July 2011 Aquascape of the Month form www.aquascapingworld.com

July 2011 Aquascape of the Month
______________________________________________
Antelope Canyon
by Wichian Janjira

INTRODUCTION

My name is Wichian Janjira (Wichian), and I started aquascaping aquarium plants twenty-five years ago.

The first aquarium was unfortunately unsuccessful, and died within a month due to lack of light, carbon dioxide and proper nutrients for the plants.

Even with the failure, I did not give up. I researched how to grow specific aquarium plants and worked my way up to growing them successfully and in a visually stimulating layout.

Years later, my dream finally came true. I now have a small shop selling aquatic aquarium plants. In Thailand, I am happy and growing aquarium plants for a living is extremely fun and rewarding.









INITIAL PLANNING

In my initially planning, I looked for the most beautiful aquarium plants in the world. I sought out colorful, and interesting shaped plants that would stimulate my eyes. From there, I looked for the right planted aquarium equipment to suit these plants. Unlike my first aquarium, I made sure to get the right lights, carbon dioxide equipment and filters for my aquariums. For the lights, I got a PL 36 W x 2 bulbs placed over the layout. This was enough to grow the high light plants such as Hemianthus callitrichoides, Rotala sp. Myriophyllum sp. Micrantthemum umbrosum, and Hygrophila pinnatifida. I used ADA Aquasoil for the substrate base and the plants seemed to respond very well to this substrate.

Once I got my plants and equipment together, I put together the layout. The intent was to keep the layout simple, but interesting. I focused on open spaces, clean and trimmed plant appearances, and similar shaped and color plant groupings. Overtime, the plants would grow and shape the aquascape almost on its own.




HARDSCAPE ARRANGEMENT

The stones were placed in the layout prior to planting. There were not many places for the rocks, so I placed them where they looked best in my eyes. I used a metal mesh to help form the substrate bed into rolling hills and to provide more depth to the aquascape.

I placed the plants around the rocks in species specific plant groups. This helped complement the rocks and bring a sense of simplicity to the layout. With regular trimmings, I kept most of the plants from overgrowing the hardscape. The plants such as Hemianthus callitrichoides would grow just enough to cover the rock formations, but not to the point where they overtake the hardscape.



PLANT TRIMMING

Keeping an aquarium of fast growing stem plants requires regular maintenance. Each week I monitor the plants growth and make sure they do not grow to the point where there is disharmony between the rocks, and plants. Regular trimming of the Rotala in the background helped keep the species from looking too wild, and at the same time, helped create a more bushy appearance. The Micrantthemum umbrosum in the back left corner grew slightly slower than the Rotala, but also required trimming or else stems would appear leggy and unsightly. To form the carpet of Hemianthus callitrichoides, I allowed it to grow almost untouched. Hemianthus callitrichoides responses very well to high light and carbon dioxide.

With all the plants, I made sure they grew evenly with each other by trimming them all regularly. Regular trimmings helped keep the shape of the layout and spurred healthy plant growth.


FINAL THOUGHTS

Thank you to all have commented on my aquascape. It is a pleasure to have my aquascape featured on AquaScaping World. I hope the hobby expands even further here in Thailand, and others find inspiration from my aquascape. Thank you all again.

Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals BERITA_wongANteng SEO theproperty-developer