gjcarew

I think @knee got it with shinnersia rivularis

NBAT, which hosts the "original" Dutch aquascaping competitions, does so in-person. The surroundings of the tank, vibe of the room, vibe of the fish etc. matter a lot more in that case. I find that generally, diorama style tanks (like you would find in IAPLC) look worse in person and Dutch and Amano style tanks look better. Diorama style tanks rely heavily on fixed perspective.

Hygrophila 'Angustifolia'. I saw it in @Mmiller2001's tank and had to get some. So much less dramatic and IMO more attractive than the 53b

Mid-trim photo. There are a lot of things I like here, and quite a few things that still need work. One big one is to figure out how I'm gonna make a buce wall. I also need something else for the back right area. Gonna try to pick up some tiger val for the left side on Tuesday.

Whenever I take "official" photos I just put something across the tank. Recently it's been a sleeping pad but anything that blocks the light will do. I've used large cardboard boxes and even a 2 x 8 piece of wood, since it's just for the pictures. Notice how the photo above has much better saturation and contrast because the light bleed is being stopped. I don't believe either of these were edited. All I ended up doing was adjusting the white balance and black point.

That's a matter of light bleed. If you put some kind of shade on your light your pictures will turn out way better regardless of camera.

Been doing some rearranging. I think I need the lobelia cardinalis back for more leaf shape contrast.

Fun fact, Cemex is the company that makes Monterey Sand, and they had the last functional coastal sand mine in the United States in Marina, CA. The government found that it was causing massive erosion in South Monterey Bay, so they got shut down in 2020. They now have to restore the habitat by the end of 2023. I may have one of the last bags of Monterey Sand in existence.

A mix of Caribsea Peace River gravel, aquasoil, and Monterey sand

Update after 2 weeks away! The good: Most plants did well and got some good growth in. The bad: The buce and blyxa japonica are still struggling with algae. Honestly the blyxa has never done great and probably needs to go.

I haven't been there in a while, but I think that's the one! They also had some cool plecos in there

Hit or miss. They're so small and weak that unless you give them lots of light and CO2 they probably won't make it. They usually do better when you're setting up a new tank with all TC plants because then they don't get overshaded. Christel Kasselmann always starts them in potting soil, then when the plants are bigger and healthy she moves them to the aquarium. Edit: Video of her method

Not sure if Brandon has taken it over, but I'd love a picture of Robert's tank with all the plants. And the other planted tanks you have in the store, like the 3 gallon planted one.

Seattle has two aquascaping focused stores. Houston has Aquarium Design Group, which I would consider the center of US aquascaping. Chicago has SR Aquaristik, Denver has Aqua Rocks Colorado... They're just all spread out. True, there aren't aquascaping YouTubers. But I would say that that's an indication of the health of the YouTube hobby rather than the health of the aquascaping hobby.

Few tanks, better cared for is the way to go IMO. That's also a perfect size for a Dutch tank 😉

Which new tank did you order? H. Pinnatifida grows like a weed for me. Much more manageable on hardscape though.

I've got the GSAS home show coming tomorrow. Unfortunately quite a few plants never recovered from the lack of CO2 over the holidays, so I ended up doing some rather severe replanting and trimming last week and the tank consequently is not in "competition" form. The remarkable thing about NBAT competition (Dutch society of aquarists) is that it is all conducted in person. You don't have the luxury of choosing exactly when you take the perfect photo, rather you need to know how to make sure your tank is at its peak on a certain day. It's a fun challenge, and one I did not rise to this year. Regardless, I think this has a lot of Dutch elements, which is what I ultimately hoped to represent to my fellow members of GSAS.

Yeah, if an hour or two a month irks you then CO2 is probably not the move. I spend about an hour a week trimming. Well it's looking very lush, makes me want to make something with hardscape again!

Great looking tank. Is this low tech??

^ This is why if I can buy something from the Co-op, I do

As long as you don't mind them dying shortly after blooming and setting seed, that is a way of getting them to flower. I haven't grown mermaid weed in a long time, and I never got it to more than a pale orange. Strong light usually does it, though.

@Mmiller2001 Yeah, it's this one. I suspect it's gone to seed because the leaves are not doing well right now

I'm convinced this stress response is why the nymphaea minuta flowered earlier in January. I hope it doesn't die but it isn't looking great 😞

Moderately fast with CO2, and at a very manageable rate without. It takes trimming well once you have a thick bush because it's hard to see the cut stems among all the dense, textured leaves. Overall it's not a hard plant to keep. I cut it back every two weeks or so.