Iron Man Aquascape 2010 Journal

[lljdma06]

As you all know, I went to the AGA Convention in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The Convention features an Iron Man sort of competition, where two scapers have an hour to scape identical tanks given identical materials. The two competitors were Luis Navarro and Frank Wazeter

Here is the drama below...

Preparing to face off...

Navarro working on his tank, he originally opted for wood, but threw his piece down and then changed to Rocks...

FWazeter also departed from his Iwagumi comfort zone and opted for a rock and wood hardscape

The two finished tanks...

Navarro won the competition. Judges icluded Karen Randall, Jason Baliban, Ghanzanfar Ghori, Claus Christensen, and Inderjeet Singh Bansal. Both scapers received both positive and negative comments. You may comment on them as well.

Navarro's scape

Wazeter's scape

This is where it gets good. On the final day there is a giant auction. Tables were full of exotic plants and equipment. You saw that I purchased the RO unit by Seachem. People were bidding heavily for the items that I wanted (plants for the 8g), then Wazeter's tank went up for auction. With EVERYTHING!!!! Tank, lighting, plants, substrate, hardscape, and honestly it was CHEAPER to bid for this tank than to bid separately for all the plants and hardscape that I wanted for my 8g AND the tank is an ADA tank, and bigger than my 8g. This was going on my mind for literally seconds while they offered Wazeter's tank for auction, so I took a risk and bid. It started at $150, I ended up winning it for $230. Still a fantastic deal considering how much an ADA costs that size, plus the plants, plus the ADA soil, lighting, and hardscape. After a very tense 60 minutes driving home from Ft. Lauderdale, it is now safe in my house and setup.

Wazeter saying goodbye to his scape... He was a bit nervous at first, but I showed him pictures of my crypts...

The tank setup in my family room. I also purchased some HC prior to the tank and had some Madagascar lace and crypts from a tissue culture workshop, so those got put in. They may stay or go.

I'll be working with Wazeter on this tank. I work very well with mosses, so I'll be adding mosses and pelia to his hardscape and possibly increasing the plant mass by adding a wall. I'm interested to see how this scape develops over time as it is mostly crypts and has potential for longterm. This scape got my vote in the Iron man. I was in the minority, but I was persistantly seeing the scape 6 months from now, once the crypts had become submerged. Navarro's scape, the winning one, was also very pretty and another local got to take it home. Just finished putting CO2 into the tank and added filters. I'm tired.

Now, you know why the 8g was dismantled...

 

[Biulu]

Congratulations! My vote also went to Wazeter, but maybe that is because I am so fond of hardscapes with wood... This 2 man concept is very interesting; how do you plan going about it? You make suggestions with pictures to Wazeter and then he will comment and suggest changes?

 

[VaegaVic]

I actually also prefered Wazeter, although I can see why Navarro won.

 

[Gill]

Soooo Cool, I was waiting for someone to post the ironman challenge. knew it would be between you on here and over on ASW. Such a great Weekend and that Tank for that price is a Steal.

 

[SuperColey1]

If I get my APC head on Wazeter hardscape has some great strengths but heavy weaknesses.

The wood is the strength. looks superb. The weakness is the line of individual stones along the front that look placed rather than natural.

Saying that with crypts and mosses etc those spacings will soon disappear and like you say in a few months it will be a forgotten problem.

I can see why Navarro won but the rocks aren't my style and it does look a little plain when thinking on a few months.

Well done on the purchase Llj. Great buy and will be a great journey working with someone else. 2 people in the know can always teach each other no matter how high a level one or the other is at

What you don't tell us is...................

...............What are you going to do with the 8g? Has that all gone by the wayside? Was looking forward to an Italian Garden. lol

AC

 

[the biffster]

i think both tanks look
incredible how do you define
the winner

 

[lljdma06]

Soooo Cool, I was waiting for someone to post the ironman challenge. knew it would be between you on here and over on ASW. Such a great Weekend and that Tank for that price is a Steal.

Gill, were you there??? I didn't see you...

If I get my APC head on Wazeter hardscape has some great strengths but heavy weaknesses.

The wood is the strength. looks superb. The weakness is the line of individual stones along the front that look placed rather than natural.

Saying that with crypts and mosses etc those spacings will son dissapear and like you say in a few months it will be a forgotten problems.

I can see why Navarro won but the rocks aren't my style and it does look a little plain when thinking on a few months.

Well done on the purchase Llj. Great buy and will be a great journey working with someone else. 2 people in the know can always teach each other no matter how high a level one or the other is at

What you don't tell us is...................

...............What are you going to do with the 8g? HAS that all gone by the wayside? Was looking forward to an Italian Garden. lol

AC

Rocks were placed in part to hold the wood in place. I will eventually remove most of them, or place them more naturally and cover most with pelia and mosses. Right now, with the T5 HO lighting, the biggest challenge now is pumping the system with CO2 and increasing the plant mass (temporary moss wall, add some floaters), as I personally think there is too much light. AGA people are still pumping light like crazy, my low-light scapes have shocked them. I have to check the bulbs. If one of my old-fashioned T5s fit, I'll put that in instead, or run the system with just one bulb in. A little dangerous, but that fixture has too much light. Right now, the photoperiod is at 4 hours. TPN+ is on standby, as I've never worked with ADA aquasoil. Have to do my reading on that. The crypts will also change as they grow submerged and I imagine more reds will appear in the tank over time.

The 8g remains up in the air. If I remove Wazeter's rocks, I have the makings of a pretty sweet Iwagumi for the 8g, as the rocks are a great size for that tank. The problem is running two CO2 tanks at once. I don't have enough hours to maintain two demanding scapes, so yes, the 8g has gone by the wayside. I do see myself doing an Italian scape, could be the next scape after this one in the new ADA tank. But this was an opportunity that i could not pass up. I cannot afford an ADA setup otherwise. WAY beyond my budget.

i think both tanks look
incredible how do you define
the winner

The judges have their aesthetic. The trend now is the Iwagumi scapes with less plant species. Wazeter lost because he had too many plant species and for his rock placement, according to the judges. According to him, this tank was way out of the way from his typical scapes. Actually, barring the rocks, it fits very much into my aesthetic. Almost like he was channeling me, or setting it up with me in mind. They also didn't love the wood on the left. I admit, needs pelia or weeping moss to soften it, but I do love the color of the wood. You should have seen the slide presentation Karen Randall did on aquascaping. Dutch has become the black sheep of the family. The "great" scapes of the competition featured very little color variation. Looked very static to me. lovely little snapshots, but nothing that will change long term. I like tanks that evolve over time. Holds much more interest for me.

llj

 

[ian]

great story llj, and one heck of a bargain!

i was looking at ADA tanks the other day, they are very expensive over here, around £400-£1.900! It looks good, but as AC says was looking foward to the 8g. It will be good to see this grow up.

 

[fxwazeter]

I am glad that the layout got home safely and intact! I cannot express how cool of a compliment and how endearing it is to see that someone who truly loves the scape to win it and take it home to grow it out and see what it will turn into! This'll be the first time that an aquascape produced from the Iron Aquascaper will be grown out to fruition and take all the guess work out of what it will look like.

This scape ended up falling into my typical tendency to cluster (cluster style!) material together in the attempt to create one giant structure that looks part of a greater whole. If I had something to change I probably would remove two of the stones from the front and probably flesh the back out more so it could have been seen more instantly, there are a variety of plants in the back, but aren't very noticeable from a front shot. However, ultimately we'll get to see these grown in! The moss was given to us at the very last minute, and I probably shouldn't have made that addition at that juncture, since it would have required more moss around other pieces to create a more immediate look.

 

[Biulu]

Can we have a plant list and the dimensions of this tank? I really like the idea of 2 people working on this scape. Hope you will stay involved Wazeter!

 

[Carlovel1]

Great tank you picked up LLJ, definately the better tank out of the 2

 

[lljdma06]

I am glad that the layout got home safely and intact! I cannot express how cool of a compliment and how endearing it is to see that someone who truly loves the scape to win it and take it home to grow it out and see what it will turn into! This'll be the first time that an aquascape produced from the Iron Aquascaper will be grown out to fruition and take all the guess work out of what it will look like.

Was glad to get the tank, if you take a look at my past scapes, you can see why I liked it. Funny how much of this was your first time with these materials.

Can we have a plant list and the dimensions of this tank? I really like the idea of 2 people working on this scape. Hope you will stay involved Wazeter!

Uh, fx, we could use your help on this one... What did you put in this tank? I know there is C. parva, Pogostemon helferi, lilaeopsis species, anubias nana petite, a bunch of other crypts, and an Eleocharis species? The moss I bet is java, not great stuff either. FAN needs to work on their mosses. Also, substrate and hardscape information would be great. I can make out ADA soil, Amazonia? Shoot, I don't even know the style and make of the tank? I can look up the lighting.

Will be adding a third CO2 bottle today and a second diffusor. Will not submit photo of tank, as it is rather pitiful right now. The pogostemon looks a bit off, but I see new growth. Crypts are melting something fierce. It's the CO2, it's quite a shock to the crypts, especially coming from the competition water. There is a species towards the back with leaf veining that is not melting. Don't know that species. Very pretty. The HC I added, Lilaeopsis, and Eleocharis have new shoots, so I'm not worried. I anticipate that crypts will bounce back once they settle in and change to submerged growth. Did a waterchange and cleaned up the mess. Wood leaches tannins, by the way. Took a couple of days, but it is now color of weak tea.

Thanksgiving weekend, will be adding a temporary moss wall. While the crypts recover, I need significantly more plant mass. If you don't mind, eventually, I'll replace the java moss on the wood with either pelia or weeping moss. Java moss is rather ugly, IMO.

llj