[TWood]

It looks like a fake to me. The Discus should be reflected in the glass at the right. The way the Discus are swimmiing away from each other at center right looks fake. The school of small fish should be reflected in the glass at the left.

Other than that, yeah, empty space helps.

TW

 

[TWood]

Maybe so, but the plants are reflected.

One of the things that is bugging me about the Amano clones rayer: is that the design seems to have devolved into picking the coolest looking piece of driftwood. Then photographed at an angle that is unlikely in real life unless the tank is up at eye level. And even then, the tanks look like a nightmare for upkeep to keep them looking like they do in the photograph. It all seems so forced, which is the opposite of the intended effect.

Maybe I'm just feeling grumpy... [smilie=r:

TW

 

[TWood]

Heh,

I figured that was coming. I don't have the fancy camera and camera angles, but I like my tanks. Up close, it's more like a peek into the end of the eddy along a river bank. A cross between a biotope and an aquascape, so it doesn't really compete well. Maybe I'll add a few big rocks and name it Zen N'Eddy?

http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=4006090712&f=8006023812&m=5031070701

Scroll down the thread to see a pic of my 90.

Here's the 70 in progress:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3863

I guess I have a thang for the 'window into another world' look.

TW

 

[TWood]

Yup, I agree. It -looks- like a wall of plants in the photo, but not in real life. That's why I've never entered it, it doesn't photograph well. The substrate is about waist level, and looking down into it is a whole 'nother experience, but that view doesn't photo well either. So I'm suspicious of tanks that look good in photos, but may look like a rotting piece of wood in a glass box in real life. [smilie=d:

TW

PS: Art, I'm sorry I hijacked your thread. I'll shut up now. :toimonst:

 

[TWood]

Thanks Karen,

I'm usually the contrarian but it's not with any malice. I have one of those brains that just twitches at conformity.

Also, I've slowly come to the conclusion that driftwood is a real problem-maker in certain water conditions, including our local Austin water. Even the LFS show tanks in town that have driftwood in them are usually over-run with BBA. Many online posts that complain about BBA also concern a tank that includes driftwood. I believe that there is a correlation between driftwood and BBA in a tank. So I don't use it, which puts my tank setup out of current 'favor'.

And this is just too anal for me:

"A round river rock has no character. Its too perfect. Thus, it has no wabi, even though it may be naturally moss covered (sabi). On the other hand, a roughened rock may have wabi but have no sabi if it is kept clean."

So, a naturally smoothed stone is too perfect, but a stone blasted out of a cliff and thrown in a tank is okay as long as it has moss on it? Bleah.

TW