# AGA 2011 results are out



## James Marshall (18 Nov 2011)

The results of the 2011 AGA aquascaping contest are out.
Their website is a bit sticky at the moment, what with all the trffic it's receiving.

I'm chuffed to bits as "A World Apart" received "most innovative" award  .

Cheers,
James


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## clonitza (18 Nov 2011)

Congrats mate!   
Hopefully no one is browsing the entries using Chrome, you'll end up seeing other winners. 

Mike


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## ghostsword (18 Nov 2011)

Yeah, the site is dog slow..  and congrats on your achievement.

Got good reviews on my Biotope.. , and from Karen R, so I am very happy!

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2011/show398.html


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## hinch (18 Nov 2011)

i couldn't find an actual category winners list only the entrants pages am I being blind?

grats on the comments though guys they are nice looking tanks


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## hotweldfire (18 Nov 2011)

Site's looking prettier this year. Shame it's also turned into the slowest website in the world at the same time.


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## Steve Smith (18 Nov 2011)

Congrats James!  Cracking setup


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## Morgan Freeman (18 Nov 2011)

Sooooo slow!


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## Gill (18 Nov 2011)

Will have a look once traffic has slowed down, can't see anything at the moment


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## ghostsword (18 Nov 2011)

Gill said:
			
		

> Will have a look once traffic has slowed down, can't see anything at the moment


 
The site as it is now is really slow, unusable  

Should be ok in a couple of weeks.


.


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## Aquadream (18 Nov 2011)

The site is damn slow indeed, but fast enough to see that one of the judges was a contestant as well. So what is next? Judges giving awards to each other? 
Congrats to all winners.


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## ghostsword (18 Nov 2011)

Lol, a contestant and judge ?! That is funny.


.


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## Eboeagles (18 Nov 2011)

It is SUPER slow... I guess it adds to the excitement of the scapes being reveled though!

Its amazing to see people from here getting great comments, and scapes we've been following and looking at with envy on UKAPS getting the plaudits they deserve.

One thing though, and it cant just be me being super critical surely? But I just can't believe how rubbish some of the scapes are! It makes me feel good about my half arsed attempts!  I've only been looking in the smaller than 28l cat. so far as I've only got nano's and as we've said the sites very slow, so its taken me half the day (between work) to get through 20 or so of the buggers, but come on...

Also where are the amazing cube scapes? I've said it before, but I'm constantly disappointed with the lack of inspirational cube scapes. It's obviously a challenging space but thats exactly why we should see more! Especially as they are fast becoming the most common starter aquarium these days. Surely?

James - please don't think  I'm including you in this slight to the worlds best aquascapers!


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## Orlando (18 Nov 2011)

I feel like im waiting in line for the page to load @@@@@@...@@@@


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## Orlando (18 Nov 2011)

I saw James Star tanks! Congrats man! By far my favorite, bad to the bone my friend.


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## clonitza (19 Nov 2011)

> You can also download a BitTorrent ZIP file version of the site for faster browsing.


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## Shadow (26 Nov 2011)

Possible cheater spotted at 120-200L category. The first place winner is the same as IAPLC rank #14, but the tank size submitted for AGA is smaller.  Tank size written on the IAPLC booklet, it is 120x55x50cm tank which is 300L or 87.177 US gallons. AGA entry details and it was written 100x45x40cm which is 180L or 47.551 US gallons.

I have reported this issue to AGA but they dont seem to be eager to disqualify it. So instead I post the matter to forums to let make others know   . It is not an AGA fault, how could they? No one will notice if that tank was not submitted to IAPLC.

He reduce the tank size so that he can compete on smaller category (maybe he want to be in different category as Cliff Hui) or to have better depth. Imagine 300L tank submited as 180L, reported almost half. The holy-grail of aquascaping is to make small tank look big. What the easy way to do that? Declare big tank as small tank   . Imagine what would hapeen if I declare my 90x45x45cm tank as 30x15x15cm tank? Every one will amaze on the depth that  created on that tiny little tank.   

There are other innocent possibilities that AGA official mention such as:
- IAPLC booklet wrongly print the tank size, which can be easily verify with ADA. 
- AGA official also mention that maybe the submitted only guess the tank size when he submit it to IAPLC. Seriously, you must be kidding, 300L and 180L is big different. We are talking about aquascaper expert, no way to make such mistake
- Last comment from AGA official is the category only form last minutes due to the number of participants, thus the submitter would not have know which category he will be in. Sure the submitter did not know the category but based on previous years competition, there always been 70L-200L and 200L-400L. In fact it has been like that since 2002. In other word, regardless the submitter know or not, by reducing the size he sure will be at different category. Shame on you AGA, it is your own competition how could you did not know your own past year category.


The same tank on IAPLC 2011 booklet:





Detail of the same tank on AGA 2011 web site:


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## Aquadream (26 Nov 2011)

So many nice scapes.


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## George Farmer (28 Nov 2011)

Yet again the overall standard gets higher.

Lots of vertical wood 'scapes; evidence of how influential previous IAPLC winners are on aquascaping trends.  Great to see more accurate and well-aquascaped biotope entries.

Congratulations to James Starr-Marshall for his award.  I consider James as one of the finest nano 'scapers in the world.


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## Morgan Freeman (28 Nov 2011)

> Note that Luis Carlos (Luca) Galarraga was one of our five judges this year, but also entered (and placed) in this category. To avoid any conflict of interest, Luca did not judge this category, and (as it is with every entry) his aquascape was kept anonymous to the other judges.


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