The Planted Tank Forum banner

120 Gallon ADA "like", ditched, Dutch style new pics 137

503K views 2K replies 327 participants last post by  jccaclimber 
#1 · (Edited)
Well, I just did not like the general feel of the ADA like minimalist display prior, so I tore the entire thing down.

Here, I wanted to add lots of color, contrast, display the nice Manzy wood I have, make it a lot of stem plant and pruning type of tank(yes, work:icon_roll), but somewhat manageable still.

I have enough plants to fill it, but I'll remove some plants on the sides(Erios and Compact the Crypt parva down some, I have a few small divider pieces of Manzy wood I'll add this week to make a better dividing line for some of the groups.

I'll change the groups of plants around till I'm happy(often a long process), to achieve the best contrast based more on Dutch rules, rather than ADA aesthetics. Right now it's fairly simple red green red green layout, and less textured contrast. Most of these species are easy to sell also, so they are good "crop plants", 500 or more of the fire cherry shrimp makes it a good shrimp factory.

I have an ADA style tank and my 180 is somewhat loosely based on ADA style, A reef and a Rift cichlid tank. I want a nice style and method for each tank that is different, not all planted tanks with one style.

Tank is not that old after complete tear down, maybe 4 weeks or less.









 
See less See more
5
#3 ·
Very good looking setup Mr. Barr. I really like the different colors and textures. The foreground plants look really interesting to me as well.
 
#8 ·
Crap, I do not want anymore of that, I already have a tank full of it in my 180. Rule no#1, never keep the same plants in different tanks, like the same fish etc:)

I have some of the Starou porto velho.

Some of the Downoi are still recovering, but will have plenty soon enough, already trying to sell it:)

Anyone want 4-6 large dowoni? see my sales thread.

The red ludwigia is a real nice plant. Has a nice growth pattern
The Wallichii has really colored up today, I just got it a about 3 days ago.
L always love wallichii, is one of my favorite plants when grown well.

I got some Erio cineruem which I prefer for scaping than many of the others.
I'd considered Erio setaceum, but the Hydrothrix is very similar and more uncommon, so I'll hang onto that.

This tank has a lot of red colors and bright greens.
That's the purpose.

I used the driftwood much like a large old bonasi tree that has died back and the roots are exposed. The branchy flat laying driftwood is nice since it forms natural rows/streets of plants(which will have a nicer front to back height after a few trims), and sections off the plant divisions, and adds contrast between each group of plants, this makes scaping with this style of wood very easy and wood is far more mallable than rock/stone.

Still thinking about the fish community...........it'll have the Fire reds for sure, and the Gold nuggets........and Amano's........

I still need to move some plants around, some are just added cause I ain't got no home for them just yet or are going elsewhere.
Give me a month or two.
 
#9 ·
Moss that needs a killing.

I have some smaller penny wort species that will form nice tufts on the top on this new tank.

I have this in 2 other tanks, I like the effect and it uses the open top aspect nicely. It does not lend well for photos and scape contest, but I do not give a rats hind quarter about that. I ain't nothing to prove there, hehe.
I just want a nice colorful display with breeding, sales of weeds, critters, Semi dutch style and somewhat easy to manage.
 
#13 ·
Yep, the stumps are the from "the other person".......they got cooked in shipping.

But the stumps have recovered, just take another month or so before they get trimmed and remove the ugly. I'm patient so it's not a huge deal to me.

Stop by and pick through the piles I have sometime then, tape off your tank's foot print and I lend a white board to tape off the background. This way you can layout the scape here with less issues. I have more wood than ANY LFS after all. So I may as well use it eh?
 
#14 ·
Yea, I left the UG alone when I redid things and it's slowly coming along. Everything else is growing fast and recovering quick. The color on the L peruensis will take another 1-2 weeks, and the A reineckii will take even longer to convert to submersed form, maybe 1-2 months.

Once the UG fills in nice, I'll trim a 1-1.5 " border in the front.
That is an old method/style from a long time ago, before foreground plants really were the rage. Most just allow it to press against the front of the glass these days.

I only have maybe 1-1.5" depth in the UG, the rest is under 1" in the front. It's barely shallow enough to plant anything, but gets 8" deep in the rear.
 
#20 ·
Well, the tank has only 1.8 w/gal and the light is about 16" over the top, it's the plant and good CO2 that is the main cause.

Some species/variants stay nice and red.......it's not much of a trick to have nice red plants. If other folks thought it is a typical Ludwigia repens...then they'd feel pretty bad....but it's not.
 
#31 ·
A Red ludwigia type, stays super red........many folks thought that these varierties where the saem types.......and that they needed MORE light or to stress their plants, but in fact, they just needed the right biotype/strain, eg Rotala rountifolundia vs R. colorata.

I think I paid 15$ a stem.

I'll be selling some in a week or two. Easy to grow plant. Doesn't need high light etc(I've yet to find such a plant).
 
#24 ·
Amazing..You are a true master! I like how you fight the traditional ADA style. Not all successful planted tanks have to look ADA. Great tank
 
#36 ·
If it looks good, it is good.

Fairly simple thing.

I still need to rework this display as the plants go from emergent to submerse growth form. A reineckii will take a month or so. L granulosus/peruinesis is almost done converting. UG is aboiut 70% filled in. The Dwarf Red lilies will make a nice prunable row next to C parva, I'll thin out and make more defined groups in the back ground. Lots to be done still.
 
#40 ·
Yeah, I'm not much on the "styles" either. Of course I'm a web designer so the anti-styles thing might come from that because there are so many imitators I try very hard not too be one.

I just kind of slap stuff in there and thought it looked pretty good when it was in its prime. Unfortunately I'm having trouble getting back to that :(.

Anyways, I really like how you separated the plants into groups utilizing the wood. I might steal that from you ;)
 
#42 ·
Anyways, I really like how you separated the plants into groups utilizing the wood. I might steal that from you ;)
Well, I think it's an easy technique to improve transitions and to help some with collectoritus, a common aliment with many plant hobbyists.
I'm not sure I would called it a style of it's own.

HLD is the other common aliment...............
 
#50 ·
Well, lack of pictures on the web and in contest, there's no company promoting them or the style, the contest are limited, many outside of the counrty do not follow the rules/criteria, they bastardize it.

I'm guilty myself with this tank.

It's loosely dutch style, but that was less of the goal when I decided what I wanted to do.

Most of the inspiration was from the dutch techniques and styles.

Also, the Dutch style has been around since the 1940's in terms of the competitions and pictures. It is much older and more rigid than ADA's nature style. But ADA's "nature style" is not their own really........much like Dutch style.......they are both taken from other terrestrial styles.

Pick up Japanese landscaping and gardening and you will see almost to the tee, ADA nature style above the water.

Still, with EXCELLENT photos from Amano, and aggressive marketing worldwide and financial incentive....... there's good reason to see why NA style is so popular.

It is a wonderful style.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top