Talk:Aquascaping

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 31 March 2020 and 19 May 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ajchinnici.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:35, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Edit explanation
I expanded this page a lot and removed the stub label. I expanded the discussions of Dutch and nature aquariums, and added new sections on biotopes, paludariums, reefs, and contests. I also added some more references and a photo, improved some of the links, and created a redirect from "Planted aquarium" to here. --Tryptofish (talk) 00:06, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

Request photos
It would be very helpful if someone could add two good-quality photos, one each of a typical Dutch (a more representative example than the one there now) and a typical nature style aquascape. There are plenty of such photos out there, but I haven't yet found ones that are GFDL. Please add them if you can. --Tryptofish (talk) 00:06, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Done. (But improvements are always welcome, of course!) --Tryptofish (talk) 17:12, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Feedback
Ok, will post some feedback here - interesting topic. Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:21, 1 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Aquascaping is a craft practiced by aquarium enthusiasts that entails arranging aquatic plants, as well as rocks, stones, cavework, or driftwood in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium. - hmmm, two 'aquarium's in the one sentence. Might be good to ditch the first one, actually maybe remove all of 'practiced by aquarium enthusiasts'...


 * Probalby mention the Japanese, dutch and natural modes in lead.


 * Contests is a good idea - needs to be formatted out.


 * Maybe notable large examples of aquascaping in public aquaria (?)


 * I can imagine there is more to add in each bit - eg design in paludariums (types of plants etc.) Examples of plants in each, or how to deal with algae buildup. Will be tricky to find content specific to design that needn't be covered in aquarium.

I will pop by later for a more detailed look as I am totally unfamiliar with the subject material. Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:21, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks very much for your help. About contests, could you please clarify what you mean by "formatted out?" --Tryptofish (talk) 17:48, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I bullet-pointed the judging criteria; don't know if that's what you meant. --Tryptofish (talk) 18:27, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Dutch aquascapes
Crusio (hi!) made some edits to this section, and I have questions about them. The point about symmetry is one I can agree with (at least to the point of not saying anything about it either way in that section), in that Dutch style aquaria certainly are not always symmetrical. (It was, as I remember, here before I started editing, and I had questions about it myself but left it as was.) However, I have some serious questions about the edit to the photo, which I have reverted pending further talk. First, I just want to make sure we are both talking about Dutch style, as opposed to aquascapes by Dutch hobbyists. Then, that said, it's not obvious to me that the image is significantly different in style from those in the link you provided. It was as close to Dutch style as those I could find at Commons, and it looks to me like many other aquascapes I've seen described as Dutch. Am I missing something here? Please explain. I got the photo in the nature style section by contacting the creator, who won a contest, and I would not object to doing likewise to get a more quintessential Dutch example. Would this be better? --Tryptofish (talk) 21:39, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Hi Tryptofish. In a previous life (we're talking mid 1970s now), I was an "accredited" Dutch "keurmeester" (the person who rates aquaria in competitions) for the Dutch aquarist society NBAT. They actually have examinations and such to get to this exalted state. The example you put on as a "Dutch style aquascape" would not rate very high in those competitions because it is too wild and unkempt. If you look at the (unfortunately not very good) photographs on the site that I linked to, you will see, first of all, that they are never symmetrical (beginner's error #1), and second they are very well kept, kind of like an English or French garden. Have a look at this one for instance: asymmetrical, not a single plant (or even leaf) that is not at its exact place... Apparently, they have moved a bit to more natural and unkempt looking aquaria as when I was in this stuff (http://www.nbat.nl/aquarium7/keuringgezel/hanssen_08.html see this one, for example]). But still, even then they are much more "stylized" I guess is the word, than the current pic. So whether the photo you had up is from the Netherlands or not doesn't really matter. It's not an example of what is known as the "Dutch style". --Crusio (talk) 22:12, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks! (I'm constantly fascinated and amazed at the life histories of editors here! Two neuroscientists with interests in aquascaping! Go figure.) I see what you mean now. The image there now (from Commons, as I said) fits with what I've seen a lot of U.S. hobbyists call "Dutch," but I fully see what you mean about stylized, and as shown above I too have had some doubts about how representative it is of the type. What I think is that, in current use of the terms, the current image would be more-or-less Dutch only to the extent that it is obviously not nature-style, but however it would score in a competition (no disrespect to the editor who uploaded it!), it's not bad, just not an ideal example for this purpose. I would argue that it can stay for at least a few days while I seek Creative Commons permission for a better example. And thanks again for your attention to this! --Tryptofish (talk) 22:23, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * My pleasure! And to the editor who uploaded this photo, I have to say that over the years I have come to appreciate this more "natural" look more than the Dutch aquatic gardens :-) As for my life history, I decided to study biology because of my fascination with aquaria. Then I gradually got more into water plants and most of my education was as a botanist (see Anubias, Lagenandra, and Barclaya). Only after that I got into mouse behavior genetics... :-) Never lost my love for things aquatic, though... --Crusio (talk) 22:56, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Other way around for me. I started with birds and gardening (actually, dinosaurs before that...), then found molecular neuroscience by way of molecular biology. Aquaria came much later. No Lagenandra or Barclaya in my tank yet, but plenty of Anubias. (So much for my personal policy of not revealing personal stuff about myself on site.) --Tryptofish (talk) 23:14, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

(outdent) I've replaced the image with what I think is a more representative one. --Tryptofish (talk) 16:31, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
 * It is, excellent! --Crusio (talk) 16:39, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks! (I'm relieved!) --Tryptofish (talk) 17:04, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Some recent edits
I see that you are a new editor and I'm happy to find another editor who is interested in this page. And I thank you for finding some very nice new images, as well as expanding some of the content of the page. However, there are also a couple of edits you have made that I felt that I needed to correct, and so I'm explaining it here, and I hope that you will understand. First, it would be helpful if you would read WP:EW and WP:BRD, thanks. Some of your edits have been ungrammatical, but furthermore, they have ended up repeating the same text in two different places on the page. There is no point in saying the same things multiple times. Also, although the image that you have kept placing in the nature style section is, technically, nature style (and is clearly a splendid example of an aquascape), it isn't really the most representative of how nature style differs from Dutch. Also, although I have gone along with your designating Iwagumi as something separate from the nature style, that really is not strictly correct, in that Iwagumi is a particular concept that Amano has employed within the nature style. I'm happy to discuss any of this with you further, if you would like. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:42, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090810124000/http://aquabotanic.blogspot.com:80/2008/05/by-robert-paul-hudson-this-article.html to http://aquabotanic.blogspot.com/2008/05/by-robert-paul-hudson-this-article.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090718160153/http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org:80/Nyberg_yeast.ppt to http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/Nyberg_yeast.ppt

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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Aquascaping. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110722221227/http://www.parlouraquariums.org.uk/Papers/b%20AQUARIUM%20HISTORY/History%20Papers/Parlour%20aquarum.htm to http://www.parlouraquariums.org.uk/Papers/b%20AQUARIUM%20HISTORY/History%20Papers/Parlour%20aquarum.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120611085057/http://acuavida.com/noticias/noticias-de-acuavida/244-aac-acuavida-aquascaping-contest to http://www.acuavida.com/noticias/noticias-de-acuavida/244-aac-acuavida-aquascaping-contest
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120319094047/http://www.aquarist.gr/index.htm to http://www.aquarist.gr/index.htm

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bleaching plants?
"When adding new fish to a tank, aquascapers may also disinfect their plants by using diluted hydrogen peroxide or bleach, as unknown plants may carry undesired species of algae." I suspect that anyone who puts plants in without knowing what they are, would not used hp or bleach. What is this? 2607:FEA8:FF01:7C2C:3960:2FFA:6C0B:8A14 (talk) 02:31, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
 * The section of the page definitely needs some revision, in part per WP:NOTHOWTO. But if you look at the source cited at the end of that sentence, it does support what the sentence says (note: "dilute"). --Tryptofish (talk) 21:06, 5 January 2023 (UTC)