Anyone have success with low energy Dutch scapes?
I had this 20 laying around that I was planning on using for a fry system, but I did a hard trim on my high energy 50 lowboy farm tank and figured it would be worth it to see what the conversion process would look like from CO2 + high light + ferts + nutrient-rich substrate => no CO2 + moderate light + low ferts + sand. As such, I was able to full plant every square inch of this 20 long. These photos are after a month, no trimming (so it does aesthetically look rough, but it's healthy). Every species except one (Rotala macrandra 'mini yellow butterfly') handled it fine.
But seeing this variety of plants do fine after this time, led me to wonder at the viability of an actual Dutch style scape. Despite this being only a month long trial, and not subject to manicuring in a traditional Dutch sense, it seems quite possible to get a large variety of colors/leaf shapes necessary for a compelling Dutch scape. And yet, I have seen little to no examples of them. Anyone have any?
Plant species, left to right:
- Limnophilla hippuroides
- Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green Gecko'
- Pogostemon sampsonii
- Ludwigia rubin 'Red Skeleton'
- Hemiantus glomeratus
- Hygrophila difformis 'variegated’
- Rotala rotundifolia 'Blood Red'
- Potamogeton gayi
- Lindernia parviflora 'variegated'
- Ludwigia palustirs 'super red'
- Didiplis diandra
- Lysimachia nummularia
- Alternanthera reineckii 'green'
- Ranuculus inundatus