tank pjan

[Thanks]

Originally Posted by PJAN

I bought this one as "Echinodorus horizontalis". It was a very small plant with round green leaves and supposed to stay small. I planted it on 7th januari, and now it has rather tall leaves already .
So I can be wrong here and the redish leaves are strange for Ech. horizontalis.

Thanks all for the

Gr. PJAN

well, mine is about 1 foot tal, and 1 foot wide... but only 10 leaves!
i bought it as 'anubias nana'

i really like it, but it doesnt fit the scape of my tank at all

[scolley]

PJAN - Great looking tanks! Really! And I think you should be complimented on stepping away from traditional "Dutch" aquascaping. Looks great! But how do your peers feel about it?

I spend a lot of time in the Netherlands, mostly Amsterdam or around Den Haag (predictable I know). Every couple months or so. BTW - your English is excellent!

So if you are anywhere near one of those two areas and ever want to chat about planted tanks over a beer, send me a PM!

Great stuff - Welcome to Planted Tank.

[sawallace]

Amazing... ALL OF THEM!

[PJAN]

Originally Posted by scolley

PJAN - Great looking tanks! Really! And I think you should be complimented on stepping away from traditional "Dutch" aquascaping. Looks great! But how do your peers feel about it?

I spend a lot of time in the Netherlands, mostly Amsterdam or around Den Haag (predictable I know). Every couple months or so. BTW - your English is excellent!

So if you are anywhere near one of those two areas and ever want to chat about planted tanks over a beer, send me a PM!

Great stuff - Welcome to Planted Tank.

Thanks all for the kind words !

Excellent English... Well... I try to avoid difficult words..

Of course you're welcome to visit. But I live near Arnhem, still 1 1/2 hour drive from Amsterdam.
Chatting : always ok. Perhaps we can arrange a meeting or so. It would be nice to talk to another aquascaping idiot

My friends have normal tanks and are trying to copy me, but it turns out aquascaping is more difficult than they thought.
Even I spent over 2 years "trial & error" and now I am feeling I can really can compete with the best. Of course : this forum will be the judge (oh boy... )

I hope the new competition tank will arrive in a week. I can't wait to do some serious aquascaping.

Gr. PJAN

[GTApuffgal]

[Even I spent over 2 years "trial & error" and now I am feeling I can really can compete with the best. Of course : this forum will be the judge (oh boy... )

I hope the new competition tank will arrive in a week. I can't wait to do some serious aquascaping.

Gr. PJAN[/quote]


I may be new to this, but your tanks take my breath away. IMHO you could give Amano a run for his money. I printed out photos of your tanks for inspiration. I finally got my tank planted last week and I gaze at it all proud and pat myself on the back... then I come downstairs and see your stinky old tanks staring back at me and I run back up and move things around - again! Guess I need to give myself a little time... But thanks for the inspiration and PLEASE post photos of the new tank ASAP!

Kathy

[PJAN]

[quote=GTApuffgal
then I come downstairs and see your stinky old tanks staring back at me and I run back up and move things around - again! Guess I need to give myself a little time... But thanks for the inspiration and PLEASE post photos of the new tank ASAP!

Kathy[/QUOTE]

Well, I can assure you that my first "aquascapes" were not ok.
I took the time to learn how plants grow, why they grow and what they need.
I too saw lot's of alien algae

Next step is to watch other peoples tanks and understand what to like or dislike. Very important are those tanks with "one good part" and "one bad part" in the same tank. Sometimes you see a beautiful right part and the left part is not so ok. The best tanks have balance from the right to the left.

Also understand the "Golden Ratio" very well. It always give you a good gideline where to plant wood or plants.
If you're not familiar with this rule, I can give you an example, if you wish.

Gr. PJAN
Photo's : o, yeah, but (tap,tap,tap) where's the new tank? I will make a phonecall tomorrow.

[GTApuffgal]

Pjan, I would really appreciate a golden ratio example from you. I believe I understand it and am trying to "train my eyes," so to speak.

I have been reading myself silly (literally!) and studying all my favorite aquascapes here and elsewhere. So far this board seems to have the most talented people. I really tried to plan my planting carefully and have burned up waaaay too much gas going all over the place looking for what I want. I've stuck to the program as much as possible and only made one impulse buy, but it was at the insistence of the very knowledgable young man at the LFS! And I'm very happy with it! Made sure to get lots of stems and although I have placed them pretty nicely (I think), I'm trying not to get overly concerned about scaping other than placement of hardscape at this point. I'm having a heckuva time finding mosses or foreground plants anywhere, but figure there is time for that while the stems get established and I'll hold out for what I really want.

Any other tips you can share are absolutely appreciated!!!

Kathy

[PJAN]

Ok, give me a day or two to collect some samples of pictures (bad and good).

Gr. PJAN

[GTApuffgal]

Originally Posted by PJAN

Ok, give me a day or two to collect some samples of pictures (bad and good).

Gr. PJAN

I look forward to it. Thank you so much!

I re-read the golden ratio info I have and decided to get technical and quit eyeballing. That was 3 hours ago...

Measured my tank, did the math and completely ripped out my hardscape and reset it. My poor Keyholes were all upset and striped up daaaaark! But, I am really glad I did. And I believe they are too. The way I rearranged the wood looks much better to me (we'll see what hubby says - he loved it the way it was) and actually created more nooks and crannies and a nice little shallow cave. The fish are all zipping around enjoying exploring the new layout. So we're all happy. For now...

Can't wait to see the bad stuff!!! Maybe I'll actually get up the nerve to figure out how to take photos...

Kathy

[PJAN]

Lesson 1

Golden ratio 0,618
Is about the number 0,618 or 1,618. Look at Google for more information.
Basicly everything in nature is based on this "magical number". Your finger bones are exactly 1,618 bigger comparing the small finger bone to a bigger (next one). Short : the human eye is sensitive about this and therefore we use this number.

Simple : you also can use the 1/3 - 2/3 rule to devide your tank.

Drawing 1 :

This is about the 3-demensional way to devide your tank. After calculating the 0,618 lines you can cross these with the other lines :



As you can see ( I hope ), you will get 4 focus-points at different heigth and width. The exact position is known after calculation of the all the lines.

Focus points

Focus points are the calculated spots which are most "atractive" to the human eye. These are the points "drawing your attention".
Normally we work with one strong focus point and one weak.
So we choose in our aquascaping the strong and the weak and best : at different height. Strong heigher and weak lower.

Here's one example of me working with the lines and focus-points.
Lines and X are marked on the glass of the tank.
Look where I am placing the wood and javavern.



The next example (tank one week old) shows the strong focus point (javavern on wood) and the weak.



height of lines - plants - focus points

The image above shows also the lines - heights of the plants in the back. They match with their the horizontal lines. Placement of rocks are on the lines, seen from the side.
Remember : look 3-dimensional.

pointing at focus-points

Ok, now a real example of Amano. Look at this beautiful tank. I did some drawing and exposed the focus points :



That's clear and we can see the strong points in his aquascape.

The lines of the wood, plants etc. are all pointing to the strong focus point, the wood + javavern :




That's it for today....
Sorry for any mispelled words..

Gr. PJAN

[GTApuffgal]

Thank you so much, Pjan - please do keep it coming! (Heading upstairs with a wax pencil...)

Did you study this somewhere? Forgive me if that is a goofy question, I just stumbled onto Aquascaping as an art form. It is so fascinating and beautiful to me. I assume it is based on the same techniques as painting - any visual art? (About which I know nothing, so right back to square onel)

I think my hardscape is good - for a hopeless, yet eager beginner - but I need to work on focus..

Thanks again - look forward to lesson #2!

Kathy

[bred]

Many, many thanks PJAN. I'm already thinking a lot about your last post.
I hope you'll consider posting a full step-by-step photo diary of your next project... Your skills are amazing!

[GTApuffgal]

Originally Posted by bred

Many, many thanks PJAN. I'm already thinking a lot about your last post.
I hope you'll consider posting a full step-by-step photo diary of your next project... Your skills are amazing!

I'll second that! And I just wanted to say thank you again for the lessons, Pjan. Not something you have to do and certainly time consuming. You are very generous and it is really really appreciated!

Kathy

[George]

Inspiring aquascaping. I feel very humble, it makes me want to start from scratch!

Here's my effort.

[ThatNewGuy]

I think it's obvious how many of us here appreciate your help. We seem to have the science part down in many areas but really need help with the art. Please, submit an article on the idea of focal points and the 1.618 thing you are talking about.

As far as simple words, I wouldn't worry, most of us only understand simple words anyway

Edit: My grammar and punctuation are another thing entirely!