# UKAPS Pico Contest - Results!



## Steve Smith (15 Mar 2010)

Hi all.  Apologies for the delay in getting the results out.  As I'm sure you can appreciate, things have been very busy for the judges, with the tropica visit, TV appearances and lord knows what else!  Getting the UKAPS and Aquascaping ideals to a wider audience is never a bad thing!

I'd like to take this oppertunity to thank everyone for entering what was a hotly contested competition.  Everyone really got into the spirit of things and from the looks of it had lots of fun!  The quality of entries was fantastic and I think everyone deserves recognition for taking part, and producing some lovely pico scapes!  So, well done everyone!   

So, onto the results.  The following are the top 5 aquascapes and judges comments in reverse order.

*The Results.*

The Top 5 were all very strong, and there were a few points separating them all.  Congratulations to everyone for entering, and we hope you had fun setting them up and maintaining them!


*Fifth place*
*Jason Griffiths â€“ Pico Paradise*





*George Farmer: * 
Very good.  The final pic is excellent and shows off the aquascape well.  Good choice of plants and hardscape.  The wood arrangement is quite different but effective.  Good work.

*Dan Crawford:*
I love the attention to detail on this tank. Nice use of similar substrate tones with high contrast planting.

*Graeme Edwards:* 
A very unique design, very well executed.

*Fourth place*
*Tonser â€“ Prehistoric Pico*




*George Farmer:* 
Very nice!  Interesting rock works and effective graded gravels/sand.  The â€˜parrotâ€™s featherâ€™ planting looks like trees which gives a creative touch.  Some of the Bolbitis looks a little sorry for itself and Iâ€™m not sure if it adds much to the design.  Overall, a strong piece of work.

*Dan Crawford:* 
Wonderful, a real jurassic feel to it. Superb attention to detail although maybe some other plant species would suit the aquascape better, i do understand the cost limitation though, very well done with such a small budget.

*Graeme Edwards:* 
Really nice work, everything just works so well together!

*Third place*
*Stu Worrall â€“ Dragon Quarrry*




*George Farmer:* 
Excellent.  The hardscape is well composed and the angular main stones add good impact that is reflected thoughtfully in the smaller pices around the base and sand.  Planting is a little light but it doesnâ€™t spoil the design in any way.  Very nice work.

*Dan Crawford:* 
I love this tank, the foreground is fantastic! It's only downfall is the lack of plant species. The hardscape is very well chosen and the burnt tones work very well together. Lovely work.

*Graeme Edwards:* 
Brilliant name, very well chosen and it suits the aquascape perfectly! Very nice attention to detail, the tank would benefit from an extra plant species but this is a very small downfall to a great looking pico.

*Runner-up*
*Samc â€“ Untitled*





*George Farmer:*
Wonderful little tank.  The progress shots look great, and itâ€™s good to see how you did everything.  The path works well between the two stones and composition is well-balanced.  Nice plant choice and health completes the picture very well.  Superb effort.

*Dan Crawford*: 
My personal favorite. A lot of thought and effort has been put into this aquascape. Adding moss balls to the edges of the path way is a great method of creating a natural transition and this one has been executed perfectly. The growth is great and the sense of scale is wonderful very very well done!

*Graeme Edwards:* 
I'm a huge iwagumi fan and also a pico fan so this one scores particularly highly with me. You've used some nice, different rocks and the pathway works very well. Your well chosen plants are growing well. All in all, a great little iwagumi.

*Winner*
*James Marshall â€“ Fellâ€™s Crag*




*George Farmer:*
Excellent.  Nice use of materials, good composition and healthy plants.  Presented very well too, showing off the aquascape nicely and doing it the justice it deserves.  Very well done indeed.

*Dan Crawford:*
Awesome plant health, stunning design and clearly a long running feasible pico, fantastic.

*Graeme Edwards:*
A unique compesition, typical of your style, healthy plants and clearly well maintained, very well done.

Congratulations James Marshall for "Fell's Crag"!   And congrats to the rest of the top five; Sam, Stu, Tony and Jason for some fantastic scapes.  After seeing all of the entries I was certainly glad not to be judging.  I can't imagine, with the quality of entries, it was an easy task!  Again, thank you to everyone for entering, and thank you to George, Dan and Graeme for judging the contest.

We'll sort out the prizes in the next few days, so don't worry  

Thanks again everyone 

Steve.


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## rad89 (15 Mar 2010)

The plants in Fell's Crag look amazing! Not much between any of them IMO.

Congrats!


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## George Farmer (15 Mar 2010)

Hearty Congratulations to the winner, James and the runners-up; Sam, Stu, Tony and Jason!  

Deciding a winner between these top 5 was very tough indeed, and caused arguments between the founders!

All of the entries were highly commendable, and it's a shame we can't give you all prizes!  

Sincere thanks to everyone who participated.  I hope you all had fun creating your tiny slices of nature on a budget.  

I was really impressed by the levels of improvisation and skill involved.  I'm glad I didn't enter as you would all have put me to shame.

Well done, one and all!


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## James Marshall (15 Mar 2010)

Well it really is an honour to have competed with such excellent and creative scapers   .
I am a huge fan of nanos and picos so it was great to see so many people having a go, congratulation to all who took part.
If I may pass the Tool Tidy on to Sam C as mark of respect   

Cheers,
James


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## NeilW (15 Mar 2010)

Lovely stuff, well done everyone!


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## LondonDragon (15 Mar 2010)

Congrats guys  very hard to decide between those 5, if Tonsers didn't have so much substrate it would have been my fav


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## Tony Swinney (15 Mar 2010)

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> if Tonsers didn't have so much substrate it would have been my fav



I had to do that Paulo, otherwise the wood wouldnt have broken the surface   

Thanks though, and thanks to the judges and mods too for all your efforts putting this together and judging it.  Congrats to all who took part, especially James - a most worthy winner,  and I look forward to the Great 2010 Pico Rematch - can anyone keep their scape going long enough to reenter this year    :?:   

Tony


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## AdAndrews (15 Mar 2010)

congrats all!


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## JamesM (15 Mar 2010)

Congrats to all entrants, some very cool tanks 

Extra marks from me to Amy for creativity though


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## Jase (15 Mar 2010)

Big congratulations to James for the win, yours was my fave from a very good bunch - the whole thing is immaculate. 

I'm very pleased with my position, and would like to thank the competition judges and the organisers especially for inspiring me to try something new and out of my comfort zone. Thanks guys, I learned a lot




			
				Tonser said:
			
		

> I look forward to the Great 2010 Pico Rematch - can anyone keep their scape going long enough to reenter this year :?:



I'm so gutted I pulled mine down, I had a week where I got really bored of daily WCs and decided to quit while I was ahead


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## TBRO (15 Mar 2010)

Hats of to James a worthy winner. On pure plant health alone his scape is perfect, just getting plants to survive and not regress is difficult on this scale, his is like a high-tech full scale tank!

Disappointing result for me but in the words of the Californian Governor - "I'll be back"  8)


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## amy4342 (15 Mar 2010)

Well, congtatulations to the top five - they're all really really fantastic scapes. It will be nice to see them updated aswell.



> Extra marks from me to Amy for creativity though



Thanks dude


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## andyh (15 Mar 2010)

Congratulations to all the top 5, excellent job!

Was great fun! Really enjoyed it!


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## Gill (16 Mar 2010)

Congrats to the Winner, Really Loved that one. 
Can't wait for the next oen to start


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## Stu Worrall (16 Mar 2010)

congrats all and to the winner james. A very nice mini scape


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## peti44 (16 Mar 2010)

Congratulations for every competitor!  Unfortunately i have missed this competition, but i hope there'll be an other soon.


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## samc (16 Mar 2010)

thanks very much for the great comments judges  

i am really pleased to come runner-up as like many others say james is immaculate

the top 5 are all very good, but i like stu's especially.

also a big thanks to steve and all the other folk for the great competition  

i am afraid to say that mine was taken down a few weeks ago. well, not totally as the moss and hairgrass came up in one clump and went nicely in to my shrimp nano which is similar to the pico, but bigger  maybe it will grow and then ill put it in my 60cm


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## Dan Crawford (17 Mar 2010)

I just wanted to say a massive congratulations to all contestants, it was a pleasure to judge such lovely innovative work, well done everyone!


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## aquaticmaniac (20 Mar 2010)

Congrats to the top 5  I enjoyed seeing all of the entries.


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## BAE (21 Mar 2010)

congrats that is stunning sort of thing even if you scaled it up it would still look stunning


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## John Starkey (27 Mar 2010)

Well done James,a lovely clean,healthy,well executed iwagumi pico,
a worthy winner indeed,
also well done to the runners up,and to all those that took part which is the main thing,
regards john,


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## flygja (28 Mar 2010)

What a great contest which produced a whole load of enthusiasm. Congrats to all participants and winners!


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## James Marshall (29 Mar 2010)

Thanks for all the kind words guys , they are much appreciated.
I'm glad so many of you noticed the plant health as that is something i've been concentrating on lately.

Cheers,
James


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## zoon (30 Jul 2010)

Having a look through this has made me want to give a pico a try - will be buying a little glass vase asap!


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