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Well I removed every one of my plants today and dipped them in a bleach solution to get rid of some type of red algae. I also rearranged the plants because I have been wanting to change things up. I had to leave the fish in there because I had no where to put them...but things worked out ok. I only worked with the plants I have now. I am going to order some plants for my 29g this week and also a few more for the 55g. The big piece of DW in there will soon be replaced. So I will have to post more pics after the new plants and DW go in.

Here is a before picture:


Here is a shot of the whole tank (centered)...after the rearranging:


The red lines are where I want to put Ludwigia Repens and the green lines are more Echinodorous Tennellus.

Here is a view of the left side of the tank:

The pink lines is where I want another Crypt Wendtii, the red is Ludwigia, and the green in the Tennellus.

Here is the right side:

The red is Ludwigia again, the black is Crypt Retrospiralis, and the green is Tennellus.


It is still not half as good as other people's tanks, but I'm trying. The next problem I have to deal with is getting that algae stuff out of the tank for good. It is all over the back of the tank and I didn't wipe it off..though I should have. [/font][/font][/font][/font]

*Kristin*

Kristin,

Fist of all – you had the perfect opportunity to remove the algae from the back, why didn’t you use it? Ran out of time?

Second of all – You tank does look nice, and I am sure that when the new plants etc. are there then it will look just lovely.

Details: Do you have the two bubble wands in there for any other reason than esthetics? I personally am not too wild about them, but that is a preference issue. It is currently very hard to imagine the tank in its future state as I would need the help of a visual of the new driftwood to come up with a nice layout. The one thing that strikes me is that it seems you are planning to fill the whole back with Ludwigia. I wouldn’t do that, to me that seems to make the tank appear smaller and like a block. And if there are plants behind the Ludwigia then you will not see them anymore as they can grow rather tall (except if you perform excessive trimming in which case you will have to uproot rather frequently to replace “old” stem bottoms). Tenellus sounds good to me, so does the second Wendtii on the left.

Hope this helps a little,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

My advice...move the heater into a vertical fashion, as it's too distracting placed horizontally. Same goes for the thermometer. Either remove it and test temps every so often, or stick is somewhere where is doesn't alter your field of vision.

About the algae, you could get yourself a smaller plec to help take care of that. Or maybe leave it. Some people welcome algae as long as its presence does not burden plant growth and if it develops into appealing looking algae.

-Matt

LittleFish: I have the bubble thing there for some aeration on the left side, since my filter is kind of more on the right. I could take it out. I did have just a small airstone but changed to the bubble wall thing. My German Ram seems to like it, but I am not sure if I could cover it up so it wouldn't be seen.

I did plan to put the ludwigia in front of the bacopa and rotala. I couldn't figure out how to arrange all of those plants. Any suggestions?
I don't want the bacopa and rotala to be hidden though.

I didn't clean the algae off the back because I ran out of time and because of the fish being left in there, I had already stressed them out enough so I tried to get the plants in as soon as I could and leave the tank alone. I bumped the DW when cleaning the front of the tank and had to reposition it and after that I was quite frustrated.

Tainted: Sorry bout the thermometer. I stuck that in there temporarily while treating for ich and forgot to take it out.

Matt: I do have a bristlenose, but he won't eat that algae stuff. The only fish that will is a Siamese Algae eater and I can't find one anywhere.

Thanks for the comments!

*Kristin*

Kristin,

I think the design of which plant goes where will greatly depend on the hardware, aka the new piece of driftwood. Let’s wait until you have it and then we will discuss the best layout.

And in the meantime (how about next weekend) you can get busy on the algae .

Be patient,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I already have the piece of DW for the 55g. Here is a picture:



It is soaking now to get the tannins out.[/font]

*Kristin*

Kristin,

Nice piece

How do you envision it in the tank?

Like flat, or upright, or on its side?

One problem when putting it flat on the ground could be that it takes up a lot of real estate.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

In the picture it is flat. I want it to be upright in the tank...with that branch out to the right. I will have to find some rocks for it to prop up on though, because it won't stay up.

I also have some flat slate rock that I don't know what to do with. Right now I have the piece holding down the other DW and it makes a nice little hiding place for my yoyos. I am going to try to make some little caves for them.

I want to put some kinds of plants like around the DW. I am so bad at imagining things though. I know I will have the tennellus in front of the DW and Christmas moss on the DW.

What can I do with the stem plants? They look too fixed now...being in a row. I don't really like it. I can't really envision what they should look like though. :%)
I don't know any good midground plants...except for crypts. And not all of them are midground.

*Kristin*

I had bought some SAE, except I am not sure if they are really SAE. I bought them small and now some of their fins are looking a little yellow. I have to look it up again. If they are, they have mostly eaten flakes. I think they are rare because them can't be tank bred.

I have a rubber lip plec (bulldog)that seems to do well. They are smaller that bristle nose plecs.

-Matt