# Thoughst to the new look please.....



## Behold (31 Dec 2008)

After a day of getting wet and then waiting for it to clear up a bit. here is the before and after results.....

Before







After some comments and a bit of work i have removed the wood on the right completly. made the branches more upright and added the java fern up on top if this takes off well i will move it over the top of it all. 

Then all the vallis is on the right around the wood that you can just see there. this gives a large cave for my pictus and gibb. then the long wood moved out in to the open as its a nice bit of bog (its held up purely by resting with a sucker on the back as backup support.)

The large echinorus has moved along and the wood in front hides the roots that TBH don't look lovely on show. the anubius has been moved underneath and there is one bit still to be located better half way up the branches. Also all my amazon swords have been moved to the right as a little farm which hopefully will grow up nicely. 

Finally i found an old echindorus (Name unknown) which im suprised is alive!!! this is the small plant at the front. this should grow quite large once i start dosing and my CO2 is working.






Plans for the future. find some sort of dwarf/short plant to tit infront of the large echindorus and a cave under the long bit of upright bogwood with maybe some ricca or moss of some sort. The cave to be maybe 2 compartments.

Comments, thoughts and constructive critisism welcome.


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## Mark Evans (1 Jan 2009)

it certainly looks more organized, a good start. is your substrate inert or fertilized? if its the second, maybe get some e tennelus in there for transition effect from the vallis to the fore. use it around the hard scape too. it doesn't have to be encroaching on the open foreground, its just to soften the appearance of the hard scape. amano does it all the time.

it is a light lover so bare that in mind. once settled in it will create a thicket in no time and looks great. you could use it to good effect in your set up


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## Behold (1 Jan 2009)

unfortunatly its inert. but i do use API root tabs and seem to work fine at the moment. 

Yeah im need some other bits in there. im going to give it a week or soo to let the fish settle and the roots to settle in then start buying some more plants to fill them gaps up. 

i take it e tennelus is echindorus tennelus. How tall will it grow. is it only short? im not wanting any other tall plants in there.


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## Mark Evans (1 Jan 2009)

Behold said:
			
		

> How tall will it grow. is it only short? im not wanting any other tall plants in there.



they state on the tropica tabs, 20cm. what you need to do is (all light dependent) let establish ad grow to its full height it will then start to send out runners left right and center (after 2/3 weeks maybe depending on emerged growth prior to buying) dont cut it too early, let runners develop. then the scary bit....

cut it right down to an inch within it's life. seriously! once cut you get a lovely lemony zest from the water   anyway, get rid of the cut leafs clear any debris from the substrate and soon you will get much shorter and quicker growth. any runners that start to spread where you dont want them?...just cut. you can give the look of graded e tenellus by leaving the length at the back completely alone. just experiment.


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## Dave Spencer (1 Jan 2009)

Personally, I would like to see some wood reaching higher up in to the water column. A lot of what you currently have may well get lost in the undergrowth. A bit of hardscape bursting proudly out of dense planting can look pretty good, and create a balance between planting and hardscape. You could have some breaking the waters surface.

Dave.


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## Behold (1 Jan 2009)

Thanks Dave. Im wanting to build up behind the vallis for some extra caves ETC as to other hardscape... where to put it.... hand what sort of shapes???? 

thanks


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## Dave Spencer (1 Jan 2009)

You could tie wrap single branches to the existing wood, having them going up at 45 degrees or so.

Dave.


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