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The Henge part 2 MA @ eastbridgford

Re: The Henge part 2

I've just PMed Aaron about a stone merchant near us, didn't weant to clutter up your thread Mark!!! It's in Langley Mill.
 
Re: The Henge part 2

well the hardscape has been completed today.unfortunately me being the twonk that i am charged my camera batteries, but thought it would be a good idea to leave them at home :?

so images will have to wait until tomorrow.
 
Re: The Henge part 2

ok, after an hour or so of rock arranging i finaly decided on this. just a plain old iwagumi.......(all you super rock arrangers dont shoot me with your "move it to the left" stuff :lol: )

no attempt to push the envelope, just to get the basics right.The one thing i have found through a lot of research and playing at home the whole rock arranging is getting easier. its a simple display tank which i'll take full control over the next few months. there still maybe the odd change but i feel 98% happy with it.

I've blacked out the background for full visual effect. of course for those that know, the planting will ultimately play a massive part in any iwagumi and it's final appearance so check for updates.

3dc6630c.jpg
 
Re: The Henge part 2

Looking awesome, Mark. What are the planting plans? When are you going to be planting up?
 
Re: The Henge part 2

i'd like the entire left hand side to be about 3-5" taller than it is, I really really like it though. Well done!
 
Re: The Henge part 2

JAmesM said:
Looking good bud, you must have a great selection of rocks :)

cheers matey, yeah its growing slowly. it's my own stock, not the stores. blue quartz just didnt cut it!
 
Re: The Henge part 2

saintly said:
JAmesM said:
Looking good bud, you must have a great selection of rocks :)

cheers matey, yeah its growing slowly. it's my own stock, not the stores. blue quartz just didnt cut it!
:lol: I bet they've a good selection of skulls though :lol:


Did you ever go to that stone merchant near you?
 
Re: The Henge part 2

Thomas McMillan said:
Looking awesome, Mark. What are the planting plans? When are you going to be planting up?

thomas mate, i can allways rely on you for kind words ;)

Garuf said:
'd like the entire left hand side to be about 3-5" taller than it is, I really really like it though. Well done!

allready there mate. the left side is going to be picked up slightly. i'm just living with these images for few days.


planting wise, i'm still going with the initial thoughts.

HC, riccia, e acicularis still pondering on either m umbrosum in the back or hm. not sure yet. i'll see how i feel. i'll post the full list soon.
 
Re: The Henge part 2

JAmesM said:
Did you ever go to that stone merchant near you?

i keep hearing about this place. i gota check it out i reckon. i'll get you some bricks while i'm at it ;)
 
Re: The Henge part 2

That's looking great Mark. The East Bridgford store better get ready to stock more planted tank stuff in!!!
 
Re: The Henge part 2

Very nice, Mark.

It's great to see a shop like this getting into the planted scene and I can't think of anyone much better than yourself to be the ambassador this great hobby of ours deserves.

Hopefully more MA stores will catch on. Maybe even stock some decent planted tank products too.... JBL stuff is fine for some applications but it doesn't cut it for more specialist aquascapers. They still say that NP cause algae...

Planted display tanks are often a huge area for improvement in most shops. It looks like this shop maybe the exception to the rule (excluding a few specialist outlets, of course, like TGM how are clearly leading the way in this area).

Are you giving 'training' to a member of staff so they can maintain the tank effectively in your absence? What ferts are they dosing, for instance?

I think it's important for one member of staff to take 'ownership' of a display tank. This way they will likely ensure it stays looking good, as it's their rep on the line.

Anyway, enough waffling from me.

Good job mate and keep it up. I may pay it a visit one day.
 
Re: The Henge part 2

Ed Seeley said:
That's looking great Mark. The East Bridgford store better get ready to stock more planted tank stuff in!!!

thanks Ed. there was an immediate interest as soon as i started scaping. :D

George Farmer said:
It's great to see a shop like this getting into the planted scene and I can't think of anyone much better than yourself to be the ambassador this great hobby of ours deserves.

now thats a very kind and nice thing to say george, cheers mate. i'm just doing what i enjoy. at the end of the day, i'm still in my learning stages, but if i can bring something to the attention of others i will.

George Farmer said:
Are you giving 'training' to a member of staff so they can maintain the tank effectively in your absence? What ferts are they dosing, for instance?

yes, i can fully rely on Matt the manager and Natalie his assistant. i'm going to arrange a dosing regime (still to be decided) which may include dry powders for NPK and the manager is to speak to a JBL rep about there liquid ferts range.
i'm hoping that the substrate, which will be capped with AS and injected with ADA iron bottom should do its job along with a good fert regime. also in the weekly diary will be 2 x 50% water changes....wed, sunday

the goal for this tank is not necessarily 100% a selling tool,maybe 90% which gives me maybe a 10% chance of using products that are not in store purely to almost "guarantee" a satisfactory result.

Sam, the owner has been very kind to let me do a scape for which i'm grateful and hopefully may lead to other avenues, but i'm under no illusion that it's one step at a time especialy with a public display. if you'd of said 8 months ago that i'll scape an in store tank....i'd still be laughing now. :lol:
 
Re: The Henge part 2

samc said:
i really like the stone layout i wish i was better at doing it do you have any tips or do you play with it until it looks right?

a few months ago yes i played all the time. it was all guess work. but over the last few months i've started to delve a bit deeper into the iwaguni style and zen gardening researching amano's iwagumis.

once you start to understand the principles and rules it starts to become easier. i'm under no illusion, i'm still average at placement but it's becoming easier. for example the above layout was a first attempt and took maybe an hour whereas before, the henge part 1 was a nightmare because i wasn't armed with the knowledge.

tips?....choose the stones carefully. if your serious about doing an iwagumi order 1 or 2 a week over a period of time to give yourself a fighting chance. a layout can be ruined or sacrificed just by not having that 1 special stone to finish it. i've got quite a few now and still fell short.

learn about main stone, sub stones back bone stones etc....it essential. golden ratios are important too.

it's a style i'd like to become really good at and plan for another in my 120cm. i'm going to the length of visiting richard at AE to choose the stone.
 
Re: The Henge part 2

i really like iwgumis and have just bought some aquasoil and some dragon stone for my 30l tank iv ordered a bit more for that reason of having more to choose from iv been reading today about rock positioning as im determind to get it too look good ill keep looking though as u learn so quickly, ill do one thing then the next week ill think why did i do that lol
 
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