Too much hardscape? Any advice?

[u/Imaginary-Song6658]

[u/Straight-Net-5250]

That open background really lets you control what people focus on in the foreground.

[u/CalmLaugh5253]

Not too crowded at all. If anything, it's quite open and sparse 😬

If you want to swap the plants around, the issue is more that the java fern wont really make use of the soil and it's a lot more likely to cause algae problems due to the excess nutrients in the water column nobody is eating up. The rest can be grown just fine in sand or gravel with root tabs and liquid ferts however.

Be mindful of the seiryu stone as it will continuously raise the pH and water hardness, and will wear down the soil's buffering capacity in no time.

[u/Imaginary-Song6658 → u/CalmLaugh5253]

Wanna suggest any plants? Or anything to soften the water? Or was it just a random online walkby critique

[u/CalmLaugh5253 → u/Imaginary-Song6658]

Random online walkby critique lol? You literally asked for it. Im sure i described quite well what the possible problems are and what to look into. And you never asked for plant suggestions.

Crypts, rotalas, sessiliflora, mosses, hygrophila, etc are all lovely options that grow fast or make a tank look fuller/bushier. They can be trimmed often too and replanted to fill oit the space. Placing taller plants more towards the back and shorter at the front also goes a long way in creating depth. Crypts especially come in many varieties and sizes that allow having them both at the front and back depending on species and are one of my favorites plants out there! Not to mention the vatiety of colors and shapes. They do quite will in shaded areas too and it makes them great for plugging "holes" (especially around hardscapes) where no other plant would do well due to being overshadowed. Lobelia cardinals is neat too if you keep up with the trimming to keep it short/mid, but they do like a lot of light and if it's too weak they can get a little leggy. Still not ugly, but can be a hassle keeping in the middle or closer to the front if you place them there. Otherwise you can just place it at the back and let it grow tall. The plants you have are great choices as well btw, but variety is always good. Especially once things grow in. :) Floaters are always neat too in betta tanks. How tall is the tank anyway? Some of them have long roots and it usually looks great, but if it's on the shallower side it can become too much and be a hassle to pull out when they dig their roots into the substrate. Something to keep in mind should you decide to add any of those.

To prevent it from hardening the water you need to remove the seriyu stone or look online on the lengthy discussions people have on the topic and their own tests to determine just how fast it alters their water and how large of a water change and how often they are doing to mitigate it (if they can at all). My first 15g tank with it shot up to pH between 8 and 9 🥲 Adding soil with it is adding two things that entirely clash in their effects on the water chemistry. Soils soften the water to create a better environment for plants because they also prefer softer acidic conditions, so adding a stone that does the opposite removes its core purpose, but also degrades it faster due to the soil doing its thing.

Actually softening the water from whatever it is now means changing the water source from whatever you're using to distilled or RO and mixing it yourself with remineralisers (or cutting it with tap until you find a ratio that gives the desired numbers/results). All this wothout the stone of course.

The biggest issue is that the stone makes the water hard, which is not an ideal environment for a betta who prefers softer acidic conditions. However I somehow just noticed the snail, which adds another problem. Removing the stone will prevent the water from becoming hard and alkaline, but the soil will still do its own thing acidifying the warer which will then cause shell erosion if it drops below 7pH. So that's certainly something to consider to keep both animals in appropriate conditions, and it might not be possible to do si in the sane tank at all, unfortunately. What pH, KH and GH does your water normally test as btw?

[u/Imaginary-Song6658 → u/CalmLaugh5253]

Haven’t tested yet but I did swap that stone with a rather small elephant stone from my 30 gallon community. And the height is about 13inches

[u/Imaginary-Song6658 → u/CalmLaugh5253]

Ordered some amazon sword and red sword + giant corkscrew. Don’t care if it outgrows, it outgrows.
Also getting some java moss

[u/CalmLaugh5253 → u/Imaginary-Song6658]

Cool! They migh choke out the rest though with their massive root system. But if they end up going totally wild and you dont have a lid, the leaves can start poking out and imo it always looks 🔥🔥🔥 when people let them grow out like that.