Pictures of IAPLC 2008 AQ entries!

[williamng]

If Vietnamese can have access to big and nice stones and win ADA competition as you mention, then we here in Singapore should look at what is unique over on our side and make full use of it to our advantage. Ready to make "Singapore Tanks" anyone?

Dont know how to do Singapore style tank. I went for ICT in Sungei Gedong in Feb 2008. Outfield for 4 days, didn't see any unique landscape..haha!

[rek]

but this year where is the photo of the fisrt positions???

[Shadow]

wit for few more weeks should be available soon. If you can't wait you can buy Aqua Journal vol. 155. It is available

[shrimp999]

Mine @ #250

[aquaSynthesis]

Mine @ #250

Sir...is that HC? its AWESOME!!!!

mind selling me some spare HCs? hehehehe

[fireblade]

long time never see updates of this tank already...
still so so nice.. :>

[ukplanter]

shrimp 999, I love your rock arrangement. I find it amazing that such a scape can only rank #250. Does simple Iwagumi not score so high in ADA?

Im guessing the critical eyes of ADA might say the fish are a bit big and the HC is not quite complete coverage. layout is fantastic wish I could cerate such a scape. I will look at my current hardscape again after seeing this.

Congrats

[StanChung]

I think lost marks on photography? I have no idea why it's #250. I can hazard a few guesses...

Purely my opinion and as best I can figure as an amateur judge.

1. impression. - the uneven background lighting is distracting.
2. Golden section is a little off. right side feels a little heavy. The right corner rock is too big.
3. the main rock is not a detailed as left one.
4. should have taken picture from a slightly higher angle to show off the lawn a bit more. An inch or two higher perhaps.
5. Looks like some BBA tufts on the right rock? This is minor though.
6. Looks a little hard. Some hair grass at the back would help soften it but this is subjective as scaper probably intended for a mono plant scape.

Other than that I think it's a nicely put together mono species iwagumi scape.

[jacian]

My 2 cents worth.

1. The sucker can be seen on the left glass, could have removed it.
2. The curve created in the front seems distracting to me.
3. If not wrong, there is a SAE in the group of tetras, will be good if can remove that.

Having said that, can you share how you manage the HC lawn, I have no luck in growing HC.

[ukplanter]

WOW shrimp999, I didnt mean to start people ripping your scape apart mate

However the comments are very constructive, they certainly help to point out to me the reasoning behind the ranking.

This is why I am not as a good at aquascaping as the other guys, they see so much that I dont.

[Shadow]

well this is actually great, can comment my scape as well please

[StanChung]

Robert, this is but a sample of the competition type of comments. It is somewhat direct and not meant to be malicious or anything.

Sorry, shrimp999, even the best tanks has room for improvement IMO.

[Shadow]

that exactly kind of comment that you need if you want to improve your scaping. right?

[jacian]

This is mine, rank 420.

I quite like this tank, it looks easy to maintain, you sure know what you want. Since you asked for comments, here are mine.

1. The 2 very visible wood are poking out at the 2 corner, making the setup bit too symmetrical.
2. The top is flat and monotone.
3. The fish seems too small for the setup, hardly visible.
4. I like the base where we can see some wood/moss protruding out which created some depth. Can have more of such.
5. The hairgrass at the 2 corners seems a bit out of place to me, especially on the right one where looks like a standalone patch of hairgrass.

No right or wrong on the above as there are purely my opinions.

[Shadow]

thanks, your comments are really apreciated

[StanChung]

Hi Robert,

As requested, and I'm being really tough here because there nothing really major wrong about your tank, it's just something that's not going to grab my attention and go WOW! Sorry to say that, you've got the plant growing skills and you layout skills will improve and hopefully what I say here would help.

1. Impression could be better. Dynamism/boldness. This because one look and I would feel I've seen it already.[There's a past honor prize with M pteropus needle leaf island layout.]
A note about Island setups. They're very hard to make dynamic, it's a very static layout. If you look at the previous M pteropus needle leaf layout, it had very nice gnarly texture wood base with lots to see and nice wavy M pteropus needle leaf. This help greatly to create the impression of flow and break up the static look of island setups

You can have a look at some scapes island style here by Tran H here> Works of MP Tetra-Tran H
Lots to see, and perhaps could be more filled in for some. What I like most about his scapes are the multiple layers. I also get the impression that it's a flooded riverbank or a mountain. The mid ground is very strong but no background. 1 layer discounted-don't you agree?

Imagine a nice rock base layer by the side of the river and somehow these plants got caught by the river tide and started growing on it

2. I'm not going into detail about the minor items about your layout as you can already spot them yourself and most of it already mentioned by Jacian. They are important as they are the finishing touches.

3. My last mention would be to always have decently large thickets of plants. The few strands of M pteropus needle leaf makes the tank look new.

[Shadow]

Sad to say that I'm a bit lost

I know when I look at good scape, but if you asked me why do I say so, I can't explain it further. I just felt that it is good scaping and that is the problem because I can't use it to improve my own scaping without knowing what make it good in the fist place

[jacian]

What about putting 2 island setup side by side for comparision? Focus on those areas mentioned. The bottom picture is the world ranking 6 in IAPLC 2007, courtesy from ADA Thailand website.

[Shadow]

hahaha if you put it that way actually there are limited thing that I can fit into 2ft tank . I did try to put C.Helfery behind but end up ugly, leaves grow to long until it loop to the front. Stem plants also out of the question since no substrate behind (I remoce the C.Helfery as well as the substrate)

Not sure if I put the needle leave fern at the back.

[StanChung]

There's other plants to consider like E vivipara- doesn't need much space.

Although I think it's unfair to compare with a much larger tank, for 'Grandness' a larger tank is needed sometimes.

I remember looking at a painting postcard size[gift shop at museum foyer] and thinking, eh, like this also nice meh?
Then I went into museum and saw the thing life size. At least 10 feet tall and I went...WOAH! [This was MOMA-SF] Breathtaking.

This is the WOW factor. If comparing the 6th placing one, there's more colours to see and even the sedate rummy noses are well placed. Lots more to see and appreciate.

Till now, I bet if I see a real large Iwagumi setup i'll go WOW but if it's a small picture then definitely no WOW factor for me because one look and it's done. Consumed.