My tank (need some aquascaping)

[strung_0ut]

Hello,

Here is my tank:



I also sent my tank into APC for the thursday chat about aquascaping. I am really happy with growth and everything and I think my tank is very nice, but I would like to perfect it. Now I want to focus on aquascaping. I am not a good aquascaper so any tips on scaping a tank with several species of moss and echinodorus? I don't like how everything is bunched in the middle, there is several sword species, HC, downoi and others. I also want to make good use of all my space. There are a lot of gaps that would be shaded by driftwood or just empty space that doesn't seem it would get enough light. As well I would also like to keep things like driftwood off my wall and prevent gaps and ill-growth. How on earth can I scape this ?

Thanks,
Dennis

[timebomb]

That's a very lovely tank, Dennis. What moss are you using for the moss wall? It looks absolutely stunning.

I'm hopeless with aquascaping but I've noticed that tanks look better if there are empty spaces. Amano uses this to great effect. I would suggest you plan a layout for your driftwoods and work from there. The idea is to create focal points. Currently, that is what your tank lacks. Your big plants and driftwoods are all over the place, if you know what I mean.

Speaking of driftwoods, there was a time when we got carried away tying mosses and other plants to them. It got to a point where we can't see our driftwoods anymore because the plants grow so well they covered everything. Now, I think it's important to tie the mosses in such a way some parts of the driftwoods can always be seen. Or else it would defeat the purpose of using driftwoods in the first place, wouldn't it?

Loh K L

[FC]

Dennis,

You are another moss man. I am not good in aquascape either. However, healthy plants alone to me is already beautiful. Well done!

[strung_0ut]

Thank you sirs for the compliments and insight . That would be a weeping moss wall. Closer to the light the moss weeps but as you go down the wall there is more gaps and more christmas-like fronds. It sounds like a good plan to start with the driftwood and work from there. I think I will get rid of big plants and just leave one. I am very lazy though, so I don't know when I will start. I can't get over leaving space on driftwood, I just can't do it for some reason.


Best Regards,
Dennis

[strung_0ut]

Slowly and slowly day by day I have been changing this tank and here is my second attempt at aquascaping this tank and here is what I have come up with. Updates:



I like that there is more space in the tank now.



But I do miss having all the different species and amounts of moss.



Here is my bestest downoi. One small plant with 4 other shoots.



I added a wall, and hope the gaps on my wall also fill up. Here are the left and the right sides of my tank.





Overall I like the scape, I daydreamed it better than expected. I would like fill in the gaps with a foreground. Thats about it, thanks for looking .

-Dennis

[Robert]

Hi Dennis,
all in all your tank looks better now. It seems to have much more space. But I would plant these huge red Echindorus in the right corner behind the center driftwood pice instead of in front of them. In the foreground some small plants like E. 'Rainers Felix' or E.'Rainers Kitty' surrounded by some E. tennelus would look great. At the moment there are two focal points, the driftwood with the weeping moss and these big deep red Echinodorus, at the same place. In the left corner a bigger plant is missing, a E. 'Golden Flame' would look nice or a E. 'Tanzende Feuerfeder'. In the right part of the tank there would be neough space for some bigger Echindorus like E. 'Paul Klöcker', E. 'Lothario' or E.'Dschungelstar 16' .

BTW, is this a E. 'Jaguar' on the left side of the driftwood? The Echindours in the foreground of the left side of your tank is a E. 'Devils Eye', isn't it? They seem to be familar to me . I have a E. 'harbrig red' which would look great in between the E. 'Jaguar' and E. 'Devils Eye'. The wide bright green older leaves and the young orange ones would be a great contrast.

best regards

Robert

[strung_0ut]

Okay okay I get it Robert . Thanks for the hints, you need not to worry though, I have not forgotten. Just give till the beginning of next month. How's the hybrids working out? Pm me. I don't think the red echinodorus' will get any bigger than that, can you fill me in more on why you would move them behind the driftwood? I have a autumn leaves in the left corner, it should get a lot bigger and take that big space. And you are correct on all the guesses about the types of swords they are .

Best Regards,
Dennis

[timebomb]

Your tank is getting lovelier, Dennis.

Looking at the big bunch of moss in the centre of your tank, I was struck by the thought that perhaps we can grow mosses into various shapes, something like what gardeners do. Gardeners bend wires into various forms creating the skeletal shapes. When the plants creep along the wires, they trim it to achieve the desired figures. Can we do the same for mosses?

Loh K L

[ruyle]

Gardeners bend wires into various forms creating the skeletal shapes. When the plants creep along the wires, they trim it to achieve the desired figures. Can we do the same for mosses?

Loh K L

Underwater topiaries? Of course using copper wire would be
contraindicated...regular ol' steel wire would have to do. KL, if you try
this, please post a pic!

Regards,

Bill

[greenmiddlefinger]

Hmm . . . I don't understand the appeal on the moss walls.

I think moss walls are a bit weak compositionally. My thinking is that such sparkling beautiful moss catches the eye right? That means that the eye will pay some attention to the moss on the walls. With a perfectly flat moss wall, this makes the viewer very aware of the flat, box-shape of the aquarium because they are paying attention to the perfectly flat walls. This makes the aquarium seem small and artificial looking in my opinion. This artificial-awareness is even more heightened when two moss walls touch like in the new lay out above, because the corner edge between the two malls can never be completely blurred, and attracts the eye to the tank's box-shape even more.

In a more traditional nature aquarium without moss walls, the viewer pays attention to the plant lay-out, which means the tank seems more spacious as if the landscape extends pasts the walls of the aquarium and gives more freedom to the imagination of the viewer.

However, if the moss wall is constructed with varying depth using stones/wood attached to the wall like typical vivarium style, and the moss is attached to that, then the moss wall seems very natural, and the tank wall is similar to the wall of a river bank. Of course this effect too would be lost if you tried to do it with multiple walls.

That is my take on moss walls anyway.

[strung_0ut]

Hmm . . . I don't understand the appeal on the moss walls.

I think moss walls are a bit weak compositionally. My thinking is that such sparkling beautiful moss catches the eye right? That means that the eye will pay some attention to the moss on the walls. With a perfectly flat moss wall, this makes the viewer very aware of the flat, box-shape of the aquarium because they are paying attention to the perfectly flat walls. This makes the aquarium seem small and artificial looking in my opinion. This artificial-awareness is even more heightened when two moss walls touch like in the new lay out above, because the corner edge between the two malls can never be completely blurred, and attracts the eye to the tank's box-shape even more.

In a more traditional nature aquarium without moss walls, the viewer pays attention to the plant lay-out, which means the tank seems more spacious as if the landscape extends pasts the walls of the aquarium and gives more freedom to the imagination of the viewer.

However, if the moss wall is constructed with varying depth using stones/wood attached to the wall like typical vivarium style, and the moss is attached to that, then the moss wall seems very natural, and the tank wall is similar to the wall of a river bank. Of course this effect too would be lost if you tried to do it with multiple walls.

That is my take on moss walls anyway.

With the moss wall you can propagate a lot of moss without taking up a lot of room as driftwood would. I really like the look as well. Yeah I think I overdid it on walls =), but with my scape I wasn't really going to a natural scaping look, just more of a simple look with more open space so I can try and grow other plants without mosses taking up everything. My inspiration would be kind've like a tank Mr. Loh would do which are really simple with a lot of open space. I couldn't really acheive it as I have nowhere to house all the plants I have being limited to 2 tanks with one in the backyard that doesn't really successful grow much. I guess aquascaping means nature scaping? I think I misled on my post, sorry about that.

[greenmiddlefinger]

Yeah, moss walls are excellent for cultivation purposes, and I could see how this tank would be very good for just growing the nice plants.

And of course you have very lovely growth and plants

I think aquascaping = aesthetic appeal, and for me that means "art."

Making something to "look nice" is not making "art." I think doing art or "aquascaping" means something close to "going for true aesthetic excellence." That goal is not accomplished by making a grow-out tank.

[SnyperP]

Hey Dennis! Your mosses look very stunning. I just wanted to ask you where you acquired the materials to build your moss wall. I've been looking for the same exact material in california but have not been able to find anything. Thanks for your help!

Phi Dang

[strung_0ut]

Hey Dennis! Your mosses look very stunning. I just wanted to ask you where you acquired the materials to build your moss wall. I've been looking for the same exact material in california but have not been able to find anything. Thanks for your help!

Phi Dang

Hi Synper,

Thanks for the compliment. I got the plastic mesh from Home Depot, its called Landware or Landwire, something like that, you can check it out on the Home Depot website. Suction cups I get from target medium sized $1 for 4 each. And then I tie with fishing thread.