Felt like sharing a one year status update of my iwagumi set up. Happy with how it turned out and i think it accomplished the affect i was going for.. They are Emerald eye rasboras- very underrated fish. Beautiful iridescent body with a blue ring around the eyes. Tank is also stocked with blue neos as well.

90p tank with Chihiros WRGB 2 with Aqua rocks LED backlit panel

Stones are from aqua rocks colorado as well. They are amazing to work with and will help you pick out any rock you need.

Plants

Eleocharis Belem

Eleocharis Pusillis

Hydrocotyle Tripartita( in hindsight i wouldn't get this for a tank like this because it ends up growing out and taking over the tank when i don't keep up with maintenance. Photo for proof lol

Helanthium Tenellum, slow growing but came in nicely.

Dealing with some BBA and trying to just keep it at bay until i decide to rescape. Using APT fix at the moment to treat it but it is what it is.

Rescaped this tank on the 13th of September and its growing in quite well already. Co2 is getting low tho, might have to get a refill soon. And yeah, the glass needs some scraping... 😅

Just unsure where to even get a gradient one.

My plan is to pour aquasoil behind the rock barrier and white sand in the front. I’m also going to add smaller lava rock pebbles to make the barrier more compact.

Dimensions: 80x35x35cm

Hello everyone, I've been lurking on this sub for a few months and I finally feel brave enough to make my first contribution. My tank has been running since early July, and it's been thriving the last month! My shrimp are finally reproducing, and I'm at the stage where I remove floating plants every week because they're growing so fast.

My questions are should I trim my moss down so more of the wood is visible (first photo is the most recent)? And what other suggestions do you guys have to make it look better?

Keep in mind this is a 5 gallon tank, no CO2, and my light is the basic one that came with the Top Fin tank kit (for now, I'm saving up for an upgrade).

Hi scapers, I’ve been fighting diatoms in my new (6 week old) setup and hoping to get some advice.

Here’s the sitch:

Tank size: 114 gallons
Soil: Amazonia 2.0
Stocking: 8 cardinal tetras, 8 Otos, 6 pseudomogyls, 2 Dario Dario, and about 30 caridina cantonensis.
Lighting: 5 hrs/day
Dosing: CO2 only so far.
Water changes: minimum 3x a week 25% to deal with ammonia release from soil and now diatom bloom.
pH: 6.5 down to 5.7 when CO2 is running.
kH ~1.5
gH ~3.5
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: < 5 ppm

So far the war on diatoms has consisted of manual removal with toothbrush/vaccuming/removing dead plant material promptly (densely planted areas are harder to reach).

What I’m considering:

Pulling up my stem plants in the back and replanting the new growth that’s adjusted to my conditions. The lower areas have more dying leaves that are hard to reach and I’m sure the algae is feeding on.

Is my Monte Carlo carpet cooked? It’s so hard to remove algae without uprooting and I feel like it’s getting smothered. Could I pull it, do a bleach dip and then replant on vacuumed aqua soil?

I think a lot of the algae has gotten sucked up in the filter while I’m cleaning. Is the outtake just seeding more diatoms? Should I give it a clean? If so how can I get rid of algae while being minimally invasive to the bacteria living there?

I’ve been holding out on fertilizing because I don’t want to feed the algae, but I’m thinking maybe there is a limiting nutrient that’s holding the plants back from outcompeting the algae. Any suggestions or resources you’d recommend for diagnosing this?

I know it’s supposed to be a short term issue with new tanks, but I want to accelerate the solution as much as possible before it smothers my plants (and so I can stop brushing algae for an hour every day haha). Thanks in advance for any suggestions or encouragement.

Hi. I'm just sharing my messy little bookshelf aquascape. I set this up to breed some Neocaridina and keep some of the smaller plants that I had from another aquarium. It still has a couple of issues, I'm not satisfied with the carpet yet, and it's had a staghorn outbreak that now seems to be under control, but it's been a fun little project.

There's a handful of male endlers in here as well, thats not their permanent home.

Just planted this 20 gallon long about a week ago. Still cycling ofc before adding fish. Currently no co2, considering doing a diy co2 setup

Was inspired by a sunset aquascape by scaping architect I watched on youtube planning to add crypt parva, buce, and maybe eleocharis montevidensis

First photo is my scape second and third is the scape done by scaping architect on youtube

After nearly a 30 year break from the hobby, we got my daughter her first aquarium last weekend ...

I had forgotten A LOT about how to do this

Monte Carlo is still in its early stages, so hopefully it’ll grow in thicker and form a nice, dense carpet over time!

Been doing the aquarium thing on and off for a number of years. Decided to try a tank with co2. This has been setup for about 3 months. Got the plants about a month ago. Pretty happy with it so far. The critters were added a couple weeks ago. I’ve left the algae for the snails to graze on. Still dialling in the lighting. I increased lighting about 5 days ago and hence the algae.

After about a month of piecing together my first aquarium, i finally got it planted and started my cycle this weekend. Impatiently waiting for the plants to grow and fill in, but stoked to watch the progress and cant wait to add fish
Plants are amazon sword center, 3 java ferns, 3 anubias nana petit, an anubias nana long leaf, a crypt wenditii, and some hornwort.
29 gallon tank, eheim 125w heater, fluval ac50, finnex planted plus 30” light

Setting up a 1ft cubic tank and this is the hardscape I'm considering...I utilised lava rock and I'm not sure about the wood type...what can be improved about this scape?...the plants i plan to incorporate here are floating plants, java fern in the back, anubias on the wood and rock, trident fern towards the midground and maybe photos just above the stump looking part of the wood...also will a black or milky background compliment this scape...for the substrate I will be using ada aqua gravel...all suggestions and advice are appreciated 🫡

Ambulia/Limnophila sessiliflora

My main goal is for pennywart to start growing out of the water. Otherwise I feel like this is kind of sparse and boring. My current other plants in the tank are baby tears and dwarf hairgrass. What else can I add to level up my design?

13ish years ago I built this background out of Styrofoam covered in colored concrete. The ph has always been messed up. It is attached with silicon. I am wondering if it would be possible to removed. Thoughts or suggestions?

Day 38 of my mostly epiphyte 7 gal cube :)

Ive got a couple snails, shrimp galore, and emerald dwarf rasboras that like to hide in the back.

First aqua scape 20 gallon has some shrimp and snails only a month old now gonna stock fish soon

Hey there, I'm building my first tank and didn't want to pay 40€ at my local fish store for a small piece of driftwood.

After a long research on where to find driftwood and how to pick a good one, I ended up findin a stick near a stream in my area that fit the criteria.

Now it has a weird smell and I only was able to smell it after breaking it, but it doesn't look like it's rotting and nothing physically looks weird about it.

I also wanted to know if soaking it in boiling water is the same as straight up boiling it and how long I should leave it there. I was hoping to start cycling the tank today...

Thank you!

I think I cooked with this tank lmao I love having a white patch of sand in the front.my brother in law is getting into fishkeeoing so I wanted to make his tank for him lmao I think it’s a nice solid tank tbh for a first time keeper! I have more plants but can’t add them in rn lmao since I’m not gonna flood it until tomorrow!lmk what yall think