Brand New Juwel Rio 180, Beginner Aquascape Ideas

HI Guys,

in the past i've had cichlid tanks which I utterly failed at aquascaping because its surprisingly hard to build rock up to a good height.

but i've downsized due to frequent shifting and now have a brand new Juwel rio 180 with led lighting and I want to plant this bad boy. except I have no idea what i'm doing. I want to do it low tech because i'm also poor from buying the tank and want maintenance costs to be as low as possible lol. so that means no CO2 and preferably as few fertilisers as possible. I don't mind if it takes ages to mature.

I literally have no idea what to do so feel free to give all your knowledge, I am ready lol.

anything is welcome, photos, plant suggestions, suggestions on what I shouldnt do etc.

 

Here’s what I’ve been doing for years!!!

First off, my lighting cost me $60 but seeing as you already have that, we’ll skip that part.

I use aquarium dirt and only about two inches. Two 20lb bags cost about $60. If you don’t want to dose ferts then you’ll need the dirt.

I bought red small rocks in the reptile department. Rinsed then to get the dust off. Cost about $10 for a 10lb bag. I then got bulk aquarium rocks that were $5 a lb. I believe I got about $20 worth.

The most expensive part was the spider wood. $20-$40 a piece and I got four pieces. Only used three though.

I flattened the dirt in my 55 gallon tank. On the right I placed and stack my drift wood and poured the red rocks on top of the wood. I added the larger bulk rocks around the red rocks to attempt to cover the littler rocks.

I then began to plant. Java fern, Anubis (petite), and some crypts were worked into the rocks surrounding the drift wood.

Stem plants are your best friend for back ground plants are are very fast growing. So you only need to buy a little and can propagate them fast buy cutting the tops off every two or three inches and continue to plant the tops over then next few months.

I planted some sag for carpeting. This is apparently a really hard plant to get to carpet but I had no issues at all. Depending on the look of your tank, you may not need a carpet at all.

And that’s pretty much it. I never dose in my tanks nor do I use CO2. My tank has been change over the years but has been set up for 5 years. 6 months ago I “replanted” and have had great growth since.

 

Here’s a time line of the last 6 months of my set up.

The last photo was tanken yesterday. I took out the large piece of drift wood and added the large Anubis.

I should also mention that it takes a long time for plants to grow sometimes. So even though your tank doesn’t look good in a few months, don’t get discouraged. Taking photos once a month really help with seeing the growth.

 

Here’s a time line of the last 6 months of my set up.

The last photo was tanken yesterday. I took out the large piece of drift wood and added the large Anubis.

I should also mention that it takes a long time for plants to grow sometimes. So even though your tank doesn’t look good in a few months, don’t get discouraged. Taking photos once a month really help with seeing the growth.

WOW that's really nice! what do you mean crypts? I know what anubias and java fern are but i'm not familiar with crypts.
and what about mosses? I really like it when moss propagates itself over wood or another object

 

also what about circulation? would a tank benefit from a small wavemaker?
ive heard that circulation is very important.