Fastlight81's 37g planted journal

[Chrisinator]

Are you for reals? It looks awesome!

I get what you mean. Sometimes it looks so bad I rip it out and then everything just doesn't work so I just throw them in randomly until I find something I like.

 

[fastlight81]

well it all started with the ludwigia....those things grow fast. but you just cant cut the tops off and have it continue growing. you have to replant the tops. i need tweezers or something. because my big hands just keep knocking everything loose. Id replant one and knock three out of the soil. i will post a picture of my tank before the tear out. It did looked allright. im sure some will even say it looks great. I kinda just bought plants at random and then stuck em in there. I can get the plants to grow....no problems there. i just want to do more reasearch and maybe order specific plants off the internet. My biggest problem is I dont have an eye for the flow and how to plant and then maintain it. I might also go with a bigger tank. Shoot might even go back to saltwater. IDK I just know it was driving me nuts

 

[Chrisinator]

well it all started with the ludwigia....those things grow fast. but you just cant cut the tops off and have it continue growing. you have to replant the tops. i need tweezers or something. because my big hands just keep knocking everything loose. Id replant one and knock three out of the soil. i will post a picture of my tank before the tear out. It did looked allright. im sure some will even say it looks great. I kinda just bought plants at random and then stuck em in there. I can get the plants to grow....no problems there. i just want to do more reasearch and maybe order specific plants off the internet. My biggest problem is I dont have an eye for the flow and how to plant and then maintain it. I might also go with a bigger tank. Shoot might even go back to saltwater. IDK I just know it was driving me nuts

Actually stem plants should start branching out when you cut the top off. It takes a while so petience is needed.I usually cut the plant to where I see there' a small plant growing out the side it'll be easier to make new plants.

Your soil is probably pretty light so the plants will get uprooted if they are disturbed. What I'd do is not to disturb them and let them root first.

Planting really goes with the aquascaper. I have different thoughts on how I want to plant it and if it doesn't look good I changed it. I tend to decided using leaf structures and all.

Hope you don't quit!

 

[fastlight81]

one thing i did notice...is i have never seen my community tank so alive and the fish so vibrant. its like the just went beserk with the new plants in there. must be a lot of micro organism in there for them to feed on...shoot...i even think its sparked spawning with my neons...they started doing a little spawn dance...pretty cool

 

[Chrisinator]

I really do think that it changes the fish's mood when live plants are in there. I hope that changes your mind about quitting.

 

[Weather Loach]

Looking good!

 

[fastlight81]

simpler may sometimes be better.... well i havent given up yet. guess I just needed time to think....ponder and decide what i really want. the first pictbure I post was right before I cleaned this morning and right before the tear out. As you can the plants are growing...and growing very well. But I have an odd shaped aquarium. I started out with sloping the gravel. Its hard to see it in the picture but I think it really adds the the aquarium. I then started with my drift wood. I tied my anubias congensis to it and am using that as the focal point. Before I never had a focal point...probably leading to me feeling like the aquarium was in a state of confusion. I then laid rocks down and away from the slope of the substrate. this will be the open field. where I have used hc(dwarf baby tears as the lowest part of the aquarium which then leads up to my micro swords thatll be the grass that leads to the higher part of the aquarium. The micro sword had to be trimmed so that the bba could be cut off. I then planted what was left of my italian vals in the back left corner. Hard to see. from the driftwood left is still in a state of uncertainty. I planted the creeping jenny....broad leaf ludwigia...and some egeria densa for only one reason...to suck up nutrients. I planted in a fasion that is tasteful to the eye but they will be coming out. This is what I need help with. What should i plant in the left side of the aquarium? I want to keep the vals in the back left corner and have them take up some space as the get taller and shoot out runners. I also will keep my lotus plant...but not sure if it will stay in that spot. I also have an amazon sword in there...but the leaves were badly damaged in the tear out...so it will have to grow. Not sure if I will keep the sword in there.

So please help me. Keeping the lotus and vals...what would you put in there? rotala of some sort?
also i know hc need lots of light but I cut off half of my lights so that I dont have an algae out break until my plants start to take off again, will they be fine or should I just bang on all the lights and risk the algae to get the hc to grow?

well here are the pictures...old tank new tank.

 

[fishycat]

I'm glad to see you're sticking with it. I think fish are much happier with live plants... Submersed HC may have trouble anchoring to the substrate... you may want to break the clumps into smaller bits to help the spread (But not necessary). Not sure on how much light HC needs.

Was that aponogeton crispus in the first pic? I just adopted some and love the rippled leaves.

Right now I feel like your driftwood is too centered... or maybe it's because it drags my eye downwards. Although, I can see it surrounded by loads of stem plants so that it is like a forest. different reds/green...

 

[FishVixen]

Believe me planted tanks take patience I have 4 NPT. You're off to a great start. What kind of look are you going for ie: more formal, natural, abstract...., Look at some pic of others planted tanks and pick 3 you really like. Do you like the plants or the structure of the planting? What besides plants do they have in the tank? What is the main thing your eye focuses on is it a plant, object or planting design? .The tank has to please only you so find out through other and create your own beautiful planted tank. I must say for just starting in planted tanks you're doing great work.

 

[fastlight81]

I'm glad to see you're sticking with it. I think fish are much happier with live plants... Submersed HC may have trouble anchoring to the substrate... you may want to break the clumps into smaller bits to help the spread (But not necessary). Not sure on how much light HC needs.

Was that aponogeton crispus in the first pic? I just adopted some and love the rippled leaves.

Right now I feel like your driftwood is too centered... or maybe it's because it drags my eye downwards. Although, I can see it surrounded by loads of stem plants so that it is like a forest. different reds/green...

The HC were bought immersed and i would love to break them down in to smaller clumps but I do not have tongs or tweezers to do that and it would be more trouble than anything. They were already spreading after 2 weeks in the tank.
Yes that is an apongeton and it grows like a weed in my tank. I had it a week and literally trimmed it twice...it grows that fast..of course thats high light and co2 and ei dosing. my complaint on this plant was that it had really long stems like 8 inches then really long leaves like 12in and it is just too big for my tank.
and for the driftwood. it is probably the picture. the tall part is slightly off centered and i want it to draw your eyes down towards the "meadow" and once i figure out what stems plants I want on the left side which will be the tall "forest" i dont think itll be in a good position

THank you for all your comments...much appreciated! any suggestions for plants on the left side?