Nature Aquarium Basics: A Step-by-Step Guide for Setting up Your First Tank

For those who love the concept of landscaping but don't have the yard or time for it, aquascaping is the perfect hobby. Aquascaping — short for aquatic landscaping — involves creating underwater gardens in tanks with natural materials. Many people find that aquascaping is a peaceful, calming escape that encourages creativity. 

In this guide, you'll learn everything you need to know about setting up your own Nature Aquarium as a beginner.

What Is the Nature Aquarium Aquascaping Style?

Aquascaping is all about aesthetics, and there are a few different styles — Dutch, Iwagumi, Nature, Biotope and Jungle. If you find yourself drawn to aquascapes that resemble landscapes, then the Nature Aquarium Style might appeal to you.

Nature Aquarium aquascaping was created by Takashi Amano, a Japanese photographer and aquarist. Amano took photographs of nature and created pieces of living art resembling those landscapes. Amano went on to start his business — called Aqua Design Amano (ADA) — to help others create Nature Aquariums.

Nature Aquarium aquascapes are great for beginners and often look like miniature scenes from ecosystems such as river beds, coastlines, woodlands and valleys. The use of plants and hardscape — rocks, pebbles and driftwood — is essential to creating these scapes.

In an aquascape, it's vital that all organisms in the ecosystem are in balance. When setting up your first Nature Aquarium tank, it's essential to consider how you will achieve this balance with the right tools, scaping materials, filtration and, of course, fish!  

Essential Tools and Supplies for Nature Aquariums

Have the following supplies ready before embarking on your Nature Aquarium journey:

• Tank: Start with a tank between 10-20 gallons, such as a 45P or 60P rimless aquarium. Make sure you have something stable to place your tank on that can hold its full weight — like an aquarium stand.
• Substrates: The substrate is the sand, gravel, or soil that goes on the bottom of the tank. For the best results, choose substrates for plant growth like aqua soil or nutrient-rich sand.
• Hardscape: Your hardscape will include driftwood, larger rocks, and pebbles. Prepare your driftwood by boiling it in water or attaching it to rocks to keep it from floating. You have many choices of rocks for your aquascape, but make sure they're safe for aquarium use. Popular rocks include Seiryu stone and Dragon stone.
• Live plants: A Nature Aquarium is all about the live plants. You'll need low-growing or carpeting plants for the foreground, slightly larger plants for the midground and taller upright stem plants to add in the background. 
• Tools: Have aquascaping tools like pinsettes or tweezers, algae scrapers or brushes and trimming scissors on hand. Aquascaping threads are a must for attaching plants to rocks and driftwood. 
• Additives: You need a few water treatment additives for your aquarium's water, including water conditioners, medicines, nutritive supplements and fertilizers. 
• Equipment: Your tank needs a filter, heating and lighting system. You can also set up a carbon dioxide (CO2) system to accelerate plant growth. 
• Water test kits: A water testing kit to check for pH, ammonia (NH3), nitrite (NO2) and nitrate (NO3) is a vital tool for maintaining good water quality. You may also want to buy a CO2 drop checker to ensure proper dosage.

Step-by-Step Nature Aquarium Setup

Ready to begin setting up your first Nature Aquarium? Follow the steps below:

1. Prepare the Tank

Place your tank on a stable surface and check that it is level using a level gauge. You can purchase special aquarium stands, but if you use another piece of furniture, take steps to ensure it can handle the tank's weight and protect it from water damage. We also recommend putting a cushioning mat underneath the aquarium to absorb shocks and vibrations, keeping your aquarium stable.

2. Add Substrate

You can also layer your substrates, starting with aqua soil or gravel and capping with nutrient-rich sand on top. If you choose an inert sand or gravel, additives like root tabs and fertilizers are important to help your plants grow.

With the substrate added, you can flatten it out so it forms a neat, straight line or create a slope to add the illusion of depth. All the layers combined should measure about 4 centimeters tall. 

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You can also layer your substrates, starting with nutrient-rich power sand and capping with aqua soil on top. If you choose an inert sand or gravel, additives like bottom plus and fertilizers are important to help your plants grow.

With the substrate added, you can flatten it out so it forms a neat, straight line or create a slope to add the illusion of depth. All the layers combined should measure about 4 centimeters (~2 inches) or taller. 

3. Design the Layout

Following in Amano's footsteps, you can take your designs straight from nature or look at pictures of successful aquascapes for inspiration. In general, Nature Aquariums have three basic patterns:

• Concave: The concave composition is the best tank layout for beginners because it's easy to style. Place your stones and driftwood on the left and right sides of the tank, and decrease them in height toward the middle. The final design should have plenty of open space in the middle of the tank.
• Convex: The convex composition involves placing a taller piece of driftwood or stone in the middle of the tank. The tallest part should be in the middle, with a good balance of space on either side. This composition most resembles an island or mountain.
• Triangular: Another composition is triangular, where you pile the driftwood and stones in a triangle shape in your tank, leaving more open space on one side.

4. Plant Aquatic Plants

With your substrate prepared and your layout started you can begin the fun part — adding the plants. Begin by taking your plants out of the packaging and removing anything that's attached to the roots, like rock wool. Add some treated water into the tank until it just covers the substrate. Then, you can use your aquascaping tweezers to pick up the plants and insert them into the substrate.

Beginner-friendly plants include different kinds of mosses and species like Cryptocorynes, Bucephalandras and Anubias. Try out the following beginner aquascaping techniques for planting:

• Inspect and rinse your plants in treated water before putting them in your tank.
• Secure moss to driftwood and rocks with moss cotton, wood tie, or aqua-safe superglue.
• For carpeting plants, leave gaps between each plant to allow them room to spread.
• Research how to plant the different species in your tank — for example, Cryptocorynes go directly into the substrate, but you should attach Bucephalandras and Anubias to rocks or driftwood.
• Place pink and red plants near the focal area of your tank to draw the eye.
• Add trimming to your regular maintenance schedule to keep taller plants from blocking the light and clear away dead leaves.

Since most aquarium plants are grown out of water, they may need some time to adjust to being submerged under water. Leaves may change appearance or die off — melt — at first, but this is normal and new growth should appear soon after.

5. Pour in Treated Water

Your beautiful aquascape should now be complete! Time to add the water. If you're using tap water, you'll need to dechlorinate it first with a water conditioner. Chlorine can harm the plants, fish and bacteria you added. When your water is ready, gently pour it onto your hand over the aquarium. Take your time, as you don't want the water to dislodge your plants or substrate. 

If the water becomes cloudy, wait until the filter clears it up or do a small water change. You should also test the water's pH with a water testing kit, as water acidity can affect plants.

6. Install Equipment

Your aquarium needs light, heat and clean water to grow and thrive. Learn more about this essential equipment:

• Lighting system: Lighting allows aquatic plants to photosynthesize, which is vital to maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Aquarium lights mimic the quality and amount of lighting found in nature with a red, green, blue (RGB) spectrum. It's important to find the right amount and timing for your tank, as different plants need different amounts of light, and too much light can increase algae growth.
• Filter system: You can choose a canister or hang-on-back (HOB) for your aquarium. The best way to keep your tank clean is to use three types of filtration media — mechanical, chemical and biological. The filter holds most of the beneficial bacteria that break down waste, so it's an essential part of the ecosystem.
• Heater: While a heater is not essential for all tanks, most plants and fish require higher temperatures than what water will be at room temperature. A high-quality heater is essential, as cheaper options can break down or, in worse-case scenarios, shock your fish.
• CO2 system: If you install a CO2 system, include a bubble counter to control the CO2 supply rate. You should also turn off the system when the light is off to ensure fish have enough oxygen. An electronic solenoid can do this for you automatically, and you can use CO2 drop checkers to monitor the water's CO2 levels.

7. Start the Cycling Process

Fish produce waste, which introduces toxic ammonia, nitrite and nitrate into your water. These compounds can be harmful to fish and plants, but cycling your aquarium introduces bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate. 

There are a few different ways to start your cycle. For beginners, it's often recommended to do a fishless cycle, meaning you establish stable tank parameters before adding fish. This allows beneficial bacteria and plants to become well-established. The fishless cycling process may take a few weeks, but it's often less stressful for fish and fishkeepers. Follow these steps:

• Step 1: Add your water conditioner and then add an ammonia source, either from an additive or by sprinkling a small amount of fish food in the tank. 
• Step 2: After adding an ammonia source, add beneficial bacteria cultures to the tank. You can also introduce used filter media from an established tank to accelerate this process, but only follow this route if you trust the source has no issues with diseases or pests.
• Step 3: Test the water. If using fish food, you may need to wait a while before testing. Your test should register ammonia levels in the water.
• Step 4: Wait. Leave the tank alone for around 24 hours.
• Step 5: Test the water again. You should see lower ammonia levels, but the test should also register nitrite. That means the bacteria is breaking down the ammonia and converting it to nitrite. At this point, you can add another half a dose of ammonia and let the tank cycle. 

For the following weeks, test the water every day or every other day. You should see lower ammonia and nitrite levels and start to see higher nitrate levels. Keep dosing ammonia — in additive or food form — when the levels get low to keep the cycle going and avoid starving the bacteria. The goal is to have a tank cycle that can process the added ammonia to nitrate in at least 24 hours. To remove the nitrate, you should perform regular water changes. The ideal nitrate level for most fish is below 20 parts per million (ppm).

The cycling process will also aid in plant growth, and your plants can help break down the ammonia and nitrite in the water. You may also see algae growth, which is a good sign at this point, as it means your tank is processing waste. You can manually remove the algae with your hands or aquascaping cleaning tools.

8. Add Fish

If you want to add fish to your Nature Aquarium, carefully consider the size of your tank. Smaller nano fish do well in small tanks, but larger fish and schooling fish will require more water. Careful stocking ensures your tank can handle the amount of waste the fish produce.

Research the preferred water conditions and grouping of the fish you choose to ensure you have the right environment for them to thrive. Here are some good beginner stocking ideas:

• Ember, Cardinal or Neon Tetras
• Celestial Pearl Danios
• White Cloud Moutain Minnows
• Guppies 
• Mollies
• Otocinclus
• Corydoras
• Betas

Snails and shrimp are great additions to control the algae in your tank and create a harmonious ecosystem. 

When introducing new fish, make sure your water parameters are good. Keep the fish inside the plastic bag and leave it floating in the water for 30 minutes to acclimate to the temperature. Then, in the bag itself or a bucket, slowly introduce a little aquarium water every 10 minutes or so for an hour. 

To transfer the fish to the tank, you will want to avoid pouring their old water into your tank. It's often safest to empty the bag into a bucket, net the fish and then move them to your tank. Keep a close eye out for common issues like ich or parasites.

Feed fish daily with high-quality fish food made for their species, and only feed as much as they'll eat in 10 or 30 seconds. Overfeeding can cause ammonia spikes and algae growth.

9. Maintain Your Aquarium

Your first Nature Aquarium is now complete. From here on out, you'll need to perform frequent maintenance to keep the plants and fish healthy and your aquarium looking aesthetically pleasing:

• Change a quarter to a third of the water every week.
• Suction out the sludge from the bottom of the tank.
• Scrape off and remove algae.
• Trim plants frequently.
• Monitor fish health and test water quality.
• Add supplements and fertilizers when needed.
• Maintain the aquarium filtration system by cleaning the filter when needed.

Buy Official Nature Aquarium Supplies From AFA

AFA is the official distributor of ADA products from Japan in the U.S. We stock the most authentic, premium Nature Aquarium tools and supplies to help you create stunning aquascapes in Takashi Amano's specific style. We have everything you need, from tanks and plants to substrates and fish. Plus, we offer free shipping on most of our products when you spend more than $50.

Get started with Nature Aquarium and aquascaping by browsing our tutorials and placing an order online today! If you have any questions, please reach out to our team — we've trained with Takashi Amano himself.