Dancing Manzanita couple.....

[ApacheDan]

Well, finally I weighted down the pieces of wood with stones... I might leave them there, because they seem to give character to the structure. I made twin tripods of manzanita, locked with a long "arm". The idea is to fill the arm with cascading plants, ferns, anubias, you name it; as well as the "shoulders" of the sculptures. Mind you, this is a giant 300 gal ,42" high tank...not easy to work with..

so...what do you say...like my interpretation of art so far.??:confused::confused:

Ladies & gentlemen....dancing with the stars....:D:D

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s298/thunderfoil/CIMG0308.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s298/thunderfoil/CIMG0310.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s298/thunderfoil/CIMG0312.jpg

[Eddie]

Looks really nice like that IMO. Thats a nice big tank.

Eddie

[calihawker]

That's gonna be very cool! Whats the background? The tall tank is great for discus, maybe not so great for pants. I have a problem with light penetration on my 30" tall.

Can't wait to see this one progress:)


Steve

[ApacheDan]

That's gonna be very cool! Whats the background? The tall tank is great for discus, maybe not so great for pants. I have a problem with light penetration on my 30" tall.

Can't wait to see this one progress:)


Steve

The background is a piece of linoleum I bought at Home Depot. The motive is a seamless rock/pebble background, which I highlighted with blue spray paint, going deeper blue towards the surface & lighter in the bottom. Came out nice.

The lights...well I think I got too much 4x96w 6400k daylight PC bulbs with 12 Odyssea lunar lights LEDS on timers. Right now I got 2 lights turn off.
:o

[calihawker]

Linoleum, that's a good idea. I'm tired of my black background, I want to try and brighten it up a bit. Mine is pretty heavily planted so green dominates the scape. You've given me the idea to maybe go for some kind of brown texture.



Steve

[ApacheDan]

Linoleum, that's a good idea. I'm tired of my black background, I want to try and brighten it up a bit. Mine is pretty heavily planted so green dominates the scape. You've given me the idea to maybe go for some kind of brown texture.



Steve

Here you go...this is how I did it, great tough water-proofed material. The only thing short of paint, that would work on a 7-feet aquarium..lol

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s298/thunderfoil/CIMG0294.jpgium..lol

[cc_woman]

What kind of paper did you use? That looks quite neat with the wood like that. It will look great completed. How large is the tank? You say you have 384 watts of lighting right now, so it works out to only be 1.28 wpg. I would recommend going with even more, or maybe some metal halides? I also had troubles growing certain plants in my deeper tanks, key is to grow tall growing plants, maybe something like tiger lotus, or crinum, or echinodorus swords. Swords or other bulb plants will probably work better than stem plants and dwarf plants. Foregrounds would be quite difficult to grow in a tall tank, that's for sure. But you can definitely attach some kind of moss or fern to the driftwood near the top and it should be enough for low light plants to grow.

[Discus-Hans]

Nice to see you're a big Hans fan, so big you created an h in your tank :angel:

To be honest I'm not a real fan of your creation, the Manzanita roots should in my opinion more been used as roots hanging in your tank.
Bring the tripods up and let them "hang" in your tank, I think it will give a much better effect, my 2 cents,

Hans

[ApacheDan]

What kind of paper did you use? That looks quite neat with the wood like that. It will look great completed. How large is the tank? You say you have 384 watts of lighting right now, so it works out to only be 1.28 wpg. I would recommend going with even more, or maybe some metal halides? I also had troubles growing certain plants in my deeper tanks, key is to grow tall growing plants, maybe something like tiger lotus, or crinum, or echinodorus swords. Swords or other bulb plants will probably work better than stem plants and dwarf plants. Foregrounds would be quite difficult to grow in a tall tank, that's for sure. But you can definitely attach some kind of moss or fern to the driftwood near the top and it should be enough for low light plants to grow.

The tank measures 84"x20"x42" tall, all 300 gals of it! The background paper is actually linoleum, the type used for floor material(see above posts) This is my first attempt with plants on a low-tech tank, so my plants will only be hanging about 20-24" from the surface. I believe the light should suffice at that depth. Only thing I will use is some Excel + plant additives. I ordered some Tiger Lotus & received some bulbs....I was wondering what to do with those things...:o

[ApacheDan]

Nice to see you're a big Hans fan, so big you created an h in your tank :angel:

To be honest I'm not a real fan of your creation, the Manzanita roots should in my opinion more been used as roots hanging in your tank.
Bring the tripods up and let them "hang" in your tank, I think it will give a much better effect, my 2 cents,

Hans

Actually I'm getting some baby Hans Discus from one of your dealers...hope they turn out like the parents :D:D

I've been giving it some hard thought about my creation and I believe you are right, but I still need the tripods due to the fact that the "bridge" is where I will be planting most of my plants and it is removable. Trying to do some work on a ladder on a 42" tank is not exactly a piece of cake. Not only that, I need to make sure that I will be able to clean the tank with a long syphon without destroying everything. This weekend I will be working with more branches...the creation is not done....yet.;)

[Eddie]

Dude, you might as well throw on some trunks and some goggles and go cleaning the bottom, bet it will be much easier. :D

Eddie

[calihawker]

Actually I'm getting some baby Hans Discus from one of your dealers...hope they turn out like the parents :D:D

I've been giving it some hard thought about my creation and I believe you are right, but I still need the tripods due to the fact that the "bridge" is where I will be planting most of my plants and it is removable. Trying to do some work on a ladder on a 42" tank is not exactly a piece of cake. Not only that, I need to make sure that I will be able to clean the tank with a long syphon without destroying everything. This weekend I will be working with more branches...the creation is not done....yet.;)


Before I got the 24" pruning shears I was all the way to my shoulders to get to the bottom for pruning. You're gonna need a mask and snorkel:p

I have to say I kinda agree with Hans, and it's also made me rethink my 'scape. I've seen some members tanks with the manzanita looking like roots. Very cool. Is a full makeover in store for me:confused:


Steve