# IAPLC 2016



## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

Hi everyone, Please post your results.

I was 922 which I was very happy with. I saw some of you were in the top 100 or so .... Time to show off ya scapes....


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## Nelson (10 Aug 2016)

You forgot to show us yours.


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

Nelson said:


> You forgot to show us yours.


Rectified.

komoda 30 cube-3916 by Reb El, on Flickr


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## Manisha (10 Aug 2016)

rebel said:


> Hi everyone, Please post your results.
> 
> I was 922 which I was very happy with. I saw some of you were in the top 100 or so .... Time to show off ya scapes....



Congratulations


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## Alexander Belchenko (10 Aug 2016)

Congrats, Rebel!

_Last 3 days I'm wading through facebook and saw many many beautiful works. It seems I'm overintoxicated by them in good sense 
_
My work if you haven't seen it yet

IAPLC 2016 - 1033 place by Alexander, on Flickr


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

Alexander, I saw and loved your tank here. CONGRATS!

 It's good to have a running list of all the ukaps members entries in none place though.


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## zozo (10 Aug 2016)

I was number 1, then i woke up, bading in sweat..


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

Ok I am a goose. I didn't submit the above; I submitted this one. Sorry for the mistake!!

untitled-4660 by Reb El, on Flickr


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## Ryan Thang To (10 Aug 2016)

rebel said:


> Rectified.
> 
> komoda 30 cube-3916 by Reb El, on Flickr


congratulations. im not brave enough yet to enter

cheers
ryan


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## Tim Harrison (10 Aug 2016)

Congratulations, both nice scapes. And well done for entering in the first place


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## Ryan Thang To (10 Aug 2016)

rebel said:


> Ok I am a goose. I didn't submit the above; I submitted this one. Sorry for the mistake!!
> 
> untitled-4660 by Reb El, on Flickr


congratulations again lol


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## Ryan Thang To (10 Aug 2016)

zozo said:


> I was number 1, then i woke up, bading in sweat..


 hahahahaH


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

zozo said:


> I was number 1, then i woke up, bading in sweat..


 I was actually surprised they placed me at all. So many imperfections in this tank. LOL.


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

Ryan Thang To said:


> congratulations. im not brave enough yet to enter
> 
> cheers
> ryan


The whole point of my post is to encourage beginners to enter!


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## Alexander Belchenko (10 Aug 2016)

Actually - the only hard part of entering competition like IAPLC - you have to fill in the form with lot of details about your tank, plants and livestock. Everything else is easy:

Make a new layout once per year - not hard, doesn't it? - check
Grow your plants - this is what we're all about, right? - check
Put some fish or shrimps in there? - yep
Take some pictures - anyway we want to share our belowed tanks with the whole internet, facebook, forums - you need some picture anyway. Well, you need something better than smartphone to point and click, but this is when your friends with proper camera will help! - check - and get some beer after - double check!
Fill in the form, check it 10 times, and be brave to click "Send"
Spend next 3 months waiting for letter from Japan.
Done!


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Actually - the only hard part of entering competition like IAPLC - you have to fill in the form with lot of details about your tank, plants and livestock. Everything else is easy:
> 
> Make a new layout once per year - not hard, doesn't it? - check
> Grow your plants - this is what we're all about, right? - check
> ...


completely agree. As you can see, I didn't even remove my filter intake etc for the photo. Careless and lazy.


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## Ryan Thang To (10 Aug 2016)

rebel said:


> The whole point of my post is to encourage beginners to enter!


 sound like a plan i might do next year see how its goes cheers


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## zozo (10 Aug 2016)

I looked up the requirements and it also says only scapes with no obvious vissible algae..   Is that on the plants only or total scape.. In my case i have in both of mine a little on the hardware and i kinda like it, it gives a sence of age to the tank and the shrimps love it. Does an entry realy needs to be spot on clean all over?? Do they have algaefobia??


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

zozo said:


> I looked up the requirements and it also says only scapes with no obvious vissible algae..   Is that on the plants only or total scape.. In my case i have in both of mine a little on the hardware and i kinda like it, it gives a sence of age to the tank and the shrimps love it. Does an entry realy needs to be spot on clean all over?? Do they have algaefobia??


Hmm.. I did clean my glass just before the picture. Otherwise I get green dust and if I forget my phosphate, GSA. You can see some algae in this picture. I guess they mean they don't want tanks with prominent algae. Not sure what they mean exactly TBH.


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## Stanislav (10 Aug 2016)

This is mine 1224 place. First time at IAPLC


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

Ryan Thang To said:


> sound like a plan i might do next year see how its goes cheers


Do AGA this year. I think you can still submit?

http://enter.aquatic-gardeners.org/?&op=register


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## Tim Harrison (10 Aug 2016)

The AGA is probably a better bet for smaller tanks, given the criteria, I think you'd do well Ryan


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## Ryan Thang To (10 Aug 2016)

rebel said:


> Do AGA this year. I think you can still submit?
> 
> http://enter.aquatic-gardeners.org/?&op=register


can i use one i published already

Sent from my SM-N915FY using Tapatalk


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## Tim Harrison (10 Aug 2016)

As far as I can tell it doesn't say you can't http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/guidelines.html#photos


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## Alexander Belchenko (10 Aug 2016)

@Ryan Thang To you can also can jump in to EAPLC.


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

EAPLC eh....oh it's only for Europe. Wonder why? We feel left out.


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## zozo (10 Aug 2016)

rebel said:


> Hmm.. I did clean my glass just before the picture. Otherwise I get green dust and if I forget my phosphate, GSA. You can see some algae in this picture. I guess they mean they don't want tanks with prominent algae. Not sure what they mean exactly TBH.



I looked, is see some spots of wich i can't say if it's a coloring of the rock or algae.. You know where to look of course, it's your scape.. But it looks pretty clean to me.
I was just wondering how they interpret that rule of engagement.. Would be fun to present a scape with clado balls and Chara and kissing gouramis..


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

zozo said:


> I looked, is see some spots of wich i can't say if it's a coloring of the rock or algae.. You know where to look of course, it's your scape.. But it looks pretty clean to me.
> I was just wondering how they interpret that rule of engagement.. Would be fun to present a scape with clado balls and Chara and kissing gouramis..


I dare you.


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## Ryan Thang To (10 Aug 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> @Ryan Thang To you can also can jump in to EAPLC.


cool thanks

Sent from my SM-N915FY using Tapatalk


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## salava8 (10 Aug 2016)

Our works 
*
Rank 864 | Bank of the river*
60 x 35 x 35 | 74 L
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/number-13-60x35x35-74l.42229/





*Rank 1228 | Greenfield*
60 x 35 x 35 | 74 L





*Rank 1570 | Green hills*
60 x 30 x 30 | 54 L





It was our second participation


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## rebel (10 Aug 2016)

salava8 said:


> Our works
> *
> Rank 864 | Bank of the river*
> 60 x 35 x 35 | 74 L
> ...


#2 in particular is a clever composition and plant choice! Very nice indeed. Who says you need any hardscape at all!!!


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## Alexander Belchenko (10 Aug 2016)

@salava8 Congratz!


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## zozo (11 Aug 2016)

salava8 said:


> Our works
> *
> Rank 864 | Bank of the river*
> 60 x 35 x 35 | 74 L
> ...



All 3 very beautiful tanks.. But see the fish hanging so close to the substrate in all 3? That's a stress reaction and that's a criterium they judge on. If you manage a more natural behaivor in them with scapes like this, maybe other more bold and less stress susceptible spieces. Behaiving like they should foraging the scape instead off hugging the substrate.. I'm sure you would have ranked higher with these scapes.


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## salava8 (11 Aug 2016)

@rebel. Nice green is everything. Really relaxing 

@Alexander Belchenko. Thanks. I really like your photo too. Very good quality.  How have you done your photo? What equipment do you use?



> All 3 very beautiful tanks.. But see the fish hanging so close to the substrate in all 3? That's a stress reaction and that's a criterium they judge on. If you manage a more natural behaivor in them with scapes like this, maybe other more bold and less stress susceptible spieces. Behaiving like they should foraging the scape instead off hugging the substrate.. I'm sure you would have ranked higher with these scapes.



Thank you for suggestions. I didn't notice this before.


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## zozo (11 Aug 2016)

salava8 said:


> Thank you for suggestions. I didn't notice this before.



 Well i'm far from a judge when it comes to scaping.. But it's No 1 creteria with the highest point value..


> ① Recreation of natural habitat for fish (Maximum 50 points)
> 
> ・Evaluation of layout work as healthy fish habitat
> ・Expression of underwater environment in layout work
> ...



If i was to judge that, knowing that Neon tetra is not a substrate hugger and if it does that it's not comfortable with it's surroundings and stressed. I would notice.. I guess someone appointed with the job to seriously  judge this criterium will (should) also know (fish sp. behaivor) and will notice and rank accordingly.

But it's just an educated guess, that this little detail can cost you serious points.. If i was appointed to judge that with my almost 20 years of experience in keeping and observing all kinds of aquarium fish behaivor, it would cost you. (Sorry  ) The cause could be inside or outside the tank, either way something is off and can't give you the benifit of the doubt with a picture only. Next.. What else can you do with judging over 2300 entries, then you have to be a nitpicker..


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## Alexander Belchenko (11 Aug 2016)

salava8 said:


> @Alexander Belchenko. Thanks. I really like your photo too. Very good quality.  How have you done your photo? What equipment do you use?



Well, for _really serious_ shots I'm hiring special photographer (who charges me quite low for unknown reason), we're working during last year, he has some good equipment, I have some equipment, I know what should we do to get the proper shot, he knows how to work with Lightroom and Photoshop, which I don't really have a practice. Overall I'm happy to work with someone while taking the photos: it's really hard to manage everything right by myself.

One small challenge - is to make a good shot for tank in pet shop, while it's working and people are coming to buy some cat food etc.

Photo shooting session by Alexander, on Flickr


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## rebel (11 Aug 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Well, for _really serious_ shots I'm hiring special photographer (who charges me quite low for unknown reason), we're working during last year, he has some good equipment, I have some equipment, I know what should we do to get the proper shot, he knows how to work with Lightroom and Photoshop, which I don't really have a practice. Overall I'm happy to work with someone while taking the photos: it's really hard to manage everything right by myself.
> 
> One small challenge - is to make a good shot for tank in pet shop, while it's working and people are coming to buy some cat food etc.
> 
> Photo shooting session by Alexander, on Flickr


Wow thanks for posting your setup! What a great insight into what goes into making a nice photo. I am keen to try some of these techniques....


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## PARAGUAY (11 Aug 2016)

Congrats to Rebel,Alexander and Stanislav


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## PARAGUAY (11 Aug 2016)

whoops and salava 8, lovely scapes


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## Ryan Thang To (12 Aug 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> @Ryan Thang To you can also can jump in to EAPLC.


i just enter  lets see where i get to. does anyone know when the result will be out

cheers
ryan


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## Stu Worrall (13 Aug 2016)

Some great works posted here. 335 for mine so not too good this year


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## xandro007 (13 Aug 2016)

Stu Worrall said:


> Some great works posted here. 335 for mine so not too good this year



Do you have photo's how you started this tank


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk


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## Stu Worrall (13 Aug 2016)

I'll be putting a build thread up soon


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## Tim Harrison (13 Aug 2016)

Still an awesome scape and a pretty good result tho' Stu.


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## Stu Worrall (13 Aug 2016)

Cheers Tim. Was hoping for a top 100 again (eventual aim is top 27) but dropped from last years 54 so gone backwards. Need to have a think about next years as unsure which way to go to improve atm


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## PARAGUAY (22 Aug 2016)

Lets not forget one judges view could be the opposite of anothers.I saw a highly ranked one with (cannot locate it)with red plants in the distance with a unusual choice of fish -red platys to which Amanos quote was he could only assume some of the judges thought the fish represented" falling leaves" against the red planting,seemed it wasnt his cup of tea but it was highly placed


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## zozo (22 Aug 2016)

PARAGUAY said:


> Lets not forget one judges view could be the opposite of anothers.I saw a highly ranked one with (cannot locate it)with red plants in the distance with a unusual choice of fish -red platys to which Amanos quote was he could only assume some of the judges thought the fish represented" falling leaves" against the red planting,seemed it wasnt his cup of tea but it was highly placed



Interesting, also never thought of a platy as fish choice for a serious aquascape, not that i think they are ugly.. Always saw these fish more as clownish, especialy those wagtails with the light colored eyes. And since they are actualy originaly brakish water or at least hard water fish prefering a ph above nutral to feel realy happy it wouldn't be my choice for a high tech tank. 

But i little searching rather quickly revealed 3 scapes ranking relatively good containing orange platy.

Entry #48: 151L Aquatic Garden: Distant Horizon 2010

Entry #292: 192L Aquatic Garden: Light Blu in forest 2012

Entry #87: 216L Aquatic Garden: Paradise green 2014


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## rebel (23 Aug 2016)

Stu Worrall said:


> h





Tim Harrison said:


> Still an awesome scape and a pretty good result tho' Stu.


Not necessarily for Stu but others noobs reading this thread (like me) would like this info.
http://aquascapingpodcast.com/episode17

This is the first time how an insider has revealed the mentality that goes into the IAPLC top 10.

Now with Amano gone, I wonder how this will change. In other words, was his vote counted towards 50% of score etc...?


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## zozo (23 Aug 2016)

rebel said:


> noobs reading this thread (like me) would like this info.
> http://aquascapingpodcast.com/episode17


Like me too..  Wonderfull podcast.. The TAU portofolio from the link in the foodnote contains a nice album of pictures.
What i found funny, picture number one dropped my jaw imediately and was pulled into it's depth and after skipping through all scapes ending up at picture 1 again it looked completely different and was a bit less impressed by it. Not that i'm judging i can't, it all baffles me to much , just saying how i percieved it and how my viewing changed after seeing 55 others.


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## Mark Green (23 Aug 2016)

My entry this year 367, an improvement on last year.


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## Aqua360 (23 Aug 2016)

rebel said:


> Rectified.
> 
> komoda 30 cube-3916 by Reb El, on Flickr



absolutely stunning


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## Alexander Belchenko (23 Aug 2016)

Mark Green, congratulations! Wonderful work, like waterpainting.


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## rebel (24 Aug 2016)

Mark Green said:


> View attachment 89191 My entry this year 367, an improvement on last year.


Mark, that's looking very neat.


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