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75g tank, 4ftx18inches foot print.
tahitian moon sand about 1inch deep on the bottom if that. all plants aside from the java fern on the real driftwood are fake.
2.5 wpg in the form of 5x32w T8 bulbs

the fake plants are going just picturing them gone. the look im goign for is nice tall plants in the back with a overhang over the driftwood and cave grotto. this isnt set in stone it was just a image i had in my head. everything is a free for all at this point. feel free to copy the pics and doodle on them to give ideas. also need some plant names to help out.

in short im lookign for plant names and locations in the tank to make it have good cover for rams and cories.

tank pic
tank pic2
Thanks everyone

Last edited by Sin in Style at 12-Feb-2005 19:45

Hi Sin,
your tank is very lovely I must first say!

What you need is some hardy plants to root well quickly so as to avoid the crushing nature of the sand. I could recommend a few tall background plants for you to start:
If you like Bushy tall plants, try Ambulia, Cabomba, Hornwort, or Anachris. I personally prefer the first two, but it is all personal taste. My Boliv. Rams love swimming through the forest of ambulia, the tall bushy stems seem to make a jungle for them, and that makes them very happy fish. Wisteria is also a very nice bushy plant, but I find it goes brown if it gets too much light, 2.5wpg may be too much for it.
If you like long grassy type plants, a few come to mind, Jungle Val (also known as Val. Americana), is a good one, which hasnt worked out in my big tank for me, but is indeed a good one for many people. Spiralis reaches a darn good height too, and I love its shiny green leaves. Tiger Val is also very nice looking. Cyperus is another grassy plant that is not as tall, but more bushy in amount of leaves, so may also make a nice background plant.
For show-type plants in the middle and foreground, you have a few options. If you want to give your corys a neat plant to hang out under the leaves, Dwarf Lily works great, and comes in a variety of colors, I prefer the red, but the variegated type is pretty too. Anubias of many types are also helpful for mid-foreground plants, and I have found that Pennywort also makes a lovely mid water plant.
Banana plant is also an option for you, and so are onion plants- but I couldnt get those to grow no matter how hard I tried.
Good luck, and I Hope any of these suggestions tickle your fancy, but if not, many other people on here know more plants than I. Those are just ones I have had great success with.

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on more link to help give an idea of hwat it looks like. this one shows the arch the driftwood creates. thougth it would go well with broad leaves hanging over crating a sort of cave or tunnel.

[link=tank pic3]http://community.webshots.com/photo/119716850/272501520TbrFUl" style="COLOR: #00FFFF[/link]

black background would look nice. i like tall stem plants. rotala indica on one side and ludwigia repens on the other would look nice imo, especially when they get red from your DIY canopy/lighting. then you could add red tiger lilies or a wine red crypt off center foreground and fill the rest with whatever greens you like. just a thought.

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Sin,

You need more substrate! Moon sand is fine but rooted plants need 2 or more inches of substrate.

A suggestion for the back is cryptocoryne balansae. Long, narrowleaves appear to be hammered bronze. Tolerant of all light and water conditions. Another crypt would be c. undulata "broas leaves". I grows to 14 inches in height and a "mother" plant can cover the same width. Also very tolerant of conditions and is green with strong brown highlights.

A quick, bright-green grower is wisteria. Hygrophyla difformis will grow to the surface of your water as a dense bush. It establishes itself quickly and is tolerant of intense pruning. Just add water!

You should be able to find these plants at your LFS.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright