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Aquascaping



Robert H <robertph at best_com>

I looked at your web site and read the Wim Heemskerk's story
(http://www.ecn.net.au/~atappin/Planted.htm). Very interesting.
Do you have his E-mail address?


>From an artistic critique, even his displays seem somewhat 2 dimensional to me.

Not for me, maybe it is the quality of the pictures.

> Nieuwenhuizen describes this method. Try it! Just stick your hand in the tank and push
>out the gravel in front so that the gravel line is below the bottom trim of the tank. Walk
>back and take a look! Huge difference! He actually reccomends a depth of not more than an
>inch at the front! Now what I did was cheat a little, I couldnt get the substrate to stay
>that shallow, so I used 3 inch wide decorative tape that matched the color of the wood
>frame and put that across the front of the tank. My gravel in front comes just above the
>tape, so it gives the illusion in perspective of accomplishing the same thing.

Like lots of Dutch do.

>Well, I don’t know if that’s true or not, there has been conversation on this subject
>before, and people in Japan who follow Amano have responded that his set ups have been
>going for long periods of time. I know that  his carpets of riccia and glossostigma,
>willow moss, are not something that can be easily set up and broken down at a moments
>notice. They take time to grow, mature, and be groomed. What I do see however is a
>definite difference in style between the japanese and dutch

Ok but Amano often gives the age of his tanks. It is never very old. Often about 1 month.
When you put lots of light, CO2, and fertiliser it can be very fast. In a French
magazine (optim'aqua), there is an article which explains how to start an ADA aquarium (Text
translates from Amano comments). The result after only one-month is a very thick grass of
Glossostigma.
Maybe, he also grows Glossostigma emersed (in the aquarium but without water). When the substrate
is
covered, he can put water, fishes and other plants. Riccia also grow very well emersed.

Tom.Wood at ci_austin.tx.us wrote
>While the Amano tanks are beautiful, there is nothing natural about them and
>the amount of labor involved to keep the contrivance looking good is
>definitely un-American. <g>  One of his books even shows a tank that mixes
>Discus with Madagascar lace plants. A fish that needs higher temps with a
>cool water plant? I don't buy it.  And tying a floating plant down to create
>little bushes is just plain dumb.  IMHO, IME, YMMV, etceteras.....

I wouldn't like to be a suffocating fish in an Amano's tank...