my tank set up. after 5 months with discus

[joestoys]

AT LAST- after a year... my 5ft tank, filter, sand, base fet.... etc sitting there collecting dust , due to having 2nd baby, busy with work, last week finaly did the aquascaping.

- Tank: 1550mmx 550x500mm ht about 450L.
- Lights: FL 5ft 54x2 FL4ft 37x2 total wattage 182w
- Filter: Ehiem 2028
- Cooling and heating: average temperature stands at 27-28oC, using 7" electric clip fan
- Gravel-forget the brand- the one with brown paper bag x 3bags
- Base fertiliser Dennerlle deponit mix200 x 2tubs, JBL x 2bags


here's some picture after a week of planting, Ouch my back hurt, lol



right side of tank

left side of tank

[lorba]

congraz! :P Its good to be back!

Just a little comment. The 'depth' that you are trying to create does not look natural. The woods on both sides are cut off too abruptly.

It could be a different story if you turn the wood on the left to face inward instead, or shift it near to the center, slightly behind the pieces on the right, thus leave a open area on the left.

[joestoys]

[quote:f4fa847389="lorba"]congraz! :P Its good to be back!

Just a little comment. The 'depth' that you are trying to create does not look natural. The woods on both sides are cut off too abruptly.

It could be a different story if you turn the wood on the left to face inward instead, or shift it near to the center, slightly behind the pieces on the right, thus leave a open area on the left.[/quote:f4fa847389]

Thanks for the tip. so it's alright to have the left side of the tank without the drift wood and plant with the stem plants?

i agree on the driftwood on the left looks unnatural but turn the other it look worse cos the back of it is the saw marking, go to hunt a right pic of dift wood.

[lorba]

You dont have to turn it the other way round, just see how it looks by shifting more rightwards. To achieve the opening in the left front, you can have a line of midground plants (eg blyxa, crypts) stretching from center-left background. The rest can be just foreground plants such as tenellus. The opening can be strength with a big patch of the same plants.

With the woods now making a quad from right front to center back, you have a void in the right back. This you easily make it look dense with hygrophila species, long crypts like balansae or red,greens stem plants. The wood line can be strengthen with more java ferns.

[joestoys]

hi, did the adjustment just now=


left side

right side


now just need to get the plant fill up the gap.

[budak]

i would turn the wood upside down and create caverns beneath.

[TanVincent]

Hey budak,

pointy sticks are in fashion now. Its what they call "making use of vertical space" and creating the "energy".

Cheers
Vincent

[lorba]

i agree with budak. The wood structure does not quite match in this manner.

You can try :
1. turn the wood upside down
2. interchange the wood positions.

The point is, with a few pieces of wood, you can play around with placement like stalking, leaning to tank wall, turning and resting on various sides and angles.


Vincent, i think u need suitable wood or very clever hiding and placing skills to follow the sticking trend.

[joestoys]

[quote:bf6a3f5728="lorba"]i agree with budak. The wood structure does not quite match in this manner.

You can try :
1. turn the wood upside down
2. interchange the wood positions.

The point is, with a few pieces of wood, you can play around with placement like stalking, leaning to tank wall, turning and resting on various sides and angles.

.[/quote:bf6a3f5728]

OKie... i will play musical chair-

[ahmiao]

your tank looks very BIG

[Sleepy_lancs]

If the wood is to placed that way, I would put it in the centre of the tank. Grow plants left and right of it. Light Green plants that creeps over it. and use red plants behind it to complete the picture.

[joestoys]

oh the front left corner are a bunch stem plant to absord extra nutrients

after a month.

[vinz]

Is it me, or does the driftwood on the right look like a galleon. :P

It's a large tank, try and use larger leafed plants. Fine leaves are ok, but you need to contrast them with leaves of other shapes, colours and size.

I think you need more mid-ground plants too.

There's a temptation to use many types of plants in a large tank, but try to avoid that. Create larger groups of plants instead.

... unless your goal is to grow as many kinds of plants as possible.

[joestoys]

Vinz- it's a sunken galleon yes a lot of stem plant...
still waiting for the background plant to grow big
plants-
Aponogeton Ulvaceus
Cryptocoryne Crispatula
Juggler's sword plant??? hinden behind
Limnophila Hippuroides
Rotala Rotundifolia
Ludwigia palustris/ repens???
Nuphar Japonica
Nymphoides aquatica
Vallisneria Spiralis
Nesaea species
Lilaepsis???
Microsorium pteropus
nana
moss
riccia
hair glass

and front grond plant to carpet.

i hope i get the correct name for the plant.

[joestoys]

taken today

[victri]

Very nice! I love the big bunch of ferns on the wood. But I still find the shape of the "galleon" a little distracting. The dark bottom of the driftwood is drawing a lot of attention. Also noticed a small empty space right behind the galleon (middle of tank). Maybe you might want to consider some bunches of short crypts around the galleon to fill the space and break the shape a bit. The last pic with the ferns covering more of the wood is fabulous.

[joestoys]

messy messy

[Fei Miao]

Wow! the tank looks good! Any front shots and close-up shots?

[juggler]

Looks very neat. Did you manage to alter the 5ft lights?

[joestoys]

fei mao- it's messy that why i did not take close up... here the front view


Fong- yes I refit with the E-balast, change the clips and the PL tube. now very light. thanks