Aquascaping is a practiced art that involves the construction of an aquatic environment; many works draw influence from real-world landscapes, including those seen underwater and on land.
It might be challenging to design an aquascape. Aquascaping is the practice of applying fundamental design ideas to the aquatic environment. You can determine what design and layout you want by browsing various aquascapes.
How to Start Aquascaping
1. Decide the Type of Aquascape You Want
Aquascapes come in a variety of forms, each with its aesthetic. Aquascapes can also be classified according to their shape, which might be convex, concave, or triangular. Choose the one that best appeals to you:
It might be expensive because many hard-scape materials are needed for these aquascapes. These aquascapes include:
i) Dutch aquascapes
Based on the flower arrangements done in Holland, these tanks elegantly showcase several types of water plants.
ii) Biotope aquariums
These are aquariums that closely resemble animals’ natural habitats.
iii) Iwagumis
These aquascapes have carpeting plants and boulders. This kind of layout is based on Japanese design and is exceptionally straightforward. This kind of aquascape represents rocky terrain.
iv) Jungle Aquascape
Aquaria that mimic the jungle feature plants that proliferate, are tall enough to cover the entire tank and have floating plants that cover the whole surface.
v) Taiwanese Aquascape
These aquascapes have been planted and include miniature versions of buildings or human figures to mimic real life.
2. Color Contrast in Aquascaping
Use this more straightforward contrast type in your aquascapes. Consider the contrast between the green of the aquatic plants and the brown (light or dark) of the aquarium driftwood.
You can also consider the striking contrast between the grey rocks and the green flora. The most amazing color contrasts are produced between brighter and darker hues.
You may attempt many other color combinations, and the most straightforward approach to determine which one is most effective is to sketch it out or draw it on paper.
3. Rocks in Aquascaping
When aquascaping, rocks are significant to consider since, if handled appropriately, they can occasionally result in issues.
Never allow a rock to contact the aquarium glass’s bottom while installing one. Gemstones have the potential to not only damage the glass but also to shatter under abrupt pressure.
When aquascaping, there should always be a thin substrate layer between the rock and the aquarium glass.
Numerous rocks contain minerals that, over time, will gradually erode into the aquarium and cause a swing toward alkalinity. Depending on your fish, plants, desired pH range, and total rock buffering capabilities, this may or may not be a problem.
4. Select a Substrate
When working with live plants, your substrate should always be carefully considered. Healthy plant establishment is challenging, and a real Aquascape’s lush, garden-like growth is practically impossible with sterile substrates like plain sand and gravel.
Artificial substrates offer a dark base that is visually beautiful and nutritionally adequate. It is possible to combine materials for aesthetic or nutritional reasons.
5. Setting Up the Tank
Start with the plants in the backdrop, then move to the foreground. You can remove rocks and logs to make attaching plants much simpler. Planting the stems relatively densely is crucial because doing so will speed up the growth of your tank.
Using tweezers, insert a couple of stems approximately an inch apart or closer if preferred. Attach the moss and java/Anubis to the rock or wood to get the finest look. Blyxa along the center will help to separate the background from the foreground.
You should apply the moss sparingly to guarantee that the new shoots will grow onto the item to which it is used. If the right circumstances are present, it will overgrow so that you’ll think it’s a weed.
6. Selecting Invertebrates and Fish
When fishing, steer clear of digging fish since they can uproot plants and make fishing more difficult. The worst offenders include giant catfish, loaches, and cichlids.
Dwarf cichlids such as Blue Rams and Discus are fantastic options for Aquascapes because of their small size. Also effective are biome aquascapes that consider cichlids’ propensity for digging.
Fish and invertebrates that devour plants can also be problematic.
Silver dollars, pacus, and several snail species are examples of commonly seen plant-eating animals. However, fish and invertebrates that consume algae are particularly beneficial.
7. De-Center Your Decor
When creating a painting, picture, or other visual work, it is often best to avoid centering subjects. When designing an aquarium, it’s best to avoid placing large objects like driftwood or showing plants smack in the middle of the tank.
Corner placement produces a sense of tension and contrast when opposed to the open water of the remainder of the tank.
You can make an appealing open water gap by adding a second decoration to the opposing side. A gradient is created that is purposeful but pleasing to the eye by putting a double, smaller design of the same type adjacent to the first.
Conclusion
It would help if you never focused on the fish when aquascaping; instead, pay attention to the aquatic vegetation.
And it’s always a good idea to stock a new aquascape with more plants than fish. Particularly long-stemmed plants with a fast growth rate can use the extra nutrients in the water to thrive.
If you overcrowd your planted aquarium, more nitrites and nitrates will build up in the water, creating the ideal conditions for algal blooms.
