niko

Many tanks to Aquarium Design Group (ADG) for hosting the joint meeting of the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFWAPC) and the Houston (NASH) clubs!

We put the effort to bring new people to this trip. People that had never seen how a planted tank is set up. We all agreed that the visit to ADG, the planted tank set-up demonstration, the people we met, and the event as a whole could not be better!

Among everybody involved in the event special thanks to Jeff Senske (ADG) for being extremely thorough and helpful with our many questions! He spend more than 4 hours responding to us while taking us through every step of the process of setting up an aquascape.

There were numerous people involved in the preparation of the event and it went very smoothly. If your local club is planning a similar event and you have to travel don't even doubt that you will get your money's worth and much much more! The ADG showroom, the people that run it, the Houston club members, the food, the abundant free plants both from ADG and NASH, the interaction - all made us literally dizzy with excitement.

Take a look for yourself on the DFWAPC web site or just browse the larger images in the subsequent posts.

The pictures that you see are only part of all the pictures that we took. There will be more later, please check back!

--Nikolay

niko

Jeff Senske from ADG sets up an aquascape in a 180 gallons Oceanic tank special ordered without a center brace.

Luis Navarro introduces Jeff Senske (ADG):


Behind the scenes preparations before the presentation. Jeff and Ricky Cain:


Anubias attached to rocks using ADA's wire:


Close up of the attached Anubias:


The tank has white sand in front and ADA AquaSoil Amazonia in the back:



Luis wrapping Java Moss on rocks:


Trimming the wrapped moss produces even and dense growth.


Jeff is preparing to place an Anubias in the tank:


Placing the Anubias behind the wood. The attached rock will keep it in place.


Planting Crypocoryne using thick tweezers:


Luis is preparing some more Crypts:


Wrapping Java Moss on wood using green cotton thread.


Wrapping Java Moss:


The green cotton thread will disintegrate in a few weeks:


Placing the Java Moss stones that Luis prepared in advance:


Adding Java Fern to the wood is often done by wedging the plant in the wood cracks but that needs to be done reliably because the plant may float up.


The long leafed Cryptocoryne balansae is planted in the back:


The finished aquascape from the side:

John P.

Great pictures on the site. Thanks for going to the trouble!

donmartinr

what kind of light fixture is that?
Why can't aquarium clubs in Chicago be as active as you guys?

niko

Donmartinr,

The light fixture is a 72" Coralife Aqualight that has 3 x 150 HQI (Metal Halide double ended) bulbs (ADA brand) and 4 96 watt compact fluorescents. The fixture is extremely low profile as you can see.

The cables go up and into the ceiling. The timer and power are in the ceiling so no cables go down - behind or beside the tank.

I don't know how active is the Chicago club but the main problem is the flying - it maybe expensive. I think Jeff is willing to do a similar presentation for any group of people that can commit for a specific day and time.

--Nikolay

niko

I just added some of the pictures that Ben Belton took during the event. They are better than mine. Find them in the following albums:

http://www.aquatic-plants.org/gallery/album32?page=1
http://www.aquatic-plants.org/gallery/album33?page=1
http://www.aquatic-plants.org/gallery/album38?page=1
http://www.aquatic-plants.org/gallery/album39?page=1

--Nikolay