Where to get hardscape?

[JackBinimbul]

I've had a lot of trouble finding what I'm looking for to hardscape my 20G long freshwater tank.

Living where I do in Texas, most of the "driftwood" is evergreen shrub and the stone/rock is almost entirely limestone. Our landscape is very pale and bleached and drab looking.

For my tank, I'm wanting striking pieces like slate or dragon stone or seiryu. Twisting old roots and miniature fallen logs. But I'm wanting to get these things as affordably as possible. I'm going for aesthetics, not precise origin or buzzword.

I've had a look around my LFS and have found nothing suitable. At most they have live rock. Everything else is very tacky plastic. I don't mind faux pieces, but these are just cartoonish. Then I've looked on Etsy and Amazon and though there are some options, they are incredibly expensive. And that's before shipping.

Are there better sources that I am unaware of?

 

[King Fisher]

Your local or nearby rock yard/landscaping business should sell slate and different types of rock. Check your local lakes and rivers for driftwood.

 

[JackBinimbul]

I just sent out some emails for a couple local landscapers. Not sure how that will pan out since all of the pictures of their work show the same boring limestone that is everywhere, but here's hoping.

As far as lakes and rivers, all access points I know of locally are either private land or state parks and therefor not permissible to remove anything from.

I have a ton of dead fall from my own maple tree, but they are just typical branches and I question their safety in a tank.

 

[King Fisher]

The forest service shouldn't care if you are removing dead wood. Sometimes private landowners will allow you to go on property to remove things such as dead wood. Where I'm from, hunters will ask ranchers if they can hunt on their property and the owners give them permission alot of times. Worth a shot.

 

[goatnad]

I just sent out some emails for a couple local landscapers. Not sure how that will pan out since all of the pictures of their work show the same boring limestone that is everywhere, but here's hoping.

As far as lakes and rivers, all access points I know of locally are either private land or state parks and therefor not permissible to remove anything from.

I have a ton of dead fall from my own maple tree, but they are just typical branches and I question their safety in a tank.

as long as your maple isnt rotting and eaten up with things like termites then i dont see a problem using it. ive used many pieces of wood from nature and had no problems. just make sure to boil them and let them soak for awhile to leech out the tannins and kill off any bugs and pest that might be on them. alot of people also remove the bark but depending on how the bark looks i will leave it on or remove it.


here is one piece i got from a neighbor when he removed some azalea bushes from around his house.

 

[DTWGulo]

goatnad, you find the most amazing crap! Gotta add that to my list of stuff to go for.
Someone was building a house down the street and dug up two HUGE stumps with amazing roots but they had them gone before I could get over there with a chainsaw to get a section of it. I've always wanted to park like 1/4 of a stump in a corner and start the scape from there. Long roots, bit of trunk...heaven.

JackBinimbul: Look around for someone who has curly/corkscrew willow trees on their property. I've got a guy about an hour from my house that sells branches super cheap. used them on a rescape of my 65g tank. Looked great and it was about 1/10th the price of manzanita and stuff like that.

 

[JackBinimbul]

Man, you guys have awesome ideas.

I was hoping for pieces where you see those awesome waves of wood grain, but I think I need to get out of the habit of trying to make it like an exact image in my head. I'm wanting it to look natural, and you can't plan natural. I'll keep my eyes and mind open.

Thanks!

 

[V227]

Goatnad
That is a very cool find.

OP
You live in Texas. Take advantage of the cheap Texas Holey rock. Limestone shouldn't affect your water parameters too much, your water is likely already hard with a high PH. It used to be easy to find inexpensive THR in my local rock yard here in NE Oklahoma, but no more. It cost $4.25 per lb. At my favorite LFS.
I visited Lake Travis a few years ago.THR was abundant. A few small THR chunks, mixed in with wispy DW and plants would provide amazing hardscape possibilities.
Pictured is about 100 lbs of my THR. I'm still working on the scape. I can't seem to get it right.

 

[JackBinimbul]

Wow, I've actually never seen that sort of rock here. Texas is such a huge place, I'm sure we've got a bit of everything here.

It's not so much that I'm worried about the limestone bothering the tank, it's just very "marine" looking to me, ya know?

I'm definitely going to have to look harder around here and see what I can find.

 

[V227]

I agree, THR does look at home in a SW tank, and if not careful the hardscape can look sort of sterile. My wife keeps hinting that my aquascape needs greenery. I'll probably be consulting with some of AA' S aquagardners for plant suggestions. Ones my salad loving Cichlids won't eat.
I believe THR only exists in areas near Austin. I've read that the State of Texas has recently banned mining of THR on state owned property. I guess it's considered a natural state treasure now. The THR available now likely comes from privately owned mines.

 

[Ulrichsd]

What fish are you going to keep in the 20 g?

 

[JackBinimbul]

I'm keeping Endlers, peppered cories and neo. shrimp!

 

[Ulrichsd]

I got the sandblasted manzanita in the picture from bloomsandbranches.com. I trimmed the branch on the right actually to give a little more swimming room. I also leave the algae and just clean the front panel as it looks a little more natural imo

I also have some mopani driftwood for a 20 long frog tank from Amazon, but it is kind of expensive for small pieces.

 

[JackBinimbul]

Ooh, thanks for the resource, Ulrich. They have some great pieces for decent prices.

 

[DTWGulo]

I'll second the local landscaping and stone supply places. Sometimes you can even make slate look really good if you stack it on a slant. I've found a lot of inspiration by looking at pictures from national parks and my friends' photos from other places in the world. Zion national park and Ireland had some amazing landscapes.

Just search google maps in your area for stuff like 'landscaping stone' or 'decorative boulders'. Never know what you'll turn up.

Post stuff you think might be good, you'll get alllll kinds of opinions from folks here. All valuable as you figure out what to do!