Hello!
I've already been over in the low tech forum asking five million and one questions, so now here I am ready to start getting ideas for scaping. I've got about a month before I'll actually be setting this tank up, so I'm trying to allow myself enough time to go shopping for what I need.
I'm really not artistic at all, so I really struggle when it comes to placement of driftwood and plants, and I have some pieces of slate that I like but I've never really used just because I couldn't figure out how to place them and make them look decent.
The tank:
That's not the correct lighting fixture on there currently. And I swear all those little marks on the glass don't show up when you're just looking at it in ambient light.. flash did horrible things! I guess it'll be getting one more scrub down before I start filling it.
And here's my two pieces of driftwood that I very much want to use, and possibly (read: likely) acquire some more driftwood:
I like the arrangement of them, and I was thinking I would keep it when moving the driftwood into the 46g, but I am completely open to suggestions.
Here is a sketch of my very basic idea for the 46g (and it is to scale; 1 cm = 1"):
In this sketch, I imagine the driftwood sort of being the focal point - in specific, I think it would be the top point of the driftwood, if I were trying to apply the golden ratio.
Now, I've also got four sword plants that are only about 9" tall a piece (the bigger driftwood is 10"), so I wonder if they could maybe go behind the driftwood. I've also got a 6" wendtii and an additional sword plant that is shorter, about 5", and I have no idea where those might go yet. I wouldn't mind having more wendtii, I'm just not 100% sure what kind my wendtii is. I had thought it was bronze, but looking at pictures online, it might be red.
I've also got an abundance of small river rocks, as you can see in the picture, along with one very large rock that is sort of cut off in the picture. I LOVE that rock and would love to feature it prominently somehow - maybe in that gap between the two pieces of driftwood?
I've also got three pieces of slate, here:
I particularly like how they look stacked:
They might look best backed into a corner somewhere?
I've also thought about getting a long, arched piece of driftwood to have one end of it rest on top of or just behind the tip of the larger driftwood already in there, and have it arch across the tank and come down to the substrate somewhere on the other side of the tank. I know I want more driftwood for sure, and I'd like all the pieces to work together. I just need some help figuring out what shape and what size I should be looking for to mesh with the rest of my tank, and how I should place it in relation to my existing driftwood.
So... what does anyone think? Is my current driftwood too short to be a focal point? The tank is 21" high, so the driftwood is only almost half that. That's been a major concern of mine. I found a beautiful, gnarly piece of driftwood that looked like a roots system that came together at the top, and it was just about 17", so just the right height, but I'm afraid it'll clash with my current driftwood.
The substrate is going to be eco-complete, and the background is going to be black.
I'm also open to plant suggestions... I know I don't have much variety, and I'd love to have more, I'm just afraid of buying plants only to have them die on me.
All suggestions and advice much appreciated
