Latest (and likely last) rescape.

15 posts • Page 1 of 2

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


tekneb
 
Posts: 211
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 3:45 am

Latest (and likely last) rescape.

by tekneb

This will in all likely hood be the final basic setup for my 65 gallon, other then addition of a few plants when more funds come my way. As you can see I added a couple more fish, moved some stuff around, and added a some new stained glass caves. Oh yea, and I also added a ginormous piece of Malaysian driftwood. Only one pic right now cuz my camera's on the fritz, hopefully more to come :) As always, any and all concerns, critiques and praise are happily welcome.
314d5-2.jpg


mzhantsche
 
Posts: 115
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 10:27 am

by mzhantsche

Love the size and the fish but... looks really bear to me. Rock pile on the right would be rad.


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

Love that piece of wood! Some java fern on that would look completely awesome.

Not a fan of the blue substrate, especially againt the blue background...too much blue. Change either the substrate or the backing sheet to black, and it would look better in my eyes.


snostorm
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:48 am

by snostorm

I like the drift wood but I would like to see bigger more realistic plans but if hyper colour is your thing maybe a taller plant next to the bright red one.


tekneb
 
Posts: 211
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 3:45 am

by tekneb

Whoa whoa whoa, so much to address at once, lol.

To mzhantsche, no rocks, I'm not a fan of the rock look. And to heidi, I'm already paranoid about this peice lowering my ph to much, let alone putting a second one in, lol. However, I will be getting more plants to put on the right side so that its a little more cluttered, and likely some java moss to give it a little more natural look.

To Alasse, its funny you should mention the java fern, since the little plant at the base of the driftwood is in fact a java fern that is just taking its sweet time to grow. I also have my itty bitty onion plant on the driftwood. You can barely see it but its the tiny wisp of green on the wood directly under the bosemani rainbow.

Also, I bought this tank on craigslist and it came with the blue background, which I thought was spray paint and therefore, not removable, but you just inspired me to check and it turns out the guy used house paint, so it'll come right off. Needless to say a black background is going up tomorrow :)


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

If you are doing regular water changes the driftwood will not do much to your PH at all. I have a hugeous piece in my 5ft cichlid tank (wood is 4ft long) and its does squat to my PH. Even my 4ft which has lots of wood in it, the PH has hardly moved if at all.

The black background should look great! And again i am envious of the wood in your tank, beautiful piece!


nicholas542
 
Posts: 384
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:50 pm

by nicholas542

if you're going for a planted tank i would remove the blue rock. A good layer of florite, and a nice natural looking substrate on the top layer would look really good. Good job so far. Just a few little changes, and it would look great.


stingraysrule
 
Posts: 271
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:37 pm

by stingraysrule

I like the wood. Very freakin nice, and hopefully Alasse made you feel better about the PH as I tried to.
I am not a fan of colored rocks as Heidi will tell you. I got her to change to river rocks and her tank looks so great.
If you want only one piece of wood in there, I would definitely move it into the middle.
And, a black background would look really nice.
I would get rid of all the fake plants in there and just keep the live ones.
Add a few more plants..... I would definitely reconsider the rock thing.
Get some nice rocks and clean them up.
Place them near and around the wood, and it will look sweet.
Imagine yourself looking down at at the bottom of a pond, and what do you see.
That is what you want to go for.
I don't mean to be critical, and I like you so I don't want to hurt your feelings.
It is all IMO. If you like your tank, and you think it looks good, that is totally what matters.


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

well you certainly have the room to work with (65 gallon)

with this in mind, first I would take out the fake plants and continue adding the live plants as you are doing

the piece of wood looks awesome, perfect as is

on the rocks, as long as it is river rock or slate even sandstone, you will be fine...with 65 gallons to work with, you can build ledges and caves (fish love caves), but make sure it is not too high, say about 8-10 inches high, so there is plenty of open space for the fish to swim in

I agree with the others, if your heart is set on the blue gravel, then get the black background as you said you will do, this is good...you could add river pebble in a minimal way all over the blue gravel

it is very good to see that all your gadgets (filter, heater, etc) are barely noticeable, kudos on this

if you purchase a bunch of assorted anubias, these are hardy plants that will endure any beginner or non-established tank (established tanks take about a year - not how long you've been a hobbyist but the tank itself), which can withstand extreme temperatures, chemicals, movement even most fish won't feed on anubias...java fern is good choice, good you have this - fish for the most part do not like this coarse tasting plant

so anyway, all looks good...but if you are dead set against natural rock, then please continue to add live plants and in about a year's time, your tank will look truly awesome


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

The plastic plants could stay....i know when you dont have a lot of money live plants can be expensive.

I had a tank a while back that was a mix of live and fake, it can look really natural if you blend then together.
Bunching plants together looks better also, rather than 1 here 1 there type thing

Latest (and likely last) rescape.

15 posts • Page 1 of 2

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