# 2010 Iron Aquascaper Coverage



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Nice, I will be looking forward to the updates.


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## Lance Uppercut (Aug 22, 2009)

OK that's weird i followed the link and when i refreshed the page it generated a comment w/ my TPT username. Also strange is the comment is time stamped for 12:21am 11-13-10.


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## Shango (Nov 13, 2010)

*The first pics are in.*

This year's AGA Convention Iron Aquascaper competition has a winner and the first of the pics are in...

http://www.tankgeek.com/2010/11/14/iron-aquascaper-2010-tanks-navarro-wins/


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I'm no expert but Franks scape looked much better, more balanced and much more natural.


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## agimlin (Sep 25, 2010)

i like the first one. the petite nanas look amazing


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Yeah, Frank should have pulled one of those rocks from the gaps in the roots of the driftwood to keep it more natural. The one on the left looks really out of place. Great job by both scapers tho!


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

Why do they need to use live plants if the winner is going to be decided immediately after they plant everything?


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

OoglyBoogly said:


> Why do they need to use live plants if the winner is going to be decided immediately after they plant everything?


Because fake plants would be weird and sad.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

bsmith said:


> Because fake plants would be weird and sad.


Lol! In any given situation. Let alone at the king of conventions! No offense oogly, just found it funny. :icon_bigg


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## MiamiArt (Aug 27, 2010)

LOL. Both aquascapes looked very good in person. I was very impressed.

You have to give it to Frank who really held his own against Luis.


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

chad320 said:


> Lol! In any given situation. Let alone at the king of conventions! No offense oogly, just found it funny. :icon_bigg


I was being facetious anyways :icon_bigg but IDK yet how I feel about such speed competitions using media that grows and lives. I used to do speed drawing in High school using charcoal. We would draw live subjects in weird poses b/c 1. They couldn't hold the poses for so long and 2. the speed at which you move gives your artwork a kind of moving feel to it since the strokes are usually very long,m minimal, and sweeping. We usually only had 45 seconds to draw the subject.


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## GitMoe (Aug 30, 2010)

I prefer Franks tank. Looks great.


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

I prefer Luis' tank.

Frank's base rocks are two evenly spread out, making it look overly contrived. Grouping them together into one or two small piles would be much more natural.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

I prefer the first one. The second one looks too crowded, but it definitely looks bigger than it actually is, which is pretty awesome.


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

I wish I could have been there...


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

I have to say that, competing against Luis Navarro, who has been in the planted / aquascaping side of the hobby since it started in the States (and probably even before hand, that guy's house is full of some beautiful scapes and valuable artifacts) was a great honor. I left the competition floor feeling proud of the event itself and the scapes produced this year.

It has been an amazing journey since I started this obsession two years ago - for me the experience during the event itself was completely surreal. My goal was just to not get stomped by Luis. 

Sure, if I were to do it again I probably would have removed some of those unnecessary stones from the front, and not included the moss (moss was given to us at the very last minute in the competition), but you know what they say about hindsight. With only an hour to completely finish an aquascape, you don't have time to second guess yourself. Honestly my biggest fear was the driftwood floating up to the top - there was a razor-thin edge with those stones barely keeping it down.

I was again, deeply honored that the person who ended up buying the setup in the AGA auction took great lengths to bring the tank home with the aquascape completely intact and to grow it out as is until completion with some adjustments that we talked about beforehand to kind of correct some of it's flaws. It will be interesting to see how the tank looks in 6 months time!


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

bsmith said:


> Because fake plants would be weird and sad.


This is signature worthy!

Both competitors did a great job. You represented yourself well, Frank. roud:


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Both tanks are very nice, esp. considering the short time, you guys have no idea how hard it is to put together a tank in 1 hour. Jason Baliban and I did an iron aquascaper at Aquafest this year. Its very tough to do. A crowd watching what you are doing and staring at a bunch of hardscape and plants trying to put something together in an hour. I normally take several days to set a hardscape, change something look at it for a few days, ect. A job well done Frank and Luis!


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## wakewalking (Jan 18, 2010)

second one is much more artistic and creates more depth. power strip is trailer trash.

Lance Uppercut says:
November 13, 2010 at 12:21 am

Sounds great! Although I have seen Franks work and have never seen anything impressive but his writing skill.
Reply

*
Sparky McPlanter says:
November 14, 2010 at 10:14 pm

Frank is pretty much a hack, but he is a good writer.
Reply 

Ouch...


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Ah, people will say what they will. I'm not going to hold it against them for having an opinion. I do have to admit though, I was a bit shocked that people had such deep opinions about my work. At least they gave me props for being a good writer!

I am deeply appreciative and humbled by those of you who liked my work in the Iron Aquascaper. It means a lot!


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

wakewalking said:


> second one is much more artistic and creates more depth. power strip is trailer trash.
> 
> Lance Uppercut says:
> November 13, 2010 at 12:21 am
> ...


Haters gonna Hate...

And IMO, there is no need for talk like that in our hobby. Any of you that know me im sure know how I speak/type about how I personally feel but attacking someone in our hobby is pretty ridiculous.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Clalk those up to jealousy. Frank works for ADA so has obviously done something right and probably has the experience of the commenters combined. You wanna see a real hack? Take a look at my work


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## Ben Belton (Dec 12, 2008)

I was there. I liked them both. Luis is probably be best aquascaper in the US. I wouldn't even have tried, so good job to Frank.

Here are my pics so we don't have to keep referring back to the article.

Luis' Tank









Frank's Tank









Interesting, there is a place in the wall behind Luis's tank where paneling meets. It looks like I pieced pictures together.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

In all honesty, I **** Frank's setup better... Would you by chance no the backround plant that they used? The grass like one. 
Regards,
Jake


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## Jason Baliban (Mar 3, 2005)

It is interesting to see the pictures after the fact. It really makes me second guess any competition that is based on images. The photographic representation and the live impact are VERY different.

With super respect to both frank and luis i can see/say this..

The photographs do the worst for luis's layout. The weak points that we discussed as judges are accented by the photograph. At the same time, franks weak points are masked a bit by the photograph. Definitely an eye opening revelation/lesson.

For the record I think luis's shows the most experience thus helping the overall impression. Frank's layout loses some continuity throughout. These statements are still true even looking at the photographs, for me anyway.

Again, hats off to both for dealing with the pressure, it is not easy!

jB


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## Lance Uppercut (Aug 22, 2009)

wakewalking said:


> second one is much more artistic and creates more depth. power strip is trailer trash.
> 
> Lance Uppercut says:
> November 13, 2010 at 12:21 am
> ...


For the record, that was not me, see post #3 of this thread.

Also, I like Frank's layout better


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## wakewalking (Jan 18, 2010)

Lance Uppercut said:


> For the record, that was not me, see post #3 of this thread.
> 
> Also, I like Frank's layout better


I just copied and pasted from the website so I guess it was another lance uppercut.

I guess number one is more fitting with common standard. The position of the rocks just recreate a smaller frame inside the aquarium. The second looks like a slice of something larger, even though a little uneven at the left, and is much more abstract with strong focal points at different depths.

both win, didn't have to wear bibs.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Would the backround plants in Luis' display turn a darker green at all? The different shades of green with that color of rock thow it off in my opinion. Much better then what I could do though...


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## MiamiArt (Aug 27, 2010)

Hi everyone,

When I first saw the two aquascapes, I immediately felt that Luis had one by I was not sure why my gut was telling me this. I decided to analyze the two aquariums using traditional design and composition techniques such as the golden mean, rule of thirds, etc.

In the end, Luis' scape did a bit better job of meeting these design guidelines and, hence, resulted in a more pleasing composition. It was close though. Both scapes are very well put together. When you think they had limited materials and time, you really appreciate what an amazing job they did.

My apologies for shamelessly linking to my blog for the details if you care to read them. It's just too long and too many pictures to properly place into the forums via a post. 

Detailed analysis of 2010 Iron Aquascaper Aquariums


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## wakewalking (Jan 18, 2010)

awesome write up.

listen to Art's podcast.

wake


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Interesting comments. I definitely feel like what JB said is true just from noticing the difference in how my own scapes look in person compared to how they look in pictures.

One hour is hardly any time at all to create a scape, so both did an excellent job, especially considering the time limit.


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