70 Gallon rimless Bucephalandra tank

I was pondering some colors and contrast the other day and decided to try something I've been itching to do for some time now.
The 70 Gallon has nice wood and I like the general hardscape, but I was bored with belem grass, it was very easy and looked great, but....something was missing.

I tried some Elatine hydropiper, thought about some other foreground plants, but nothing seem to tickle my fancy.
I figured out a good way to grow the EH though in the process.

Still, I wanted to make this a no heater tank, so lower temps and lower light.
I'd turned off the CO2 for awhile and tried some test to see if the amano shrimp and bushy nose could keep the plants/glass clean for months without issues even at high light.

I added a few Buce's I had. They did very well and no algae or issues. I added some Mini pellia as well.
After a few months of this, I decided to go whole hog. Removed the EH and added nothing but smaller ruffled leaf Buces and few cooler large ones in the back.

The dark wood and the darker shades of Buces will lend well to the eventual goal of the livestock: Mostly CRS's.
I will not need to trim much obviously, but this tickles my fancy more than Belem hair grass and other foreground plants and they have done well so far, and I can go weeks without water changes, dose maybe once a week or two.
I planted most of it today and it looks fairly good, the leaves need to right themselves in the next few days and send some roots out etc.
In a few weeks, it'll look pretty decent.

As this tank grows out, I'll snip some plants here and there.
Buces will command a decent $ over the long term also.
So a good long term investment and display concept.

I like such low energy tanks with these types of plants or Anubias.

 

Yes, I did not expect that.

I'd had much less plant biomass but a few Buce's which did well, so........I decided to go larger with the Buces and do a lawn.
I'll get a pic up maybe next week.

 

Freshly planted with all Buce's:

Notes: I have had some Buce;s that have thrived in here regardless of the abuses and other things I've done, mostly due to a lot of Amano shrimp.
Few water changes, very clear water, dosing roughly 1/3 EI, basically maybe 1-2x a week dosing and a little traces.

CO2 is pretty high, but the plant's demand is low also.
There is not heater in this tank.

I removed the lava rock faux ADA powersand, it did nothing and started to come up through the ADA after a year or so. Added some old ADA AS to replace the volume.

Bushy nose and Amano's right now.
Might add some CRS, but likely lower grades and after the plants grow in more. This will give the fry some place to hide. I have SS mesh over the overflow and will change the return pipe to a glass elbow I have in the works.

This tank is darker, but open and brightly lit. Adding a bright colored shrimp will look nice against the Buce's. Not sure if I'll add fish really.

No heater on the tank, runs about 75-77F in the summer, maybe 70-74F in the winter. My 60p ADA will also lack a heater.

 

Freshly planted with all Buce's:

Notes: I have had some Buce;s that have thrived in here regardless of the abuses and other things I've done, mostly due to a lot of Amano shrimp.
Few water changes, very clear water, dosing roughly 1/3 EI, basically maybe 1-2x a week dosing and a little traces.

CO2 is pretty high, but the plant's demand is low also.
There is not heater in this tank.

I removed the lava rock faux ADA powersand, it did nothing and started to come up through the ADA after a year or so. Added some old ADA AS to replace the volume.

Bushy nose and Amano's right now.
Might add some CRS, but likely lower grades and after the plants grow in more. This will give the fry some place to hide. I have SS mesh over the overflow and will change the return pipe to a glass elbow I have in the works.

This tank is darker, but open and brightly lit. Adding a bright colored shrimp will look nice against the Buce's. Not sure if I'll add fish really.

No heater on the tank, runs about 75-77F in the summer, maybe 70-74F in the winter. My 60p ADA will also lack a heater.

 

Some Fissidens I cannot scrape off and some smattering of Mini pellia all over.

Over time, this will look pretty cool, but it's a patience game. For many, such tanks often get poorly cared for and the plants get algae. This tank has not done this before with much less biomass, so I figure it's good for the high no# of plants.
They are slow growing anyway, so demand should be reduced greatly and the lower temp will help.

 

Some Fissidens I cannot scrape off and some smattering of Mini pellia all over.

Over time, this will look pretty cool, but it's a patience game. For many, such tanks often get poorly cared for and the plants get algae. This tank has not done this before with much less biomass, so I figure it's good for the high no# of plants.
They are slow growing anyway, so demand should be reduced greatly and the lower temp will help.

 

If you mix too many species= looks like a zoo, but if you try a dutch style, you need more colors/shapes, textures etc..

 

This was the tank prior:












I added a dual drain in the overflow, then added a CO2 post mist reactor.
Removed the ADA faux powersand lava rock, replaced with 100% ADA AS.

The DBHG just does not appeal to me personally, but he visual effect for other people is awesome.
No vendors who sell the Manzy ever come up with their own scapes for the wood.

 

This was the tank prior:












I added a dual drain in the overflow, then added a CO2 post mist reactor.
Removed the ADA faux powersand lava rock, replaced with 100% ADA AS.

The DBHG just does not appeal to me personally, but he visual effect for other people is awesome.
No vendors who sell the Manzy ever come up with their own scapes for the wood.

 

Few hardscapes look decent from more than one or two sides.
Few hardscapes have every used wood like this.
Few scapes have used Buce's as the only plant.

I have some moss I cannot kill off(Fissidens) and added some mini pellia, but those are mops really, weeds that will not harm the Buces at all, but soak up extra ferts, give some moss like feel to the wood/display.
It's well over 90% Buce's.

UDGags, the 125 might do well with 10-12 species and really nice large groups/shapes with contrasting colors.

 

Few hardscapes look decent from more than one or two sides.
Few hardscapes have every used wood like this.
Few scapes have used Buce's as the only plant.

I have some moss I cannot kill off(Fissidens) and added some mini pellia, but those are mops really, weeds that will not harm the Buces at all, but soak up extra ferts, give some moss like feel to the wood/display.
It's well over 90% Buce's.

UDGags, the 125 might do well with 10-12 species and really nice large groups/shapes with contrasting colors.

 

I have hardly done a thing and the tank is doing super.