2ft newbie tank scape progressing

[paul poon]

Good day everyones
lots of research at AQ forum, tank aquarium shoping and youtube-ing…
finally here is my 1st newbie 2x1x1 very old tank.
rock, sand and dry wood scape.. will start planting from tonight and
is going for low-tech non C02 tank.
I was thinking just plant the glossostigma carpet, some moss on the dry wood
but don't know which plant for background… any suggestion from senior?
every comments is very well welcome
thank you for viewing

[thebaldingaquarist]

Hi Paul,
My 2 cents.. below i have some comments, none of which are advice... because i am newbie like you.. so take it with a pinch of salt.

1. scape - overall layout is very even. I see that you have applied the rule of thirds to this layout. the striking stone on the right and the pose of the wood on the left.
However, you have chosen to use different colour and textured rocks in the scape. to blend all of it together is difficult, all "transition" have to be considered. like for example, on the right, how are you going to transit the gray stone with white band to the yellow pokey dragon rock? Also can consider to have 1 focal point, instead of 2. I like the wood portion. quite a nice piece of wood you have there.

the use of sand in front tells me that you have intention to showcase the front of the tank, either by planting the back heavily and leaving the front exposed, or you are thinking of breeding corydoras.

2. Plants - moss on the wood is definately a good idea. especially for branches that stand out too much, you can use moss to "hide" intersections you don't like. for areas on the wood that are too straight (vertically or horizontally), you can break the lines by tying plants like mini java ferns or bolbitis, or even Buceps and Nanas. Because of the hardscape layout, you have 3 sections of the tank.
foreground(blue) - sandy shore
Midground(pink) - at the base of the wood, stretching to the front and sides of the yellow dragon rock.
background(green) - behind the wood, stretching to the back of the yellow dragon rock

Please see pic


areas are marked with numbers, which i will propose some plants for you to consider.
1 - tall hair grass
2 - tall hair grass
3 - blyxia japonica
4 - tall hair grass
5 - bucep / golden nana
6 - mini java fern, bolbitis
7 - japanese hair grass
8 - (mislabelled as 9 in pink box) japanese hair grass
9 - glosso. or leave bare. if glosso, you will need some fert tablets to be inserted into the sand.

there are many combinations you can use for plants, another combination for consideration
1 - hydrocotyle tripartita
2 - pearl grass
3 - hydrocotyle tripartita
4 - hydrocotyle tripartita
5 - hydrocotyle tripartita
6 - alternanthera reineckii 'mini'
7 - japanese hair grass
8 - (mislabelled as 9 in pink box) hydrocotyle tripartita
9 - micran monte carlo, you will need some fert tablets to be inserted into the sand.

i proposed the plant list without knowing whether you will be injecting CO2 or what light set you will be using.. please do some research whether the plants will fit your set up.

[felix_fx2]

Best change the Grey rock to something brown like the ones around it... Its standing out..

Is it a co2 enriched tank or non co2? Plenty of Java fern variety will do a good mix, back them up with hair grass towards to front.

Sent from GT-N7105 powered by Temasek CM11

[sgdepuissance]

Are you going to put in fishes or is it just a planted tank?

[paul poon]

good day eric
is really a good piece of great advice and sharing from you and i totally agreed with you about the grey stone white lining is really catchy!
the stone rock at second layer actually to block the substrate, as divider… the rock is place at the bottom now and i don't know how to take out from it..
but will try to get some rock tonight. As for plant, i like your idea at point 1,2,3 and 4 (A), and point 5,6,7 and 8 (B)…
love the hydrocotyle tripartite, pearl grass and alternanthera reineckii mini… i will try to get them at C328 tonight.
the 9 actually wanna leave bare, but if glosso could plant at sand think i wanna try too (with tablet), corydoras is good idea but johor bahru can't find a nice one.

good day felix
i try to change the rock with lining white tonight, as the rock is a divider to block the substrate… looks difficult but will try exchange it.

good day sgdepuissance
after the plant is settle i will put in some small fishes and shrimps too.

i be doing Non-C02 tank, Up Aqua pro led light.. but does the C02 tablets helps?

best regards and thanks everyones for help

[Shadow]

One of the rule of thumb is to use the same type of rocks. It does not mean that die-die you can't use different type rocks but if you want to differ make sure you know what you are doing.

The wood barches are too fat for the tank size, make the whole tank look small.

CO2 tablet does not work, you better of using seachem excel.

[limz_777]

what brand sand you using ?

[thebaldingaquarist]

good day eric
is really a good piece of great advice and sharing from you and i totally agreed with you about the grey stone white lining is really catchy!
the stone rock at second layer actually to block the substrate, as divider… the rock is place at the bottom now and i don't know how to take out from it..
but will try to get some rock tonight. As for plant, i like your idea at point 1,2,3 and 4 (A), and point 5,6,7 and 8 (B)…
love the hydrocotyle tripartite, pearl grass and alternanthera reineckii mini… i will try to get them at C328 tonight.
the 9 actually wanna leave bare, but if glosso could plant at sand think i wanna try too (with tablet), corydoras is good idea but johor bahru can't find a nice one.

good day felix
i try to change the rock with lining white tonight, as the rock is a divider to block the substrate… looks difficult but will try exchange it.

good day sgdepuissance
after the plant is settle i will put in some small fishes and shrimps too.

i be doing Non-C02 tank, Up Aqua pro led light.. but does the C02 tablets helps?

best regards and thanks everyones for help

Hi Paul,
if you wish to adopt the plant list, you will need to invest in a Co2 system (with solenoid). If not, you will be looking at a lower amount of plant mass as well as a smaller list of plants.
CO2 Tablets.. i used before, i personally think its useless as a replacement to CO2 injection.

[paul poon]

good day shadow
thanks for your advice and i try to move out the grey stone…sadly the substrate escape to the white sand there
take long hour to safe the scape but i just too junior about it (i ruined it).. thats the only dry wood i have and
try to use it. will buy the sachem excel soon when the water is fill. thank you for sharing bro shadow.

good day lima_777
the white sand is ADA La Plata.

good day eric
i have buy some japanese hair glass, staurogyne repens, gloss and anubias…
can't wait to plant in tonight haha. this 3 plant was refer to earlier post, non-C02 plant suggestion by you…
and is great help from you, thank you so much

[thebaldingaquarist]

good day shadow
thanks for your advice and i try to move out the grey stone…sadly the substrate escape to the white sand there
take long hour to safe the scape but i just too junior about it (i ruined it).. thats the only dry wood i have and
try to use it. will buy the sachem excel soon when the water is fill. thank you for sharing bro shadow.

good day lima_777
the white sand is ADA La Plata.

good day eric
i have buy some japanese hair glass, staurogyne repens, gloss and anubias…
can't wait to plant in tonight haha. this 3 plant was refer to earlier post, non-C02 plant suggestion by you…
and is great help from you, thank you so much

Have fun planting!
By saying non-co2, i meant it will survive in a non CO2 injection environment. please have patience and wait for it to settle in. alot of us (me included) don't wait and got our butts itchy.. added ferts/CO2 tablets/Excel and expected the plants to do better.. but it will make things worse. The plants are living things and will need time to adjust to new environment.

[paul poon]

good day eric
indeed that this planted tank need a lot of patience..understand this very much
but the algae already can't wait and start attacking my tank already..even the water level is only half tank.
tonight will buy the mini algae eater..any suggestion from the Senior here? Y618 have algae eater?
thanks in advance

[CPONovice]

lower your lighting period or split it into 3hrs morning 3hrs night? The algae comes very fast when i use up aqua led light too lol

[paul poon]

Algae Attack!!!!!!

[FabianLee]

Nice our best friends have arrived to give you a feel of nature. You could introduce their nemesis into the tank if it's cycled. Otos, Yamatos, Nerite snails those are my personal favourite.

[mylica]

Yamato, they work wonder againts this algae

[thebaldingaquarist]

Looks like mould to me. If it's hair algae, can get some Malayan or Yamato shrimp. If it's green spot algae, get nerite snail.

Start with a snail number of them. I normally buy one by one for 2ft tanks.