Introduction To Planted Aquarium

Aquascaping (Planted Aquarium ) is the craft of arranging aquatic plants, as well as rocks, stones, cavework, or driftwood, in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium—in effect, gardening under water. Aquascape designs include a number of distinct styles, including the gardenlike Dutch style and the Japanese-inspired nature style. Typically, an aquascape houses fish as well as plants, although it is possible to create an aquascape with plants only, or with rockwork or other hardscape and no plants.

Although the primary aim of Planted Aquarium (Aquascaping ) is to create an artful underwater landscape, the technical aspects of aquatic plant maintenance must also be taken into consideration. Many factors must be balanced in the closed system of an aquarium tank to ensure the success of an Planted Aquarium  (aquascape). These factors include filtration, maintaining carbon dioxide at levels sufficient to support photosynthesis underwater, substrate and fertilization, lighting, and algae control.

Designs

In the world of planted aquariums and the art of aquascaping, there are quite a few styles that are commonly used among aquascapers. Each style has their own unique characteristics that bring beauty and creativity to a planted aquarium. Some may favor those who are beginning the planted aquarium hobby, where as others may be for the more skilled and experienced enthusiasts. With that being said, lets take a look at few aquascaping styles that are used when setting up an aquascape and find out which style you prefer.

Dutch Style Planted Aquarium

The Dutch style was the first style ever used and attempted for a planted aquarium. This style was developed in the Netherlands since the 1930’s, which have been around for quite some time and still exists and used among aquascapers today.

The principles behind the Dutch style technique consist of using many plants; specifically stem plants of no more than 10-12 species, to create a lush arrangement. The use of stem plants in the Dutch style are grouped and neatly planted in rows from back to front. Choosing a selection of plants with diverse sizes, leaf colors, textures, and growth rates are important when creating a Dutch style planted aquarium. These plants should be carefully organized so that there is a contrast in color, leaf size, and texture between each type of plant. Depending on what type of plants you use, the placement of your plants should also be at different heights to provide depth and create focal points. To create the lush look with your stem plants, you will need to heavily trim your plants periodically and provide them with a good amount of nutrients.

Due to heavily planting with this typical style, an algae bloom in the beginning stages will not likely occur You will also find that driftwood and rocks are not used in this type of style. Another great addition to the Dutch style planted aquarium is the use of fish. Having a school of fish will bring the whole aquascape together, creating a sense of completeness. Most tetra species would make a great choice when deciding what school of fish you want to use.

Nature Style Planted Aquarium

A contrasting approach is the "nature aquarium" or Japanese style, introduced in the 1990s by Takashi Amano.[1] Amano's three-volume series, Nature Aquarium World, sparked a wave of interest in aquarium gardening, and he has been cited as having "set a new standard in aquarium management".Amano's compositions draw on Japanese gardening techniques that attempt to mimic natural landscapes by the asymmetrical arrangement of masses of relatively few species of plants, and carefully selected stones or driftwood. The objective is to evoke a landscape in miniature, rather than a colorful garden. This style draws particularly from the Japanese aesthetic concepts of Wabi-sabi , which focuses on transience and minimalism as sources of beauty, and Iwagumi , which sets rules governing rock placement. In the Iwagumi system, the Oyaishi , or main stone, is placed slightly off-center in the tank, and Soeishi , or accompanying stones, are grouped near it, while Fukuseki , or secondary stones, are arranged in subordinate positions. The location of the focal point of the display, determined largely by the asymmetric placement of the Oyaishi, is considered important, and follows ratios that reflect Pythagorean tuning. Plants with small leaves, such as Eleocharis acicularis, Glossostigma elatinoides, Hemianthus callitrichoides, Riccia fluitans, small aquatic ferns, and Java moss (Versicularia dubyana or Taxiphyllum barbieri) are usually emphasized, with more limited colors than in the Dutch style, and the hardscape is not completely covered. Fish, or freshwater shrimp such as Caridina multidentata and Neocaridina heteropoda, are usually selected to complement the plants and control algae, but for reasons of minimalism the number of species are often limited.

 

 Within the Nature Aquarium style, there are two sub-styles. The first being the driftwood style, and the second being the iwagumi style. Both these sub-styles will be covered at length in the next few editions.

driftwood style

iwagumi style

Biotopes

The styles above often combine plant and animal species based on the desired visual impact, without regard to geographic origin. Biotope aquascapes are designed instead to replicate exactly a particular aquatic habitat at a particular geographic location, and not necessarily to provide a gardenlike display. Plants and fish need not be present at all, but if they are, they must match what would be found in nature in the habitat being represented, as must any gravel and hardscape, and even the chemical composition of the water.

Paludariums

In a paludarium, part of the aquarium is underwater, and part is above water. Substrate is built up so that some "land" regions are raised above the waterline, and the tank is only partially filled with water. This allows plants, such as Cyperus alternifolius and Spathiphyllum wallisii, as well as various Anubias and some bromeliads, to grow emersed, with their roots underwater but their tops in the air, as well as completely submersed. In some configurations, plants that float on the surface of the water, such as Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes, can be displayed to full advantage. Unlike other aquarium setups, paludariums are particularly well-suited to keeping amphibians., 

Saltwater reefs

Dutch and nature style aquascapes are traditionally freshwater systems. In contrast, relatively few ornamental plants can be grown in a saltwater aquarium. Saltwater aquascaping typically centers, instead, on mimicking a reef. An arrangement of live rock forms the main structure of this aquascape, and it is populated by corals and other marine invertebrates as well as coralline algae, which together serve much the same aesthetic role as freshwater plants.