"Nature's Chaos" Aquascape by James Findley - The Making Of

I would like to see Frode Roe's video, speaking of a fellow from Norway.

Always liked his tanks.

They need some nicer hardscape materials. Real nice store. The USA does not have much like this except maybe 1-2 places.

nazrm;73968 said:

I'd like that very much also! And in general see some Norwegian tanks. Doesn't seem like there's much activity over here.

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You can search his name and images, some nice German Dutch style mix. Well done tanks IMO.

There are a lot of videos on how to set up ADA like tanks and the hard scape aspect is rushed in most of these.
I spend a lot of time thinking and pondering hardscapes and I will remove it if I'm not happy.

I view my tanks as something very different than many hobbyists.
They are part of my home.

In some cases, they are horticultural expressions of nature, eg they are not natural, but we make them seem that way.
The key is doing this in such a way that they are not contrived. We also want to see and view this scene from all parts of the home or in this case, the LFS.

I see a tank with this shape and my mind races with the potentials.
It seems that good high quality hard scaping materials are not easily obtained. I can drive off and come back later that day with a truck load.

Even there, I am not entirely happy.

I do the same type of general methods in this video. I often place the wood/rock first, then add the soil and maybe some rock and wood afterwards also. Then I add 1-2" of water, then mist if it's a large tank a few times while I plant.

nazrm;73988 said:

Found his site a while back, but didn't find any vids. Too bad really. Pics still hold their own tho. Gotta say I like his dutch and some of the tanks you've scaped better than ADA style. I don't find them to be very interesting, even the top ranked ones.

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Well, in that regard, they have very different goals. A Dutch tank is NOT based on a natural emulation, nor even attempts to be relatively representative of nature.
Whereas a nature scape is always centered on a natural theme and should in it's true essence, should emulate nature without appearing contrived.
This is very hard to teach. Few really discuss this part.

I do not think many know the differences of what each style really is about fundamentally.
Maybe I don't?

My view on nature aquarium style is centered on Japanese landscaping and gardening. I've learned far more from that than anything aquariums have shown me.
I spend more time on the terrestrial side of this honestly, and less on the aquarium, but I do have a couple that fall into the nature catagory and perhaps one or two that are more towards the dutch side.
None of my tanks follow a traditional style really though, but that is not my goal either.

I do not find the top aDA tanks creatively interesting is some regards, but that's NOT the point of a well done Japanese garden, it is all about well done craftsmanship. the designs are often well rooted in acient old styles from various forms of art, the media is new and different, but the design are often very much like many gardens. Japanese gardens are not meant to be creative, they are meant to embody nature on the human scale and be part of how you live and interact with nature. We cannot live anywhere out in nature, so we try and bring and recreate that in out immediate living area. The home is also designed this way, there are no window sills blocking the entire view of the garden in a Japanese traditional home, even a person laying on the floor is afforded a sweeping view of the garden. This is very different than Western style but some homes and glass/Dwell type structures have floor to ceiling glass and the ability to open this living space. This stuff ain't cheap though nor is the long term care and quality.

If this same commitment is placed into aquariums, then you can have a really nice tank.

I have my periods of motivation. This comes and goes, but over time, we all learn a bit more. Green Machine has some nice tanks and is committed. Over time, they will only improve with each incarnation.

I was talking to some biologist researchers the other day about this with respect to art and nature. We thought funny that many thought we did not under nature much when it came to the art and inspiration side of landscaping.

The landscaping side of things here is very much about using native species and drought tolerant plants, providing for mantis, bees, and a thick full ecosystem that requires little care.
This is much much much more about "nature" than ANY Japanese garden I have ever seen. The design aspects of this more natural conservation/restoration/creation side could use some help..........but the philosophy behind these two things would make a good hybrid.
Habitat recreation is something very different and more natural than a Nature planted aquarium.

That would be a 3rd style.

dutchy;74029 said:

Isn't that the biotope?

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Sort of, but habitat recreation and using native species is rarely fully done in aquaria, it's less practical to be able to do this for hobbyists, whereas in terrestrial landscaping, this is VERY often easy to achieve.

The goal is a complete ecosystem based on native species, it might not be a particularly biotope really though..........aquarist are quite liberal with their view on that, the Amazon is a massive place, so is Africa, so it Lake Malawi etc.........