2008 AGA Aquascaping Contest 28

An aquarium is a vivarium of any size having at least one translucent side where aquatic plant life or pets or animals are maintained and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles such as turtles, and aquatic vegetation. The term "aquarium", coined by British naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, combines the Latin root aqua, meaning drinking water, with the suffix -arium, meaning "a location for relating to". The aquarium basic principle was completely developed in 1850 by the chemist Robert Warington, who explained that plants put into drinking water in a pot would produce enough oxygen to support animals, so long as the amounts of animals did not grow too big.The aquarium craze was launched in early Victorian Great britain by Gosse, who created and stocked the first general public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and published the first manual, The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea in 1854.An aquarium is a water-filled tank in which seafood swim about. Small aquariums are kept in the home by hobbyists. You can find larger general public aquariums in many cities. This sort of aquarium is a building with seafood and other aquatic animals in large tanks. A large aquarium may have otters, turtles, dolphins, and other sea pets. Most aquarium tanks likewise have plants.An aquarist has fish or maintains an aquarium, typically made of glass or high-strength acrylic. Cuboid aquaria are also called fish tanks or just tanks, while bowl-shaped aquaria are also known as fish bowls. Size can range between a small cup dish, under a gallon in quantity, to immense general population aquaria of thousands of gallons. Specialized equipment keeps appropriate normal water quality and other characteristics ideal for the aquarium's residents.Aquascaping is the build of organizing aquatic vegetation, as well as stones, stones, cavework, or driftwood, in an aesthetically satisfying manner in a aquarium--in effect, gardening under normal water. Aquascape designs include a number of unique styles, including the garden-like Dutch style and the Japanese-inspired character style.Typically, an aquascape residences fish as well as plant life, although it can be done to set-up an aquascape with plants only, or with rockwork or other hardscape and no plants.Although the principal goal of aquascaping is to build an artful underwater landscape, the technical areas of container maintenance and the growth requirements of aquatic crops are also taken into consideration.Many factors must be balanced in the closed system of an aquarium tank to guarantee the success of an aquascape. These factors include purification, maintaining carbon dioxide at levels sufficient to aid photosynthesis underwater, substrate and fertilization, light, and algae control.Aquascape hobbyists trade crops, conduct contests, and talk about photographs and information via the web.The United States-based Aquatic Gardeners Connection has about 1,200 associates.Dutch styleAquarium densely packed with clumps of fine-leaved plants, some with inexperienced leaves and some with red leaves. A large red fish swims at left.Dutch style aquascapeThe Dutch aquarium utilizes a lush set up where multiple types of crops having diverse leaf colors, sizes, and textures are shown much as terrestrial crops are shown in a rose garden. This style originated in the Netherlands starting in the 1930s, as freshwater aquarium equipment became commercially available.It emphasizes plants situated on terraces of different heights, and sometimes omits stones and driftwood. Linear rows of crops jogging left-to-right are referred to as "Dutch avenues". Although some plant types are widely-used, one typically perceives nicely trimmed groupings of plant life with fine, feathery foliage, such as Limnophila aquatica and various types of Hygrophila, combined with the use of red-leaved Alternanthera reineckii, Ammania gracilis, and assorted Rotala for color features.A lot more than 80% of the aquarium floor is covered with crops, and little or no substrate is still left visible.Extra tall growing vegetation that cover the back glass originally dished up the purpose of hiding bulky equipment behind the container.