The International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest Results 2015

[convict360]

Hi guys, for anyone that missed it or isn't familiar with it, the results of the aquascaping championships can be found on this page, with a grainy pic of the grand prize win below. The link below shows all 27 entries, my favourite is number 5; what are your thoughts?

http://www.adana.co.jp/jp/contents/iaplc/2015/index.html

 

[Fat Homer]

Its always been impossible for me to choose just one, or even 3 of my favorites from the ADA competitions... each design is unique, and comes with its own style of beauty... I mean sure there are some i don't like as much as the others, but each and every one of these tanks imo truly is a master piece...

My friends and i always used to joke that if we had a LFS, then MAYBE we could create something nearly as stunning, but otherwise, its hard to find all the right pieces of wood to create some of these unique forest scapes...

 

[convict360]

Its always been impossible for me to choose just one, or even 3 of my favorites from the ADA competitions... each design is unique, and comes with its own style of beauty... I mean sure there are some i don't like as much as the others, but each and every one of these tanks imo truly is a master piece...

My friends and i always used to joke that if we had a LFS, then MAYBE we could create something nearly as stunning, but otherwise, its hard to find all the right pieces of wood to create some of these unique forest scapes...

That's very true, all are superb; taking possibly years to perfect. Surprised stuff like this isn't more popular to be fair.

 

[Fat Homer]

^ i think a lot of people get put off thinking its extremely hard to create a nice aquascape...

And while i'm not saying its in anyway easy to pull off a tank like those examples (since they are masterpieces of their class), its not impossible to make a decent looking scape, just takes paitence, practice and looking around for ideas and asking questions...

I know i learnt a lot from the LFS' i used to frequent a lot and thats where i got bit hard by the aquascaping bug...

 

[convict360]

^ i think a lot of people get put off thinking its extremely hard to create a nice aquascape...

And while i'm not saying its in anyway easy to pull off a tank like those examples (since they are masterpieces of their class), its not impossible to make a decent looking scape, just takes paitence, practice and looking around for ideas and asking questions...

I know i learnt a lot from the LFS' i used to frequent a lot and thats where i got bit hard by the aquascaping bug...

yeah, I'm a total noob at aquascaping; but i think you can still impress people with even simple plants like anubias and java fern; as long as care and thought has gone into what you're trying to achieve. Even now I'm only just breaking into other plants that are slightly harder to look after, but I am light years away from stuff like CO2, dedicated lighting etc; I think the next logical step for me is to attempt some biotopes and familiarise with the plants endemic to those set-ups, then progress from there.

The 3D look some of the aquascapes create is breathtaking, just shows what an art it really is

 

[Fat Homer]

^ never underestimate youself, since you'd be surprised how quickly you can advance just by asking the right questions at the LFS and here...

I mean it was probably 2 maybe 3 years ago i first seriously got into planted tanks, and i think it took all of about 6months for me to end up using Co2, and maybe another few months till i setup my dedicated CRS planted tank...

Naturally i still got a lot to learn as well, but thats part of the fun with planted tanks is learning as you go till you surprise even yourself with a nice scape... Honestly nothing more satisfying then spending hours if not days setting up a tank, then relaxing infront of it admiring your own work...

 

[convict360]

^ never underestimate youself, since you'd be surprised how quickly you can advance just by asking the right questions at the LFS and here...

I mean it was probably 2 maybe 3 years ago i first seriously got into planted tanks, and i think it took all of about 6months for me to end up using Co2, and maybe another few months till i setup my dedicated CRS planted tank...

Naturally i still got a lot to learn as well, but thats part of the fun with planted tanks is learning as you go till you surprise even yourself with a nice scape... Honestly nothing more satisfying then spending hours if not days setting up a tank, then relaxing infront of it admiring your own work...

I definitely think now that I tend to go with the view that fish complement plants, not the other way around. I don't really have a lot of tanks to spare in terms of experimenting with different varieties at the moment, or the cash haha

 

[Fat Homer]

To be honest, im 60G was the tank i used to learn with, and till this day is my one tank for experimenting with...

My shrimp tank on the otherhand may have its scape changed once a year if that...

 

[Manu8__too]

yeah, I'm a total noob at aquascaping; but i think you can still impress people with even simple plants like anubias and java fern; as long as care and thought has gone into what you're trying to achieve. Even now I'm only just breaking into other plants that are slightly harder to look after, but I am light years away from stuff like CO2, dedicated lighting etc; I think the next logical step for me is to attempt some biotopes and familiarise with the plants endemic to those set-ups, then progress from there.

The 3D look some of the aquascapes create is breathtaking, just shows what an art it really is

You'd be surprised how easy it is to make the leap to "high tech" (lights, Co2, ferts, etc). Once you figure out how to balance these things, it really does become a rewarding hobby. Everything you need to know is online in different forums. This is how all of us in the hobby continue to learn/grow.

 

[convict360]

You'd be surprised how easy it is to make the leap to "high tech" (lights, Co2, ferts, etc). Once you figure out how to balance these things, it really does become a rewarding hobby. Everything you need to know is online in different forums. This is how all of us in the hobby continue to learn/grow.

I'd be very interested in reading threads from you guys, if you ever had a notion to sharing the simple stuff, beyond and how the like; I'd of course do a good bit of research too