# 45cm cube (hardscape only)



## Johnny Ciotti (7 Dec 2013)

More and more often I setup a layout with every intention of planting it but feeling regret as I do. Once the hardscape is complete I feel as if I'm having a miniature funeral as the first stem is placed into the soil. Obviously this passes after a week or so as the aquarium begins to fill in, but I wonder all the while what it would be like with none of the vibrancy and movement. After watching Jeff Senske so many years ago begin to really focus on systems void of plants I though to myself, why not? So for every few layouts I take a break from plants, a time out if you will, and reset my clock. Without further rambling on the purpose I introduce my latest of layouts for your thoughts and critique.

This layout is meant to be a hardscape only composition featuring a prominent stone arrangement placed on top of driftwood. The unconventional use of smaller background stones and a large foreground "boulder" should lend to a feeling of weight and singularity despite the busy fishes.


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## Lindy (7 Dec 2013)

The first thing I thought when I saw it is 'there are too many fish' .It feels very crowded. The scape is nice but I don't like the big boulder for some reason. I think I would have liked it more if there had been a big chip out of the stone so It didn't look so uniform. Maybe its just too early in the morn..


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## OllieNZ (7 Dec 2013)

Each to their own I suppose. "I like that boulder, thats a nice boulder". I do agree with the fish comment I does look a bit crowded but still a very nice capture. I like Jeff's hardscape only tanks and imo this wouldn't look out of place in his gallery.


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## Johnny Ciotti (7 Dec 2013)

ldcgroomer said:


> The first thing I thought when I saw it is 'there are too many fish' .It feels very crowded. The scape is nice but I don't like the big boulder for some reason. I think I would have liked it more if there had been a big chip out of the stone so It didn't look so uniform. Maybe its just too early in the morn..


Most certainly I can see your point of view. I'm glad that it at least made you stop and think about what you do and don't like.




OllieNZ said:


> Each to their own I suppose. "I like that boulder, thats a nice boulder". I do agree with the fish comment I does look a bit crowded but still a very nice capture. I like Jeff's hardscape only tanks and imo this wouldn't look out of place in his gallery.


 
Thanks for the perspective. Can you be a bit more specific about the fish? What fish seems to be too plentiful? When viewing the tank in person it doesn't appear to be much at all.


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## OllieNZ (7 Dec 2013)

Johnny Ciotti said:


> Thanks for the perspective. Can you be a bit more specific about the fish? What fish seems to be too plentiful? When viewing the tank in person it doesn't appear to be much at all.


I suppose I'm looking at the stocking with my fish keepers hat on rather than from an art perspective. Like I said I think it is a great capture and I wish my fish would behave like that for photos.


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## Johnny Ciotti (7 Dec 2013)

OllieNZ said:


> I suppose I'm looking at the stocking with my fish keepers hat on rather than from an art perspective. Like I said I think it is a great capture and I wish my fish would behave like that for photos.


Ah, yes. Dependent on the planed longevity of the layout I suppose I'd make different selections and amounts in regard to stocking. A long term hardscape aquarium is 30-60 days at most in all reality. My planted aquariums rarely last longer than that before before the itch for something different comes into play. 

The feedback is appreciated as it keeps all things in perspective. =)

I forget to mention that with the stocking it is still less than the conventional 1" per gallon that is common here in the states. 

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## darren636 (7 Dec 2013)

The most distracting issue is the fish- they do not belong together, and so get in the way of the view.


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## tim (7 Dec 2013)

Really like the layout, would love to see a shot of it with just the tiger barbs.


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## Johnny Ciotti (8 Dec 2013)

darren636 said:


> The most distracting issue is the fish- they do not belong together, and so get in the way of the view.


 
Addressed.


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## Johnny Ciotti (8 Dec 2013)

tim said:


> Really like the layout, would love to see a shot of it with just the tiger barbs.


 
I'll remove the tetras from the aquarium but in the mean time I've cloned them out of the photo to see how I feel about it. =)


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## tim (8 Dec 2013)

That looks spot on IMO, makes me want to set my own up


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## James O (13 Dec 2013)

That is a nice boulder!  I like the way the mixed substrate and wood tie in with the fish colours.  It almost looks like you stripped all the colours out but red/orange in Photoshop 

There's a nice hard scape only tank behind the desk a Charterhouse Aquatics


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## sanj (19 Dec 2013)

I think it looks very striking, but I feel some of that impact might be down to the skilled photography.

We get different things out of this hobby, I totally understand the feeling that the hardscape looks great and planting can take somthing away or rather alters it. I like to see diversity in aquascaping although for me personally there would not be much interest in keeping a display aquarium without plants.


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