IIAC 2017 received 803 entries from 38 countries and areas.
IIAC 2017 PARTY
TOP 50 IIAC 2017 WORLD RANKING
01 - Malaysia - Josh Sim - Congo - 320L02 - China - Su-Ni Wei - Journey - 320L03 - China - Wen-Lin Ruan - The Ghouls - 320L04 - China - Yi He - Rustling Leaves in the Wind - 200L 320L05 - Indonesia - Heri Amir - Rasio Wild - 200L 320L06 - China - Jun-Feng Pan - Fairys Palace - 320L07 - Viet Nam - The Le van - Let it be - 320L08 - Indonesia - Jeffry - Little Paradise - 320L09 - Taiwan - Kevin Liu - Autumn Immersion - 320L10 - China - Zhe-Min Fan - Spring Breeze - 200L 320L11 - Thailand - Jirawong Laopiyasakul - Layers - 28L 60L12 - Taiwan - Tsai-Li Hsu - Colorful - 120L 200L13 - Taiwan - Kevin Liu - Colorful Wilnderness - 320L14 - Brazil - Fernando Roberto de Moraes - Valley off Dedication - 28L 60L15 - Taiwan - Harry Chen - Season Change - 120L 200L16 - Taiwan - Sung-Bin Chen - Colorful Forest - 120L 200L17 - China - Hong Xu - Embrace - 320L18 - Malaysia - Yeo Siak Wee - Home - 200L 320L19 - Taiwan - Ray Lee - The Twin Peaks - 60L 120L20 - United States - Zoltan Csanyi - Forbidden Woods - 120L 200L21 - Taiwan - Tsai-Li Hsu - Spring - 120L 200L22 - Brazil - Marcio Santana Sobrinho - Gunga's cliff - 28L 60L23 - Hungary - Szili-Kis József - Green path - 120L 200L24 - Brazil - Leonardo Alves de Oliveira - Freedom Call - 120L 200L25 - Hungary - Gabor Vereb - Dutch World - 200L 320L26 - China - Xue Wang - Coziness - 60L 120L27 - Viet Nam - The Le van - Rock Valley - 320L28 - Brazil - Juliano Pinto Cunha - Way Back Home - 320L29 - Brazil - Carlos Souza - FRIENDS - 28L 60L30 - Thailand - Eakthanut Isarathikul - River flow in Your - 28L 60L31 - Taiwan - Bo-Chun Change - A diamond in the Rough - 120L 200L32 - Brazil - Fabricio Rufino de Souza - Origens - 200L 320L33 - Taiwan - He-Cheng Lin - Forest - 320L34 - United States - Michael G.W. Wong - Standing Tall - 320L35 - Indonesia - Dody Percasso - JIMBARO - 120L 200L36 - Turkey - Emin KARAAHMETOGLU - The Deep In The Forest - 60L 120L37 - China - Shu-Gang Jin - Mountain - 200L 320L38 - Brazil - Andy Andrade - Treading horizons - 28L 60L39 - Taiwan - Yen-Bin Chan - Autumn Red Valley - 200L 320L40 - Turkey - Fatih Gönül - Mysterious Forest Roads - 320L41 - Taiwan - Sung-Bin Chen - Jurassic Forest - 200L 320L42 - China - Jia-Hui Sun - Spring is in the Air - 60L 120L43 - Brazil - Flavio Henard Jorge de Freitas - Inspiration in vitro - 200L 320L44 - China - Jin Liang - Ancient Trail - 320L45 - Thailand - Nobphacha Yimyou - COLOURFUL JUNGLE - 200L 320L46 - Indonesia - Luky Ardiansyah - Sempel jungle - 200L 320L47 - Thailand - Eakthanut Isarathikul - i Scream - 28L 60L48 - Brazil - Andy Andrade - The River Between Mountains - 28L 60L49 - Brazil - Sheila Araujo - Vale do Rio Doce - 28L 60L
The four American photographs selected here all contain important wood structures, yet they do not produce one uniform wooded scene. A broad canopy, a low diagonal, a fine-leaved light window and an exposed timber subject organise attention differently. That variation lets us discuss design diversity through specific decisions rather than a broad national label.
A dark wooded frame, a rocky valley, a brighter mixed scene and green-covered root contours make this German selection particularly useful for comparison. The photographs share an interest in separating materials from the water around them, but achieve it through different outlines and lighting relationships.
Dense foliage, planted wood ridges and a low central route create different senses of distance in this four-work selection. The photographs are particularly rewarding when viewed through changes in leaf shape and planting height. They offer a present-season comparison with an archive that once described both graceful composition and more contemporary experimentation.
Three Thai aquariums in the published Top 300 present contrasting visual priorities. MAGIC LEAVES makes the water surface a signature; another work carries a route beneath planted arches; a third exposes rock peaks against rounded greenery. This small group gives a useful reason to look beyond the first shared award photograph.
The four Indonesian works published at ranks 1–300 offer a compact comparison. A coloured surface canopy, a dominant trunk, a dense grove and a wood-and-rock opening all reward close attention. The small group makes it possible to examine every represented work in this range, while keeping the conclusions specific to this season and cutoff.
A bright gap between broad wood layers, a fine-leaved canopy and a conspicuous individual fish offer three different entrances to this Malaysian selection. The photographs invite attention to the space inhabited by fish as well as the hardscape around it. They also show why a creator’s reputation and a new aquarium’s visual decisions should be discussed separately.
Enchanted Hills offers an immediately recognisable rock valley, with coloured planting and fish in bright water. Three other selected Brazilian photographs build their scenes around substantial wood. Seeing them together is a useful way to revisit a familiar label without asking individual creators to fit a single national recipe.
A pale path through hanging roots and a bright interval between exposed rocks can both make an aquarium feel spacious. Japan’s 2026 selection is rewarding because it places these different approaches beside richly planted foregrounds and coloured slopes. Six photographs offer a practical way to discuss variety within a familiar Nature Aquarium heritage.
The Grand Prize photograph gives this study an obvious first stop, but the comparison becomes richer when it reaches beyond the winner. Six selected aquariums show different ways of framing light with wood: unequal trunks, fine leaf curtains, successive arches and repeated vertical roots. Their interest lies in how each arrangement keeps a densely constructed scene readable.
Vietnam’s two leading 2026 awards both invite us into wooded environments. That is an interesting starting point for revisiting an archive which once associated the country strongly with stone. The most useful reading is not that one material has defeated the other. Six selected photographs show several ways of organising planted ground, open water and the route into a scene.
The CIAC 2026 Aquascaping Category results have received an official update. A results sheet distributed by the organising committee on 14 October lists ranks 14–119, extending the ranking information available beyond the image cards previously covered by AquaLibs.
The CIAC 2026 story continues beyond the Top 30. This AquaLibs report brings together the contest image cards labelled 31–70, introducing more creators and forty positions to explore.
Ten aquariums can draw us underwater in ten different ways. A luminous forest opening, a red surface canopy or an exposed rock valley changes where we look—and what we discover next.
Chuanwei Yu’s 万物自然, the IAPLC 2026 Grand Prize aquascape, is immediately recognisable as a woodland scene. Its lasting interest lies in how that scene holds together. Large trunks establish the setting, finer roots connect its layers, planting softens the structure and fish make the spaces between the wood feel inhabited.
The CIAC 2026 podium offers three remarkably different ways to make an aquarium feel larger than its glass boundaries. Trần Anh Đức’s “Tectonic Memory” builds its world through folded rock contours. Acho Choky’s “Under The Cave” places the viewer beneath a dark canopy. Zhao Gang’s “幽邃” draws us through a planted valley animated by blue fish.
Vietnam’s Trần Anh Đức has won the CIAC 2026 Aquascaping Group with “Tectonic Memory,” leading the newly published Top 30. Indonesia’s Acho Choky takes second place with “Under The Cave,” while China’s Zhao Gang (赵刚) finishes third with “幽邃.”
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