Zero Creativity, Need Your Help Guys

[KCB]

I'm not a creative person and I want to know if it shows with my tank. I've aimed for the 'golden ratio' sort of thing; having an off-centre tall piece of bog wood with tall plants around then sloping down to small plants on either side. All plants are fake, though I'm getting some live floating plants to dim the light a little for my BPT's and future gourami's. I've intentionally left the right side empty for my cory's, they like to snuffle in the sand.
 
So what do you guys think? Did I achieve the golden ratio look? What would you change (if anything )?
 

 

[AquaPit]

hmm.. the tank looks creative enough! hehe

just my two cents worth..

1) why dont you spread everything out from left to right, the tallest plants will be at the back followed by the middle ones then the short ones finishing at the front... with the sand displayed at the front..

2) OR take the wood as the middle piece, place it at the back of tank.. on the left and right side of the wood, place the plants there... follow the same rule as in tall plants at the back followed by the middle ones and last the short ones... the middle area will be the sand area and put the little grassy thingy you have there around the wood...

Voila! Lol! Good Luck!

My humble tank in case you need to get some ideas from.. A bit out of proportion! Lol!

 

[ech0o]

hmm.. the tank looks creative enough! hehe

just my two cents worth..

1) why dont you spread everything out from left to right, the tallest plants will be at the back followed by the middle ones then the short ones finishing at the front... with the sand displayed at the front..

2) OR take the wood as the middle piece, place it at the back of tank.. on the left and right side of the wood, place the plants there... follow the same rule as in tall plants at the back followed by the middle ones and last the short ones... the middle area will be the sand area and put the little grassy thingy you have there around the wood...

Voila! Lol! Good Luck!

My humble tank in case you need to get some ideas from.. A bit out of proportion! Lol!

 
Actually in AGA competitions there is never even spacing across the back, they like to do triangles off centered, so starting tallest on one side, and tapering downward, to bare substrate on the other side.  Same with front to back, tall to short, off centered.   In a tank like yours AquaPit, they would have all the plants on the left side, and the wood piece bridging the plant side to the bare side, although you almost pull that off pretty much as your tall plants are all on the right side, going shorter as you go to the left.
 
KCB, your looks pretty good, although AquaPit did mention you do have a couple tall plants in front that may look best switched to the back, although I LOVE the openess of the right side.  One thing I would change, is putting the filter behind the plant side, so that it is a totally bare area, and not littered with that massive thing
 
*****Also, I am just referring to what judges look at in competitions, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, I had a tank that was a jungle with no rhyme or reason that I truly LOVED!!
Think triangles, you can even do 2 triangles, one going down to the middle and back up to the other side, but always off center the bottom point so its not the middle of the tank.

 

[AquaPit]

 
Actually in AGA competitions there is never even spacing across the back, they like to do triangles off centered, so starting tallest on one side, and tapering downward, to bare substrate on the other side.  Same with front to back, tall to short, off centered.   In a tank like yours AquaPit, they would have all the plants on the left side, and the wood piece bridging the plant side to the bare side, although you almost pull that off pretty much as your tall plants are all on the right side, going shorter as you go to the left.

hey tks for the idea! will try re-scaping the next mthly tank maintenance and see how it will look like!

 

[KittyKat]

What about sticking the filter behind the plants, the thermometer next to it, store the magnet at the back, behind the plants.
 
You might need to lower the water level for the Pistia when it arrives, some is quite tall!

 

[Blobfish]

I actually think this is one of the nicer tanks with fake plants I've seen.  
 
My two pence worth is that the plants seem a little squashed up, slightly more spacing for the tall ones would be nice.  
 
As others have said, if you can hide the filter with the plants great, otherwise make sure it is sat straight - it looks crooked in this photo.  
 
Take the label off the tank and keep the magnet out of the way.  Personally, by the way, I have got to dislike magnet cleaners as I feel they are responsible for a lot of scratches on aquariums but that's just my opinion.

 

[KittyKat]

Personally, by the way, I have got to dislike magnet cleaners as I feel they are responsible for a lot of scratches on aquariums but that's just my opinion.

 
I used to use them a lot and eventually stopped altogether once I could afford brand new tanks and scratches started appearing on those. Since I stopped using them, I haven't had any new scratches at all and that was a few years ago.

 

[KCB]

Lots of feedback, thanks everyone
 
So the jist is;
 
Hide the bulky filter/correct position. I know it's crooked but couldn't remove the suction cups so just left it as is, I'll sort that out 

. And I have an issue hiding it; due to the shape of the bog wood, it's more suited to the left hand side of the tank than the right because it slopes from right to left, and as I was grouping the plants around the bog wood, I can't move the plants. I hope that makes sense!
 
I've just seen the tall plants you mentioned and they are actually placed at the back but are leaning towards the front, I'll have to move them back. There is an orange one that is actually in front of a smaller section so I'll shift that to the back.
 
Blobfish, I see what you mean about things being squashed, it was deliberate at the time to give the fish some cover but I agree that it looks too cramped. And I meant to remove that sticker 

.
 
AquaPit I can't quite picture your suggestions but I like the idea of attaching some plants to the wood .
 
I'm not sure about the magnet, I'm yet to use it but I might ditch it altogether as I'm not sure it'll work because of the curved shape of the tank.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the pistia KittyKat . When you say move the filter, do you mean swap it over with the heater (which is behind the plants) or to squeeze it in next to it and hide it all behind the plants? Not sure if I have enough room for the latter but I do like the idea.
 
I'll get back to you guys with the changes tomorrow .

 

[KittyKat]

I'd squeeze the filter in next to the heater if there's space, and spacing out the plants a bit should help with that as well!

 

[daizeUK]

I really like the look you've got KCB, it looks stylish.
My only additional suggestion would be to get rid of the silver warning sticker! I had one on my Interpet tank for months before I realised it serves absolutely no purpose

 

[MrJerry]

We'll before I read that all the plants are fake I thought they were all real !!!

That tank looks awesome ..... I would deffo remove that warning sticker tho

In all good job

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

I was also thinking of covering that filter up with the plants by moving them to other side to make it look more natural

 

[KCB]

I really like the look you've got KCB, it looks stylish.
My only additional suggestion would be to get rid of the silver warning sticker! I had one on my Interpet tank for months before I realised it serves absolutely no purpose

 
Thanks! I'm working on that sticker, it's very well glued though at the moment
 

We'll before I read that all the plants are fake I thought they were all real !!!

That tank looks awesome ..... I would deffo remove that warning sticker tho

In all good job

 
I'll take that as the highest compliment! I'm trying to make it look as realistic as possible but never had much luck with real plants.
 

I was also thinking of covering that filter up with the plants by moving them to other side to make it look more natural

 
I'll be moving it over to the left side, hopefully it doesn't disturb the BPT's too much as that's where their favourite hiding place is at the moment