Aquascaping 101: Perspective Part 1 - Using Color

When I started teaching aquascaping, I felt that perspective was always the first step. But many students don’t get into aquascaping because they want to calculate vanishing points. And different cultures utilize perspective in a variety of ways. So I went back to my roots in painting and illustration, and the basic art lessons I learned in college. Perspective creates the illusion of depth. To create this illusion there are three essential elements: color/light, contrast, and shape. Each element is dependent on the other and can be used to varying degrees. Even if you create a scape in 1:1 scale, using a little perspective can go a long way to enhance the end result. Here (and in my subsequent articles) I’ll focus on a more direct way to achieve perspective in your aquascapes—starting with color.


Light and color creates the bridge between every other aspect of an aquascape. The further away an object appears in a space, the more atmospheric interference changes the color of objects. Closer objects are darker, but further away, they become lighter with yellow or light blue tones. Because most aquarium lights have a uniform output, we have to carefully choose our light, hardscape, plants, and plan in tandem. 



 Before a single plant or rock is placed in your aquarium, the light should be examined. How we see color and understanding how it works in relation to aquarium lights is key to our plant and stone selection. Different lights have different balances of light waves, and this can effect how light is reflected. White light is an almost equal output of all colors of the visual spectrum or electromagnetic radiation waves. Some light will make your reds or greens pop more than others. Fun fact: Many deep sea creatures are red. “Red” electromagnetic radiation is among the weakest of waves. In the deepest oceans, many fish appear black because of the lack of ‘red’ light. These deep sea fish are basically invisible because of the lack of “red” electromagnetic radiation waves reflecting off of them. 


To become familiar with your light output, you need to test it. Pick up some paint samples from your local hardware store—select colors that match the plants and stone you plan on using. Photograph each sample in bright ambient white light, but not sunlight. Then place your sample under your aquarium light and photograph it. Crop the photos with just the color and compare the two. You may or may not see color differences depending on your light. I also use color indicator plants. These are plants that are red under any growing conditions except malnutrition. Any of the red ludwigia will do. This process gives you a guide as to what plants and stones look best under your lights. I like to fill the aquarium I plan on using with water and photograph the sample through the glass. I always use the camera I will be photographing my scape with. Each camera may have different settings for processing color as it appears on your screen.

Remember that not all lights are created equal. I have found cooler colors like green, and some reds, work well under a UNS Titan 1, and the Twinstar S series is my favorite for warmer colored plants. For those of us that are old school, ADA NAG halide bulb creates the best greens for green plants, and if you can find them, Giesemann still makes the best T5 lights for all colors. And many LED lights are programmable now. If you have a light, such as the Aquaillumination Freshwater HD, you can play with various light combinations to boost your color. But even these lights have limitations, so careful planning is important. It’s important to plan your scape with a light’s limitations and strengths in mind. If a light doesn’t have strong output or boost a particular color, that color will not reflect back to your camera or eye, and will be washed out. 

Building layers using color helps to create the illusion for depth. For a beginner, three layers is the minimum to start: foreground, midground, and background. Here is where you divide your stones and plants into three categories, dark, warm, and light. We’ll explore these further in part two when we cover contrast. 



 Color can be divided into four categories; warm and cool, and heavy and light. Cool colors are the blue end of the spectrum while the warm colors are the reds and yellows. Heavy colors are a little more  difficult to understand. Deep reds and blues are the heaviest of colors, red most of all. Heavy colors are high impact, high contrast elements. They are the first colors you see and they create the greatest impression. Greens tend to be mid-weight, and yellows are the lightest. Heavy colors are the dark and bold. A small area of high impact color can balance large areas of mid-weight colors. 

The foreground is the most important. It is the layer closest to the front glass panel. This is the staging layer and the next layers will all refer back to this layer. I’ll discuss more on staging in part three of this series (shape). In general, you want the viewer’s eye to focus on this layer and then move behind it. Here is where you have your darkest and boldest colored plants. Use your heaviest color, one that is bold and contrasting.The hardscape and plants should create deep shadows here. Your darkest colored stones go in the foreground. If you are using wood, which is almost always dark in color when waterlogged, this is where most of it should go to create perspective. Tilt the hardscape forward to create deep shadows.

If you intend to use a stone like dragon stone (ohko), plan on covering it with dark mosses. I prefer plants with more vertical growth and thick, dark leaves that create shadows. Plants with heavy color should be placed in dense pockets to balance mid-weight or neutral colored plants. For the wings of the scape, use dark ferns like bolbitis, or vertical growers like Eriocaulon vietnam or Cyperus helferi. In the center, you can use lower growers that create dark shadows like bucephalandra, some anubias, ranunculus undulates, or Marsileas (hirsuta, minuta, or creneta). Fissidens or Pilotrichaceae sp. are great foreground mosses because it is heavy and its textures create shadows. 


The mid-ground is where you want to really show off your color. Framed by the foreground, here is where you can place your warmer colored stems. Plant with your darkest plants first. Reds and purples, to oranges, and then moving on to lighter greens. Your hardscape should be lighter stone, but not the lightest.

If you are using light colored stone like dragon stone, this is where it should be the most visible. Hardscape should be as vertical as possible with wood more towards the foreground, than the background. This is your busiest area, you want to create a mix of light and shadow with layers of stone, wood, and plants.

Most likely this is directly under your light. So take advantage of the color output of your particular light now that you know what plants and stone look best under it. 



The background or “boring zone” as one of my students called it is where colors are the lightest. If deep red and blue are the heaviest colors, like a Mack truck, then the colors here should be like a feather. Use the lightest stone with little to no wood. This is where you have your low growing light colored plants. I use Hemianthus callitrichoides almost exclusively. Hardscape should be tilted back to get as much light as possible. There should be little to no shadows—create perspective by making this the brightest area. Most tutorials will tell you scapes are built on a slope, with the background being the highest point. This is height is what leads to brightly lit backgrounds. 

Now the heavy foreground should balance the light, weightlessness of the background. 

There are many ways to achieve depth with light in a competition aquascape.  With the current trends of heavy hardscape throughout an aquascape, this traditional three layer approach might not cut it. You can also use back lighting, and secondary lights to achieve a lighter background, for example. For a non-competition or beginner aquascape, having the background open to allow as much light as possible is the easiest way to achieve the illusion of depth. Especially if this is a scape that will run for more than a few months.