The Art of Aquascaping

Craft of Designing and Planting Aquariums:

• Aquascaping is the craft of arranging aquatic plants, rocks, stones, cavework, or driftwood in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium.

• Aquascape designs include a number of distinct styles including the Dutch style and the Japanese-inspired nature style.

• The technical aspects of tank maintenance and the growth requirements of aquatic plants are also taken into consideration in aquascaping.

• Many factors must be balanced in the closed system of an aquarium tank to ensure the success of an aquascape, including filtration, maintaining carbon dioxide at levels sufficient to support photosynthesis underwater, substrate and fertilization, lighting, and algae control.

• Aquascape hobbyists trade plants, conduct contests, and share photographs and information via the Internet.

• The Dutch aquarium employs a lush arrangement in which multiple types of plants having diverse leaf colors, sizes, and textures are displayed much as terrestrial plants are shown in a flower garden.

• The Japanese-inspired nature style draws on Japanese gardening techniques that attempt to mimic natural landscapes by the asymmetrical arrangement of masses of relatively few species of plants.

• The Jungle style aquascape usually has little or no visible hardscape material and includes bold, coarser leaf shapes to provide a wild, untamed appearance.

• Biotope aquariums are designed to replicate a particular aquatic habitat at a particular geographic location, not necessarily to provide a garden-like display.

• Paludariums are aquariums that combine water and land inside the same environment, allowing plants to grow both emersed and completely submersed.

• Saltwater aquascaping typically centers on mimicking a reef, with an arrangement of live rock forming the main structure of the aquascape.

• Lighting plays a particularly significant role in a reef aquascape, and many corals contain symbiotic fluorescent algae-like dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae.

• Freshwater aquascaping requires specific methods to maintain healthy plants underwater, including trimming, tying, fertilizing, providing light, and carbon dioxide supplementation, as well as controlling algae in several ways.Aquascaping: A Guide to Creating a Beautiful Underwater Landscape

• Some aquascapers use a lot of equipment to maintain the plants while others use minimal technology.

• The Walstad Method is a popular approach that replaces aquarium gravel with soil, eliminates CO2 apparatus and most filtration, and uses limited lighting.

• Fish waste is used as fertilizer for the plants to perform the water-cleansing role.

• Aquascape contests originated in the Netherlands, where judges undergo rigorous training and examination in multiple disciplines to qualify.

• The Dutch contest focuses on composition and biological well-being of the aquarium's inhabitants, with most points awarded for fish health, plant health, and water quality.

• The judges travel to each contestant's home to evaluate the tank and measure the water parameters themselves.

• The Aquatic Gardeners Association, Aqua Design Amano, and AquaticScapers Europe conduct annual freshwater aquascaping contests.

• Public aquariums also use aquascaping as part of their displays, with some creating biologically accurate biotopes.

• The largest aquascape of the Japanese nature aquarium style in a public aquarium is situated in the Oceanário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.

• Websites offer tutorials, images, and in-depth discussions on aquascaping styles and techniques.

• Some websites provide extensive non-commercial descriptions of aquatic plant species and their use in aquascaping.

• Aquascaping is a unique way to create a beautiful underwater landscape that can be enjoyed by hobbyists and the public alike.