Just my guess, but they won't be often redecorated -- too
messy or irf pots are used they look like a pot rack; they
will mostly be new setups or mostly one plant that
eventually took over all the space; and they will show slow
growing plants -- even DW adds ferts for swords. In fact,
the robustness of certain plants would be a "tell" that the
fabric of the honor system had been slightly rent.
A problem with having lots of categories is that you get
fewer entries in each and the contest is not so large that
that's a good thing.
Otoh, I think it's tough for a soil-underlayment tank
*without* added CO2 to compete against CO2 and added fert
tanks. So this might be an exception to the problem and
actually bring in more entries.
sh
--- Phil Edwards <biotypical@hotmail.com> wrote:
I was just commenting over at APC regarding our/their
2005 contest and came
up with some thoughts about soil-based/natural
aquascapes. What do you
think?
My definition of a natural aquarium is one where there is
no external
supplimentation to un-naturally stimulate growth. Some
supplimentation is
necessary to maintain plant health dependant on regional
water chemistry.
ie: Charlotte water is really soft and lacking in
minerals so I may have to
add a little calcium or something to make up for an
essential deficiency.
This rules out regular/sustained use of CO2, PMDD, and
any commercial plant
suppliments. We're already on an honor system, this
would just have to be
an extention of that.
...I feel it would be good to have a separate
category/system for soil-based
"natural" or "no-tech" tanks. There are things that one
just can't do in a
natural tank that are taken for granted in artifically
supplimented tanks.
Natural tanks also have their own flavor/traits that are
separate of
"artifical" aquariums. A spectacular natural aquarium,
one that is a true
achievement of its type, would/could look very different
than an artificial
tank simply because the metabolic limitations prohibit
the excessive
grooming that an artificial tank can withstand. I've
been putzing around
some fish forums and am finding these "Walstad" tanks to
be gaining
popularity with people. Having a separate grouping for
tanks like this
could introduce a whole new demographic to the hobby.
Thoughts?
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