[Mr.Submarine]

There is no right answer here; you should do whatever you find most interesting. But my vote is to add some height via hardscape, either through adding wood, adding more rocks (esp. at the back), or raising up the substrate (at the back). A root-like wood piece would look great on the right, for example.

 

[pseudomugil]

There is no right answer here; you should do whatever you find most interesting. But my vote is to add some height via hardscape, either through adding wood, adding more rocks (esp. at the back), or raising up the substrate (at the back). A root-like wood piece would look great on the right, for example.

Thanks!

One idea I'm considering is putting a rock further behind the main line of rocks near the left side focal point. I just can't really put it in until there's substrate in the tank which won't be for a bit. I am planning on banking the substrate quite high in the back, more or less commensurate with the level of the stones.

One of the reasons I'm going back and forth on whether to include wood is that this layout already has quite a bit of directionality to it, and wood could interact with that in a bunch of different ways depending on the specific piece, either strengthening it (could be a good thing or a bad thing) or diluting it. I might get some wood to play around with and see if I like it and just not include it if I don't.

 

[LidijaPN]

I really love the rockscape and I think it will look pretty great once the substrate is in. I would only add wood if you found a piece you really loved... wouldn’t add those generic branches everyone has (sorry everyone 😅 ). The rocks give a grand feeling of scale and I think the wood could take away from that... though I do agree with something in the back maybe.

 

[Mr.Submarine]

I see that you have some material at the bottom, under the rocks — a white checkerboard type mat. What is that and is it common to use it? Would it be necessary (or helpful) if all the hardscape in a tank will be going on top of a sand substrate? Does the mat protect the glass bottom from scratches? Thanks!

 

[evil8]

I see that you have some material at the bottom, under the rocks — a white checkerboard type mat. What is that and is it common to use it? Would it be necessary (or helpful) if all the hardscape in a tank will be going on top of a sand substrate? Does the mat protect the glass bottom from scratches? Thanks!

It's "egg crate" light diffuser used to better distribute the weight of the rock. It super cheap at most hardware stores and easy to cut to size with a pair of wire snips. It's great to use to protect the glass from scratches and hard points that may cause glass failure. I have some in my one scape that also has a lot of heavy rock.

I kind of like it as is and would love to see how it fills in after planting, but then again I don't have to look at it every day.

 

[Asteroid]

I think the rock work is strong enough without wood, the wood might even take away from it IMO. Also make sure whether you add the wood or not that you have room between the glass and the hardscape to clean it, because you will need to do so.

 

[pseudomugil]

I kind of like it as is and would love to see how it fills in after planting, but then again I don't have to look at it every day.

I think the rock work is strong enough without wood, the wood might even take away from it IMO. Also make sure whether you add the wood or not that you have room between the glass and the hardscape to clean it, because you will need to do so.

Thanks! I'm planning on housing a school of danios in this tank as well, so I'm leaning towards no wood as well to make sure that they have ample swimming room. I made sure that I have room to clean the glass in the front. I'll need to check the sides, thanks for reminding me of that.

 

[pseudomugil]

This is just vesicular basalt (lava rock that has relatively few, large bubbles in it) that I picked up in river beds (read: dry washes mostly, because desert) locally.

I picked up some manzanita wood (literally from a broken manzanita branch on the ground) at a rest stop while travelling today. I might see how it looks with the rock scape, but I do really like it without. The wood might just end up decorating one of the shelves in my living room.

 

[ddiomede]

I think the decision to use wood or not really depends on a few different things:

1. You have a specific idea in mind and it requires a branch or two
2. Building a really cool scape you have in mind that would require just too much rock so large pieces of wood can help fill in some of the space
3. You already have the wood in hand and after putting it into the tank it seems to fit perfectly so you leave it

I like your scape the way it is, but it's hard to say how wood would add or detract from the scape without actually seeing it in there.

Whenever I've done scapes, and this is mostly limited to reef scapes, I usually come at it from two different points of view....I either have a scape or idea in mind and then make my hardscape fit by using epoxy and drilling rock with acrylic rods inserted, or I have no idea what I want to do and start stacking reef rock until something cool emerges.

ETA: with my build, the one that is taking forever lol, I had an idea in mind and the very first pieces of hardscape I bought was wood. I saw two pieces that really fit what I'm thinking about, but I very well may wind up with a scape that is far from what I imagined, just because the specific pieces I have get turned, angled, raised, and after adding rock the whole idea changes because something I like better emerges from playing around with all the scape materials.

 

[minorhero]

In my experience if you want to add wood to a tank it needs to be the first thing to go down. Basically start with the biggest hardscape item (usually the wood unless its a really small piece) and then work your way down to the smallest.

 

[pseudomugil]

Thanks for your input @minorhero and @ddiomede My original plan for this tank involved wood to add height, but I quite like the scape with just rocks.

As I mentioned before I did pick up some manzanita wood and I've been experimenting with that a bit, pictures below.

I especially like the third one.

I think I would enjoy either with wood or without, but they would be very different aquascapes and I need to decide on the vibe I'm going for. I'm enjoying the process of rearranging things and seeing what the wood (and before that, stones) look like in different locations and orientations.

 

[ddiomede]

Thanks for your input @minorhero and @ddiomede My original plan for this tank involved wood to add height, but I quite like the scape with just rocks.

As I mentioned before I did pick up some manzanita wood and I've been experimenting with that a bit, pictures below.

View attachment 1042725

View attachment 1042726

View attachment 1042727

I especially like the third one.

I think I would enjoy either with wood or without, but they would be very different aquascapes and I need to decide on the vibe I'm going for. I'm enjoying the process of rearranging things and seeing what the wood (and before that, stones) look like in different locations and orientations.

I really like the third one also. It really adds some interesting lines to the scape.

 

[Mr.Submarine]

Hard to go wrong here no matter what you decide to do, but #3 looks particularly good to me.

 

[LidijaPN]

Ok yeah I actually really like the wood! Another vote for no. 3. Will give you some cool epiphyte perches too.

 

[ruffyguy69]

Third one really makes your eye move left to right which is nice. Then the front wood pieces catch your eye. I like it.

 

[Bootsy]

The third is a winner.

The first has its appeal, too, but mostly because it looks like someone lounging on the rock with his arms in the air like he just don’t care.