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Need some help people

tgc

Member
Joined
14 Nov 2007
Messages
109
Location
Wirral NW England
Right big plans afoot!

I looking to do a total rescape on my trigon 350.

My insperation?

waterfall-5.jpg



My tank? (not actually mine)

trigon350.jpg


Basically what I want is to build a plato (sp?) with the "water" being Riccia or the like, I got experience with making false backgrounds with polysterien and cement, but the size this might end up being the polysterien might not be the best option, so thats why I'm stuck.

I need ideas for building blocks, the best plants to use to recreate the look.

This is the size of the tank in question.

trigon_350_bw_sizes.jpg


Can't wait to here your ideas.

Cheers Tim
 
Right, think you're first requirement is to sort the rocks, check out either aquaessentials or this place dose a decent selection.

http://www.aquaristic.net/shop.php/sid/ ... l/-/lang/1

Re the scape, given that you have a fair bit of floor space, you could have quite a steep substrate from the middle of the tank to the back, into this place the rocks in amongst which is U.gramifolia. Around this you could have what you like, but ferns or pelia might look cool for replacement trees?

Just my thoughts

Sam
 
Why not just use some large blocks of slate? You can get them from landscaping supplies and they would look great contrasting with pearling Riccia IMHO. I bought a large one and split it to form the backdrops to my main tank. As they are generally squarish they are easy to stack as well.
 
Thanks alot for the replies guys keep em coming...

Right the first thing I'm trying to do is pick a section of the above picture to concentrate on, which is easyer said than done,

waterfall-5copy.jpg


Trying to imagine a 3d space in 2d aint easy! However i think this bit includes everything from the picture that i want, the waterfall, the rocks, the trees etc.

cheers Tim
 
right, ok, I found this helped my aqua scaping, measure your tank then divide it by 2.618 this will give you a number round this up then draw a line in something that will wash off at that point on the tank.
this point ( known as the golden section) is going to be where your main feature will be, either as a hardscape or a plant, from there take each aspect and draw it on, start with your hardscape, id use the area that will represent the waterfall as the focal point then draw around it the next aspects, for me this would be the high sides and slope that will give prospective. once your happy with the hardscape draw in your plants roughly giving an idea of colours and shapes making sure that nothing draws your eye away from your focal point too much.

post up what you get and we can help give you some ideas, ill draw one up too as soon as I've done my english homework
 
Right had a quick play with sketchup, please don't look into the detail too much :oops: :oops:

Its just to give an idea of scale.

Untitled-2.jpg


Cheers Tim
 
I can see it now, totally not what I was expecting. will post my interpretation up soon but I think you've got it
 
Tim, I love the methods youve used for designing your scape from an image..

thats truely inspiring if it works out, you should do a tutorial on it

keep us updated, facinating to see how that works out.

Thanks mate, I'd love to do a tutourial, when it properly gets going......... the program I used for the scetches is sketchup6 which is a free download and really easy to use. http://www.sketchup.com/

Not the best looking drawing but they do give you an idea of space.

The next thing I want to try and work-out is what type of hardscape to use, slate looks favourable at the moment because I can layer it like in the second drawing, the only problem at the mo is how to ensure that the bill hill doesn't form a misiive dead spot in the tank?

Also I want to try and plant some of the "trees" high level (ontp of the plato (sp?)), and whether it would be easyer just to try and mount some pots for the substrate if you know what I mean??

Cheers Tim
 
Right just popped to the B&Q superstore to see what slate the had in, and found these stepping stones, the size and shape look top be ideal, what do you guys think??

SP_A0128.jpg


Should be able to layer them nicley to create the "look"

SP_A0127.jpg


At £3.92 seem a bit pricey so I'm gonna check the local builders merchants.

B&Q also had large sheets of stainless steel mesh for £12 which I'm gonna use to shape the waterfalls with Riccia, so alls looking good so far :lol:

Cheers Tim
 
I'd go with bigger, thicker chunks personally. Something like these Slate Rockery Stone.htm might work better to get the effect I think you're after. Will be a lot cheaper too as there has been a lot less processing.
 
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