75G – Scape, Farm, Collectoritus…

It’s been awhile since I’ve showed a picture of my 75G aquarium. I rescaped it back in April using the porous mossy rock (probably basalt) I’ve used for years. From the get-go, I kind of loved/hated the big rock for being too big, but you can’t deny it’s a presence in the scape. I decided to see if the presence would be softened a bit if the rock was partly obscured by Hygrophila pinnatifida.

As you see, after a few months, the H. pinnatifida has totally overgrown the big rock. In addition, the other plants have exploded, and have really taken over the aquarium. From a aquascaping perspective, most of the definition of the original scape has been lost.

That said, the plants are very healthy, and I’ve tended to throw in additional species of plants, more to farm them out. Going forward, if I want to rebalance the aquascape, I think I’ll have to remove the large rock altogether and rebuild the left side with smaller rocks. I’m disappointed that this Narrow Red Rubin Sword has grown in as kind of a mess. I was hoping for more vertically inclined leaves, but it’s just a cluster now. Regardless, with healthy plants and happy fish, it’s still one my favorite tanks to sit and admire this summer. Comments welcome!