The following are excerpts from an email that Benny sent me. He had a few references, most of it from Aquajournal No. 65. The last 2 paragraphs are more applicable to the strict photography standards of the ADA competition. For AQ competition, they are not required but a good clear photo will make the judge's jobs easier.

However, the photography is only a very minor part of a good picture. Not taking into account aquascape (cos it subjective). Here is a list of things that can improve an aquarium photograph.

The tank needs to be trimmed 2 weeks before the shoot for plants to settle in.

The inner front glass panel needs to thoroughly cleaned and scrapped 2 to 3 days before the shoot. This should give enough time for the debris to settle.

The water needs to be polished (diatom filter?) so that the floating particle won't show up as white specks prior to shoot.

The outer front glass needs to be really thoroughly cleaned 6 to 8 hours with micro fibre cloth before the shoot so as not to disturb the livestock and the cloth don't leave fibre like cotton or tissue.

The lights must be turned off 4 hours before the shoot and turn on only just before the actual shooting. This will get the plants to open up but prevent the bubbling. If you notice all the ADA tank photos, there must be no bubbling. CO2 should be disconnected for the shoot too.

If you are really serious about the aesthetics, then filter inlet and outlets have to be removed 1 hour prior to shoot.

In addition, you will need space behind the tank to add depth with spare light (can't explain, but can show you photo), left and right side to add side lighting and the top must have enough space for your main light so that you will not be restrict by lack of height which will cause overexposure. This means bottom tier tank will usually be a severe challenge.

Finally, patience is a necessity. You have to wait till the position of the fishes is right before you shoot. So if you start at 8 pm, sometimes you don't finish till 12 am.