Author Topic: Matt’s new aquascaping resource (Read 5413 times) 20 replies

Matt · « **on:** June 06, 2018, 10:39:18 PM »

For anyone looking to have more success with their planted tank or to venture into the world of aquascaping, I have put together a resource aimed at making this complex subject a little easier to understand... check it out at www.ScapeEasy.co.uk

Perhaps we could start a bit of a general chat about aquascaping here...
Do you think people are put off by the percieved complexity and expense of the aquascaping hobby?

TopCookie · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2018, 11:44:14 PM »

Great resource @Matt ... well done...

When researching aquariums before buying my tank, I was swiftly seduced by some of the extraordinary scapes that you see from the likes of George Farmer and Takashi Amano himself etc... For me personally though, cost was one issue but also having that distinct "eye" for style, artistry & design, which has bypassed me completely...!!! I do still love the look of some of those exhibition tanks though, just a pity that I don't have the flair for that...

One thing that did strike me though was that all the talk was about getting the biggest tank you can comfortably afford and are able to situate at home and it dawned on me that getting a huge tank and then filling it with hardscape would reduce that actual water capacity quite markedly... So, for me it became the plan to "scape" the tank with plants rather than rocks, trees and wood etc, if only to maximise the ratio of water space available in the tank itself... That said, I still can look admiringly and somewhat enviously at some of the best aquascapes that we see...

Matt · « **Reply #2 on:** June 07, 2018, 06:59:38 AM »

Scaping with plants is known as the Dutch aquascaping style!

It depends what hardscape you use, your right that a lot of professional aquascaper are often chocka with rocks and substrate these will reduce the water volume significantly. That said ive seen some great scapes using spindly wood, these have a great visual impact but don't take up so much water volume. I too love looking at pictures of amazing professional aquascapes. I think we just have to set our heights on something more achievable and realistic for us hobbyists who want to keep fish as well as plants. It's just like magazines showing photoshopped images of models... oh dear I'm getting side tracked...

Rustle · « **Reply #3 on:** June 07, 2018, 07:03:19 AM »

Wow great information there matt

I have a small nano tank that i could practice some aquascaping on.

Matt · « **Reply #4 on:** June 07, 2018, 07:05:20 AM »

Quote from: Rustle on June 07, 2018, 07:03:19 AM

Wow great information there matt I have a small nano tank that i could practice some aquascaping on.

Me too... send us some piccies

I'll be adding some soon too!

daveyng · « **Reply #5 on:** June 07, 2018, 10:44:23 AM »

Great resource Matt. I agree that complexity and initial outlay are governing factors in how to proceed with planting an aquarium. I have no artistic flair whatsoever and I found it extremely difficult in coming up with an aquascape that would suit a large cube. In the end I decided to keep it simple and used only large pieces of Bogwood as hardscape. I did originally have a lot of species of plants but I found that the tank got into a tangled mess very quickly. I then got rid of a lot of the faster growing plants ending up with about 6 species.

Matt · « **Reply #6 on:** June 07, 2018, 06:08:42 PM »

Totally agree that less species of plants looks better. I've just been through the same process with my own tank, stripping out three species to get to 7 species. Looks much better as a result.

I must admit I don't think a huge amount of artistic flair is required in aquascaping, to build a professional aquascape yes, but this isn't realistic... for a great looking tank (as yours is) this isn't required.

TopCookie · « **Reply #7 on:** June 07, 2018, 06:29:43 PM »

lolol, that's me in trouble then, I've got all sorts in my tank...

Matt · « **Reply #8 on:** June 09, 2018, 08:07:42 AM »

This video is coming to mind... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_dBQfPo4Ec

I've had this link saved as something to aspire to... it's not complicated, fiddly or fancy what George Farmer does here, it just looks great with not much effort... what do you think?

TopCookie · « **Reply #9 on:** June 09, 2018, 09:37:02 AM »

I like all these type clips and find them generally inspirational... The clip following Matt's, by George and aimed at scaping on a budget is potentially interesting as it would obviously cost considerably less to accomplish:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igpCCJlHwb8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igpCCJlHwb8</a>

Rustle · « **Reply #10 on:** June 09, 2018, 09:48:48 AM »

This has really captured my Imagination and would love to have a go at this, but i can only see one problem and that is my filter has to go inside my tank because it has a lid which means i can't have an external filter hanging on the outside. I think an internal filter will ruin the scape which is shame.

I love this set up tho.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J97L1tXQ-E" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J97L1tXQ-E</a>

Matt · « **Reply #11 on:** June 09, 2018, 04:30:50 PM »

I have an internal filter in my 64 litre, it's a black plastic filter and I have a black background... far less noticeable

Photo below is an early photo before the plants filled out and you genuinely couldn't see the filter after that behind the Amazon sword which i subsequently moved to the back.

TopCookie · « **Reply #12 on:** June 09, 2018, 04:49:50 PM »

Looking good Matt...

daveyng · « **Reply #13 on:** June 10, 2018, 12:03:37 AM »

Planting looks great. Your right about the filter, you can barely see it against the black background.

Rustle · « **Reply #14 on:** June 10, 2018, 06:53:54 AM »

Thank's matt that looks great,It did't even cross my mind of using a black background i have mainly used a greyish one.

TopCookie · « **Reply #15 on:** June 12, 2018, 11:41:34 AM »

@Matt ...

By any chance Matt, did you look at the GF clip I posted...? In the clip, George talks about how he blacked out, just with matte black paint, the back and both sides of the tank to help with potential algae issues... Just wondering what your thoughts would be on that notion...?

Matt · « **Reply #16 on:** June 12, 2018, 09:07:22 PM »

This will stop 'background' / 'natural' light from entering the tank so much which is I believe why GF did this given the tanks location.

What I can also say is that algae is also far less visible against a black background, so this is another factor here..

Does that help?

TopCookie · « **Reply #17 on:** June 12, 2018, 11:04:28 PM »

Probably the wrong thread for this discussion, but certainly food for thought in my case as I think I have a lot of natural light too... Maybe I should consider blanking off the end of the tank where the bulk of this natural light comes in...

Matt · « **Reply #18 on:** July 27, 2018, 10:18:11 PM »

Just wanted to let you all know I'm also on Instagram @scapeeasy

www.instagram.com/scapeeasy

Matt · « **Reply #19 on:** August 14, 2018, 01:59:18 PM »

I've uploaded a new article: Easy ways to improve your aquascaping.

I hope you find it interesting...

http://scapeeasy.co.uk/improve.htm

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Matt’s New Aquascaping Resource

Matt’s New Aquascaping Resource

Author Topic: Matt’s new aquascaping resource (Read 5413 times) 20 replies

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