15 and the 20

JMLenke · Post by **JMLenke** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 11:53 am

The 20 that I just found the only male Praecox and one of the male rams dead in (I think the other male ram killed all the other males in the tank)

The endlers/shrimp/snail tank

sorry for the pic quality, the blinds bleed light through and reflect +I suck at tank pics it seems.

JMLenke · Post by **JMLenke** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 12:50 pm

Guess I am easily impressed

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 12:59 pm

I think the 20 gallon has nice start to it. The tighter groupings of plants give it a more refined feel.

Do you have a tripod for taking photos? I set my camera on a table or something to keep it stable. It does wonders for the blurs.

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:00 pm

It looks like you're getting some growth in there but the layouts lack definition.
You should consider using the tall plants / stems in the back, medium high
ones in the midground and the short ones in the foreground. Its also common
that the midground have most of the hardscape. The foreground can be
as narrow as a couple of inches - but you need a well defined midground to
pull that off.

JMLenke · Post by **JMLenke** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:11 pm

Aaron wrote:I think the 20 gallon has nice start to it. The tighter groupings of plants give it a more refined feel.

Do you have a tripod for taking photos? I set my camera on a table or something to keep it stable. It does wonders for the blurs.

If a tripod is counted as a stick I brace against then yes.

I really need to spend for a camera that has Manual focus, I am horrible at getting autofocus cameras to target what I want them too.

Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:It looks like you're getting some growth in there but the layouts lack definition.
You should consider using the tall plants / stems in the back, medium high
ones in the midground and the short ones in the foreground. Its also common
that the midground have most of the hardscape. The foreground can be
as narrow as a couple of inches - but you need a well defined midground to
pull that off.

Never really been able to understand the whole aquascape thing to be honest. Im a big fan of a more random(real?) look. Admittedly I will NEVER win any awards for my tanks and most of the plants I use would never be found growing near each other but still. The fish seem to love the hiding ability I give them. The remaining ram in the 20 is only seen if/when he wants to be seen.

The Amazon sword is coming out and going to the PVAS auction tonight. I still think that when I planted the 20 I did the entire tank backwards, since ALL of the tall non stem plants are at the front but I am too lazy to pull the crypts out and replant them correctly.

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:21 pm

Also - try and keep the substrate in the front of the tank all at one level - it
distracts the eye if its all wavy. Some folks can actually pull that off but its
a lot simpler to keep the front substrate line level.

Try to clean up the stray moss - having it tangled into other plants
gives it a messy unkempt look.

Looks like you've got some floaters in the 15 top left - that's also distracting.

Stem plants are more effective when they are placed in groups, with colors
and textures that compliment one another. Don't worry about textures and
colors right now - try and get them organized into groups. Most stems should
be trimmed off at 1/3rd their total height when first pruned
and their bottoms left in to regrow. Tops can either be replanted for a denser
group, traded or discarded etc.

JMLenke · Post by **JMLenke** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:33 pm

Yeah I have floaters, the bane of my existence Naja grass, Duckweed and Riccia will NOT GO AWAY.

The 2 tanks are almost totally attempts to get plants growing and I am a bit worried that actually paying attention to them might kill em off or something. I know that the 20 needs a bunch of work, I am probably going to tear it down and remove ALL of the naja grass and then reset it so that it is facing the right way etc.

The 15h originally started out as a low maintenance tank with just Java moss, Anubias, Bolbitis, and Java fern. It now has the a few crypts, the Hygro, another unknown plant, a house plant growing out the top back (the white roots etc on the upper left), Naja grass(to be removed) and random other pop ups that seem to have appeared (clippings?)

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:49 pm

Having a defined foreground, midground and backround doesn't necessarily have to involve aquascaping persay. It mostly serves to give depth to the layout. It seems as though you are looking at a larger scene. Trust me, fish can still hide if they want to.

ingg · Post by **ingg** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:57 pm

Says the man with one million blue rasbora you can't even see until food hits the water...

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 11:35 pm

ingg wrote:Says the man with one million blue rasbora you can't even see until food hits the water...

That's the rainbow shark's fault. He's one nasty dude.

15 and the 20

15 and the 20

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