Discover the Underwater Art of Aquascaping

It’s pretty obvious that landscape design is the art of designing an area of land to be visually pleasing, but have you heard of aquascaping? It’s basically the same thing, except, in this case, designers are supposed to design a landscape for use underwater, in a fish tank or aquarium. This is actually an art that many people dedicate a lot of time and effort to, and there are even a few international aquascaping competitions.

The International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest is an aquascaping competition and is, in fact, the largest in the world. It runs much like the International Aquascaping Contest, with contestants submitting applications online, a panel of judges to judge the entries, and various cash prizes. The only difference here is that, along with the judging panel, contestants and certain aquarium professionals can vote for their favorites as well.

There are many more aquascaping contests that take place all over the world. If you browse through the galleries of any of these competitions’ websites, you’ll be floored at the talent of the aquascapers. Some creations look like natural landscapes that aren’t even underwater, and others look like photorealistic paintings of beautiful views in nature! It’s fascinating how someone can design such an intricate underwater oasis. Scenes vary from forests to deserts, to gardens, and each one is beautiful and interesting in its own way.

There is a lot more to aquascaping than meets the eye. One must take proper filtration, fertilization, lighting, and many other factors into consideration to ensure that their underwater landscape survives and thrives. Combining such technical precision with one’s own intricately developed artwork must be quite a difficult task. There is no doubt that these aquascapers put a lot of hard work and thought into their designs, and each one is truly incredible to look at.