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My planted tank. Please check out the pics and critique!

Clint

Stay chooned in for more!
I thought I'd show you guys my planted aquarium. I have put a lot of effort into it. I can grow the plants but I was told I lack philosophy.... so in other words I can mix paint very well but I don't know how to use it, I think that's a good analogy.

I need different and larger rocks. This is after a big trim, so the plants don't look their best.
The water isn't it's clearest because I just did my Sunday water change.
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Constructive criticism is welcome!
 
The hard scape could be taller IMO. It just disappears into the plants and the substrate.
 
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I like it man :) I pick plants I think look cool and throw them in the tank. haha!! That's a really clean hi-tech set up. I've never gotten that deep into it though.
Andrew
 
While I think that the inside of the tank is nice... the second picture of the entire setup is epic. It's like one of those abstract photos that invoke a deep sense of meaning and thought when the viewer is sleep deprived. It's just.. "Wow."
 
you got some nice equipment, and by nice equipment i mean DANG!

i like your plant selection, but your hardscape could use a little work. usually most planted tanks have some sort of elevation. either from left to right, or right to left, or center/back to out/front. having a level horizontal tank leaves very little for the eyes to engage.

as for the plants, i would move the tallest plants closer to the back right of the tank, then move the shorter plants more to the left/foreground.

cant wait till all your plants grow out for you! it's going to look awesome! what fish are you planning on putting it in? care to share tank specs? ;)
 
Lol... I'd love to hear your interpretation of my abstract photography lol.

Here it is a month and three days ago. Keep in mind that the photos I originally posted were after a big trim and I cut back all the plants by about 50%. Carbon dioxide really makes things grow when the light and nutrients are unlimited.

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Andrew, if you'd like to trade plants let me know and maybe we can work something out.

My plans for this tank is to focus on plants. It's a plant tank, not a fish tank. I have five otocinclus catfish for algae control (plus they are cute!) and I want to get some Cherry and Crystal Red Shrimp. I have Malaysian Trumpet snails coming and I'd like to get some horned nerites as well.

I originally didn't have a black background... and I prefer it without one, but the plants in the back started to grow facing the wall.

Amphirion, Yeah I definitely need a new hardscape. I didn't really worry about sloping the substrate because once I go back to college, I expect the substrate to "erode" any slopes. Then I have to go back home on the holidays, then move it back.... you get the idea. I didn't expect the slopes to stay in place so I didn't worry about it. I really need new rocks but can't find any that are just right. I don't understand what you mean when you say to move the tallest plants to the back of the tank. Aren't they already in the back?

My specs are:
Lighting: ADA Solar I 150 watt HQI
Filtration: Eheim Classic 2215 (I'd like to upgrade to a 2217.... what I have is adequate but I'd like more flow)
CO2: 1.5 bubbles per second injected via an inline diffuser into the intake of the canister, so I am using my canister as a co2 reactor.
Substrate: 500 grams of Tourmaline, about 20 ounces of laterite, 100 ml's of Seachem Matrix carbon were laid down first. Then 5-6 liters of regular Aquasoil Amazonia, then 6 liters of Aquasoil Amazonia powder
Fertilization: I use the Estimative Index Method, so I dose Macros three days per week and Micros three days per week. I alternate dosing macros and micros. I also dose extra iron and magnesium, and potassium.
Heating: None yet... I havn't needed it until recently. I just ordered a Hydor inline heater that I can hook up to the intake or outflow of my canister.

PH:5
KH:1-2 degrees
GH:4
Nitrate: I like to keep it around 10 ppm to bring out the reds. I dose half of what the Estimative Index regimen calls for.
Phosphate: about 3 ppm. It goes up to as high as 5 ppm when I dose Kh2PO4.
CO2: 30 ppm is considered ideal, however I like to keep it above 30 ppm. I know it is above 30 ppm when my drop checker is lime green. When it is just plain grass colored green, it's only 30 ppm. When the drop checker is yellow, it's too high. I like to keep it on the high side of safe.... I keep the co2 as high as the fish can stand it without showing stress.

I have to keep plenty of surface ripples so I have room for error when it comes to co2. It can be tricky balancing co2 with oxygen. One problem I have is my needle valve isn't the best in the world and it "floats". For example, if I set it to 1.5 bubbles per second, in a day or two it could be 1.8 bubbles per second. I need to get a new needle valve of higher quality.
 
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Sounds pretty much like my tank. Plants, shrimp, snails (only nerite- olive, tiger, and zebra). I had some bamboo shrimp in there for a while... was cool as heck watching them sit in the current catching stuff in the current. Then my DIY Co2 some how leaked down the tube and the tank went to crap and lots of the shrimp died incl. the bamboo guys. I gotta get the plants trimmed down (cause they are tall and straggly not cause they look good but big) but at least it's moving back in the right direction. Oh, get some amano shrimp too- they're bigger than the cherry guys.
Andrew
 
a tank where the sides slope towards the center.
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a tank where the slope radiates from center and goes outward.
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elevation from back to front:
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using the golden ratio as a center point, but also a right to left gradient
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I was hoping to create the illusion of slopes using plants with varying heights... but my tank is only a month old.

I really need new rocks. Those pics really demonstrate just how small my rocks are :( I'm a hack!
 
  • #11
Wow, all ADA stuff? You some kinda richy rich or something? LOL

Don't mind me it's just jealousy, my CO2 reactor was an old gallon jug of Hawiian Punch with an air hose coming out of it and going into the input of my empty power filter. I had a bunch of tanks setup like that back in the mid-late 1990s.

The rocks are OK I would just pile them all together to make a single more dramatic focus point.

Try to decide what you are going for, if you're going for Amano style try to remake a landscape photo using aquatic plants, wood and rocks cos that's generally what he tends to strive for is an impression of a scenic landscape. Whereas the Dutch are more precise with their plant placement trying to create a visually pleasing "aquatic plant garden" while strictly adhering to the rule of thirds and golden ratio.
 
  • #12
No, not all ADA stuff. Just the light, thermometer, substrate and tank, and the light was given to me to make up for someone screwing me over on a trade. They made up for it : ) I love this light. This light will be buried with me in my coffin!

The lily pipes are generic, but I want to get a set of genuine ADA pipes as well as replace my generic drop checker with an ADA drop checker. I actually broke one pipe last night and I'm hodinthe two pieces together with a piece of tubing. Good excuse to upgrade!

Made the light bar myself from electrical conduit. The ADA light bar is over $200 without shipping... No thanks. Got the stand at a thrift store and drilled the holes myself.

Eventually I want EVERYTHING to be ADA.... Lots of time until that happens.

I don't really know where I'm going with this tank to be honest... I have no artistic skill or sense of direction.
 
  • #13
you could always combine the rocks together, partially bury them in the substrate, then it'd look like one giant super rock.
 
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