Steven_Chong

On Saturday my plants from Aquaspotworld arrived (in great shape!) so I was finally able to finish planting the 60cm. You may remember that I did a thread for the initial hardscape, here:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...ell-lesse.html


This is a formal after setup thread though, now that the tank has been planted. The water is still a bit murky but I hope you can still see it alright!



This has got to be one of the most annoying set-ups ever, with moss, riccia, glossostigma, small stem plants and even utricularia gibba (hitch-hiked on some others) all in there. O.o

I got inspired to do this lay out when I went to Japan this last summer. In the summer, the hills (well everywhere really outside of Tokyo) are packed with dense swollen forest of deep green as both the maple and sakura are green in that season-- and this deep green is beautifully highlighted by enormous groups of bamboo. I was mezmerized by those beautiful forests, and wondered how I could re-create them. After many hours of staring out the windows of the shinkansen, with nothing else to do or see or think about but those forests outside the window, the idea of combining Rotala sp. Najenshan with moss to recreate the texture of bamboo and trees came to me. That's when I decided that I'd definitely do a layout like that some day.

When I got back from Japan, I made this aquasketch:



I was tempted to do this as soon as I got back, but I decided it was best to sit on the ideas and let them develop longer. So, I did Hau Coast, a layout based on Hawai'i since then. I'm glad I took those 3-4 extra months to think about this layout, because in that time I realized a bunch of other things:

1) My original idea of attaching moss to a large piece of wood and them planting rotala around it was no good-- it could never give me the sense of "trees" that I wanted. From that I made the decision to go with many sticks instead of blocky wood. I think this will better help me get the two elements to mix.
2) I wanted a grassy plant in the foreground, but e. tenellus (used in Hau Coast) ended up being too freaking huge. There are other grassy plants, like Utricularia grammnifolia, but I decided its texture is a bit too "strange" for what I wanted. In the end I decided to go with riccia. I remembered the feelings of when I first got into aquascaping, and an aquarist in Hawaii had used riccia to make a lawn that, for a person who'd never seen a planted aquarium before, gave the magical sense of a crisp meadow. Because the Nature Aquarium books are also a big inspiration to me, I decided to go with riccia for nostalgia's sake. Glosso also was included for nostalgia's sake.
3) I really wasn't sure if I wanted to include a river or not, but in the end I decided too. The most common site for me from the shinkansen window was to see rolling fields of rice in front of the forests. I wanted to have the sense of water in this layout, and decided that a stream would also give an idea of "size" to my forest.
4) Bringing a tree to the front to give a sense of perspective has always been a part of this idea, but after considering branchy pieces to be used in the foreground, I decided that there just wasn't enough space front to back in the 60cm, so instead I decided to make another "wood" in the foreground with thicker sticks.

Well, I'm sure I'm forgetting some of my other ideas and thoughts, but I think that's enough about what I was thinking for now.

edit: This should go without saying but I want to make it clear that I truly invite any type of commentary and criticism-- bring it on. Just be ready to discuss your opinions.

I hope you guys enjoy this one because I don't think I'll do another like it . . . ever . . . it took 4 Hours to tie moss to all those sticks!!!

nellis

Steven: Looking great. I think the foresty look is one of the coolest, but hardest looks to achieve. I think it will look amazing if you can get the rotala to send off side shoots nearer the top that sort of "climb" a little horizontally across the water's surface.

The woodwork looks so nice that I think that the rocks distract from them and are confusing in the overall sense of the scape, especially near the one spot with exposed gravel. At the same time they have the important role of dividing the front and back of the tank.
My .02$
As usual, nice work.

-Nate

mrbelvedere138

That's an interesting idea, but it's difficult for me to comment on the unfinished scape as of now. I do like the painting though, I'm especially impressed by the ripples at the surface. I'm sure it will look really neat when it fills in.

I also think it's really cool how you do aquascapes that don't exactly "fit in the box". I'm rather tired of seeing the same thing over and over again, so I find your work very refreshing and original. Sorry to sound like a rabid fan.

Steven_Chong

Nate-- I have to agree that the rocks come accross really strongly now. Hopefully that impression will be softened as the plants grow in. There is moss attached to the rocks in some places (though it may be hard to see this) so hopefully it'll grow in and serve to combine the wood and stones more consistantly. BTW the stones serve another very important purpose-- holding back a mountain of aquasoil! I'll show some side photos later, but there's a really big change of substrate height from behind the rocks to infront of the rocks.

Mrbelvedere-- It is kind of boring to see the same stuff all the time, isn't it? For me, my idea is to try and push myself, as well as make a scape that could only exist because of me-- because of experiences and thoughts and a situation that are mine. Everyone has unique creative skills and unique experiences, so harnessing the strength from that aspect of us would help creative scaping, right?

I also respect your ability to refrain from judging lay outs until they're finished. In truth, I would do better to have a bit more patience like that.

Steven_Chong

bump

ed seeley

I have to say I agree about the rocks being a bit dark and heavy at the mo, but as you said they're there to hold something back and they do need to grow in. After looking at your last set ups, I'm sure it'll work out great.

Maybe something in front of the rocks to lighten it? Slope the sand stream more so it seems to flow from the rocks? A bit more like your painting where the water flowws down?

I love the vertical 'trunks' sure they'll look great when all that moss grows in! At the moment they remind me of the dead trees that stick up out of the water when an area is flooded, like in new reserviors.

Steven_Chong

I too would like less sand in the stream area, and get some better "movement" to it. However, I just set things up and don't want to disturb the substrate for a while. Later on I'll try to remove some though.

I'm actually wondering about cutting the bottoms of some of the sticks to make them shorter later. This isn't under water (metaphorically, of cours it is literally), so I'm wondering if it distracts to have the sticks go above water.Of course I could just raise the water level, but there's a limit to how much I can do that and still keep the "legs" of the light fixture above water.

Kelley

Steven,
I think that this tank has the potential to be very interesting. It is hard to evaluate this one until it has grown in a bit.

In your painting, the river is such a strong presence. I don't get this sense in your tank. It looks more like a deep forest cave. Perhaps it is the picture?

I don't think that is a bad thing. You are still conveying a deep, tranquil forest scene that I hope will come out as the moss grows more.

Best of luck to you!

apistaeasy

In order to maintain the "forest" look I believe it would be important to stay away from the "bog" look of having the sticks break the surface. Unless there was a way to have a strong presence of emerged growth on the branches...

Steven_Chong

Kelley-- the main problem is space. I'll admit, when drawing it's a lot easier to forget the constrains on front to back depth, not to mention other factors like realistic positioning of stones/wood/substrate. I think though, I'll continue working on the stream area. In particular, if I can make the sand shallower (and perhaps slope it too) there'll be a better sense of "flow" there. I also think that you're right that this one is relatively difficult to consider at the start in comparison to something like a typical ADA style set-up.

apistaeasy-- that's exactly what I was thinking! Later I think I'll work harder to find a way to get those sticks under water!