my 10G ( 55G pics to come)

Here is my 10, Just a small tank in my bedroom. Just have a few snails in there and a snubb nose pleco aka bushy nose pleco right now. Going to be putting in some 2 baby Bolivian Rams soon and a couple of hatchet tetras. (Bolivians will be moved to 55 when they re adult).

The substrate is 3/4 inch of packed organic potting soil with a top sub of white sand mixed with assorted gravel for a mosaic look.

Plants:

Ludwigia repens ( broad leaf ludwiga)
alternnanthera reinelki
Hornwort

The tank is a little cloudy, as I had just moved around some plants and there was debris everywhere and white sand debris mixing









And heres the 55G but, just starting to set that one up. Just has an inch of packed soil and desert tan sand in it for right now

Looking good!

Thanks Bean!

Nice work! The rock scape is a nice touch as well.

wow really nice. I love soil in my planted tanks. Can't wait to see what you do to the 55.

Mita.. your 2 or 3 days ahead of me! slow down! YOur killin me!

lol, sorry Bill! Ill work on that haha

I tell ya, once I start, theres no stoppin me!

And ty Sgt. Match =) I thought the rock sand mix was a good idea too, made a very cool look. Now just have to figure out something cool for the 55G. I am thinking about mkaing a "stream" or "river" in the sand, and then putting some agate rocks along the river, and some ground plants, so it looks like a little oasis. Not sure yet though

If you take a look at my pictures I have posted for my 90g planted tank you might see some blue in there. I had the same idea as you hehe. I made a stream in in and maybe it look like it was flowing through from side to side. It looked very good for about 2 -3 weeks. The problem is that after you gravel vac it the stones start to get miss placed and the gravel also shifts around if I had to do it again I would recommend two things
1. some type of clear plastic liner for the edges of the "river/water" to keep the colors from mixing.
2. Maybe a small rock border so that during the gravel vac process less would be disturbed and leave for a clean river look without miss placing rocks.

oh good ideas thanks! I will have to check your photos out. Yeah, with the fish I am going to be putting in it, i doubt it will last long lol, the oscars I want to put in are always decorating their place, so im sure the gravel will be moved quite a bit, But I thought I would try anyhow, see how it goes.

and ya, I was going to to the rock border around the river, thats what the agate rocks were for, figured if I have a border, when I vac'd it out, it wouldnt do so much moving around

Sgt. Match..................

Sooooooooooooooooo how do I see your pics, or things youve posted lol, Im still kinda new to this forum, havent quite figured out how to do everything yet

I figured it out!! Nice 90G, love it!

Thanks! ***LINK*** Sorry about that

I know the "river" is hard to see in those pictures it used to be much more pronounced but this is after many gravel vacs and of course it has become over grown with plants. The original idea was to have all the longer stem plants on the right and shorter plants of the left and kind of make it a marsh land /River/ Forest. So the plants would scale up but after I got it all planted and things started to grow I kind of gave up on the idea. I know that many people love aqua gardening and I would love to have it look like the pristine examples I have seen BUT (and you will find this out too) at the rate of growth some of these plants exhibit I would need to do that almost daily haha. SO instead I kept my basic idea of forest and lower plants and have now started (not shown in pictures) to plant smaller foliage around the longer plants to make a kind of border for them.

well whatever your doing, it looks great. And ya, I love the aqua gardens however, I dont know if I want to do constant landscaping each day. I dont know if Im that dedicated lol, ok maybe I am, but still, thats a lot of work.

What type of smaller ground or grass plants would you reccomend using? I want to plant some grass or bush looking plants on the edges of the river, but most plants I see grow tall, or grow in wierd shapes. I kinda want something that will stay moderaty short. And I know I could use moss, but agh I dunno, moss grows ridiculously quick. Any suggestions?

to keep the sand a gravel from mixing I have used plastic craft mesh easy to cut and sew together with fishing line also it's very flexible.

I freakin love you Vix, u have the best ideas!! I was thinking about a mesh too, but couldnt figure out what the best stuff to use would be. Craft mesh would work great, and would keep my soil down to if I leave a very thin layer of sand at the bottom too. Ur a genious

been doing DIY for a LLOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG time.

Another alternative is the fiberglass screening.. I've a 50 foot roll by 4 ft if someone want's a cutting.. Vex, what I gave you is some scraps from doing a screen porch to use for pot plantings... ya need some footage?

OK heres the new pics of the 55!! No fish just yet, only a few snails. And the pics make it look cloudy, but it is pretty clear in the tank. And the plants in it right now are just filler fake ones, but will be going to get live plants next week.

Anyone have any good places to get live plants online?

Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions! Thanks =)

I get all mine from planted aquarium central. Great plants and large batches each time. I have also heard good things about aquarium plants.com but never tired them. Tanks looking great by the way!

bayless on aquabid is where I find the best deals and great plants. Bill the screen holes are too small for a moss wall.

I wasn't intending the screen for a moss wall.. just as a divider between the two mediums...

too flimsy I tried it in the past.