My name is Steven Chong, and I'm a competition planted aquarium designer focused on placing high in the international contests.
I am a member of the Tokyo Aquascaping Union (TAU) in Japan, as well as The Aquascaper's Collective (TAC) in North America. This channel is here to share the passion of aquascaping from the perspective of an English-speaking competitive aquascaper, located in Japan. How do competitive aquascapers plan, design, build, see differently? Hopefully this channel can show the hobby from a different angle, and help inspire more love for the art of planted aquariums.
IAPLC 2020 - World Rank 2nd - Gold IAPLC 2019 - World Rank 15th IAPLC 2018 - World Rank 5th - Bronze IIAC 2019 - World Rank 34 CIPS 2019 - World Rank 55, JPN Rep (#1) AGA 2020 - Most Innovative Award, Rank 2 AGA 2019 - Top 10 AGA 2018 - Most Innovative Award, Top 10
Nice.. I have this issue on my background. my light creates a shadow (or creates 2 tones of white) due to the Aquarium glass. you can only not see the difference if I use a background light panel or editing the pic hehehe
no stupid question! It doesn't do either job of the black tape inside, which is to 1) kill side reflections, turning them into shadows, or 2) provide an anchor spot to attach to.
Man….. the stuff you’re giving away in these videos is crazy! The music was fine! Don’t worry about that! Once you paint over the acrylic paint with lock down, is it safe for fish?
Sir it was a great information, I've watched every video from the first Masterclass series thank you for sharing with us.... And sir the background music was not good it was disturbing & can't focus on your voice please understand sir
Hi , Steve thanks for the reply .. I have not come across anyone in YT who explains in such details about the tips in competitive aquascaping. Many thanks for that. I have made a hardscape, is it possible for you to review it once ? Also would like your suggestions regarding the plant selection. This is for the IAPLC 2025.
Hi Steve san, I hope you are doing well! I have watched this video now for the 5th time and it helped me a lot with my first iwagumi aquascape 🙏 it took me several months by learning, planning and the most time of it was my confidence to start. Its so great to have all this helpfull information in just one video 🙏thank you for sharing all this information with us. I hope you will have a wonderful weekend! With love from the Netherlands 🇳🇱 Stefan
Actually Steve you are n**s. Just wow, always wanted to do a scape rocks hanging like this but just couldnt find a way or video to do it. Really man this is heaven on earth
Question @SteveScapesYT. How much will the rocks cost for a scape like this? Not everyone will be able to afford soo much stone at one time. What is your advise to someone that loves scaping but has a budget?
If I was starting off from ground zero, I’d check local quarries/landscape shops, scour local materials- anything I could find a LOT of, no matter how ugly/simplistic, is going to be more useful than a beautiful material that I have too little of. In using $$$, quantity > quality in hardscape EVERY time unless adding to an already sufficient collection
The perspective of this scape is immaculate. I really love the way you shaped the "path" to the vanishing point in the final picture, its so subtle yet intricate. The way the towering rock outscales the flat ones at the end point to create even more depth is just artistic. Thanks a lot for this video workshop Steve! Looking forward to your competition scapes this year, all the best!
I'm always amazed at your skill to build an amazing natural looking high impact aquascape. The commentary and communication of the building process is second to none! A true master that we all can learn from. My goal is to create an aquascape that communicates nature and that hasn't been created, just formed over time. Love all of your work!
Absolutely love listening to your stories while doing the most mondane of tasks. Amazing how the expanding foam played a role in the stability of that main piece of rock in the end. Didn't think it would be that stable. Wow
@@SteveScapesYT but how do you deal with algae from leaves? Manual removal? Or just let the plant over grown the algae and just regular water changes? Btw looking forward to your entries this year. Hope you keep doing videos like this.
bro u asking someone to sponsor an ro unit.. it won't even cost much to build one yourself.. 😂 trust my buy a booster pump.. and a ro diaphragm and sediment and charcoal filter fit them together and you have a ro unit that can give u around 500lts in a day.. super easy super cheap to make.. 😊 I made my own unit and i get tds like around 10-15 from 350 tap water
Nice-- will have to look into it. Off the shelf products are usually like 2-5 hundred right? But now that you mention it this is something there's a lot of vids out on (totally forgot).
