aquapetz.com

parthapratim22 wrote:Classic tank is that which comes top in a competition.

Masters are still take part in the competition with there classic tanks. Like Oliver Knott s "moss out of tank Nano".

great job everybody !!!
cheers
Chris

I congratulate the organisers for this impartial and fair results.Honestly, I was a little dissapointed in the direction the polling was heading and thought this will be another populist judgement.But in the end, the three tanks selected stand out as the best IMO.

Yes, these are all international scapes and I also accept the fact that the international scaping scene is just a notch above what we are aspiring for currently in India. I think there is a huge creative talent pool in India which is not exposed to this unique medium of expression of natural art! More enthusists, more hobbists will help rope in more people into this beautiful world!
Two key issues for Indian planted hobbists will be temp and availability of resources like plants. For instance in Kolkata, I need to wait atleast 45 days to expect my consignment of plants to reach me!
I appreciate Aquascape for initiating this contest! It is a bold step in the right direction!
All the best for the future and heartiest congratulation to the winners!

Regards,

Debraj Ghosh

Congratulations to the winners.

deb_gosh wrote:I congratulate the organisers for this impartial and fair results.Honestly, I was a little dissapointed in the direction the polling was heading and thought this will be another populist judgement.But in the end, the three tanks selected stand out as the best IMO.

Yes, these are all international scapes and I also accept the fact that the international scaping scene is just a notch above what we are aspiring for currently in India. I think there is a huge creative talent pool in India which is not exposed to this unique medium of expression of natural art! More enthusists, more hobbists will help rope in more people into this beautiful world!
Two key issues for Indian planted hobbists will be temp and availability of resources like plants. For instance in Kolkata, I need to wait atleast 45 days to expect my consignment of plants to reach me!
I appreciate Aquascape for initiating this contest! It is a bold step in the right direction!
All the best for the future and heartiest congratulation to the winners!

Regar
Debraj Ghosh

Thank you Debraj ji for your valuable comments , i totally agree regarding temperature issue but regarding plants i think scenario have changed substantially, if u check facebook like social networking sites you can find good number of guys who do prompt and quality business regarding aquatic plants.Am definetely sure you need not wait for 45days for the consignment.If you have checked the first three scapes plants used are very easily available in India except some like p.helferi which is not that easy...May be our family commitments and ignorance of some LFS pull us down a bit.Cost factor for planted aquarium is another issue
Planning a hardscape itself takes a long time.so best option is prepare ourself for future contest to come ,utilize available plant source and other materials needed efficiently, make proper use of this user friendly forums like these to maximum.

Cheers
Rajeev

Congratulations to all the winners, panel members and judges. Great contest and very good result.

Congrats to all.

What makes a good tank that can win? Who better to answer than the two judges. May be we can request them to share what appeals in a winning tank. Thereafter, we can evaluate where we stand and where we are amiss.
My subjective take....
I think, what looks pleasing to the eye is reasonably subjective, although some of the common things i have noticed.....(a) contrast; (b) balance (c) sustainibility.
(a): Contrast: Often tanks that have nice contrast of wood and rocks, between plants and hardscape and between fishes and the rest come out to be the most striking. For example, a splash of red and shades of green often becomes eye catching.
(b) balance: My observations are that tanks that have a decent balance (not only right and left) but cover of plants, free space, swimming area appeals a lot
(c) sustainibility: A matured tank always ha a better chance. A newly setup tank may look good (especially with lots of red and fresh immersed grown plants) but something is always missing there. A tank that is balanced, well maintained, in my opinion does well.

Where do we stand? I think we are doing pretty well. In terms of availability and how expensive most stuff are, we will get there soon. A quick back of the envelope calculation would suggest, that most award wining tanks (international competitions) uses stuff, which, if we were to compare with similar Indian tanks would be 2-3 times more expensive. But lets not worry, as we have a strong community, we will get more stuff and will be able to produce those beauties. As we read and see more, better we will get.

Strong community

Dear Rajeev,

Can you recommend some good online sites which provides quick time supply of plants based in India. It will be great if we can get stuff without prolonged delays.This hobby like any other is pretty much a spur of the moment thing!

Adding to B Mukherjee, I think apart from the expenditure our general sense of natural scapes need to improve dramatically. For instance, many prize winning scapes use moss very creatively.When I look at some of the amazing scapes especially from Hong Kong, Malyasia and Vietnam, I marvel at the manner moss is used to provide depth and a natural tone to any layout. Cliff Hui's 'Destiny' was an amazing scape.Many other scapers copied his style later.

Lets see how the Indian scaping scene evolves over time! It can only get better!

Warm Regards,

Debraj