My first thread here..
I have finally opted for a Dutch scape this time when everyone is going mad about NA scapes!! Well, ofcourse yes. Its hard to come by any decent Dutch/Dutch-inspired scape these days. And I have been longing to see some fresh dutch scapes, I couldnt wait anymore and started my own.
In contrary to what most people believe, i.e., dutch being basic planted tank, less challenging and so on.... Well, this is how I see it. A tank with majority of stem plants and no/little hardscape to support the design or even to cover up any ugly lower ends of most plants. And also all plants dont grow at same pace, so the timing and the level of trimming required for each plant varies greatly and for a dutch tank to look good at one point of time you need to synchronize the growth of all the plants. Not to forget the diligent dosing regime, pair of scissors and forceps. So to sum it up, it takes up some good amount of skill, time and dedication throughout the cycle of a scape. Lets see how I fare through this challenge......wish me luck
A simple mix of soils, sand, clay and peat made up the nutrient rich base, topped by coarse sand(3-5mm grain size).
Pardon me for shabby tank glass, it was lying dry for long with some tough hardwater stains and I was lazy and reluctant to clean it dry.
The plants that went into it. Rotalas(sp. green, rotundifolia, indica, sp. butterfly, nanjenshan), HM, lileopsis brasilensis, glosso, hydrocotyle sibthorpioides, ludwigia(repens and glandulosa), staurogyne(repens and portovelho)
Filling and planting simultaneously
With planting completed and water filled. Sunday, Nov-04/2012
Next day, when water settled, glass cleaned. Monday, Nov-05/2012
Let me know your views on it...
Hamza
, would love to see the gradual development of the tank till its completion, please keep us informed
