any fresh ideas for me?

[Nick16]

hi guys, as most of you will have gone through at one stage or another, i need some new ideas for my tank.

i want to break it down and go for something new, but heres where i am stuck, i cant decide what.... iwagumi? jungle?

my tank is a Rio 240, so i have plenty of room to work with but im really not sure what to do. i really like the idea of a total carpet of E.acicularis but it will look very 'level' and bland. i also like the idea of a dutch style scape where i can use bold reds and be 'free' in my planting. (i wont follow many of the dutch style rules though ) and i also like the idea of a single island with nice bits of wood etc, much like tony's current scape. choices choices. im currently thinking about doing a scape like TDI-Line's with lots of blxya but im unsure as to wood placement/ rock placement in this situation. - i really like this idea of a blyxa carpet, so to speak.

there again, im also thinking about mostly giving up fish keeping apart from having my small CRS tank.... :?



anyone have any ideas for me? or some pics for me to study?

 

[George Farmer]

What's your budget?

How much time are you willing to spend on the tank?

Only you can really know what you want from it. Others may likely put forward their own personal favourite ideas, rather than what's necessarily best for you.

I like biotopes right now. How about that?

As for pics, do a search!

 

[Nick16]

i dont want to spend too much more, i have everything i need pretty much.

was looking at oli knott and ada substrates and they cost a Bomb!!!!
even if other people put forwad personal favourites i could still investigate.

im not so much of a fan of biotopes as i always change my mind halfway through!!!

 

[Dave Spencer]

was looking at oli knott and ada substrates and they cost a Bomb!!!!

Cheap gravel will you serve you well.

It seems to me that you actually have quite a few ideas in your head Nick but, as George says, you know what you like best, so give with your own head/heart.

Dave.

 

[TDI-line]

Hmmm, fresh ideas, fresh ideas with Blyxa, i think i killed that one. But i do find Blyxa japonica one of the most hypnotic plants in large volumes. I've even had to give mine away or go cold turkey, to try and inspire me into something different.

I'm presently setting a large crypt tank, with mainly Aquafleur's C.Parva, a few rarer crypts and lots of colourful and not so common Ludwiga. This may turn into half dutch and half iwagumi, but we'll see.

Hey, how about using an animal skull and bones for decor...

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5704&hilit=bones

I will do this one day, with an actual carcass, but at the moment, this can wait, until i find the right one.

Regards,

Dan.

 

[Nick16]

hmm bones..... gets me thinking....

i actually fancy trying a tank with a planted right hand side, with blyxa surronding my redmoor and then some c/parva at the front. Perhaps some stems with some redness/pinky colour like L.Aromatica... --> (some suggestions?) (imagine Aaron norths old tank)
but i want something fairly easy to maintain as well.... im hard to please

substrates,
i might stick with my good friend aquabasis, the stuff i have is only 5 months old, i might just cap it with a little fresh. and then some nice natural gravel on top.
any ideas when JBL Manado will hit the shores?

 

[rawr]

One word...

JUNGLE 😀

 

[Ed Seeley]

As a fishkeeper first and foremost I tend to have a type of fish as my inspiration for a tank. Or in my new tank it's the shells from Lake Victoria that have got me to go back to a Tanganyikan cichlid tank again.

 

[Nick16]

i really wanted to keep cichlids but i know nothing about them at all. 🙁
i loved Aarons tank, it was awesome.