Make your own aquascape

Aquatic Landscaper Justin Nguyen got into university to study economics but changed his mind, preferring instead to follow his lifetime hobby building aquariums. His work is inspired by Japanese guru Takashi Amano whose focus instead was on plants and how they fit together to form a landscape. There are different styles to create these landscapes, but they all need the plants to be healthy.


To grow a good-looking aquascape you need to:

- Run grow lights for six hours a day
- Apply soluble fertiliser once a week
- Change half the water each week
- Have carbon dioxide injected through a diffuser
- Prune every three weeks
- Add a few plant-friendly fish or ornamental shrimp


You’ll Need:

- a variety of aquatic plants like dwarf hairgrass (Eleocharis parvula), Japanese rush, Staurogyne (Staurogyne repens), African water fern (Bolbitis heudelotii) and dwarf anubias (Anubias barteri var. nana).
- a tank, diffuser, wave maker, grow lights, fertiliser and pH neutralising agent
- drift wood and cable ties to join them together
- an assortment of rocks
- expanded aqua clay beads to plant into
- a terrestrial plant growing out of the water and onto a protruding branch – here a Swiss cheese vine (Monstera adansonii) was used.



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