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saintly's "The Miracle Mire" scape over

Re: saintly's ??????? scape

Thought you might go ADA :D
Reckon everyone has got to try it at some point, it's probably the reason why a lot of us started in this hobby.

Glad you are doing the "Dave Chow" thang with the sand/rock grading. Much more natural.
Could almost say you're going for the CAU look rather than ADA ;)

Can't wait.
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

a couple more...almost there. thanks for the comments guys. plants on order pretty soon.

d1a5c70e.jpg


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next job, to cut the waist off the wood.
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

Very nice, Mark.

Let us know how you get on keeping the white sand clean.

I swapped the silver sand for Unipac Zambezi gravel in my 370 litre because I have OCD and wouldn't be able to keep my hands out of the water keeping the sand spotless.
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

SteveUK said:
I love the bow you've got with the substrate/foreground mate :)

cheers steve. im hoping it will add to the sense of depth.

George Farmer said:
Let us know how you get on keeping the white sand clean.

I swapped the silver sand for Unipac Zambezi gravel in my 370 litre because I have OCD and wouldn't be able to keep my hands out of the water keeping the sand spotless.

i vaguely remember reading you didnt like white sand george. i know its going to be as high maintenance as the plants but im willing to commit to it.i'll let you know in 3 months if i still think the same.

cant wait to get this baby planted. ive struck a deal with my local MA store on the plant order so i can order more. im looking at getting maybe 70/80 pots, should do it. ;)
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

after a 20 minutes messin' im about 95%done with the hard scape. now when i get my wife to look at it she says "its ok," but i know different. you see, i imagine it with plants in. she cant...bless her.
so i added the anubias to it to give her a clue as to what a bit of green adds. then she sayed "oooo, thats really nice"
im getting somewhere. ;)

anyway, its time for me to stop with the foreground now. the extra 5% will come on the next scape :lol: maybe the 5% is the flat end on the wood to the right?...mmmm, moss me thinks. or a pixy chair :wideyed:

so folks, where you see gaps, imagine a plant there (anubias in and around the rocks base. moss on the wood. riccia balls spring out the gaps. rotala sp green in the background. e tennelus on the sides like a lawn....you get the picture. :D i waiting for the symmetry police to arrive, but hopefully when ferns etc are rooted things wont look to symmetrical. i'll probably loose one or two branches

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the next pics will be planting. thats it for a while....promise :arghh:
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

Hi Mark. Looking lovely :) There are two things that kinda stick out a bit to me though.

The piece of wood lying on the left looks the wrong way around. It looks to me like it should be comming from the centre too.

The second is the large rock off centre. It's quite a broad and a big lump. It looks like it needs something to break it up a little.

Just my view mate :) I'm sure they'll be plenty of other suggestions.
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

SteveUK said:
Hi Mark. Looking lovely :) There are two things that kinda stick out a bit to me though.

The piece of wood lying on the left looks the wrong way around. It looks to me like it should be comming from the centre too.

The second is the large rock off centre. It's quite a broad and a big lump. It looks like it needs something to break it up a little.

Just my view mate :) I'm sure they'll be plenty of other suggestions.

hearing you steve, im hoping plants will cover most of the rock. they always do. the other bit of wood should barely be visible too. fingers crossed. :?
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

I wouldn't worry about 'perfect' hardscape. When plants are mature the whole layout goes under massive transformations. The key is obviously plant choice, layout and pruning technique.

Of course, decent hardscape is very important, but the odd 'imperfection' here or there, in the right hands, will do nothing to hinder the aquascape. In fact, what one may see as a glitch, may turn into an effective innovation.

I've seen quite 'ordinary' looking hardscape compositions turn into real beauties. Jason Baliban's for one...

http://www.projectaquarium.com/plantedA ... iting.aspx

I'm not wishing to come across as defending Mark here. It's great that so many members are taking an active interest. But as one of the forums' talents, I find it interesting that Mark receives more critiques than most.
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

Thinks it's probably that a lot of people know just how talented Mark can be, so when they see what they believe to be a less than steller idea, they like to point it out as not up to what is now expected of him?
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

Saintly, its perfect. You have my permission to order the plants ;) George is right, nobody is going to notice that flat piece of wood once you add the pixie chair and anyway, I know you won't be able to resist fixing it while you wait for the plant order.

70 pots sounds an awful lot - I only used 20 in mine and its bursting now the crypts are filling out.

jay said:
Thinks it's probably that a lot of people know just how talented Mark can be, so when they see what they believe to be a less than steller idea, they like to point it out as not up to what is now expected of him?

This is true - sometimes I am quite harsh with Mark (although I draw the line at dead elephant analogies ;)) but I always PM him afterwards to apologise and he always thanks me for the feedback and an interesting correspondence usually ensues...
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

Yeah I agree about the hardscape. On most tanks I've seen the hardscape just dissapears anyway.

I don't know if it's already been said, but what did you use as a barrier between the foreground and Aqua Soil?
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

Looking awsome Mark, can't wait to see it planted :)
Let me know if you need some mosses, my tank its not at its best at the moment but I am sure something can be arranged ;)
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

It's alot easier to find a fault or comment on something when it's nearly perfect, alot harder to give constructive criticism on something that has lots of issues or is uninspiring...or is perfect.
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

well guys, a few developments. firstly thank for all the interest.....good and bad. ;)

George Farmer said:
I wouldn't worry about 'perfect' hardscape. When plants are mature the whole layout goes under massive transformations. The key is obviously plant choice, layout and pruning technique.

yep, so this scape can still go tits up!which brings me to plants. ive got my self a good deal and heres what ive got coming at the end of next week.yep that's allot of pots but i really have got a good deal.
55513491.jpg


i kinda have a picture in my head of how i want it to look. plant choice might be right, might be wrong. the one choice that im still unsure about is the r rotundifolia. i fear it WILL out grow everything else un less i keep it under control. if it does out grow the scape then i call on plan B.... more c helferi or v nana.

ive also got some micrsorum which will go roughly in this position. im losing branches already ;) anubias to be placed around the skirt of the wood/stones

58d577ec.jpg


the branches that are laying on the sand will be moved once ive got the anubias in my hand only then will i know the final positioning.

LondonDragon said:
Looking awsome Mark, can't wait to see it planted :)
Let me know if you need some mosses, my tank its not at its best at the moment but I am sure something can be arranged ;)

i'll pm you LD

Thomas McMillan said:
I don't know if it's already been said, but what did you use as a barrier between the foreground and Aqua Soil?
Yeah I agree about the hardscape. On most tanks I've seen the hardscape just dissapears anyway.

I don't know if it's already been said, but what did you use as a barrier between the foreground and Aqua Soil?

thin white plastic.

Ray said:
Saintly, its perfect. You have my permission to order the plants ;) George is right, nobody is going to notice that flat piece of wood once you add the pixie chair and anyway, I know you won't be able to resist fixing it while you wait for the plant order.

70 pots sounds an awful lot - I only used 20 in mine and its bursting now the crypts are filling out.

jay wrote:Thinks it's probably that a lot of people know just how talented Mark can be, so when they see what they believe to be a less than steller idea, they like to point it out as not up to what is now expected of him?



This is true - sometimes I am quite harsh with Mark (although I draw the line at dead elephant analogies ;)) but I always PM him afterwards to apologise and he always thanks me for the feedback and an interesting correspondence usually ensues...

hi mate, yeah i can always rely on ray for words of wisdom. ;) i think ive got 80+ pots coming, i want it stuffed!

jay said:
Thinks it's probably that a lot of people know just how talented Mark can be, so when they see what they believe to be a less than steller idea, they like to point it out as not up to what is now expected of him?
no pressure then? :lol:

anyway, thats it from me for while. planting next weekend
 
Re: saintly's ??????? scape

That's a mad amount of plants there!

Looking forward to the planting. Even with just that one fern there it's easy to imagine how it's going to turn out and I'm liking it1
 
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