Daplatapus's upgrade

[asylumdown]

Awesome build. Next tank I'm going to construct rock with rods exactly like that.

I think what you might not be liking is the way that arch is visually offsetting against the rock on the other side of the tank. Try to think in terms of photography and the rule of thirds. Take a picture of your tank with the rocks in it and place two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines across the image and see how those rocks you've got in there are positioned relative to the lines and their intersections. You've got a really strong visual feature that spans the full height of your tank on the left and sort of cascades down, then over in the other corner there's this tall, narrow structure that is almost an inverse of what's happening on the left and doesn't really visually relate to anything.

Since you've got the ability and patience to make structures like that, your options are pretty much endless, but FWIW I've never really been in love with the idea of a classic arch in a tank. Between the mish mash of rocks that go in to building them, and the rods they need to be attached to, they always seem to end up looking like a pop-corn necklace. It's almost impossible to make them look like they belong. I've seen it work in tanks that have really big footprints in both length and width as the bases of the arches can be built up enough to make it all fit together with the rest of the scape, but it's a challenging shape to work with.

[daplatapus]

Hmmm, I think you have a point. I've heard and read of that rule of thirds in a couple aquascaping papers and threads I've looked through. For some reason it's harder to pull off in person, lol.
I am a little disappointed in the acrylic rods though. They're much softer and pliable than I thought they'd be. I used 1/2" rod, but even the pillar tended to want to sag to one side at the top, even though the rod ran basically straight through it. I had to epoxy and shim quite a few of the larger pieces for it to stand straight and be solid. The arch piece absolutely will not stand on it's own and needs to be supported on the end, even though I built it on a large platform foot that could take the off centre weight. I didn't take the time with it though, to fill in the cracks between the larger pieces because I could tell right away I wasn't going to like it, but wanted to get the basic structure in the tank to see it. It's not what I had envisioned.
You are absolutely correct in describing it as a pop-corn necklace. The base is definitely too small, but I already seem to have more rock in there than I wanted. Damn, maybe I need a bigger tank.....the wife would kill me

So, I need to reconsider the arch. I'll try and take a FTS, print it and divide it up like you said. Then see what I can do to re-arrange those pieces.

[daplatapus]

Well, after sitting and looking at those structures a bit, I decided I really didn't like that arch where it was and that cutting more rock to make it look like it belongs was chasing my tail and probably was going to be wasting rock. So.... I decided to see what it would look like if I just switched the 2, placing the arch on the rock that was already cut on the left side and put the pillar on the right.
I have to say I like this way better and I think it just might work
I have yet to take a look at the FTS with an eye for thirds I'll see what I can do this weekend...

[Aquattro]

So. Dom. Ya puttin' water n there soon?

[JDigital]

That scaping looks awesome! Nice job!

[FishingGoalie]

I agree looks much better. Just a thought maybe you could put a few small rocks connecting the 2 rock structures on the bottom or make it have some sort of base? Maybe its just me

Looks really cool!

[daplatapus]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

So. Dom. Ya puttin' water n there soon?

Lol, I doubt it'll happen this summer, but I sure hope it'll have fish in it before the end of the year.

Thanks guys for the scape feedback, This new layout is definitely growing on me.

[kien]

wow, that's a wicked structure you got there Dap.

[asylumdown]

yah that's really awesome, I love it. Also, how on earth do you have the patience to sit looking at an aquascaped tank for months without putting water in it? I couldn't stand it!

[Slyguy00]

That rock scape is killer! Cant wait to see it running!