On the fence about it at the moment but just wanted to add in these 'final scape' shots the fish behaviour isnt a true indication of behaviour, some of the tanks have had all their equipment removed and the water ripples are made with a hair dryer. The schools are usually done by people stood around the tank scaring the fish (equally unethical). Even thoughs with equipment in you can tell its freshly pruned because the glasswear is imaculate which lasts all of a few days usually.
To acheive these tanks though they are only designed to last 6-12 months, all the stems are strategically planned to get the tank to a peak. I had it in my tank a few months ago and its almost like giving up now because unless I replant most of the tank with young stems its never going to get back to that.
Interestingly 3 and 6 have very similar plants, 3 is probably possible without Co2, look at the carpet its something like Helanthium Tenelum which with good ferts and soft water will spread like that and on the woodwork its mainly looking like Java Moss with its uneven growth style.
Even number 7 is still following aquascaping principles, all the hard scape is drawing the eye, the path is in the left third so its been designed with a golden ratio, the substrate is much higher at the back than the front to create depth. I think this one is a bit too murky for me, like there looks to be too much organic waste just wafting in the water column? In terms of set up I bet this tank will be on par with the high tech tanks with spend and tech - botanicals are not cheap lol.
But also dont think good design is confined to tanks with Co2 - get creative, be inspired by these tanks, but make something that works for you. I mean really number 6 is pretty boring and while I get the natural bit of it, considering some layout rules wouldnt be that hard to make it look a lot better pretty quickly. Quality of photography
I think in summary put the plants of 2 and 3 in number 7 and give me a syphon to get some of the crud out
Wills