Where are the IAPLC Awards for marine aquariums?

[strich]

I haven't been back in the marine hobby for long, but I must say one thing that has utterly struck me is the lack of aquascape maturity and diversity in marine compared to the freshwater hobby. Most of the tanks I see are far closer to being eclectic color orgasms made by collectors than living eco-systems, if you can understand what I mean?

Don't get me wrong, there ARE plenty of fantastically scaped marine tanks out there! But few if any come anywhere even close to the top 100 IAPLC freshwater entries each year.

Why do you think that is? And is the hobby just too small for a globally recognised scaping society like IAPLC?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

This question pops up every once in a while - the last time it came up, the consensus seemed to be that scaping for coral growth is a lot harder than scaping for plant growth. That said, here are some related links:

Why is reef aquascaping so unexplored when compared to freshwater?

Really, why? I have seen a couple of times where people who are really good at creating nature/iwagumi aquascapes try their hand at a reef but the results were a bit underwhelming. There are a good number of competitions for freshwater aquascapes but none for saltwater. Why the heck???

www.reef2reef.com

Aquascapes aren't Just for Freshwater!

I found this tank online. When I first saw it I thought wow this is pretty cool. I posted a thread similar to this a while ago and not many people saw it so I am giving it a second chance. Also please show me your tank design.

www.reef2reef.com

Do you ever get jealous of Freshwater Aquascaping?

I'm sorry for making this weird topic but this has been on my mind for a while now. I decided to make an account just to post this, lol. So I made the switch from a low tech planted tank to reef and I've been enjoying my reef immensely (I couldn't grow plants, they hated me. But corals love...

www.reef2reef.com

Freshwater aquascaping with SerpaDesign

Currently working on an aquascape for my 180 and this video helped give me some ideas. Freshwater nerds are way ahead of us saltwater nerds on making interesting, dynamic scapes.

www.reef2reef.com

Why does Reef aquascaping lag behind compared to Planted?

I was looking at a lot of planted aquariums and contest aquariums. I was taken back at the level of execution and the attention to detail these aquariums displayed. The golden rule, rule of thirds, negative space, etc. were all taken into account to make an eye-pleasing aquascape. Now I...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[strich]

This question pops up every once in a while - the last time it came up, the consensus seemed to be that scaping for coral growth is a lot harder than scaping for plant growth. That said, here are some related links:

Why is reef aquascaping so unexplored when compared to freshwater?

Really, why? I have seen a couple of times where people who are really good at creating nature/iwagumi aquascapes try their hand at a reef but the results were a bit underwhelming. There are a good number of competitions for freshwater aquascapes but none for saltwater. Why the heck???

www.reef2reef.com

Aquascapes aren't Just for Freshwater!

I found this tank online. When I first saw it I thought wow this is pretty cool. I posted a thread similar to this a while ago and not many people saw it so I am giving it a second chance. Also please show me your tank design.

www.reef2reef.com

Do you ever get jealous of Freshwater Aquascaping?

I'm sorry for making this weird topic but this has been on my mind for a while now. I decided to make an account just to post this, lol. So I made the switch from a low tech planted tank to reef and I've been enjoying my reef immensely (I couldn't grow plants, they hated me. But corals love...

www.reef2reef.com

Freshwater aquascaping with SerpaDesign

Currently working on an aquascape for my 180 and this video helped give me some ideas. Freshwater nerds are way ahead of us saltwater nerds on making interesting, dynamic scapes.

www.reef2reef.com

Why does Reef aquascaping lag behind compared to Planted?

I was looking at a lot of planted aquariums and contest aquariums. I was taken back at the level of execution and the attention to detail these aquariums displayed. The golden rule, rule of thirds, negative space, etc. were all taken into account to make an eye-pleasing aquascape. Now I...

www.reef2reef.com

You're a champ, thanks. I'll have a browse through. Though I will say this: I feel like a "mistake" a lot of tanks make is thinking that corals are the only plant life to consider. There is so much amazing macro algae out there, some even glow!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I feel like a "mistake" a lot of tanks make is thinking that corals are the only plant life to consider. There is so much amazing macro algae out there, some even glow!

Definitely true - there are some really cool and pretty algae species, but they're not typically kept.

 

[strich]

Just imagine, something like @Tigahboy tanks in larger 200L tanks with more coral life:

Reading through a lot of the threads listed above, a key thing I think is missing in the vast majority of the discussion really is macro algae. It aught to be the glue between key coral pieces and really help it all stand out and become a real ecosystem, rather than some alien planet color vomit (no offense I hope!).

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

The diversity and uniqueness of individual corals has moved the focus away from the tank as a whole. Most tanks these days are just glorified frag tanks with little or no effort to turn the entire tank into a work of art, it’s just a vessel to hold and keep alive the individual corals.