FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hi,
Here are a few pics of my 29g tank. It was planted two weeks ago. Please give your suggestions to make it look better. Here are a couple of suggestion I would like to present to myself.
1. Clean the glass before taking pics
2. Hide all that equipment.

The overall look is not very harmonious coz I like the colors more than a smooth green look. But i know it wont be appreciated much.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/mughal113/29g/tank_20070316c.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/mughal113/29g/tank_20070316a.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/mughal113/29g/tank_20070316b.jpg

Thanks.
-Mughal

Well, 1.) it still needs to fill in. More growth and fuller growth will make the tank look better.

2.) Since it's a tall tank, IMO the hardscape needs to be taller as well. Look at what LittleFish did in his 40G log for inspiration. There's a lot of empty space in the upper half of the tank, and you're not utilizing all the room you have to work with.

Other than that, the plants do look healthy. Good job

---

Back in the saddle!

I love the way the lower half of the tank looks right now mughal!

The coloring is balanced & the hardscape is interesting! But yes, it needs to grow up in the back.......... and when that happens it might make the hardscape look smaller like NowherMan suggested.

But for some reason I love your color scheme with the plants & wood & I love the way the rocks are standing up. If that was just a 20 gal. long.............. perfect! (for me anyway)

I'm new & don't know much, but I still like what I see. If you do too, maybe you could add some more taller driftwood & find bigger rocks like that? Whatever you do, I'm anxious to see what you end up with. I like your style.

Attached Image:

Looks good to me. Nice color arragement and very nice placement. Give it time, and I think that I will grown in and somewhat up wards. Please keep posting pics so I can follow your tank. I keep hopeing that someday, one of my tanks will look that good.

"There is also a Clown Pleco in this tank some where. I am telling you, HE IS IN HERE."

Thanks everybody for the comments.
I absolutely agree it needs to grow. I hope the background would be much fuller in a month's time. My Vals are talking a bit of time to start but I've had good success with them in my previous tanks.
Talking about LF's tank, well he is a pro! I'm just beginning to get the feel of planted tanks. For this tank, I'm going for a V shaped aquascape. If u look at the full tank shot, the right side is pretty much consistant with that V shape, left side needs to grow a bit (and hide the equipment, of course). The forground in the middle is planted with glosso which has started to grow now (I need to thank Matty for my success with this plant!). So the middle portion needs to stay low to eleborate glosso and the rocks. Does any of the plants needs replacement, or feel out of place?
Should I look for bigger driftwood? I have a couple of pieces that, IMO, would be too large for a tank this size. But I can always try that.
Patty, that was too encouraging Thanks for the kind words. I doubt I can find bigger rocks of that kind. I just picked them up from a construction site I knew what to do with them the moment I saw them lying there. And bigger would be difficult to fit in there as well...remember, its just a 29g!

Ahhhhhh V shaped! I can see that now that you put it into words.

"Does any of the plants needs replacement, or feel out of place?"

I personally have no idea, as I'm not into aquascaping. I just like the look of all planted tanks.

"Should I look for bigger driftwood?"

I wouldn't. I would wait until the plants are full grown & then see if a little more wood is needed on that side. If you think so, then I would add a tall thin, more like a stick, piece of driftwood.

As far as the rocks go, just leave them. When the tank is grown you may like them as they are. If not, then you can just be on the lookout for more. Remember, you're the one that has to see this tank everyday, not us. You can ask for opinions, but in the end, stick with what YOU like.

Attached Image:

Talking about LF's tank, well he is a pro!

No, I am not

I am in this hobby pretty much exactly 2 years now, far away from being a pro and still making loads of mistakes.

But given such I nice compliment, I will provide you with some input

For one thing, I believe in "less is more". I think you have way too many different plant species in the tank. How many are there? Larger groups of the same plants look more natural, IMHO. There are very nice layouts with many different plant species as well though, like in the Dutch layouts, but they are pretty hard to create as just the right amount of different shapes, heights, and colors are needed to make them look great.

As to your plants, I also see from your plant ID thread that you seem to have an algae problem. Is that so? Maybe you have been messing with the tank too much recently and don't give it enough time to settle.

Overall, I would suggest you keep the tank this way until the algae problem is under control. And you can use that time to think up a list of possible options on what you would like to do with regards to plants and scape. Time will also help you see to see the tank once the plants have grown in, usually that is a little different than when they just have been arranged.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi LF,
Thanks for the input. Now thats what I was looking for: a critical analysis!
After some initial pulse purchases, I myself am feeling the same at the moment. Its looking a bit confused at the moment. I'll soon be replacing the some of the plants that look "out of place".
Algae, yes, there is a lot of algae visible at the moment. These plants were taken from my old tank and there was a LOT of algae there. Most of the visible stuff is on the older plants/leaves. The new growth is pretty clean.
I'm holding back on fertilization a bit. Let's see what comes out after a month.
Thanks again.

Glad you like some constructive criticism, not everybody does

Here is some more

- Take a look at your plants, see how they grow, see which ones seem to be doing good in your water (etc) conditions, and try to imagine a scape you could arrange with them. They should be the keepers.

- If you introduced the algae from a different tank then you should remove the affected leaves (or entire plants, if needed) as soon as possible. Alage spores will settle in your tank much faster once visual algae is already present. I would not have moved the plants into the tank in the first place, but it is too late for that piece of wisdom.

- Why holding back on ferts? The is the wrong thing to do. Lacking ferts in a tank will only profit the algae. Which fert in particular do you believe helps your algae growth?

Enough for now, hope this helps,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I think its too late now. I should have asked before moving the plants. However, I've done some quick disaster recovery and removed algae infested/old/dying leaves and also cleared the walls and equipment from any vsible algae accessible.
What is contributing most to algae? I think its light. Plants have been moved from 2wpg to a little over 3wpg and I think they are still trying to adapt. Abubius is putting out a new leaf every couple of days and the newly bough crypt has sent out a runner. But the algae is enjoying this light too.
I've used substrate fertilization and dosing PMDD and a locally available aquatic plant fert named "Plant Plus". Ive stopped dosing PMDD for now and already I can see some potassium deficiency already in the fast growers.

Thanks for the time.

What is contributing most to algae? I think its light.

Well, you are right, and wrong.

Without light, there is no algae, and no plants.
With a little light, stuff (and that is algae and plants) need much longer to grow and an imbalance is visible in a tank much later.
Now, with good light, things tend to speed up quite a bit, in particular if you also would add CO2. But even without that, an imbalance of nutrients will hold back the plant growth and favor the algae. Ergo - I believe your ferts are out of whack. And you prove this point yourself by stating that you already see K deficiencies.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi Ingo,

Yeah, i also think now its the fertilizers. Im looking for some better ones. Planted tanks are not very common here in my locality and finding a good fertilizer can be a task.
There is only one type of algae there in the tank and I think thats hair algae. Its lush, green and pearling
On chuk's website its stated that hair algae is maily caused by excess Iron. Can u please give me some suggestions how to cope with this particular type of algae?


Thanks

Can u please give me some suggestions how to cope with this particular type of algae?

I would assume that you add Iron as part of your PMDD, so is it possible to reduce the part that contains the iron (micros) or to increase the macros?

Once hair algae settled in my tanks it was pretty much a loss. Only the removal of all plants and hardware affected got rid of it. I find that moss in particular is a candidate for hair algae. Again, I believe the algae is caused by imbalance and you may need to try to adjust your mixture over time to get it controlled.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thank you very much Ingo for all your time.
I have stopped dosing the PMDD for now and using the prepared fertilizer exclusively. I've removed most of the algae infested plants already. Lets hope I wont have to remove everything!
By the way, I would not mind if this algae stayed confined to the piece of driftwood. It looks beautiful, doesn't it?

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/mughal113/29g/algae.jpg

It looks beautiful, doesn't it?

You are darn right, certain kinds of algae (including the one in your picture) can look very nice when confined to desired spots.

My driftwood has, in certain areas, has your algae as well, and it is confined to it (with the exception if some old Anubias leaves). As such I am not too concerned about it.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

An update.
LF, yes, the PMDD was the culprit. I stopped dosing it and continued with the prepared fertilizer only accompanied by frequent water changes. The algae has retreated quite significantly. I can see very little green algae and most of the stuff present now is the dead algae. I'll be removing the infested leaves gradually.
I'll post an updated picture right after two weeks from now. This is the time I have given the glosso and tenellus to fill up the foreground Lets see how far does it get to.
Thank you very much.

Just wanted to say you have a beautiful tank. You asked about moving the equipment. You can hide it very well by putting fast growing plants in front of it and also by lowering the equipment deeper into the tank. I know its obvious Drift wood works very well for hiding bulky things like filters.

mts.gif" border="0"> I vote do you?
My Tanks at Photobucket

Thanks LogansLeathers for the kind words. Yeah, im working on cocealing that equipment and hopefully, some plants will soon grow dense enough to hide the filter.