The International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest (IAPLC) is the Olympic games equivalent for all aquascapers worldwide. Last year, aquascapers pit their talents against 1,603 competitors and the winner of the competition went home with USD13,034 or SGD16,255.

Just like the Olympic games, the entries for the IAPLC are categorised into countries and although rankings are based on the individual, there is quite a bit of national level organising from countries who have a strong aquascaping community.

The IAPLC has done much to further the development of the aquascaping hobby. This international competition, coupled with an attractive prize has been an effective catalyst for the hobby. Aquascaping forums see a surge of activity around early December as the majority of aquascapers plan for the competition while the professionals start much earlier. All this activity bring a buzz and excitement to the hobby. New comers are often taken up with all that is going on and it is a great way to get started in the hobby.

The superb aquascaping works by the top aquascapers will continue to have the same effect on the community as Takashi Amano’s initial works. Numerous aquascapers started the hobby after getting inspired by his works, the hobby today is constantly enriched because of the top aquascapes that are released annually due to the IAPLC.

Contesting in the IAPLC has been a great way to improve the art as it adds the necessary pressure and required planning that spurs improvement. Entry to the IAPLC is free and the 2012 contest has a deadline of May 31st. If you have never took part in this competition, we highly encourage it! Here are the top 27 aquascapes of IAPLC 2011 to get you inspired.

Here is the link for application into the IAPLC 2012: http://en.iaplc.com/about/application.html

[TAG]

credit: The International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest | Aqua Design Amano

In the month of January, we have not published much articles. [TAG] has been quiet except for the continual polishing of our new front page and news updates. We thus owe you an explanation.

Since [TAG]‘s inception, our desire has always been to be a free and enriching resource to you, the aquarist. As such, we have refused to sell products, review products favourably for benefits or accept donations. The only exception is our little shop, in which we retail our complete aquariums at below cost. Although implementing all of the above will greatly help our finances, we have long decided not to, so that your experience with us as an independent gazette is always preserved.

The direction we took to finance [TAG] was to invite aquatic companies to partner us by establishing a presence on our well-read front page. And even then, our priority was not to ‘milk’ the companies, but to ensure that they have a platform to make themselves known to you. We therefore kept the partnership very affordable and only approached companies that have a good track record of genuine care and respect for their customers. To date, only one of these companies have partnered with us. However in their defence, a vast majority of them are small, family-owned and passionate start ups, every cent counts for them. But what they can’t help us in sustenance, they have given in knowledge, advice and encouragement. For that, we are extremely grateful.

At the end of the day, finance is still needed to keep [TAG] going. To reduce the bleeding that we have experienced since April 2011, we decided to take a sabbatical for January while continuing to brainstorm on how we could raise the needed finance. Then about a week ago, WordPress contacted us to give the happy news that [TAG] has been identified as a good fit for their new WordAds initiative. It is no exaggeration to say that we felt like we were given a golden ticket, just like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Once WordPress approves [TAG] for WordAds, we will be able to generate the required finances to keep the filters, lights and laptops going. We won’t even need to seek out corporate partnerships and our front page can be used as a bridge between exemplary aquatic companies and you, at no cost. The community will then have the potential to be stronger and the full spectrum of the hobby will benefit.

So like any new aquarium, we think that [TAG] is finally coming out of the intial algae infestation stage. As we stabilise and mature, look forward to video reviews, walkabouts in our local fish shops and contests with fantastic prizes. Thank you for your patience with us, we are finally going to be out of the weeds!

Much Love, [TAG]

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 62,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

[TAG]

With 2012 fast approaching, we have been deep in thought on how [TAG] should move forward into the new year. 2011 has been incredible and we did not have an inkling in our early months that the aquatic community would embrace us so strongly. Thank you so much for your support!

2012 is going to be a great year for [TAG]. On top of continuously innovating, to delivering a higher standard and polish in all that we currently do, we have three dreams that we want to see fulfilled in 2012.

The first is to make every effort to engage you. We are dreaming of a vibrant community that takes up resident here. To achieve this, we will be concentrating on two mediums, Facebook and comments.

To give you a reason to visit us on Facebook, we have ramped up its activity in early December and will continue to be very active on it. A big part of this hobby of ours has always been the community of hobbyists that we all belong to. All of us started with no knowledge and we learnt as we go along. For most of us, a big part of our learning was through the help of this community. [TAG] will make every effort to cultivate this community at our Facebook page. Unlike an open forum, any question posted on our Facebook page will be researched by our team and answered with certainty. Also, all other experienced hobbyists will be able to comment on your post as well. We greatly encourage you to frequent our Facebook page and to post pictures, questions, comments or criticisms.

We really love and appreciate all your comments! Although our statistics show that we are rapidly growing in viewership, there is nothing better than seeing an increase in comment activity. Your comments enable us to connect with you directly and to encourage you, we are committed to answer all your comments within the same day.

The second dream we have is to improve the way you view [TAG]. Our gazette’s easy interface has been a strength when compared to other aquarium websites, but we also understand that it can be a weakness when long articles fill up the front page and scrolling becomes a pain. Because of the limitations of our template, we have spent long sessions in thinking out of the box on how to implement a sleeker interface for your viewing pleasure.

As part of the improved interface, our home page of three columns will be permanently spilt into three sections. The first column will be feature a News Feed in which we highlight notable news throughout the aquatic world. The second and third columns will feature our latest posts in a very condensed form, ensuring that our home page stays much neater than it is now. Clicking into the second and third columns will bring you to the article’s dedicated page. Such an interface will always help those with slower internet connections as you will not be forced to load a data heavy home page.

The third dream we have for [TAG] in 2012 is a big one, to establish our own film unit, TAG TV. This will enable us to do all our reviews in a film and picture format. Also, we will be able to take you into local fish shops and trade shows around the region and see them as though you were there. Film is a fantastic format, it will enable us to literally break away with these walls of text and be more personal with you. We have identified the filming equipment we need, and we are setting into motion the establishment of our film department. All we need now is for the funds to flow in. If you want to see TAG TV realised, please continue to make us a daily part of your hobby and we will not only deliver to you a better viewing experience, but a more involving one.

An aquatic company recently commented that it was good [TAG] is still going strong, with the death rate of independent aquatic blogs or gazettes being very high. They voice out their concern because we are still solely lacking of partners, in spite of our increasing views.

Our reply was that [TAG] is here to stay, no matter if we get partners or not. Without partners, our dreams will just be implemented much slower, but they will be implemented. We love this hobby as much as you do, and when the going gets tough, we are just going to keep going. We will always be here to ensure that your hobby gets enriched.

[TAG]

Christmas is almost upon us! During this magical season, wallets are loosen and our mind stops to rationalise purchases. Our cash take on wings and our rooms fill up with stuff that seemingly do not make much sense in January.

At [TAG], the Christmas spirit is just as infectious and some of us here, just can’t stop singing off-tuned Christmas jingles at the top of our voices. Much to the chagrin of our fauna and fellow humans, who are in possession of more sane minds.

To help prevent you from weeping as you try figuring a way to hook up your beautiful calcium reactor to your discus aquarium in January, here is our recommendations for Christmas. Hopefully, it will lead you to what you really need!

The items on this list have been chosen because we feel they are special to the hobby. These are items that have been designed with inspiration, built superbly and some will be looked backed as a legend. They are by no means a must-have, but rather, really nice-to-have. Do leave a comment and let us know what you think of our choices! Enjoy your Christmas shopping!

Tank
ADA Cube Garden | 60P

Many have tried, all have failed. No other aquarium company can yet produce with consistency, this example of a superb aquarium tank. With its low iron glass, clean silicon work and braceless construction, many aquarists have been wowed into silence when they received their ADA Cube Garden for the first time. Of all the Cube Garden sizes, we chose the 60P for this Christmas list as its measurements of 60cm(length) x 30cm (depth) x 36cm (height) are really pleasing. This tank is not too big to find space for, yet of enough size to not be of a limitation.

Takashi Amano once said, that of all the Cube Gardens, the 60P is his favourite for aquascaping, we agree with him wholeheartedly.

Light
EcoPico LED Arm

Can Ecoxotic please let us know who was the genius behind the EcoPico LED Arm? We need to know the name to whisper in thanks, every time we lay our eyes on our LED Arm.

While we waited years for the big lighting companies to produce a reliable and decently designed LED unit for the nano tank, Ecoxotic not only beat them to it, but came up with a LED unit that looks like it has been designed by a top fashion house. Sexy, sleek, solid, special and superb are the few words that spill out of our mouths every time someone asks us about it. It’s completely versatile for the low to high tech aquarium, from freshwater to marine set ups. The LEDs that Ecoxotic use will last you 17 years with a photo-period of 8 hours a day. And, it is supported by a customer service which makes us wish we could contact them more often.

All of these packaged in a drop dead design. Need we say more?

Filter
Eheim Classic 2213

Once in a blue moon, a product is created and executed to such a level of refinement that it not only stays relevant for a long time, but its popularity is undiminished by the passing of time. The Eheim Classics have been around for a very long time and are Eheim’s first cannister filters. Since then, no less than 9 more advanced external filter models have been launched. In any other manufacturer’s product cycle, the Eheim Classics would have been phased out by now, but continual demand has kept them on the shelves.

Because the Eheim Classic is such a simple and straightforward filter, they are known to easily last a decade or more. The impeller, which is the only moving part in the entire filter, is easily user replaceable. The best thing about the Classics is the killer backwash ability, which means that you will never have to open up the filter, nor move away from your aquarium, when you need to wash your filter media. Of all the Eheim Classics, we choose the 2213 to be on this list as it is the only Classic to come equipped with a media basket. The media basket is incredibly handy if you want to flush the filter’s enclosure, without messing around with filter media.

Reliable, long-lasting, effective water bypass because of its round body, and with a low power consumption, the Eheim Classics are going to continue being around till someone figures out how to top this almost perfect design.

Filter Media
Seachem Purigen

Seachem’s Purigen is one of those products that sounds too good to be true. Here is a filter media that is actually so good that some don’t believe its claims and dismisses them as marketing language.

But Purigen is really such a wonderful product. It absorbs impurities and polishes water to such a clarity that you be spoiled not to settle for anything less. And unlike activated carbon, it is stronger, rechargeable and is visually indicative of when it needs to be cleaned. If you feed your fauna heavily, then we feel Purigen is indispensable, in controlling the high levels of organic waste.

Every filter in every aquarium, should have Purigen inside it. Ultimate Filtration, it is.

[TAG]

image credits: Aqua Design Amano | Ecoxotic | Tipy.pl | Seachem

We have just realised that our comments setting were set wrongly during our last data maintenance four months ago. Because of this wrong setting, several of your comments have stayed hidden and we did not answer them till today. We sincerely apologise for this oversight and would like you to know that we treasure all comments and hope to get many more of them.

As we grow rapidly, there are times when our cutting edge site template, threatens to become a bloody mess. We appreciate your understanding and we will work harder! Keep those comments coming!

[TAG]

picture credit: Tex’s Cartoon Ranch