Upcoming 2ft tank, thoughts on hardscape layout?

[Allan Asis]

This is a long time coming. It's been 2 months since I started planning, preparing, and sourcing out all the materials I need for this tank.
It's a 2 feet tank Iwagumi and this weekend I finally managed to put in the hardscape.
I'm using ohko (dragonstone) stone and the picture shown here is my final (hopefully) layout.

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I would like to hear from you guys if there's anything that I can change to improve this layout. As of now i'm happy with it but since this is the first time I'm setting up an Iwagumi, It would be great to get feedback from the experts.
The soil I plan to use is ADA amazonia. Thanks!

[Urban Aquaria]

Looks good... though for convenience in maintenance, you may want to consider moving the rocks slightly further away from the tank glass at the side, so that you can access it with an algae scraper (or else when algae eventually grows there, you can't clean it away). But if you are also filling the sides with soil to create a high slope, then no issues with that.

[Dscheng]

Under gravel filter??

[Shadow]

that is egg crate just to stabilize the rock and protect the glass

[lantian69]

Nice rocks u got there ^_^

[mUAr_cHEe]

I like the rocks. It has a very nice texture to it.

Why not scape the rock outwards and give the fishes more space to swim in the middle? I am also not sure about the light placement but I think there is a little bit too much shadows at the front of your rocks. Are you planning to fill those spots up with plants?

[Allan Asis]

hey guys, thanks a lot for all the feedback.
I decided to stick with this layout and fill it up with the soil. As UA advised, I fill up the back corners with soil so that I don't have to clean up the side glass with that narrow area.
Also, It was a major concern about light not being able to penetrate the bottom part as Mura_Chee mentioned. It seems like the rocks are too tall. But then when I poured the soil, it's not that bad anymore as you can see in the pictures.

Click the link to my blog for latest update on the layout http://fishandhamsters.blogspot.sg/2...-complete.html

The two mounds (or islands) will have plants in there. I have yet to decide which plants though but for the carpet plant it will be monte carlo, no other choice!

[Urban Aquaria]

Looks good... perhaps consider reducing the front soil depth so that the slope looks more dramatic, it'll also help increase the viewable area at the front too (since you'll be using short carpet plants anyways, it'll scale better with matching shallower soil depth).

[lantian69]

Nice!! Oh ya, maybe u wanna add in some cut black cupboard strips to prevent your slope from washing downwards 😄

[Allan Asis]

Nice!! Oh ya, maybe u wanna add in some cut black cupboard strips to prevent your slope from washing downwards 

Thanks! I did put some lava rocks to stop the soil in the mounds from collapsing it's pretty solid on those sides even when putting weight on the rocks.

[lantian69]

That's great! Have fun & enjoy the process 😃

[aza]

I like the texture of the rocks too. Care to share where I can find similar rocks?

[Allan Asis]

I like the texture of the rocks too. Care to share where I can find similar rocks?

I actually bought these rocks (dragonstone) from a fellow bro here in AQ. I decommed his tank i believe.