# How about this dutch aquascape?



## Robert Hudson

How would you judge this picture?


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## PMD1

Full and crisp lines.

A variety of textures and colors.

Very beautiful.

Who did this? Website?

Regards,

PMD


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## scott53326

Paluzee - Home


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## fredyk

Wow!


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## Steven_Chong

What the heck!? People are responding but I can't see it!


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## BryceM

I like it all except for the Cyperus helferi (?) in the right mid-ground and the Java fern that seems to be growing from nowhere halfway up the empty space in the back. The lines of the Cyperus divide the layout, break up the Alternanthera 'street', and provide a focal point that isn't necessary.


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## bristles

Fantastic tank ! Very good photo quality . Is that Riccia on top ? do you have trouble keeping it out of the ground cover and other low plants? mine seems to get every where .


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## Robert Hudson

Nikos earlier post reminded me that I have been wanting to research Dutch competition tanks. This is from
Foto Album - Home I believe Pauluzee is a Dutch NBAT member club. NBAT is a federation of aquarium clubs in the Netherlands that holds a national competition. The photo quality of NBAT pictures is often poor because they are taken by the judges themselves, but the hobbysits themselves are taking better quality pictures of their own tanks, and the photos are begining to show up on sites like this one. All the photos on this Paluzee WEB site are pretty good quality. At the club level rather than the national level, there seems to be more diversity as well.

I agree about that tall grass like plant looking out of place, but I see this being done quite a bit as I look thru NBAT photos. Even in top winners. I don't understand the reasoning. Here is another example


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## standoyo

Nice beautiful colours and being a Dutch style aquascape, it's easily recognizable and friendly.
As for an aquascaping point of view, my personal opinion is it's like a well kept botanical garden. Safe, inviting, bright, well maintained.


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## Riba

Robert Hudson said:


> Nikos earlier post reminded me that I have been wanting to research Dutch competition tanks. This is from
> Foto Album - Home I believe Paluzee is a Dutch NBAT member club. NBAT is a federation of aquarium clubs in the Netherlands that holds a national competition.


Jep, indeed (and terrarium).

Here some other links .


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## nswhite

Wow amazing looking tank.


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## Robert Hudson

OOOOw! Those are nice Riba! Where are those photos from?

I like this one a lot:


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## Riba

those are from an online album. I once bought some plants from the guy (not all his aquaria, by the way), and got into plant growing  Should say in real life his tank was stunning!


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## Robert Hudson

This guy? He seems to be quite the star! Is he an NBAT winner?


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## Riba

Yep, that guy (it is his photo-album). he was runner-up in 2005. Dunno about other competitions. He is currently studying to be a NBAT judge, according their site ( cbkm )


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## Marco AUkes

> I agree about that tall grass like plant looking out of place


Well, that is Glyceria maxima. It was a trend for a while to use this plant to make a tall rise on a strong point in an anquarium. However, I must agree in these examples it is not used correctly.

About Willem van Wezel: He is a 2 times (2006 & 2005) runner-up in the DUtch-Style category of the NBAT Championship. In Holland that means you first have to beat all your fellow local club members. Than a few months later you will to compete with all the other winners in your district. Only the district winners can compete in the national competition.

I will come up with more pictures of Willem's tank, since I am meeting him tomorrow. I will than show you that it runs in the family.


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## Riba

Ah, thanks Marco  Do you have more examples from dutch tanks (in sufficient resolution) available?


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## Marco AUkes

Yes, I do. But I will have to make a good selection first. 

I will do so this week.


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## IceT

Heey Marco,

Leuk om hier ook weer wat meer nederlanders te zien  Ook leuk om te lezen dat ze hier zo gek zijn op die stratenplannen  Ben benieuwd naar de foto's, Willem heeft altijd wel een mooie bak  Groet, Icet (ook lid van vvv )

For the not Dutch people on this forum:

It's nice to see more dutch people on this forum. It's also nice to read that they like the dutch way of aquascaping. Can't wait to see the pictures, Willem has always a very nice tank. Greetings, Icet


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## treesmcdonald

Great pictures. I'm not Dutch but I like the dutch way of aquascaping. I am eagerly awaiting more pictures. I think Willem van Wezel is my new hero.
-errin


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## Marco AUkes

Ok, for some reason the post about the best tanks of our forum did not get through; even though it has cost me half an hour to collect al the links....

As a substitute, here are some pics I took from Willems aquarium last friday:



















How about this for some algea:



















ANd you know what they say; like father .......

This is the tank of his son: Fred van Wezel:


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## IceT

Beautifull thanks... Damn


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## LindaC

Beautiful tanks, can anyone tell me what that light green plant is in back left corner on the tank above. I'm pretty sure it's Hygo but would like to know what kind of Hygro?


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## $eaba$$

Whats the totally middle plant in the front? It looks cool, kinda looks, like my two banana plants!


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## Cavan Allen

LindaC said:


> Beautiful tanks, can anyone tell me what that light green plant is in back left corner on the tank above. I'm pretty sure it's Hygo but would like to know what kind of Hygro?


http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ils.php?id=226&category=genus&spec=Hygrophila

There you go.


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## Marco AUkes

$eaba$$ said:


> Whats the totally middle plant in the front? It looks cool, kinda looks, like my two banana plants!


That is Saururus cernuus. The father of Willem van Wezel was famous for being the first one to have this plant in his aquarium in The Netherlands.


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## xcooperx

anyone know the specs of those tanks. the tank is really nice


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## Urkevitz

Whats up with that algae, was it intentionally planted there???


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## treesmcdonald

Urkevitz said:


> Whats up with that algae, was it intentionally planted there???


And why is he touching it? EEEEEEEEWWWWW lol. But it does contrast well with the plants around it both in color and form.

Both tanks are beautiful and thank you for posting them Marco.


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## xcooperx

Just wondering what are the plants for Dutch scape, the one that will grow towards the surface:

Reineckii
Asian Ambulia
Vals
Lobelia Cardinalis
Downoi

What else????


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## Robert Hudson

> The father of Willem van Wezel was famous for being the first one to have this plant in his aquarium in The Netherlands.


So there is three generations in that family that have done aquariums like that? Now thats impressive! Got any more pictures?


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## lljdma06

Beautiful scapes, makes me feel really bad about my little Dutch, but it's certainly something to aspire too. It's amazing how they can get every leaf to look perfectly in place. But I find myself doing that too. 

llj


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## edlut67

Hi there,

Check out the webpage of the NBAT:
http://www.nbat.nl/

On the homepage, double click 'keuringen'. (on the left). Here you can view some years of this competition, so how the Dutch prefer to scape..


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## Intros

In the NBAT 2006 edition contest under the title "Gezelschapsaquaria" (I don't know what it means) there is a table with the water parameters from the top 10 tanks. I was surprised to see that most of the tanks had quite low levels of CO2 , NO3, PO4 despite some very good plants condition. Do you have any opinions regarding this fact?


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## Riba

Guess a bit less light than what you're used to


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## Tankman

Your tank's absolutely breathtaking! Very quintessentially dutch indeed


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## edlut67

Hi Intros,

Perhaps these tanks proove that plants do not need high levels of nutritients for growing.


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## Robert Hudson

Here is another bold Dutch aquascape, how would you rate this one?


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## lildark185

The tank looks very healthy but everything is just too sectioned off and rectangular. There's no overlapping of plants to create the feel of depth. Reminds me of a fruits and vegetable stand; there's a wide variety of selection but everything's kept in their own separate boxes. Just my two cents.


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## treesmcdonald

The right side is really nice. But I think the mid ground on the left side is weak. Especially on the middle red plant. Is that ammannia? Its kind of hard to tell. Also, I find the gap on the right a little distracting I can't stop looking at it. All the plants look great and the color is awesome.


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## Marlène

PMD1 said:


> Full and crisp lines.
> 
> A variety of textures and colors.
> 
> Very beautiful.
> 
> Who did this? Website?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> PMD


I did this 

These pictures give a better impression I think.


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## Mellonman

I love your tank Marlène because, although it's definitely Dutch-style, it's not too "rigid"...
The use of Cladophora, mosses and Microsorum pteropus gives it a touch of "nature"...

Great job


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## Robert Hudson

Very nice! Much more red than you typically see in traditional Dutch. Someone who bends the rules! I love it!



> Well, that is Glyceria maxima. It was a trend for a while to use this plant to make a tall rise on a strong point in an anquarium. However, I must agree in these examples it is not used correctly.


I still don't get this at all. Something is being lost in the translation. I see this in almost every Dutch photo and I still don't see how it ever works, or what it is supposed to do. It must be a Dutch thing!


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## ianmoede

Dutch has its place i guess. I'm not a super fan of it stylistically, but i definitely like the dutch-amano fusion tanks.


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## Marlène

Robert Hudson said:


> ...
> I still don't get this at all. Something is being lost in the translation. I see this in almost every Dutch photo and I still don't see how it ever works, or what it is supposed to do. It must be a Dutch thing!


Well in my case, I guess there's nothing to get. The gliceria is standing there because I like it there. 
One day I got a little piece of this plant and I decided to put it there. It makes my tank look deep and its nice how fish swimm around it.

You are talking about Dutch aquascaping. I think its very funny: some-one told me about the photo of my tank in this topic. I never intended to scape to a certain (dutch) standard.
I am a dutch woman and because my tank stands in Holland, it must be a Dutch tank. :mrgreen: This tank excists for one year. I never bought or choose any of the plants in this tank but got little pieces from several people who had some leftovers. I moved them somewhat around and let them grow. When I put the plants in place I didn't even know about aqua-scaping or dutch tanks.


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## DonaldmBoyer

Can't argue with health of the plants in there! I like it a ton! The only thing that keeps me from loving it: Like Guiac Boy said earlier....the Cyperus looks too much like a monument; I would move it back a bit, and the java fern does look out of place. Maybe if you made a large patch of it, like a wall covering, that would look better.

But, I couldn't do much better than that. You have a very clean tank, great thriving plants, and nice lines  Excellent! My critiques are only from a subjective standpoint, and don't really count for anything. As long as you love it, that's all that matters!


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## Jessie

I think the unique and highly organized feel of the Dutch-style is just fascinating. It takes a lot more discipline that I admit to having.

Marlène, your tank is knock-down stunning!


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## Marlène

Thank you for the compliments.:-D

Highly organised thats true. I know a lot of people who do so. We influence eachother with nice ideas. I saw a lot of pictures on forums. And I took notice of reactions of people on my photo's. In our aquariumclub Paluzee, people told a lot about how to keep and breed plants. And how nice it looks if plants of one sort are kept together. And to make good contrast if the same forms en colours of plants are _not _placed next to eachother.

But in Holland there are also a lot of people with completley different styles. I think the most important thing is to scape your aquarium just the way you enoy it.

O, and a little addit to the post above: I _did _buy the cladaphora.


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## Gracie

Marlene, your tank is beautiful. My tank resembles a weed patch next to yours.


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