Journal Long-winded ramblings about Dutch-style aquascaping

[Art]

What’s the look you want in that corner?

 

[gjcarew]

Some things big and bushy. Right now I'm thinking stargrass or something like that

 

[gjcarew]

New scape day! This will be controversial but I wanted to get back into nano shrimp and fish, so I sold my rainbows. I also had to catch some Siamese algae eaters, which are friggin impossible. So I ended up tearing everything out, and I figured I might as well go for a new layout while I'm at it.

Everything I still in the awkward juvenile state, but I'm trying out ludwigia white and pogostemon stellatus "dassen"

 

[gjcarew]

Oh hey, it's been a while. I tried getting this scape up to snuff but it's just not there. Unfortunately my hygrophila angustifolia is growing leaves more like 53b, so it's not tall enough.

I'm still going to try to take a photo when I get back from my work trip on Saturday and see how it turns out, but I have another pic from an earlier iteration I will probably submit to the AGA instead.


I think I'm also going to enter a little wabi kusa I've been working on

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Good luck either way remind me again what Buce that is? Godzilla?

 

[gjcarew]

Good luck either way remind me again what Buce that is? Godzilla?

Kedagang. Just a tropica tc

 

[gjcarew]

I got home today and saw almost no growth, and more string algae. Ferts are fine and the tank hygiene is great, so I figured it must be CO2. Turns out there is almost no pH drop at all. Maybe the diffuser is clogged again

 

[Unexpected]

I got home today and saw almost no growth, and more string algae. Ferts are fine and the tank hygiene is great, so I figured it must be CO2. Turns out there is almost no pH drop at all. Maybe the diffuser is clogged again

Time for a Yugang reactor !

 

[gjcarew]

Time for a Yugang reactor !

I actually have an aqua rocks Colorado reactor but I can't fit it in the stand because I got This stupid tank and stand combo that has severely limited space under the tank.

I have been selling plants to the LFS thinking I'd get a UNS tank/stand combo with the store credit, but now we are looking at potentially moving in April so I don't know if I want to set up a new tank.

I could also just put in the elbow grease and make a stand. Idk, I just get bad analysis paralysis. I wish I had your instinct to just send it!

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Maybe the diffuser is clogged again

Oh gosh you use a diffuser? That tank needs a reactor my friend too much beauty to be hindered by a clogged diffuser

 

[Unexpected]

I actually have an aqua rocks Colorado reactor but I can't fit it in the stand because I got This stupid tank and stand combo that has severely limited space under the tank.

I have been selling plants to the LFS thinking I'd get a UNS tank/stand combo with the store credit, but now we are looking at potentially moving in April so I don't know if I want to set up a new tank.

I could also just put in the elbow grease and make a stand. Idk, I just get bad analysis paralysis. I wish I had your instinct to just send it!

Try his CO2 spray bar. No need for any equipment and just hangs in the tank. Use some black pipe to hide it. @Yugang, have any pictures you could show?

 

[Koan]

I think I'm also going to enter a little wabi kusa I've been working on

Can we see a close-up? What emersed plants are those?

 

[Koan]

can't fit it in the stand

To the Home Depot!

 

[gjcarew]

OMFG. Just finished setting up the reactor, next to (outside of) the stand. I go to check the CO2 with the bubble test, nothing.

Turns out at some point I bumped the cord to the solenoid, and it wasn't fully in the outlet. I didn't even consider that.

For like 5 years I had no trouble with CO2, and the past 6 months have been an enormous PITA. Well at least now I have a super fancy regulator and reactor.

I submitted an old photo from April to the AGA this year. It's not perfect but it never is. Now I just have to clean up the hair algae jungle that has sprouted over the past few weeks.

 

[Unexpected]

Ouch.

 

[gjcarew]

This was inspired by Art's question about how your aquarium journey is going. Luckily I've been taking photos pretty much the entire time, so here's my story.

The picture above is my first tank (well, second. First was a 3-gallon hydroponic betta tank). I had just moved back out from my parents house to a shitty little basement apartment, and I wanted to be able to grow fresh herbs because I love to cook.

The herbs were insipid and weak due to lack of light, and lack of bioload to feed them.



I built my own stand, and started adding some plants to go with the fish. I've never been good with house plants before so it was amazing to see them growing. At this point I had started to gain an interest in aquascaping, and had a CO2 system already. But I was still trying to grow herbs hydroponically.



When I moved to a new apartment, I decided to try my hand at aquascaping for real. I bought a 22-gallon long aquarium and set it up as a kind of iwagumi. But I found I really loved big, exuberant groups of plants.



I still had my 12-gallon long, and set it up as a minimalist, low-tech aquascape for my betta. I still love this layout.


The 22-gallon long with an all wood aquascape. This (or some version of it) won the GSAS home show, and was my first try at aquascaping contests.

(Continued)

 

[gjcarew]

Under the nefarious influence of @GreggZ and the other folks at the planted tank, I decided to dive into plant only tanks. I had been headed that way for a while with a sever case of collectoritis. This is when I first started to seriously think about Dutch aquascaping.


I had a bunch of time on my hands due to being unemployed during COVID, so I poured a lot of energy into this tank.

I decided to compete in the AGA Dutch aquascaping competition. I find competitions in general to be useful in giving one a goal, I always like to challenge myself in everything I do. Since I had just started with the Dutch style, I didn't think about what I wanted in a tank. Instead, I thought of it as a puzzle. I had three feet of tank, 12 inches of height, and 9 plants, and I had to follow all 70 or so rules in Vin's Dutch scaping article. I submitted this tank (not this exact photo, but the same layout).

To my surprise, I won. I'm still not sure it was the best tank that year, but I went for a very classic Dutch style, and at that point not many people even bothered to follow the rules. It was a little bittersweet, as I had sever imposter syndrome and didn't really know where to go with the hobby from there. So I made a fruit stand next.



Doing a Dutch tank in a 12 inch tall aquarium is exhausting. I was trimming about every day to get things to peak close to the right time. So when I bought a house in 2021, I finally joined the big tank club with a 75 gallon.



This was my first time using sand as a substrate, and the water at my new house was harder than in previous apartments. Plus, I had no real idea how to use the extra height.

I've entered the AGA once more since my first try. This tank is in the spare bedroom, and unfortunately it's been out of sight, out of mind. It seems my dedication to the hobby has been waning. But I still love getting my hands in the tank, feeding the fish, and watching the plants grow.

Enjoyment has been my goal recently. I still love the Dutch style, and did enter the AGA this year, but I don't really follow the rules as slavishly any more. I focus on what I like, and what plants I want to grow.

It's been great watching all you folks carry the torch of Dutch/garden style tanks. It's only been six years since I first got an aquarium, but I already feel like an old-timer.

 

[gjcarew]

Coming back to the present day, you can definitely see the CO2 deficiency in the thin, leggy plants. I did manage to get most of the hair algae and I'm sure the problem will fade as the plants recover.

Now that the AGA deadline has passed, I'll probably get back to moving plants around as I always do. I love the color contrasts but it feels cramped in this iteration. Once that hygrophila angustifolia grows out though, it's gonna be pretty cool IMO.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Wow, what a great read, and some really beautiful looking tanks you've had.

 

[Unexpected]

Yes, excellent read and love it. It's fun to see those humble beginnings and the eventuality of time.