Hey planted tank people!
Ive gotten back to some forums recently so i thought id start a journal for my most recent set up!
DAY 1
Ive always loved the look of a dutch style aquascape. I like how the scape is directly related to the health and quality of the plants youre growing and theres no real features taking away from the plants! I felt as if it would force me to really dial in this set up and improve my plant growing skills. This will be my second tank after making the switch to high tech but my first real go at an actual scape with the co2 set up so here goes nothing!
*disclaimer* This tank has been up and running about 6 weeks now so ill post a few different post to get up to date and then plan on weekly updates!
My plan for this aquascape was to lay things out ahead of time and stick to the plan as best i could. I also really enjoy the DIY aspect of this hobby and try to build what I can when I can save a buck or two! Lucky for me theres a strong local community of planted tank people in MN so I find a lot of my plants and equipment used/from other hobbyist. With that said I traded plants and a 20L for a sparkling like-new 40B and built my own stand from 2x4 I already had. Ive buit a few stands now and go off the King of DIY type stand. Still havent stained it and put on the doors but i think it looks alright so far.
As far as planting, I took inspiration from any and all pictures of dutch scapes I could find online and selected plants based off of what I had and what I could most likely find without going online. I decided on the plants I wanted to use first, and built my scape around the plant choice. Being on a budget I like to use what I have and fortunate for me I had to tear down a 55g before I could set up the new tank (gf gets to decided wheres things go and I get two tanks in a small one bedroom apt :grin2: ) Anything i didnt already have I attempted to locate locally which ultimately got me to about 75% of the plants I wanted. One of my favorite LFS finished me out with a few pots of plants i added around day 15, but you'll see soon enough!
Here are the basic specs of the tank!
Size: 40 gallons
Substrate: Miraclegrow organic potting soil caped with pool filter sand. I also used crushed lava from as a base layer to create a slope back to front to give the background an extra hieght boost.
Lighting: 50W LED floodlights off of amazon x2 (note: these suckers are BRIGHT but the spectrum is a bit yellow for my taste but i got them on sale)
Filtration: Marineland C220 Canister Filter
Pressurized CO2 injection and I diffuse through a small power head.
No livestock to start except pest snails
Planting List (L-R, B-F):
-Background-
Hygro. Angustifolia narrow leaf
lud. repens x arcuata
bacopa carolina
lud. arcuata
purple cacomba
ammania senegalensis
rotala rotundifolia
-Midground-
*mixed group of crypts-*
wendii, wendii red, tropica, spiralis, wendii bronze
rotala macranda mini "pink"
red tiger lotus
java moss
pearl weed
lud. peruensis
stargrass
alternanthera reineckii
blyxa japonica
rotala sp. H'ra
golden nesea
lud. sp. 'red'
-Foreground-
dwarf sag
crypt affinis 'metallic red'
monte carlo
staurogyne porto velho
hygrophila pinnatifida
hydrocotyle japan
multiple unknown type of buce
When it came down to actually plan the layout I simply used what I learned from many hours of research, a pen and notebook. I started with general areas of where I wanted certain plants, and then filled in spots based off of contrast in color, leaf shape and leaf size. This was almost like a jigsaw puzzle trying to find the perfect spot for each plant. Now a few weeks planted there are a few changes I need to make and a couple things I cant believe I didnt see when originally planting! After a couple rough drafts I had a good idea how I wanted my layout and I was ready to set this bad boy up!
attached is my final layout sketch, the tank right after set up and a FTS. I was using a combo of a few lights initially until the new LEDs arrived.
thanks for reading and ill have more updates soon!
Ive gotten back to some forums recently so i thought id start a journal for my most recent set up!
DAY 1
Ive always loved the look of a dutch style aquascape. I like how the scape is directly related to the health and quality of the plants youre growing and theres no real features taking away from the plants! I felt as if it would force me to really dial in this set up and improve my plant growing skills. This will be my second tank after making the switch to high tech but my first real go at an actual scape with the co2 set up so here goes nothing!
*disclaimer* This tank has been up and running about 6 weeks now so ill post a few different post to get up to date and then plan on weekly updates!
My plan for this aquascape was to lay things out ahead of time and stick to the plan as best i could. I also really enjoy the DIY aspect of this hobby and try to build what I can when I can save a buck or two! Lucky for me theres a strong local community of planted tank people in MN so I find a lot of my plants and equipment used/from other hobbyist. With that said I traded plants and a 20L for a sparkling like-new 40B and built my own stand from 2x4 I already had. Ive buit a few stands now and go off the King of DIY type stand. Still havent stained it and put on the doors but i think it looks alright so far.
As far as planting, I took inspiration from any and all pictures of dutch scapes I could find online and selected plants based off of what I had and what I could most likely find without going online. I decided on the plants I wanted to use first, and built my scape around the plant choice. Being on a budget I like to use what I have and fortunate for me I had to tear down a 55g before I could set up the new tank (gf gets to decided wheres things go and I get two tanks in a small one bedroom apt :grin2: ) Anything i didnt already have I attempted to locate locally which ultimately got me to about 75% of the plants I wanted. One of my favorite LFS finished me out with a few pots of plants i added around day 15, but you'll see soon enough!
Here are the basic specs of the tank!
Size: 40 gallons
Substrate: Miraclegrow organic potting soil caped with pool filter sand. I also used crushed lava from as a base layer to create a slope back to front to give the background an extra hieght boost.
Lighting: 50W LED floodlights off of amazon x2 (note: these suckers are BRIGHT but the spectrum is a bit yellow for my taste but i got them on sale)
Filtration: Marineland C220 Canister Filter
Pressurized CO2 injection and I diffuse through a small power head.
No livestock to start except pest snails
Planting List (L-R, B-F):
-Background-
Hygro. Angustifolia narrow leaf
lud. repens x arcuata
bacopa carolina
lud. arcuata
purple cacomba
ammania senegalensis
rotala rotundifolia
-Midground-
*mixed group of crypts-*
wendii, wendii red, tropica, spiralis, wendii bronze
rotala macranda mini "pink"
red tiger lotus
java moss
pearl weed
lud. peruensis
stargrass
alternanthera reineckii
blyxa japonica
rotala sp. H'ra
golden nesea
lud. sp. 'red'
-Foreground-
dwarf sag
crypt affinis 'metallic red'
monte carlo
staurogyne porto velho
hygrophila pinnatifida
hydrocotyle japan
multiple unknown type of buce
When it came down to actually plan the layout I simply used what I learned from many hours of research, a pen and notebook. I started with general areas of where I wanted certain plants, and then filled in spots based off of contrast in color, leaf shape and leaf size. This was almost like a jigsaw puzzle trying to find the perfect spot for each plant. Now a few weeks planted there are a few changes I need to make and a couple things I cant believe I didnt see when originally planting! After a couple rough drafts I had a good idea how I wanted my layout and I was ready to set this bad boy up!
attached is my final layout sketch, the tank right after set up and a FTS. I was using a combo of a few lights initially until the new LEDs arrived.
thanks for reading and ill have more updates soon!
