Uns 60s River Bed

[Prooda]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first time posting on here, I got into the aquarium hobby around February 2019 and this will be my first time aquascaping a tank. However, I do have a "Dutch" style tank that its currently set up purely to learn how to keep and maintain aquatic plants. I learned a lot from my "Dutch" tank and now I want to get into aquascaping. I know this is a relatively difficult tank due to the dimension and how shallow it is. I've done extensive research on equipments and I think I'm ready to set it up. The tank won't be planted until February since I will be traveling until mid-January. I wanted to do the hardscape first and take a few pics and see which one I like the best (I also couldn't help myself and wanted to mess with the tank right away ). Any suggestions on what I should change is much appreciated!

Tank: Uns 60s (23.6" x 14.17" x 7.08")
Light: Chihiros WRGB (haven't purchased yet) I wanted to go with this light because it's dimmable and for a shallow tank, I think it's much needed
Co2: 5lbs tank with a ceramic diffuser
Filter: Fluval 206


Plants Idea:

Foreground
Glossostigma
Hydrocotyle Tripartita

Midground
Rotala Bonsai
Blyxa Japonica
Hygrophila Corymbosa Compact (maybe, still deciding)
Crypt Wendtii Green (maybe, still deciding)
Bolbitis Difformis 'Mini' (maybe, still deciding)
Anubias Petite
Buce Centipede (maybe, still deciding)
Buce Mini Coin
Buce Brownie Ghost
Buce Wavy Green
Buce Belindae (maybe, still deciding)

Background
Rotala Sunset
Pogostemon Erectus (maybe, still deciding)
Myriophyllum Guyana (maybe, still deciding)

If you have any plants that you think would look good for this scape, let me know! Looking forward to your feedback!

 

[Prooda]

Idea 1 (Substrate not at its final position)

 

[Prooda]

Idea 2 (Substrate not at its final position)

 

[bshenanagins]

I would switch the left two rocks, but keep the same concave look.

 

[Prooda]

I would switch the left two rocks, but keep the same concave look.

Like switch them out completely? I want to have rocks coming out of the water because I want to grow some plants emersed

 

[bshenanagins]

I meant swap places, the taller rock draws a lot of attention to itself right in the middle. Just my opinion of course

 

[Prooda]

I do agree that it looks better now that I played with depth also. This tank is pretty wide so taking advantage of that is also good. Do you think the rock on the left is pointing too high? or should I let it point down a little bit more. I will probably pick up more hardscape to see what else I can do

 

[bshenanagins]

Your right it does look better! I think on the right side, the inside rock needs to be tilted more to the center because it doesn’t mirror the other side. Also, add another rock or three more. Uneven amounts of rock is more pleasing than even numbers. I’m by no means an expert, but I’m learning as well.

 

[Prooda]

The long awaited tank is now complete. I wanna thank Beshenangins for his input on the previous scape. After traveling and finishing my UNS 60U, I went a different route than my original plan. I felt more comfortable with scaping with wood so I wanted to give it a shot. The hardware and plants have also been updated due to the change of the scape. So here's the list of plants and hardware that I used for this tank.

Hardware
Tank: Uns 60s
Light: Fluval 24/7
Co2: No CO2, might add later but we shall see
Filter: Eheim 2215

Plants
Crypt Parva
Crypt Walkeri
Buce Broadleaf
Buce Wavy Green
Buce Aragon
Cyperus Helferi
Annubias Petite
Mini Bolbitis

Here is the tank before the fill up

And the journey begins
Day 1:

 

[Prooda]

Completely forgot to update this tank but here it is! The tank finished cycling within a week since I was able to add old media into the filter to help it cycle faster. I decided to do a shrimp only tank for now so I picked up about 20 crystal blacks for this tank. Hopefully they will work out.

Day 7:

 

[Prooda]

So I'm a bit confused. I've kept crystal shrimps before and I'm currently keeping CRS at the moment and that tank is thriving. I've always liked CBS more than CRS. However, when I first started my aquarium hobby, I purchased CBS without knowing that they are super sensitive to the water and ended up killing all of them in 3 days. After keeping CRS for about 6 months, I felt like I have enough knowledge know to get CBS since they are pretty much the same. This is the third day that the shrimps have been in the tank now and Im down to 2 shrimps. I think it might be because the tank isn't matured enough? but it is cycled so I don't know whats happening. Does anyone know what could be the cause of these deaths? Are CBS more sensitive than CRS?

These are the parameters (Using API Test Kit):
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
PH: 6.4
GH: 5
KH: 1-2
TDS: 200

 

[Chris Noto]

So I'm a bit confused. I've kept crystal shrimps before and I'm currently keeping CRS at the moment and that tank is thriving. I've always liked CBS more than CRS. However, when I first started my aquarium hobby, I purchased CBS without knowing that they are super sensitive to the water and ended up killing all of them in 3 days. After keeping CRS for about 6 months, I felt like I have enough knowledge know to get CBS since they are pretty much the same. This is the third day that the shrimps have been in the tank now and Im down to 2 shrimps. I think it might be because the tank isn't matured enough? but it is cycled so I don't know whats happening. Does anyone know what could be the cause of these deaths? Are CBS more sensitive than CRS?

I'm thinking that you would probably have a better chance with this question at a specialist shrimp forum than here.
In any case, good luck!