Rescape Design Help :)

Hey everyone!
So I have a 45 gallon tank. It's 36l by 24h by 12w which makes aquascaping( at least for me) challenging because most builds you see are longer tanks. I have had bad luck with my stem plants and they only seem to do ok ish at the top 3 or 4 inches of plant. One is narrow leaf ludwigia, one broad leaf ludwigia, and then I don't know ehat the sad spindly lookI ng ones are. I have flourish red substrate mixed with smooth gravel and use root tabs especially with my swords. All my pants are doing well except my stem plants ( the java fern looks bad but it's brand new and still adjusting). I just don't know if those stem plants are re worth keeping with my low light low tech setup or if they need higher lighting.

If I upgraded my light to a finnex planted+SE would it ruin it for my low light plants? Would it help my stem plants at all?

I keep my tank at 78°f right now my ph is at 7-7.4( the measurement is unclear) but it's constant. My current driftwood is of unknown variety but it's dark hard wood and my plecos LOVE it. My nitrates I keep around 5ppm and everything else is good. It's been established for a year now and I've had 1 incident with that dark black moss from too much water out at once during water changes for a few weeks when I was medicating. So anyhoo, the ugly leaves on my plants are clearing up slowly.

My current plants are a taller variety of anubias, java fern (small), lots of crypt wendti, I forget the floating plants name ( not water sprite, the other one..) my 2 amazon swords.

I want to add some different driftwood but what type and should I make it my focal point or make my swords the focal point? ... also not sure if I want my scape to do a slope from back left corner to righr side or if I want a big centre piece with things around it. Do I want plants coming from outside the tank like a shore with a tangle of roots? I have too many ideas is my problem

My current stock is
1 pearl gourami
7 threadfin rainbows( wanted them to be main focus of 45)
7 dwarf rasboras
6 corys
1 adf (main focus of 25)
2 albino bn plecos (best buds) and tons of shrimp

I have a 25 gallon that I'm resealing currently to house my frog plus some new buddies for him after his buddy died of dropsy and might move some of my current stock in eith them.. dunno what yet and I also don't know f I want to stick to african theme for my frog tank.. so I may not be able to use my stock in that tank. My lfs takes fishies though should I decide to rearrange. I just feel bad getting rid of anybody.

Let me know if you need any more info

 

What light are you currently using?
Your problem with stem plants is probably directly related to your light, combined with the depth of the tank. It takes a strong light to get through 24” of water.
I had a 24” tank and had difficulty like you. The 24/7 SE would be a good choice (I have 3) but you may have to run it on sunny instead of the cycle.
As far as hardscape, a good piece of wood with some height would be a good choice. But I think your tank looks pretty good, just need to get light to the bottom.

 

Ok I was pretty sure it was lighting too. I just like this tank with low light plants so I don't wanna over expose them. What type of wood would you suggest?

 

I’m partial to spider wood and manzanita.

 

And can plecos still rasp on spider wood or are there certain varieties specifically suited for them?

 

I believe so. In my 75 I have a large piece of both spider wood and manzanita and also a smaller piece of mopanI for the plecos. They’re honestly on the mopanI the least.