# Reshaping 29 gallon advise, please!!



## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

The tank you show as an example of what you'd like to achieve is actually pretty simple in its composition (to me, anyway). But the plants they're using require more light than what you have. It seems they used mostly glosso, and then trimmed it in a slope. The substrate is probably sloped, as well, and the roots of the glosso would help keep the substrate from slipping down. That tank also has CO2, ferts and all. Plus, keep in mind that pictures of tanks like that are sometimes altered to hide problems (such as leaf floating around). Notice even more that they just have some cardinals in the tank.

Pictures of tanks like that remind me of pictures of models. It makes for a very beautiful picture, but the tank does not look that good 24/7. It gets detritus on the sand, leaves floating at the top, algae here and there and who knows what else just like our tanks do. It's just all cleaned up for the photo.

Are you wanting a tank with a mass of one plant and a few accent plants like that one? If so, you might could substitute Marselia minuta for the glosso, but it will be long and hard to get it to grow like glosso. It's much easier to scape with a fast growing foreground plant because it will fill in pretty fast. But a slow grower, like M. minuta, takes a long time to fill in that full. In the meantime, it can get algae, just like anubias and java ferns.

I think the most distracting part of the scape right now is the fence looking thing around the middle of the tank. That, and the line of rocks that aren't incorporated anywhere else in the tank so they seem to just begin and stop abruptly. It looks as if you ran out of rocks so you put the fence thing in.

Since you want to keep the rescape inexpensive because you're laid off (so is my husband), then I'd suggest looking at tanks with stems that still have some of the features you like. That way, you already have some of the pieces (stems) you need. it will be just a matter of rearranging them to create the effect you want. Does that make sense?

Any scape that has very different plant material will require that you take out your plants and buy whatever plants the example tank is using (or a close substitute) to get the same look. So even if they're pretty or have some elements of what you like, I'd skip it and keep looking until you find something you like that has more plants you already have on hand.

One really great thing you have going for you is that your plants appear to be growing very nicely in the setup you have now! So you can grow plants! You don't need to run out and buy anything just to get them to grow. So now it's just a matter of positioning and trimming the plants to create the effect you want.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Complexity said:


> I'd suggest looking at tanks with stems that still have some of the features you like.


JL15219 tank is the only tank have seen that has plants similar to mine.









Thinking of putting the sand at angle like in this picture between 2 hills. Possibly blending into the Hygro sunset. Probably will be wider at the beginning. 
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/...87095df5a7.jpg

Put some rocks on the side of the sand as in this picture.









Since I use metal to keep the dirt up the hills may be higher as in this picture.









What is the hardest for me decide is what plants go good together to create a contrast. I thought the Hygro sunset and Wisteria would look good together but they blend in together making a mess. I had the Rotala rotunda and Hygro sunset together but the Hygro sunset over shadowed the Rotala and stunted it's growth.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Complexity said:


> I think the most distracting part of the scape right now is the fence looking thing around the middle of the tank. Also the line of rocks that aren't incorporated anywhere else in the tank. It looks as if you ran out of rocks so you put the fence thing in.


I thought the fence was 1/3 from the left. 
I was trying to create and image of a town under water that had been destroyed by a volcano erupttion. Seems I was not even close. Lol :hihi:!! I have a whole bag of lava rock



Complexity said:


> One really great thing you have going for you is that your plants appear to be growing very nicely in the setup you have now! So you can grow plants!


Yeh!!:redface: Finally got the hang of it. What has helped me the most is flourish comprehensive. I had bought in a rush at a pet store thinking it was flourish excel.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Hilde said:


> What is the hardest for me decide is what plants go good together to create a contrast. I thought the Hygro sunset and Wisteria would look good together but they blend in together making a mess. I had the Rotala rotunda and Hygro sunset together but the Hygro sunset over shadowed the Rotala and stunted it's growth.


Okay, I understand what you mean. I find that to be difficult, too. And even when I get part of the tank figured out, I realize that it messed up the other side! :hihi: So I'm still working on it.

I try to think of the different characteristics of the plants.

What shape of leaves does it have?
Are the leaves large or small?
What color is most dominate?
Does it do best tall, med or short?
What is the overall impression of the plant (tall/skinny like vals? or what?)?
How much light does it need?

i should have put the light as the first thing, but then that's why I continue to rearrange my plants so much.

I find that some plants really want to hog the light so even though I have excellent lighting, the plants are still unhappy if put in a corner. So those plants need to be put as close to the middle of the tank as possible.

Then I try to keep plants with similar leaves separated with plants of different leaves. So two plants with round leaves will have a plant with long, tall leaves (val) between them or something with spiky leaves (rotala).

I also try to check colors. I have more colors than you do, but there are still variances in the shade of green among plants. So even though two plants may have different leaf shapes, if their overall coloring is the same, they might not have enough contrast to show each other off.

Sometimes just squint your eyes and let everything blur to get some idea of how the plant looks as a whole. Is it upright, sideways, messy, neat, ball, tall, green, red, whatever? And then try to mix them so that each plant is separated from any plant that is too much like it.

Then there's trimming that can make a difference. I'm not there yet. I'm just happy to be growing plants! :biggrin: But if you look at a lot of tanks, they can take a plant and give it a shape based on how its trimmed. Are all the stems of a single plant the same height or did they vary them so the stems in front are a little lower than the ones in back? Did they let the plant grow messy (shoots coming out from every which way) or manicured (think of a hedge in the garden).

It's actually a lot to consider which is one reason why so many of us keep moving everything around. It's like the old saying (regarding a different subject), "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it". :hihi:

Make a note of each plant you have and start listing their characteristics. For example, I know of no wisteria that could be considered manicured. It's very nature of the leaf shape, it's a "messy" plant. Meaning, it's silhouette is more ragged than smooth.

After making all your notes, see how many plants you have that are similar and how many give you contrast. Then try to mix them around so each similar plant is balanced (not too many on just one side) with contrasting plants in between to show everything off.

What you'll find is that there will always be conflicts. Two plants with different colors, but both have similar leaf shapes. Two plants with different leaf shapes, but are the very same color. And on and on and on.

And then there's the problem of trying to stack the plants from front to back so that the plants in the front remain lower than the ones in the back.

And while doing all of that, you want to not let the plants line up in rows, but are staggered so they have a more informal look.

Why do I have a feeling anyone who's read this far down is running and tearing their hair out with the idea of trying to scape their tank? :icon_lol:

Perhaps I'm showing my weakness in why I am not a designer at all. Perhaps I just make it all too complex. After all, I didn't take on my ID because I made life simple. 

To be honest, I hope Tex Gal or someone else who really knows how to do a scape will come in to rescue you from all that I just wrote. I'm a geek. Nerd. Math and computer and science kind of person. Design? What's that? This is the very reason why I have learned to use photoshop to preview different ideas. It keeps me in my nerdy world instead of the world of being artistic with designing. :icon_lol:

That has got to be the most jumbled post I have ever written! :icon_redf


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Oh lol :hihi: :hihi:

I get the point!! Start with pen and pencil first!


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

You got it! :hihi:

It's much easier to erase or scratch out a plant on paper than it is to uproot it and move it in the tank. A lesson I've been learning the hard way!


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

New scape ideas!!
I had trouble getting pictures of the plants will the same resolution and trouble working with gimp. The best rendering of the idea I have:









Left side
Wisteria, Rotola roundifloia, Vals v cork
Java fern and Sags in front

Right side
Hair grass, Anacharis, Hygro sunset (cut lower), Ludwiga repen, Bacopa Carolina.
4 Leaf clover and crypt v balance in front

Between the right and left sand path at angle similiar to this:








Any suggestion on improvement appreciated.


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