Aquascaping Deficient: Help!

I am going to start naturalizing my tanks and taking the plunge to switch over from plastic to live plants.

Here is my 26g bow front. I want to start with it. The light colored sand and bright light is washing out the color of my Bolivian Rams. I plan to add black sand, black diamond blasting sand, to be mixed in with the natural. The Rams are more comfortable with some cover (hence the fake plant near top and broad leaf plant). I also have an angelfish, 3 cory cats, 1 bn pleco (so driftwood is essential) in the tank.

What would you do with it?
Please advice about lighting (is daylight fluorescent ok?), low light hardy plants, care and placement of plants, etc.
Thank you in advance for your opinions!!

 

Dirt capped in black sand with jungle val and swords. Root tabs mixed in as well


Maybe a driftwood center piece

The jungle Val would be in the back. I'd keep the light you have now. The swords could be melon swords up front leaving a path towards the driftwood. Some amazon swords against the two side walls would work

 

Thanks for your quick response!

I was thinking driftwood for the center that is a little spread out to attach plants for cover?

I love the looks of jungle val! Have not seen that before. Swords would be nice too. Great looking plants.

Is dirt really necessary? I have read a lot of posts where sand was used with root tabs. I don't want to disrupt the fish in the tank more than absolutely necessary. Removing sand and putting in dirt may cause a lot of stress. That seems like something I would need to do in an empty tank. I have new fish in my QT tanks right now, but could temporarily move them once one of those is cleared out......

Also, my cories like getting behind the rock and in cave so I want to keep them feeling secure with a place to hide. Do you think the jungle val would provide that?

 

Dirt isn't really necessary for the included plants. I've used just straight up pool filter sand and root tabs and it worked, sorta.

And if you have enough jungle val, your cories should be fine. Jungle val tends to lose most of its leaves once it's planted, so you're going to need some sort of temporary hiding spot. They'll regrow though

 

I am curious what kind of dirt you use? I would think regular bags of dirt from lowes would have some stuff in it that's bad for fish.

 

Miracle grow organic potting soil is a pretty common one I see capped. Since it generates ammonia from decomposition, it may generate a spike. I've never dealt with the stuff, or dirt for that matter, so I never researched the numbers.

You could always use a substrate designed for the planted aquarium, but it's not really needed. Seachem Flourite and Caribsea Eco Complete come to mind first, as both are commonly capped with sand or gravel. Both even come in sand form, though I think limited to black. The downside is cost as it can be pricey. My LFS has Flourite Black (and Sand) at $23 for a 15.4lb/7kg bag.

 

I don't think dirt is absolutely necessary for the plants you plan to grow (they'd still benefit from it), but you'd definitely need root tabs.
Black diamond blasting sand is nice and cheap at $7.00/50 lbs.
I've got a very thin layer (1-2 cm) of Eco complete capped with bdbs, and I still use root tabs for my vals and swords. If you want a broad leafed plant, you could try Anubias Frazerii. They grow pretty tall and can be pricey, but I've yet to see anyone kill one. My platys love it!

 

Thanks everyone for the information and encouragement!

For some reason, this has been a difficult step for me to do live plants.

I have seen someone's pics where she has pool filter and bdbs that mixed to kind of a salt and pepper look that was cool. I could simply add the black in on top of the current sand. It will naturally get stirred planting and by the cories. That seems to be the easiest step for me to dip my toe in this water so to speak.

I am working on finding the right piece of driftwood to build around.

I also want some floating plants to filter some of the light for my rams.

So, I have on my list:
Possible plants:
Jungle val
Melon and/or Amazon swords
Anubias frazeriI
Water Sprite (to float?)
Staurogyne repens
bacopa caroliniana

Plant care:
Seachem flourish excel
Root tabs

Am I missing anything as I start gathering what I need? Any other beginner friendly plants?

 

Flourish excel is going to damage your jungle Val, if not kill it. It's best to use root tabs with jungle val.

The floating plant I use is hornwort, only because my duckweed keeps getting eaten. Can't use algae killer with this plant though.

If you're looking for a dirt substrate, either make sure it's for aquariums, or, doesn't contain fertilizers and such. Organic.

Another beginner plant would be java fern, but can't be planted.

Driftwood needs to be cleaned before placed in an aquarium. This will take weeks to allow the tannins to leech out. If you skip this, your water will be yellow.

 

Amount of tannins released really depends on the piece of wood ime. Usually I just boil mine for a few hours and then if too many tannins are coming out still, add some AC to the filter. Adding banana plants, crypts, and anubias nana to the list of beginner friendly plants. All of mine are in coral and rock substrate and doing fine.

 

You're better off just cleaning the driftwood before adding it to your tank...

 

A dirted tank gives you the best plant growth you can imagine, I won't set up another serious planted tank without dirting it, the growth is uncomparable IMO especially root feeding plants like vals, swords and crypts.
Dirting a tank is much easier with a new build and I wouldn't suggest doing it on an established tank unless you have somewhere to keep to fish for about a week as you WILL have an ammonia spike, the severity will depend on tank size, amount of dirt and thickness of cap. Dirt will also continue to stain your water as it releases tannins but after several water changes it does clear up.

Other plant substrates work great too though, not as good as dirt but still way better than sand and tabs. I haven't used Eco complete but I imagine it is probably as close to dirt as you can get without using dirt. Flora max and Flourite are both good in between substrates, not quite as good as dirt, but much better than regular substrates. I choose to cap my dirt with either Flora max or Flourite as they both contain iron which benefits the plants and really brings out the reds in red plants.
On a 26g bowfront, One bag of Flourite or Flora max should be enough to give you at least an inch coverage.

I'm going to call UniqueShark out here on the excel with vals. Yes Vals don't appreciate excel however they can be acclimated to it over a period of time, starting the dosing off low and working it up. If you dose the full amount to val without acclimating them though it will melt them away pretty quickly.

When you do find your perfect piece of wood, don't put it in the middle of the tank. You want to use it to create a focal point that draws the eyes to a certain spot. Generally you want your focal point slightly off center, there is a ton of info on aquascaping on the web and I believe the technique I am referring to is called the rule of thirds or something like that.

As a side note, your tank is small for an angelfish, it will outgrow it fast. They are better suited to a minimum of 29g. I'd seriously consider finding alternative housing for him/her, you may run into aggression issues between the Rams and angel too further down the road in such a small space.

 

What makes dirt the most effective is that it is producing all the nutrients at high levels and being held at the bottom. When a root feeder his it, it will have plenty to feed on. The ammonia spike is from compost in the soil. The bacteria that break down fish waste break down the organics here, too. Ammonia is the most common form of Nitrogen that aquatic plants will uptake readily. Your beneficial bacteria will eventually catch up to eat the rest.

Red plants benefit from a more proper light spectrum as well. The pigment involved will absorb blue and greens and reflect the reds. Sorry, I can't spell it. But that's an FYI though.

Yes, the rule of thirds is essentially making the focal point off center so that the eye will have to wander. It provokes one to look at the other details as well, giving the scape a more pleasing feel when it can't be soaked in all at once.

Just figured I'd add to what's already been said

 

Amount of tannins released really depends on the piece of wood ime. Usually I just boil mine for a few hours and then if too many tannins are coming out still, add some AC to the filter. Adding banana plants, crypts, and anubias nana to the list of beginner friendly plants. All of mine are in coral and rock substrate and doing fine.

Awesome! I am adding those to my list to check out.

I have experience with driftwood. I have just purchased small pieces for my bn plecos and not focused on how they contribute to the aquascaping.

A dirted tank gives you the best plant growth you can imagine, I won't set up another serious planted tank without dirting it, the growth is uncomparable IMO especially root feeding plants like vals, swords and crypts.
Dirting a tank is much easier with a new build and I wouldn't suggest doing it on an established tank unless you have somewhere to keep to fish for about a week as you WILL have an ammonia spike, the severity will depend on tank size, amount of dirt and thickness of cap. Dirt will also continue to stain your water as it releases tannins but after several water changes it does clear up.

Other plant substrates work great too though, not as good as dirt but still way better than sand and tabs. I haven't used Eco complete but I imagine it is probably as close to dirt as you can get without using dirt. Flora max and Flourite are both good in between substrates, not quite as good as dirt, but much better than regular substrates. I choose to cap my dirt with either Flora max or Flourite as they both contain iron which benefits the plants and really brings out the reds in red plants.
On a 26g bowfront, One bag of Flourite or Flora max should be enough to give you at least an inch coverage.

I'm going to call UniqueShark out here on the excel with vals. Yes Vals don't appreciate excel however they can be acclimated to it over a period of time, starting the dosing off low and working it up. If you dose the full amount to val without acclimating them though it will melt them away pretty quickly.

When you do find your perfect piece of wood, don't put it in the middle of the tank. You want to use it to create a focal point that draws the eyes to a certain spot. Generally you want your focal point slightly off center, there is a ton of info on aquascaping on the web and I believe the technique I am referring to is called the rule of thirds or something like that.

As a side note, your tank is small for an angelfish, it will outgrow it fast. They are better suited to a minimum of 29g. I'd seriously consider finding alternative housing for him/her, you may run into aggression issues between the Rams and angel too further down the road in such a small space.

I would have to wait for QT tanks to get cleared out to temporarily re-home. Since I am looking at switching over in already established tanks, I think sand and root tabs is the best way to get started. As I get more comfortable and want to dive deeper, I will look back at all if this great advice about using dirt, etc. based on how MTS set in with me, I am guessing plants will have the same effect with me always wanting to improve it.

I will research more on excel flourish if I go with jungle val. My ocd wants me to center the wood, lol. I will look at it differently and try the offset.

Regarding the angelfish, I had the same concern and sought the advice of two very experienced keepers on this site who assured me it would be a good size tank for one angelfish. She and her mate had to be separated because they became vicious with one another. It is either keep her in this tank or take her back to lfs. I was thinking about a branched out piece of wood to attach plants for more of a division between the Rams lower level and the angel's mid to high level as well as provide some lower light areas for the Rams that prefer filtered vs full on light.

Thanks!

I guess the difficulty for me is providing the proper environment of cover, hiding spots, etc in an aesthetically pleasing look.

Thanks to all of you that have given me a lot of great information! Even if I don't go full on with dirt for this tank, I am at least thinking about how to make that switch over to work in later.

This is such an awesome forum where so many are wiling to jump in and help!

 

I guess the difficulty for me is providing the proper environment of cover, hiding spots, etc in an aesthetically pleasing look.

Thanks to all of you that have given me a lot of great information! Even if I don't go full on with dirt for this tank, I am at least thinking about how to make that switch over to work in later.

This is such an awesome forum where so many are wiling to jump in and help!

It's not difficult if you don't look at it as being a challenge. Just go with asymmetrical patterns and go with what "feels" right.

I've just begun with the planted journey not that long ago and already switched substrates. I chose to go with Seachem Onyx Sand. My draw was the buffering capacity and that it absorbed minerals for use later, but that's my preference based on what I want. I'm also going with low tech without dirt. I have high tap nitrates so nitrogen is never in short supply, lol

 

Ok, I got a fake piece of wood from petsmart that I think I will use for this tank. I also found a store that has some cool looking spider wood.

What do you think about building around this? Which way would you turn it? I am thinking taller.....

I would have to incorporate the real piece of driftwood as well for my bn pleco.

 

I like the second option, but it's how you see the tank turning out. Asymmetry is the key in nature, just follow that

 

I personally like the first option, but would probably do it farther back in the tank.

 

Ok, so two different opinions, lol. For me, I think I like the first one, but may feel differently when placed in the tank.

Do you have advice on how to incorporate the driftwood piece (and possibly the rock for cories) that is currently in the tank?

 

At least both opinions agreed that it's a nice piece

Here's what I was picturing.

The new piece standing up (option one) in the back right where the large, white rock is currently.
Move the large white rock to the opposite side of the tank (back left). I'm assuming that is the one you want to make sure you keep.
Remove the tall, fake plant from the back left.
Move the driftwood over to the left, but with the nifty point that comes up pointing toward the front right corner instead of parallel to the front of the tank.
Move the little rock cave over to the front right.
Reposition plants where they make sense based on the new hardscape.

 

At least both opinions agreed that it's a nice piece

Here's what I was picturing.

The new piece standing up (option one) in the back right where the large, white rock is currently.
Move the large white rock to the opposite side of the tank (back left). I'm assuming that is the one you want to make sure you keep.
Remove the tall, fake plant from the back left.
Move the driftwood over to the left, but with the nifty point that comes up pointing toward the front right corner instead of parallel to the front of the tank.
Move the little rock cave over to the front right.
Reposition plants where they make sense based on the new hardscape.

Thanks!!
That sounds like it will work, except I am thinking about ditching the rock cave.

Also, I will be replacing all plants with live plants and adding black sand.

 

I like the second option still. You can utilize the bottom as an extention of a rock cave/tunnel. That's just what I see at least. I'm a little dry on creative juices, I'm scaping my tank, too.

 

I like the second option still. You can utilize the bottom as an extention of a rock cave/tunnel. That's just what I see at least. I'm a little dry on creative juices, I'm scaping my tank, too.

That was my thought in looking at it that way! My Rams would have some great swimming area under cover of the log. I just have to get it in there and stand back to see how it looks both ways. Either way, it will make it more natural.

I am going to get my root tabs this week so next weekend I can wash up some black sand and get it changed over. I would this weekend but my brother is visiting from Texas so it's family time.

I still need to decide what plants I will start with.........

 

Honestly, get the hard scape complete the way you want, then figure it out. I think some swords in the back would look great because of your height. Other than that, there's plenty of options

 

Honestly, get the hard scape complete the way you want, then figure it out. I think some swords in the back would look great because of your height. Other than that, there's plenty of options

Good advice! I am really excited, but also want to take my time so I don't have to keep re-doing it, lol.

 

You will always keep tweaking until you're personally satisfied. Sorry to say that

 

You will always keep tweaking until you're personally satisfied. Sorry to say that

So true.

 

So true.

Always something like moving something an inch a week later or just one more plant, lol

I just bought more plants still can't leave it alone and I have ideas that keep changing as I do more.

 

I just bought more plants still can't leave it alone and I have ideas that keep changing as I do more.

I had a feeling it would be similar to MTS. Am I facing potential for MPS? Lol.

 

And when you get "too many" plants, you'll need another tank for those lol. Joking.

I had gotten small specimens so I purchased more to fill out some of the space a little more. There's also a few plants I've been meaning to get, but LFS is out of stock still.

It's things like that that will happen. Impatience mixed with a little planning spur on those things

 

I just realized that a month ago I had entirely fake plants except for a moss ball... Now I've got a heavily planted 29, 2.5, and 10 gallon aquarium. The MTPS is real.
I think I need more plants and maybe a Co2 injector, no?

 

I just realized that a month ago I had entirely fake plants except for a moss ball... Now I've got a heavily planted 29, 2.5, and 10 gallon aquarium. The MTPS is real.
I think I need more plants and maybe a Co2 injector, no?

CO2 injection, 100 par at the substrate, ferts out the nose, more tanks, more plants, a hired assistant. You got to go all out here

 

Lol! My family thinks I am the only one obsessed with fish tanks. Little do they know there is a whole community of us. Bawhawhawhaw!

I only have 13 tanks (9 display, 2 fry, 2 QT) so plenty of room to grow plants.
The assistant thing sounds good.

 

"Only 13".

 

"Only 13".

I know right! It's gotten out of hand.

AND I am looking at 5 gallons to set up a betta tank at my office....... Bad bad bad case of MTS!

 

That's a lot of scaping to do! I'm happy with two 10 gallons right now. I will eventually go bigger to a 65 or the something, but 13 going on 14 tanks? You got MTS for sure

 

That's a lot of scaping to do! I'm happy with two 10 gallons right now. I will eventually go bigger to a 65 or the something, but 13 going on 14 tanks? You got MTS for sure

That's why I am just starting with rescaping the 26g. See how that goes and then look at the 120g. I have basically just thrown in a bunch of caves and fake plants so it will consume my time for quite a while to get to a more natural look.

I think my 55 gallon cichlid tank is the most natural with lots of rock work and live plants don't mix with them anyway so that one is off the list for now.

At least this distracts me from wanting another tank (at home at least).

Are there dangers in using rocks out of a local creek?

They have kind of a metallic hue so I wonder if there is potential for dangerous minerals or something else to be leeching out into the tank water.

 

Drop some white distilled vinegar on then. If the vinegar fizzles and stuff, I wouldn't use them.

As for the metallic hues, I'm not sure about that

 

Drop some white distilled vinegar on then. If the vinegar fizzles and stuff, I wouldn't use them.

As for the metallic hues, I'm not sure about that

Thanks! I will try that tomorrow.

 

Those are definitely some killer looking rocks, and I'd be so tempted to make the illogical decision to use those metallic hue types and just scape it up. Glad you made the right decision to ask first. Haha! So what Grimund said is great. I just wanted o say I've never really cared for the vinegar approach. The reaction is usually very weak, so I just wanted to add that muratic acid is my approach and you can pick up a gallon of it for like $8 at any home home depot. I just prefer it because the reaction is more visible.

I will say I've seen those metallic appearing ones used in a scape, but I can't seem to find where I saw it.

I need some answers, though... where'd you get them and any idea what it is exactly? The dark ones. They almost look like an obsidian of sorts, but trust me I have no idea.