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What could I do to improve this?

Fluxtor

Fluxtor

Member
Joined
19 Mar 2024
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40
Location
Bath
Looking for some ideas and help with this small low tech tank. I'm pretty happy with it for a first attempt but feel like its getting a but scruffy and lacks some variety and balance.

What could I do to give it a boost with some additional plants or trimming and tidying?

PXL_20240323_173512514.PORTRAIT.ORIGINAL.jpg
 
Here's a few ideas...
Trim the ludwigia (?) on the right & replant the tops to give the plant group more impact & show the Amazon sword off better.
I seem to recall you had limnophila on the left & removed it? That could be put back & the crypts moved forward to give it space. I have a mixed group of bloodfin & glass bloodfin, they love swimming in & around the limnophila!
Alternatively some vallisneria would also look good.
At the front some random groups of lilaeopsis brasiliensis planted around the stones & in front of that nice piece of wood to give the foreground some interest. Not planted as a carpet, just allowed to wander round naturally.
Also at the front a sprinkle of botanicals, assorted dried leaves etc.
Apologies for the less than artistic sketch! 😁
 

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I've found marsilea minutia to work ok with low tech. Not really for a carpet but it'll run around. Seems to like sandy areas for me.
 
In my experience lilaeopsis brasiliensis just about survived, but didn't spread at all from the original spots and gradually died off
 
Patience is fine if it’s all going in the right direction and you’re happy with the progress. If you’re not change something or just start again. No point in persevering with something that doesn’t work for you. Where’s the fun in that? It’s a hobby right? It’s supposed to be fun. It’s also how you progress and learn along a relatively short curve.
 
Tim Harrison said:
Patience is fine if it’s all going in the right direction and you’re happy with the progress. If you’re not change something or just start again. No point in persevering with something that doesn’t work for you. Where’s the fun in that? It’s a hobby right? It supposed to be fun. It’s also how you progress and learn along a relatively short curve.
Click to expand...
Sometimes folks (especially beginners) act impatiently, tinkering and making minor adjustments when they’d be better off just biding their time to observe what effect their changes are having.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice and input. Yeah, patience , not one of my strong points :p but completely understand. I really want a bigger better tank so this is just a learning tank for me but obviously want it to look the best. This hobby is consuming with so much variety and options for hardware, and scapes. A guy in a LFH said I will probably end up with multiple tanks and I fear he will probably be proved right much to my wife's disappointment lol.

The Miniaturist said:
Here's a few ideas...
Trim the ludwigia (?) on the right & replant the tops to give the plant group more impact & show the Amazon sword off better.
I seem to recall you had limnophila on the left & removed it? That could be put back & the crypts moved forward to give it space. I have a mixed group of bloodfin & glass bloodfin, they love swimming in & around the limnophila!
Alternatively some vallisneria would also look good.
At the front some random groups of lilaeopsis brasiliensis planted around the stones & in front of that nice piece of wood to give the foreground some interest. Not planted as a carpet, just allowed to wander round naturally.
Also at the front a sprinkle of botanicals, assorted dried leaves etc.
Apologies for the less than artistic sketch! 😁
Click to expand...

I have two types of ludwigia and think the one in the back is kind of lost and being majorly over shadowed by the sword, I think it's ludwigia palustris super red. I have trimmed and replanted it with the other ludwigia which I believe is repens but it all just looks a bit messy and I agree it needs thickening up (consolidating). I found replanting the ludwigia stems a pain as well as they just keep floating out of the substrate. I only have fluval stratum which again in hindsight I would do differently if doing again!

I've never had limnophila in there so maybe confusing that with another tank?
 
Apologies for confusing your tank with another one, must pay more attention.
That's the trouble with this hobby, one tank is never enough!
I had trouble planting when I tried Tropica aqua soil, once, never again, went back to lovely sand!
I've only ever had one large tank, many years ago, then had to downsize & just kept small ones ever since. I've managed to fit four in now; they're in my work room, safe from the naughty cats!
I'm still as in love with the hobby as I was when I had my first tank aged eleven. 😊
 
I think you've got something very nice cooking, and you've gotten some good advice already. I wanted to throw out that you might look at getting a light with better color rendering - I've found that that magically improves the vibe of any tank. I'm not a technical expert on this, but every time I've upgraded my lighting I've wish I had done it sooner. It can make your fish pop too!
 
The Miniaturist said:
Apologies for confusing your tank with another one, must pay more attention
Click to expand...
Not a problem, there must be so many tanks on here!
ElleDee said:
I wanted to throw out that you might look at getting a light with better color rendering
Click to expand...
The light I have is built into the tank so not so easy to just change. If I could do it again I wouldn't buy this type of tank again it's too restricted and not easy to change without some major hacking!
 
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