View Full Version : Help me Aquascape
I know I want to keep the area of vals and grass I just dont know if I want them where they are at or moving them to a corner. Also what kind of rock if any should I put in? I don't want an all sand tank but I do have sand sandsifters so an area for them will be preserved.
Give me sone aquasscaping ideas on how this 125 can look great.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Picture052.jpg
mack74
10-19-2009, 09:17 PM
Tito what fish will you be keeping in there?
AlishanAS
10-19-2009, 09:56 PM
For rockwork, how about a small headstone that says:
Here swim Tito's Fish....enjoy them....for now.... :becky:
Tom you're a riot! LOL
I have Enantiopus Melanogenys, Cyp. Utinta and Orange Cap Ventralis
AlishanAS
10-19-2009, 10:24 PM
Actually Tito, I like your oasis in the desert look. Different.
Actually Tito, I like your oasis in the desert look. Different.
Tom - I was thinking about compacting it a little more. I was thinking bunch up the hair grass and bunch up the vals. Place them side by side with some small rocks scattered in and around them....
then where do I go from there..............?????
Helpppp! LOL
Edit: I'm thinking this area could be a Fry sanctuary?
Biggz2282
10-20-2009, 12:30 AM
how about somthing like this ...
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o266/biggz2282/tito.jpg
Very nice Mario. Nice idea. Maybe a bit smaller to make room for more sand exposure but it looks like a nice scheme.
Artie
10-20-2009, 08:55 AM
Tito,
If you look carefully & long enough at the rocks that Biggz placed in the right hand corner tell me you don't see another image. I believe he's giving you the middle finger. hehehe only kidding. I LOVE the way the plants look just as is !!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy.
HEy Artie - you may be on to something there! LOL
Anubias Design
10-20-2009, 02:41 PM
Tito,
Cover your mechanics! Unless you want to look at the filter intake tubes, try to arrange the plants so that their growth hides the intakes. You'll want to keep plenty of open space for the melanogenys so a few small piles of rocks or a scattering of rocks that can serve as territorial boundaries are called for here. Try to get rocks that are as close in color to the substrate as possible. It will look more natural that way. If the rocks and substrate don't match, it never looks like it belongs together.
Mark
Tito,
Cover your mechanics! Unless you want to look at the filter intake tubes, try to arrange the plants so that their growth hides the intakes. You'll want to keep plenty of open space for the melanogenys so a few small piles of rocks or a scattering of rocks that can serve as territorial boundaries are called for here. Try to get rocks that are as close in color to the substrate as possible. It will look more natural that way. If the rocks and substrate don't match, it never looks like it belongs together.
Mark
Never thought about it but the Vals would do a good job at disguising the intakes.
Good idea Mark - I took you up on it.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Picture064.jpg
I'm not totally sold on the ida of matching the rocks to the sand. Just afraid of getting a washed out look. Though I agree I think the rocks are light in the lake. But would it make for a good display?
Anybody else want to chime in?
AlishanAS
10-20-2009, 08:49 PM
I'm not totally sold on the ida of matching the rocks to the sand. Just afraid of getting a washed out look. Though I agree I think the rocks are light in the lake. But would it make for a good display?
Anybody else want to chime in?
Who cares if the rocks match, Tito. You have barnacles in the tank! :becky:
Who cares if the rocks match, Tito. You have barnacles in the tank! :becky:
LOL Geeze Tom! LOL
I don't think those are staying in the tank - they are occupying space.
AlishanAS
10-20-2009, 09:14 PM
They are useful if you plan on keeping shellies. Why not throw a cluster in with your speciosus?
Anubias Design
10-20-2009, 09:56 PM
Go to your local marine specialty shop and pick up a bag of puka shell gravel or something else with a pink cast. Mix that in and then the barnacles look like they belong there. Tom is right about them working well with shellies.
You can use that same trick once you pick out the rocks you want to use. Find a marine substrate that matches them fairly closely. This will provide a more natural look and also help to buffer the pH.
Mark
Go to your local marine specialty shop and pick up a bag of puka shell gravel or something else with a pink cast. Mix that in and then the barnacles look like they belong there. Tom is right about them working well with shellies.
You can use that same trick once you pick out the rocks you want to use. Find a marine substrate that matches them fairly closely. This will provide a more natural look and also help to buffer the pH.
Mark
This is pink Samoa Sand. It has pink granules. This is marine aragonite sand from the Samoas. Sorry Mark - all I have is a $100 camera! LOL
Need SLR's to show that kind of detail.
There is a type of rock over at Animals & Things that is light beige in color with slight brown veins running thru it. I think those rocks would make a nice match.
mack74
10-21-2009, 09:12 PM
I always like the river rocks as they are like the ones in the lake. Maybe 2 small stacks. I try not to use slate as the edges are sharp and the fish usually mess their eyes up on them.
I always like the river rocks as they are like the ones in the lake. Maybe 2 small stacks. I try not to use slate as the edges are sharp and the fish usually mess their eyes up on them.
Anybody have large river rocks?
Water's cleared up a little and here's what I'm working with
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Picture066.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Picture067.jpg
I'm thinking one large river boulder with a slanting slope over on the left would finish this scene.
Greenhacker
10-22-2009, 12:25 AM
I hate to give a late vote, but the way you had it first was perfect proportions. As too rocks, I would recommend something longer then tall. It will help to accentuate the length of the tank while also making it feel deeper by keeping the open water feel. Maybe a dry stacked wall look... I always take a hike in the woods to find some cool rocks, helps keep the wallet full for fish (scrub, beach, scrub rinse, scrub, rinse)
Or you could always do a DIY background... LOL
triscuit
10-22-2009, 01:42 AM
I'm concerned that your cyps have no cover. I know, they're open water fish, but every time I hear of someone's cyps dying off one by one it seems like the tanks have not been aquascaped for them. Cyps often sleep in and around rocks... that haven't been claimed by another species. So, while I like the desert oasis look, I really think you need to get some type of stacked rock structure in there. I use found rocks as well, but use what you like the look of. Contrast is good, but hidey places are better.
Thanks for the tips. The tank is defintely not finished. What I'm thinking is to take a drive to one of my favorite parks in Rockland County and grab a really nice rock with the shape that I am looking for - something that would rise about 14" with an incline. Stack a few smaller rocks around it. I thought the idea of moving the planted area to a corner was a good suggestion. With the planted arera in the middle the way I had it leaves me with little room to create a rocky area. The large rock that I will get will be offset from the left side by about 8" from the glass - so the rock will have some space behind it. I should be sort of a triangular rock pointing upward - there's a famous mountain that has tons of these kinds of rocks. Maybe even two rocks - one large one right on front of the hair grass.
F8LBITE
10-22-2009, 01:24 PM
I would put a huge boulder in the middle with a huge shellie colony at the base of it.
Anubias Design
10-22-2009, 01:28 PM
Avoid putting anything in the dead center of the tank. Tanks decorated that way never look right. Your eye tries to see symmetry in the tank and you just can't make it work. If you're going to put something offcenter, that can work. Remember the golden triangle. Two focal points on one side of the tank and one focal point on the other side.
Mark
Avoid putting anything in the dead center of the tank. Tanks decorated that way never look right. Your eye tries to see symmetry in the tank and you just can't make it work. If you're going to put something offcenter, that can work. Remember the golden triangle. Two focal points on one side of the tank and one focal point on the other side.
Mark
Very good information Mark. I hope people reading this thread will pay close attention to his comment. It's too bad I no longer have the article. I read an article got was very sicentific about aquascaping. I forgot the name of the method but it employs geometry and stuff like that - you figure out where your eyes on going to focus on in the tank. You could methamatically calculate for teh particular size fo yuor tank. Mark - I wonder if you read that article? Because I beleive that is wehat you are talking about. One of the reasons why I quickly went with your suggestion to offset the planted area to side.
Now the rocks would not be all the way to the left but off centered towards the left - I believe this will balance the tanks center of attention and forces the eye to center in on a particular area. The thing about most tanks is that the presentation is so that our eyes sort of get one shot at it - like it was flat on a paper. You don't want that in a an aquarium. You want the viewers eyes to be forced to wonder from left to right and around - for a more exciting observation. To get this affect placement is key.
Mission complete. Thanks everybody.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Picture110.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Picture109.jpg
Anubias Design
10-24-2009, 10:38 PM
Very good information Mark. I hope people reading this thread will pay close attention to his comment. It's too bad I no longer have the article. I read an article got was very sicentific about aquascaping. I forgot the name of the method but it employs geometry and stuff like that - you figure out where your eyes on going to focus on in the tank. You could methamatically calculate for teh particular size fo yuor tank. Mark - I wonder if you read that article? Because I beleive that is wehat you are talking about. One of the reasons why I quickly went with your suggestion to offset the planted area to side.
Tito,
I don't have that reference but it's definitely an article about the golden triangle. The best discussion I've seen of it is in the book Aquarium Beautiful by Arend van den Niewenhausen (sp?). Unfortunately, it's out of print but if you don't have it keep a lookout for it on Ebay and at swap meets.
Mark
zallyn
10-25-2009, 11:24 AM
What ever happened to that taxi cab idea Tito.................?
http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/trave_abc/smilie_z.gif
Greenhacker
10-25-2009, 12:28 PM
If you want to see some nice examples of how to arrange rocks look at Iwagami Layout and you'll find some nice aquarium aquascapes. It translates as rock scaping or something like that. I love the rocks down here in the Philly area, but I am out of room to store rocks.
The "Golden Triangle" is a classic artist / architecture concept that is you break things up into thirds it is more pleasing to our eyes and to know where to point points of interest. This comes from our own perception of the world, such as how our face looks. Our eyes are 1/3 down out head, so are the tops of our ears ect....
Right now you have two points of interest. This is also classic either as a dialog between two objects ( like two people talking) or as a juxtaposition of two dissimilar objects. Combining these concepts will help harmonize the layout and make it feel more balanced.
What ever happened to that taxi cab idea Tito.................?
http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/trave_abc/smilie_z.gif
Ideas come and ideas go.
yourfishstuff
10-31-2009, 03:31 PM
The japanese are masters at arranging rocks. In japanese gardens they usually arrange rocks in groups of three. One is a vertical rock, one is a horizontal rock and one is of equal proportions. After the rocks are placed then the plants are arranged to compliment the rocks.
Here's one of many ideas you might try. Not the greatest Photoshop job on my part, I did it real quickly, but I tried to pick/find a rock similar to yours and then just resized it. Of course you would want to match all rocks in color and texture.
Anubias Design
10-31-2009, 05:05 PM
The japanese are masters at arranging rocks. In japanese gardens they usually arrange rocks in groups of three. One is a vertical rock, one is a horizontal rock and one is of equal proportions. After the rocks are placed then the plants are arranged to compliment the rocks.
Here's one of many ideas you might try. Not the greatest Photoshop job on my part, I did it real quickly, but I tried to pick/find a rock similar to yours and then just resized it. Of course you would want to match all rocks in color and texture.
I like it! The only small suggestion I'd have is to move the 2nd rock in from the right a few inches toward the right rear corner so that it's closer to (or right up against) the plants.
Mark
Very nice ideas - thanks!
I will see if I can find similar rockwork in a smaller scale.
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