First Place - Elysium Garden

[Art]

Image copyright © Cheattha See-Teaw

Artist: Cheattha Sae-Teaw
Location: Thailand

Volume (liters) 450

Length x Width x Height (cm) 150-60-50

Plants
1.Eriocaulon Vietnam
2.Bacopa colorata
3.Lobelia cardinalis ‘Drawf’
4.Myriophyllum sp. Guyana
5.Rotala colorata
6.Cyperus helferi
7.Rotala macrandra green
8.Limnophila aquatica ‘Giant Ambulia’
9.Cabomba Furcata ‘piauhyensis’
10.Ludwegia sphaerocarpa ‘pilosa’
11.Ludwegia inclinata verticillata ‘tornado’
12.Lidwegia sp. Mini super red
13.Ludwegia inclinata var. verticillata ‘Cuba’
14.Pogostemon erectus
15.Alteranthera Reineckii ‘Rosanervig’
16.Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘Flamingo’
17.Hermianthus micranthemoides ‘Pearl Weed”
18.Heteranthera zosterifolia ‘Stargrass’
19.Micranthemum tweediei “Monte Carlo”
20. Juncus repens
21. Hydrogotyle tripartita
22. Bucephalandra pygmaea ‘Wavy green’
23. Bucephalandra sp. ‘Brownie Red’
24.Nymphaea sp. ‘dwarf red rabbit ears’
25. Nymphaea sp. ‘green rabbit ears’
26. Nymphoides hydrophylla ’Taiwan’
27.Blyxa japonica
28.Hygrophila lancea
29.Limnophila hippuridoides
30.Hyptis lorentziana

Fish
Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi
Hemigrammus rodwayi
Carinotetraodon travancoricus
Macrotocinclus affinis
Neocaridina denticulata

Additional info
Lighting : Chihiros WRGB 120 1 set
Filtration : Canister : Crazy Stone CS-1400 1 set
Material : Substrate : Crazy Stone Amazon Soil + Raw Base
Pressurized CO2 with diffuser
Fertilizers : TARA Fertilizers A,B and TARA Bio-Stimulants

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[Art]

Judges comments​

Gregg Zydeck

This tank hit the sweet spot with my main criteria. Like a good piece or art it holds my gaze and brings me in. Reminds me in some ways of a nature scape but it’s all done with plants. Just a beau􏰀ful presenta􏰀on. Normally don’t like to see reds/pinks/orange grouped together, but for this tank it works.

Joe Harvey

This is brilliant. I really like the overall flow of this tank. The Lobelia street is really well done. It appears to go all the way back and disappears right into the focal spot. My only real knock is there are too many similar colors next to each other starting with the B colorata.

Marian Sterian

Impressive composition. I like the way you have chosen the plants which are in excellent health and i love the flow.
As a personal preference, i would have added a bit more green plants. The rest is perfect.
Congratulations.

Dennis Wong

Great display with good contrast of colors and textures. The different bushes are well manicured and in good health. The layering has been done in way that looks naturalistic and showcase the beauty of different species.

Vin Kutty

This is the epitome of garden style aquascaping. This is as good as it gets.

Clearly my choice for winner here. I don't think the other judges would argue. This hobbyist needs to be banned from contests for a few years. I'm joking, of course, but as long as he is competing, don't count on taking the top spot.

Having said that, I have two complaints: first and most important is that I have already seen numerous posts and pictures of this tank on social media during the last year. So, there is absolutely no novelty and that is a shame. And the second complaint is...well, no, I don't have a second complaint.

 

[Unexpected]

Stunning, well deserved!

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Really beautiful work... Drool

 

[shopaquariumfish.com]

Amazing garden! It truly does have the feel of a nature scape with out the hardscape. Well done!

 

[gjcarew]

Really lovely, great work!

 

[Bolbi]

Amazing work! It has some attributes of NA style, love it!