Layout of new 20L

[demonr6]

Finally getting around to setting up my 20L having to retire my nano in the process. It's another dirt tank and this time capped with Zeobrite as an experiment. The tank has been derimmed and sits in a window getting diffused light. I think this is pretty much the only layout possible with this but I would love to hear comments, suggestions on the layout.

The first two pics are recent and shows how much light it will get till later in the afternoon when we get light for the remainder of the day.







This is the amount of light for the latter half of the day till about 5'ish.



I'm thinking staurogene, needle leaf or java ferns for the base. I was not able to find any decent smaller sized rocks suitable for the scape which was what I wanted first. The branches will get moss of course with the two corners getting taller plants, a few foreground plants of some sort for filler as well.

[VeeSe]

I think you should angle the driftwood or move it over more to one side of the tank or the other. Makes for a better scape imo than having it in the dead center. Also one of the "rules" of aquascaping is not to put your focal point in the center of the tank, because the eye then naturally doesn't know which side to focus on. Just my two cents and some food for thought.

[Michiba54]

Originally Posted by VeeSe

I think you should angle the driftwood or move it over more to one side of the tank or the other. Makes for a better scape imo than having it in the dead center. Also one of the "rules" of aquascaping is not to put your focal point in the center of the tank, because the eye then naturally doesn't know which side to focus on. Just my two cents and some food for thought.

It's in the center, but draws my attention to the left. Personally the only thing I might try an do is bury the right side alittle.

[demonr6]

I tried moving it around.. due to the nature of the wood it almost has two focal points, the base and then the branches. The best I could do was angle the trunk towards the front and move it more towards the right side which brought the branches back and right as well. I lowered the slope for both accordingly and increased the left rear corner. Thoughts?



My only concern with moving it to the right as in this picture is that I intend to tie off moss to the branches to make it look like a tree so that may draw more attention to it than the base that won't get much treatment other than some plants around it. If you can picture the branches with moss, you can certainly see where it would draw attention to it causing the focal point to drift to what is now the center? I wish I would have gotten more feedback but this section of the forum is neglected I guess.

[Hilde]

Could you possibly angle it so that the tall branches are on the outside?

[DanCottle]

I think putting it out the left side would look much better.

[reddragon1977]

Just to be different i think you should keep it in the middle and make an island type scape

[talontsiawd]

In the first pictures, the branches and the "root ball" are almost perfectly using the rule of 3rds, giving 2 distinct focal points. I don't like this because my eye goes from one side to the other and back. It feels very "centered" and "contrived".

The second is a bit better but the branches are in the direct center of the tank. This doesn't look "natural", not to say you can see something natural in the center of your vision but offsetting it almost always will look better.

The size of the wood is almost exactly half the length of your tank which makes it hard. I would but the branches on the left side but make sure the "root ball" doesn't fall exactly in the center. That will probably look good. Use the golden ratio for a starting point on where the "root ball" would end up.

[demonr6]

I have some other wood that I was messing around with and came up with this one. I agree that original piece is going to be hard to work with so it is going in the scrap pile and disappear. I will try it more on the left side and post pics to see what feedback I get. It's a tough piece for a small tank. The next size up I have is a 55 and it is too small plus that is going to be a riparium so no way it would ever work in that setting.



Funny thing my wife pointed out about this, it looks like a sea monster being humped by a giant sea turtle..

[dhg is my plant]

Lol it does rofl

[mightyoak]

That is just too funny

[Hilde]

Originally Posted by demonr6

Funny thing my wife pointed out about this, it looks like a sea monster being humped by a giant sea turtle..

Now I see it.

[demonr6]

I think that will be the final layout just for the sake of the comedic value.

So tell me about the theme of your tank.. it sort of reminds me of something but I just can't put my finger on it?

Oh that is easy, it's the Loch Ness Monster being humped by a giant prehistoric sea turtle..

[h4n]

hahaha it does! to funny

[demonr6]

I may set this tank up to enter it in the AGA contest next year. Filling out the form and explaining the tank would be a hoot! Well I was going for something that occurs in nature.. humping to be exact.