50 GALLON DUTCH

A Dutch style aquarium is one where aquatic plants are specifically arranged and maintained into a dense terrace or steps. In a Nature style aquarium, the placement of plants in important, but here, the plants are usually compartmentalized and densely packed together. In a traditional Dutch style aquarium there is no use of driftwood or rock. But you'll find in this case, driftwood was used to effectively grow moss. This specific moss was used to give a different texture to the design. With the knowledge of how certain plants grow over time, you can design a Dutch layout more effectively and in an aesthetically pleasing way. one goal is to gain a sense of depth perception by "terracing" the plants. 

You can see that this layout is still premature and can use a few more types of plants. The use of Blyxa japonica bushes were used to fill in the mid ground to separate the stem plants in the back and the foreground carpet. The point of this layout is to emphasize the use of different colors, textures, heights, and shapes. In a Nature style aquarium, you generally use open spaces and a hardscape baseline to work with, but with this, the challenge is to use the plants to shape your layout in an aesthetically pleasing way.

A variety of plants were added to achieve the different shapes and textures for this layout, from pointed leaves to rounded leaves. Along with terracing the plants, using different shapes and textures, the different colors help add contrast. The colors ranging from green, yellow, orange and to red, all help in breaking up the dense  portions of each type of plant. The lighting, substrate, fertilizer, and filtration all contribute to the health of the plants. This is important in any style of aquascape, but in a Dutch layout the health of the plants is crucial for growing colorfully dense terraces. 

Filtration: Eheim Professional 3 2180
Lighting: 39 watt x 4 T5
Substrate: ADA Amazonia
Carbon Dioxide: Pressurized 

Fauna: Otocinclus (Ottos), Caridina multidentata (Amano Shrimp), Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma (Bleeding Heart Tetra), Rasbora borapetensis (Blackline Rasbora)

Flora: Rotala indica, Rotala indica 'Singapore', Rotala indica 'green', Rotala macandra, Hemianthus callichtroides (HC), Micranthemun umbrosum, Ludwigia arcuata, Blyxa japonica, Hygrophila 'araguaia', Cryptocoryne wendtii, Cryptocoryne balansae