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Hey all

I've been playing around with the scape / plant selection in my planted nano over the last few months trying a few different plants and thought I'd share some pics to see which you all prefer, and maybe get some suggestions / inspiration for where to go from here.

Firstly some details:

Volume: ~3.5 gallons
Tanks Size: 12" long x 7" wide x 9" tall
Lighting: 13W CF, 6400K (3.7wpg)
Filtration: HOB - Elite Hush 5 (rated for 5 gal)
Ferts: Dino Pee (link for those not familiar with this product) & Flourish Excel, both daily dose as per bottle instructions
Substrate: a mix of fine & medium grain plain gravel
Inhabitants: 1x Crown tail Betta, 1x kuhli loach, 1x otto

Now on to the pics:

October 2007
Plants: Ludwigia, hairgrass, watersprite, moneywort, Crypt wendtii
Hardscape: not much - a few polished river rocks and a miniature resin bridge
This was taken not long after setup and it was really just a mix of whatever I had on hand at the time.

December 2007
Plants: Ludwigia, hairgrass, watersprite, moneywort, Crypt wendtii, rotala walichii, anubias nana
Hardscape: Driftwood piece

January 2008
Plants: Ludwigia, hairgrass, watersprite, Crypt wendtii, rotala walichii, anubias nana
Hardscape: Driftwood piece

February 2008 - No pic for this month
I decided to cut back on plant species and try a simpler look. I removed almost all the plants and left just the rotala walichii along the back and the anubias on the DW. I also planted a mix of glosso and HC in the foreground.
Just as the glosso was starting to adjust to it's new surrounds and start spreading my 5 year old decided to be "helpful" by cleaning the tank for me (without my prior approval ) - the glosso and HC (which didn't really take off anyway) never recovered

March 2008 (Today)
Plants: Hairgrass, anubias nana, "pink baby tears"
Hardscape: Driftwood piece
While the rotala walichii was still growing, after a few trims it wasn't looking as full and nice as it used to so it has been replaced by the 'baby tears'.
The hairgrass has made a return and I am thinking of trying again with glosso for the remainder of the foreground.

I'm really not sure where to go from here... looking back on the older pics I really like the lush look and wonder why I changed it. On the other hand I also really like some of the minimalist looking nano tanks I have seen, but my single effort so far of achieving that was not very successful .

So... which of the looks do you like? what would you do with this tank?

G_T


Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

I really quite liked the first one 18-10-07
Sorry for the US residents that would be 10-18-07

I like the simplicity of 3-3-08 but the layout of 6-1-08. The hairgrass seems a bit distracting but I think once it fleshes out that it'll be fine

Curious, how do you find the hush?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I like the third one January 2008 it is very simple yet it has style and form, my only concern is that big rock it just seems too big and over powering for that tank. A suggestion a smaller yet tall rock standing vertical in the LH corner and a smaller piece of DW where the rock is now.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Maybe a shorter foreground plant than hairgrass might be nice. The hairgrass seems to be too tall to me. Judging by the height it's growing, your hardscape could be completely concealed if the hairgrass took over. In many minimalist zen type tanks, I think the hardscape rises over the foreground plants, for a feeling of scale.

It might be nice to have a fine-leaved plant like Rotala as the background again. I think it gives a bit of a feeling of depth, as it seems like the leaves on plants get smaller as you look from a plant closer to you and then to a plant "farther away" into the tank. For this reason I did like the January scape.

I also like the October one for some reason. Seemed a little more random and natural. I noticed the small rocks that are missing in future scapes. I think they add a lot, but I might be biased since my tank is just a bunch of rocks thrown in there.

I know it has nothing to do with aquascaping but why does your tank have blue edges? I've never seen that before. It's a bit odd and even distracting to me.

BTW, I think many aquariums have to "grow in" to becoming a nice set-up, so you might have to just be patient.

Er, that's all opinion from someone who isn't really an aquascaper, and they might even be terrible opinions, so take what I say in aquascaping with a grain of salt.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Thanks for the comments so far... keep them coming.

Callatya - My thoughts on the Hush HOB? hmmm... it does the job I guess. I can't say that I would rave about it though.

On the plus side - it moves the water around the tank adequately and the flow rate is adjustable which came in very handy when getting my betta used to life in a tank rather than an LFS jar. The cost of the unit was fairly reasonable compared to some of the mini versions of other more well known brands at my LFS.

On the downside - the media compartment is strangely shaped (kind of semi-circular) which cuts down on available media space and you are pretty much forced to use the cartridges and the cartridges hold a ridiculously small amount of actual media eg the sponge insert which ends up being your primary bacterial filtration has 2x plastic sponges 1.5 x 1 x 0.25 inches each. The intake pipe, while adjustable, does not reach anywhere near the bottom of even this tiny tank and I have found that unless the water level in the tank is pretty much right at the rim of the tank it tends to suck air through the top of the intake pipe making for gurgling, noisy operation.

Wow... after reading back through that I definitely wouldn't buy one of these again. Thank you for asking the question and getting me to stop and actually think about it.

G_T

Edit: Shini - I was just posting this as you were making your comments - thank you for your input.

I know what you mean about the hairgrass being a bit too tall, that was partially what prompted me to try the glosso and HC. Unfortunately that little experiment went awry but I might look at trying it again (with strict instructions that I DO NOT need help from a 5 year old with this tank lol). I am going to try, with the current scape, to keep the hairgrass contained to that front corner so that it does not end up obsuring the DW hardscape too much.

Re the blue edging on the tank... I was looking for a really small tank for my desk at work but it seemed that anything that fitted my criteria in the LFS was ridiculously over priced (I can't bring myself to pay $60 for a 2 gallon tank) so I ended up getting this from the kids / pet section of my local discount store. TBH I barely even notice the edging now.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

GT

Im sorry but I do like the october form. However if you were to do an ingo like tank, AKA just have rocks and the floor covering of HC that would look awesome...

But I do like the october look because those are the looks I go for in my tanks. Im more of a complete cover all than a bare looking tank.



Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Shane,

Thanks for your comments, there is no need to apologise for having an opinion. Although I admire many of the show tanks, I'm not sure that I could go the whole hog with an igwami (sp?) style scape in this tank - the Betta in there seems to like hanging out in vegetation at the surface so I'd probably need to relocate him if I were to try that style.

I also like the lush look from the earlier pics, but I am concerned that it could the tank look even smaller than it already is.... I'm just not sure if there is a happy medium between the two looks!

G_T


Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

Hi troppo! Wow........you've been busy!
I like the first tank setup the best troppo.I would go back to that & then add one or two twigs or small branches......to look like driftwood sticks & keep it to scale.
I'm getting used to your blue trim. It makes it look cheery.

troppo, i would defianley get a bigger wattage bulb on that fixture and go for glosso ir riccia.
the reason being that it provides alot of depth and size to the tank!
also look into getting some rocks and either cutting your DW into smaller peices, or putting it in another tank...
to make th blue siding less obstructive to the viewers eyes, either paint them black, or put some blue decorations or decorations with some bleus in to tie in a theme...
other wise looks pretty good...!!!...


\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Patty, Brandeeno - Thanks for dropping by.

B - I really don't think increasing the wattage on the light will do too much(other than maybe increase the algae!) I have been able to grow some fairly high light plants already without too much of a drama.
I was having some success with glosso in this tank until my "helper" put an end to that trial - I'm going to try again with a little bit in the current scape and see how it goes. I don't even know if I can get my hands on any Ricca so I'll pass on that for now.

There seems to be a general consensus that the piece of DW in the tank ATM is a bit too large so I'll have a look around for some other pieces... maybe as patty suggested some twigs would be appropriate for this little tank.

G_T

Edit: Brandeeno's comments about the blue edging and the suggestion of blue decorations got me thinking... I'm not really a fan of ornaments as such (with the exception of the big ship in my 180g) but how do you think a matching blue background would look? ...make a feature of the blue, rather than try to cover it up?

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

i think it might look rather nice. or a backround that is a peice of artwork with some blue.

try a peice of cunstruction paper or scrapbooking paper to see if you like it, dont paint it until you know you like it!

also maybe try looking for like a blue buddha or a blue somwthing... and i totally understand your not likeing of decorations... i only like them wheb they are more natural looking and they tie into the theme of some sort...



\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Well I've been at it again... I wasn't completely happy with the most recent scape and my dissatisfaction has been growing over recent weeks. Tonight while doing a routine WC I knocked over the DW and uprooted a few plants... I threw a minor tantrum and ripped almost everything out

So I have replaced the big bit of DW with a piece that is taller and narrower and thrown some elodea in there for now. I'll head to the LFS tomorrow to see what I can find plant wise.

I'm considering swapping the gravel while I'm messing things up so much anyway. Will darker substrate help to make the tank look larger, or is it likely to look more claustrophobic?

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

As a general rule of thumb, (at least in Decorating houses and stuff) The darker the colors the smaller everything looks. The lighter the colors the bigger everything looks. And IME this also applies to aquariums. I would look for a light colored natural, myself.

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

I've had a busy day

After last night's tantrum I think I may have finally got something that I am reasonably happy with. (for now anyway lol)

I've replaced the natural light coloured gravel with a glassy black sand, swapped the big chunky DW piece with something more appropriate to this tank, got rid of all the baby tears, replanted the hairgrass, some elodea (to keep the betta happy) and bought and planted a heap of what I think is HM. I also replaced the background with a blue one to match the tacky plastic tank trim lol. So pretty much a complete re-do.

I've taken some pics but its still a little cloudy and the blue of the background isn't showing true.

Pic 1

Pic 2

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

The tank has cleared a bit more overnight and you can see the background better now....

angled shot

front

end

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

Gt ...Hi ...I must say its fun to watch you go thru the different scapes trying to find someting you like . I know that feeling well .

I think what you have done with the right foreground is terrific but I agree with Shini that the hairgrass doesn't fit that spot . Hence I think a really good idea would be to leave a beach on the left . To that end I'd move the Elodia to behind the Driftwood and have a high - low look for the tank. To give the tank a more layered look I'd put the Hairgrass around the front of the driftwood. Then spread the HM all across the left side of the tank leaving a small beach at the far left front ( Maybe ).

Hope this gives you an idea or 2.


Garry

Hi Garry, thanks for dropping by and offering your suggestions. I'm glad you enjoyed observing the progress of this tank - I've had a lot of fun playing with it.

After something like 4 re-scapes in just over 6 months, as well as a couple of less drastic changes in between (no wonder my poor dopey, half-blind betta looks a bit lost sometimes), I do think its probably time that I decided on something and let it settle and grow in for a while now. Having said that....after living with the tank for a few days now I can see a few things that I would like to tweak just a little:

The hairgrass - I think I'm going to remove it completely.
When I pulled the tank apart for this latest rescape I had visions of the DW emerging out of a field of hairgrass ie filling the entire tank with it, but when I went to the LFS they didn't have any in stock so I chose the HM instead.
I think I'd still like to try for the full carpet look and I have lots of HM left over so I might just replace the hairgrass with HM in that front left corner.

The Elodea - not sure if this is the best plant for this tank... I want a few stems of something tall for the betta to rest in, but I don't want anything that will steal the attention from the HM & DW.
I was thinking that by putting it in the far back corner that it would not be as conspicuous. Maybe I just need to tighten up the little bunch so it is in the corner more and not spreading across the back wall.
Because of where the tank is located now, most of the time it is viewed at an angle from the right front corner, or from the right end. Moving the token tall plant to the right end of the tank would obscure the view of the rest of the tank I think.

Hardscape - I'd like to work a rock or two into the scape (I don't know why but I just do). Maybe a single rock or a small grouping of black & white granite-style rocks about 1/4 to 1/3 the height of the DW on the left hand side (current hairgrass patch) or something like that to provide a small break in the HM carpet?? Would that distract from the DW too much?

Enough rambling from me for now...

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

the rocks will distact form the drift wood, but a few riverstones off to the side wouldnt too badly... if you get something darker and more subtle it will distract from the DW. stick with natural coloer (browns) rocks and such... but a little trial and error wont hurt... go ahead and try the granite and see if it works...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

GT ....Hmmmmm not sure what that all means ..but can't wait to see the photo . I know what its like to be undecided about scapes

Post a photo when your done .

Garry