Mountain Range

[Carpman]

My original plan for my re-scape was Iwagumi. I struggled with this idea and could not find a balance with my stock of Dragon stone (and probably lack of experience) I have spent numerous hours and days looking for inspiration and possible layouts online to no avail, I have come to the conclusion that Trigon's and a Dragon stone style Iwagumi don't mix, maybe my next scape with some Seiryu stone. I did however during my trawling see lots of mountain scapes with dragon stone but again not in a trigon.
I have now decided to try a mountain type scape instead, after spending 4 hrs in my back garden at stupid o'clock starting at 10 pm in the cold last night I came up with this. I am not totally happy, the left and centre are ok the right side and centre rear is bothering me but I need something at the rear to cover pre-filter, I may have to reduce it to 1 canister and with help of the plants hopefully it wont be to hard to hide

 

[TBRO]

I like it, pretty challenging shape to scape but it has a good feel of depth and feels like it is close to the “golden Ratio”.

How are you planting, carpet style?

Can you hide the cut end of the central stone? It stands out quite a bit.

T



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[Carpman]

How are you planting, carpet style?

Can you hide the cut end of the centre stone? It stands out quite a bit.

The plan is frontal area to about halfway (point of back rock in the center) Eleocharis acicularis that will then possibly change to Mc or baby tears. Plateau's will have either Mc or baby tears and Pogostemon helferi. I will be mixing in Alternathera reineki mini, stauroggyne repens and I have loads of anubias nana gold of old tank. Background will be Hottonia Palustris, Limnophila hippurioides and vallis asiatica.

LOL yes I have a little stone in mind that will sit on top, I dont like it either.

 

[Keith GH]

Carpman

I need something at the rear to cover pre-filter, I may have to reduce it to 1 canister and with help of the plants hopefully it wont be to hard to hide

Going back to your old posting I would say this has the best possibilities of hiding your filter. It would be extremely easy with a Canister filter as all you have to hide is the inlet piece.

As far as the other rocks my only concern is the LH side and corner .

I think this might be the best one to work with. Please remember this is only the first move of several to get your mountain range perfect.

I would swap 1 & 2 around, as its now a Mountain Range you can have the rocks touching each other.

Here is something totally different that just might work in your corner tank.

Keith

 

[Carpman]

Thanks @Keith GH the rock (3) in the above was never placed it was left there by mistake. If I leave large rock at the rear of the tank I will never be able to get any kind of depth which is why I have had the turn round for feeling. If it comes to it I will remove pre-filters and return to standard or even a lily pipe.

 

[Keith GH]

Carpman

You only have a small tank, why are you using a prefilter?

If you must have an extra filter think about a UGF I always had them in my tanks very easy to hide and work perfectly with other filters.

Keith

 

[Carpman]

Nearly all tank electrics are ready now just waiting on the auto dosing system to arrive then it's done. The previous setup was untidy, I have renewed it all, fitted the new lighting system, and drilled multiple new shelf locations in left side ready for dosing sys.

 

[Keith GH]

Carpman

WOW that is one good looking setup you have there. That solves one concern with a big filter there is certainly no need to have a prefilter.

The inlet can be hidden behind that big corner rock very easily.

Keith

 

[Carpman]

Here is something totally different that just might work in your corner tank.

Keith

I did do something similar but decided against it because it may cause flow issues unless I lay all stone against the side of tank. The natural shape of the stone would make it a pain to get flat against side and you have then the pain of try to clean that side. That said I'm not ruling it out, I just dont know if I want to rip down current mock scape for fear of not being able to put it back together if it doesnt work.

 

[Daveslaney]

If you look on utube at Goerges Famers videos. There is one where he goes to a aquascaping event in America. There is a brief but good example of a Trigon scape on that. They have put the rocks and some wood in the back corner and graded the scape down to the front from that.
Looks real nice.

 

[Keith GH]

Carpman

Personally I think this is the best you have done so far, it has varying heights and texture making it look very natural. As far as water movement nothing a long fine airstone would not fix. By bringing forward a few Cms tall plants could be placed behind those rocks to give you another feature.

All I would do to that hardscape is carefully place some various sized rocks in the open section to link it all together. Suggestion one upright and two laying down would be plenty plus it would stop any slippage. By carefully locating a few rocks in front of that wall of rocks it would look like they had fallen and make it look even more natural.

Keith

 

[Carpman]

Trying to sort out a sub-substrate, dosing kit turn up yesterday with Chinese plug on it, come on your sending it to the UK.
I did get to have a play the other night just for curiosity, I tried the a suggestion of @Keith GH. My verdict, I am torn I love the feel of openness especially in 2nd shot but I don't like shapes it feels confusing if that makes sense, I do believe that Seiryu stone or any strong chiselled looking stone would make for a better mountainscape.

 

[CooKieS]

I agree, it was better before.

I don't like to work with okho stones but at least you can glue them together.

You'll need big seiryu for this tank

 

[alto]

Just to confuse ...
hardscape only photos - tends to look “better” with little distance between adjacent rocks in a grouping
planted - it often looks “better” with more distance between stones to allow for plant appearance

I’m not much of a dragonstone fan, occasionally I’ll see awesome scapes done with dragonstone but they usually include considerable effort by the aquascaper in altering the natural shape (glueing etc) or having an immense amount of stone to select from
It’s a much more difficult stone to “star” in a hardscape than stone such as Seiryu, Frodo etc - re light & shadow play & natural shape

My preferred dragonstone layouts tend to be in the style of this tank from from Green Aqua

I’m not sure what’s happening in the above photos with that flat aspect to the uppermost portion of one larger stone .... and it may not be visible really from IRL viewing
I’m also not keen on that sharply angled stone directing my eye towards the nearby tank wall

Sorry not really constructive

 

[Carpman]

Possible Change of Plan . I was just thinking about the mountainscape and had a brainwave, I've got 5 large granite/inca stones in my garden and wondered how a granite mountain would look. Considering the tank sides have now been blacked out they would stand out and then the flora would stand out with the white and black mountains. The only thing I'm worried about is the weight. These are all between 6-8" thick 7-9"wide

 

[Barbara Turner]

Sounds interesting, I wouldn't worry about the weight if you don't place them directly on the glass. Have a play with your scape box and post the photos.

 

[Keith GH]

Carpman

Keep trying you will get there eventually. It might be a good idea to leave every thing alone for at least one week then come back with a clear open mind.

Keith

 

[rebel]

I think the dragon rock has more detail/texture than the granite but keen to see your creation.

Tiny details help keep scale in your setup.

 

[Carpman]

@Barbara Turner, I will be putting them on polystyrene so they are directly on the glass.
@Keith GH, Unfortunately, I want and think my fish need to get back in their home, I will continue to play for another week then it's going to make my mind up time..
@rebel, I agree dragon has got a lot more texture and detail but too much for mountains, whereas the granite is plainer and more mountain-esk lol

But before I start with the granite, I'm going to have a little play tonight with dragon stone in a horizontal orientation instead of the usual vertical, you can blame @alto for this 1 after watching the above Green Aqua link, not sure if it will work because of width restrictions

 

[Carpman]

After a play with the above idea.