Please critique my scape with brutal honesty

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axelrod12

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Jan 10, 2011
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Greg
So, I've been pretty stagnant lately with my setups, a few months ago I mostly tore down my 29g with the intent of rescaping it. I got some rocks in there and let it sit for a few months (got busy with other hobbies/work). A few days ago I got to fiddling with it a bit and this is what I have at the moment. I threw some plants together in it that I've had laying around as a sort of preliminary planting, maybe it will give an idea of where things are heading at the moment. However for critique I'm primarily focused on hardscape but feel free to make any comments/suggestions.

no plants yet:



plants:
 

axelrod12

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I like it but would worry about excess food accumulating in the rock formations.
I feed sparingly. Typically everything gets eaten and any leftovers should get taken care of through my water changes.

I think it would look better with less rocks although I like how you blended the plants in.
You know, I was kinda thinking that too, but if I lower the rocks the planting will change significantly as it takes away from the height of the tank. Too much empty space. Thats something I will consider if I don't go with this type of scape and start over.
 

DirtyJob

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Apr 27, 2013
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Initially I thought it looked too lopsided on one side (the right side) but that was before you added in the plants (in pic #3). Now it looks a lot more symmetrical & I like how it looks with the plants added into the mix. Looks good! My only suggestion would be to not add any plants that would exceed the height of the rock formations. I think it'll look best if the rock formations are the tallest features in the scape & not the plants. Just my opinion though....
 

sumthin fishy

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Aug 22, 2005
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Not sure how you did this....In theory you should never have something this symmetrical. You have taken the rule of thirds and laughed in it's face with great results. The slightly lopsided look helps with that I think (like I said, nothing should be this symmetrical, but if it was perfectly the same it would look unnatural) This setup looks like some natural, underwater crevasse where some large predator would lurk. The gentle rightward angle in the gap, along with the slope of the rocks on the left alludes that, if the crevasse continued, it would likely swing back left in an arc. I am loving this and can't wait to see more!
 

rufioman

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Aug 16, 2010
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sick, dude, but needs tall plants in the rocks, too.
 

eeyipes

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Jun 11, 2008
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My final judgement would depend on what type of fish will be living here but here goes ...

I like the jumbled rocks, I like the type of rock and the sizes of the pieces. Makes me think of a mountain rockslide. The small plants poking in between adds some naturalism and softness.
But I kind of feel like there's too much hard surface and not enough soft. If I were to make a suggestion it might be to decrease some of the rock and add larger free flowing plants in the background behind the rock piles. Some thick clumps of stem plants, swords or large anubias perhaps. Think of the mountain forest you see behind the rockslide. It might also be cool to add a branchy peice of driftwood laying artistically over the rocks. Think of the fallen tree from the forest laying in the rockslide.

Like I said tho, depending on the intended fish I might totally change my mind about all that.

Well there it is, my 2¢. I think it's a great start!
 

rufioman

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Aug 16, 2010
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^Good scape for me regardless of occupants. You'll want to do 25% water changes twice a week with that many rocks. Hardscapes make for less actual water. Awesome scape though, dude, love it.

:cheers:
 

wesleydnunder

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Dec 11, 2005
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^Good scape for me regardless of occupants. You'll want to do 25% water changes twice a week with that many rocks. Hardscapes make for less actual water. Awesome scape though, dude, love it.

:cheers:
I'm confused by this statement. If one normally does a 50% volume partial a week, how is doing two 25% volume partials a week a better idea because of the amount of hardscape?

I like the look of the tank, btw.

Mark
 
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