[Blackheart]

So I saw someone aquascape a beautiful tank recently on youtube that was a 125.

They used two different kinds of substrates and had regular sand substrate in front in almost a U like shape, and then in the back of it there was a different substrate like a black sand or something of that matter... Kind of hard to explain. But all the plants and the driftwood were placed in the black substrate. It was an amazing scape though.

I tried using this idea in paint to show more or less what I'm talking about.

Imagine these would be all the plants lol

What do you guys think about this kind of aquascape? Is there name for this style?

 

[WaterLife]

Like an Island? (unplanted area being the "water")

Happen to have the video link?

 

[thedood]

Ive seen this type of scape before and they look nice. I dont know what they call the style.

 

[Blackheart]

Like an Island? (unplanted area being the "water")

Happen to have the video link?

I'll send you a pm of the video.

Here's a snapshot of the tank though

Love it

 

[WaterLife]

Pretty sure they are called "Island" aquascapes.

Search "Island aquascape" on Google images. Click on some of the links, even the AGA Aquascaping judges/entries say "Island type" or "Island composition"

 

[dukydaf]

You mean something like this ? The name for the style would be the island.

The black stuff is probably something like Aquasoil which has more nutrients than the sand. I wanted to do something similar but I always want more plants than this style allows. It helps to have a long (3ft) tall aquarium with this style. Having the aquarium visible from all 3 sides is also nice with this style.

PS. You can read more about aquascaping styles here
Aquatic Layout Guide- Rules of Composition: The Golden Ratio, Creating Perspective and Layout Shapes - The Green Machine

PPS. Sorry don't know who to credit, no info about it in the photo EXIF

 

[Kathyy]

That is a very popular type of scape for good reason. Usually the back would have ADA Amazonia for planting and the sand and plant substrate would be separated by rocks that would be representing a shoreline cliff. Perfect for a cube, a 125 can handle 2 islands of different sizes.

Look through Green Machine and ADA videos and AGA contest photos as well as through journals here, you will see plenty.

 

[Blackheart]

I'm sure it can work with more than one different type of substrates because there's no way I'm using ADA substrate. Way too expensive for my budget.

Even the guy I'm referring to in the video, I'm sure he's just using 2 different colors of sand.