Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 19:23:21 -0500
From: Thomas Barr <
[email protected]>
Subject: Some Stages of the Aquascaper
Differentiating from the plant _gardener_, the plant aquascaper has a much
longer, and less frustrating path in development.
"Gardening" involves the growing aspects of aquatic horticulture. This
includes the physiology, ecology, pruning, aquarium maintenance and
mastering the ability to use the "colors"... the plants themselves.
I started off aquascaping with rock, next came coral and marine tanks, then
driftwood and finally to plants both Marine and Freshwater.
The "Aquascaper" uses the colors(the plants) to paint their design.
Aqauscaping involves all aspects of design and layout. This extends beyond
the confines of the tank itself as a well placed tank in a home, office or
or other dwelling will greatly enhance the over look and impact.
One can be a great aquascaper yet a poor gardener, but most are good
gardeners first then later develop their artistic abilities with more focus
on the design.
Some wish to dissect the elements of the aquascape, immerse themselves in
the artistic elements of space, design and layout. Some wish to focus on
techniques such as attaching moss to wood for a natural effect. Some, like
perhaps the majority of folks, wish simply to have a tank full of plants
without algae and to have their choice of plants to grow.
Most discussions about aquarium plants revolve around how to keep plants
rather than design.
Many people start off choosing plants that are not easy to grow for the
beginner and change their design plans. Later, after a period of algae woes,
they simply want to keep the tank free of algae.
Many folks feel they need to work more on algae control and growing the
plants than the aquascape. Some folks stay true to their original design.
Other folks let the tank evolve on it's own.
These stages are not in any sort of _definite order_ since many folks may
jump from one area to another unlike many aspects of the
mechanical/biological "gardening/hoticulture". Nor is this all inclusive nor
exhaustive listing.
Stage one:
"Hey!, It's growing, I saw a new leaf today! I see pearling! It's
Alive!(with a Dr. Frankenstein tone)". This stage is fun, but often the only
goal is growing the plants but adding any plants to an aquarium is a design
choice. Often, it's just what will grow in their tank and added anywhere.
Many folks start off like this and later develop design interest.
Stage two:
How much of the tank do I want to use for plants? Many folks start off with
the goal to plant only a part of the tank or sparingly. This is not
surprising since most folks are comfortable with rock and/or wood already.
Seldom do folks jump right into a planted without other aquarium experiences
so this allows them to "stick their big toe into the water" without fully
committing to a full blown planted tank which might seem a bit too
intimidating initially.
These tanks can look very nice depending on the layout and the aquarist
design and ideas and is perhaps a sub area of design versus a fully planted
tank. Many aquarist want the fish to be the main focus and the plants to be
a secondary consideration. Floating plants only can be added to most all
freshwater aquariums and can be included in this stage. These tanks can be
done to a very level of design and impact.
Stage three:
the psychological disease known as "Collectoritus".
This person wants every new plant that comes along (which includes most of
us). This is a good exercise, though not at first glance. Since plants are
the colors, learning how to grow each one of them is very helpful to execute
later designs. You need the "colors" to "paint". It also helps the aquarist
to get to know and understand each plant on a personal level and realize
it's long term potential for placement in the tank design. Many plants may
grow too fast for placement in a design
South East Asian Scapes! (SEAS)
...in a way is "our kojak style" coming of age?
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Originally Posted by wong1979
but I working on it... (reading materials.... jap-mag-benny
)
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