Aquascaping is harder than it looks!

[hashbaz]

Being a little artistic, it is easy to plan a very nice aquascape. With TONS of research, the right equipment, and a fair amount of work, it is also easy to keep very healthy plants.

But getting your plants to match the picture in your mind is tough!

Having had my first "high-tech" tank for 3 months has taught me that aquascaping skills do not come overnight. There is a lot to learn about how to get existing plants to grow the way you want, and how to choose plants that will fit the "look" you are going for.

I would like to see more posts about how to "mold" and "manicure" your plants.

 

[Glenc]

Look at your tank, move this plant here. Look again, move that plant this way.. step back, look again.... It never ends for me! I'll just get everything just the way like it, then it grows out of shape! It's all trail and error. If you don't like the way something is growing or looking, trim it, move it, post pics and ask for opinions. First you have to figure out what grows for you, get it growing, then the shaping begins! I try to pick plants that will look to scale for my small tanks. I find plants that get to large just look goofy in a smallish tank. Some plants get way bigger than they are supposed to. You don't know how big they'll really get till you grow them. If you think they look goofy, take them out, try something else. You are your own judge. I'm having a blast doing this planted tank thing, frustrating but very satisfying at the same time. Keep at it, the picture you see in your head will get closer! Have fun, good luck!

 

[czcz]

I am getting to the point where the molding and shaping thing completely drives my plant selection. For example, I can't really shape Hygrophillias or some Ludwigias, and for me they encourage wild looking tanks. But there's stuff like L. brevipes or Stargrass or R. rotundifolia I can hack down mercilessly to get bushy, dense growth, and then I can use their bending with light to make nicer shapes.

I think one of the greatest benefits of high light/high tech setups for stems is we can be ruthless with trimming. We can figure out how to trim and shape and, with most plants, have a couple weeks before the stems recover and we can try something else.

Once pruning becomes easier, maintenence does too. Aquascapers say we should prune early and often for nice bushy plants. I would extend this to fellow intermediate aquarists simply for the learning experience. Especially those who, like me, are struggling to execute layouts, placement, and the more artistic side of aquascaping.

 

[maxwell1295]

It is definitely one of the more challenging things I have done or in my case.....tried to do. I'm going to try some more pruning myself becuase I'm not getting the 'thickness' of growth that I'm looking for.

 

[Jchillin]

With what has been mentioned, I decided recently to grow "forests" of stem plants. My first attempt is with L. repens. I cut several large one's into 8 2-3" cuttings and replanted them in the back right corner of the tank.

If this is successful (they just recently started getting their "legs" under them), I will do the same with other hardy stem plants, which will include L. brevipes. I've also removed all fast growers from the tank and will basically have swords, several types of worts and the repens. Of course, my Java ferns are there to stay...just gotta find where they will do the most good.

 

[dskidmore]

With what has been mentioned, I decided recently to grow "forests" of stem plants.

I have done this in my tank as well, mostly because I didn't have alot of variety in my tank, and wanted to increase the plant volume in my plant-filtered tank quickly. The forests looked ok for awhile, but then became harbors for stringy algaes. There is just not enough current moving through the dense growth.