simon, imo it's easier said than done
eg you start with a particular concept ( south american or s.e.a ) and then stick to that particular concept then you will find that you either cannot get the right type of fish or the plants that go with your concept of that particular region
then you start to compromise by substituting plants/fish which you think will enhance you overall result
that would not really do justice to the concept you want
from my observations of the displays we have ( public or private ) i believe very few have been able to stick to the particular concept for the region that they wanted duplicate in their tanks
most aquarium set-ups that i've seen are just a fusion of different areas and a 'rojak' style
with the exception of NA the rest are just a 'gasak buta' ( hit blindly ) style hoping to please the eye but not really trying to duplicate a particular region
so far i find that it suits our taste as we have the best of both worlds
some pple say that sitcking to a particular concept is boring after a while as they want to see more variety in terms of plants/fish in their tanks
as for designs i believe that standards are quite high and quite a few of our guys have won prizes from competitions from as far away as the usa.
keep up the good work guys of course we can always set our standards higher
finally imo the end result of any design must be simple and pleasing to the eyes
the plants and fish must blend with the set-up no matter what design was choosen
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