going for the natural look..

[Smcoyle87]

I have an established 45g planted tank. I recently re-scaped it because i got bored with the layout lol.
Now that I'm done, I look at it and I think it looks too "man made" it's lacking that all natural look as if it was literally the bottom of a stream somewhere. Ill post a picture when i get home but was just wondering if anyone had ideas on how to make a planted tank look like it just naturally occurred.
I can try and explain more if ppl still dont understand lol
Thanks in advance.

 

[jcolon]

I have an established 45g planted tank. I recently re-scaped it because i got bored with the layout lol.
Now that I'm done, I look at it and I think it looks too "man made" it's lacking that all natural look as if it was literally the bottom of a stream somewhere. Ill post a picture when i get home but was just wondering if anyone had ideas on how to make a planted tank look like it just naturally occurred.
I can try and explain more if ppl still dont understand lol
Thanks in advance.

Are there any DW and Rocks in the tank? Live plants by themselves, while good looking, will be even more accentuated with DW, rounded river rocks, stacked slate and a black background ... makes a big difference!

In terms of DW, lately I'm finding Manzanita DW seems to have a more natural twisted branch look than either Mopani or Malaysian ... though Malaysian can give you a nice tree stump effect.

A pic should help.

 

[Smcoyle87]

Yeah sorry about the pic ill take one soon.
I do have 2 nice pieces of malaysian dw that i love. Slate is a good idea.

 

[PC1]

I find that if you are looking for a log or stump type mopani or malaysian work well. If you want a nice branchy effect you can't beat Manzanita