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The mountain peak

Bacms

Member
Joined
13 Aug 2015
Messages
284
Hi guys,

After setting my first planted tank last September and have it growing for almost 7 months I have started to feel I will never be happy with it partially due to the tank itself. So I have decided to start converting that one to a no CO2 to reduce maintenance and get a smaller tank I can play as high tech which hopefully will give me better results.

So I have acquired the 60cm clear aqua tank and cabinet used by the winner of the UAKPS hardscape contest. As far as I understand this is still a pre production model so the silicone work is not as clean as they want to achieve with the final product so please keep that in mind.

This is one I haven't quite figured out exactly what I am going to do with it, but since I had the workshop at the aquarium gardens last weekend I picked up a large amount of hardscape and spent the week so far playing with it. The original idea was to do a triangular layout higher on one side and ending on the other with an area of decorative sand. At the moment it looks like this and I am starting to wonder where I should simply drop the wood and the decorative sand idea. Here is the current progress
KpJsn8I.jpg


Let me know what you think so far
 
Rocks look fantastic and i am not sure why wood is there. If you want to use rock and wood as a combination, then layout has to be changed
 
Seems we have a consensus of no wood so far I just hadn't have the guts to take it out after buying it and the right side looks a bit empty without it. Will remove it today and see how it will look

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Also feel the wood is not adding anything to this scape (maybe the next one :) ... or perhaps you can return for store credit etc) - you might try burying the wood more deeply in the substrate or changing it's direction (I cant tell the complete shape of the wood), it just seems too dominant ... I want to see it retreating into the back area rather than having my eye pulled away from the rock focus

I like CooKieS' idea of sand, then a transitional scree ...

Any thoughts on plants?

This is really a nice tank for scaping!
 
Seems we have a consensus of no wood so far I just hadn't have the guts to take it out after buying it and the right side looks a bit empty without it. Will remove it today and see how it will look

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If you've got any more small/medium rocks, you can always see what they look like added. Keep in mind too it will look less empty with plants in; especially if you use multiple species in a mixed carpet.
 
Any thoughts on plants?

This is really a nice tank for scaping!
Yes and no as I can keep changing my mind.
At the moment I am thinking in keeping it more or less like a iwagumi but maybe add a few short stems on the left side and behind the rocks.
I also know I want to play with grasses and glosso so I am thinking in either a bit of a mixed carpet or add glosso to the front triangle and the Lilaeposis brasilensis on the side with eleocharis at the back on the right side maybe even some long eleocharis sp on the back of the rocks. Also wondering whether I can use P. helferi instead of the echinodorus tenellus around the rocks
I will also need to add some mosses and buces to the rocks and considering also planting some HC cuba on the bigger holes just hanging down from the side. Also want to add a red plant to the space between the 2 peaks at the back but not sure stems would work when I only have about 15cm. This is the one that keeps changing at the moment


HI Bacms, I agree take the DW out. Love the rock work:thumbup: Be careful on the planting or the smaller rocks will get overgrown by the plants.

Looking forward to seeing this one planted :)
It may take a while greenfinger as I have blown the finances this month and still need to buy a filter for it and find a way of supporting the 2 tmc grobeam 600 I have on the current tank. I like the plastic support TMC sells but I don't think it will work on a 60cm wide tank. The other option is hanging it but that will be expensive

And yes I know I am going to loose a lot of the filling rocks with plants overgrowing on top but I want to play with trimming in this one a bit more so I will try to keep the main ones visible
 
You could keep the wood and call it the fallen tree. :)

Good to break rules once in a while.
 
Why don't you break the wood into smaller pieces and see how it goes? Just my two cents :)
 
I agree with most and would remove the wood. Either sell it on, or just save it for a future scape. If I used every bit of hardscape I bought I would have no room for water or plants :)
 
Looks great, but as others have said the branch detracts from the scape. Why dont you take a pic without the branch and post up for comparison :)
 
Looks great, but as others have said the branch detracts from the scape. Why dont you take a pic without the branch and post up for comparison :)
Since you asked for it. I actually think it works better just need a small stone closer to the big one where the wood was

IgNMXmJ.jpg
 
Nice work mate.

I thinking everything could be lifted up a cm or two
Thank you Dantrasy I think the photos make it look flatter than what it is but I was thinking about the plants today and also thought how visible they will be with Glosso around

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Excellent contrast with and without. You are right it seems to be lacking something. But sometimes less is more! :)

Looking forward to seeing it planted.
 
Just got back to the forum after almost a year and realised I never actually updated this. Have this running for about a year and to be honest the journey to this point has been so miserable that at some point I considered dropping the hobby altogether. It seems to be in good shape for 2/3 weeks so I am hoping it is onwards and upwards from now on. This is how it looks at the moment:
wqGdTpT-nbH5ALxuoly8aST-3Vb8xU_b6yA54cjDAVTklu-mgQ62f54dFtBLmNq6hJT0yShxZj23gRaYH1apkl0-XVsKCmUtfIv1NF9wHTAfZa55N9v3xT4lc-dqYX5EQF6aLDqnfom6Ic8XtowVM8PU2e7N_zSA2xLGCyWN583QGmKyZBTH-up1Z_7K9MGutkjqmlTNUDOtO9oTL1fm-SSkVujrs-DvC_YqWkAWZyge3gwOBwQAqGCvvnkN9zzuoA_5sesGzXuQeCnHCKI-lpqFUF98KvYGeMGZA8R_1b7dxImlOEkeH4EnbMfqlR1qYrOpG_slAl8eoIFudVNlha48gPUcbv4RPLovwlFpNqFN_8PPMvBoFiPltdVBrNhmT6ln9xNn_JGCMiPuXyijxwuDrkNfGwVu9KwfnLjwdyHCB_mtpLsUhVdp3gQZY2YZBmNCJHK-XnStwR7pi9VMaDbKBd3G-a2Do9QRrcxlwwEEUOb0ONkKyFoEvJqup-PWgq5NPFM3oXwZuedPDXGDBSy0DgvSBU-3-zQ92FEo74dyaKQxDrWpvGSA1o0oukrODkU8vBzjKANKjKkkkeOYWtAEIRJJbt597JGINQaDSLQ=w1946-h994-no

7Z6auFSh07CWe3ag1
 
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