Major rescape. Need ideas/advise.

[grey_fox]

Hey there. As many of you already know I am still a newbie...

I've gotten a foothold on E.I (finally) and also (this comes with pride here) won the battle with all the algae and weeds that I encountered intially, all the flora and fauna in my tank is really healthy which pleases me a lot.

However.....

I'm looking to do a major rescape. Currently my layout is a simple, densely planted tank with no theme at all. I am looking for a natural theme and after seeing all the different planted thanks there are (Amano ones are one of the best I've seen so far) showcased here and elsewhere, I myself am determined to have a different look for my scape.

I need some help on this and of course where else but here for the proper advise and recommendations.

Currently my setup are as follows.

2 x Jebao 918 filters
8 x T5HO tubes (4 x 10000K, 4 x 6500K)
5 x 1.5 x 2 feet

How should I go about doing this. I'm planning on adding more substrate these are the questions on my mind.

1. Should I do an uproot of every single plant there? (sorry but I am unable to I.D the plants properly, I know I have amazon swords x 2, cabomba (haha), nana, difformis (ultra bulated already), taiwan moss, riccia, some red plant, vallis, etc - hopefully from the picture below, there is a rough idea of the plants I have)

2. Which are the plants I should keep and donate or throw away since I am aiming for a natural themed scape.

My action plan are the following currently. Probably have to take a day's leave from work to do this.

1. As I already have fauna in the tank, I of course need to house them somewhere first. I will keep at least 50-60% of the aged water to have it placed back once the tank has been re-scaped.

2. To purchase additional bags of seachem onyx (I want a dark colored substrate - however is this advisable since my tank was first setup on 2 January 2006 ?) Will top up the current substrate.

This is the current layout of my tank. Nothing fancy, just health fauna & flora in there.



Seeking your expertise on this.

[vratenza]

very healthy and lush setup u have there!!
Maybe you can post a few pics of some samples to relate the kind of "feel" u have in mind.... i am sure alot of the experienced planters here will be able to give u some pointers!

I am watching from the sideline to soak up as much info i can for my upcoming 622

btw... u are using Solite 4 from Aquamarin right? Looks like you have 2 sets in parallel.......... the front piece is flipped to the front? why huh? i tot it will make more sense and improve accessibility if flip to the back?

I bot Solite 4....... 2X 3 ft ... intending to arrange in series...... but mine is only 8X39W......how to calculate WPG accurately? need to minus substrate volume ? Thanks

[grey_fox]

Hey there, vratenza. Thanks for the compliment.

Yup the light sets were bough from AquaMarin. Solite Type 4. Don't really get what you mean by the front piece is flipped to the front. Meaning by my light setup is wrong?

As for acurately measuring the WPG, I used total watts/tank size in gallons, however to begin with, WPG is not accurate to measure lighting in the first place, just a rough guage.

[|squee|]

You're new to aquascaping aren't you? Read up the aquascaping section of Informative Links.

For easy starting, decide on what kind of shape you want: slope/triangular, concave/convex. Then scout around for the driftwood that will fit your desired "shape", spend a few tanks arranging it in your tank here and there and imagine what you want. Get the desired plants, plant in, and work from there.

It's a wonderful journey, I love rescaping (but my scapes always get ruined by algae, part of my lack of discipline to keep up with tanks).

Also borrow up Amano's books if you haven't done so... they're fantastic. And buy those english Aquajournals from NA, they have lots of good aquascaping info (I've the whole set hehe) and er... well basically treat it like art class.

Right now with your tank as it is, it needs a few peices of branchy driftwood to give it backbone and definition. The plant farms are good for these, give up on the LFS stock... they're rarely good.

[ranmasatome]

OR you could go with a rocky set up...
i'm waiting for a 4 fter to do my rock set-up..i have some spares if you want to take a look..

[grey_fox]

I like the convex and triangular setup heh. Ok, plant farms, is there any at Pasir Ris? Near Ericsson Pet Farm?

[Goondoo]

I like the convex and triangular setup heh. Ok, plant farms, is there any at Pasir Ris? Near Ericsson Pet Farm?

Hi grey_fox,
I suggest you slow down abit lar.... though your plants can growing well now, let it grow another few months to see what kind of problems you might occur, if your algaes are really under control etc. I notice your foreground still quite bare.... make the best out of it, take a great picture then rescape...

[Jungle-mania]

E. Tenellus or lilaeopsis brasilensis would look good in the front.

[grey_fox]

Hi grey_fox,
I suggest you slow down abit lar.... though your plants can growing well now, let it grow another few months to see what kind of problems you might occur, if your algaes are really under control etc. I notice your foreground still quite bare.... make the best out of it, take a great picture then rescape...

Hey Goondoo,

Thanks for the 'Stop' sign, appreciate the reality check there (seriously). Yeah I think I shall wait for a while first and let it all grow some more for the next few (4-5 months) perhaps.

I already have E. Tenellus in the foreground, just that the picture taken is quite far away... should I change the entire foreground or what can I do with the foreground?

[Goondoo]

Hey Goondoo,

Thanks for the 'Stop' sign, appreciate the reality check there (seriously). Yeah I think I shall wait for a while first and let it all grow some more for the next few (4-5 months) perhaps.

I already have E. Tenellus in the foreground, just that the picture taken is quite far away... should I change the entire foreground or what can I do with the foreground?

Given time, E. Tenellus can grow real lush and well. Be patient....

[grey_fox]

Given time, E. Tenellus can grow real lush and well. Be patient....

Yup its growing rather well actually, sprouting a lot of runners already. Guess the only think I need to do is to trim down the rest of the plants or leave it in its 'wild' form now?

The vallis has grown towards the foreground ( I have replanted about 3 of them so far and there is a no. 4 coming out to the foreground again).

The difformis has also grown under and out the DW...

[freezze]

fyi... redoing a operation tank is more tricky than a new setup..
1. u need to find place to keep ur inhabitant alive during the renovation.
2. if u r planningto wash all the equipment n gravel.. (alot of time is needed and u can only do that after u decomission the tank)
3. u need alot of pails to store the aged water.. (water will be everywhere..)

this is some of the issues that i encounter during my last rescaping.

[Goondoo]

Yup its growing rather well actually, sprouting a lot of runners already. Guess the only think I need to do is to trim down the rest of the plants or leave it in its 'wild' form now?

Its all up to your own creativity. It will be advisable to observe the growth speed of different plants and how they might turn out to be. Might be real helpful for your future scapes.

[grey_fox]

Hey Goondoo.

Yup am noticing the fast growers, just need some help on how I can improve the current scape. I am wondering if I can move all the vallis on the right to the left, covering the front also. Leave the cabomba where it is, move all the shorter plants (mid level plants) past the difformis, leave the DW where it is and move all the E. Tellenus to the right had side, so in a way it become a slope? Any ideas on your end? If this were to be done, I will need to add more substrate to the front side of the tank.

*Of course, this will not be done now but once more observation of the plants are done.

[Goondoo]

Hey Goondoo.

Yup am noticing the fast growers, just need some help on how I can improve the current scape. Any ideas on your end?

I am not very creative by nature
Anyway, you might want to start trimming your stem plants and see how well they propagate.... and replace the cheaper plants with some better ones for your future scapes...

[ranmasatome]

you can actually do a partial rescape.. you dont ahve to always do a overhaul kinda rescape... scape say... the left 1/4 of your tank.. then move on... slowly until the entire tank is done.. of course this way..you need already know what you want for the tank even b4 you begin..

[grey_fox]

Hey ranma..

My creativity skill is bad as well, which in a way irks me. I've seen some of your scapes and think they're pretty good.

Anyways, the plants that I have in the tank have already taken root. So if I choose to do it bit by bit, I guess that would be ok, however I need some more advise on the layout (due to my lack of creativity...)

Would you think if I should shift all the vallis to the left side, removing the mid level plants on the left and placing an exisiting Echinodorus 'Rosé' at its place. leave the cabomba (maybe remove) and leave the difformis where it in. I will place an Amazon sword (existing also) infront of the drift wood and shift all the E. Tellenus to the right hand side as well as the front wherever there is open space in the foreground.

In a way it will become a slope based design.

Do you think this will work?

[ranmasatome]

to tell you the truth... i can't see your drift wood..hahaha..so many plants!!

Actually that vals idea isnt too bad... persoanlly i would remove all of the difformis and cabomba.. they grow too fast for my preferences.. but it is your tank after all and keep them if you want..

the vals and sword idea doesnt sound too bad.. its hard to visualise though because i'm not there in person..

[grey_fox]

lol. yeah, i know its like a jungle now. (drift wood is right beside the difformis on the right) Maybe I can just purchase all the intended items for a future rescape.... as I am now living with my parents and my condo will only be ready in 2008, so perhaps I will then have the chance to do the major rescape when I move over. My parents told me to bring the tank along in the mean time, I guess what I can do is to absorb as much information I can gather until I move to my new place.

I will try to make minor adjustments only for the time-being and experiment with the plants, etc first.

Just to ask, where can I get those really huge DW (enough to cover half the tank) from? Any idea about the price range too?

[grey_fox]

Ok, I have already done the re-scape.

I did not bother to siphon all the aged water out. Left 50% of it in there after removing all the plants (half a big bucket). The longest vallis I had in my tank was probably a metre +.... threw a lot of it away... the difformis became a tree and the cabomba's root were SUPER DUPER thick.

After that I started the planting process and it took a total of 9 hours to finalise everything (HG is really a pain to plant yah...)

Anyways, thanks to everyone for all the tip/guidelines.

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