Aquarium Design - Suggestions/Ideas?

DGalt

DGalt

AC Members
Jun 1, 2008
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Connecticut
I'm going to be converting my tank to a planted tank. I couple use some suggestions for the layout though (first time doing this :eek3:). Here's what the tank looks like now:


tank8.jpg



The tank is 15 gallons. I have an incandescent strip light coming in, which I'm going to use 2 25W CF lights in. Not trying to do anything high-tech, just want to make the tank look nice.

Don't really have any ideas yet. I'd like to keep the driftwood in there since the pleco loves them. Rocks are...meh. I did that to take up room. I've got a whole pile of rocks I could use in various places in the tank if need be.

I'd like to leave some viewing space towards the center...kinda like I have now. Some low growing plants or some ground cover would be ok there, but nothing that'll grow too high.

Any ideas are welcome. :grinyes:
 
Last edited:
bah stupid image hosting. I'll try to fix that (works for me, but maybe it's a size thing).

The tank is a regular 15. I was told to use 2 25's by someone else here who said that the watt/gallon rule falls apart for smaller tanks. I could get lower wattage bulbs I guess...2 15's or something...bring it down to 2 watt/gallon.

Edit:
Is image working now?
 
yup image working now.
I would stick with the 2x15w bulbs. See how that goes and if you think you got the tank under control then go for the 25w.
As far as scape.
I would move the left piece of wood more towards the back right corner. Perhaps behind it put some big crypt. You can add some anubias to the wood.
If you take out the stones then you can add some stem plants towards the back. Such as rotalas, ludwigia, sunset/green hygro.
And for the foreground you can remove that dish/stones and try dwarf hairgrass or dwarf clover
 
The image works for me. Two 25 W CFL's should be fine; watts per gallon guidelines don't really apply to CFL's, as they are much less efficient than old-fashioned straight fluorescents.
 
Bk828 said:
yup image working now.
I would stick with the 2x15w bulbs. See how that goes and if you think you got the tank under control then go for the 25w.
As far as scape.
I would move the left piece of wood more towards the back right corner. Perhaps behind it put some big crypt. You can add some anubias to the wood.
If you take out the stones then you can add some stem plants towards the back. Such as rotalas, ludwigia, sunset/green hygro.
And for the foreground you can remove that dish/stones and try dwarf hairgrass or dwarf clover
Click to expand...

What are the rules about putting plants near filter / heater (the back left corner is where these are both located).

Also, what is a good way of getting mosses / plants to stick to something like the wood? I've heard of ppl stapling moss to wood, but I would think the rusting staples would be bad for the tank. As for other types of plants...no ideas lol.
 
DGalt said:
What are the rules about putting plants near filter / heater (the back left corner is where these are both located).

Also, what is a good way of getting mosses / plants to stick to something like the wood? I've heard of ppl stapling moss to wood, but I would think the rusting staples would be bad for the tank. As for other types of plants...no ideas lol.
Click to expand...

I had an issue with the plants being 2 close to the heater/filter and they either got sucked to the filter sponge or got melted by the heater (depends on what type of heater you have). If you have a submersible heater place it horizontally at the back top of the tank (what i did to save space and prevent melting)
As far as filter goes you can try and plant the stems a few inches away from the filter so there would be some distance between them. Or you can just get shorter/rougher background plants for that spot

For sticking moss. You can take cotton thread. Place the moss on the wood, do a few spins with cotton thread, tie it and leave it alone. Eventually the thread will give and the moss will already be stuck to the wood.
 
Bk828 said:
yup image working now.

As far as scape.
I would move the left piece of wood more towards the back right corner. Perhaps behind it put some big crypt. You can add some anubias to the wood.
Click to expand...

I just noticed you said to move the left piece to the back right corner (I read it as left corner before). Is this a typo or are you saying to put both pieces on the same side?
 
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