My Beginner 3ft

[lEddyl]

10 days old now.
pls give any ideas for improvement. thanks


more image link

[Phillipians]

the positioning of your hardscape looks to be not bad, but i think the rock is a little unnatural coloured. hmmm.. prob have to change it? thats just my opinion. The nanas are placed quitre nicely but i ll encourage you to tie some ferns on the top of the wood, giving it more depth, or use some 'wavy' plants like valisneria. add more hardscape in the front as it is quite empty or add some foreground plants to give it a nice lush feel

[AquaObsession]

Plant 50 times more than that...

dun bury the nana also in the sand...just tie them at base of the DW.

[Rupert]

Good start…. more plants will make your tank more stable and avoid algae issues, so more is better in the beginning, so go out and get a lot more except for the floating plant as it probably will multiply fast

It will take a while to mature and I look forward to seeing more pictures, in the meantime it might be a good idea to get more of your foreground plant so that it takes less time to fill out.

A quick search on aquascaping principles might give you further inspiration. In a few weeks once everything has settled down [after cycling] you can start thinking about the critters you might want to add.

Be careful with you lighting hours as you do not have many plants to appreciate the light you are providing. Are you adding CO2?

[kemp]

First, i really like the shape of your DW. Will definitely look good once the flora starts to mature.
But the rocks next to it makes it looks so unnatural in the tank. Maybe you want to consider removing it away and replaced it.

[lEddyl]

thanks for all the input

currently light on for 10hrs with CO2(reactor)

the rocks i still searching for darker ones. or can i tie moss on the rock?

nanas tie under blogwood? won't the leaves look weird? Upsidedown liao.

[AquaObsession]

not under the wood just on the wood... but try not to bury them in the sand.

[Phillipians]

its ok to place the nanas there, i ve tried before but just like what the others have said, try not to bury it in the gravel, leave the rhizome above or your nanas will start rotting. Darker coloured stones will suit it.... i think more plants and also tying some ferns or moss on the wood will make it less, 'edgy' heh and more natural

[lEddyl]

i see.
notice today..the nana abit abnormal liao.
help!

[grey_fox]

As mentioned earlier, don't bury your nanas... if you choose to bury, make sure their rhizome is above the gravel, else they'll rot away. Tie them to your DW/BW and then watch them flourish.

Don't wait to tie them, best you do it as soon as possible.

[lEddyl]

roger tat.

btw will it rot due to too much light?

[Jungle-mania]

Not at all, just watch for algae growth especially BBA.

[grey_fox]

:P yup, nana + high light = BBA (Nana's best friend) From your photo, I can see a bit of it forming on the leaves, I might be wrong but mine was initially like that as well, had that brownish tint to it, like some bronze dust, 1 week later that one particular leaf had BBA growing well on it.

By the way, plant more plants!

[genes]

Remove those small pieces of rocks you have stacked on the bigger rock and tie your nanas to them instead. This way, your nana can survive better and you break the unatural look of the rocks.

[Synthesia]

Hey...you try and remove all the rocks and leave the DW alone there,will it be nice? ss?

[lEddyl]

wont be nice. unless i found a suitable one to replace.
no luck on my search today.

guess will try genes idea. tied on rock. tmr will post new updates.

thanks for all the feedback guys!

[lEddyl]

:P yup, nana + high light = BBA (Nana's best friend) From your photo, I can see a bit of it forming on the leaves, I might be wrong but mine was initially like that as well, had that brownish tint to it, like some bronze dust, 1 week later that one particular leaf had BBA growing well on it.

By the way, plant more plants!

i try rub it off with nyfinger. failed. urs too?

[grey_fox]

I cut the affected leaf away, normally rubbing itself won't really work, unless you don't mind back-breaking work.

A few factors surrounding BBA growth, however before that, any of your other plants covered with that?

Anyways, do plant more It'll be interesting how your tank will turn out since you have yet to do the planting. By the way, how deep is your substrate? Looks rather shallow. If you've yet to have livestock in your tank, a good time would be to have add more substrate in. *Learn from mistakes myself*

Depending on what you want, a slope or a level plane, the front should always be 5-7cm in height, this would give your plants a better foothold when they should grow and their roots settle in.

[lEddyl]

other plant dun have it.

foreground substrate is juz 1cm. coz i wanna hide it from view. i put 30kg in it. doing a slope design. now got 2 SAE only

tmr adding more plants.

[genes]

BBA, squirt them with Seachem Exel...they'll turn reddish/white and melt away...