Beginners 90L & 35L Planted Tanks (Critique wanted!)56k Warn

[Sapherion]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Brandon from Australia..After reading lots and lots and lots of forums about planted tanks.. I took the plunge and tried to create a watergarden of my own. I carefully researched everything as I wanted to do things right the first time.



No more talking, here are the pics.. Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions as I need to improve alot. These tanks are still cycling, only 7 days old.

Please excuse the low quality photos, I have yet to buy a proper camera!

90L Planted tank: "Colours of the Wind"



Left shot



Right shot



Left side shot



Right side shot



Open Top shot



Far shot



35L Nano Tank: "Hidden Oasis"



Can you spot the only residence so far?



Riccia on rocks



Okay here's Wally



Specs of flora and fauna coming soon.. Please let me know your thoughts!

Thanks for viewing,

Brandon.

[richietay]

looks lovely to me, got potential! the first tank, consists of various plants, various colour tone of plants, good placement too. the overall level are balance with the mid-foreground blend well with both the background and foreground, creating a slope effect. the mid-foreground is it B.Japonica?

the second tank, look okay! the white sand able to enhance the entire scape feel. if you able to subsitute narrow leaf java ferns(current ferns don't seems to blend well), and have more nanas covering around be good. you not injecting CO2 for this tank, isn't it? the riccia might not do well then.

nice scape, well done, do keep us update of the progress!

[kemp]

i like the second tank. Simple, clean and nice. Nice gravel you've got there, really give substance to your tank layout. I'm sure it will look even better when everything matures!

[ranmasatome]

the wood placement in the first tank looks a litle weird.. its coming on too strongly on the visual and almost becoming distracting.. is there some way to make it less obvious?

[taz_boy]

nice looking healthy tank...try have some plants in front of the wood, or ambush it among the flora u have, the effect would be better

[anttz]

I like the second tank. The placement of the wood on the first tank look a bit odd.

[Phillipians]

i think the first tank has much more potential. Why dont you place some japonica or midground plants in front of the wood, that way the wood wont seem out of place.

The second tank however looks very unnatural.... just an opinion

[juggler]

the wood placement in the first tank looks a litle weird.. its coming on too strongly on the visual and almost becoming distracting.. is there some way to make it less obvious?

I think when Brandon propagates enough of the Blyxa japonica, it can cover the bottom of the driftwood sufficiently, leaving enough to show through from the background plants.

[ranmasatome]

yeah.. kinda forgot this is a new tank..lol..
For a week old tank.. this is awesome... great gonig Brandon

[Sapherion]

Thanks for the comments guys, Will keep you all updated!.. This is my first few attempts, so improvements will be made shortly.. Im gonna remove that piece of wood and fill that area with mid ground plants behind the blyxas.. any suggestions of what type of plants?

[valice]

Are your driftwood from ADA? They kinda look familiar...
Looking forward to see your foreground covering up front...

[Fei Miao]

IMO you are off to a good start, I like the wood in the first tank, good piece the front of the wood looks a bit bare and hard, perhaps having anubias nanas and some small rocks tied with moss would soften the mid-ground, I would probably remove the MMs on the left to open up more space for the lawn...other than that IMO it would look great with trimmings and when the tank settles in, same for the second tank, nice scaping skills let it matures and see how it turns out.

[kemp]

i like your choice of gravel for your second tank. Nice contrast to the greenery. Cool

[Corleone]

Try putting some of your riccia on stones for the first tank on your fioreground, it will help to break the scape into something more wild..

[Cacatuoides]

Nice job on your first attempts......

For the first tank, since you're using about 5 or 6 different types of plants, instead of grouping them neatly, you could have a few stalks "eat" into the next group of plants so that it does not look too neat an arrangement but creates a wild view.....

the attached tanks have scapes quite similar to yours.....for your reference

[dennis_yong]

great effort

[celticfish]

nice going!

you've got a good slope going for the first tank.
i think you shouldn't have a problem maintaining it when the plants take root.

second tank, you may want to place the moss a little lower?
i don't think it will grow well going down rather than up.

so wally's going be the sole inhabitant huh?

[Sapherion]

Specs of the 90L Planted:

Tank: 90L, 62W x 38D x 53H cm

Filtration: Eheim 2213 canister

Heating: Eheim Jager 200W

Substrate: 4x 7kg bags of Onyx Sand

Lighting: Dupla 150W Metal Halide (8 hrs per day, 4 hrs then 1 hr break then another 4 hrs photo period)

Co2: Dupla regulator, Dupla Magnetic Valve, Dupla 200L Diffuser, Dupla Co2 permanent tester, BOC 7kg Co2 Tank

Fertilizers: Seachem Prime, Seachem Nitrogen, Seachem Phosphorus, Seachem Potassium, Seachem Micro supplement, Seachem Iron

Fish to buy: Otto's, SAE's, lots of Cardinals & a few Wallies

Comments of equipment:
This is my first planted tank so I wanted to get all the equipment right, I went for quality. If I had to do things again, I would have gotten a bigger tank at start ie 3 ft. The heater I would have bought an external one, so its not taking space. The co2 permanent test is great.. it clearly displays co2 levels and constantly updates every 10 mins or so. Everything else is working well

The Nano Tank:

Its low tech.. who cares!