Newbie, new tank, first aquascape - need plant advice (pics)

Hi Alway, welcome aboard. If you are a newbie at 'scaping I have to tell ya, you have a great career ahead of you because this is a gorgeous setup already. Your selection and placement of the wood and rocks is lovely, and the sloping of the sand is exquisite. This IS a beach. A glance says so.

As to your questions....Are you looking for something like what this guy used for the tall/bendy grass in back? It's what I thought of when I read your description anyway. It grows tall enough in these contest tanks to bend over at the top but I'm not sure what their standard or maximum size growth is. The other problem is that I have no idea what the plant is called. But I'm sure somebody here can look at it and tell you.

You know the Amazon sword in the back corner (btw it will overgrow your tank and take over everything but that will take a year or so. Enjoy in the meantime.) The two leftmost I think are both rotalas, but I am not sure of the name of the one left over, at the intersection of the two wood pieces. You might want to scroll through the plant selections at one of the online stores, like liveaquaria.com, and match up what you have with the pictures there.

As you are working without livestock as yet, and with inert substrate, you are going to want to get some fertilizers in there posthaste as those plants are starving now. Once you have some fish, the uneaten fish food and fish poop, the cycle will start generating ferts on its own, but for now you are the only source of supply. Easiest thing if you want to stay fishless for now is something like Flourish root tabs; stick one under each plant and forget for a few months. There are liquids too but the tabs get the nutrients right to the target.

Or you can go get some fish. This is not PC to say these days but I have always done fish-in cycling, on the following schedule: Set up tank and basic scaping and filter and heater and such. Put in one to a few fish depending on tank size. Feed them, they commence to poop, the filter picks this up and deposits it in the media, the cycle begins. It begins small but your fish--your bioload--is small and its needs are few.

Test and do water changes regularly. Give this a couple of weeks to work, and then start adding. Water changes a bit more often after additions, as the cycle bacteria need time to reproduce to handle the increased load, but they are busy little bodies and will do exactly that. Repeat until you are where you want to be on livestock.

As to the plant you want in the space between the wood pieces, everyone will tell you to go with HC, Hernianthus callitrichoides. It is lovely stuff but I have never been able to get it to grow for me. You may have better luck. But there are alternatives. Micro sword grass is one, it would look perfect in that setting but it spreads like a weed and has interlinked roots that makes it hard to keep contstrained to the area you want it. Again, look around at the alternatives and give it a shot.

You are off to a great start. Keep us updated on the progress, eh?

(one other thing: If you want to keep the magnetic algae scraper in the tank, there is no rule saying it can't stay down in the bottom corner behind the sword between uses. The rest of your equipment is nicely placed so as to be unobtrusive, but the coloring on those mag scrapers is unfortunate. )

I need better pics--- but the big one in the back looks like an Echindorus, but cannot tell which one.

The small one in front looks like a Cryptocoryne, but again too small for me to see.

The stem plant looks like Ludwigia, but same==too samll of a pic.

I just wanted to chyme in and say great looking tank.

I agree, nice tank---but back to your plants.

Thanks for getting closer photos....
The first photo is Ludwigia Repens.
The second ---I cannot remember---XXXXX Cardinalis. Easy to grow, just the lower stem gets too much roots.
The third photo is Hygrophila Difformis.

Great looking tank, plants, and picture quality!