Advice needed 3 planted aquariums pics

[bigwater]

I have been into planted aquariums for several years, but I could use some encouragement and advice. I have not added any new plants in the tanks for quite some time, everything I have now grows well and I can propagate except for the swords. The swords are 2 plus years old and have not shot any runners. I realize that all the plants in the tanks are easy to keep, but I do not fertilize, or water change often.
The 29 gallon tank has a ah 55 watt pc and a standard florescent.
The 75 gallon is low light with 2 standard florescent lights.
The 90 gallon has the ah 4 by 55watt pc kit, with pressurized co2

I would like to take the tanks to the next level but I do not want to dose every day, and be a slave to the tanks. Plus I have no artistic touch when it comes to aquascaping.

I am thinking of experimenting with a modified EI dosing schedule. Instead of a one week schedule stretch it out over 2 or 3 weeks so dosing only happens every other day, or every third day.

Any advice, opinions, criticism or questions are appreciated.

 

[RazzleFish]

I think the first one could use some more tallish plants for the back.
The second tank is beautiful!
The third tank is my favorite! Nice work!

 

[jmhart]

Well, let me ask you this:

Are you interested in increasing your lighting and adding co2? It looks to me like you have a very nice low light setup. If the plants are growing well, then you probably don't need to dose any fertilizers. At most you might need to dose a trace mix like Seachem Flourish once a week, maybe every other week.

What is the wattage on your fixtures? If you are around the 1-1.5 watt per gallon mark, then you can keep growing what you're growing and enjoy it, no ferts require. Adding fertilizers without adding co2 and lighting will not allow you to grow different plants nor will it make your current plants grow faster. It's kind of a package deal: either keep a low light setup, or go high light/add co2/add fertilizers.

I think, honestly, if I were you I would simply try to work on my scaping technique. Your plants look good, you may just want to improve their arrangement. For example, I might think about losing the swords. Swords in anything smaller than a 120g tank make the tank look small. They are just really bulky and hard to work with. You've got some good looking anubias in there. You may think about adding some more hardscape, maybe some taller driftwood and attaching more anubias to the driftwood to add high to your aquascape.

I can't identify all of your plants, but you seem to have a grasp of what good low light plants are. To give you a good amount of ideas, you can try: Anubias(any kind), Crypts, Vals, Swords(smaller ones, like melon swords), java fern, java moss, dwarf sag. I think experimenting with different plants and trying to fill in your tanks and work on the "art" side of it would be my recommendation.

If you want to spend the money and go high light/co2/ferts I can definitely address that.

 

[bigwater]

Thanks for the replies.

jmhart the bottom pic is a 90 gallon with over 2 watts per gallon and pressurized co2.

 

[peanutbowl]

Looks like you have a green thumb. How are you dissolving CO2? I think getting that element efficient and well distributed in the tank is the key to the next level. Also, with dosing, you can dose everything once a week if you want. Just make sure you don't bottom out on any of the nutrients.
The tanks look nice.

 

[Davy]

i like tank 3 too!!

 

[eveuh]

They are all nice tanks!

IMO, I would put black backgrounds on the first two tanks, the background on the smallest one especially is busy and distracts from the plants and fish. I would also get some sort of centerpiece for the smallest tank, I really love the look of a big interesting piece of driftwood in a planted tank. I find that if you have one focal point in the tank, it is much easier to scape around it.

 

[Slappy*McFish]

They look good to me. If anything, maybe just add more rock/driftwood and more ground cover.

 

[bigwater]

Thanks for all the kind words. In the 3rd tank with the CO2 I use a this powered reactor I think it works very well. The CO2 levels are kept low so its safe for the fish and I coud up the levels but without dosing regularly it might not make sense. So, with the equipment on the 90 gallon there should be no limitations. I think much more can be done with it, and I should grow some more interesting plants.

The first tank the 29 has been used as a fish grow tank and and is been more interesting to me lately with 11 small rainbows. Can anyone ID the tall plant in the front I think I was told it was a crypt when I got it but not sure. Actually I am going to move it to the 75 gallon tonight there is one in there also that is growing good also. When I got them I decided to split them up, but between tanks they were not not very tall at the time.

 

[jmhart]

Well, your 90 definitely has the most potential to take it to the next level.

Like others said, I would either add a black background or remove the background entirely. Downside of removing the background is you have to figure out a decent way to hide equipment and wires.

My advice still remains that if you aren't dosing, and the plants are growing without any signs of deficiency (curled leafs, pinholes, etc...) then you don't need to dose.

However, to really make it pop, doing a black background (on the first 2, the 3rd alreays had a black background, right?) and changing out the substrate to something darker would really help the plants pop out.

I still say pull out the Amazon swords in every tank, through those in a pond, and get some Crypt Wendtii 'bronze' for color.

More hardscape, more terrain, as in scape the substrate, make it not so flat.

In addition to removing the sword, get ahold of some Blyxa japonica and let it grow into a good foreground for you. It's easy to grow and looks great.