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IAPLC politics...

Aqua360

Member
Joined
15 Feb 2016
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2,174
Location
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Hi all,

Something I've been mulling for a while, and am still 50/50 on just now, is entering the IAPLC for 2022.

I don't believe I have the skills/talent/experience to rank highly, but my goal would be to break into the top 2000. Is anyone else entering?

The real question I'm curious about though, is how much politics enter into things, and by that I mean the tanks entered into the contest. It's a given that higher entries tend to be larger ADA aquariums of 120/150cm, trickling down to 90, 60P's, but is there evidence that tanks that aren't ADA, are pushed down the list?

I'm conscious it's basically an ADA contest, so it wouldn't really surprise me.

I have the choice of a fake 45p to use, dennerle 50l, or an ADA Mini M, which could be fun, but if I had the freedom of choice, the depth of the dennerle would make it my go to.
 
is there evidence that tanks that aren't ADA, are pushed down the list?
I honestly don't think so, how could they even tell apart a ADA tank from any other similarly built tank?
Besides, many of the top 100 scapes are not standard ADA sizes.

Now, if you were to enter a pic with a visible weir, background or anything else "non-natural", I could see you getting a lower score.
 
I honestly don't think so, how could they even tell apart a ADA tank from any other similarly built tank?
Besides, many of the top 100 scapes are not standard ADA sizes.

Now, if you were to enter a pic with a visible weir, background or anything else "non-natural", I could see you getting a lower score.

This may hinge on my understanding of the submission process, do they not stipulate you can't crop photos, that the original tank shot must include the entirety of the tank?

If so, it would then be easy to identify a tank such as dennerle with rounded corners, vs an ADA
 
I think the rules state uncropped images, but how many are uncropped I don't know. I can't imagine not being an ADA tank will make any difference though, as mentioned some top ranks are clearly not ADA tanks
 
I don't know about the politics but in terms of skills, the best way to improve them is to enter! I'm entering for the first time in 2022 and despite having success with scapes, contest scaping is a whole new world and your skills are tested even before you've added any water or plants.

I have no doubt that anyone who enters will come out better, that is if you take interest in your own development and be open to constructive criticism.
 
I am pretty sure that some cropped images end up on the contest, Josh Sim mentions in one of his talks that he lowers the water line slightly before taking his final shots, to make the tank look wider.
 
I don't know about the politics but in terms of skills, the best way to improve them is to enter! I'm entering for the first time in 2022 and despite having success with scapes, contest scaping is a whole new world and your skills are tested even before you've added any water or plants.

I have no doubt that anyone who enters will come out better, that is if you take interest in your own development and be open to constructive criticism.

In being realistic about my expectations, I'd frankly be very, very satisfied if I could break the 2000 mark, and even then I wouldn't rate those chances highly at this moment in time.

I'm following your entry closely, even from the blurred out pic you posted its easy to tell the hardscape you created is impressive.
 
As @Ria95 says ADA had a lot of flak and changed the judging panel, not to criticise past panels but they seem a respected panel and l doubt any bias and pretty sure they would keep to the criteria. Worth remebering not many Grand Prize winners would have been Amanos first choice.
 
I fully agree with you. There often is the expert panel, with their own likes and dislikes in terms of style and composition and then there is the organization's influence concerned with ... other stuff ;). We can act like the experts are free to choose and that will directly be the result. It makes a good show! Photoshoped entries should never have reached the judges but it did pass under their expert eyes. Also to the organization belong such phantasmata like prize withdrawal and retractions.

If you want various water levels or to avoid cropping the images and have only your tank on black put a black dense curtain in front of your scape ( obviously with a crop-out for your tank). The black curtain can further extend to cover your camera so you do not get any reflection in the tank glass. The contrast of the image is also often improved. If you read old ADA material you will see Amano doing the same for his tank shots.

Of course, cropping the image and bumping the contrast is much easier but ... politics :). Now how about requiring a standardized gray and color card to be included in at least one tank shot to color correct some of those burple spectrums. Then again, that would make too much sense
 
Many South East Asian entries within the top 100 are just custom DIY tanks and aren't even Opti-white tanks.
I think it's more of correlation vs causation. Most people in this hobby strive for ADA products and people who spend and buy ADA products are more likely to be deeply invested into the hobby. If you're deeply into this hobby then most probably you're also into the competitive landscape.
 
Competition tanks are not for everyone even if you are good at aquascaping, its comes at a high cost also and not everyone can afford that.
Rescaping a 120cm tank you looking at £200-400 (or more) in hardscape and £300-400 in plants! Unless you are being sponsored or have deep pockets, it is not accessible for the average hobbyist. Others form groups of people where you can share hardscape between the group, but still the outset of plants for a tank 120cm+ is huge if you going to do it every year!
 
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