50 gallon Oceanic

[Roy Deki]

I decided to re-scape my 50 gallon. I set this up on 2/11/08 I'll try to remember to post a new photo every month. The hardscape is set for now and could go through some minor changes as the tank matures.

Tank:
Oceanic
36"x18"x18"

Lighting:
3 Coralife T-5 NO double light strips
3 bulbs are 6700k
3 bulbs are "Colormax"
total wattage=126 watts
Photo period=7.5 hours

Fliter:
Eheim Professional II

Co2 injected at about 3 bps

Dosing:
Only Phertz brand micros

Hardscape:
Seriyu-seki stones
Malaysian driftwood

Substrate:
ADA Aquasoil Amazonia
Silica sand (foreground)

Flora:
Ludwigia arcuata
Micranthemum umbrosum
Blyxa japonica
Echinodorus angustifolius
Cryptocoryne x willisii 'lucens'
Anubia nana 'petite'
Vesicularia montagnei (on rocks)
Fontinalis antipyretica (on wood)
Marselia minuta

Fuana:
Caridina japonica 25
Otocinclus 12
Cardinal tetras 50
Botia morleti 2


Full shot as of Feb 13th(please excuse equipment)


March 7th
Just a few of changes:
Removed the Crypt x 'willisii' lucens
Removed the Marselia minuta
Removed the Echinodorus angustifolius
Added more Anubias nana 'petite'
Added Eleocharis sp. 'japanese'
Added Blyxa aubertii
Added Myriophyllum mattogrossense
Moved some Blyxa japonica

[John N.]

Talent. Pure talent. Great Work Roy! The hard/woodscape has a dramatic impact on the tank. For me it gives me a feeling of nervous, errie energy. The feeling is relieve a little when I look past the wood pillars and focus on the beautiful Ludwigia arcuata.

-John N.

[Roy Deki]

Originally Posted by John N.

Talent. Pure talent. Great Work Roy! The hard/woodscape has a dramatic impact on the tank. For me it gives me a feeling of nervous, errie energy. The feeling is relieve a little when I look past the wood pillars and focus on the beautiful Ludwigia arcuata.

-John N.

Thank you John...I'm hoping the moss on the wood will soften the look a little but not too much. I was going for a very dramatic look for this mound scape.

[riverrat]

Originally Posted by Roy Deki

I was going for a very dramatic look for this mound scape.

Very dramatic indeed Roy. The contrast of colors is quite amazing. I'm sure the colormax is helping there. That or you are working some serious mojo. The dark green of the the petite as the base working up to light green to the shades of pink are very captivating.

The only... and I mean only thing that is somewhat bothersome to me it the stone you added on the middle far right. I understand what you were trying to do with it (I think) but for some reason it makes the right side feel heavy to me. It might just be the white veining in that rock that catches my attention to much.

Looking forward to this tank maturing . Please continue to share. Your work is inspiring and a great tool for others.

[Chadly]

what a beaut! I think the changes you made with the existing plants filled in open some areas, and added a continuity to the front. The new plants you added really framed in the entire focus and accentuated the hardscape that in some ways could have possibly been covered up as the tank matured. Can't wait till next month.

[trenac]

This tank hasA man's man tank! I like the strong bold look you have created.

[kakkoii]

It's my favorite from you, Roy!

[Brian]

you have talent!!! congratulations!!!

[Roy Deki]

Thank you all for the nice comments!!

riverrat, You hit the nail on the head with the rock I added. It bothers me as well. I was trying to break up the symmetrical look. Maybe if I lie it down some it will help.

chadly, Thank you very much...very insightful compliment.

trenac, LOL, "a Man's man tank" LOL , thank you!!

kakkoii, thank you, you are very kind!

brian, thank you, but I'm just lucky!

[goalcreas]

Sweet Roy, is This the tank on the wall opposite your sliding back door, that was a beauty also.
you got any Blyxa aubertii to spare.
If not put me on the list when you trim it back.

[Pat7676]

What kind of rocks do you have in there?

[Roy Deki]

Originally Posted by goalcreas

Sweet Roy, is This the tank on the wall opposite your sliding back door, that was a beauty also.
you got any Blyxa aubertii to spare.
If not put me on the list when you trim it back.

Thanks Toby, and yes it's the one in the great room. I'll let you know on the B. aubertii.

[Roy Deki]

Originally Posted by Pat7676

What kind of rocks do you have in there?

They are called Seiryu-seki stones.

[Pat7676]

Did you get them from ADA?

[Roy Deki]

Originally Posted by Pat7676

Did you get them from ADA?

No, I got them from other hobbiest on the Planted tank and at APC.

[Orlando]

Great layout, it would make a nice screen saver.

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Great layout, it would make a nice screen saver.

Or an oil painting on your wall.

Got bored since I played hooky today.



BTW Roy I absolutely love this scape. Very inspiring.

[Roy Deki]

Holy smokes, how did you do that? That is so awesome...I must know how you did that. Please do tell!

[JDowns]

About thirty minutes fiddling in Photoshop with filtering effects and multiple layers. Filter effects using Artistic Brushes, Sketches. With a blending screen layer of difference clouds with render lighting applied. All stock Photoshop filters.

[JDowns]

It would be nearly impossible to duplicate this twice since I tend to fly by the seat of my pants. But I worked up a basic steps that will get you close to what happened on that go around

1. Use Selection Tool to crop image. Image > Crop

2. Duplicate BackgroundLayer and Rename to Layer 1.

3. Ctrl-D to deselect.

4 Working in Layer 1. Filter > Artistic > Film Grain. Grain (3), Highlight Area (0), Intensity (2).

5. Filter > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes. Lenght(0), Radius(0), Direction(whatever).

6 Layer > Duplicate Layer. Rename as Layer 2.

7. Working in Layer 2. Filter > Render > Lighting Effects
Style: 3 Down
LightType: Spotlight
Intesity: 35
Focus: 96
Gloss: Full to Matte
Material: Mettallic
Exposure: -14
Ambience: 36
Texture Channel: None

Play with these setting to achieve different lighting effects. BTW Render Lighting effects can be used in a much better manner to preprocess photos than the standard image adjustments.

8. Layer > Duplicate Layer. Rename as Layer 3.

9. Working in Layer 3. Layer > LayerStyle > Blending Options ( or right click the Layer in the Layer View > Blending Options)

10. Blend Mode PinLight. Pattern Overlay (Select a subtle canvas pattern). Blend Mode; Darken. Scale 50%.


Once again play with these settings to achieve your desired effect.

11. Ctrl - E x 2. You should now have a Background Layer and a new Layer 1.

12. Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color (Grey works best, ex. RGB of 165).

13. Filter > Render > Difference Clouds

14. Layer > LayerStyle > Blending Options

15. Blend Mode: Soft Light > Gradient Overlay (standard black to white) Blend Mode: Hard Light. Style: Linear. Angle: 90

16. Ctrl - E. Once again you should be left with a Layer 1 and a Background Layer.

17. This should give you the basic idea.

Adjusting settings and playing with different blend modes will give you different results. Play around with it until you get the desired effect.

Hint. Always make duplicate copies of layers as you are going in case you mess something up so you don't have to start from complete scratch. The above may seem redundant to duplicate layers before adding new effects but its my method of saving before new filtering changes and for layering effects :P