So, today a few plants have been removed from the tank and i've seen the beauty in the clumps of crypts that I have. I'm going to have to think long and hard about what to do next.
My thoughts...
I'm certainly going to change the substrate, so that'll mean to remove everything.
I've used the Tropica Planted Substrate before and thinking of doing that with some ADA sand and graded gravel. I'd go for AS but as it leeches ammonia I don't think that'd be a good idea to have fish in straight away, I could put the fish in a 60ltr for a while but I'd need to cycle that. I might want to go for the Nature Soil as that's showing same qualities but without the ammonia, but I'm not sure I want a black substrate as I plan on leaving some showing (or do I?!). The black substrate would give a good contrast with the plants.
I'm not wanting to plant 100% before as I've always planted right upto the glass which I've found that it squashes plants most of the time.
I might go for a Java Fern focus mound with a few crypts around to support it and a hairgrass foreground as I find it's taking a really good hold in there at the minute without too much fuss (amazed!).
Not sure about stems, do I need stems?! I'm not sure (already said that!), I've always found that my stems dont like being 100% in the flow from the spray bar. I might move to some lilly pipes to try for a bit.
But the main theme for the rescape is...
- I don't want a jungle type like it got to, mainly because flow was an issue
- I want to get some spawning areas for my CPDs
- something new and fresh (aka a change).
- it needs to be a mound setup due to the bow front nature.
As you can read from the above, I'm not 100% on anything, I just need to be looking round for inspiration.