# Lava rock/driftwood hardscape.



## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

Tell me what you think. Wood was found locally and lava rock was found/bought. 







Sorry for the crappy pics, the glare off of the window behind me messes with the camera pretty bad.

And please, don't pull any punches, I've got pretty thick skin


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## Hardy85 (May 3, 2013)

I gotta say.. not really feeling it... I don't like that the lava rock matches the substrate, and the wood could use a little more character... I think one or the other could work, but one needs replaced with something with more of a wow factor...

Sorry for the tough love on that one, I think the layout is good, I just not huge on the hardscape materials


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

No problem! That's why I posted it here. I do have some red lava rock that I could use, I might try that. Thanks for the input.


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

Moved the large piece to the left a little more to show some more of it's character (this piece has a lot of character in person) and move some rocks on the right around a little. The plan is to have a carpet of HC, so there should be a lot of contrast with the green of the HC and the black rock. I just couldn't bring myself to use red lava rock, I really don't like the color of it.


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## tchoua (May 30, 2013)

I can't visualize it with plants yet but keep us posted! I'm also building a planted tank with red lava rocks and driftwood. Been trying to get ideas.


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## horsedude (Nov 10, 2012)

looks ok to me, I think It would look good with some plants in there, I would have some taller plants along the back, I love valls


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## stevencaller (Sep 14, 2012)

I don't think the wood sits quite naturally as you have it there. Maybe you need to flatten it a bit or turn it round so it looks like a tree root or branch.

Perhaps some moss along it would soften it a little


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## Farmer (Jan 30, 2013)

Dan's85 said:


> Tell me what you think. Wood was found locally and lava rock was found/bought.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very interesting scape. I like it, but it's not quite right. I certainly think you have something worth working with though.

I totally disagree with Hardy 85. Matching rocks and substrate is important IMO. That is one of the first things that stands out to me if the rocks don't don't have some continuity with the substrate. If you put red lava rock I think it would look terrible. It definitely use type of rocks you have.

It's kind of hard to give you too much advice because you don't have a direct front on view with the whole scape in it. That would help us to see proportion and balance.

Next I wouldn't have moved the large piece of wood left, I would have gone right. I'd also put the rocks back similar to how you had them. The one sticking up had character and now it's flat. If you want to show off the wood (which I agree with) you could try putting it in front of the rocks or at least more to the front. I'd also try changing the smaller piece in front so the high part (at the right) comes from the back and the low part is near the front. It will probably mean you have it coming through the 'loop' of the big piece if you move it back to the right. 

I think Stevencaller may have a point, but I don't think you should flatten it too much. Maybe try it up the other way. Also it that is a small piece at the back I'd move it over to the right so it's coming from a similar place as the other small piece will be coming from if you do as I suggested with it.

I'll leave it at that for now until I see what you do.

Linds


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

*A little rescaping*

At the LFS on saturday I found the coolest piece of mopani wood that I have ever seen. I just got around to playing with the scape a little more today. Tell me what you think. I don't really like the rock pile on the left side, so I still have a little rearranging to do over there. 

BTW Thanks for the input. This is helping me alot.


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

*rescape*

I had just rescaped and posted pics to this thread, and then I read what Farmer wrote. 

I Flipped the piece in the corner around so the high arch is coming from the rear and moved the rock off of the top of the pile on the left and set it in behind the wood.

My plan for plants is to have some small/petite anubias growing on the lava rock, hopefully a red crypt, an HC carpet, and various stem plants for the background. Nothing is set in stone yet, I have to get the scape right first.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

I like when you lowered the rock pile on the left, looks good now


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

Thanks!


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

That scape looks fun! Please tell you plan to do something on that long arching piece!!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

I was thinking some flame moss. Any other suggestions?


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

bump.


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## Farmer (Jan 30, 2013)

hi Dan,

Nice piece of wood. I would like to see some more rock back though too, perhaps.

I didn't quite mean it that way with the piece of wood I said to move. I mean to have the low end across the substrate like you had it but instead of pointing at teh left back corner it would point at the left front corner and have the high part sticking into where your new piece of wood is now.

Next can you try flipping the long piece of wood with the loop up side down? Exactly where it is but the other way up. That way the flow would go go over the rocks and I think it would look less busy. 

Also you may want to consider moving the new wood to the left a little. Just to try and remove that gap form being in the centre. TBH the rock in the back right could go because we will never see it once planted. It would be of better use sticking out the front from under the wood.

Looking good though mate. 

Linds


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

Thanks. I'll try out some of your suggestions tonight when I get home from work and post some pictures.


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## Aqua Jon (May 28, 2013)

*looking good*

keep playing with it till it strike you. You will know when it hits that exact look you want, may even be by accident. IMO the black and black will be a good when the green gets in front showing more depth. Maybe a white paper background to contrast the black?

Thanks for posting the pics! I'm starting up a tank with lava rock and drift wood and its great to get others ideas for visualization.


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## Argus (May 22, 2013)

If you don't mind some aesthetic suggestions from a pre-beginner...(I had planted tanks as a kid, but that was long before aquascaping, now I'm still in the thinking/planning stages. I do have some art background, though.)

The driftwood is a gorgeous piece. Wonderful shapes and textures. From the photos I got the impression that there is some danger of it looking more like a creature than natural hardscape. The branch going across the tank seems like it is a tentacle reaching out to grab something. 

You would want to place it in a position that looks natural. If it was driftwood in a river, how would it have landed after being tumbled by floodwaters? You want it to look at rest, not in active pursuit.


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

I'm not going to be able to play around with the hardscape tonight. Thanks for all of the input and suggestions. I'll keep you posted.


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## Skylark (Aug 22, 2012)

what if you try turning the long branch upside down, so it points up on the left side of the tank? also do the branches on that piece on the right point towards the front glass? i'm not an expert but i've read that it is undesirable and it's better when branches "flow" from side to side, and bottom to top (or vice versa). 
How do you see your tank yourself? I can picture it with dark brown crypts up front on the sides and dark colored moss scattered here and there on the wood, maybe some ferns too. 
Flame moss looks beautiful, but it all depends on the whole vision of your tank


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

Everything is pointing towards the left side of the tank accept for the small arching piece. I'm not sure on the plants yet. I know I would like to have some small anubias attached to the lava rock and some kind of moss on the wood. I would also like to have a bit of red in there too, maybe a red crypt and some Rotala mini butterfly.


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

*update*

Sorry for the late update guys, I've been super busy lately. Anyways, here it is as of now.


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## ChadRamsey (Nov 3, 2011)

looks nice. that arching branch would look great covered in fiss:thumbsup:


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## Hippocampus (Dec 27, 2012)

ChadRamsey said:


> looks nice. that arching branch would look great covered in fiss:thumbsup:


+1 Fissidens would look great!


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## Dan's85 (Mar 18, 2013)

I'll see if I can find some. Thanks for the tip!


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## Jonny (Jun 5, 2013)

I love the scape, though there is something about that long piece that just feels unnatural to my eyes. I would almost love to see that long bit broken in the middle then the broken off left half flipped upside down, left to right and then the middle of that buried at the front on the right.

I'm really new to this hobby so I wouldn't take much weight in the opinions of this newbie though lol


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## Farmer (Jan 30, 2013)

Dan, I'd still try flipping that long piece up the other way (like someone else suggested too). If it doesn't work you can just swap it back. 

Also you have moved the wood you bought further to the right so now it's against the glass. I know this is tempting but most times it actually gives you the feeling of less space having things against the glass on the sides. Bring it toward the centre and you will find it looks better when planted IMO. Give yourself some space on the RHS. This will give you a gap to the left of centre between the wood and the rocks, a great place to have one.

Linds


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