Aquascaping

Aquascaping is the craft of arranging aquaristic plants, rocks and drift wood, in and aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium. It’s like underwater gardening. In the world of aquascaping and planted tanks, there are two major schools of thought: the garden-like Dutch style and the Japanese-inspired nature style.

Dutch aquariums



Dutch aquariums are the oldest style of aquascaping. It was started in the early 20th century in Holland. This style primarily concentrates on neat rows of plants. Lower plants are put in the front and taller in the back, creating a depth effect.

Dutch aquascapes often also feature more colorful water plants. They can be compared to a well kept garden, where every plant is arranged with a purpose and well trimmed. This type of aquascaping doesn’t aim to copy nature, but is extremely beautiful and visually interesting.


Nature style aquariums



The nature aquarium style was pioneered by Takashi Amano in the 90’s. Unlike Dutch style this style is primarily focused on nature. It aims to imitate both natural landscapes and snapshots of natural environments. It means that a nature style aquarium can look like a miniature version of a mountain range, or it can try to copy the way some river looks beneath the surface. Nature style aquascapes are often also one of three shapes: concave shaped, convex shaped, or triangular. Concave means that the plants are arranged in a way that higher ones are at the sides and decrease to some central low point. Convex is the opposite and look like and island or hill – plants are low on the sides and height in the middle. The triangular aquascapes are shaped like a triangle – the height slopes gradually from high on one side to low on the other. All nature aquariums have one very important common feature – the main focal point which is almost always positioned according to the golden ratio


How to

I'd like to present you an 11 step guide to successful aquascaping.

1. Imagination

Imagination is the key to aquascaping. Imagine the plants and accessories you are about to use and try combining them in several ways. If it’s too hard. Maybe start by coping an arrangement you saw and like. With time you’ll get better in this.

2. Choosing a background

There are several types of background. You can choose from different types of wood, painting, foliage or even color paper. No matter what you must choose a background. It’ll look unnatural with the wall or even wires behind. When choosing colors make it black or blue – they look the most natural.

3. Choosing your substrate

Your tank will look unnaturally with colorful gravel. Choose rather dark colors like brown, gray or even black.

4. Choosing the shape of the layout

There are several common types of layouts.

Concave layout:



Convex layout:



Triangular layout:



It is important that to create an illusion of depth. To do this, avoid using rectangular layouts with constant plant heights.

5. Choosing the accessories

When choosing stones or driftwood use different sizes and shapes, instead of picking just one element. One single stone will look artificial, but two or more can make a natural look. Never use different types of stones or wood. A composition of ugliest stones of one type will look better then the most beautiful but different.

6. Setting the main focal points

You should aim for one, maximum two focal points. These are the points which please your eyes. If you choose one focal point it should preferably be in the point calculated by using the golden ratio. If you stick it just in the middle it won’t look right. Rather try moving it a bit to the left or right. The Greeks calculated long ago that the best ratio to please your eyes is 1:1.618.



7. Foreground, Midground, Background

Too create depth you should use different plant and accessories sizes. The rule here is that the smaller the more in the front you put it.


8. Planting order

Start planting form you focal point. Then go with the small, medium and at the end the large plants. Always plant very dense.

9. Plant leaves and colour

Try using plant with different sizes and colors. This will create a more natural look and give more depth. In smaller tanks choose plants with smaller leaves. They will make an illusion of the tank being bigger. Red plants give contrast but be aware that one red plant standing out from the rest of the composition will be a focal point.

10. Fishes

You shouldn’t add fisher just after the start of the tank. Rather choose groups of smaller fish than single big ones. Choose fishes that won't disturb your aquascape. Avoid one that will try to dig and eat you plants.

11. Maintenance

Setting it all up is one thing, maintaining and keeping the good looks is totally different. Regular plant pruning, water changing and keeping the right balance of nutrition and CO2 will do the job. Sometimes you might even have to throw a plant always because it may become too big and ruin your original composition.


Examples

Now I'd like to show you everything I’ve been writing about. I’ll present you some of the finest arrangements from the most popular aquascaping contest in the world, the ADA Aquascaping Contest.

Year 2008

1st place


2nd place


3rd place


4th place


5th place


6th place


7th place


8th place


9th place


10th place


Year 2007

1st place


2nd place


3rd place


4th place


5th place


6th place


7th place


8th place


9th place


10th place



Try finding some interesting information about the golden ratio and post it here.

When it comes to nature combined with art, Japan is known not only for nature style aquascaping. Please lookup Ikebana and Bonsai and write something about it.

Do you like the idea of aquascaping? Would you say it’s art?

Do you have any experience in aquascaping? Maybe you have made an arrangement of your own? Please share if so.

Which of the presented compositions are your favorite ones? Mines are 1st and 3rd from 2008 and 10th from 2007.