First attempt at aquascaping

[pieisgood]

So today, my fiance and I dove head first into aquascaping/planted tanks. I have a 55 gallon petco (aka not great) fish tank. I just moved my ornate bichir and a synodontis out of it and decided to turn it into a aquascaped tank. We have been to at least 5 different LFSs in our area, Fountains Aquarium, Aquatic Warehouse, and some others. We ended up buying our plants and substrate from Aquatic Warehouse, not sure how the prices compared but the total price of substrate and plants came to 150$, the other items for the tank like the drift wood we bought at another store were probably 40$ and this doesn't include the filter or fish which we have sitting on standby. so ... overall I could have bought a PS4, but **** that. We took from about 12 noon to about 7pm to go buy the materials, prepare the plants, transfer our big fish and finish setting up the tank. We already had a lot of things needed and we won't be using CO2 unless things seem to be not ideal. Anyway... here's a ton of pictures of how we did it.

 

[pieisgood]

annnddd here's the rest of the pictures

 

[pieisgood]

I'll post updated pics in a few weeks when the plants take full root and we add fish and a filter

 

[Woefulrelic]

Sandals in winter? Great start though, and that bag trick seems pretty nifty.

 

[pieisgood]

Sandals in winter? Great start though, and that bag trick seems pretty nifty.

I'm in san diego dude, it's 70 F out here lol also thanks I learned that trick from watching some videos on youtube of the pros filling their tanks... lacking anything meant for the job I substituted a lunch bag.

 

[Fat Homer]

Damn thats a good idea using a bag, i normally use a cup or plate, next time im using a bag... Also, love how you are using the golden ratio rule on setting up the tank...

The only problem i can possibly see is your carpet plant...

The reason being that looks to be Dwarf Baby Tears, which is a notoriously difficult plant to grow unless done with high light and high levels of Co2... Looks great if it works out, but does require a bit more effort

 

[pieisgood]

Ok, one week on and here's an update. On suggestion I went out an got a SUPER basic CO2 kit. It was 50$ and generally looks like it does the same job as more expensive systems (I'm assuming they make the money up by selling extra CO2 canisters but I bet I can get away with cheaper canisters and the same regulator). The plants in the back grew all the way to the top of the tank and need to be trimmed, we also added some fish from a previous and much smaller 9g tank. The baby tears haven't died yet, but the plants near the center did die, seems like they were DOA though. We replaced those with some plants we had in another tank that were doing well. Anyway, here's a bunch of pictures.

 

[pieisgood]

Here's some other photos of the new fish and the regulator/CO2 canister
Oh we also added a filter, a water heater and thermometer. We added everything to the left side of the tank so it interfered less with the whole tank.

 

[Fat Homer]

Tanks looking real good... As for the Baby Tears once it gets going it should fill in pretty quick, its just that it tends not to have much middle ground, so it either works really well, or doesnt seem to work at all...

 

[pieisgood]

Ah ****, alright. Here's hoping it does. Otherwise I'd probably like to find some smaller grass like plants to carpet with. Are there any that fit that bill? Kind of like lawn grass? (but you know... small)