It looks to me like these were all designed by the beardy guy in the sky, do you have ideas above your station maybe?

Pays to be nice to the big guy, ink. It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

I guess it is just you and me then. You are right on the money in that as inspiration you can't beat nature and often it is that money forcing us to compromise. What I was poorly alluding to is that if one had the resources the way to go would be to prevent the spoiling of areas shown in your pictures. Ownership is another story.

Have you had a chance to check out Takashi Amano's work? He's one of my "gods" if you will, when it comes to design. I have all of this books, been to one of his talks (had to travel), and so on. Yeah, I love the guy.

That said, it might seem like an expensive hobby, but it's really not that bad if you take it a little at a time.

I do this at home, and while I'm not anywhere near Amano's caliber of work, I've gotten pretty good at keeping plants alive.

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A good book that really helped me problem solve and start out was Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, by Diana Walstad. It also helped bring me down back to earth with the hobby, as it can be easy to get ahead of yourself quickly in it.

Anything by Amano will make you swoon and serves as great inspiration, but I haven't found him to be a great "how-to". He's got a line of products for this hobby that run really expensive, although they are superior in quality and all that. There's lots of cheaper alternatives to his line, but the few things I do have from gifts I've received (a glass bubble counter, a pack of Bacter) I have loved.

Oh, I forgot to mention, those examples aren't Amanos, but Dutch aquascape examples that I thought were lovely. Enjoy!

Absolutely inspiring. I think that this is the perfect creative outlet for us northern gardeners during the long winter months...

@adriennemb, yeah, you're right. I tore my aquarium down about a year ago now, but I've been itching to do it again. My last one was 150 gallons and a lot of work, but if I go smaller it might be more manageable. Maybe a nano tank? Yeah, a nano tank.

I've gotten a few design clients that I'll be working this winter, but I could use something more active and hands on.