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Stu's 90x45x45 Apalala Shore - IAPLC 2012 #114 - AGA 2012 #3

Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape

darren636 said:
any advice on creating a mound, will be starting my island this weekend. thinking tight socks filled with sand and rocks to prevent slipping.
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might be a bit late now sorry but I created mine by damming in the aqua soil by putting dragon stone around the bottom. I then used the bags of pumice to lift the back of the scape then poured AS over it. If you've got a slope without rocks you can hold it together better with plastic dividers slotted into the soil. Cutup pop bottles and the like work well.

sarahtermite said:
This is such a beautiful scape - for me it's the perfect balance of hard scaping and plants, impeccably arranged. :clap:
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Thanks Sarah 🙂

Dan-CR4 said:
this is a really nice scape, would love to be able to create something that stunning. How many kg of rock did you use?
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Thanks Dan, I think it was about 25Kg

ghostsword said:
Stu, this has to be your best work ao far, blimey mate, it looks superb. I want to copy this!! 🙂


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Cheers Louis, please feel free, its the greatest form of flattery 🙂

viktorlantos said:
Looks very nice Stu! 😉 Can't wait to see this a month or 2 later when its fully grown. Very unique scape and the plants support it really well.
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Thanks Viktor. Im hoping it will grow in well. Im still not sure on the cypress on the right and whether I should take it out a plant more stems. Ive got them growing but they aren't visible yet.

In my efforts to record the tank I did some carp video the other week when it was newly planted and just had shrimp on.

Unfortunately Ive got an odd vertical flicker and I don't know why its happens if anyone can enlighten me? Im using a canon 5d mkii for the video so any best option settings anyone can give would be helpful, i.e. whether to have it on manual, shutter priority etc?

Heres the vid, not sure if the link will work!

 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

Still learning the ropes with video but I've seen the flickering on occasion; changing the shutter speed usually seems to fix it. Haven't been paying enough attention to figure out exactly what causes it though.
 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

I bought some purple harlequins for the tank tonight from TGM. They're finding their feet at the moment so I took a quick shot of them late one. At the moment they only properly shoal if the filters are turned off so I'm not sure if the flow upsets them?

anyway, I'm afraid its a large picture but I did a collage from some recent images.

6804523259_5f7ff156b5_o.jpg
 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

Looks perfect Stu. Great photography also. :thumbup:
For vids I'd use other lighting/WB, kinda blueish for my taste (NAG bulb).
Cheers,
Mike
 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

clonitza said:
Looks perfect Stu. Great photography also. :thumbup:
For vids I'd use other lighting/WB, kinda blueish for my taste (NAG bulb).
Cheers,
Mike
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Yeah, I did think of doing a custom white balance while I was filming it so Ill have to laminate some a4 so it can go in the tank to take a reading!

Tony Swinney said:
Hi Stu - looking great 🙂

Re the flickering, you need to match the shutter speed to the mhz of the power supply which changes around the world, so in the UK, shutter speed of 1/50th should stop it 🙂

Tony
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Cheers Tony, great advice, Ill give it a go.
 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

Hi Stu,
this is looking great.
The sense of depth is amazing and this 45 wide tank looks like it could be 4.5 metres! The scaling of the rock sizes, the gradient of the sand pathway, the intricate planting and angle of the main arch wood piece coming slightly forward to the right all help in creating this illusion and that takes skill. :clap:
The purple harlequins remind me of birds soaring over the landscape.
I feel that as good as its looking now, when the mosses and ferns start spreading more and filling in the little gaps it will bring more uniformity which will make it even better!
Great work.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

HarryRobinson said:
From what i can see this has got to be one of the best scapes ive seen in a whilee! Truly amazing. The video really shows how much your shrimps enjoy it too 🙂 Keep it Up!
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Thanks Harry. The shrimps are pretty happy in there, loads of places to hide!

mikeappleby said:
Really useful to see this progression. Just shows how much you need to visualise planting before the hardscape. Looking great.
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Cheers Mike. I did find this on my last scape. I've got a few places that are still bare at the moment but I'm hoping the hydro will grow in to fill some gaps.

Ady34 said:
Hi Stu,
this is looking great.
The sense of depth is amazing and this 45 wide tank looks like it could be 4.5 metres! The scaling of the rock sizes, the gradient of the sand pathway, the intricate planting and angle of the main arch wood piece coming slightly forward to the right all help in creating this illusion and that takes skill. :clap:
The purple harlequins remind me of birds soaring over the landscape.
I feel that as good as its looking now, when the mosses and ferns start spreading more and filling in the little gaps it will bring more uniformity which will make it even better!
Great work.
Cheerio,
Ady.
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sorry for not responding before, must have missed the email update but thanks so much for the kind words ady 🙂 Ive learnt from the experts on here about the gradients from day1 of joining. Its always good to see the multiple angles that mark e and the like post up so you can see what depth of substrate will give to the final image. Ive learnt a lot from amano's books too and IAPLC entries from seeing how to place wood/rocks in the tank to create the feeling of depth 🙂

Heres a quick photo from this morning. I had a delivery from hong kong yesterday of some new wireless flash triggers. They are phottix odin and while I've bought them mainly for lighting brides at weddings they are going to come in very handy for the tank!

6858629523_18ce95fdbf_o.jpg
90x45x45 Planted Dragon Stone Scape - Purple Harlequins by Stu Worrall, on Flickr
 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

oh man, this tank is special, that is a very nice pic, love the lighting aspect.
 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

thanks darren. It goes against the grain slightly as the flash was directly right rather than above the camera but it works well with the fish and seeing the undersurface.
 
Re: Stu's 90x45x45 Dragon Stone Scape (Video Page 7)

Hi,
looking great stu.
The second picture down is incredible, the amount going on in that one tiny snippet is unreal, both plant diversity and fish, shrimp and snail!
Really filling in nicely.
Ady.
 
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