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Critique my aquascape Hardscape done, how would you plant it?

Redback

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3 Oct 2018
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Dublin
Hi,
I've been a fishkeeper for about 15 years and I've just done the wood and rock hardscape on the new open top custom tank.

I'm however lost for ideas on how to plant my 300 litre (1200x600x450mm) and I'm open to plant suggestions. Only thing in is so far is 4 pots of MonteCarlo which is 2 weeks into the Dry Start Method to help it carpet before it gets planted and flooded. Everything behind the MonteCarlo I will plant and up for moss, bucephalandra etc attached to wood or rock. I have plenty of Anubias etc I can transfer from another tank.

Rest of it is open to some clever suggestions from forum members ;) please.

I do plan on using some Trident Fern and Bolbitis heudelotii in the setup. My Lily pipework is in the back left and the scape is view from the front right corner diagonally so that's why it's left as an open space to check out fish and shrimps etc.

IMAG2411.jpg


Thanks all.
 
Redback

Your hardscape is very open and looking good. With a few simple moves it could very good plus.

All the DW has been carefully positioned to give you an excellent "Eye Flow". Its the rocks large and small that have let you down by carefully placing them in straight lines

Here are my suggestions for you to think about.
Redback%201%20%204.10.18%20_edited-3.jpg

The rock centre left is positioned back RH end under the larger arching piece of DW
The centre rock removed completely.
All the small rocks which will get lost in your plants in a random pile in either area 1 or area 2 only you can see which looks the best.

Keith:wave::wave:
 
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Thanks Keith. Those pieces of Dragon Stone were going to get pulled out anyways as they are pink with the rich brown colour all the other Dragon stone is the Sandy colour so will be picking up some more of that. Will do what you suggested with the stone placement for the replaced stone
 
Possibly use something long placed in the back left which will get caught in the flow and wave about, kind of mimicking the wood in a way. I think that would look quite cool and add another dynamic to the tank.

Here are a few I could think of. Cryptocoryne Usteriana, Cryptocoryne Spiralis, Vallisneria Sp, Cyperus Helferi (can be hard to grow)
 
Thanks Oscar, never been a huge Crypt lover over the years. I plan for the back corner by the outlet flow I was thinking of Bolbitis heudelotii as I like the leaves and it's lovely when seen moving in water flow. Substitute for cryts would probably be some Microsorum Pteropus 'Trident' fern. As for Vallis I would more be the Asiatica version as the leave don't grow as long as all the others.

Keith seen the photo when you first replied, thanks again.
 
So have ordered the below plant list and sort of picked the plant layout in the picture. Will move the rocks around as per your suggestion Keith when it comes to planting this week, is there something that someone might alter?

300 Litre scaper.jpg


Anubias nana ´Pinto´ x2
Anubias nana x5
Microsorum Pteropus 'Trident' x1
Bolbitis heudelotii x1
Hygrophila polysperma 'Sunset' x1
Rotala Rotundifolia Red x4
Rotala H'ra x2
 
Looks fine unplanted, however, once your stems and ferns start to grow your wood might get a little lost.
You might want to add a stronger hardscape with bigger rocks or stones to create a bolder impression, especially in a tank that size.
 
Agreed with the above. Bolbitis gets quite big and dense over time, even in super low tech. Personally I would do moss where you want the trident and put the Ferns a bit further back in the layout :)

What anubias sp have you ordered?

Just checking are the Anubia attached to a piece of old DW or planted in the substrate.
If in the Substrate they will rot very easily.
They grow well planted just abover substrate too :)
 
@Tim Harrison The Bolbitis will be in the very, very back left corner at the outlet lily pipe so in the highest flow rate in the tank so will be cool to se it move alot in the water flow. It'll be fixed to a small piece of wood so I can shift it later if not happy with it.

I also have a Tunse Nanostream 6020 to boost flow in the tank anyway, the filtration is a Fluval FX4 so I've a good bit of extra water turnover in this 300 litre. As for the wood an stone being hidden by the steam plant Tim, I'm totally fine with that as I want a fairly dense scape if you only see som of the upper parts of the wood coming through that was what my plan was all along.

@Hendre On the Moss v Trident - I'm planning on using some Fissiden Fontanus on some of the wood as some of the upper tips of the wood will be above the level of the water it'll be placed and see how it goes with a immersed/emmersed state. I've also some really lovely Buce from the old tank which I'll be using along with adding some more pieces.
What anubias sp have you ordered?
The Anubias I have are Anubias barteri var. nana about 3 pots worth 1 new and I had some more mature ones from the retired tank. Then I have 2 pots of Anubias nana 'Pinto' which is a first so looking forward to using that in the setup
pinto.JPG


Hope to get the sytem all planted up and going over the weekend if the plant order comes into LFS. Alot of the wood has been out of the water for months so a bit worried about floaters but will use rocks rested or even cable tied to rocks combat this at the start.
 
Now planted and flooded as of 10 days ago. About 3 plant pots left to arrive. After that I need to tidy up the filter pipework and get my skimmer working optimally.

IMAG2514.jpg
 
So resurecting this thread, as I've moved house I needed to break down the old setup after 18 months. Planting will be all new, carry over plants will be the MonteCarlo, Rotala H'ra, Anubias and Trident Fern. All the rest will be new plants wood is done exactly like it was before so the image you see is what it looks like now.

Any recommendations please folks?
 

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So resurecting this thread, as I've moved house I needed to break down the old setup after 18 months. Planting will be all new, carry over plants will be the MonteCarlo, Rotala H'ra, Anubias and Trident Fern. All the rest will be new plants wood is done exactly like it was before so the image you see is what it looks like now.

Any recommendations please folks?

Just out of interest, do you have pictures of the old design matured?
 
Sure thing - this was taken after about 14 months

I was wondering how it would look. My first impression was the hardscape looked a bit spindly but looking at what you achieved there is amazing. I'm definitely sold on it now, you have talent for this that's for sure. Looking forward to how the re-hash of the scape goes.
 
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