What Is Aquascaping?
Aquascaping designs the inside of an aquarium like a landscape: the placement of rock and wood, plant height and colour, and the empty space are composed like a picture. Three common approaches are the nature aquarium (forest, riverbank or hillside scenes from the Japanese tradition), Iwagumi (a few large stones over a low carpet of plants) and the Dutch style (groups of coloured plants, like a garden). We choose by the room: Iwagumi for a minimal interior, a wood-heavy nature aquarium for a warm, timber-toned living room.
Light, CO2 and Nutrients
Success depends on balancing light, carbon dioxide and nutrients; when one runs ahead, algae wins.
| Low-maintenance layout | Dense layout | |
|---|---|---|
| Plants | Slow-growing, shade tolerant | Fast-growing, carpets and red plants |
| CO2 | Not needed or little | Needed |
| Light | Medium | Strong |
| Trimming | Monthly | Every visit |
| Our recommended care | Every two weeks, you do the change in between | Weekly |
The First Weeks
Every new planted aquarium goes through an algae phase while plants root. We follow Tropica’s guidance: change 25–50% a couple of times a week for the first 3–4 weeks, keep the light to 6 hours a day for the first 2–3 weeks then raise it to 8–10, use fast-growing plants, add algae-eating snails and shrimp early, and hold fish back for 3–4 weeks until the plants have established. Source: Tropica, Starting a new aquarium.
What Happens on a Visit
Each weekly visit includes a water change of about 25%, glass cleaning, trimming, fertiliser and CO2 checks. Trimming keeps the layout’s original lines; knowing what to leave matters as much as what to cut.
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