• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

My scape is missing things.... what do you think?

wills wonderings

New Member
Joined
21 Nov 2020
Messages
15
Location
London
Hey everyone,

here is a bunch of various topics and asking for your thoughts

- Flow:
• I have a Oase 600 with the modded intakes and courser pre-filters
• I have a little 300lph pump around the back of the hardscape

- Algae:
• I have had a hell of run of algae, mostly BBA and staghorn. A little greendust and so on.
• i am mostly through it but the sand substrate is in sections growing a carpet of staghorn....

Aquscape
  • I like the “triangle” layout but I’m thinking of reducing the sand area and turning it into more carpet grass area
  • not sure about the plant on the far right of the tank. Thinking of moving it to the far left area, since it’s not growing “up” due to the flow pushing it over.
  • the area on the left is a little low light due to shade from the huge bit of wood. I’m not happy with what is going on here. I have pogostomon, sagittaria subulata, some microsorums and Anubis.
I’d like ideally a mid hight

So do you all have any suggestions? How would you adjust the scape?

image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
 
Untitled-1.jpg



Hello, I did a little drawing of what I would do if I had your tank, you've got loads of nicely growing plants, I think the problem is that they are each sort of on their own and not softened/merged together, so it looks a bit disjointed, but is easy to fix. I would emphasise the triangular shape of the scape a bit more, and make more triangles and high-to-low gradients with the planting to make it look more soft, natural & dramatic.

The first thing I would do is to grow more grass in the sand, going around the wood and rocks, trying to make it not TOO thick, more like in soft lines/wedge shapes (to elongate the triangle shape of the scape). I would also take the helferi and mix it amongst the grass, so it's not just in one area on the left. To that left area I would add some nice large crypts if the area is dark (I saw you have some other crypts, so just some more of the same type would be good). OR I would add another stem plant clump if the light is high, which would make the wood look like it was emerging from it which I think would look v fab (which is what I badly drew), you could even use an orange-y or red stem or something that would add more colour or texture. OR a radial idea - maybe something long like vallis nana and make the left side, and also right behidn the wood on the left very long and grassy, so the wood emerges from that. IDK, I think it needs something more dramatic and bold though.

Then when you next trim that lovely stargrass stem plant in the middle, I would plant it next to the current clump so it goes into the grass in a more soft and natural way, emphasising the triangle and mirroring the wood shape. I see your red ludwigia is doing great in the back there, so I might start adding more of that in as well behind the rest of the wood as a highlight.

Next I would move that banana lily closer to the wood, I put it in the front, because I think that part of the wood needs a bit of a lift. I would also add an anubias at the 'end' of the wood/stone to give that bit more of a focal point/nice detail. I might use the anubias which is behind the tiger lotus, because soon that tiger lotus will grow big and overtake it.

I would then buy some more java fern and add it to the wood to make it look more luscious, maybe the mini variety so it's not too long. I feel like maybe the hygrophila is looking a bit messy, I might trim that back and see if there is a different kind of plant I could add there, or if it could be trimmed into place more, it looks like your wood is a really nice shape that isn't fully taken advantage of atm. Finally I might add something like hydrocotyle tripartita or something which is a bit 'vine'y (or even some moss) that could also help transition the wood into the ground in a soft way.

No idea if this is what you're going for, hope it helps a bit!
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot @shangman! It’s really close to what I was envisioning.

The hydrocotyle tripartita is a great suggestion. Especially as my moss isn’t doing well as the tank temp runs a bit too high.

I’m trying the idea of more stems on the left for now but the idea of vallis is in my mind. If it doesn’t work out I’ll make a change in 2 months.

All other ideas are going to be implanted for sure!
 
View attachment 166445


Hello, I did a little drawing of what I would do if I had your tank, you loads of nicely growing plants, I think the problem is that they are each sort of on their own and not softened/merged together, so it looks a bit disjointed, but is easy to fix. I would emphasise the triangular shape of the scape a bit more, and make more triangles and high-to-low gradients with the planting to make it look more soft, natural & dramatic.

The first thing I would do is to grow more grass in the sand, going around the wood and rocks, trying to make it not TOO thick, more like in soft lines/wedge shapes (to elongate the triangle shape of the scape). I would also take the helferi and mix it amongst the grass, so it's not just in one area on the left. To that left area I would add some nice large crypts if the area is dark (I saw you have some other crypts, so just some more of the same type would be good). OR I would add another stem plant clump if the light is high, which would make the wood look like it was emerging from it which I think would look v fab (which is what I badly drew), you could even use an orange-y or red stem or something that would add more colour or texture. OR a radial idea - maybe something long like vallis nana and make the left side, and also right behidn the wood on the left very long and grassy, so the wood emerges from that. IDK, I think it needs something more dramatic and bold though.

Then when you next trim that lovely stargrass stem plant in the middle, I would plant it next to the current clump so it goes into the grass in a more soft and natural way, emphasising the triangle and mirroring the wood shape. I see your red ludwigia is doing great in the back there, so I might start adding more of that in as well behind the rest of the wood as a highlight.

Next I would move that banana lily closer to the wood, I put it in the front, because I think that part of the wood needs a bit of a lift. I would also add an anubias at the 'end' of the wood/stone to give that bit more of a focal point/nice detail. I might use the anubias which is behind the tiger lotus, because soon that tiger lotus will grow big and overtake it.

I would then buy some more java fern and add it to the wood to make it look more luscious, maybe the mini variety so it's not too long. I feel like maybe the hygrophila is looking a bit messy, I might trim that back and see if there is a different kind of plant I could add there, or if it could be trimmed into place more, it looks like your wood is a really nice shape that isn't fully taken advantage of atm. Finally I might add something like hydrocotyle tripartita or something which is a bit 'vine'y (or even some moss) that could also help transition the wood into the ground in a soft way.

No idea if this is what you're going for, hope it helps a bit!
Thanks a lot for all the detail ans also drawing out the plan!!
 
Thanks a lot @shangman! It’s really close to what I was envisioning.

The hydrocotyle tripartita is a great suggestion. Especially as my moss isn’t doing well as the tank temp runs a bit too high.

I’m trying the idea of more stems on the left for now but the idea of vallis is in my mind. If it doesn’t work out I’ll make a change in 2 months.

All other ideas are going to be implanted for sure!

Awesome, hopefully a lil drawing helps visualise it when planting! Totally agree with you there, I think stems at the far left would be awesome, especially since your stems are growing so well.

V interesting that some of the plants aren't fans of the heat, are you keeping german rams in there? I wonder if there are any other good plants that are good with the heat if others are struggling. 🤔
 
I’m not yet keeping the rams but I likely will be keeping a pair soon. As soon as I’ve handled this algae battle. Think I’m being too gentle with co2 tbh.
It’s mostly the weeping moss I bought isn’t growing and just algae’s up constantly :/
 
Back
Top