Im Not Too Good At This Aquascaping Business :/

[Shifty1303]

hey guys.
 
in the late stages of cycling a new 200l tank currently and have been adding decorations and plants as ive gone along. now have a decent amount - although more plants will be added/propagated from existing - along with three rocks and some bogwood pieces. As i said i have added things as i have purchased them but it looks a bit thrown together to me at the moment despite my efforts to arrange nicely as i went along. could anyone with an eye for aquascaping give me some suggestions towards making this more aesthetically pleasing based on the pics i attached? i have a 25cm tall amazon sword to move over from existing tank eventualy as well.
 
my water last tested at KH 5 GH 10, pH 7.4 (tap) & 7.0 (in tank due to driftwood). the substrate is playsand around 1.5-2.5 inch depth front-back
 
thanks for any opinions/suggestions. if you can think of anything i could still purchase to finish the look thats cool too
 
 

 

[techen]

Looks really good to me**, The entire idea of a aquascape is to make it look as as natural as possible and most of the time that requires just throwing in sticks, rocks etc and letting them lay around

 
At least thats what I do 

 

[Shifty1303]

Looks really good to be, The entire idea of a aquascape is to make it look as as natural as possible and most of the time that requires just throwing in sticks, rocks etc and letting them lay around

 
At least thats what I do 

 
haha. i guess you can never be happy with your own work eh! thanks for your opinion

 

[LyraGuppi]

I think it looks really good!

 

[Ninjouzata]

It looks great IMO

 

[Shifty1303]

ah ok. guess i got distracted by the fact i kinda threw it in there randomly; but as techen said that is often the way to do it! thanks for the input all. ill update you when i get fish and more plants in

 

[sawickib]

Looks wonderful to me! Gonna be a awesome tank!

 

[ellena]

I'd lose the small holey rock to the right.
I think the wood and plants would look better if they were more grouped, they are a bit each stand alone at the moment. So have your main piece of wood with some plants behind and in front of it, placed a third of the way along the tank is a good design rule.
Then a smaller focus point the other end of the tank perhaps.
Can the wood be positioned differently so it's got more height? And perhaps form an arch for fish to swim underneath
The tall plants on the right might look good behind the big piece of wood on the left.
I think what you're seeing and not liking is that it's all competing. Go high on the left with a general trend down towards the right.
Just some ideas, I'm no expert either and if you're anything like me, you'll be tweaking it forever!

 

[Shifty1303]

I'd lose the small holey rock to the right.
I think the wood and plants would look better if they were more grouped, they are a bit each stand alone at the moment. So have your main piece of wood with some plants behind and in front of it, placed a third of the way along the tank is a good design rule.
Then a smaller focus point the other end of the tank perhaps.
Can the wood be positioned differently so it's got more height? And perhaps form an arch for fish to swim underneath

The tall plants on the right might look good behind the big piece of wood on the left.
I think what you're seeing and not liking is that it's all competing. Go high on the left with a general trend down towards the right.
Just some ideas, I'm no expert either and if you're anything like me, you'll be tweaking it forever!

 
 
thanks for the points!
 
fair observation about the grouping will try to work on that. by main piece do you mean the chunky root bit on the left or the long branchy one at the back? had the hiding places in mind already for my corys but i did want more height from it.

 

[Munroco]

I like it. I'd also move the centre rock, and the plant beside it, maybe to the left of the tank. I reckon your amazon sword will fit beautifully into that kink in the long branch......Of course that would hide that nice red stuff. (cabomba or myrophillium?) you could put that in the back left?

 

[Shifty1303]

thanks for the pointers shall tinker with it tomorrow and post pics when im done. true the sword would look good there and the red myrophillium looks good wherever you put it my only reason for having it where it is and the sword on the left was due to the filter creating the strongest vortices in the back left corner so wanted the most robust plant there. as i say i will play around with it and re post pics for opinions.
 
thanks again!

 

[Munroco]

Do you know if this is Myrophyllum tuberculatum? I want some for sure after seeing that pic. Need to find out if its available in UK first of course.

 

[ellena]

 
thanks for the points!
 
fair observation about the grouping will try to work on that. by main piece do you mean the chunky root bit on the left or the long branchy one at the back? had the hiding places in mind already for my corys but i did want more height from it.

I wasn't quite sure what there was wood wise, bit hard to see :") The left bit probably has more presence, so try with that first

 

[Mamashack]

For what it's worth I quite like the original set-up! lol

 

[Shifty1303]

Do you know if this is Myrophyllum tuberculatum? I want some for sure after seeing that pic. Need to find out if its available in UK first of course.

 
its myriophyllum matagrossense. i ordered it from java plants http/www.java-plants.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_26&products_id=80. they have some lovely stuff on there and pretty decent prices too!
 

 

 
thanks for the points!
 
fair observation about the grouping will try to work on that. by main piece do you mean the chunky root bit on the left or the long branchy one at the back? had the hiding places in mind already for my corys but i did want more height from it.

I wasn't quite sure what there was wood wise, bit hard to see :") The left bit probably has more presence, so try with that first

 

 
will try moving it a third in and see what i can achieve with the longer bit
 
 

For what it's worth I quite like the original set-up! lol

 
why ty. im gonna try not to change it too much but will post pics when im done!