New and looking for advice.

[MrJames]

Hello everyone I'm new here as I seem to have taken quite an interest in planted tanks I thought I'd better stop lurking and start posting and there is a reason for this I can't seem to do anything with my tank that I like and makes me go wow so thought I'd ask for some advice from the people that know what they're doing

I've decided my tank looks too plain so going to redo it before fish go in so far I've decided the following....

-Want to remove the rocks
-Want to put a nice piece of wood in
-Thinking of removing the hairgrass as it's a pain!
-Want to add some more colour variety like some red's
-Remove the Cabomba Carolinana and Hygrophilia Polysperma as they aren't doing very well these days.....

Tank is currently a 60L using an external filter with Co2, flow and Co2 distribution are all fine I'll be switching to EI dosing and once I get the new light suspended I'll have about 3.5WPG coming from 2x24watt T5HO to play with so would like some ideas on plants and any other input people would like to give me

Here is the tank currently... Not sure about which plants to keep either.

 

[LondonDragon]

Hi and Welcome

Looking nice and clean and healthy plants, yes what you need now is some hardscaping and maybe a higher layer of sand at the back, rocks work best if you keep just to one type and you can mix them with wood, doesn't have to be one or the other A fertile substrate would help for more demanding carpeting plants, but I have grown glosso on gravel so its not impossible, just makes it easier.

 

[MrJames]

Thank you although I think looking clean is part of my problem it looks too empty to me I'd like to go for some denser planting or plants, the mix of rocks was because I originally had the Seiryu stone but then found it was affecting my water PH and KH so replaced with volcanic rock but then as the tank cycled my KH was being consumed very fast so put a Seiryu stone back in to help with that. There are quite a number of JBL Kugeln balls in the sand the hairgrass is spreading nicely it's even growing under the Seiryu stone but not sure it's what I really want and thinking of replacing with Utricularia Graminifolia.

 

[LondonDragon]

Utricularia Graminifolia

Probably the most difficult plant in the hobby! Have only seen one person here have any success with it using RO.

 

[Ady34]

Hi there and welcome to the forum.
What lighting do you currently use?, as there may be little point in upgrading to 3.5wpg as that is a lot of light, and really unnecessary to grow a healthy planted tank. Its much easier to get things right with lower lighting intensities, but concentrate on optimising c02 and distribution. Its the biggest myth and cause of problems within the planted tank to presume you need masses of light.
Your spraybar set up looks good for distribution now, but with added hardscape you may get 'dead spots' so its worth considering this on adding more to the tank. Adding more light will allow less forgiveness if this occurs as c02 distribution will need to be optimal.
What co2 method are you using also? This could effect what plant species you may want to choose as some like Vallisinera sp. react poorly to liquid carbon products. If your injecting pressurised gas co2, your increased lighting intensity may force you to need levels of co2 for the plants that are toxic for livestock.....it looks like you have no livestock currently, and may have no plans to add any, in which case you can inject higher levels of co2 to feed the demands of your plants, but again, it is then down to distributing it effectively to them.

As far as plants, i like your existing choices, they would all work really well with a wood scape. Im not sure what the thicker grass one is to the right in the middle, but the rest could be really well incorporated in and around a feature piece of wood. They arnt too demanding but are very striking and there is a nice blend of colours and textures for the foreground, middle ground and background. Im a fan of hairgrass and it seems yours is starting to take nicely so maybe reconsider removing it?
Id say decide on a hardscape material/materials, find a piece you like the look of and use your existing plants to get you started. I find that rocks always work well around the base of wood to give a more natural feel. With your sand you could perhaps go with some river pebbles/cobbles and a piece or two of redmoor root....but this is personal choice you could maybe start a journal up too
Cheerio,
Ady

 

[MrJames]

Hello and thank you

Lighting at the moment is a single 15w T8 the bigger light the 2x24w T5HO came with a bigger tank I picked up 2nd hand for little money but unfortunately has a lot of deep scratches so won't be using it, I'll be making some polycarbonate lids to go on the top of the tank then suspending the light above the tank so I'll be able to raise and lower the light as needed in that picture above I was playing around with that light and had it about 8" from the surface of the water.

Co2 is a fully pressurised setup through an in-line atomiser but thinking of changing over to a reactor, I've moved the drop checker to various places in the tank including at the front right near the substrate and it was still nice and green so Co2 distribution should be ok especially as the filter is more than big enough for the tank you can even see all the plants gently swaying in the curren even the hairgrass moves.

There will be livestock in the tank once it's cycled and I'm happy with the aquascaping and plants that grass like plant is Sagittaria Natans it likes to spread quite a bit think I currently have 5 runners from it popping up I think the Echinodorus rose would possibly like the extra light I know it did when I trialled the bigger light above it, the Hygrophila pinnatifida is one of the plants I like most in there even though it apparently prefers being attached to rock or wood it seems to love my sand!

I've been looking at a few different piece of redmoor root just deciding on which to go for

Any ideas and tips on a way I could hide up more of the back of the tank? Moss wall maybe?

 

[MrJames]

I had a little play around earlier and found a piece of wood I never got around to putting in the tank so added that without pre-soaking it so guess I'll be having some tea coloured water or pop carbon in the filter lol

I'll still be stripping it all down I think the only plant I want to remove is the hairgrass as I'm really not liking it! The Echinodorus rose (Plant at the back on the right with the big leaves) definitely likes the extra light as it's now starting to reach up to the surface which it hasn't done before, I also moved some of the runners that have come from the Sagittaria Natans.

Still want some reds though so will be having a look for them and going to lay down a proper planting substrate.

 

[Ady34]

Hi,
If your planning on updating progress, it would be great to use this as a journal.
Let us know if you'd like the topic moved to the journals sub forum, you'll get lots of help, advice and critique there, and you can share your experiences with others along the way

I like the wood, if you could get more pieces like it you could make a great wood scape that mimicked an iwagumi layout which would look very nice with your plants.

Cheerio,
Ady.