The dust has settled. Here's where I got to the first time round.
Much better in terms of 1/3s and grid, but the central stone with moss was dominating too much, and the tallest stone somehow felt inferior to the others. It tilting to the left also weakened the tension of the scape - the 'eye lines' in red I wanted weren't really emphasised by that stone.
So one minor reshaping later.
Slightly tighter to grid, but much better on diagonals and 'eye lines', and the tallest stone dominates much more. Planning for a thick carpet of staurogyne in the front, big blyxa bushes in the central point under the main stone, big dense rotala bush on back left and limnophila quite carefully trimmed (it's not here as am growing more stems) to emphasise the right hand red 'eye line', plus a small bacopa bush where the yellow focus point is.
Think it's actually pretty amazing how much bigger the tank looks, and particularly how much deeper (it's 40cm). I put this down to the much better use of diagonals and the fact that each piece of hardscape is positioned at a different 'depth' from front to back, which gives it far more layers. One thing that makes this really obvious to me is how much emptier the tank looks even though all the plants have been replanted directly. What was quite lush now looks sparse!
Here's the bigger resolution FTS.
When this is properly grown in, think will look much better than before. Plants slightly bunged in at the moment so it's looking pretty dominated by hardscape. Am relaxed though - as the stone fades out will get better and better.
[EDIT
Hmmm.... looking at this now, think might take out the back right stone and replace the big front right stone with two or three smaller ones in the same basic layout. Funny how things look different through a camera lens! And is a real lesson for me in how important to do the hardscape patiently and properly, leaving days for mulling over, before putting any water in. Any change now is basically a serious hassle so will ponder.]
Suggestions?
Much better in terms of 1/3s and grid, but the central stone with moss was dominating too much, and the tallest stone somehow felt inferior to the others. It tilting to the left also weakened the tension of the scape - the 'eye lines' in red I wanted weren't really emphasised by that stone.
So one minor reshaping later.
Slightly tighter to grid, but much better on diagonals and 'eye lines', and the tallest stone dominates much more. Planning for a thick carpet of staurogyne in the front, big blyxa bushes in the central point under the main stone, big dense rotala bush on back left and limnophila quite carefully trimmed (it's not here as am growing more stems) to emphasise the right hand red 'eye line', plus a small bacopa bush where the yellow focus point is.
Think it's actually pretty amazing how much bigger the tank looks, and particularly how much deeper (it's 40cm). I put this down to the much better use of diagonals and the fact that each piece of hardscape is positioned at a different 'depth' from front to back, which gives it far more layers. One thing that makes this really obvious to me is how much emptier the tank looks even though all the plants have been replanted directly. What was quite lush now looks sparse!
Here's the bigger resolution FTS.
When this is properly grown in, think will look much better than before. Plants slightly bunged in at the moment so it's looking pretty dominated by hardscape. Am relaxed though - as the stone fades out will get better and better.
[EDIT
Hmmm.... looking at this now, think might take out the back right stone and replace the big front right stone with two or three smaller ones in the same basic layout. Funny how things look different through a camera lens! And is a real lesson for me in how important to do the hardscape patiently and properly, leaving days for mulling over, before putting any water in. Any change now is basically a serious hassle so will ponder.]Suggestions?
. Just kidding, shrimp are great at hiding and the clay you have is easy to blend into. I'm sure they will appear, maybe not all of them though
