Im gonna try again.

So here's the story, I am inspired by this one dude named Takashi Amano like 4 years ago to set up a planted tank, so I went from a 45 gallon to a 29 and gave up, sold or killed off all my plants. Then decided about a year and a half ago to try again, started with a 5 gallon hex to a standard 5 to a 10 to a 45 to a 20L now to a 10. I have tried the diy co2 and it worked well, it was just more maintenance then I wanted. So slowly everything died. Except for the fauna and the anubias. They all survived and I was gonna just sell it off. But I don't want to, I want a planted tank that is easy to care for. So I am in the process of rescuing this "project" and taking it a little more seriously. My residents are 3 rummy nose tetras, 5 amano shrimp, 1 otto. I plan on a few more rummy noses and ottos. I have to nurse this anubias back to better health, pruning of poor older leaves and scraping algea off the leaves. Soon I'm hoping to get something like stargrass, or hygro etc, something hardy and easy just prune once a week and throw in some flourish, and excell from time to time. I will also be looking for some chain sword or something for the foreground, although I have never had any luck with ground covers. Anyway I set up my 10 gallon scape and just thought I would start a thread on it. Here's some pictures and a short video.

Video:
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Pics:
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Thanks for looking.

Very Cool..... I'll be venturing into this as well very soon! I have 20gal hex with a few plants and fish in it. I'm going to transfer the plants and fish into a 20gal and would like to add some co2.

Its a lot of fun, I just dident want to keep up with it. That's why I'm going simple. You should check out the psas meetings, great place to learn about tanks from some very knowlagable folks, and they always have good plants for auction for cheap.

Amano is very famous and the founder of the modern planted aquarium. He is a artist that paints and takes beautiful photographs and transfers those into his aquascape. He is most famous for his marketing of the Amano shrimp which is what he uses in his tanks to control algae. His methods have evolved over time and he has been a pioneer in a lot of the things we take for granted in modern aquariums today. I first stumbled upon him about 9 years ago and have been hooked ever since (you can tell by my little history lesson for those not in the know... )

Would be glad to help with any questions you may have. I have done everything from High end CO2 injection setups to Walstad tanks. Planted tanks are not as hard as people think if they follow some easy steps and set it up right in the first place. Also planted tanks can be cheaper to maintain in the long run if balanced with proper plant, lighting, substrate, and animal selection. I had one tank that went 4 years without a water change and never once did the parameters move.

Ground covers are one of the tougher plants to succeed with since most are shallow water plants and require high light input to make it and also good CO2 content in the water column.

So a couple of questions for ya...

What is your substrate?
What is your lighting?
and What is your vision of this tank (natural look or neatly aquascaped)?

50/50 mix of seachems floramax and seachems flourite. Lighting is a standard aquarium flourecent tube. I plan on upgrading to either t5s or a double tube fixture. And I am going for the tidy scape look. I am not planniing on using co2 because I want to keep it as simple as possible.

I would go with a dwaf sag/chain sowrd than hairgrass if you are not wanting to run CO2. Now this means you will only want to run 1/2 doses of Excel since the dwarf sag/chain sword reacts badly to too much excel.

Also after about 2 years you will probably want to start adding root tabs once every 6 months. I know they claim flourite claims it isn't needed but I find that it really does make a difference.

What are you wanting to run as a background plant?

Something hardy and easy, growing somewhat fast. I want something that I can cut and replant quikly, so I can fill up the back pretty fast. But it has to be hardy just in case I decide to not upgrade my lighting for a while. I wanted chain sword for the front around the petrified wood there I think it would look good. And I have used root tabs before, I really liked what I saw from them, I only plan on using excell one or two times a week with about half a dose, and flourish once a week. I don't want to do w/c so I don't wnat to overdose my tank with nutirients.

I mean obviously w/c are essential, but I only wnat to do them like once every few months, and then only around 10-20%.

I love the "idea" of a planted tank but I dont have a green thumb so I never have tried it. The look of real plants is pretty amazing, just cant get those plastic ones to look real enough. You can always spot the real ones from the fake.

Good Luck with your project. I'm interested to see how it goes. Please remember to post pics periodically!

With my 20, I started a Walstead as I was interested in what soil would do and enjoyed the idea of a sustainable/self-contained environment. I didn't stick with a traditional Walstead; I put a filter and some bubblers in. However, the plants are loving the soil.

Thanks for the luck, I am a picture nut so I will be posting pics as I go along. I have to wait till my car is running better to go and get some more plants. So it might be a while, but I have a wtb add in the classifieds section, so might come up with something. I just want to throw some stems in the back to cover some space, while I look for something that will do well in my setup that I really like. I have had stargrass and hgro difformis and liked those, but I want to venture out a little too. I will probably do 2 or 3 types of stems in the back. Should be cool.

I'm driving down to Lacy on Sunday. If you are interested & can meet me near an interstate exit I'd be glad to share what appears to be some daughter plants of a (i believe) val. that I have. I'm not sure of the variety. I have it in high light & it grew very fast. It has verigated, ruffled edged leaves. You can see it at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] it's the bit in the middle & right background. None of my other plants are sending off shoots yet. I wish my cryptocryne balansae was, I'm in love with that plant and would be happy to share the wealth.

Looks like corkscrew val to me. There cool I have had them before, but they would grow to tall for my 10 gallon. I apprieciate the kind gesture.

They're a bit tall for my 20high as well. I don't mind that they lay over on the surface, though I had to trim 1 back a bit as the plant beside it that i want to grow tall started growing out.

I'm a bit interested in some of the other, less common plants. Lots really. I like my aquatic eye candy.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with your tank!

fish_n_vw wrote:Its a lot of fun, I just dident want to keep up with it. That's why I'm going simple. You should check out the psas meetings, great place to learn about tanks from some very knowlagable folks, and they always have good plants for auction for cheap.

psas is that the same a GSAS? If so I've been a member for a a year now and I've never gone to a meeting!

One of these days soon!

Yeah gsas, its cool, great group of fish people.

Actually the PSAS & GSAS are different organizations, both with active and vibrant members. I am an active member of the GSAS and invite you to our next meeting.....

October 11: Meeting and location info> [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Our next meeting is October 11th, 7:30 PM, and features Oliver Lucanus as our guest speaker. Oliver lives in Montreal, and is a collector, photographer, speaker and author. He recently published a book, The Amazon: Below Water, from his 18 years of exploring and photographing the Amazon basin. Ever since seeing his amazing videos of Discus and Apistogramma spawning in the wild, we've been trying to book Oliver to speak at GSAS for ten years now, and it always seems that he's off on some adventure on the second Tuesday of any given month.....Until now.

Greater Seattle Aquarium Society
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The Greater Seattle Aquarium Society is a non profit corporation, organized under the laws of the State of Washington. The primary purposes of the society are to promote interest in the aquarium hobby, and to provide a forum for the exchange of information among aquarium hobbyists.

The Puget Sound Aquarium Society
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The Puget Sound Aquarium Society is committed to the preservation of the world's reefs while maintaining a sustainable hobby.
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Thanks for chiming in with that. I meant the gsas is a good place to go for info, and cool uncommon plants at a steal of a price in there auctions.

You are exactly right!

fishloverRon wrote: I am an active member of the GSAS and invite you to our next meeting.....

The wife and I are definitely gonna try to make it to the next meeting!

Hey! It'a about time you get there! I'm pretty excited about our speaker. Please stop by the hospitality table and say hi and introduce yourself to me!

fishloverRon wrote: Please stop by the hospitality table and say hi and introduce yourself to me!

That was you? I should have said hello at the last meeting. I won't be able to make the October one.

Fish_n_vw, I think those anubias look pretty good already. You should see mine; they look terrible!