Aquascape of the Week: Kirua's "A Stony Heart"

Been a while since I've done an aquascape of the week feature (maybe I should change it to just "Featured Aquascape") but with the recent revealing of the IAPLC results, it means entry photos will begin surfacing around the web. This beautiful aquarium placed 97th in the world, which out of the 1000+ entries is a pretty big honor. This tank really deserves it. I love how the hardscape forms the center of the tank, and the play with light and dark areas really adds to the visual interest. Congratulations Kirua! More information on this tank can be found here.

Stay tuned for the IAPLC contest top 10 tanks, I've been hunting around for them and will post them as soon as I find them!

Aquascape of the Week: Jorge Oliveira

This aquascaped aquarium is a simple, but stunning work from Jorge Oliveira. Great use of the Golden Rule and a V shaped aquascape. For more information on the aquarium, including plant species, lighting and fertilizer specs, and hardscape pictures, check out the thread here.

Aquascape of the Week: Uttoshii's Island Layout

Here's another great aquascape using Myriophyllum matogrossense. I seriously need to get my hands on some of this stuff once I move and re-scape my 46 gallon tank. Uttoshii has used driftwood and sand to his advantage to create a really nice island type aquascape. The tank is only 6 weeks old, so I'm eager to see what it looks like when it matures a bit more. Great job Uttoshii! Read more about the tank here.

Aquascape of the Week: Pele's "Oshun"

It's been a while since I've seen an aquascaped aquarium use plants so effectively to make "hills" of green. The way Pele has trimmed and propagated these plants is simply amazing. I have yet to get any of my stem plants to grow this dense and lush. This is also a fairly small tank (about 30 gallons) but it looks much larger, helped by the use of plants with small leaves. The red Ludwigia in the center-right forms a perfect focal point as well. For more information on this tank, check out the thread.

Aquascape of the Week: Nico's "Douce Ambiance"

First off, I love the plant on the top right. Not sure what it is, but the fluffy, feathery leaves are very interesting and remind me of a stand of pine trees. Nico has also done an excellent job using hardscape here, with the gnarled driftwood looking simply amazing (be sure to check out the additional photos in the thread for some sweet "ground level" shots). With all that's going on in the foreground, center, and back right, the back left feels almost neglected!

Gotta love that hill too. I wonder if that's built up substrate or just an illusion using the Glossostigma over rocks and hardscape? And all this in just a 17 gallon tank! It easily looks double that size. Excellent job Nico!

Aquascape of the Week: Jason Baliban's "Wainapanapa"

Inspired by the black sand beaches of Maui, Jason Baliban created this awesome aquascape from photos taken on his vacation. I love the "eroded hills" look here, and it perfectly matches what you'd see by the ocean. The round pebbles fit well too and add lots of visual interest. Check out more pictures including pictures of the beaches in Maui that inspired this aquascape in this thread.

Aquascape of the Week: Radek Baszak's "Up the Scarp"

A few days late due to vacation, but better late than never! This little aquascape is so visually interesting. Radek Baszak has done a wonderful job selecting and arranging plants with contrasting textures to create lots of interest, as well as that awesome rock formation. I don't know if it was many hours of teaching the fish to "stay!" or just waiting for them to be in the right place at the right time, but they are perfectly posed as well. For more information on this tank, Mr. Baszak, and the rest of his tanks, take a look around his website.

Aquascape of the Week: Renaud's ADA 2008 Layout

This week's aquascape is a really fantastic layout from the 2008 IAPLC (ADA) contest, where it ranked 176th. The "canopy" of plants is just amazing and must have been quite hard to accomplish, but it is certainly stunning. Combined with a unique orange sunset-like background, the green of the Hemianthus micranthemoides in the canopy really stands out and is just fantastic.

Aquascape of the Week: Norbert Sabat's 2008 ADA Layout

This aquascape is Norbert Sabat's entry to the 2008 IAPLC (ADA) Contest, with which he ranked 145th. I love the open grassy feel of the entire aquascape, with great use of different grassy plants. I like the overall "mound" shape too. I think the only thing I'd change is the driftwood on the left side; maybe a less "heavy" piece would be a little less distracting. Find out more about this tank here, and more about Norbert Sabat in this interview.

Aquascape of the Week: Reca's "O Fogar da Ayama"

When I saw this aquascape over on the Aquascaping World forums this morning, I knew it had to be the Aquascape of the Week. It's a veritable wall of green, but Reca has skillfully used different leaf shapes and textures to break up the monotony. Nothing jumps out at you, there are no bright red plants, but it's infinitely deep. It's one of those aquascapes that you need to look at for a long time to take it all in, there's just so much interesting stuff going on! Nice job Reca! You can find his blog here.

Aquascape of the Week: Filipe Alves Oliveira's "Origens"

I love Filipe Alves Oliveira's aquascapes and this one is no different. The different textures in this "mound" style aquascape work well (I particularly like the Crypt in the front left foreground) and the subtle use of red creates a nice focal point. Check out more of Filipe Alves Oliveira's aquascapes on his blog (all in Portugese) or specifics about "Origens" in his post on Aquascaping World.

Aquascape of the Week: Pereiro's "Claudia's Garden"

The shape of this iwagumi-like aquascape is just beautiful and reminiscent of a mountain peak. Although the photography is not quite professional, I had to include this aquascape for the natural beauty of it. The school of colorful fish around the mound just add to the effect. I also love how the Hemianthus callitrichoides is creeping up the mountain. Very well done! To follow this aquascape and see more pictures, check out the thread here.

Aquascape of the Week: Eric Monteiro's "Enchanted Hills"

Sorry for the delay in this week's aquascape, had to deal with some winter weather! This aquascape uses light and dark very effectively to highlight certain areas of the aquarium. The light plants in the background create a focal point, while the lighter plants in the foreground draw the view around the tank. The discus fish are very impressive as well! Fore more information and pictures, visit Eric's entry page for the 2004 AGA contest.

Aquascape of the Week: Renee So's "Morning Glory"

This tank won second place in the small tank category last year in the AGA aquascaping contest and I just love how Renee has used moss to create such a unique aquascape. The moss shapes remind me of trees or perhaps even giant mushrooms. Check out more images and details of the tank at the AGA site.

Aquascape of the Week: ADA Tank

This week's aquascape is one of Takashi Amano's ADA tanks. The grassy, overgrown look in this tank is great and it really softens up the hardscape too. It's very simple, just some dwarf hair grass and some java ferns, but you hardly even notice. The school of perfectly posed fish finish off a wonderful aquascape. You can find more of the ADA tanks here.

Aquascape of the Week: Foofooree's ADA Cube Garden

Yes, it's small. But this great little nano tank by Foofooree over at Aquatic Plant Central is packed with life. It's just so green. And I love the clean look of the rimless ADA tank. It barely even looks like there is a tank. Check out the full thread for a whole host of other aquascapes this tank has gone through.

Aquascape of the Week: Zeneo's "A New World"

First of all, my apologies for being silent last week. I was at home sick with the flu. I missed an Aquascaping Answers post Wednesday, so all questions from last week will carry over to this week's post on Wednesday.

With that out of the way, here's this week's aquascape. It's strikingly controlled and organized but it has a simple beauty to it. I love how everything has been kept low and close to the rocks, and how leaf size and texture has been used to bring out focal points. The natural "curve" the hardscape and plants create is also soothing. For more information, including specs and plants, check out the gallery.

Aquascape of the Week: Desperator's "Carnival in Vietnam"

Continuing the recent theme of brightly colored Dutch style aquascapes (I swear it's the dreary New England weather getting to me), this week's "Carnival in Vietnam" is aptly named. The collection of colors and leaf shapes and sizes just works so well together. Definitely check out the other pictures of this aquascape over on Aquascaping World.

Aquascape of the Week: Jacek Debski's Moss Tank

Hope everyone had a good weekend! This week's aquascape is a special one, since it's primarily a moss aquascape. All different types of aquatic moss come together to make a very unique looking tank, and by incorporating driftwood branches, it looks like an overgrown forest. I've always wanted to start a moss only aquascape, and this aquascape is the main reason! For more information on this tank, see this thread (in Polish).

Aquascape of the Week: Roy Deki's 46 Gallon

Along the same lines of last week's aquascape, Roy Deki's 46 gallon tank is bursting with life. He's managed to pack many different types of plants together in a Dutch style, and each and every plant just seems so healthy. To be able to mix fast growing stem plants with mosses and crypts and anubias and not have the slower growers consumed by algae is particularly difficult (as I'm finding out first hand!). For more pictures and info on Roy's tank, check out his entry to the 2004 AquaBotanic Contest.