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Dave's TMC Signature Island

Hi Dave, Fantastic Island Scape The planting is Superb Nice pics to

Thanks Grenfinger2 :), the island scape is very easy to maintain as you can get in and around the front, back and sides very easily. Flow also appears to be good throughout the island scape. I like the fact the plants aren't growing very quick, again it adds to easy maintenance, and because I'm injecting co2, the plants are growing with good health. In previous scapes I have used more lighting but I quickly learnt it is harder to grow healthy plants under high light, so at the moment I prefer this amount of light.

Lovely jubbly

looks fantastic

Agree with all the above comments dave. Very healthy and colourful

Thanks for all your kind words, I am happy so far but lets hope the easy maintenance continues :)
 
Love the embers in there mate, they really suit the scape. Looking good Dave!

Thanks Ian. I'm happy with them too, I think the fact that their red add's an extra element to the tank, and because their the only red thing in the tank they really stand out. Planning on adding another 6-10 in about 3 weeks. Can't rush these things!
 
Looking really good, Dave. :)

If I had to point out any area for improvement it would be the relatively large texture of the Staurogyne in the foreground. Because it's a really bright green, and quite uniform in comparison to the other plants, it makes it look a little distracting - to me, anyway.

The plants behind it look great - a really nice blend of colours and textures with the variety of crypts, Anubias, and fern.

I think a lot of the Staurogyne leaves look like they're still in emersed form, so will get slightly smaller, and maybe darker, so it won't be so noticeable.

Have you consider adding another finer textured foreground plant in front or even amongst the Staurogyne to soften it a little - or are you happy with it? If so I'll shut up right now. :)

Regardless, it's a lovely example of an island composition the the plant health is testament to its owner's skill.
 
Cheers George, I really appreciate your comments and area's for improvement. The great thing about this forum is getting other people's view points and seeing things from someone else's eyes in order to improve the scape.


If I had to point out any area for improvement it would be the relatively large texture of the Staurogyne in the foreground. Because it's a really bright green, and quite uniform in comparison to the other plants, it makes it look a little distracting - to me, anyway. The plants behind it look great - a really nice blend of colours and textures with the variety of crypts, Anubias, and fern. I think a lot of the Staurogyne leaves look like they're still in emersed form, so will get slightly smaller, and maybe darker, so it won't be so noticeable.

I have always thought the Staurogyne looked rather large. When I received the pots the leaves we're quite big, so yes I'm hoping the leaves will be smaller in it's submersed form. The new leaves that have sprouted already certainly look smaller than the old leaves. Will be giving the Staurogyne a harsh prune in about 7 days. It might be a case of keeping on top of the pruning to keep it low and dense. But again depends on the leaf size to achieve the desired effect. Hopefully they will be small :)


Have you consider adding another finer textured foreground plant in front or even amongst the Staurogyne to soften it a little - or are you happy with it? If so I'll shut up right now.

Please don't shut up, the more you guys speak the better my scape will be! I haven't considered it yet, but now you mention it, do you think some hair grass amongst the Staurogyne would look better?


Regardless, it's a lovely example of an island composition the the plant health is testament to its owner's skill.

Thanks for the compliment, it's nice to hear :)
 
do you think some hair grass between the Staurogyne would look better?
Now you're talking. :)

I'm a big fan of mixing lots of textures sometimes. Here's an example from a shallow scape I did a couple of years ago. There's Staurogyne, hairgrass, glosso, Hydrocotyle...

6867307742_34db107bcc_o.jpg
 
Wow wee....that's a complex picture & mix of plants. Very effective.

Well I think I'm going to have to order a couple pots of Hairgrass :)

Have you got a Journal for this scape?

What's the brown plant, not the crypt, the one with thin sharp leaves? One thing I also think my scape could use is a couple of brown plants in the centre mix.
 
Thanks will have a good read through that. Quality looking scape & pics.

Does the Hygrophila araguaia require much light & co2 to keep it's colour? Upon a quick Google search I see it can also be green. I have a 24W T5 and co2 injection, it's fairly low spec.

Where would you put this plant in my tank?
 
Had a harsh prune to the Staurogyne Repens about 4 days ago. New shoots grown back already, and the leaves are getting smaller :) If you compare this picture to my last one, it's looking a bit more balanced and in proportion.

I had an idea today of completely surrounding the island with S Repens and 'mini' hairgrass. Just wondering what everyone's thought on this?
I think it would still retain it's island look, it would just be surrounded by s repends and hairgrass instead of substrate :)

Not sure yet, but just an idea I had today whilst I was cleaning/pruning.

Hogan53 is sending me some mini hairgrass this week which I'm going to plant amongst the s repens in the foreground as suggested by George. Hopefully this will create a more integrated and natural look :)

One last thing to update on is some slight brown algae appearing on the rocks and some parts of the anubias. I have increased co2 as a result. Lighting is still 6 hours per day, and I intend to keep it like this for some time.

Here's a picture taken earlier today:
10125488636_7af0e69715_b.jpg
TMC Sig16 by dpierce5, on Flickr

Cheers,
Dave
 
I had an idea today of completely surrounding the island with S Repens and 'mini' hairgrass. Just wondering what everyone's thought on this? I think it would still retain it's island look, it would just be surrounded by s repends and hairgrass instead of substrate :)

Could work, definitely, if kept very low. On the other hand, the contrast between green and dark substrate would be lost. Not easy...

Thomas
 
Tank is coming a long nicely Dave well done

Cheers Paulo :)


Could work, definitely, if kept very low. On the other hand, the contrast between green and dark substrate would be lost. Not easy...

I might give it a go in a few of weeks. I get bored easily and want to change things! I will work towards a 'final shot' of the island scape (when I borrow my friends SLR in a few weeks).

Then I might start changing things :)
 
[quote="I might give it a go in a few of weeks. I get bored easily and want to change things! I will work towards a 'final shot' of the island scape (when I borrow my friends SLR in a few weeks).

Then I might start changing things :)[/quote]

The greatest danger to the great scape: boredom. You work hard to achieve your vision and then when you do you start thinking about how to change it. I speak from experience. More or less ruined my last scape by adding new plants all the time until it looked weird and overloaded. I try to stay disciplined this time. In your case, though, your new idea might actually be an improvement. The post-vision stage is also a phase for tweaking and perfecting. Look forward to see what you decide.

Thomas
 
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