Inspiration

Been trying to get inspiration. As such, been doing a lot of search on the net for Takashi Amano. The only problem is trying to find articles on him in English. Nonetheless, after several cold leads, managed to find a site or two that provides good translation. The best so far is the Online Aqua Journal that has proper translation and a wealth of information.

Thing is, to be like Amano requires a huge investment in equipment and products. I honestly do not think they are cheating as many people out there have tested ADA products and found a huge difference in the plants. I've used some of their products in the beginning. The planted tank you saw in my earlier post had an ADA CO₂ Ceramic Diffuser. Till now, I've yet to see any other brand produce bubbles as small as that. ADA is expensive, but you get what you pay for. Nonetheless, it does not mean that low tech and budget tanks will not do as well.

Was browsing through the low tech thread in AquaticQuotient and I stumbled upon two tanks of which are very similar to what I want to achieve in my tank. 

The first tank you see here is by RuiEstrelinha who took this of his girlfriend's tank. It a really lovely mounded composition using what seems to be the common java fern (microsorum pteropus). You can tell it's a fern just by the spores on the underside of the leaf. The java fern serves as the background plant. In the foreground is the anubias nana perhaps if my identification is correct with bushy plants (my guess is java fern 'windelov') at several spots serving as the middle ground plant. Together with the drift wood, it makes a splendid landscape. 

This next tank is also his girlfriend's too but an earlier setup. I'd put this as a cross between a triangle and U-shaped composition. Not as fantastic as the earlier one but still just as nice. A reason why this may not look as good is simply because of the mismatch of the bushy plant in the centre. It does not blend well with either the anubias or java fern breaking the harmony. Also, notice how the plants are delineated in front exposing a strip of gravel. There's nothing wrong with bare gravel, but such a straight line does not occur in nature and hence spoils the overall landscape.

Do check out his blog although it's entirely in Spanish or Portugese - I can't tell. By far one of the best aquarium photographers I've seen on the net myself. Pretty neat and definitely inspirational.

This beautiful Asiatic 80l cube setup is by tipoman. What you see here is a thick lush bush of various green plants that would be pretty boring if not for the nice reddish brown lotus in the middle. That's one of the things that has been bugging me, unless I show enough driftwood breaking out from the sea of green, it'll look more like a monotonous but overwhelming green sheet. tipoman also shows how important it is to choose the right fish to go with the setup. The green is balanced off by the harlequin rasboras (rasbora heteromorpha) and the pearl gourami (trichogaster leeri).  Also, note how tipoman also has the same bare foreground but it's separated from the plant patch with nice driftwood arrangment. 

As an update, the tank has been ordered and I've already put out an appeal for the following plants on AquaticQuotient:

Java Fern (microsorum pteropus)

Java Fern 'Windelov' (microsorum pteropus 'windelov')

Narrow Leaf Java Fern (microsorum pteropus 'narrow' [?])

Bolbitis (bolbitis heudilotti)

Peacock Moss (taxiphyllum sp.)

The replies did come fast and furious. The tank should be ready for collection on 10 January. So just a few more days but I'm not too rushed about it. For now, my mind is still debating whether or not LED lights are a worthwhile investment.