Your Opinions, Critques & Suggestions on my Tank

[PeteA]

I took some pics of my tank last night with the hope of some suggestions on how to improve its layout/look/etc. The tank is an AquaStart 320T (37 litres), has a yeast based CO2 system rigged up and I'm dosing Ei currently (started last Thursday). Stock is 6 guppies, 1 endler livebearer, 2 white cloud mountain minnow and 2 neon tetras - plus 4 red cherry shrimp and 2 amano shrimp. Plant wise I have some amazon sword, vallis corkscrew, indian fern, java fern on a bamboo and moss ball.

This is my first tank so I've learned a lot in the last 2 to 3 months, but know there is a still lot more to learn.

The plants are starting to look more healthy, although the java fern on the bamboo is looking a bit sorry for itself and the amazon sword looks quite anaemic. The position of the bog wood currently prevents me removing the algae on that side of the glass properly so I would like to move that – although this will mean moving the Indian fern too.

Your comments & expertise are welcome! This includes positioning of heater, filter etc

Front of the Tank:

Left-side of the Tank:

Right-side of the Tank:

Close up of a rather ill looking sword leaf (the corkscrew looks reasonable though):

Close up of the java fern on a bamboo (sorry a bit out of focus):

 

[bigmatt]

binning the blue gravel would be my first choice. I'm a big fan of either very light sand or - for showing off greens really well - black substrate. Other than that it looks pretty nice! Your shrimps will like finer substrate too. I'd also consider using a supplemented substrate or (cheaper option by far) some root rabs for your plant choices as the swords and vallis like root feeding and it gives you a bit of a "cushion" for your EI.
I've had great results with Vulcanit root tabs from www.plantedtanks.co.uk, and also great results with API root tabs, but the Vulcanit is a lot cheaper.
Hope this helps!
Matt

 

[Bobtastic]

You're plants are generally looking very healthy. With the Java moss you're probably best keeping it trimmed short, you could then take the cuttings and float them on the window sill in a glass bow and grow them out and "replant". Are you able to remove the wood to clean the glass and then replace?

I must be honest and say that I do not like the look of the two tone substrate. I would personally remove the blue at the front and also add some more at the back so that it is at least an 1.5 to 2cm thick(er).

With a tank of that size you'll always have problems with heater/filter placement as they'll take up a lot of room, relatively. Having you outlet from your filter pointing at the front pane of glass is probably your best bet for best circulation.

 

[JamesD]

Is the CO2 just coming out of that green tubing near the surface?

Do you have anyway of producing smaller bubbles and placing it at the bottom of the tank to maximise the contact with the water?

Can you move the heater into a more vertical postion at the rear of the tank on the left?

 

[hotweldfire]

Concur on the blue gravel.

I'd tie some moss and fern to the bogwood. I agree that moving the heater to the back pane would be sensible, that way you could hide with some taller plants, e.g. the vallis. Alternatively putting it at the back as horizontal as you can and low might be a way to hide it.

 

[PeteA]

Cheers so far The blue gravel was one of those "good idea at the time" - instead of the bogwood I had a pyramid originally and were trying to make it look slightly river-esq. However as I discovered, gravel doesn't stay in one place Both me and my better half have said that with hindsight we wish we hadn't done it and had gone for a dark substrate from day one.

Sounds to me like I need to do a bit of a rescape - so will have to save up a bit of money and get some essentials - like a big bucket or two...

@Matt - after my next payday I'll get some root tabs and give the plants a bit of a helping hand.

@Bob - You can regrow the fern like that! Ace Yes, I can take the wood out and give it a clean, I've just been a bit nervous as I know the shrimp have a habit of hiding under there and I've already had one issue when a fish didn't get out of the way quickly enough (he was rather poorly though).

@James - I should have said - the filter has a spray bar that is about 1" above the water line and sprays down and towards the front of the tank to try and oxygenate the water a bit. The green tube has a cigarette filter (a clean one) put into the end which breaks the bubbles up into much smaller ones, which you can actually see get smaller on their way to the surface. I have found that when I try and put the tube at the bottom of the tank it just wants to curl up, so I'm currently trying to straighten a spare length of it by ramming a piece of plastic rod in there and leaving it to settle.

The heater can indeed be moved if I move the bamboo a little, which I will need to do in order to trim it.

 

[Bobtastic]

FYI - Java Moss is this :

and Java Fern is this :

I recommend moving the spray bar under the surface of the water by at least 2cm. Having the water falling through the surface of the water will mean that a lot of your Co2 will be exchanging into the atmosphere. With planted tanks your really dont want more than a surface ripple, cos you are aiming to keep the added Co2 in the water as long as u can. Aeration isn't something you really want, unless your fauna is in visible distress and then you'd be better off lowering the Co2 than gassing it off.

 

[PeteA]

Oops, I did mean moss then

My biggest concern with moving the spray bar is that I don't have an air pump. Originally I had the bar level with the top of the water so just creating a ripple, but the fish in there were mostly loitering at the top of the tank, occasionally surfacing for a bit of air. Once I moved it up they are now flying around the whole tank again. My reason for not having an air pump is multi-fold. Firstly there is no space for one without putting it on the floor, secondly I'd have to rewire everything to free up a socket and finally - I actually don't have enough spare cash for one currently!

It is my intention to buy/make a cabinet and do have a larger tank coming to me in time (and my current tank will change into something different).