Hardscape placement suggestions?

[HarrietHippo]

Hi

I've been lurking on your site while planning my new 215l tank and have been enjoying the plethora of good advice available here. I was hoping to get ideas about placement of my hardscape for my new tank, as Im not happy with what I've got so far. I've had a planted tank once before, but this is my first hi-tech setup and would like to get things right from the start =)

Setup
+ JBL Aqua Basis

+ gravel

+ hardscape items.

Rocks numbered for ease of discussion later

Have tried rocks 6 and 7 upright but the twin tower look isnt so natural in my view.
I have a few more smaller rocks to help the gradation of large to small, but want to sort out the large rocks first.
Can't find a placement I like, but this is the best I like so far:

If it helps, I've added plants to places where I would like them in future. [Obv going to add more later, these are the hardy emersed ones] Want to have a carpet plant for foreground, anubias at base of driftwood, various crypts around rocks on RHS and taller stem plants towards back. And rest depends on hardscape!

Question: How would you rearrange stones on RHS, or anything else for that matter?
Will have another go at it tomorrow
Cheers

 

[andyh]

My intial response and there are far more qualified people on stone placement, but my comment would be that your rocks will easily get lost under your plants. My suggestion would be that you maybe need a couple of bigger stones to work with your smaller stones.

LIke the wood, would look good with some moss etc on it

 

[AdAndrews]

Im with Andy, The rocks will get lost easily, its nice, dont get me wrong, you could do it very nicely if you used hc on the right hand side and kept it in check, while sweeping the crypts and other bigger plants from the wood side

 

[Stu Worrall]

along with the above comments id advise to add some more gravel at the back so youve got a better front to back slope. it looks quite flat at the moment. you could dig some of those bigger rocks into the gravel then to make a mound.

 

[HarrietHippo]

Thanks for your suggestions guys - exactly what I was after. It's often hard to say why you don't like something!I think Im trying to make it look nice now, without plants, and not planning for the future. I have tried to give the right a bit more height, allowing for plant growth and am thinking of using some short plants to keep the features.
Got this so far, thinking of getting some more gravel / stones in the next few days.

 

[Nelson]

just curious,are you going to use the trickle filter or have you got an external filter.

 

[HarrietHippo]

Hi Nelson
Yeah this is an Aqua One AR980 which had an in-built filter. I found it much too noisy and surplus to requirements as I already had an internal filter and very low stocking levels. This time round (version 2) I will be using an external filter and have hollowed out the trickle filter compartment (pictured at rear on top) and put in 2 more lights as my wpg (T8) was low.

 

[Nelson]

put in 2 more lights

wish i'd thought of that with mine .is it all sealed from moisture.

 

[HarrietHippo]

Hi Neil
I was definitely wishing I had bought a luminaire midway through my project. But as I had a spare light fitting, hacksaw and some holiday time to spare I thought it worthwhile. The lights are a contained double light fitting and have a perspex base so water shouldnt condense on the tubes themselves, hopefully no other problems with moisture buildup! Can always take the top lid off I guess.
The lIghting at the back doesnt reach the foreground that well but overall I think it will be an improvement.
Still waiting on some taps to setup the filter and rest of tank. But hope to get around to filling soon.