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[holidayhanson]

If you want to really get into the artistic side of your viv scape I would search into "principals of design" such as balance, harmony, contrast, repitition, rhythm, emphasis, unity. It's a lot to swallow and then think of how you can apply these concepts to a viv...but if you can achieve some of these concepts you will end up with a trophy viv.

Another place to look into are some photography rules of thumb....ie the "rule of thirds" as mentioned above, don't put anything smack dab in the center of the vertical axis or horizontal axis.

A third place to research is the japanese art of placement known as ikebana. This tends to deal more with arrangement of a few flowers or sticks but the concept of minimalism in a viv might serve you well if you dont have the pocket book for many different types of plants. Consider planting a viv with cuttings from 2-3 houseplants instead of 15-20 individully purchased 2" potted plants or plugs.

Before I set things in thesub strate I just put them in the viv in pots to see how I like the arrangement, leave them there for a few days or week and move them about one at a time over the course of that week. Give some time to admire it over time instead of planting everything all in one sitting.

As for your BG, many people work so hard on these to make them look so perfect and real...but the reality is they get completely covered with green within a year and become barely visible.

Take your time, dont rush, relax, and when things dont go as planned they are known as "happy accidents" and really end up being some of your vivs best features. Its just plants, wood, and substrate, which will survive no matter what happens. Just make sure your false bottom is frog proof, it the biggest thing to stress about. Test a bead of silicone, make sure it cures, before smearing it all over the place as some tubes expire and stay in its gooey film.

Good luck and have fun!