Aquascaping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planting, Styling, and Maintaining Beautiful Aquariums

by George Farmer

Learn how to create and maintain your own underwater ecosystem.

Aquascaping is the art of arranging underwater plant life in aesthetically pleasing displays. From the brilliance of Takashi Amano and numerous other innovators, planted tanks have become one of the more popular methods of enjoying a personal aquarium. In Aquascaping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planting, Styling, and Maintaining Beautiful Underwater Aquariums, internationally renowned aquascaper George Farmer teaches how to create the perfect aquascape. Included in this book are full-color photographs that will supply readers with:
 
Step-by-step instructions on setting up your tank
Different styling suggestions that best suit your landscape
How to pick plants, rocks, driftwood, substrate, and aquatic life
Understanding the chemistry and biology involved in keeping a healthy aquarium
Maintenance and upkeep
And much more
 
Creating an underwater ecosystem is not only a rewarding experience, but can bring much peace and relaxation to your life. So whether you’re a notice aquarist or seasoned aquascaper, Aquascaping will teach you all the tricks of the trade so that your sunken garden can be enjoyed by family, friends, and most importantly yourself.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening

182 pages, Hardcover

Published August 18, 2020

Reviews

[Coriander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been setting up my first planted aquarium and going full geek on researching--webpages, youtube channels, forum threads, the lot--but I hit a point where I was like, 'I want a book that captures the full process and set up because I'm seeing things in too many discrete chunks'. As far as a comprehensive overview, this book is by far my favorite of the ones I've encountered on this topic. I really struggle with recalling the scientific names of plants, so watching aquascaping videos on youtube I was like, 'that plant looks great but I will not recall its name when going to my local aquarium stores'. The step-by-step example setups and plant lists at the back are well organized, have images for all the plants, and were so useful that when the ebook I loaned from the library got automatically returned I decided to buy my own copy for ongoing reference.

I hadn't encountered Farmer's youtube channel before reading this book and starting watching his videos after reading it -- I really recommend that too. I find him very calming, and I appreciate his mindful/zen approach to aquascaping and fishkeeping overall. He leans toward 'higher tech' setups (with CO2 injection) but he definitely wrote this book with a beginner audience in mind and (understanding that CO2 can be both expensive and intimidating) has a lot of guidance about appropriate plants for lower lighting setups, and it does seem from his recent youtube videos like he's starting to experiment more with low tech tanks.

The one process he promotes that I'm not really interested in is estimative index for fertilizing -- this is basically over-fertilizing your plants but balancing it out with frequent water changes. I understand that this gets great results for folks but (in keeping with leaning more towards low-tech tanks myself) this seems super inefficient to me both in how I'm using the not-inexpensive fertilizers and in terms of how I'm using my time with aquarium maintenance. I'm much more of the 'slow growth', minimal intervention mindset.

Anyway, HIGHLY recommend this if you're interested in planted tanks or fish keeping in general.

[Copépodo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and with plenty of delightful photographs, but I missed some additional depth

[Jonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most helpful book for beginner aquariumist i've read. Covers all the basics you need from deciding what equipment to buy to how to fight algae and grow healthy plants. I've read several similar books before, but none where as spot on the questions that I had then designing my aquarium as this book. Some of the suggestions contradict advice that I was given before. It will be interesting to try them out. For example the book suggest to use more fertiliser than the recommended dosage. A the end of the book are several step by step guide which should let you create nice looking aquascape by following step by step guide and gain experience for later creative endeavours. All in all, I which I had read this book a few year earlier :)

[Chyna Riedel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a beginning aquascaper, this book was very helpful and informative! The photos are beautiful and I appreciate the step by step guides of aquascapes at various tank sizes at the end of the book. There os also a extremely helpful and comprehensive list of plants at the back with the book with the species name, what type it is: ie. stem, bulb etc. and how easy/hard it is so care for. I recommend this to anyone who is getting into aquascaping for the first time

[RJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

fine. good advice in design and care but nothing noteworthy. solid but uninteresting "rule of thirds" and "consider lines" level of guidance. tends to repeat the same things each time something is brought up. layout doesnt seem to have been well thought out, leading to some weird confusing bits, eg, a new section with an immediate photo but the first text of the section is on the next page, or photos that aren't connected to the related text

[Julián Gómez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book for the beginner aquascaper. It is full of detail on all the basics one needs to know to get started and maintain a beautiful aquascape. Incredibly useful as a source to continue coming back to when you need help with a particular subject in aquascaping, but also an engaging and fun read and a nice “coffee table book” as it is full of gorgeous photos too!

[Lonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive guide to modern aquascaping. You can learn not only how to provide the best natural environments for your fish and aquatic pets, but how to do so artistically, expressing yourself through plants and hardscapes. Worth the read even if you've watched every video on YouTube about the art.

[Tiến Nguyễn · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you just start to aquascaping, you should read this. I'm not total agree with all points in this book but just personal, all information is total good for you to improve aqua (plant, fish, scaping...) skill

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elevated by the appendices (which show a number of example tanks with all relevant specs/schedules shown clearly and concisely), as the body of book doesn't really impart any "advanced" knowledge; however, the repetition of basic ideas does make the hobby seem more approachable.

[Kristof Maessen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een leuk en handig boek voor de beginnende aquarium liefhebbers. Maar ook ervaren mensen zullen dit zeker waarderen en behulpzaam vinden.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent beginner's book on aquascaping. Well written and filled with terrific pictures of all sorts of aquariums.

[Gowthaman Ilango · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for beginners with beautiful pics. Glad bought this as a hardcover book and will be using this as a coffee table book!

[K&E_getlit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to the topic from a legend in the field and beautiful photos. Will be out of date fairly quickly though I imagine.

[Karen F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super clear and helpful guide to creating and maintaining a planted aquarium!

[Duncan Mcphedran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relatively quick read, very informative with many inspiring photos!

[Петър Стойков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Добро начално обяснение на гледането на аквариумни растения и подреждането им в блазнещи окото пейзажи. Има известни пропуски, като най-забележими са в разделите за торене и за борба с водораслите.