# Show me your favourite long (~1500mm) aquascape?



## Wookii (9 May 2020)

Hi Guys,

I have the green light from 'she who shall be obeyed' to push on with my new 1500 x 450 x 450 tank (not the typical 600mm width I know, but I have limited room width available). Normally I'm pretty creative and solution orientated, but I'm struggling to visualise a layout for this new tank.

I have the following initial loose objectives in mind:

I'm planning for it to be a nature style, and very heavily planted, but I'm open to some small area(s) of sand maybe.
The tank will be regularly viewed from the right hand end in addition to the front, so that needs to built into the scape design (and is one of the main areas I'm struggling with) - I can't have soil and plants pressed high up against the glass at that end for example.

I'm aiming for lots of individual areas of interest, plenty of places the fish can swim through, and around, and interact with.
Though the tank is a lot larger than my current 60 litre, I want to try and maintain the same 'scale' as the small tank, not just have hard scape items, plants and fish that get larger and scale up with the tank size. All my livestock will be smaller/nano species, and my plant choices will be small leaf species. I want to maintain the miniature underwater world look of my 60 litre but more or it spread over a 1500mm tank length if that makes sense.
With the above in mind, I'm therefore hoping you guys can give me some inspiration and post up some images of your favourite longer tank layouts (doesn't have to be exactly 1500mm can be longer or shorter). Feel free to post anything you like the look of, and let me know why you like that particular layout. Thanks in advance!


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## howanic (9 May 2020)

I don’t have any examples, but I think if I were scaping a very long tank, I’d maybe try to split it up into islands. Each one would be similar to scaping a standard 60 or 90 so scale and things would hopefully not be an issue. Each island would be treated as an individual scape, but by using the same hardscape materials and plants they would all relate to each other and become one. You could join them with carpet plants or have open sandy areas. Hopefully this would solve your end view issue too. 

Not sure if that makes any sense though. 

I think the ultimate example of this is Amano’s 40m tank in Portugal, but I’ll try to find some pics of smaller tanks


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## Wookii (9 May 2020)

I'll kick off with some I've come across already:






I particularly like the sand in the front right corner (that might work well with my tank given the two viewing sides requirement) and the way it leads the eye into the scape.





On this one I really like the overhanging rock and the 'stepped' sand that adds a lot of depth.


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## howanic (9 May 2020)

That second one is stunning. How long is that?


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## Wookii (9 May 2020)

howanic said:


> I don’t have any examples, but I think if I were scaping a very long tank, I’d maybe try to split it up into islands. Each one would be similar to scaping a standard 60 or 90 so scale and things would hopefully not be an issue. Each island would be treated as an individual scape, but by using the same hardscape materials and plants they would all relate to each other and become one. You could join them with carpet plants or have open sandy areas. Hopefully this would solve your end view issue too.
> 
> Not sure if that makes any sense though.
> 
> I think the ultimate example of this is Amano’s 40m tank in Portugal, but I’ll try to find some pics of smaller tanks



Thanks. I didn't really want to go the route of small islands surrounded by sand, but you make a good point, they could be linked by lower level planted areas. I do want the scape to look like a continuous unbroken scene , like a slice of river or lake has been inserted in the tank.



howanic said:


> That second one is stunning. How long is that?



1800mm I think . . . .EDIT: No its actually W150 x D60 x H45


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## Wookii (9 May 2020)

This is another one I like - though the wood on the left is perhaps larger in scale that I want to go for - creating a lower area on the right might be an option for my two viewing angles.





And a similar approach here:





The one thing I'm not convinces by on these two scapes, for my purposes, is the fact that are just two sided - open on one side, and wood on the other, I'd like to create more individual areas of visual interest.


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## Zeus. (9 May 2020)

My favourite 3 sided 1500mm one is mine


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## Wookii (9 May 2020)

Zeus. said:


> My favourite 3 sided 1500mm one is mine




Lol nothing wrong with a little 'self-love' @Zeus. it is indeed a very nice scape.

I'm grabbing these stills for future reference (hope thats okay):


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## hypnogogia (9 May 2020)

Number 2 above great.


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## Zeus. (9 May 2020)

Three sided puts it in a different category as 1500mm one sided IMO and you dont see many 3 sided tanks with 2 long sides viewable. Makes the plumbing much more difficult as well


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## Wookii (9 May 2020)

Zeus. said:


> Three sided puts it in a different category as 1500mm one sided IMO and you dont see many 3 sided tanks with 2 long sides viewable. Makes the plumbing much more difficult as well



I can imagine! It's difficult enough trying to plan flow and distribution with two 'viewing' faces. You've done a lot of good stuff there though. You've managed to make the tank look longer than 1500mm - I think because of the general lower hardscape height you've created along the right 2/3rd's, which is what I'm after - I like the open substrate area to the right also (in common with the Dave Chow tanks I posted above), but also that you've added small rocks and wood to that area to give interest. I lot of takeways for me there.


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## tiger15 (9 May 2020)

Mine is a 6ft (182 cm) long tank, heavily stocked cichlid planted tank.  After trying several variations, for a long tank, an asymmetrical triangular scape seems to look better than central island or valley scape.


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## PARAGUAY (9 May 2020)




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## PARAGUAY (9 May 2020)

Always like the Owls Shriek


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