kicks in! I have a Rio125 that looks like im doing too much with too little space, the great thing about yours is its only a 60 but uses the amount of space perfectly

Can I ask what filter you have running and how you got the glass lily pipes in through the lid? Did you have to cut it?

 

[Tony Swinney]

This is getting to look really good nry, once the HC fills out that'll really help. I'd be tempted to adds some moss, maybe fissidens to the branches too

Good luck !

Tony

 

[nry]

Not keen on moss, it tends to end up everywhere - letting the HC and other plants settle in for now and will see how it is doing post-Christmas