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Setting up hardscape and i could use some critique

F. Jeppesen

Member
Joined
29 Jul 2015
Messages
41
Got myself 30-45lbs seiryo stone and been trying to work out some hardscapes over the last couple of weeks worth showing off ...
But damn you guys make this look easy!
None of them seem to work together..
They will be sitting on a layer of black nutrasoil, a thick carpet of monte carlo or cuba, and eventually i will add some grass around them to give a little depth.. Tank is 60x45x40

1.
2lbm1qo.jpg


2.
2mr8gom.jpg


3.
28kq06x.jpg


4.
21dfuki.jpg


2lia35i.jpg

So much to choose from, yet so little .. I lack a proper main stone, the three large ones has no really good sites to show..
 
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Pick up some cheap sand (if you don't want to practice in tank with substrate) & use this to raise/lower rocks, adjust/support angles etc - also look at your rocks wet & under tank lights: light/shadow play off the stone surface will also impact perception ... then take loads of photos & label rocks etc to more easily replicate the same scape in-tank

You can also create support layers to raise rocks/substrate as you see in this journal

Looks like a nice collection of stones.

Don't forget that many of those stunning scapes you see begin with rocks/wood selected from boxes of materials - I think Viktor Lantos has some great photos of an aquascaping day at his shop (local aquarists come in, form teams & scape several display tanks that run for the next months) ... my local shop rarely has a single full box :(
 
Hi, nice selection of stones. I have used seiryu stones lately along with Aquasoil and monte carlo. The best advice I can give you is to think 3 dimensionally. Remember that if you have a sufficient depth of soil you will be able to place any of your stones at any angle you wish. With your current thinkering on a table top, you will only be able to create one percent of the possible combination of positions available when aquascaping in soil. Furthermore, monte carlo grows fast and deep and will cover your smaller stones quite quickly if not trimmed regularly. Just a few things to think about:crazy:

Enjoy!!!
 
Use tuna tins, baked beans, books, wood, other rocks, cardboard anything to build up the rocks as a tabletop substitute for soil. It's not easy, but when you get something nice you'll know it.
 
The layout where you just have the rocks placed on the kitchen table is actually quite interesting (your last pic). Maybe dont over think it - look into the rules of iwagumi, golden ratio and rule of the thirds. Imagine you are trying to replicate how you would see rocks in a stream.


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The rocks layed out on the table look really nice. I actually thought it was one of your layouts :) I'd go with that or something similar.
 
I like your collection of rocks, I recently did mine with the same type and I found that by using the natural lines in the rock I could 'line them up' kinda like a natural geo movement if that makes any sense.

I think I had about 20 different styles and in the end I went with what the wife liked best... She is my harshest critic


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Thank you all for your inputs :) I will keep practicing, and set up scapes until i find the one i like. They have been set up with different height levels, i just didnt think of showing it.
I wont be able to use the full setup unless I get a 100x50cm tank haha. there are more stones than it might look like :D
I will post the final layout in a journal.
 
One tip I read somewhere was, once you have a layout that you're happy with, leave it set up for a day or two, that way you will get to live with it for a short while.
How many times do we have a layout set up only to find we want to change things a couple of days later?
 
No - I mean how 2 stones can point in opposite directions but the majority of the rest of the stones support the direction of the main stone. This thought helped me when I was trying to understand the iwagumi style. There are certain points you want to hit in a hardscape in an aquarium (rule of thirds/golden ratio etc) but I think you should set up your hardscape and look at it for a while thinking how does it feel to look at.


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Alright thank you :)
Thats what i tried to say earlier. I have some sweet stones individually, but unfortunatly the "good" sides point in opposite directions, I wanted to have them all point to the left because my in and out take are on the right side of the tank.
 
The tension is the 2 stones pointing in opposite directions and the flow (the release) is the other stones supporting the main stone.


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I think the flow should follow the direction of the water but like any rules they are there to be broken. Try to find a nature scene and replicate it.


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By the way - i am a beginner aswell and just learning


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Hi you have some really nice rock there I to liked the layout on just your table and could see that working with kinda a island type scape higher in the middle going lower to front and to left and right I found that using a box same height and size as tank made it easier to layout with a bag of cheap playsand to get different heights and shapes my little one thought it was fun to

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