Journal Attempting a True Dutch

[Kwyet]

It's fantastic! I'm just trying to figure out how a "Tracy" arrived at Kwyet for a user name.

I meant it to sound like “quiet”, which I am until I get worked up about something, lol! I also wanted something that no one else would pick so I wouldn’t be Tracy7845 or something.

 

[Capraquaria]

That is so AWESOME! Huge congratulations, it's a stunning tank!

 

[NC AL]

Your Tank is very impressive!

 

[Kwyet]

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate the encouragement!

 

[Kwyet]

I’ve been back over the comments. I don’t have as many questions this year. It’s interesting that both years I was really worried about things that the judges didn’t mention, so I’ve been obsessing over some of the wrong things—last year a corner seam showing, this year overly pink substrate from the lights.

I also over-compensated this year trying to act on last year’s advice. Last year the photo was over-exposed. This year it was under-exposed. Last year the moss on the walls was too prominent. This year the buce on the back wall was too obscured. Hopefully next year I’ll find the happy medium. Well, also buce is expensive so I had to be pretty strategic about where I placed it and how much wall could be seen. Hopefully I can grow out twice that by the end of next year. I like the effect of the soft moss on the sides and the dark texture on the back wall.

I actually grew completely new side panels of moss in the farm tank while struggling for months with the algae that infested the walls in this tank. I just couldn’t get rid of it, so I was glad I hedged my bets and had nice, clean panels to move over for the final couple of weeks. I haven’t had any reoccurrence of it either. I think a huge part of the problem was the fluctuating water hardness from that Mohave sand. I should have given up on it and switched substrates much, much sooner. Sometimes I’m too stubborn for my own good, lol!

I really just have 2 real questions. One, I was advised to light the tank with spotlights from the front. How do I do that without making reflections off the front glass? I already have the room in darkness, and I still have to sit across the room to keep the camera from being reflected. If I put spotlights facing the front, isn’t everything in front of the tank going to be caught in the reflection? Also, what lights to use? Has anyone else done this?

Two, how do I know when it’s okay to just keep trimming a plant to the desired size when it naturally grows large, and when it isn’t? I kept the Aponogeton boivianus as the left curtain because I liked the deep green color and the hammered leaves even though it grew quickly and I had to trim the longer leaves off all the time. I understand it blended too much with the hygrophila in back, but that’s not the question. I don’t quite understand the difference between trimming off older, long leaves every week and replanting the tops of stem plants or cutting the outer leaves off taller sword plants. I’m not arguing at all with the judges, just trying to nail down what makes the difference.

I do have one other question. I want to know how @Gwad achieved that wonderful, ethereal quality with his lighting! @Gwad do you want to share your secrets?

I would love any further information from anyone.

 

[JayP]

I really just have 2 real questions. One, I was advised to light the tank with spotlights from the front. How do I do that without making reflections off the front glass? I already have the room in darkness, and I still have to sit across the room to keep the camera from being reflected. If I put spotlights facing the front, isn’t everything in front of the tank going to be caught in the reflection? Also, what lights to use? Has anyone else done this?

Are you using a dedicated camera or your phone camera. If using a dedicated camera, invest in a polarizer filter. That will help eliminate/minimize reflections.

Edit: I guess they do sell clip-on polarizer filters for phone cameras as well. Also, do you shoot your photos in RAW? Most phone cameras can do this. You can then edit the RAW file in software to fix color and brightness, although for these competition photos, of course, you can only do minimal touch-up like that. I use Adobe Lightroom, but it's not cheap.

 

[Kwyet]

Are you using a dedicated camera or your phone camera. If using a dedicated camera, invest in a polarizer filter. That will help eliminate/minimize reflections.

Edit: I guess they do sell clip-on polarizer filters for phone cameras as well. Also, do you shoot your photos in RAW? Most phone cameras can do this. You can then edit the RAW file in software to fix color and brightness, although for these competition photos, of course, you can only do minimal touch-up like that. I use Adobe Lightroom, but it's not cheap.

It’s the phone camera. I actually only learned about RAW after I had submitted the photos, so they were just the standard iphone format. I’ll look for a clip-on filter. Thanks!

 

[Gwad]

I’ve been back over the comments. I don’t have as many questions this year. It’s interesting that both years I was really worried about things that the judges didn’t mention, so I’ve been obsessing over some of the wrong things—last year a corner seam showing, this year overly pink substrate from the lights.

I also over-compensated this year trying to act on last year’s advice. Last year the photo was over-exposed. This year it was under-exposed. Last year the moss on the walls was too prominent. This year the buce on the back wall was too obscured. Hopefully next year I’ll find the happy medium. Well, also buce is expensive so I had to be pretty strategic about where I placed it and how much wall could be seen. Hopefully I can grow out twice that by the end of next year. I like the effect of the soft moss on the sides and the dark texture on the back wall.

I actually grew completely new side panels of moss in the farm tank while struggling for months with the algae that infested the walls in this tank. I just couldn’t get rid of it, so I was glad I hedged my bets and had nice, clean panels to move over for the final couple of weeks. I haven’t had any reoccurrence of it either. I think a huge part of the problem was the fluctuating water hardness from that Mohave sand. I should have given up on it and switched substrates much, much sooner. Sometimes I’m too stubborn for my own good, lol!

I really just have 2 real questions. One, I was advised to light the tank with spotlights from the front. How do I do that without making reflections off the front glass? I already have the room in darkness, and I still have to sit across the room to keep the camera from being reflected. If I put spotlights facing the front, isn’t everything in front of the tank going to be caught in the reflection? Also, what lights to use? Has anyone else done this?

Two, how do I know when it’s okay to just keep trimming a plant to the desired size when it naturally grows large, and when it isn’t? I kept the Aponogeton boivianus as the left curtain because I liked the deep green color and the hammered leaves even though it grew quickly and I had to trim the longer leaves off all the time. I understand it blended too much with the hygrophila in back, but that’s not the question. I don’t quite understand the difference between trimming off older, long leaves every week and replanting the tops of stem plants or cutting the outer leaves off taller sword plants. I’m not arguing at all with the judges, just trying to nail down what makes the difference.

I do have one other question. I want to know how @Gwad achieved that wonderful, ethereal quality with his lighting! @Gwad do you want to share your secrets?

I would love any further information from anyone.

I also got quite a few constructive critiques of my lighting and photography so I don't know if I'm qualified to give advice I just used my Samsung S25 Ultra on "Pro" mode so I could control the settings. I set my shutter speed to something fast enough to capture the fish, like 1/125s or faster, and then I set the ISO as low as I can while still getting enough exposure to see everything. I also set my white balance to a warmer tone, like 5500K. I set my Week Aqua to 84R 84G 42B to keep it from looking too blue for me.

I was kind of surprised by the feedback to use spotlights on the curtain plants but see where the judges are coming from. I intentionally created shadows, but I ended up over doing it a bit, especially in the front right. When I was doing my studies of the NBAT Dutch Scaping guide, my favorite tanks are all pretty moody and shadowy, especially at the curtains and the walls. I really like the look of the shadowy curtains because they help sell the illusion that we are peeking into some kind of magical garden and not a glass box.

Examples:



I also "undercut" my bushes a little bit between stem groups to create dividing shadows between bushes. Basically I tried to create an overhang such that the stem bush behind the one in front cast a small shadow to create better divisions.

 

[artandsoul]

Please Take this very lightly as im no dutch scape judge for dam sure lol! Gwad The tank looks great, picture is great yet it is kinda dark. Looks like your light is on 40% brightness. Have seen many past dutchscapes on aga for years there usually pretty bright. Imo what caused some darkness other than light is the curtains and u went for the darkness I get it. Hydrocotyle Leucocephala its going over half the tank causing a large dark spot. If it was trimmed just after water line would be more open feeling. The Mayaca Fluviatilis making a little dark on right and 2" trim would make it look cleaner less dark.

Think the road of cardinalis should be shorter into the substrate .I would have def pushed plants into substrate for the pic and trimmed side roots but I guess I'm a cheater. Im so ocd I would trim every visible root down before a pic yep I cheated again lol. In the end its an amazing tank u can def grow some nice plants.

Kwyet tank is also very impressive it's a brighter pic but still seems to dim light like 60% brightness. The moss walls make it seem darker than it really is imo on the sides. A lighter color tall plant on left would pop more and not blend in with the dark color moss wall. I'm a nobody hobbyist just my opinion in the end

Looking at pics and the actual tank is always way different as I've seen some aquashella in person and then in pics and they never look the same at all.

 

[Kwyet]

Thank you both! I’ll have to in investigate those camera settings and see what corresponds to them on iphone. I did adjust the warmth a little bit, not sure about the rest, but I do really love the quality of the light in your picture @Gwad . It looks like a magical fairy garden to me. I do agree with @artandsoul about the aerial roots. It’s not cheating to get rid of them. I always pull all of mine off before any serious pictures. I thought that was a small concern though with the overall great impression of the tank!