# First real "scape" attempt



## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

I have shrimp tanks and tanks with plants in them but I seem to buy whatever plant is on sale and stick it in there and while the fish love playing in them, some don't look very "scaped". 

This was just extra aquasoil I had laying around, an 10gal, 2x13W CFL bulbs, already had the driftwood with a nice small moss tied down to it, so I cut the fishing line and pulled off the moss and just left what was attached just to give it that sparse moss feel. The rocks are just ones from my backyard, I have a bunch in different sizes but didn't want to clutter it with rocks or too many, so I choose these ones. 

I got a small thing of DHG today on sale and planted that as the only plant I want in the tank? Is this a decent attempt and any suggestions on moving the rocks around? I sort of like how the curve of the driftwood gives a cave appearance under it. I'll probably just move my neons over to it in a month or so when it's cycled and settled.




















I know the glass is dirty. lol.


I don't know if I like the rock in the left corner behind the wood or not. I have other plants I could put there, just not sure I want anything other than the hairgrass but if I can take some other tank shots of the plants I have (don't know the name of half of them, it's whatever Big Al's has on sale that week. lol.)

I do know I have 
-vals, which I don't want the runners of it everywhere.
-sunset hydro
-java fern
-petite nano anubis.
-some tall bushy stem thing that looks like hornwort but really bushy and grows roots 
-one that sort of looks like marijuana with purple tops and that closes up at night.
-big wack of riccia that grew into my hob filter on my shrimp tank and is thriving being in the filter flow but growing emersed.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Played with some more rocks? Better? Worse?


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## Zolek (Jul 25, 2007)

Better, but a little monotonous. Try this maybe:










Get rid of the X rocks, and do something with the ? rocks, like turn the long one up on the end, and pile the other with another rock somewhere. This should create a bit of a meadow space and also increase rock interest. The square rock has definitely got to go though.


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

I don't know much about this but I can tell you this from watching videos of aquascapes. You need to have one focal point but right now your scape is crazy. Maybe use some big rocks on the left side and take out the other big rocks use the smaller rocks but keep them close together and not all over the tank.


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## zico_aqua (Dec 23, 2012)

hope I am not too harsh in examining the scape - but here are my thoughts:

1) for a scape to have depth banking of substrate should be from front to back, and should be al linear as possible(but depends on scape - your's requires one) to create defined lines of the scape.
2) hardscape should be of same colour. Different colour is always a major distraction.
3)The scape totally lacks flow. I like the right back rock arrangement but if you notice it all gets lost from there on, the rocks seems to be just stacked where-ever possible.

I recently scaped something in these lines adding a pic for reference to show how it can be done(hope you don't mind me posting the pic)..very simple though..a bit of height is what you need


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Unless you plan to grow moss on the rocks, I'd not use white/light colored rocks with black/dark gravel. It doesn't look right as it would never occur in nature. The gravel/sand is always the same as the rocks in a stream/river.

This is a roundish black river stone I grew Flame moss on for a nano I ended up selling. This was about 30days old and ready for a trim to start the next rock. I like flame moss for this project, grows fast & thick.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

DogFish said:


> Unless you plant to grow moss on the rocks, I'd not use white/light colored rocks with black/dark gravel. It doesn't look right as it would never occur in nature. The gravel/sand is always the same as the rocks in a stream/river.
> 
> This is a roundish black river stone I grew Flame moss on for a nano I ended up selling. This was about 30days old and ready for a trim to start the next rock. I like flame moss for this project, grows fast & thick.


Problem is this is cheapo scape and I have white rocks and brown substrate. lol. And don't all those Iwugami use ADA brown substrate and ADA dark greyish sereyi stones?

I'll play around some more, just trying to work with what I have already though. See what else I have in boxes of stuff. lol.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> ...don't all those Iwugami use ADA brown substrate and ADA dark greyish sereyi stones?
> ...


But, they didn't ask my opinion. 
:tongue:


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

White rocks that are completely smooth remind me of a stream, but this doesn't have the look of a stream. So I say the white rocks should go. 

Also you never know if they'll leech or give off stuff in your water. 

You could do lots of driftwood with some more jagged rock, but those just don't look natural with your scape. 


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

MABJ said:


> White rocks that are completely smooth remind me of a stream, but this doesn't have the look of a stream. So I say the white rocks should go.
> 
> Also you never know if they'll leech or give off stuff in your water.
> 
> ...


I've used them in other tanks with no problem. Hmmmm, I have lots of different sized lava rock I could try. Just trying to work with what I have, as much as I'd love to go spend $100 on rocks or wood, I can't. Big Al's boxing day sale already got me on other things I needed. lol. I'll play around and see what I can do or what else I have.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

LOL I understand. 

I spent $100 on rocks and DW. I am big on aquascaping, and fortunately, I have lots of materials now . 

I only do nanos, so I imagine bigger tanks are tougher. 

Try the lava rock. And maybe put moss all over. It looks excellent. 


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

MABJ said:


> LOL I understand.
> 
> I spent $100 on rocks and DW. I am big on aquascaping, and fortunately, I have lots of materials now .
> 
> ...


I'll try the lava rock. So I have 3 big pieces and some smaller ones. Following the aquasquaping idea, I should have 1 big focal point 1/3rd the way, then maybe something smaller and not so big in the other 2/3rd's?


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

Yes. And it never hurts to throw driftwood/ things covered with moss as a filler in between all that. 

You can always look at my 18" long to reinforce the focus and two other draws. 

Make use of empty space. 

Hehe I'll help any way possible since you so frequently help others with shrimp questions. 


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

better?


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

You my friend need something dynamic going vertically. 

Those are nice rocks though. They fit a lot better. 

Could you turn one on its side?

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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

I have these two pieces of wood










or just the one


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

The first pic in that last post is the best you've done yet! Good job. 

I think you could still tweak things, but it definitely looks better now. 


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Tweaked a bit


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

I like it. But because the first two big rocks are kind of.. Both vertical, they don't wok as well as they could with one another. 

I really like how you made the substrate higher on the left. 

Now maybe bring the left most rock up. 

Try tallest on the left or right, smallest in the middle, second smallest on the opposite side of the largest. 

You can work the DW in wherever it works after you get the large pieces situated. 


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> Tweaked a bit


Much better. Depending on how you are going to plant it, maybe the rock work on the right should go. An important part of aquascaping is negative space.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

MABJ said:


> I like it. But because the first two big rocks are kind of.. Both vertical, they don't wok as well as they could with one another.
> 
> I really like how you made the substrate higher on the left.
> 
> ...


K let me see what I can come up and lesson learned don't do this after you fill a tank. lol.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

Lol I'm so sorry!

You're really doing well. Took me a long time and a lot of reading to get things looking better for me. 

What DogFish said is really true too. You'll get it perfect tho. 

When I scape, I do plants around my scape, not the other way around. 

Many people advise you do things the opposite. 


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Drained the tank to make it easier. lol.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

I LOVE IT. WOW. V E R Y N I C E. 

My one suggestion is perhaps moving the piece of wood from the left, tilting it the other way, then positioning it behind the leftmost rock. It'll preserve some empty space. 


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

There, I think I like this.











Now of my jumble of plants, what to add. lol.

I have dwarf hairgrass which I want planted around this, most of the wood have bits of moss on them already, so that will in over time.

java fern
petite anubis
hydro sunset

the bushy one on the left here and if look at the right behind the fern in front of the hydro is some jagged leaf purple plant.











Thanks for all your help by the way


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## zico_aqua (Dec 23, 2012)

GeToChKn said:


> Drained the tank to make it easier. lol.


stick with this one! this looks the best of all..


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Going to bed, this is what I came up with. lol. Tried to use smaller pieces to make it look like crumbed from the big pieces. I even put the pieces on the big rock and let it roll where it landed, so it gave it the true effect of what would happened. Planted my DHG around, move d the DW.












I think I'm leaving it like this and now have to figure out plants from my list above. I think something behind the big rock on the left and I do have the java fern and petite nano anubis I could die to the DW in a few different spots if anyone has a suggest of from the plants in my tank above I posted. I just can't afford to buy any more plants and would like to work with what I have, not to mention LFS prices, are well LFS prices. 20% over the holidays helped

I might take out some of the smaller pieces, seems like a lot but if the DHG fills in, you won't see them as much as they will just peek through the top of the grass.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

I lied, I played with some plants. Figured it would be easy to figure out what looks good in the scape. Only thing I don't want are the vals in there, they run like crazy in my other tank, so much so, I'm going to make that a val only jungle and take out the other plants and just the vals go. I only have platys in there, so they'll have fun breeding and chasing each other through them. That's tomorrows job though. lol.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

newer scape is much better. i also am doing my frst scape so how timely is your thread


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

acitydweller said:


> newer scape is much better. i also am doing my frst scape so how timely is your thread


Lol, ya setting a shrimp tank, I never cared about that and my other tanks are just whatever plants but I want to start actually scaping some tanks and having a nice look to them for my fish tanks anyways and learning the tricks, ideas, what makes a tank look good vs not good, etc and I've learned a lot in this thread.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

me too. i just spent an hour planting HM in an attempt to carpet. me carpet? never... well times change and asthetics are "in" 

Yours is looking pretty good. i just stuck with one piece of driftwood and used my large akadama stones to offset the fss i had in the tank. i'll have to start a journal to track it eventually but its just too much fun to play with now to snap photos. LOL. good luck with your tank. looks like you are having a lot of fun with it too.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

acitydweller said:


> me too. i just spent an hour planting HM in an attempt to carpet. me carpet? never... well times change and asthetics are "in"
> 
> Yours is looking pretty good. i just stuck with one piece of driftwood and used my large akadama stones to offset the fss i had in the tank. i'll have to start a journal to track it eventually but its just too much fun to play with now to snap photos. LOL. good luck with your tank. looks like you are having a lot of fun with it too.


Yup, having fun, learning. I plan on moving to a new house soon and want to build a shrimp rack, which will be basic tanks. Maybe a few fish breeding tanks in the rack too. But that will be a basement or another room and I'd like a nice planted show tank, so I'd like to get the basic down now so when that time comes (shrimp rack comes first) but at some point I'll have a nice planted tank and want to do it right when I do it.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

Hey man, fell asleep last night, but the last one looks amazing. 

I don't think you could do somethin better! I love using multiple pieces of things to make more intricate pieces.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

MABJ said:


> Hey man, fell asleep last night, but the last one looks amazing.
> 
> I don't think you could do somethin better! I love using multiple pieces of things to make more intricate pieces.
> 
> ...


Thanks. Think the plants work?


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

I personally wouldn't stick the big Anubias there. 


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

MABJ said:


> I personally wouldn't stick the big Anubias there.
> 
> 
> MABJ's iDevice used for this message


K, I'll tie it to a piece of cholla wood and put in another tank or something.

Wish I could find mot least killi's around my area. I bought some at a local fish auction and had them for years but I'm down to 3, and I think they must be all males or females since they're not breeding but I love them and keep posting on my local fish place looking for them and all I get are replies of other people looking too. lol. (Saw them in your journal) They get along fine with my neons and golden white cloud minnows in the tank I have them in now.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

Soon enough I'm bound to have more than plenty. I've got 10-12 babies. 

A few are juvies now tho. 

I'll do some RAOKs for the cost of shipping lol.

Mine breed like crazy. So if yours aren't producing offspring, they all must be of the same gender


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

MABJ said:


> Soon enough I'm bound to have more than plenty. I've got 10-12 babies.
> 
> A few are juvies now tho.
> 
> ...


They were breeding great in their own tank for a while, then moved them with platys, where the babies became snacks and thats when I really started to appreciate them as a fish but it was too late, down to 3. lol. I'll find some locally sooner or later. lol.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

They really remind me of dwarf puffers. In how they move, their intelligence. 

They just don't eat my shrimp or snails haha. 


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Now to rescape my cube that I ripped the driftwood and some plants from for the other scape. lol. I would assume with a cube, go for a centerpiece as you don't have room to do the 1/3 2/3 thing.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

Hmm. With a cube, I'd attempt an off centered tall object with intermittent pieces around it. 


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## zico_aqua (Dec 23, 2012)

The link i'm sharing was the first post for me in TPT, I love woking on cubes..I find them to be a bigger challenge than longer tank. Here you will find 4 scapes made in a cube, hope you can get an idea how things can be done.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=201568


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

I saw those a while back they really are nice. 

I've got a cube that I've got moss filling in on myself in my sig; I like the way it is scaped. 





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## zico_aqua (Dec 23, 2012)

hey Mark are you referencing to the 2 gallon 10" tall Fluval Spec ? if yes, looks nice..an' I must say..the wood is very unusual looking boy does it have such potential in the scape!!!  grow some fissidens on it..it'll transform the whole look of the tank..


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

zico_aqua said:


> hey Mark are you referencing to the 2 gallon 10" tall Fluval Spec ? if yes, looks nice..an' I must say..the wood is very unusual looking boy does it have such potential in the scape!!!  grow some fissidens on it..it'll transform the whole look of the tank..


LOL I have fissidens being shipped now. 

I like to take plants slow. But it seems we think similarly. I call it a cube mostly because I have a lot of substrate in there, and it isn't all that big to start with. 

How would you apply the fissidens? I've been tossing around how I'll do it. I know I will definitely be doing some emersed. 


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## zico_aqua (Dec 23, 2012)

two ways that I would advice - 1) If you are going for emersed for the fissdens..the easiest way would be - put the fissidens in a mixer grinder, few drops of water and blend it tad bit so that it shreds apart. then simply rub the semi-solid mix over the wood. Post which keep it under normal light airtight with a saran wrap with daily misting for two weeks. that's it done - post two weeks you will find the fissidens to have formed a green slime cover on the wood that is when you are ready to introduce it in the tank..fissidens will catch hold tight and will give a super mature old look. (this is tried and tested actually the 8 inch cube that i'm working on right now has been done with the same process)

2) tie the moss using thread/fishing line at smaller intervals of gaps in between, with this you can either start it submerged/emersed..but this process will take up a bit of time to get attached to and start growth..

hope it helps..


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

It does! I would be nervous to attempt the blender, and only part of it is emerged. I might try it on a little piece first. 


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## Overgrowth (Feb 19, 2012)

I found this thread just a few minutes ago, and I have to say, you've made a remarkable amount of progress! I'm liking the most current layout a lot. However, I think that biggest piece of driftwood disrupts the flow of the tank. I'm liking the DHG too; it's a great choice for this tank in particular. In fact, the plants are more paramount than the scape itself. For instance, I once came across a tank journal while browsing the forum, and to be frank, the scape wasn't really that great. However, the owner of the tank chose his plant selection wisely, and he miraculously turned his shabby-looking tank into a fantastic scape. So, don't worry TOO much about the scape because plants naturally accentuate the tank. I'm not saying that your hardscape isn't good, it's just that it's not too much to worry about in order to make a good scape.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Overgrowth said:


> I found this thread just a few minutes ago, and I have to say, you've made a remarkable amount of progress! I'm liking the most current layout a lot. However, I think that biggest piece of driftwood disrupts the flow of the tank. I'm liking the DHG too; it's a great choice for this tank in particular. In fact, the plants are more paramount than the scape itself. For instance, I once came across a tank journal while browsing the forum, and to be frank, the scape wasn't really that great. However, the owner of the tank chose his plant selection wisely, and he miraculously turned his shabby-looking tank into a fantastic scape. So, don't worry TOO much about the scape because plants naturally accentuate the tank. I'm not saying that your hardscape isn't good, it's just that it's not too much to worry about in order to make a good scape.



We'll see how it fills in. Part of the whole learning process of scaping is being able to scape a tank and know what it will look like filled in, even though it doesn't look remarkable at first, so this will give me an idea of what something looks like before and the finished product.


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## jpalimpsest (Dec 7, 2012)

I just flipped through your thread. It was fun watching the hardscape develop. I definitely like where you ended up. I'm looking forward to seeing it develop with the plants.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Small update, plants are doing good, moss is taking to the rocks and DW pretty good, 4 WCM's call it home as well as some ramshorms and culled painted fire red shrimp.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Few updates. Still filling in nicely, the DHG is spreading, slowly, but I don't use any ferts or CO2, just Excel 3x a week and root tabs. My 4 Golden White Cloud Minnows have turned into about 40.


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## katiedempsey (Mar 12, 2013)

When I was looking to aquascape my tank for the first time, I read an article that said you should put the bigger rocks at the front and the smaller ones in the back to help create some depth.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

katiedempsey said:


> When I was looking to aquascape my tank for the first time, I read an article that said you should put the bigger rocks at the front and the smaller ones in the back to help create some depth.


I think you may remember that backwards lol. I don't really think that works out. I've never seen or designed a scape like that at least. 

I really like what he did with his tank here


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