# Lake Superior hardscape critique



## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

JMO, but overall I think it looks too "arranged" for my liking. The big stone on the right side also looks out of place. Not trying to be hard on ya... again, that's JMO.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

I love the color contrast against the darker substrate.

The wood branches look great where they are but i feel the stones in the left foreground could be repositioned to look more natural and less linear, perhaps either staggering or simply remove just one to keep an odd number of stones in that corner.


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## lullafishi (Dec 13, 2012)

Dan's85 said:


> JMO, but overall I think it looks too "arranged" for my liking. The big stone on the right side also looks out of place. Not trying to be hard on ya... again, that's JMO.


No worries, you're not being too hard.  I can see what you mean by it looking "arranged". Most of my rocks are very smooth and round from waves, and its proving to be a difficult shape to work with.


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## lullafishi (Dec 13, 2012)

acitydweller said:


> I love the color contrast against the darker substrate.
> 
> The wood branches look great where they are but i feel the stones in the left foreground could be repositioned to look more natural and less linear, perhaps either staggering or simply remove just one to keep an odd number of stones in that corner.


Yes, those ones started bugging me, too. I've removed one and staggered them more, and brought the little piece of driftwood forward to give it more focus. 

I think maybe the background clump on the left side is also starting to feel too uniform in height.


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## Maechael (Sep 9, 2012)

Lullafishi, if your rocks are too smooth, put them in a burlap sack (read pillowcase haha) and bash against some concrete, or a much larger rock. nice rock shards should come from this exercise.

What kind of Black sand did you get, as I must have missed that glancing through.


also, on the Scape it's self, I like the right side and the driftwood.
Personally I would remove all the tan or all the red rocks, only one off Chromatic color scheme Kinda guy that I am.


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## Hardy85 (May 3, 2013)

Personally I like all the different color rocks, I too few like there are parts a bit too organized...

One thing that i see is missing though are smalls, like pea sized to quarter size, I would say get a handful and dump it over what you have. Yea its not a huge detail, but there always small stones in the mix of large ones.

As for the tropical fish looking "off" in the scape, just don't go for the very flashy colorful ones... look into black and silver (ish) colors such as black skirts for example


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## lullafishi (Dec 13, 2012)

Maechael said:


> Lullafishi, if your rocks are too smooth, put them in a burlap sack (read pillowcase haha) and bash against some concrete, or a much larger rock. nice rock shards should come from this exercise.
> 
> What kind of Black sand did you get, as I must have missed that glancing through.


Fantastic suggestion to get shards, but unfortunately I'm borrowing most of these from my parents and they would be devastated if I broke them, haha. A lot of them were collected on various trips they took and they have sentimental value. Playing the daughter card was the only way I could get my dad to even agree to let me use them in my scape, lol.

I'm using Black Diamond 20/40 blasting grit, rinsed in several times in a bucket. I've got root tabs I'll be adding for plants.

I bought two bags of Black Diamond for my 40B, but surprisingly this is only one bag. It's about 1" in the front, 1.5" in the middle, and 2" in the background. Is this a good depth?



Hardy85 said:


> Personally I like all the different color rocks, I too few like there are parts a bit too organized...
> 
> One thing that i see is missing though are smalls, like pea sized to quarter size, I would say get a handful and dump it over what you have. Yea its not a huge detail, but there always small stones in the mix of large ones.
> 
> As for the tropical fish looking "off" in the scape, just don't go for the very flashy colorful ones... look into black and silver (ish) colors such as black skirts for example


I like the colors, too.  You're right about the lack of small stones, thanks for pointing that out!

Lol, I totally want the flashy ones. I just love color so much. I'm thinking I'll start with a rock-dominate scape because that's what I currently have and I reeeeally want to start cycling this, but then work on getting more driftwood to create something with more tropical flare.


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## Hardy85 (May 3, 2013)

Look into apistos, I think they'd fit that. Kinda tough looking, but the males can be very colorful

Even the females when they get into breeding mood can turn bright yellow. You could toss 1 or 2 cichlid stones in there that would fit in and they would love them


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## Maechael (Sep 9, 2012)

The depth of your sand is entirely up to you, however if you have larger rooted plants planned for this, I'd recommend a bit deeper substrate, not required but Could help.

My black sand was a pain to truly rinse, but I went with TCC black blasting grit, it took forever.


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

your big branch needs a rock or substrate covering up that cut end showing in the front. Besides that, everything else looks good. definitely will be awesome to see some grow on the ground and the wood =)


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## BarbH (Feb 27, 2013)

Overall I like the way things look, I do agree that the front left looks a little too arranged. Also done smaller rocks will help to make it more natural. If you don't have smaller rocks that have been collected, you could always pick up a small bag of river rocks.

Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk 2


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

i also agee with arranged rocks, the wood might fit better if some of it was under the substrate, that way it looks more natural, this would also be a good focal point for some rocks to hide the substrate/wood interface


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## lullafishi (Dec 13, 2012)

Followed the advice of sinking the cut edge of the wood into the substrate (how did I miss that detail?!) and did some re-arranging. I had to ditch the large rock that was behind the wood because I'm fairly certain it has calcium carbonate deposits. Too bad, because it has gorgeous green veins when wet. But I do like how the focus is more on the wood in this scape.

I also stole some river rocks from my little guppy tank and found a few other quartz pieces I had in my collection. Much more variation now. Hopefully it's a big improvement?










(P.S. some of the smaller stones may be standing out as too bright/colorful in comparison, but that's only because the large rocks are currently dry and the small ones are wet)


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I think it looks great. Very natural.


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## ValMM (Feb 22, 2011)

I would get rid of the biggest rock so the largest most obvious thing in the tank was the wood. Unless the big rock is a support to the wood, then just leave it there.


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## lullafishi (Dec 13, 2012)

ValMM said:


> I would get rid of the biggest rock so the largest most obvious thing in the tank was the wood. Unless the big rock is a support to the wood, then just leave it there.


It's not currently acting as a support, but there's a very good chance this wood may try to float when submerged so I was planning on using it to help weigh it down if necessary.


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## BarbH (Feb 27, 2013)

Definitely liking the changes that you have made, very natural feeling.

Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk 2


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

Looking good!


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## Hardy85 (May 3, 2013)

So... what sort of plants are you thinking with this hardscape. I think some long jungle vals would add a natural look to it. As well as growing some algae (i know thats taboo) but leave the lights on 24/7 while cycling, and add a little fert. Just clean the glass, but let the rocks and wood grow a nice patena of algae on them

Would be a very natural look


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

looks good!
there is a little spot in the center where there is a break i nthe rock pattern
i'd shift some of the rocks more left, and the rocks o nthe ridhe more right so its more of clusters.. this will give you more room to plant, and daw the eye towards whatever you plant there


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## TopShelf_Symbiosis (Apr 11, 2013)

Looks very natural to me. The round rocks are a nice touch. Can't wait to see it planted


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## lullafishi (Dec 13, 2012)

I filled the tank with water yesterday and started a fishless cycle! I had to temporarily move two large rocks to help weigh the large wood down as it wanted to float. It's not as pretty, but they'll stay like that as the tank cycles and hopefully the wood will be waterlogged in a few weeks. Otherwise I'll probably have to tie it down with slate.

The cut edge is also no longer buried since the wood wants to float. I think I need to add more substrate to help cover that spot. Any suggestions on the best way to add sand to a tank already filled without making a huge mess?

I'm totally open to plant suggestions! I was planning on trying anything I could get my hands on to see what I like and what does well in this tank, but I really like the idea of jungle vals in the back corners to create a valley-style composition. 

This is a low-med light set-up without c02, by the way. I'm prepared to cut down the PAR on my light with window screen if necessary as I don't want to get into c02 yet, but that will limit my plant options.


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## ownedbycats (Nov 27, 2012)

Vals for the back sound good, although I had trouble with jungle vals in low light but corkscrew vals did well in the same conditions. Red ludwigia would also look nice and grows well in low light after the initial adjustment period. (Will shed all the old leaves and then grow new ones). That would give you a stem plant to balance any slow growers.
Also, Windelov java fern. Makes a good middle ground plant once it starts growing and makes a nice bushy plant. Does well in both my medium light tank and extreme low light tank. 
Think about adding some moss to the straight up section of the driftwood, with a Windelov fern growing out of the middle of it, so the moss covers the wood from ground to top, and the fern stretches left along the branch.


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## lullafishi (Dec 13, 2012)

ownedbycats said:


> Vals for the back sound good, although I had trouble with jungle vals in low light but corkscrew vals did well in the same conditions. Red ludwigia would also look nice and grows well in low light after the initial adjustment period. (Will shed all the old leaves and then grow new ones). That would give you a stem plant to balance any slow growers.
> Also, Windelov java fern. Makes a good middle ground plant once it starts growing and makes a nice bushy plant. Does well in both my medium light tank and extreme low light tank.
> Think about adding some moss to the straight up section of the driftwood, with a Windelov fern growing out of the middle of it, so the moss covers the wood from ground to top, and the fern stretches left along the branch.


Thanks for all the plant ideas! I bought a big plant package from a member that came in the other day, so now I have around 12 species of stem plants to try out.  Planting day is tomorrow! 

I want to get my hands on some moss for the wood yet. And I still really like the idea of jungle vals.... I may have to try them and cross my fingers.


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## Farmer (Jan 30, 2013)

hmmm.

Well I liked the first scape (minus the front left and I agree with you the back left could have been a bit less even). 

Now I'm not so sure I like it. You had close to a designer tank and now IMO a mess. But that's just my opinion. 

If it were me I'd go back. I know this is plantedtank but I wouldn't plant much at all. maybe a val or two in the right location. 

It is very natural to have all these different types of rocks all in the one place, I don't see a problem with it. It's harder to scape with smooth stones but I think you did it well. 

Anyway. That's my two cents.

Linds


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