AGA Aquascaping contest

[timebomb]

The results are out.

Too bad you didn't win anything, Dave. But your tank looks real nice. And it's huge too.

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.or...=0&vol=3&id=37

Loh K L

[zmzfam]

That's a very nice tank Dave. Very healthy plants too.

Wonder what's your maintenance regime like?

[FC]

Real nice tank, Dave. I like your wide tank and plant selections.

Well done!

[sard]

Hi Dave!
I'm amazed that you can maintain so many plants in a tank and all can survive. Indeed, your plant look very healthy.
I'm a person who speak with what I think, hope you don't mind.
There are too many kind of plants in your tank and the arrangement look a bit messy to me. The tank look nice from far, but depth no so impressive.
My view is slightly different from others, my tank look even worse then yours many times.

[discusdave]

Hi everyone,

That tank was entered in last year's (2002) contest. I couldn't enter anything in the 2003 contest because I was in the middle of selling my old house and buying and moving into another one. I was basically out of the hobby from about January 2003 until August 2003. That tank in the pictures, which is 125 gallons, was taken down and sold in January of this year. I now have a 240 gallon tank in it's place. It measures 8 feet long x 2 feet tall and 2 feet deep.

zmzfam: My maintenance regime on the 125 gallon consisted of daily additions of Seachem Equilibrium to maintain GH at 4, Seachem Alkaline Buffer to maintain KH at 4, and Tropica Mastergrow for micro/macro nutrients. I supplemented daily becasue I had an automatic water changing system that added and removed a few gallons daily.

fc: I was into my "lets get as many rare species as we can" phase with this tank. Several of the species were not available from any retail source at the time in this country and still are not. Most came from fellow hobbyists, and two or three species from my friend Kwek Leong.

sard: No problem with your critique. That is one way we learn from fellow hobbyists. I can tell you that there is a definite difference in style/philosophy between hobbyists from your area and the US, although the Amano style, for lack of a better term, is growing in popularity, particularly if you look at the US entries in last year's AGA contest. There is definietly more emphasis on simplicity of setup and less actual number of plants used in a most tanks I have viewed from Asia, and that type of setup is sophisticated and beautiful. I definetly had a lot of stuff crammed into the tank. But then again that was what I wanted at the time. I had been keeping plants for about a year when I set that tank up and placed things where they were pleasing to me. In my new tank, for example, I have developed a liking for Nuphar species, and I have 4 different types in it right now. Works for me, but maybe not someone else.

Tell everyone what I will do. I will snap three digital pics of my new 240 gallon: left, middle, and right sections and send them to Kwek Leong. If he wants to post them he can, and you all can tell me what you think. If he doesn't then I can email them to whoever wants them. This tank has only been set up about three months.