Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones" 9 months on

Hi All,

Well I've finally got round to posting up some pics of my rescaped 90x45x45 opt white (As promised Chilled ).I used my local surroundings, beaches, cliffs and valley's as my inspiration. This scape has now been going for 3 weeks and the plants have just started growing in well although I did trim few plants before I took the pics. Also today added 2 of tropica's new plants, Echinodorus vesuvius and Hygrophila pinnatifida.
I've only one setup photo which is pretty poor sorry taken from my phone as I left my camera at the office.

So for the spec.......

90x45x45 TGM Opti-white tank
Eheim pro 3 thermo filter
Arcadia T5 Luminaire 4 x 39 watt (only using 2 x 39watt - Tropica plant pro's, on for 5 hours)

Pieces of driftwood off my local beach
Dragon stone
ADA power sand special
ADA clear super & bacteria 100
ADA Aqua soil - Africana
ADA Aqua soil - Africana powder
Zambezi sand
3 graded gravels

Plants
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Echinodorus vesuvius
Xmass Moss
Needle Fern
Anubias bart v. nana
Cyperus helferi
Eleocharis parvula
Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides (marítima)
Juncus repens
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Microsorum pteropus 'Windelov'
Pogostemon Helferi
Rotala sp Green

Ferts
TPN+ 8ml a day
Easy Carbo 8ml a day
Was dosing this much in my previous scape and had no real Algae problems apart from when maturing a new filter, so far in this scape not a spot of Algae

Full Tank Shot Rescaping

Full Tank Shot Finished


Some other shots




My Favourite Pic


Comments welcome.......Thanks for looking.......Cheers Ben

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

well i love it .really like the dragon stone layout and graded gravel.
is that just zambezi sand or have you used other sand as well.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Thanks Neil!! Well spotted mate, yeah it is mostly Zambezi with abit of finer natural/light colured sand mixed in too, I had a small bit left over from a previous scape.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Brilliant, Ben!

The unique combination of the 'sticks n stones' works really well (I can't help humming the Jamie T tune right now!)

The open space in the foreground contrasts nicely with the background, and as the plants around the stones mature to soften the transition I think this will be an excellent aquascape indeed.

I'm not sure sure on the pale sand though; it's a little too distracting for my taste and I'd consider a darker silica sand personally, as this would harmonise better with the graded gravels and zambezi, in my view. That's just my taste though, so ignore me totally if you like!

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Hi George,

Thanks for your encouraging, inspiring words! As for the Song....... I know it well! :loll:

I wanted the foreground to be on the whole clear of planting so I had more room to view the fish, my previous scape was more dutch style and the fish were hiding amongst the heavy planting and extreme growth, so this feels like a breath of fresh air now. I have to agree with you regarding the sand though, I wanted that contrast with both sandy foreground and aqua soil background and at first a couple of days into the scape the finer capped sand was much less visible however now the finer sand seems to have made its way up to the surface on top of the zambezi and is much more prominent. I have more zambezi so will plan to take out as much of the lighter sand and put the zambezi in, in it's place. I was also thinking of adding a darker ADA sand.......What are the thoughts on that? :?:

I don't mind the ADA soil and the sand mixing up a bit however I don't want the path/valley and foreground to become overwhelmed with the soil and the depth of the tank to be lost, so I plan on constant maintenance to ensure this doesn't happen. I am also planning on the Dwarf Hairgrass to be grown tight up against the sand foreground or as tight to it as possible, like you've said George I'm hoping this will soften the transition between the 2 substrates and stop the mixing up to a degree.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Loving the hardscape Ben and a nice combination with the wood,love the title too,
regards,
john.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Dragon stone works much better than syriu stone, I have to get my hands on some after all!!
Loving the tank, great work

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Cheers LD,
Gotta say Dragon Stone is my fav too! so much texture and colour.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"@4weeks

Ok so thought I'd let you in on a change I've made to the scape. Have taken Mr Farmers advice on the sand front and have taken out the lighter Zambezi/natural sand and replaced it with the darker ADA Sarawak sand. As George suggested, this darker sands really tones in more with the overall scape, working very well with the Africana ADA soil.
On the plant front everything is growing well, Rotala has been cut back in places but is now reaching the water top again, and there are shoots appearing from the Eleocharis parvula,Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides (maritime),Lilaeopsis brasiliensis and Echinodorus vesuvius and the moss has had a small trim in places.

Here's some update pics,







Comments welcome

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

LOVE that foreground detail

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Coming along very nicely, Ben!

Another lovely 'scape to keep our eyes on over the coming weeks and months.

If you haven't thought about it already I would consider allowing all the stems to grow to the surface and prune them into a "V" formation. This would accentuate the rocks really well and improve the overall composition. I would even go as far to say you could use your cuttings when you next do a prune on the Rotala and plant into the rear corners more to really go to town on the V-shape. This would mean re-considering the plants currently in the corners, however, so it's your call... Perhaps use them to soften the transistions between the sand and stones. This is a fairly major shake-up to the design though, so please ignore me if you like!

In true Blue Peter style - here's one I did earlier using Rotala in the V-shape, as discussed.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

still looking great .
i disagree with you and George about the sand though :silent: .i liked the original more .

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

mr. luke said:

LOVE that foreground detail

Click to expand...

Cheers mate, I'm loving the clear foreground and centre to this setup, it's giving me a good view of my fish, plants and scape details. Have added a lot more gravel with the sand change to keep things separated a bit more.

George Farmer said:

Coming along very nicely, Ben!

Another lovely 'scape to keep our eyes on over the coming weeks and months.

If you haven't thought about it already I would consider allowing all the stems to grow to the surface and prune them into a "V" formation. This would accentuate the rocks really well and improve the overall composition. I would even go as far to say you could use your cuttings when you next do a prune on the Rotala and plant into the rear corners more to really go to town on the V-shape. This would mean re-considering the plants currently in the corners, however, so it's your call... Perhaps use them to soften the transistions between the sand and stones. This is a fairly major shake-up to the design though, so please ignore me if you like!

In true Blue Peter style - here's one I did earlier using Rotala in the V-shape, as discussed.

Click to expand...

Cheers for the words of wisdom George
In my head I have already been thinking of trimming the Rotala into a shape, I was thinking a curved shape from the middle to the end, however I can see where the 'V shape maybe more composition friendly and I see where your coming from where it may mirror the hardscape......I get it!!!!
I have also been toying with the idea of closing the gap at the back of the valley, filling it in with the cuttings, but am unsure wether I'd loose to much depth? Or wether it'd look any good?
As for the corners and using the Trimmings of Rotala, I have planted some off cuts into the far right corner of the tank already but they are not yet visible behind the Helferi which seems be stalling slightly. In the Far left corner I have a
Microsorum pteropus 'Windeløv' but this seems to be suffering with the leaves turning slightly black on the edges..........any ideas?

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Hey Ben,

Looking good mate.

I love the mixture of sand and gravel and they all match the tones of the Dragon stone, and so it should. Graded gravel should represent the stone of which it has been ground off in nature.
I would however try and arrange the graded gravel in a way that compliments the lines you have created in your composition. Its perhaps a little too random at the moment. Natural graded gravel tends to settle in dips, behind rocks etc, perhaps think about that and see if you want to waft it around a bit.

The back left of the scape does looking like its missing something...... more stems maybe? It depends on the look. Its all too easy to say you should do this and that. But its your scape, so do what you feel sits with your vision.
My eye says it needs something, yours however may say something els.

Cheers.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

nelson said:

still looking great .
i disagree with you and George about the sand though :silent: .i liked the original more .

Click to expand...

Don't tell me that now..........I was in 2 minds mate, to be honest I was unsure when I started changing the sands over, but now I love it, it works so much better with the tones of the Dragon stone and Africana, it also seems to really make the colours of the plants and fish standout a lot more. In the flesh the sand is quite a bit darker than the photos portray.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Hi Ben

This is looking lovely Great rock arrangement, and the grading into the sand is looking good too - I prefer the new sand as the colours of the sand / gravels / rocks are more subtle and from the same palette now.

Great stuff

Tony

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

I'm with everyone on this. points from each person.

The gravel is great, however, like Graeme says it should be reserved for around rocks and nooks and crannies. This is where it forms naturally in rivers etc.

The stem's could of been placed in the rear corners, or in a addition, add more to the left corner and then trim like George has mentioned. You can take the cuttings from the middle left and place those in the back left.

This has masses of potential.

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

guess i'm the odd one out .i know nothing .

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Graeme Edwards said:

Looking good mate.

I love the mixture of sand and gravel and they all match the tones of the Dragon stone, and so it should. Graded gravel should represent the stone of which it has been ground off in nature.
I would however try and arrange the graded gravel in a way that compliments the lines you have created in your composition. Its perhaps a little too random at the moment. Natural graded gravel tends to settle in dips, behind rocks etc, perhaps think about that and see if you want to waft it around a bit.

The back left of the scape does looking like its missing something...... more stems maybe? It depends on the look. Its all too easy to say you should do this and that. But its your scape, so do what you feel sits with your vision.
My eye says it needs something, yours however may say something els.

Cheers.

Click to expand...

Hi Graeme.......

Cheers for the words mate, TBO I have struggled in the back corners and of both sides, the planting in these areas hasn't quite worked out in the way I had in mind, so yeah am actually thinking about changing both corners. Seeing as the Rotala is rocketting this is an option and the fact that I can use cuttings of the Rotala I already have and I like the look of one stem plant domenating the whole back of the tank. Although is there a stem plant that you or anyone else could suggest that would complement the Rotala and scape? I was then thinking of using the Helferi and repens which I have in one corner to break up the transition between foreground and the stem plant background. One plant that has popped into mind that I think would bring in some earthy tones is Crypt wentii tropica.......decisions.....decisions!!

Regarding the graded gravels yeah I know exactly what you mean, some of the gravel is well out of place, however in some places I have deliberately done this to stop the sand and soil mixing, until the carpeting plants have grown in to help stop the mixing, I'm then planning on removing most of the "out of Place gravel"

A quick question does gravel slow down or stop runners from plants spreading? As aqua soil is so light and plant friendly......

Re: Fec's 90cm opti-white "Sticks n Stones"

Tonser said:

Hi Ben

This is looking lovely Great rock arrangement, and the grading into the sand is looking good too - I prefer the new sand as the colours of the sand / gravels / rocks are more subtle and from the same palette now.

Great stuff

Tony

Click to expand...

Cheers Tony! I'm humbled by the master of hardscaping saying I have a "Great rock arrangement"

The colours are much more tonel and look fab in the flesh......however I'm now thinking of buying some more Dragon stone and crushing it up to replace the graded gravels with.......just thinking it will go that one step more and look very natural......

By the way thanks for the sticky vinyl site, will be placing an order with them soon!