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I'm very new to Dutch scapes when it comes to setting one up but have been reading up and gathering info for a while. Would be interested in sharing ideas and learning techniques especially when in comes to placement and trimming.

Anyone interested in Dutch style scaping read the following:
Article by Vin
Summary:
SECTION ONE:
GETTING STARTED
1. MUST HAVE STRONG
CONTRAST BETWEEN GROUPS: You need dramatic contrasts.
Always think of contrast in leaf
shape, size, texture, brightness,
and height.
one plant with BIG
leaves. Maybe an Echinodorus
or Aponogeton or Barclaya,
Nymphaea, Lagenandra, Anubias,
or Nuphar. Even a stem plant like
Hygrophila corymbosa.
2. LEAVE ROOM FOR A CLEAR
DISTINCTION BETWEEN
GROUPS OF PLANTS. This is
tied to proper trimming and floor
layout
3. HEIGHT VARIATION IS
IMPORTANT

6. ONE SPECIES PER 10 CM/4
IN. OR THREE SPECIES PER
FOOT OF TANK LENGTH.
Too many species makes the tank
busy, restless, and crowded.
Small groups of plants also make
the tank seem crowded
Do not use same species in more
than one location
8. MID-GROUND PLANTS ARE
CRITICAL.
Any plant that is a third to half the
height of the tank can make good
a midground plant
Slow-growing plants make good
midground candidates, but if you
are willing to trim often, you can
use taller and faster growing
stem plants
9. FOCAL POINT PLANTS ARE
CRITICAL
They give the eye a place to rest
and return
-Golden ratio and rule of thirds
If you follow the rule of thirds, you
will have the option of four focal
point placements: left front, left
back, right front, and right back

10. SHOW A LITTLE
BACK WALL.

11. AVOID TOO MANY RED
PLANTS.
One or two red plants at focal
points is enough. Put another
way, no more than a quarter of the
species should be orange/red/pink

SECTION TWO:
CONTRAST & ANTI-SYMMETRY
1. OBSERVE STRICT
TRIMMING
Don’t over-trim one side of the
tank

2. AVOID A SEA OF
LIGHT GREEN
Don’t put two green stem plants
next to each otheR,
If you have two light green plants
next to each other, one could
be a stem and the other a grass.
Otherwise, put a dark green or
red plant group in between
E. lineare is
one of the few bluish green plants
in the hobby
Use an earthy or brown Cryptocoryne in the midground somewhere

3. USE A MIX OF STEMS,
GRASSES, AND GIANT
LEAF PLANTS
Balance stem plants with
rosettes
Grasses, Echinodorus,
Cryptocoryne, Eriocaulon,
Nymphaea all act as foils to a sea
of stem plants. But don’t put two
grasses next to each other.
Don’t forget wispy. Bold and large
plants are common, but thin,
wispy plants offer great contrast
and make the tank seem lighter.
Perfect candidates are Eriocaulon
cf. fluviatile (Feather Duster)
or the underused Eleocharis
elongata and Hydrothrix gardneri.

4. DON’T PUT DARK GREEN
PLANTS IN CORNERS
Putting dark green plants in both back
corners will force attention to the
center of the tank and make the tank
look smaller.
Brighter plants in corners look
better.
• The best place to position dark
plants is in between or in front of
bright ones
5. DON’T PUT BRIGHT RED
PLANTS IN CORNERS

6. DON’T PLACE PLANT
GROUPS OF THE SAME
WIDTH OR HEIGHT NEXT TO
EACH OTHER.

7. ADD AN ELEMENT OF
CONTROLLED CHAOS.

One or two
wild-haired plants can be used to
shake up that uptight stiffness.
Candidates include:
• Aponogeton ulvaceus
• Lagarosiphon madagascariensis
• Persicaria praetermissa
• Any of the arched or sideways
growing Rotala rotundifolia
variants
• Juncus repens
• Murdannia sp. ‘red’
• Crinum calamistratum

9. DON’T MIX TWO OR MORE

SPECIES INTO ONE GROUP–EVEN IF THEY ARE SUBSPECIES.
This is a Nature Aquarium style
technique. It reduces contrast
between groups

10. AVOID SYMMETRY
AT ALL COST
Even
placing a big bush or a clearly defined
plant right in the middle is a mistake

11. ...AND ALSO AVOID
SECONDARY SYMMETRY
avoiding minor mirror effects like
equal-sized bushes on opposite
sides of the tank or equally bright
plants at exactly the same distance from the center

SECTION THREE:
FOREGROUND & SUBSTRATE

1. CREATE THE RIGHT AMOUNT
OF FOREGROUND GROWTH.
Let some foreground plants almost
touch the front glass while others
stay an inch or two back
It’s fine, even recommended, to have
some substrate visible near the front
of the tank

2. DON’T LET FOREGROUND
PLANTS CROWD AND PRESS
UP AGAINST THE FRONT
GLASS.

3. USE SOME OPEN OR
EMPTY SPACE IN THE
FOREGROUND.
Every square inch of substrate does
not have to planted. A little empty
space gives the tank a more
relaxed look

4. FOREGROUND PLANTS
SHOULD NOT BE PLANTED
PERFECTLY PARALLEL TO
THE FRONT GLASS.

5. DON’T ALLOW EQUAL
AMOUNT OF FLOORSPACE
FOR EACH FOREGROUND
PLANT

6. USE CURTAIN PLANTS ON
THE LEFT AND RIGHT FRONT
IF POSSIBLE.

7. CHOOSE THE COLOR OF
THE SUBSTRATE CAREFULLY

Traditional Dutch style tanks use
inert natural brown gravel. Black
blasting sand or dark clay soils like
ADA Aquasoil are traditionally not
used, but will not count against you
in a contest unless you have large
swaths of substrate exposed.

SECTION FOUR:
EVERYTHING ELSE
1. USE AN AQUARIUM THAT IS
AT LEAST 24” FRONT TO BACK.
Tanks with 18” or less front to back
depth need extra focus on the midground as well as a perfectly
executed plant street to add a
feeling of depth.

if you have just 18”then you need to take a lesson from
Nature Aquarium style and depth
using a lot of midground groups and
strongly tapering plant streets.

2. COVER ABOUT 80 TO
90% OF THE SUBSTRATE
WITH PLANTS

3. A NATURE STYLE ‘SCAPE
WITH PLANT STREETS DOES
NOT MAKE IT DUTCH.
No U-shaped plant layout (or upside
down U)

4. IF YOU DO USE DRIFTWOOD,
USE SMALL PIECES COVERED
WITH MOSS TO SEPARATE
SOMEWHAT SIMILAR
GROUPS OF PLANTS.


5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO USE
SUBSTRATE TO CREATE AN
UPWARD SLOPE TOWARD
THE BACK

6. WHAT ABOUT THE FISH?
A dozen or so fish of one main species
is the minimum

7. USE AN EARTHY OR
BROWN CRYPTOCORYNE
IN THE MIDGROUND
SOMEWHERE.

8. DON’T MAKE
BACKGROUND PLANT
BUSHES OF THE SAME
WIDTH AND HEIGHT.

9. DON’T OVER-TRIM ONE
SIDE OF THE TANK

10. REMOVE THE
HARDWARE BEFORE
TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS
FOR (ANY) CONTEST.

11. FERTILIZING YOUR
DUTCH TANK

EI: maybe too fast of growth! Too much work
My suggestion is to dose half or
one-third strength EI with moderate
levels of CO2 and light. If you have
hungry plants, you can always insert
fertilizer tablets deep into the
substrate under those plants


You need to be ruthless
in your plant selection. If a Rotala
or Ammannia stunt in your tank,
move onto something you can
grow without issues. Select a
dozen that you can grow really
well and get going!


Joe Harvey:

Two basic ingredients you need to
begin with are big full groups, and
dramatic contrasts in height

take a
black & white picture of your tank
and see if there is contrast without
color