Help Me Out Here, Need To Scape My New Tank

[Synthesia]

I left the tank on for a few days..Now i'm bothered by the planting decision.My Tank is a small tank and i wish to fill it with plants(Not Moss)..

Any suggestion??(Non-Co2 Plants)Small ones..
-Must be a plant ( duhh )
-Not too big
-If can,provide pictures..

Thanks.. For helping out =)

[Rupert]

Hello Synthesia,

You need to provide some more detail… size of tank, lighting, but a picture is worth a 1000 words so if you can post a picture, that will help a lot.

[budak]

Have a look through www.tropica.com for basic info on plant species and their suitability.

[Synthesia]

Ok...Here are the details...(it will be messy)
I bought the tank,filter,lights in a set so maybe you will know what it is if this tank is available in Singapore

Open this url and u can see it right there.. no need to press anything....its that small and it is nice =)
http://www.gex-fp.co.jp/top.html

Tank:
Name:Genoah235

[Jungle-mania]

URL is the correct acronym, nothing politically wrong in using it. But if you are conscious about it, then use the word 'website address'.

For the tank, get a small fan, heard from people who use it that it gets pretty hot without a fan at normal room temperature. There are many plants you can use, but it also depends on what type of soil you are using and if you are using rocks or DW to get the best visual effect. So far, most of the nicer scapes I see in such tanks have only at the most 2 to 3 plants.

[Synthesia]

Im using a quite fine gravel....Its slightly bigger then sand,smaller then rocks.I can't find any suitable Drift Wood,seems like most of the LFS sells big DW(In Malaysia) About the fan,i will make my own cooling gadget by using frozen bottles.Yeah you said 2 or 3 plants,what plants they put?(Plants that do not require Co2)

[|squee|]

Try Anubias barteri var. Nana, Java fern, various common mosses and stemmed plants. It's good to just try all the cheap plants you can find in the LFS at the beginning imho.

[Synthesia]

Hmm....thanks, i will try to get some Anubias barteri.I think i will not put any Java in, one plant(Anubias) would be nice..

By the way,any recommendation of any type of small plants(Small , as in SmaLL)??

[Aquaspot World]

Read about our new article here. Maybe you will find what you need.

[kemp]

lots of inspirations i got from there! nice!

[Synthesia]

Ok,first thing that i want to mention that the picture is not that nice and i don't know how to turn the picture and host it.I tried many times,i beg of forgiveness =D


This is how the inside of the tank looks like.. ignore the flash.


This is how the whole tank looks like..You will be able to spot my DIY Co2 set if your eyes are good.


This is the "Nana" that i bought.


My Tank overall..yeshhh it sucks =(

Any recommendation to make it nicer?
I added in DIY Co2 to let the riccia and the rest grow nicely,then i might remove it because it is a little pricy ( By Pricy ,Yes! i mean pricy because if the materials needed is not inserted correctly the yeast might flow itself to the tank and polute the WHOLE tank and kill all the fish.So now you get why i say that it is pricy?)
I know this because all my fishies died =( Sayonara my 2Neon Tetra,2Black Tetra,2Harlequin Tetra...=(Sayonara

[|squee|]

Small leaved plants:

Glossostigma elatinoides
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Eleocharis acicularis
Hemianthus callitrichoides ''Cuba''
Riccia fluitans
Utricularia graminifolia

And various mosses.

You live in the USA do you? I understand it's hard (and expensive) to get plants over there. Most people do online ordering I believe. Check APC for lots of US-based merchants.

You definately need to get some plants in there, like 20 times your current amount, for both asthetic and your tank's health sake (algae).

To get a "nice look" you must read up on aquascaping. There're links at the top of this forum section I believe, and the search "aquascaping" brings up lots of answers in Google. Simply looking at pictures of tanks also help lots.

P.S. Your DIY CO2 problem can be solved by having a check valve inserted along the airtube to your tank.

[kemp]

Terence, he's from Malaysia. That's a malaysia flag
by the way, nice setup of tank, simple and nice

[|squee|]

My God I'm sorry. Must be the staying up all night yesterday.

[richietay]

Have you thought of what kind of look you want to scape? Maybe add in more plants like squee said, probably be easier. planning of adding a hardscape, a small driftwood or bogwood?

[Synthesia]

Thats just what i needed , some advice.What can you reccomend??How and what to add in?(Hope it's not too pricy,I'm just a student with average amount of allowance)

Ohh yeah,I'm a Malaysian =)

About scaping and looks, I'm out of idea.If you can help out abit,tell me what to buy and which plant to put,that would be awesome =). Thanks

Zu Ken

[|squee|]

Sorry again Zu Ken for misreading your country's flag

First of all you need a hardscape, meaning a piece of driftwood or a set of rocks. For your case a peice of driftwood will be easier to get and scape in your tank. Search for one with "character" or lots of branches (but not too many).

For plants, you can try buying Hemianthus micranthemoides in large amounts and plant them behind the driftwood. Let them grow through the branches to create a nice "tree-y" effect.

Tie some moss (Java will do, but keep them well trimmed so they look neat with short fronds) on small stones and bury these stones in the substrate around the driftwood with the moss showing so it looks like the driftwood has been there for a long time, and foilage has started to embed itself around it.

For the foreground, I'd leave it bare because the Hemianthus will do lots of growing if you do it right, and by rights algae shouldn't bother you with all that growth.

[Jungle-mania]

I concur, also avoid keeping any fish inside yet, till you have settled your plants.

[Synthesia]

Wow Terence,Great adivise!! Thats what i needed.I will rush to the store tomorrow and get those Hemianthus Micranthemoides.Will do my best in scaping the way u described it =) Thanks alot.I will give and update (pictures) .

Yeah, i will avoid keepind any fish inside =D

[Synthesia]

By the way,where should i put my riccia ball and nana??