"Die Ewigen Kreis" - "The Eternal Circle" Plant Issues 7/15/08

[fshfanatic]

Originally Posted by goalcreas

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTT
Just needs plants, but this is starting to look good.

Where are all the folks that didn't think this was a tank journal now

I am right here. Yes it is now a tank journal. It only took 11 pages.

[fishman9809]

lol, 12!!!!! Is that the new record for a journal w/out water in the tank?!?!?!?

[fshfanatic]

Originally Posted by fishman9809

lol, 12!!!!! Is that the new record for a journal w/out water in the tank?!?!?!?

ok, now that is funny!

[@marko@]

it might be, i think CM held the record previously, but im not sure (nor what it was).

[jaidexl]

Fishman, I really like what you did with your wood, but if I may criticize a bit; The rocks look unnatural lined up that way. I'd suggest more random groupings of stones. Take a look at some river stones in there element and see how the natural flow of the water creates a random pattern of dense groups set apart by thinned out speed zones. Either that or take in how many have emulated a mountainous face similar to the 2007 AGA winner by Chow Wai Sun. I think either approach could work better than symmetrically lining the stones up. You can always use low level/ mid ground plants to help accentuate a bordered path like you're after.

Don't get me wrong, lining the path is exactly what I did in my 65gl, but I tried to overlap them as randomly as possible while still creating a wall of stones, helps to have a bigger collection of stones to really achieve that. To be honest, my effort didn't really turn out as planned and I've never been totally happy with it.

[fishman9809]

do you have a link to show me what you mean by random, I know it shouldnt be aligned, but you know, I dont want it all over the place, lol. If you give me a link, I can work on the tank when I get back from skool later.

[fishman9809]

I found the link and wow!!! I believe u meant this tank?:



well, anyway, I wish I could do that, I could if the wood was all in 1 direction, but I dont know how to do it if the wood is to the right and left merging. I could possibly move the scape to 1 side, What do you think?

[nate_mcnasty]

i was going to say the same thing as jaidexl maybe useing a diiffrent color sand instead of lining with rocks like that

i still think your tank looks great just trying to give a second opinion the choice is all up to you and you make it the way you want it

[jaidexl]

Well, what he basically did is place stones randomly in the face of the hill. The hill, I believe, is mainly substrate, so the stones are just accents. The key to the mountain look is not the direction it goes in, but simply having some rock showing through low growers like HC or UG etc. And if you look at an actual mountain, you can see how random the peaks are, yet uniform in there own way. You could pull it off in your scape by building them up under each wood stand in clusters, with the help of some substrate, and low growing plants in between each rock or cluster.

If I were you I would start by leaving the stones in the general area you have them in, but go down the line and push a few together here and there, kick a few out a few inches, topple some over, lean some up against the wood at an angle, etc. Pretend you're an earthquake or something, don't pay too much mind that you're scaping a tank or the outcome can become more uniform. Just keep imagining small tufts of plants between them as well, what you do now has to work together with everything else in the end.

[@marko@]

the only problem is that humans are incapable of true random-ness. the subconscious will always make a pattern, and that means that conscious mind wont even notice it. so you may not intend to make a pattern, and cant see a pattern but everyone else will (you will to if it is pointed out).

[fishman9809]

k guys, no HW today absolutely, I will move substrate and make 2 hills. If I choose, I might try 1 hill, I test it out, hopefully water wont become too cloudy, we'll see how it goes.

[fishman9809]

k guys, moved the substrate and took out the wood+rocks. IT is sooooooooo cloudy right now, I will do a nearly 90% water change and rescape the wood+rocks to 1 hill and make the flow more natural.

[@marko@]

when refilling do it slow or youll just make it worse.

[fishman9809]

yea, it doesnt matter right now, still emptying. Should I scape after or before refill?

[@marko@]

BEFORE (kinda duh! sorry, couldnt keep from writing this)
if you do it afterwards you will make the water cloudy again.