Changing out ferns in the 140 (new aqua scape)

So, I am done. The last few weeks I have been pulling out my ferns & replacing them with smaller leafed species. I've lost about a years growth pulling out the mature ferns but I think in the long run these new ferns will look real good & still allow lots of light to the plants that reside under them.

Before; Bolbitis heudelotii (African water fern) growing on large wood shades many plants below and nearly cuts tank in half.
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After; Java fern Needle Leaf. Although looking bare now it should fill in nicely. And ultimately allow much more light through to the lower plants.
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Another large fern removed; Java fern looking nice, but is shading a medium Undulata Crypt & a rarer lilly I would like to see mature. I removed the large leafed Java fern and replaced with Java fern Trident.
Before,
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After,
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More Java fern replaced with Java Trident
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Aqua scaping underwater is a pain, but sometimes necessary. Some of these woods  weigh in at 30 pounds. Was rough getting them in the tank when the tank was new. So I had to be creative with a hobby razor, mini hand drill and tooth picks. I was wet to the shoulder and my dinning room floor got a new mop job, lol!

I removed this Anubias, it was my mother plant seeding many parts of this tank.
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Cut it up, and replanted on a larger vertical piece of wood. Next year at this time I am sure the wood will be covered completely.
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As you can see I also have Java fern Needle leaf on top. I'll keep that trimmed up so the wood will have a bushy top. This will match the other large wood with Needle leaf fern .

Then added Java fern trident to the wood the Anubias originally came from.
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The end... Ha!



P.S. I want to thank Aquarium Co-Op for the trades/credit of all my plants. It really helped making this project affordable.

I salute you! Aquascaping IS hard! I have only dreamt of doing it but when I go to put my dreams to action I suddenly rethink what I am doing and realize that my plans won't work :'( lol still, I'm not going to let that stop me forever!
Do you have a full picture of the finished tank?

Ripples,
For years now, I'll get an idea, try it for a bit, move plants, change plants. It's an evolution. This whole thing started on ideas, some worked some not so well. If you get an ideas run with it

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The tank looks amazing!!! I scrolled around and seen the underwater tree landscape that I am assuming you did and I couldn't be more jealous!! How did you do that one???

Ripples wrote:The tank looks amazing!!! I scrolled around and seen the underwater tree landscape that I am assuming you did and I couldn't be more jealous!! How did you do that one???

Are you talking about in my Photobucket account!?! If so there are many pictures in there. Could you post the picture your talking about? All you have to do is copy and paste the  IMG thumb. Some of the pictures I may have lifted off the Internet just to have them...

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^^^ This one here

No I didn't create that. Pulled it off the Internet when we had a thread going about aqua scaping, sorry.

I believe the tree stump and limbs are made of resins, and the moss is probably flame moss tied on.

Been a fan of that 'scape for a long time. I think this is the article where the maker talks about it.
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One of the things that gets me about it is that he uses utricularia graminifolia which most of us might consider a pest

Anyways, back to topic. Good job on the fern switch :)I'm hoping you get a lot of fern starts from this tank!

MRTom wrote:Been a fan of that 'scape for a long time. I think this is the article where the maker talks about it.
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One of the things that gets me about it is that he uses utricularia graminifolia which most of us might consider a pest

This is a good read, and how to!

MRTom wrote:Good job on the fern switch :)I'm hoping you get a lot of fern starts from this tank!

Thanks MRTom, I appreciate the feed back

Thanks MRTom for the link it is pretty amazing looking

Very nice job.  I love the look of healthy planted tanks. (Now you need to use your green thumb on that sad looking prayer plant beside the tank.   )

Haha Betty your awesome! I am actually trying to save it. My mother had it for 10's of years, passed it on to me and my cats destroyed it my urinating in it. Then I put it my cold garage for about a month.... Anyway, trimmed the dead, replanted it, and scooted my tanks grow light over so it can catch some rays (RAY2 to be exact, ha!) . There is also a once beautiful cactus next to it my my wife tried to kill. Doing my best to revive them both...

fishNAbowl wrote:Ripples,
For years now, I'll get an idea, try it for a bit, move plants, change plants. It's an evolution. This whole thing started on ideas, some worked some not so well. If you get an ideas run with it

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I am in awe...this is such a beautiful tank Chad...love love love it!!!

Some of these will make anyone drool!!  

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And sorry didn't mean to take away from your pics/thread!! Your tank really does look fantastic!!

fishNAbowl wrote:Haha Betty your awesome! I am actually trying to save it. My mother had it for 10's of years, passed it on to me and my cats destroyed it my urinating in it. Then I put it my cold garage for about a month.... Anyway, trimmed the dead, replanted it, and scooted my tanks grow light over so it can catch some rays (RAY2 to be exact, ha!) . There is also a once beautiful cactus next to it my my wife tried to kill. Doing my best to revive them both...

Good luck with bringing them back! If your tank's plants are any indication, you should have them looking better in no time.  

JimA wrote:Some of these will make anyone drool!!    

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 And sorry didn't mean to take away from your pics/thread!!   Your tank really does look fantastic!!

No worries. I have learned a lot from tanks like these. One thing ,I have many of the plants found in these videos & know that most of the visual aspects of these tanks are not a constant. Like for one, all of the equipment has been pulled, lighting has been modified for specific effects. Some plants have been just trimmed, & I noticed that some of the stem plants have been freshly transplanted in the pictures where they create a perfect rounded effect. I can tell by the colors of some of those stem plants they are the tops that just got planted...

The white sands from my experience have a shelf life of staying WHITE. The way the sand is just perfect, someone took some time brushing the sand around just before photographing. Sand never stays at a slope in an aquarium.

Anyway, these are beautiful aquascapes but the reality is that they are just a moment in time. If left alone they would look just like most of our planted tanks (settle differences of course) within a month...