# Feedback on my Dragon Stone Iwagumi



## Mike A. (Jan 6, 2018)

I'd like it better without the large brownish rock to the left. Pulls my eye to it too much and it's kind of out of phase with everything else.

Sometimes less is more, especially when going for something Iwagumi-like.


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## Trnt (Jul 18, 2015)

I would personally suggest tilting the stone on the far left a little bit. It's too vertical too me.

My experience with alternanthera reineckii has always been that it gets tall, but I have only just recently planted the mini type for the first time yesterday.

Out of curiosity because it's a low tank, would you mind posting a top down view?

It's looking good so far!


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## TimP (Apr 18, 2018)

Trnt said:


> I would personally suggest tilting the stone on the far left a little bit. It's too vertical too me.
> 
> My experience with alternanthera reineckii has always been that it gets tall, but I have only just recently planted the mini type for the first time yesterday.
> 
> ...



Hi, thanks for the response. Sorry for my delay, I was out of town for a couple days. Attached is the top down view. I'm thinking about buying another stone and breaking it up into smaller pieces and spreading them strategically about.


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## Trnt (Jul 18, 2015)

No worries. Another suggestion I have is to space the three large stones on the right slightly farther apart front to back just to make it easier to trim; see how it looks and if it doesn't ruin your vision of the tank go with it. The first time you accidentally catch a piece of your stone with your scissors you'll be pretty sad. Even better, if you have a pair of scissors already try to pretend trim the tank.  

A tank that is easy to maintenance means you will be more likely to maintenance it .


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## TimP (Apr 18, 2018)

Trnt said:


> No worries. Another suggestion I have is to space the three large stones on the right slightly farther apart front to back just to make it easier to trim; see how it looks and if it doesn't ruin your vision of the tank go with it. The first time you accidentally catch a piece of your stone with your scissors you'll be pretty sad. Even better, if you have a pair of scissors already try to pretend trim the tank.
> 
> A tank that is easy to maintenance means you will be more likely to maintenance it .


Wow. That's something I have never even thought of! Very valuable advice, thank you very much! I'll go play with the layout some more and think about how I'm going to trim it. Awesome feedback.


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## [email protected] (Jan 8, 2010)

The large stone on the left should be stood up


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## SnugQuarium (Dec 21, 2017)

If you're worried about the right side, I wouldn't be. To me, those four stones look like three and I would not have known had you not said something. Honestly, my issue is the dark stone on the left. It doesn't match in color or flow, and while it appears that there is a third stone on that side buried in the substrate, at first glance it appears there is only two stones on the left. I would take the ones on the right and spread them out along with the far left one, which would give your odd number of five. Have you measured the tank for the thirds rule and placed the most important stone just past the center, both from front viewing angle, and top down view? I think it equates to 56% one direction... It's always written 1.6:1, or something like that... (I read too much for someone that hates reading)


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

The stones on the left don't fit the flow of the scape.

Don't rush the process and take your time. Do lots of adjustments and take pictures. Look whats look best and ask for feedback as you already did 

I would create a much bigger slope towards the back creates more depth.

Also it doesn't seem that you use the golden ratio / rule of thirds?

I count 8 stones they say Iwagumi should have odd numbers.

You worked from front to back this is much better than from left to right aka family photo rock position. Good job!

Just a random example which gives a good idea of the same flow of the stones.


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

So this is where you lurk as well.


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## TimP (Apr 18, 2018)

Nigel95 said:


> The stones on the left don't fit the flow of the scape.
> 
> Don't rush the process and take your time. Do lots of adjustments and take pictures. Look whats look best and ask for feedback as you already did
> 
> ...


Thanks for the feedback (to you and everyone). I've made many changes to the layout, and this is where I've settled. The tank is now filled and I'm happy with it for now (except for the cloudiness due to the ADA soil). I will probably lay the front stone down on the ground as I feel it's distracting from the other stones, but I want to wait for the dust to settle, so to speak. Since this is my first aquascape, I'm trying not to be too hard on myself. My next aquascape will be better, and the third better than that. (Oh, and the ugly temperature gauge will go away once I trust my heater)

Progress...


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## Colin Wrexham (Mar 24, 2017)

Mine[emoji6]























Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk


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## swarley (Apr 12, 2018)

Need much more slope. Short in front and sloping back. Safest way to go for a great looking scape. Currently it looks flat and awkward. Cheers. 
Consider practicing with a 'scaping dojo' or practice box. Get a box or make a quick area that has the base dimensions of the tank you want to scape with some walls around, shorter in the front ofc, and then get some cheap sand and scape to your hearts content!


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## chanceofplants (Mar 21, 2018)

The larger brown stone is also blowing much of the view of the stone behind it. Maybe turning them so their edges face the front of the tank rather than the face turned towards the face of the tank.


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## walluby (Dec 3, 2007)

*Better to not wait*

I was having little to do and I wandered thru pages 
randomly and came across this thread entry. 
Responders here tried to help the OP with his
Iwagumi and I tinkered with it also. Came up
with this layout as a hint. In Iwagumi, you want
to use the mother rock as a focal point and use
the sister rocks to accentuate it.


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