I could use some ideas please

[Whitecloudminnowguy09]

I just use black acrylic paint

That is what I have on all of my tanks. Oh and btw @gimme30 I forgot to respond about the window in the background. That is a reflection.

 

[Whitecloudminnowguy09]

I changed it again, thoughts? (Cloudy due to moving rock and wood)

 

[seangee]

All personal preference, I preferred the initial version

 

[Gertrudae]

Completely undiplomatic and open – I'm from Germany ;-)
Everything looks as if it's afraid. The stones and wood are so close together as if they're afraid of something. The plant stands apart and also looks very lost ...
I would divide the stones into two or three groups of unequal size and connect them with smaller, loosely distributed ones and root wood. I place stones that have a direction, a structure, in such a way that the structure corresponds.
I always try to find root wood and stones that fit together, as if the root had grown around the stone.
I distribute the plants in the spaces between them using a similar system.
That's what I would try.

 

[GaryE]

Completely undiplomatic and open – I'm from Germany ;-)
Everything looks as if it's afraid. The stones and wood are so close together as if they're afraid of something. The plant stands apart and also looks very lost ...

That's a wise comment. I looked at it and thought - oh, it's scaped to draw the eye to a central clump, and that leaves the edges out of the picture. Too formal for my tastes.

Now I can't look at it without seeing a herd of nervous musk oxen facing wolves.

Aquascaping takes two major directions, in my opinion. There is the tableau type artscape for the tank owner, and the naturescape for the fish. That seems to me to be a human scape, and I'd want it more complex as @Gertrudae suggests, for the comfort of the fish, and for the human eye. Then again, if you were to see my wardrobe, you could question my tastes...

 

[Magnum Man]

I honestly have little spare time, but one thing I love to do, is look at all the tank of the month pictures that are stored on a file here...

I typically have a picture in my mind , of what I'm trying to do, but if I'm just not getting there, I'll look at past winning tanks, for ideas

and remember, a picture is not "real" ... tanks are living ( and dieing ) things that are constantly changing the plants grow, and need trimming, fish mature, and ones that used to get along, suddenly murder each other...

I tried to do a thread a while back, about previous tank winners a year later, and didn't get much interest... assuming those pictures were high points, the the owners generally weren't as happy with how they looked a year later...

this was a tank of the month winner a couple years ago, and even placed in the top 3 for tank of the year, that year... it has changed a lot, many may not remember it... I still think it looks good, but probably wouldn't win any contests... but it has proven to be pretty maintenance free and stable, and that's something I try to achive...

mine this morning...

mine from TOTM May of 2024...

 

[Magnum Man]

Tank of the Month Winners

View photos and details from previous Tank of the Month Winners!

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[Whitecloudminnowguy09]

Tank of the Month Winners

View photos and details from previous Tank of the Month Winners!

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This is super helpful, I could use some more ideas. I can build the best aquascape in my mind, but not in my tank.

 

[Gertrudae]

Now I can't look at it without seeing a herd of nervous musk oxen facing wolves.