# Hardscape Help



## Tom (5 Oct 2007)

Today I took down my 25l today (finding 30 cherry shrimp I'd never seen before!    ) , so I have an empty tank to play with   

I working on this layout, but I'm really not sure if I like it. I've added 2 pics with one piece of wood slightly different. 










Tom


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## George Farmer (5 Oct 2007)

Hi Tom,

Keep messing 'til you really like it.  You have a good eye for design so you'll know...

I prefer no. 2 BTW.


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## Themuleous (5 Oct 2007)

I would get a piece or two sticking out more into the middle fo tank, it might just be the pics but they all seem to be on the same plane and look a bit flat.  But that could be me.


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## Dan Crawford (5 Oct 2007)

My advice, take it or leave i would just add one small piece to No.1 to fill the void on the left live this 



just out of interest.......how are you going to fix these at there bases? i presume they are all single pieces?
Cheers Dan


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## Tom (5 Oct 2007)

Thanks for the advice.

Themuleous - yeah they were a bit flat. I've changed it around a bit now to get it more 3D. the reason it was flatter was that with my last tank, I had the mossy branches leaning forwards and they shaded the foreground a bit too much.  

Dan - it took me a while to work out what you'd done to that picture! lol. About fixing the wood in, with my last setup I just balanced the wood in like this and piled Aquasoil on top which held it in place - pics below. 





Tom


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## Tom (5 Oct 2007)

Latest idea:


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## Themuleous (5 Oct 2007)

I like the way the wood goes over the top of the rock at the front, looks more natural that way.

Sam


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## Fred Dulley (5 Oct 2007)

Themuleous said:
			
		

> I like the way the wood goes over the top of the rock at the front, looks more natural that way.
> 
> Sam



Aye, I agree with Sam.
Keep it up Tom. Your work is inspirational, aspecially to us that are slightly younger members


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## Tom (21 Oct 2007)

Ok, I think I've found the layout I'm going to use... 

Found 2 really nice pieces of wood on friday and have been playing around with them since. I've put in some leftover aquasoil (about half litre) from the last tank. It's going to be a while yet before it's set up (Xmas or Easter) so that I can watch it through the 1st few weeks. 

Shame about all these postal strikes, I ordered some willow moss about 2 weeks ago from AquaticMagic and it hasnt arrived yet. It's in the country I think but Royal Mail seems to have lost it in all the backlog.   

I think I like the wood better because its not as "twiggy" if you know what I mean:




Tom


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## CJ Castle (21 Oct 2007)

I like it... Are you going to have an all-sand forground, plant it up or haven't decided?


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## Tom (22 Oct 2007)

I'd like to have a glosso carpet, but I'd also like to have ADA nile/bright sand in the foreground and build up with Aquasoil at the back. Then again, I'd love to have a mossy foreground as that's something I've never done before. 

If my weeping moss ever turns up I might see how it does in the foreground... Yeah I'm starting to think moss primarily in the foreground and draping over parts of the wood and rocks, with Hydrocotyl and Riccia to break it up in places. Lots of Cyperus helferi in the back too, and maybe some Rotala "green" or something like R. indica to give a red accent. I've never tried red plants either so that might be nice. 

Argh why can't I set it up now!!!   

Tom


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## Arana (22 Oct 2007)

Can't wait to see the next step Tom, it's looking great so far, hope you don't have to wait to long!


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## Tom (22 Oct 2007)

hehe I couldnt resist. I've just bought ADA Aquasoil Africana and ADA Sand, along with a new diffuser, the 2006 catalogue, moss balls and some tweesers    

Hopefully royal mail won't lose this like they did my moss and riccia etc! I'd like to get the hardscape totally finished by end of this week.

Tom


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## Arana (22 Oct 2007)

Great!! Can't Wait


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## Tom (25 Oct 2007)

The ADA stuff came through today so I'm slightly excited   

ADA Aquasoil Africana in:




ADA Sarawak Sand in:




I saw these moss balls and thought I'd try them out to see if they're any easier to use than the slate pieces I've used before:




Finished setup with moss balls in place




I'm fairly pleased with the tank so far, just need to sort out a decent background and a new stand! Roll on christmas for planting!!

Tom


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## CJ Castle (27 Oct 2007)

Looks very good... Lots of potential...

The Moss balls just look like cruched lava rock; Probably benefits the moss (in terms of anchorage) a lot more than slate does...


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## beeky (29 Oct 2007)

I like the sand. Is ADA sand 'proper' sand, or is it something else? It looks quite coarse, how does it compare with say, silver sand?

I'd be tempted to use it over a bottom layer, like laterite.


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## Tom (29 Oct 2007)

The moss balls are almost like brick in material. Hard to describe but they're quite dusty and have quite a rough surface so as you say its good for anchoring on to. 

The ADA sand is fairly course, much more so than silver sand. It's more ungraded than silver sand too so im my opinion looks more natural. I was tempted to use powersand for under the sand, so I could maybe grow HC on it but I think I'll be going with the open foreground. 

Tom


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (29 Oct 2007)

youll still be able to grow HC or Glosso in the sand Tom, no problem at all  both feed heavily from the water column as well as via roots so shouldnt present a problem.. might be a little slower to spread, but not much.


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## Moss Man (31 Oct 2007)

CJ Castle said:
			
		

> The Moss balls just look like cruched lava rock.



That's exactly what I thought...

I really like the scape, it will be interesting to see it transform with the addition of plants. I try not get too carried away with moss, if you have too much I don't think it works as well, a few areas with some moss is good.

Cheers,
Mike


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## Tom (2 Nov 2007)

I think if I'm using weeping moss, I'll just attach it to key points in the scape, such as some of the joints in the wood and draping it over the top of the rocks. 

Tom


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## Tom (21 Dec 2007)

I think I've finally found a layout with some potential. Sorry about the bad pics though, it looks a lot more defined and has better perspective when you actually look at it. 

I'm thinking mainly a Moss/Fern scheme, such as might cover an old fallen tree in nature. Maybe some stems behind the rocks, such as Rotala "green" and Rotala wallichii for some colour. Possibly also some HC highlighting areas around the rocks

Anyways... bad full shot





Meant to be a broken branch:


 

A little root thingy:




What do you think of it? I'm trying to pay attention to the small details in this tank, so your thoughts are important!!   

Tom


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## George Farmer (22 Dec 2007)

Very nice, Tom.

Main wood strutting out at 45 degress appears very central ATM.  

Still looks good though.


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## Tom (22 Dec 2007)

Thanks George. I'm wondering though whether if I planted heavier on the left side and make a triangular/convex shape it might lose that centralness?

Another thing, as this tank is going to have such a low plant mass in it and with a lot of slow growers, do you have any thoughts about fertilising? I still have the ADA ferts (Brighty K, Step 1 and Special Lights), so should I just reduce the dosing of that from how I did it last time? I've never had much success with ferns before so I'll have to experiment I think...

Tom


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## Graeme Edwards (22 Dec 2007)

Yeah,very nice little composition. The wood is in a good position in my opnion. Maybe tilt it down more, but only by a fraction. 
With the planting, i would sugest, planting your R, wallichi behind the rock and wood, were the two meet. So its to the right of the main rock on the left,and behind were the wood is wedged against the left rock, does that make sence? Hard to describe whith out putting the pic in photo shop.Aim to put it more behind the main rock, work with the rule of thirds, so it would be on the left third virtical.


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