Zenscape's Rockscape [July 08]

[zenscape]

Hi all

Having seen so many new and fast set ups here, got inspired, up the sleeves and attempted last Sunday a rock layout and placement

The tank is a 90cm x 45cm x 45cm with 4 x 39W T5(HO)

The plants are from my other tanks and purely to kick start the new set up. If they grow well and 'behave', they can stay

No plans for a full iwagumi scape like having full hairgrass at the background but will wait and see as it gets along.. I may consider if the tank goes well.

The foreground plants are glosso but will replace it with HC shortly. Stay tuned and I will post the tank with HC foreground once I get a hand of it.

Please give me your thoughts in the meantime

[torque6]

FIRST !! great placement of rocks, but are those behind are rotalas ?

[tcy81]

very nice, can wait to see the full bloom setup.

[zenscape]

Yes. Rotala and Rotala sp 'green' with HM on left. Hairgrass on the sides and glosso foreground. E tenellus around the rocks. Keeping it simple

[sragor]

Very nice pieces of rocks you have there! cannot wait to see how this will turn out to be

[Burnz]

ooo, nice rock placement, though i thought the one in the middle was a tat too centralised. Those rotalas are really looking good in this scape, which makes me want to try planting in my next project. Great job Zenscape

[williamng]

Hi

Great job! Looks very nice. I wonder whether the effect will be better if the middle stone is 20% larger and you move it towards the left?

[illumnae]

lovely setup as always zenscape. wish i could scape as well as you do

[Cpark188]

Hi bro, the layout is fascinating and many interesting effects are achieved, especially the nice layout of rocks, peaceful and eye-pleasing display. Just can't wait to see your HC lawn (glosso and HC are difficult to grow with this gravel). Well, you are the creator of this tank already has the talent and skill and well prepare with the arrangement of plants and rocks. Hahaha, keep it up.

[blue33]

Btw where you get those rocks?

[ct13]

Very clean cut looks!! I like it!

[fireblade]

nice layout of the rocks!!
the middle rock like catching all the focus

[Fei Miao]

Good hardscape, it just a feeling that the scape might look better if the foreground is left bare for this scape.

[Jervis]

Interesting to see Iwagumi evolving to a new level... There aren't many tanks out there that manage to pull it through due to the complexity (mine considered one of the failed attempts). Will definitely tag along to learn more

Actually I find the Glosso foreground quite alright as you have bright light. Most of your rocks are tallish... don't think the Glosso will give you much trouble in the end.

Can we have a closer look at your soilbed? Can't figure out what's the mix really

[soulfinder78]

Glosso for foreground is hard work. Need alot of maintenance, HC will be great looks better and grow slow.

Your rock placement is superb. Care to share how you decide on this arrangement? Where can i find those rocks as most LFS i went to normally have limited rocks.

[uklau]

Great work, Maurice . Guess I didn't play enough of LEGO when I was young. I can never come out with such a superb hardscape arrangement no matter how hard I tried . Can't wait to see more photos.

[zenscape]

Glad to hear from Iwagumi fans of AQ

@ Burnz, William

Points noted. Actually I have been mesmerised by some of Amanos' Iwagumi and in particularly, the few with centralised main rocks with side secondary rocks.

It seems that 1/3 rule may be difficult for my current layout as the main rock is slanting and it needs alot of left shifting to see the rule and the right cluster rocks may be too empty if i shift the main rock to the left.

@blue33

The rocks are collected over the years from many LFS like NA, C328, Biotope, Kingfisher and Gratiola (the last two no longer in business)

We all know that it is difficult to get decent rocks in Singapore LFS as the market is still small. So, keep a constant lookout and buy those which you feel have potential. Turn the rock 360 degree, upside down. The best rocks are those which show characters in any angle you look at it. Very soon, you will have a good collection of it to do a rockscape.


@ cpark188

haha, that were some nice comments and description by you of my tank. Yes, I was trying out some effects and it was spotted by you.

Oh, I never knew HC will be difficult with this sand but I will test it out.


@Jervis

I thought your 'stone formation' tank submitted for IAPLC 08 was impressive and please don't think it was a failed attempt.

The soil or rather, it is pure lapis sand. I am still abit of old school about sand, old habits hard to break

@ Fei Miao

Good suggestion. I was actually thinking of bare frontal when I was setting it out. If all else fail, you will see this tank with a bare foreground to define the rocks placement clearer


@ Soulfinder78

Frankly, I did not have a definite clue how it would finally look like when i was setting it out. I changed the layout several times over a few days before I was happy with it. This is part of the process of rockscape. You set it up and eyeball at it for several days and keep shifting here and there until the 'ah hah' moment and then you are at peace with it.

@uklau

haha, you remind me of lego. Yes, rockscape is just like lego blocks building exercise

[blue33]

Thanks for the tips!

[ranmasatome]

Hey..
Great stuff here man..
waiting to see how it turns out.

just a thought.. don't you think the rocks all placed on the same axis?

[jacian]

Hi Maurice, I have to say it is a very nice layout there. However, for Iwagumi style, there should be limited number of plant species so as to acheive the simplicity. Usually it consists of one a single foreground and a background plant. I see that you have quite a number of plant species there and when the plants are fully grown in, I doubt it can still be classified as Iwagumi style. What do you think?