Jungle Style - Your Introduction To The Beautiful World Of Aquascaping

The jungle style of aquascaping avoids the hard rules of things like the nature style of aquascaping which relies on the use of relatively the rule of thirds and the golden ratio, to name only 2 of these theories regarding what scientifically is supposed to look best.  Jungle style aquascaping provides an easy way to create a stunning aquascape without the need for demanding plants and CO2.

Jungle style aquascapes are based around the idea that nature is chaotic rather than ordered (in contrast to nature aquariums) and they focus on larger leaved plants which are naturally easier to grow. They are often crammed full of a range of plants to provide the luscious feel for which they are known.  This also helps tackle algae... more plants means there is more competition against algae in the aquarium.  Combining the jungle principles with the backbone of a good hardscape can provide a stunning natural setting for all manner of community fish.

You dont need vast amounts of lighting or any co2 for the types of plants used in this style. Provided you pick plants from e.g. Tropica's easy range, or the equivalent for your locally available manufacturer
https://tropica.com/en/plants/
The plant labels, as they do for terrestrial plants, often contain good advice for where to plant them in the aquarium depending on their light demands and height. Its worth noting though that wholst kost plants need to be planted in the substrate, some are floating plants (so super obvious not to put them there!), and there are a few others that need to be placed on hardscape rathet than in the substrate (the most common are Java Fern, Anubias and Buces), if these are planted they rot! Algae grows when plants are not, so make sure there is ample light, but not too much. Try going one above the bottom of the range fixture if you are starting a new tank for example. If you have a tank stocked well with fish as most of us do, then you don't need to do much fertilisation too. You'll just need a product that contains micro elements (which all general aquarium fertilisers do!) and potassium - odd that some leave this out, but it is needed, so make sure yours does include it! JBLs Ferropol is one good example
https://www.amazon.co.uk/JBL-plant-freshwater-aquariums-Ferropol/dp/B004V49HI2/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=JBL+ferropol&qid=1561488873&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Most often you will want to go with a mixture of rocks and wood as the hardscape for your tank, but either can work well alone too. When it comes to wood, it is often best to 'go big'. One aim of the hardscape is to provide height to the aquascape, don't be afraid to have branches sticking out of the water. With rocks, the same of course applies, though a range of sizes will look more natural than all the same, in nature they are often found graded from small to large and not mixed so consider placing smaller rocks in front of larger to emulate nature. Also think about detail... Rocks need to be natural looking, with detailed textures such as landscape rock, or the more commonly available elephant skin stone, and the best wood has thin branches. Again, this provides a sense of scale to the aquascape. Finally to create a sense of depth try sloping the substrate up towards the back of the aquarium which gives the illusion that the floor area is bigger and therefore the tank deeper and provides deeper substrate for bigger background plants.

There are lot of substrate options out there. You may also wish to have multiple types of substrates in your tank, for example you might have both planting substrate for planted areas and areas, and a more cosmetic substrate such as sand. This isn't to say that plants won't grow in sand, or gravel but if you are able to, choose a substrate for your planted areas that has a high CEC (cation exchange capacity). You'll find this info online and it refers to the ability of the substrate to both absorb and release nutrients and therefore its effectiveness for sustaining plants. Substrates made from volcanic rock or fired clays tend to be best here. If you are starting a new tank you might like to put a nutrient rich base layer in underneath this, or choose one of the more expensive 'aquasoils' which are excellent. For an established aquarium, you should consider roots tabs which can be pushed into the substrate (including existing gravels) at the base of the plants with long roots.

As for laying the hardscape out in the tank, choose a strong "form":

• Concave - highest at the sides, lowest in the middle
• Island - planting and hardscape only in the centre, tallest at the very middle
• Linear - straight line of rocks normally with sand in front and planting substrate behind, plants all a similar height
• Triangular - highest and one side and lowest at the other

These are all things you can Google followed by the word 'aquascapes' to see the various styles the professionals use. Or check out http://www.aquadesignpt.com/2017/05/aquascaping-layout-styles.html for sketches and more detailed descriptions of each layout. By following your chosen style through the hardscape, and planting choices & placement you will end up with a coherent aquascape that has purpose and style rather than looking messy.

Fitting a black or frosted background (or even a textured 3D one) to your tank if you have anything other than a plain background behind your tank will really help make your aquascape pop and enhance the natural feel by taking away distractions. When installing a background make sure to do so using a plain cooking oil between the glass and the background. This allows you to easily push out any bubbles and will not dry out over time giving a long lasting, professional finish. Black in particular is very effective as it gives a sense of depth to the scape too, as if it continues into depths of the tank which we can't see, here you can also hide equipment... something you won't see in profession 'scapes.

In the above image you can see the internal filter and heater (with black heater cover) in the top right behind the plants. It is well hidden against the background. Other options include hiding kit with the hardscape or plants you are going to be using. Of course you could also consider buying equipment designed to be kept externally to the aquarium. External filters are now available from major manufacturers which include integrated heaters, which means you only have to worry about an inlet and outlet being visible in your tank. Try and choose a filter if you can with a decent flow rate as planted tanks benefit from good flow to distribute nutrients effectively, and moreover plants swaying in the current just looks great!

There is no easier way to practise aquascaping than on pen and paper, and by plagiarising the work of others. Either way by making and tweaking a plan, when it comes to replicating this in your tank, you'll find things are a lot easier! Of course if you have access to some of the aquascaping materials you intend to use in your future scape you should also play around with different options and photograph what you come up with so you can recreate it later. It is often surprising how plans can change when viewed in real life like this.  One central store of aquascapes to copy, including set up guides, is Tropica's Inspirations pages
https://tropica.com/en/inspiration/?mode=search&dif=Easy&size=&sizename=Show%20all&aquarium=