[Broke]

So over the past couple of months I've been working on hardscape ideas and this is what I've finally come up with. The plan is to have stems behind the rock/wood and everything else will be surround by Monte Carlo while hugging up against the hardscape will be some blyxa, staruogyne repens, and some downoi. Possibly some ar mini.

Things to note about this scape though:
1) this isn't the aquarium it'll be in, just a tank I've been playing with my ideas on. I have a mr Aqua 22 long I plan on setting up when I move in the next month, so disregard the 18" of height from this standard 29g aquarium.
2) I won't be using the blasting grit I have in this tank, since getting started in planted tanks I've used fluorite and plan on using it in this tank as well.
3) I have more dragon stone available so I can always add some or take some.

I have older pictures as somewhat progression pics on how I got to this point if anyone is interested in seeing them. Regardless I appreciate the reading and hope to hear any positive, negative, or anything at all you have to say about it. Thanks!

 

[d33pVI]

I dig it. Nice balance, good flow. If anything, it may be a bit too 'dense', but planting into the nooks and crannies may alleviate that. Maybe a bit more foreground space, but overall pretty great layout.

 

[Raymond S.]

1) this isn't the aquarium it'll be in, just a tank I've been playing with my ideas on. I have a mr Aqua 22 long I plan on setting up when I move in the next month, so disregard the 18" of height from this standard 29g aquarium.

Disregard the 18"...but what goes in place of it?
I think the blyxa will end up being larger than you anticipate. Likely to hide more
of the wood than you think.

 

[Broke]

1) this isn't the aquarium it'll be in, just a tank I've been playing with my ideas on. I have a mr Aqua 22 long I plan on setting up when I move in the next month, so disregard the 18" of height from this standard 29g aquarium.

Disregard the 18"...but what goes in place of it?
I think the blyxa will end up being larger than you anticipate. Likely to hide more
of the wood than you think.

I would like for the blyxa to get fairly large and almost engulf the island. We will see, there's a lot to play around with. I have an older picture with less rock, a like the way it looks plus there's more planting room. Also I have some buce that I would like to have scattered throughout the wood and rock.

 

[Powerclown]

Stop playing around and start planting,hardscape looks great...

 

[JuanSan]

I dig it. Nice balance, good flow. If anything, it may be a bit too 'dense', but planting into the nooks and crannies may alleviate that. Maybe a bit more foreground space, but overall pretty great layout.

I agreed with this guy. A little dense but It has a really great flow to it!

 

[LotusBunny]

I'll echo what everyone else has said. I like the overall look and flow of it, but I would remove the left-most stick that is protruding out for two reasons:

1. It overcrowds the scape.
2. The overall composition of your scape seems to be lending it self towards going with bigger pieces on one side transitioning to smaller pieces on the other both in terms of rock and wood. The size of that leftmost piece feels out of step with the natural progression.

 

[Broke]

I'll echo what everyone else has said. I like the overall look and flow of it, but I would remove the left-most stick that is protruding out for two reasons:

1. It overcrowds the scape.
2. The overall composition of your scape seems to be lending it self towards going with bigger pieces on one side transitioning to smaller pieces on the other both in terms of rock and wood. The size of that leftmost piece feels out of step with the natural progression.

Thanks for the advice, the only unfortunate part of it is that is just one big piece of wood, there is the possibility of cutting to remove a piece but I just can't bring myself to doing that.

 

[LotusBunny]

Thanks for the advice, the only unfortunate part of it is that is just one big piece of wood, there is the possibility of cutting to remove a piece but I just can't bring myself to doing that.

Ah yes, I see that now. Yeah I wouldn't cut that either! Overall it's a gorgeous piece. It probably looks a lot more natural in person too as a single piece.

Can't wait to see it all planted!