Back to it

[mrjohn]

We all come back eventually, right? It's been a few years. I moved from MA to MO, sold all of my tanks and equipment and moved away from the aquarium life.

I got the itch again so I started with a five gallon, planted bowl with an air stone and shrimp. I keep this in my kitchen because, ya know, it's nice to look at. Then, it happened. Driving home one night and there it was. A 36 gallon bowfront with stand and a aqueon plant light. Free....

I grabbed it, leak tested for two days, and it became my garage tank. Here's the problem. I am terrible at aquascaping now. I was never great at aquascaping but I did make progress years ago. I had some manzanita branches from the past that I just couldn't get rid of, so I put together a quick scape. I was happy with it until today.

I want this to be a plant-less, dead wood type scape, with more character but I'm absolutely stuck. I want the drama. I think that I need to move away from manzanita and go for horn wood or ghost wood. Keep the lava rock, and maybe add a backlight to the frosted back glass.

Anyway, I'm glad to be back, and when I can afford it, I'm going for a 75 gallon or within that range for my dining room.

 

[Lucy]

Welcome back ! It's hard to stay away from the hobby!

 

[ruud]

50% of aquascape appearance is determined by light (and photography)

if you want drama

- change regular aquarium lights with a spot light

- agitate the water surface, only a little, below the spot light for super drama

- place a dark semi-transparent static window film on the back

- place some cover, like an aquarium mat, between spot light and top, to create stronger shades in the back corner

- add dead brown tree leaves, lots of em; boil with water for 10 minutes and just let it sink to the bottom

- more wood, more sand, more slope, more drama

- add some creeping Hydrocotyle leucocephala attached to the wood, or guided by suction cups at the back, at water surface level; don't bother about fertilizer, just surprise yourself and enjoy

- play some rain and jungle sounds

welcome back

 

[bgarthe]

I think your tank looks pretty darn nice. You could do a few things, but it all comes down to what you like above all else. You could try putting a background in, add a few smaller branches on the right to rid it of bareness, include a bottom dweller like corydorus, and (depending on which species you like) put in a nice tight schooling/shoaling fish. Possible candidates might be cardinal tetras, espei rasboras, etc, but the angel fish may have to go. I don’t know how set you are in the species shown in the pic. I agree more wood and possible slope might be good, but differ on the sand. What you have, or even a bit less, would be my choice for reasons of not making it look bottom heavy and ease of gravel vacuuming at WC time. See….so many opinions, but like I said earlier, it’s yours that counts. Experiment and enjoy things you come up with. Let us know what your ‘final’ decision is……that is your decision until such time that something else comes to mind.

 

[DaveKS]

I agree with ruud, get you some Hydrocotyle leucocephala and just let it grow as a floating vine.

https://www.etsy.com/il-en/listing/563450387/brazilian-pennywort-brazilian-water-ivy

You’ll keep your lower layers as the sparse wood and sand look but the floating vine will provide areas of light and dark lighting that will give tank a very dramatic effect. Your fish will actually like the cover and they will also look better in the slightly subdued light. It’s a floater so a great water filtering plant, super easy plus it’s very easy to maintain. It’s floating right on top so you barely have to get your hands wet, you just usually come in about once every 3wks or so, snip out older growth (40%) and throw it in trash to keep it from getting to overgrown.

Also agree with needing a few med stones and/or a small driftwood on right end to provide a counterpoint to the large wood. Maybe even find a source of pea gravel and pick out some of the whiter ones to scatter about surface.

Also agree with adding a few leaves etc strewn across bottom. Pin Oak or Oak leaves can usually be sourced locally. Pin Oak look wonderful in tank. Plus both your tetra and angels will enjoy having a bit more tannins added to water column.

I love your current wood, wouldn’t change a thing, tank just needs a few finishing touches.