# Planted Tanks > Aquascaping >  My 2ft aquascaping

## hann

Started this set up on 10th June this year. Went through some melting phases and now into the second month of the set up.

Tank size: 2ft x 1.3ft x 1.5ft (10mm thickness)
Substrate: ANS planta and GEX red top layer and ADA and bottom layer
Light set: Aquazonic 4x24W (Switched on for 3 hours in the morning and evening. Total: 6 hours per day)
Filter: Ehiem 2026
CO2 at 1bps 
pH: 5.0 and 4.7 when CO2 and light are activated
Fauna: 12 red phantom tetra, 1 golden tetra, 2 RAM, 2 pygmy and 1 cherry barb
Flora: Rotala Rountifolio, Didiplis. HC and repen

Just change the lighting from 2x24W to 4x24W. Hoping to see pearlings. Did not manage to see them pearling with 2x24W.
Waiting for the HC to cover the front part and repen to grow taller. Looking to have a bushier background.
Any comments are welcome

http://flic.kr/p/fdsTc6

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## Shadow

Do note increasing light wattage mean you need to increase co2 and fert dosing.

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## hann

Thanks for the reminder, bro shadow. Need your advice here. My substrate is relatively new and I was told that I do not need to dose fertiliser for a start. In your opinion, when should I start to dose them?

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## Shadow

Unfortunately I never used and soil, I cannot give advice on that. Based on my excperience, for ADA soil, you can go away without dosing nitrate for about a year you still need to dose potassium and phosphate though. For gex soil green pack, about 3 months, not sure a about the red pack.

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## hann

> Unfortunately I never used and soil, I cannot give advice on that. Based on my excperience, for ADA soil, you can go away without dosing nitrate for about a year you still need to dose potassium and phosphate though. For gex soil green pack, about 3 months, not sure a about the red pack.


I am starting dose Lushgro Aqua and Micro and I read from some articles that fish food produces some level of phosphate and with my current fishload, do I need to dose phosphate separately if I feed them twice per day? Sorry if this question sound noob.

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## hann

Update after 2 weeks from my first post. Hopefully the picture works

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## flick

Love the reddish colour of those rocks against the green plants. Love the staurogyne repens too. It would be nice if you can grow some moss on those rocks. Fissidens would look nice :Smile: 

What's your tank temperature with 4 x 24W switched on?

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## hann

The temperature is between 25.5 and 26.5 with a chiller

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## hann



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## Wingless

Love your Staurogyne (so green) and nice to see the HC spreading! Cannot wait to see your HC to carpet fully.  :Well done:

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## wongce

the picture you attached is very SMALL ....LOL, can't really appreciate your aquarium/ scape

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## Wingless

What we can do now is to right click on the picture, copy URL and paste to a new tab. =P

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## hann

> the picture you attached is very SMALL ....LOL, can't really appreciate your aquarium/ scape


 I agree. Surprisingly, I noticed that the picture, unlike others, cannot be enlarged by clicking it

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## Dredshere

i think more background plants will be nice!

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## hann

> i think more background plants will be nice!


I am waiting for the fast growing rotala roundifolio to grow so that I can trim them and make the background looks bushier.

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## hann

New update.
Remove all my red phantom tetras.
Current livestock
10 axelrodi (blue)
8 ruby tetra
4 oto
4 Pygmy 
Hong tai yang are growing fine. (Those red tip plants at the centre of the tank)

Co2 increased to 3bps with weekly dosage of lushgro macro and micro.
Still waiting for my hc to cover the whole foreground. Right side hc does not seem to grow well.

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## hann

Latest update. This is the 90th day.
Background is packed with rotala roundifolio, rotala green and lugwigia pantanal (hong tai yang)

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## HeMan

Nice one bro....im sure after it matures will be even better

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## atolylica

Love the contrast between the plants and rocks!

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## blue33

You should place your check valve outside the tank, it look nicer and cleaner.

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## hann

This is the latest update.
4 months since I first set up.

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## itsnotsobad

nice... I can see the HC are really slow growing. took 4 months to carpet the ground!

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## hann

> nice... I can see the HC are really slow growing. took 4 months to carpet the ground!


Yes. It took quite a while. In fact, I had added 2 more pots of HC between this period. Need a lot of patience for me to see this carpet.

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## bluebubbles

Look very neat. I do not have much luck with downoi.

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## hann

> Look very neat. I do not have much luck with downoi.


What substrate are you using? I noticed that my downoi did not melt in my ans substrate (top layer with Ada at the bottom) while they melted and died in my previous setup with ADA soil (all layer). Not sure whether substrate was one of the failure factors. It also depends on how you plant them too. I did not push the stem all the way down and got it fully covered by the substrate.

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## hann

Latest update. Did some rescape to remove rotala sp green from the left to the right. I cut the downoi which are growing upwards and replanted at the left and the remaining space behind downoi will be reserved for rotala roundifolio.

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## Orcishwarrior

In my opinion, ANS soil aren't as acidic as ADA ones, you can grow them on any soil claiming it can stabilize at pH6.5 - 7.5.
The trick to growing on ADA 1) make sure the ADA is really old maybe like 8 months or more (my estimate), alternatively grow them near to those Iwagumi Rocks because the soil around it tends to be less acidic.

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## gilch icariel

Neat and nice! Spreading well!

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## hann

My 2 newly occupants in my planted tank. I just find them very cute.

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## Adrain

Chocolate gourami!

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## Whitechicks7

Is that a African leaf fish ? Nice scape bro

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## hann

> Is that a African leaf fish ? Nice scape bro


Not African leaf fish, Bro. 
Chocolate gourami scientific name is Sphaerichthys osphromenoides, a dwarf gourami. They are not cichlids.

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## paul poon

good job hann
beautiful contrast tank you have and i love the rocks and the plant so much.
seriously i was searching the shrimp at the close up picture haha.
well done and thanks for sharing.

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## hann

> good job hann
> beautiful contrast tank you have and i love the rocks and the plant so much.
> seriously i was searching the shrimp at the close up picture haha.
> well done and thanks for sharing.


Thanks. Good eye sight you have.

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## ventisg

Nice tank set up =)

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## Bieffe

What is the name of the plant that u have planted into the soil? The one that is short and almost all over with very small leave.

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## hann

> What is the name of the plant that u have planted into the soil? The one that is short and almost all over with very small leave.


The foreground plant is Hemianthus callitrichoides. Some called them hc in short.
You can use the following to read about this nice plant.

http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/pla...richoides.aspx

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## Bieffe

> The foreground plant is Hemianthus callitrichoides. Some called them hc in short.
> You can use the following to read about this nice plant.
> 
> http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/pla...richoides.aspx


Thanks for the info. Usually sold in pots in local shop? As it grows I cut and plant into other parts of the tank? Non co2 tank possible to grow this?

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## hann

> Thanks for the info. Usually sold in pots in local shop? As it grows I cut and plant into other parts of the tank? Non co2 tank possible to grow this?


They came either in pot or on a rectangular pad. 
I started planting them in small crumbs and let them propagate. Not much on cut and plant.
They are quite demanding. Need high light to crawl horizontally. I grow them with pressurised co2. Not so sure on its growth in a non co2 tank.

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## hann

Today itchy hands again. Got a 1 liter ANS planta red soil and rescape the left back of my tank. Put in some more lava rocks. I have always felt that the left side is nicer if the height is higher. Do you agree with me, too?




Welcome Comments

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## felix_fx2

the top left looks still quite bare, you intend to fill it up?

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## hann

As the soil and lava rocks are of the same color, it may look like it is quite bare now. I am intending to plant more Staurogyne repens on the available soil around the lava rocks.

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## Bieffe

> The foreground plant is Hemianthus callitrichoides. Some called them hc in short.
> You can use the following to read about this nice plant.
> 
> http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/pla...richoides.aspx


When to Nanyang showed him pic and asked for HC. The staff there gave me a super blank face.

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## hann

> When to Nanyang showed him pic and asked for HC. The staff there gave me a super blank face.


I am surprised. This is quite a common plant, seen frequently in seaview. Maybe you can show them the picture next time.

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## felix_fx2

> As the soil and lava rocks are of the same color, it may look like it is quite bare now. I am intending to plant more Staurogyne repens on the available soil around the lava rocks.


yup.

that was what I was thinking. that way can show the rock better.

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## Bieffe

I did show them the pic they say they don't know not sure....not clear.

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## Bieffe

At the end I bought glosso but it's so difficult to plant!...and looks like w/o CO2 I won't have good results.

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## Dodofish

> At the end I bought glosso but it's so difficult to plant!...and looks like w/o CO2 I won't have good results.


Actually planting glosso is really not tough. Just need to cut them up into nodes and sink them into the substrate. For me I usually pick only submerged glosso as they usually have bigger leaves to manage. 

You can consider investing in a co2 cylinder with solenoid. For 2 ft tank at 1bps, it last easily for a year. And give you more time to sit and enjoy your scape.

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## felix_fx2

> At the end I bought glosso but it's so difficult to plant!...and looks like w/o CO2 I won't have good results.


most plants do better when growing conditions are co2 enriched.

but, it's mostly we hobbyist want to see fast results. true story.

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## hann

> yup.
> 
> that was what I was thinking. that way can show the rock better.
> 
> Sent from GT-N7105 powered by Temasek CM11


I am waiting for my existing Staurogyne repens to grow more runners so that I can trim and move them to cover the left side. Their growth are quite slow though. Maybe because they are directly under my 4x24w light, they spread around their surrounding instead of growing upright. 
Not intending to get directly from LFS now to beef up the volume immediately as I am sick of the melting phase.

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