How do you make a top-class aquatic plant aquarium in the world ? Don't you guys care? Yeah ... people don't care about that, he thinks yes - Katsuki Tanaka / Japan
Even those who are doing aquatic plant aquariums have a small number of people to put up in the contest. It's a quiet hobby, aquatic plant aquariums. But the adviser is super worried! How do you make a world-class aquarium? Five years ago, when we started listing, we really wanted to know that! I'm sure there are a few people who read this blog and want to know about it, right?
here we go! With maniac information and a big lifting of the ban, this year as well, we will divide it into some steps on how to make the annual Racon work!
First of all, since the advisor is aiming for the world grand prix, we will start from the strategy of creating works that cut into the top rank .
Anyway, with an impressive composition!
Step 1: Ideas
It is essential that the work that digs into the top of the contest is a work that has an impact that clearly sets it apart from other works and gives an unforgettable impression once you see it . Since there is a standard of "directing a feeling" , points will be deducted if the composition is too outlandish and unusual .
It's been a trend for the last few years to have a fantastic, déjà vu, expansive landscape that appears in the world of movies and games .
How to express shadows
As a directing picture of a dark space that protects itself from foreign enemies to secure a comfortable living environment where fish do not feel stress, the world can express how to express the shadow (black) part in an original way. It will be a top-level work of
Relentless creation
The nature aquarium method , which loosely expresses the form of aquatic plants, is no longer novel and many exhibitors are expressing it in a limited aquarium space, so the level of madness of the fineness of creation is increasing year by year. In recent years, it has been a tendency for people to get high scores after all, because they are tired of watching, they are not soothing or shit, and they are disgusting. If you overdo it, you will be deducted.
Even in the aquarium faculty, detailed manual production
It's annoying to make, delicate craft-oriented, advisors are not good at it, but there is no choice but to do it patiently. Even though it is a waterweed layout contest, laying out aquatic plants is not the same as building and adhering stones and driftwood, and the world of crafting. This is the trend of the current world aquatic plant layout contest.
With those in mind, I will draw an idea sketch of the work exhibited in 2016 .
Before creating the design
There are layouts that you shouldn't do . It's a familiar, outdated, mundane layout that's buried in others .
Vertical stone-framed driftwood on the meadow
Scenery that resembles driftwood as a tree Stonework + stalked grass mountains
Stone vertical assembly distant view mountain layout
Easy-to-understand triangular composition Central arch
Giant tree center primeval forest
If you do such a layout, it will be leaked to the world selection (within 100th place) It is an NG layout as of 2016, which has a high risk of hitting 0 points in terms of originality and impression (only the layout specialized for the contest).
Based on that I tried to draw various sketches, Here, trial and error of the design I wish I could show you the idea sketches of various composition variations, but I do not have them at hand ... Only this one
This sketch became the basic concept of this work I've been sticking to the form of light and shadow for a long time, but this time I 'd like to look at light and try to express excessive light. I came up with that
Have you ever had a work that emits light from the bottom floor?
Speaking of bottom floor, white sand The white sand boom, where many top layout outerwear is laid with white sand, is still a common technique in recent years. Using white for the bottom of the screen is an effective and good method to complement the layout. , No novelty
Make the bottom floor emit light
What and how do you physically achieve that? How about using a mirror? I've never seen a work that reflected light there
"Let's make an aquarium that I have never seen!" - Amano San
( It should not be a work that imitates the appearance of Amano 's work . The type of mane will make the Nature Aquarium a mere ghost. Instead of imitating the appearance, it will imitate the attitude of creation.)
And I want to do more playful things! I wonder if it's okay to use a mirror in the aquarium ... Isn't it putting extra stress on the fish?
The problem is piled up ...
The aquarium work is a painting that makes full use of the mirror effect on both sides and the part that hits the water surface at the top from the front angle . , Should be a material that produces a very familiar effect
When using a mirror, the perspective method is used within a depth of 45 cm, so it is placed at an angle. Light from to the front is also required. If you inject water, the refractive index of the light will change . The problem is piled up ...
Furthermore, if a mirror is used on the bottom floor, a water stagnation area will be created underneath . To avoid this, most of the bottom floor must be made of pumice stone to create a lot of gaps to supply oxygen. The water absorption pipe must create a system that sucks water from the bottom floor
It is expected that the water absorption pipe that has entered the bottom floor will be clogged with dust and soil. A special cover is required ... I don't sell such a cover anywhere!
The problem is piled up ... At this time (just around this time last year), the adviser was always serious and sometimes unscrupulous.
Step 3: Hardscape
It ’s from creating a system to realize the layout idea .
Water absorption pipe cover production
Sober work
Easy
Acrylic partition board bought without a mark The work of marking the place to make a hole is easy
Be indifferent and drill a hole
It ’s a very painstaking task. You will hear a loud drill noise and you will be injured if you are not focused. Your shoulders will be stiff and your arm muscles will be fluffy ...
But what's the fun!
Time to immerse yourself in work Time of innocence
Carefully align the intervals and make holes.
The handicraft of sitting down.
Time goes by in a blink of an eye.
Narcotic properties that cannot be stopped once started
I'm not commanded by anyone
The joy of making voluntary things
This is freedom ~
It's a time I can't give up to have an innocent time in my life that seems like a waste of stacking stones (I definitely don't like it if it's a part-time job!)
I refused to invite dinner from the embassy or secret meetings with celebrities, so I was absorbed in the work.
The bottom floor of the mirror, which is laid with a mirror and tilted at 45 degrees, is completed!
I'm laying out stones on this mirror, but I wonder if it will work ~~~
High risk ~~~~~!
The back of the aquarium looks like this
Prevention of oxygen deficiency! It will also be a hotbed for bacteria
A problem occurs here!
Isn't the light of the metal halide lamp coming directly into your eyes and making it too dazzling?
Fear!
The process of stacking stones on a mirror with an inclination angle of 45 degrees in a glass aquarium!
Anyway, it's dazzling!
Wear sunglasses!
Even so, the glass surface is full of scratches ... I got stuck while putting stones in and out many times.
It's been about two years since I bought it, but ... It's a little inconspicuous if you inject water , but the layout aquarium looks like this.
The stone slides out and collides with the front glass, and it's burnt! While predicting the crisis ...
Work with a towel
If a stone falls from your hand and the mirror breaks, you're done It's always crazy and not fun!
If the mirror breaks , I will finish immediately and go on a trip (to a sauna a little far away)
Epoxy putty for underwater is used to bond stones to each other. This is the smell of perm solution. It is not the original usage, so I will not say the product name.
After arranging stones to some extent, we will lay out the driftwood.
There is only 45 cm in depth, and the steep slope is unavoidable because we have to express perspective in it.
Fill the gaps between the stones with cotton. Make sure that the soil does not come down.
It takes half a day for the adhesive to harden, so fix it with masking tape until then.
I also added soil
Repeat again until the layout gives you a feeling of underwater and natural feeling of the flow of water .
Add and subtract, subtract and add Mirrors filled with material are no longer dazzling
Take off your sunglasses (like the last scene in a movie) Does the weight of the material break the mirror? My eyes are scared, my mouth is dry, and my armpit sweat is soaked ...
While firmly vowing to never do such a layout again ...
Step 4: Planting
Once the layout is decided, it is planting. Most of the labor of making the work is spent at this time when there is no water.
Planting is like a finishing touch over a large mountain of creation. Just put the aquatic plant material
The era of carefully winding moss around driftwood with thread is over.
Just whistle and put it on with your bare hands . It is a mist type and is managed (leaved) for 1 to 2 months without water injection, so moss will take root in driftwood and aquatic plants will take root in soil during that time.
Cover tightly to prevent moisture from escaping .
We sometimes hear reports of mold growth during the mist period, and we have not yet had such experience, and we can only predict the cause, for example, organic matter-soaked materials, agar-cultured aquatic plants, etc. I think that you should not use breeding water, cause mold, do not bring nutrients into the agar, and do not use slow-growing aquatic plants.It is also a countermeasure to add a large amount of aquatic plants from the beginning . In the same wetland space, mold and aquatic plants are in an antagonistic state, and when it dries, the fungus feels a survival crisis and seems to scatter spores and multiply, so keep the humidity firmly . It's easy to dry, so it's a good idea to use a mist.
There are some parts that haven't been planted yet , but for the time being, let's leave it to the passage of time.
The aquatic plants used in the mist-type breeding are new large pearl grass and weaving moss . The characteristics of this grass are that it is not difficult to grow, and I like how it hangs down when it breeds. It's a classic
The dripping and dripping modeling has a great effect on the production of hot and humid essence in the waterscape. It is also a measure for the judges who are noisy underwater.The expression of dripping in the dark can make a picture with very high humidity.
It is a mist type management
The upper part of the embankment is a little dry, so sometimes I open the lid and spray it.
At this time, I have nothing to do, so I just watch over
It's been about two weeks, but there isn't much movement in the growth of aquatic plants.
I have no choice but to play around with the layout. Efforts to grow aquatic plants in stock aquariums
Layout on the mirror It will continue to be unpredictable, but the growth of aquatic plants is going well .
Two months later, it ’s Mossa Mosa.
This is the end of mist-type management. Water is injected and normal management is started.
When you open the lid, you can smell the scent of the forest around Okutama.
Water injection ceremony
Slowly inject water
Doesn't it crumble or is throbbing
Water entered and stalked grass was planted in the upper background space.
Attach CO2 equipment
After polishing the glass part, Pickan! It's dazzling!
The water is stable and the grass is vigorously trimmed to finish the picture.
After 3 weeks, I put in fish. It ’s the same Tetra Auro as last year.
Step 5: Final
Outstanding transparency, the aquarium is in season
Enter the final finish
The stonework on the mirror will not collapse even after water injection, so it seems that we can safely reach the shooting day as it is. By the way, the day of shooting has come without any trouble or unexpected development.
I wonder why the fish come closer to the most dazzling part. Is that so?
We asked the members of Studio Yukai to shoot this time as well . Please take a picture of the aquarium that will be the world grand prix!
This time I want to show the rays from below! Request that You will also get a prize, so you can pay for the shooting! An adviser who is accused of fraud every year while flickering a reward
Even if you do your best, I'll cry! fool!
Finely adjust the light to the part you want to show
The light reflected by the mirror was dazzling even during shooting
However, when I was convinced of the image I took, I couldn't see the visible rays of light ..
Further adjustments, ingenuity, experiments
The shooting champion took the picture, so there's no more luxury than that.
An advisor who guides a school of fish and adjusts its position during shooting
It's hard to come to the ideal place
I shoot so many pictures that the hard disk becomes fluffy
There must be one in it that captures the moment of a miracle!
This series, which we have delivered under the title of "How to make the 4th largest aquatic plant aquarium in the world", is also the final step.
Thank you for your long relationship and a little more patience!
in the end…While creating the layout, my hand slipped, the stone fell into the mirror, and it collapsed! I couldn't make it in time because the grass didn't grow well! I was able to sell it safely without any interesting material .
Let's look at it in chronological order
Start in October 2015
October-November Assembling stone and driftwood materials
December-January Planting and mist management
February-Normal water injection management (fish are put in 20 days before shooting)
Completed in April (deadline, one month to spare)
It was a production period of about 7 months. Anyway, it was dazzling all the time
Now that the results of the contest have been announced, you can find out why you couldn't win the Grand Prix, why, and where you made a decisive failure. I've done it, so I'll use it for my next work.
There are some points to reflect on, but first of all, I was able to cheer up something I had never done before. There was no significant blurring in the prediction and reality of the completion. I did a lot of simple work every day , such as making water-absorbing pipe covers, polishing stones, and gluing them . Jin ...
We thank the CAJ members, shooting staff, and ADA for their cooperation.
The back of the aquarium
Even after shooting, I continued to maintain it, but the aquatic plants did not mess with me, and I enjoyed the maintenance very much.
Except for dazzling things ...
Forget about the work for the contest
I would like to enjoy being a single spectator for a while as a simple aquatic plant aquarium .
Author Katsuki Tanaka blog / seikasuisoubu
Leave your comments