*Takes a Deep Breath*

[aquaticmaniac]

Hello,

I feel so unworthy of membership here Most, if not all, of the aquariums are simply stunning here. Beautiful works Anyhoo, I've been stalking this forum for about a week looking at the Showcase, articles, and magazine.

I've decided to join, reluctantly, that being because I am nowhere nearly as advanced as most of the aquascapers seem to be. I admire quite a few of your 'scapes here. Unfortunately, I don't have any tanks to 'scape at the moment, and only old photos of my tanks that were, shall we say, that impressive.

I've kept freshwater, brackish, and saltwater tanks over a period of 7 or so years. I love, love, love planted aquaria, and hope to learn from this group of masters Hopefully when I do get a chance to set up another tank (I'm away from mine right now), I'll be able to do it with style

Greetings from London!

-Leah

[John N.]

Hi Leah,

There sure are a lot of great aquascapers here. You might surprise yourself if you put your heart into it. There are some aquascapers who had great "world class" aquascapes with only a year of planted aquarium keeping under their belt. With 7 years of aquaria experience for yourself, you're already ahead of the game.

Seriously, I'm sure your aquascaping is not as bad as you imagine it. If it is there are plenty of folks here willing to help get it up to a "world class" level.

-John N.

[aquaticmaniac]

Thank you, John, for the welcome! You're probably right; I haven't applied myself that much to aquascaping. I'm sure I can soak up plenty of inspiration here before I go all out

Well, here's a biotope I did some time ago...

Nothing special at all. It was for my shrimp, really, and to feed my biotope obsession.

One I put at least a bit of planning into, with some plants I collected.


Lake Tanganyika biotope.




One I never finished

But yes, I appreciate advice, and spend quite a bit of time researching this hobby, so maybe I'll get the hang of it

[John N.]

Not to shabby Leah! The second planted aquarium and your Lake Tanganyika biotope both pops out to me as the best of of the group. They have an overall good layout/shape to them. They just could have used some trimming and a little more organization, but still good.

You're not as far off from knowing how to aquascape as you thought! When you get a chance to setup your new tank, I'm sure it's going to be good.

-John N.

[aquaticmaniac]

Thank you

[Jdinh04]

Aquaticmaniac,

Welcome to the forums! I'd have to say that we all start somewhere, all it takes is patience and practice and someday you'll be a great aquascaper.

The biotope looks sweet, I am actually thinking about setting up one since I haven't ever tried it before.

Glad you decide to register, feel free to continue browsing around and post any questions you may have

[aquaticmaniac]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Jdinh04. I think I've managed to look through every journal and showcase here already

[StanChung]

Hi Leah,
Don't hold that breath! Let it out and go for it! As long as you have the passion you'd certainly surprise yourself.
People here are not afraid to share and learn together. Over the net it's unfortunate that it's harder to share as words do not interpret easily into results. There's lots of tidbits that sometimes slips between the cracks.

[aquaticmaniac]

Thank you, Stan!

[KristinM85]

Hey Leah! Glad to see ya over here at ASW. There are tons of inspirational tanks here to drool over.

[aquaticmaniac]

Hey, Kristin! Haha, there sure are. Thanks for the welcome