Going Dutch by the book - tank sponsored by Tropica

[Ivan Lugovic]

Hi Pedro.
From my experience in duch scape I think that initial plan is irrelevant after first month or so because this kind of arragement demands more than knowlege of growing individual plants.
Some plant speaces will proliferate and some will not, also goes with the coulor and general health.
And that is normal regarding different needs of CO2/nutrients/light for each species.

10 cm rule is great, and it will work perfect in 120cm tank, but that also doesn't meens that you can't start with with 20+ species and reduce them according how they will react to given parameters.

Great thing about Duch scape is everlasting change, you can allways rearrange plants and colors untill you find that perfect balance....

One way or another, you are entering a great journey ant it will be a blast!

Watching. 😉

 

[banthaman.jm]

Watching with interest Pedro
Jim

 

[Ryan Thang To]

nice one. looking forward to spme picture's

cheers
ryan

 

[Pedro Rosa]

Thanks for all your suggestions and some very interesting sources of inspiration.
Hope to start in a few days.

Pedro.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Hi Pedro.
From my experience in duch scape I think that initial plan is irrelevant after first month or so because this kind of arragement demands more than knowlege of growing individual plants.
Some plant speaces will proliferate and some will not, also goes with the coulor and general health.
And that is normal regarding different needs of CO2/nutrients/light for each species.

10 cm rule is great, and it will work perfect in 120cm tank, but that also doesn't meens that you can't start with with 20+ species and reduce them according how they will react to given parameters.

Great thing about Duch scape is everlasting change, you can allways rearrange plants and colors untill you find that perfect balance....

One way or another, you are entering a great journey ant it will be a blast!

Watching. 😉

Hello Ivan,

One thing I have always wondered about the Dutch Style planted tanks. Do they all have a flat substrate base and create the illusion of different levels with plants of different heights. Or is there actually some physical creation of different levels by banking up substrate with stones and wood etc?

Good luck with the scape Pedro, I am watching this with interest.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Edvet]

about the Dutch Style planted tanks

Old skool had some "hidden"terraces, often using:

But these where mostly hidden behind other plants. But a complete flat substrate was used to, the plants made the height differences by pruning and clever locationing

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Thanks Edvet,

I used to know some 'Old Skool' guys when I lived in Germany🙂 I guess once the plants were grown in you could not see the bits used to create the different levels.

I think I have gone beyond the stage of glueing various bits of rock together so I have been toying with a plan to create different levels or heights using pond plant baskets of various shapes, sizes and heights. Filling each one with a base of Power Sand and Amazonia Soil and stacking them across the back of the tank at different levels, going from high at the back to lower and sloping at the front. Planting each basket with different plant species of varying heights and colours, even poking holes in the sides of the pond baskets to insert other plants or bits of wood.

It is either that or go back to the art of tying lava rock to sheets of plastic egg shell crate like I did with a previous scape in my old Trigon 190.

Steve

 

[Edvet]

The hanging baskets idea could work. Wrap something around them so mosses can grow and have plants poking out between the mosses

 

[Edvet]

 

[Pedro Rosa]

One way or another, you are entering a great journey ant it will be a blast!😉

So I hope. One of the interesting things about this kind of aquarium is the problems concerning the growing and trimming of plants to keep it looking good most of the times.
We'll see what's coming 🙂

Hello Ivan,
One thing I have always wondered about the Dutch Style planted tanks. Do they all have a flat substrate base and create the illusion of different levels with plants of different heights. Or is there actually some physical creation of different levels by banking up substrate with stones and wood etc?
Good luck with the scape Pedro, I am watching this with interest.

I'll make only about 3 or 4 cm of soil in the front and 12-15 cm at the back... Obviously that the trimming will make the depth of field (or so I say!).

Pedro.

 

[Scapefu]

Pedro,

I'm watching with interest. In my experience, the Dutch style is relatively easy to do conceptually but extremely difficult to do well in practice and long term.

Diligent and masterful trimming will make it the Dutch style. Less than that and you end up with what I call a fruit stand look- bunches of colorful plants looking like fruit piled up in a stand. Both are nice but only one is Dutch style.

Boa sorte!

 

[Pedro Rosa]

I'm watching with interest. In my experience, the Dutch style is relatively easy to do conceptually but extremely difficult to do well in practice and long term.
Diligent and masterful trimming will make it the Dutch style. Less than that and you end up with what I call a fruit stand look- bunches of colorful plants looking like fruit piled up in a stand. Both are nice but only one is Dutch style.
Boa sorte!

Yes, everyone keeps telling me that
I suppose that I'll have to test myself and ear you guys along the way.

Obrigado 😉

 

[Pedro Rosa]

Well, It's done!
On the last weekend I was able to start this project.
I'm pretty happy with being able to do an aquarium like this. I considered it a great challenge and I know that will not be easy. I think that the trimming will start next weekend


I can't be more happier with the great quality of Tropica products. Received all in great conditions, like usually happens.

I'll post images from 3 days, one day per post.



Almost 70 pots/1-2-grow... and almost a whole afternoon preparing plants and planting.









Maybe a bit more then one third planted. Sticks and marks on the glasses are for marking the planting spots (sticks on the plants intervals). Implementing the diagram was not an easy task but with markers it's easier.



Some details:









Another view:



Some time after... almost all planted:



Top view from the left to the right:







Some more details. It's funny to see this first pictures after some time and look at the changes:





A bunch of "different" pictures with plant names on the layout:

 

[Bacms]

No photo of the tank filled? Does that mean you are going emersed first?

 

[Pedro Rosa]

24 hours later

Some plants changed a lot on the first 24 hours.
I have CO2 (3 - 4 bps) since day one and dosing 15 ml of Tropica Specialised since day one also (1-2-grow plants need fertilisation since day one or something like that).
Almost all plants are upwards. Some 1-2-grow will take more time to start growing rapidly.

Overview:





Myriophyllum mattogrossense is the plant that grew more:





Just love this Cryptocoryne Petchi:





Ludwigia Palustris, behing Eleocharis sp., is another one of the fast grower, at least now:







The beautiful and different Pogostemon Helferi:



Great colors since day one for the Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini':



Love this picture (Bacopa caroliniana):



Still emersed Lobelia Cardinalis:



The soon to be beautiful Limnophila hippuridoides:



The (still) very small Staurogyne Repens, from 1-2-grow:



Yes, the following one is Pogostemon Erectus, still very small, also from 1-2-gow. Love this one!



"Devil" plant - Utricularia graminifoli - will it grow?

 

[parotet]

I'm jealous, very jealous... 🙂

Jordi

 

[Robert H. Tavera]

I'm jealous, very jealous... 🙂

Jordi

Me too. !!!
Nice to see you added some vertical lines with eleocharis... This will be a winderful tank, 70 pots!! Thats a lot of $$ for many of us !!


Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

 

[Pedro Rosa]

72 hours later

Uau! That's what i told myself when arrived at home on late tuesday





From the right to the left... even 1-2-grow plants are growing very well.







Some details:







Rotala Macandra... just love this one... still very, very small but it's starting up:



Yes, UG it's still there



Lobelia:

 

[Pedro Rosa]

No photo of the tank filled? Does that mean you are going emersed first?

It's true, i didn't upload any picture of the tank filled on the first day. I have it on video.

Me too. !!!
Nice to see you added some vertical lines with eleocharis... This will be a winderful tank, 70 pots!! Thats a lot of $$ for many of us !!

Robert, as you can see you can start with a lot less and make more replanting on the first weeks.

 

[alto]

Fantastic!
And so appreciate the time you take to photograph the individual plants

I always wish that Lobelia would retain that lovely purple~.green leaf once submersed.

Did plants & substrate etc ship direct from Tropica?
Can you remind me of tank dimensions, please