Tom Ryan outlines the steps he follows when planning, building and submitting his aquascapes for the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest (IAPLC) in which he placed an amazing 22nd in 2024.
This is the first of a series of 6 articles covering the following stages of contest aquascaping:
PREPARATION
IDEOLOGY & CONCEPT EVOLUTION
HARDSCAPE DESIGN
PLANTING, MAINTENANCE & ADJUSTMENTS
PHOTOGRAPHY
FINAL PHOTO
Preparation for Contest Aquascaping
'Closing' Tom's 2024 entry to IAPLC
'The action or process of preparing or being prepared for use or consideration'
I'm by no means an experienced contest aquascaper, with this being my third time entering the IAPLC. The IAPLC stands for The International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest. I only started aquascaping in a general sense nine years ago so please do not take this as gospel! This is purely my take on the aspects I find most important for a successful contest layout.
I had one goal when taking my first step into the realm of contest aquascaping and the IAPLC three years ago. That goal was to 'simply' achieve a top 100 ranking in the world. This was going to take time and I wouldn't achieve this at my first, second or even third try. However, as long as I improved every step of the way I knew I was on the right path.
Contest aquascaping is a marathon not a sprint. This is why many top aquascapers are also some of the most experienced! For those interested, my IAPLC history so far is:
- IAPLC 2022 - #449
- IAPLC 2023 - #279
- IAPLC 2024 - #22
Tom's 2023 entry
In this article, I touch on the importance of time management, the aquascaping community and the necessary equipment required. For me, these things together make up my preparation.
For me, the biggest difference between a scape and one dedicated to a contest is the first three topics of this series. The preparation, ideology and concept evolution and the all important hardscape design.
I see these three factors as the skeleton of any work. It amazes me the amount of time you can spend (or not spend!) on these if you don't get the timing right or have the correct mindset. I will explain each of these steps individually.
Time management
The IAPLC and other international aquascaping contests are annual contests and have a deadline date for entries. For IAPLC, this usually runs from the start of April to the end of May.
Remember, you don't need to take the final photo during this period. The regulations of many contests allow you to enter photos taken within a year prior to the deadline date. This includes the IAPLC, which is the aquascaping contest I submit my layouts to.
In effect, this means you can take your final photo on the 1st of June 2024 and enter it to the 2025 contest a year later. I definitely use this to my advantage as I hate having to rush any step of the process. I usually start my ideology and concept evolution at least 9 months before the entry deadline.
For example, in 'Closing' (the title of my recent entry) I reset my previous work in January 2023. I therefore decided to get ahead of the game and work on my next layout soon after, in February. I captured the final photo of the aquascape in November of that year.
I spent five months on the first three critical topics. The remaining four months I focused on planting, maintenance and adjustments, and photography. These are common timescales seen across the contest aquascaping community.
Tom's 2022 entry
Aquascaping community
This is one of the most overlooked aspects in contest aquascaping. I have only just recently realised the importance of the community. This is the best way to improve as an aquascaper, besides getting your hands dirty with hardscape designs!
One common misconception is that contest aquascapers work alone in their own silos. That they never share their work or interact with others along the way. Having spoken to many top aquascapers, it is clear that they all have a close-knit community of aquascapers. Josh Sim, Luca Gallaraga, Juan Puchades and Masashi Ono all share their ideas with a close community.
Obviously, this is on the proviso that no one copies their idea or publicises someone else's work. It operates similarly to the MI5...secretive, with loyalty and trust, and no one stepping on someone else's toes.
For example, in Japan there's dedicated aquascaping teams who meet regularly. They speak about aquascaping philosophy and their own work to elevate their skills and layouts. They are at the forefront of this approach to contest aquascaping, and the results speak for themselves.
The same is happening in Spain and Brazil and, for me, this is one area where the UK is lacking. While we do have the UKAPS forum, with many great journals on philosophy, it is not quite the same. We don't discuss recent contest layouts, critique contest works or examine fine details as seen in other countries.
I am confident that if we do, we will see more people taking part in contests. Hopefully, leading to a rise in many of the top ranks coming from the UK.
Necessary equipment
This is a 'bread and butter' topic and I don't want to bore you with saying you require this or that piece of equipment. We already have plenty of guides providing recommendations on the equipment you need to have a good planted aquarium.
Related article: Buyers guide to external filters
What I would say is, contest aquascaping is about being able to successfully grow aquatic plants above all else. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you master balancing light, CO2, filtration, plant fertiliser and water quality. As this is more critical than specific models of equipment.
Having studied many of the top works, the biggest thing that separates them is the quality of aquatic plant health.
This is part of the reason that there has been controversy around the IAPLC. People often only see the aquarium hardscape and tare immediately blown away. However, they forget about the importance of the rest of the judging criteria. I'll look at the judging criteria in more detail in a later section of this guide.
The theme, hardscape and overall complexion forms the skeleton of a work. The plants are the paint palette that bring the amazing hardscape materials to life. They allow the aquascape design to develop into a living piece of art!
Equipment List
Tank Size: 90x50x45cm
Filtration: Oase Biomaster 600 & Eheim Experience 250, Seachem Purigen and Seachem Matrix
Lighting: ADA Solar RGB & ADA Lightscreen, turned on 6 hours per day
Hardscape: Frodo/Elderly Stone
Substrate: ADA La Plata Sand, Aqua Soil-Amazonia Ver.2, Power Sand Advance M, Bacter 100, Clear Super, Tourmaline BC
CO2: Pressurised System, 5 bubbles per second via CO2 Art Inline Diffuser
Aeration: After the light is turned off using Lily Pipe
Additives: 2hr Aquarist APT Complete and APT Zero
Water change: 1/3 every other day
Water quality: Temperature: 23°C, pH: 6.4 TH: 30 mg/L using Reverse Osmosis water
Plants: Eleocharis vivipara, Eleocharis acicularis, Glossostigma elatinoides, Riccia fluitans, Riccardia chamedryfolia
Fish: Gold tetra (Hemigrammus rodwayi)
Photo by Shutterstock
This article was first published in the March 2025 issue of Practical Fishkeeping magazine.