Scape Critique

I love all the buce, as well and the overall look of the tank is lush and exotic. The only critique I have is that my eye is drawn to the empty gap halfway up the wood (or maybe it is rock, hard to tell in the photo). I’m not sure what I would put there, though, but not more buce, I think.
Is that gap a hollow in the wood hardscape? It probably looks much better in real life…
 
Nice tank. Congratulations! It's full of life.

What did you have in mind when you created it? Where you going after a particular look?
 
*Ci* said:
I love all the buce, as well and the overall look of the tank is lush and exotic. The only critique I have is that my eye is drawn to the empty gap halfway up the wood (or maybe it is rock, hard to tell in the photo). I’m not sure what I would put there, though, but not more buce, I think.
Is that gap a hollow in the wood hardscape? It probably looks much better in real life…
Click to expand...
Thank you for the critique! It's basically a buce collectoritis tank :) The empty gap halfway up is a hollow in the wood, I tried growing some Java fern there, but securing it safely became an issue and the light doesn't reach there to make it homogeneous with everything else.

I think when I restart the tank, I have to take into account how shadows play a role in the scape once plants are grown in
 
Art said:
Nice tank. Congratulations! It's full of life.

What did you have in mind when you created it? Where you going after a particular look?
Click to expand...
Thank you!

When I created it, I wanted a scape that works with the height of the tank and to maximize planting space. I used one big ol' piece of driftwood I had saved up, to be my growing medium. Perfectly sized to fill up one side of the tank, top to bottom.

My vision for the tank was to have a tree stump that fell into the water, that gave new opportunities for life to flourish. A cycle of life sort of idea, a 'tree of life'.

It was also a great way to maximize growing space for rheophytes since I didn't have much footprint to work with. I had a good collection of bucephalandra going in my growout tub and wanted a way to showcase the nicer ones as well
 
Katmanreef said:
My vision for the tank was to have a tree stump that fell into the water, that gave new opportunities for life to flourish. A cycle of life sort of idea, a 'tree of life'.
Click to expand...
I love this. To me, if you have a story in your mind that you want to tell via your aquascape, it makes everything easier as it will dictate all decisions. Too many people set up aquascapes but don't really have a story in mind.

Knowing this, I think you're doing a great job from my humble opinion. Some things to consider:
  • I would focus on highlighting the tree more so that its dimensions are more discernible. Perhaps using plants and/or trimming them in such a way that reinforces its dimensions.
  • Make sure the tree is sitting on your diagonal line making a right leaning triangle.
  • Focus on techniques to make the tree feel old, weathered and ancient. This is usually a combination of moss with well-placed epiphytes.
  • The weight of the aquascape should be on the right but balanced with items on the left. I would leave more open space on the left. Empty space does add weight sometimes.
  • The left seems manicured to me. Almost like a curtain or hedge. Make it more natural looking/wild.
  • The erio seems misplaced. Maybe move it further to the left to emphasize the beginning of the triangle?
  • The riccia (?) at the very top of the tree isn't adding anything and is a little distracting.
  • The purple and pink of the Buce in the middle of the tree seems chaotic. Perhaps try to combine them into a more cohesive grouping?
Lastly, take all of the above with a grain of salt. It's one person's suggestions that should be filtered by your eye and taste.

Great job!
 
Art said:
I would focus on highlighting the tree more so that its dimensions are more discernible. Perhaps using plants and/or trimming them in such a way that reinforces its dimensions.
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I completely agree with this assessment, I've been trying to find a way to properly trim all the subwassertang/bucephalandra on the driftwood to show the true shape of the wood.
Art said:
The weight of the aquascape should be on the right but balanced with items on the left. I would leave more open space on the left. Empty space does add weight sometimes.
Click to expand...
I agree with this as well, I'm thinking of cleaning up the clutter on the bottom left to emphasize the wood more on the right.
Art said:
  • The left seems manicured to me. Almost like a curtain or hedge. Make it more natural looking/wild.
  • The erio seems misplaced. Maybe move it further to the left to emphasize the beginning of the triangle?
Click to expand...
The left is definitely manicured, I'm not sure what plant I can place there that will give it the wild look. On the Erio Shiga, for the many places I tried growing it, the 2 spots its planted in now is the only place it'll grow 😅
Art said:
  • The riccia (?) at the very top of the tree isn't adding anything and is a little distracting.
  • The purple and pink of the Buce in the middle of the tree seems chaotic. Perhaps try to combine them into a more cohesive grouping?
Click to expand...
I have since removed the riccia at the top, it was there as a project to see how it'll grow floating. I'm slowly learning how each of these bucephalandra grow and at what speed so eventually I can properly use them in the scape. They grow so damn slow that I'm finally starting to see patterns and ways I can utilize them.

Thank you so much for the detailed response!
 
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Art said:
The left seems manicured to me. Almost like a curtain or hedge. Make it more natural looking/wild.
Click to expand...
Maybe I can replace the Bacopa Salzmannii in front of the myrio with Eriocaulon Feather Duster to give it a more informal look, what do you think?
 
Nice scape!

Personally anything tall on the left takes away from the main wood IMO. So as mentioned sometimes less is more. I would go with something shorter on the left. You might even be able to use the riccia over a rock or some other moss for a mound affect. Just what I see from the pic. It's kinda hard to tell how much space, etc you have with the one close-up pic so my opinion might change with different pictures.
 
JPog said:
Nice scape!

Personally anything tall on the left takes away from the main wood IMO. So as mentioned sometimes less is more. I would go with something shorter on the left. You might even be able to use the riccia over a rock or some other moss for a mound affect. Just what I see from the pic. It's kinda hard to tell how much space, etc you have with the one close-up pic so my opinion might change with different pictures.
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I agree, I think the stems just dont fit in. maybe its their texture or colour, but I would add something less intrusive, like a dark red stem plant, as I think the green of the stems is too much, maybe ludwigia palustrus super red or alternanthera reniekii mini, or some moss stuck to a rock, something to blend the black background to the centrepiece wood.
 
ScapeFish99 said:
I agree, I think the stems just dont fit in. maybe its their texture or colour, but I would add something less intrusive, like a dark red stem plant, as I think the green of the stems is too much, maybe ludwigia palustrus super red or alternanthera reniekii mini, or some moss stuck to a rock, something to blend the black background to the centrepiece wood.
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on second thought, that might be to much red in the scape. i think something shorter and dark green. I love the current scape though, the buce, anubius and marselia's textures really work well with each other
 
Here's a new picture of the current scape. I removed the riccia from the top right, and trimmed the bigger bucephalandra, moving it to the back left to replace the bacopa20230321_005327.jpg
 
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