Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
I helped Takashi Amano build the world's largest Nature Aquarium in 2015. After 11 years, it will be dismantled at the end of June 2026.
For 11 years, millions of visitors have stood in front of this aquarium in awe. At the end of June 2026, that chapter comes to an end.
In 2015, I had the incredible privilege of being part of the international volunteer team that helped Takashi Amano bring his final masterpiece to life at the Oceanário de Lisboa in Portugal. Together, we worked long days to create what would become the world's largest Nature Aquarium: Forests Underwater (Florestas Submersas).
This aquarium was never just a giant planted tank. It was Takashi Amano's vision of nature, ecology, art, and aquascaping brought together on a scale the hobby had never seen before. For many visitors, it was their first encounter with the beauty of underwater ecosystems. For me, it became one of the most important experiences of my life.
Now, more than a decade later, this extraordinary exhibit is approaching its final days. At the end of June 2026, Forests Underwater will be dismantled, bringing one of the most iconic aquascaping projects ever created to its natural conclusion.
In this video, I reflect on my experiences during the construction phase in 2015, share behind-the-scenes stories from working alongside Takashi Amano and volunteers from across Europe, and say goodbye to an aquarium that inspired an entire generation of aquascapers.
If you have never visited Forests Underwater, this is your final chance.
📍 Oceanário de Lisboa, Portugal
📅 Exhibition closing: June 2026
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌿 FORESTS UNDERWATER – TECHNICAL DATA
• Length: 40 m (131 ft)
• Depth (front to back): 2.5 m (8.2 ft)
• Water depth: 1.5 m (4.9 ft)
• Total water volume: 160,000 litres (160 tonnes)
• Opened: April 22, 2015
• Designed by: Takashi Amano
• Location: Oceanário de Lisboa, Portugal
• Layout construction: January 27 – February 2, 2015
• Planned duration: 2 years
• Actual duration: 11 years (2015–2026)
At opening, the aquarium contained:
• 8,550 litres of ADA Amazonia substrate
• 20 tonnes of volcanic stone
• 78 giant driftwood pieces
• 46 aquatic plant species
• More than 10,000 tropical fish
• Approximately 40 fish species
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Read my original project diary from 2015:
lernscapen.de/forests-underwater-das-groesste-naturaquarium-der-welt
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Special thanks to Takashi Amano, Aqua Design Amano (ADA), Oceanário de Lisboa, and all volunteers who helped create this once-in-a-lifetime project.
A heartfelt thank you to Hugo Batista and the entire team at Oceanário de Lisboa for their hospitality, support, and for granting me behind-the-scenes access while producing this documentary.
And most importantly, a very special thank you to Maria João Silva.
For more than a decade, Maria has been one of the people responsible for preserving and maintaining Takashi Amano's vision. Thank you for taking the time to show me around, answering my many questions, sharing your stories and experiences, and for the passion, care, and dedication you have invested in this aquarium since its very beginning.
Having the opportunity to learn from someone who has been part of this journey from day one was a privilege, and your contribution to the success and longevity of Forests Underwater cannot be overstated.
Thank you for helping keep this masterpiece alive for millions of visitors over the last eleven years.
The aquarium may soon disappear, but its impact on the aquascaping world will remain for generations to come.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
#Aquascaping #TakashiAmano #NatureAquarium #OceanarioDeLisboa #ForestsUnderwater #PlantedTank #ADA #Aquarium #AquaticPlants #Lisbon #FlorestasSubmersas
I helped Takashi Amano build the world's largest Nature Aquarium in 2015. After 11 years, it will be dismantled at the end of June 2026.
For 11 years, millions of visitors have stood in front of this aquarium in awe. At the end of June 2026, that chapter comes to an end.
In 2015, I had the incredible privilege of being part of the international volunteer team that helped Takashi Amano bring his final masterpiece to life at the Oceanário de Lisboa in Portugal. Together, we worked long days to create what would become the world's largest Nature Aquarium: Forests Underwater (Florestas Submersas).
This aquarium was never just a giant planted tank. It was Takashi Amano's vision of nature, ecology, art, and aquascaping brought together on a scale the hobby had never seen before. For many visitors, it was their first encounter with the beauty of underwater ecosystems. For me, it became one of the most important experiences of my life.
Now, more than a decade later, this extraordinary exhibit is approaching its final days. At the end of June 2026, Forests Underwater will be dismantled, bringing one of the most iconic aquascaping projects ever created to its natural conclusion.
In this video, I reflect on my experiences during the construction phase in 2015, share behind-the-scenes stories from working alongside Takashi Amano and volunteers from across Europe, and say goodbye to an aquarium that inspired an entire generation of aquascapers.
If you have never visited Forests Underwater, this is your final chance.
📍 Oceanário de Lisboa, Portugal
📅 Exhibition closing: June 2026
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌿 FORESTS UNDERWATER – TECHNICAL DATA
• Length: 40 m (131 ft)
• Depth (front to back): 2.5 m (8.2 ft)
• Water depth: 1.5 m (4.9 ft)
• Total water volume: 160,000 litres (160 tonnes)
• Opened: April 22, 2015
• Designed by: Takashi Amano
• Location: Oceanário de Lisboa, Portugal
• Layout construction: January 27 – February 2, 2015
• Planned duration: 2 years
• Actual duration: 11 years (2015–2026)
At opening, the aquarium contained:
• 8,550 litres of ADA Amazonia substrate
• 20 tonnes of volcanic stone
• 78 giant driftwood pieces
• 46 aquatic plant species
• More than 10,000 tropical fish
• Approximately 40 fish species
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Read my original project diary from 2015:
lernscapen.de/forests-underwater-das-groesste-naturaquarium-der-welt
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Special thanks to Takashi Amano, Aqua Design Amano (ADA), Oceanário de Lisboa, and all volunteers who helped create this once-in-a-lifetime project.
A heartfelt thank you to Hugo Batista and the entire team at Oceanário de Lisboa for their hospitality, support, and for granting me behind-the-scenes access while producing this documentary.
And most importantly, a very special thank you to Maria João Silva.
For more than a decade, Maria has been one of the people responsible for preserving and maintaining Takashi Amano's vision. Thank you for taking the time to show me around, answering my many questions, sharing your stories and experiences, and for the passion, care, and dedication you have invested in this aquarium since its very beginning.
Having the opportunity to learn from someone who has been part of this journey from day one was a privilege, and your contribution to the success and longevity of Forests Underwater cannot be overstated.
Thank you for helping keep this masterpiece alive for millions of visitors over the last eleven years.
The aquarium may soon disappear, but its impact on the aquascaping world will remain for generations to come.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
#Aquascaping #TakashiAmano #NatureAquarium #OceanarioDeLisboa #ForestsUnderwater #PlantedTank #ADA #Aquarium #AquaticPlants #Lisbon #FlorestasSubmersas
