Critique my hardscape What do you think?

[Harry H]

Thank you all for the comments, they are all very valuable for me and points me on the right direction. Next update is when I have the soil delivered.

 

[Barbara Turner]

I prefer this layout with the additional 3 front rocks, Without them, it looks a bit too manufactured.

If you heavily plant the gap between the rocks it will visually pull it all together.
Do you have enough space at the back for any tall plants you are putting in?

I do love my carpet of monte carlo, but I'm not sure if I will have it on my next tank/ scape. There far from maintenance free.

 

[Harry H]

Do you have enough space at the back for any tall plants you are putting in?

I am trying to make sure in every layout I have:
- Enough space to plant stems at the back and the front, for at least two/three rows
- Enough space between rocks so that I can plant in between
- Enough space between the aquarium glass and the DW so I can clean.

What I really like and enjoy is the number of possibilities and layouts, you change one stone, or change the angle of the DW, whole thing looks different.

So hard to choose which one to go for, but I still like the very first layout, my plan is to concentrate and improve on that layout.

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

Matt
Looking at this photo there is enough room for a few tall plants.

Keith

At the back of the tank? Top middle of the photo?

 

[Daniel]

Hi Harry,

Lovely piece of wood, where did you get it from? Is it structure wood? I'm after some just the same. Personally I like ver.5.0 but I would bring the stones a bit more forward to allow further planting but keep the piece of wood raised at the height it is so it comes out the top of the tank and allows for some more negative/swimming space on the right hand side. Just my two pence and it really is whatever you like the best as you will be looking at it the most

 

[Harry H]

Hi Harry,

Lovely piece of wood, where did you get it from? Is it structure wood? I'm after some just the same. Personally I like ver.5.0 but I would bring the stones a bit more forward to allow further planting but keep the piece of wood raised at the height it is so it comes out the top of the tank and allows for some more negative/swimming space on the right hand side. Just my two pence and it really is whatever you like the best as you will be looking at it the most

Hi Daniel,

Thank you. I bought the wood locally, as part of other aquarium bits and pieces, it is a gumtree find actually. So I have no idea where it came from. Currently it is in soak. Now that I am thinking, maybe I should disinfect it? Not too sure how... Any idea?

I do like v5.0 as well, and I agree, it does need more planting space, if I get sometime tomorrow, I will give it another try and see where it ends up and if it is good enough to share...

 

[Mihai Varban]

Maybe if you can find a way to have the grain of the rocks face the same direction?

 

[Harry H]

Maybe if you can find a way to have the grain of the rocks face the same direction?

Yes, but I am struggling to find more mini landscape rocks locally, and the pieces I have are not great.

 

[azawaza]

Yes, but I am struggling to find more mini landscape rocks locally, and the pieces I have are not great.

The reason why I don’t do rocks and wood in my scapes. If it ain’t pretty, it ain’t worth the time.

 

[Mihai Varban]

Yes, but I am struggling to find more mini landscape rocks locally, and the pieces I have are not great.

The pieces you have are pretty good imho. They are clearly from the same rock formation and they have a natural grain flow to them. If you set the condition to only place the grain perpendicular to the aquarium bottom, you can adjust the position with substrate and prop them in place with smaller rocks that are out of view. This way you can achieve the effect of a mini mountain range if desired. The uniformity resulted from this might be subconsciously pleasing to look at. James Findley from the green machine and Takashi Amano advise this. Of course, this is just a suggestion. If it looks good to you, you're done. Just like with life, we use what we have and everything might turn out differently from what we expect. But it's beautiful nonetheless if we remove our expectations from the mix and we don't rely on the validation of others. I personally thought your original layout was already pretty, but since you asked, I threw in my 2 cents.

 

[Harry H]

I found couple of larger stones and adjusted the layout, it's been sitting for couple days now and I like it very much. Plan is to add in substrate at the back and Sansibar sand in front tomorrow.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and opinions, journey so far has been great.

 

[Harry H]

...and it all changed again.

But it is ready for planting!

 

[Keith GH]

Harry

Why all the white substrate? At the moment it's the most dominate section of your tank.
You will never be able to keep it clean.

I would prefer a good substrate that you could grow a carpet of greenery to highlight all those well sculptured grey rocks.

Keith

 

[Harry H]

Tank is planted last night. CO2 to setup this afternoon, and more pebbles going in front of the rocks as well soon with some moss on.

 

[J@mes]

Looks sweet Harry. I particularly like the transition of planting from background soil area through the rock to the sand.

 

[Harry H]

Thank you James. Front looks a bit bare, maybe a tad too white at the moment. I will put smaller rocks and pebbles, and do the cut moss ball on rocks trick in some places. That should make the sand a bit more softer to the eye I reckon.