“Wow – that’s beautiful“. This how people typically react upon seeing a lovingly created aquarium landscape. Whether an aquascape, biotope or community aquarium - creativity knows no bounds. But what expense and skills does it take to create such a harmonious underwater landscape in your own home?
This was the central question being answered for the participants and visitors at the Tierwelt exhibition, Magdeburg in April. Within a limited time range, using comparable materials and with an identical budget, five teams, each comprising two apprentices and one teacher (the master/specialist in a field), conjured up some first class underwater landscapes, which anyone can reproduce at little effort and expense at home. Unlike other similar events, The Master School of Aquarium Design is a real workshop. The teams don’t compete, they collaborate. The way they help each other is reminiscent of a cookery course. The aim is for the masters to provide the apprentices with valuable advice and expertise, for them to apply at home and to pass on to other aquarists. Visitors to the exhibition also took this as an opportunity to roll up their sleeves, ask questions, join in the teams’ work at times and discover at close quarters how underwater landscapes evolve.
The teams
The “masters” leading the teams were: Jurijs Jutjajevs (Jurijs with JS), Tobias Gawrisch (AquaOwner), Thorsten Peetz, Stefan Graf & Philip Schwarz and Garwin Borschewski. The onus was not only on the experts to source their own performance and skills, but also to guide their “apprentices” into creating a high-quality result. In the following gallery you can see the masters with their apprentices in front of the finished aquariums - very impressive!
Procedure & impressions
Together with the companies Tropica et Fluval JBL made this event possible again. By joining up with a variety of specialists to run and support this event we not only ensured a balance of styles, but also provided a good help for the masters and apprentices taking part. Problems, technical questions and discussions were dealt with in advance in a joint WhatsApp group, which is still active weeks after the event. During the event, we as industry sponsors, provided an important link between visitors and participants and gave technical help whenever problems arose. Each company supplied products from its core range. The aquarium, a Fluval Fresh F90, was supplied by Fluval Deutschland, together with technical items and furnishings. Tropica supplied the complete plant assortment, which was of a value that had been set beforehand. From us came all the other equipment and care products, as well as the accessories required during and after the event. Unlike after some popular competitions you’ll be able to find all the materials used at any well-stocked specialist retailer, so that you can reproduce the aquarium. To help you to get started we’re going to give you an introduction to all five aquarium types in detail in the coming weeks. There the masters will answer your questions.
In addition two videos and an audio podcast are currently being produced and they will show you this event from a very different angle. To give you a short foretaste, we have created a picture gallery of over 100 photos. Just click on the right arrow or wipe to the side to browse through the selection.
Finally we would like to thank all the participants who made this event a real highlight, especially for the spectators. To bring together 15 individualists in one group and to create five perfect aquariums with this vibrant mixture was only possible with the strong team spirit and the commitment of every single member. Thank you!
