2010 Aquatic Gardeners Association Aquascaping Contest Results

The 2010 Aquatic Gardners Association Aquascaping Contest results were released at the AGA Convention recently, with the entries divided up by aquarium size. The top 3 aquascapes were chosen in each size category (among others, including Biotope and Palaudarium) and one of these winners was chosen as overall Best in Show. I've included the Best in Show prize winner here, but head on over to the AGA to check out each of the other winners. This year's best in show is a spectacular tank, mainly because of carefully orchestrated forced perspective. It makes the aquascape look much larger and deeper than it really is, and is visually stunning.

ADA International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest 2010: Top 10 Tanks

Well, these are a little late, but it doesn't look like any higher quality images are going to surface any time soon, so these will have to make do. These are the top 10 aquascapes in this year's ADA International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest. The "miniature forest" theme has really taken off in popularity with two different iterations in the top 10 this year. I personally like them a lot with position 5 being my personal favorite. What's yours?

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

AGA Convention Video Recap

ADG has released a video recap of the AGA Convention held the 11-14th of November in Ft. Lauderdale featuring narration by Jeff Senske. The video is a great summary if you, like me, weren't able to attend. I particularly liked the Iron Aquascaper segment, but I'm sure it was even more exciting in person. Definitely check it out!

AGA Convention Starts Tomorrow

Hindsight is 20/20. As a stubborn Nor'easter sits off the coast and drenches the northeast with cold rain, I really wish I had a sunny getaway planned for sometime soon. For those of you heading to the Aquatic Gardener's Association convention tomorrow, you get a sunny getaway and some really interesting aquascaping activities and chances to win some sweet ADA equipment that make me wholly jealous.

First, there's an amazing panel of speakers including Jason Baliban. If you aren't sure Jason Baliban or any of the other speakers are, AGA has provided speaker bios, but really all you need to know is that Jason has created a number of amazing aquascapes such as this one:

Speaks for itself.

Second, there's a bunch of awesome activities, including a trip to Florida Aquatic Nurseries. Chances are if you've bought plants from a pet store, they came from FAN. The tour of the facilities is just $5 including a Cuban cuisine lunch. Then, later there's a tissue culture workshop, where you'll get to create your own plant cultures. Friday night is the Aquarium Design Group sponsored Iron Aquascaper competition, where two aquascapers go head to head and create the best aquascape possible in just an hour using all the best aquascaping materials from ADA. So. Jealous.

Just like the ADA International Aquatic Planted Layout Contest, AGA will announce the winners of this year's international aquascaping competition at a banquet on Saturday night. Sunday will host the country's largest aquatic plant auction.

As if all of that weren't enough, ADG is giving away an ADA Solar Mini S and the winner's choice of a Mini S Mist Type R or Mini S clear glass aquarium to one lucky person registered and attending the AGA convention, with an extra entry chance to win for "liking" ADG on Facebook.

I have to say, the AGA convention organizers and ADG have really put together a spectacular line up this year, and I'm so jealous of all of you who may be going. For the rest of you who are in the same (soggy) boat as I am, I'll be posting updates including the contest results and any news right here. I'm already ready to book my tickets for next year!

Racomitrium canescens: Now Available from Aqua Forest Aquariums

Aqua Forest Aquarium, an aquarium store in San Francisco and North American distributor of Aqua Design Amano equipment, has a new type of moss available for order online. It's listed as Rhacomtitrium canescens, but a quick Google search only finds results for Racomitrium canescens, so I'm assuming this is just an alternative spelling or a typo, since the two are so similar. The Google images though do appear quite different to the one above from the AFA website, so I'm still not quite sure what this moss really looks like or how it behaves in the aquarium. The moss is apparently (according to AFA) a very eager photosynthesizer and produces lots of oxygen bubbles under the right conditions. For aquatic moss aficionados and collectors, any new aquatic mosses available are exciting and I'm seriously debating a larger moss aquascape to make some room. Anyone tried growing this moss before or have any additional pictures of it in an aquarium?

IAPLC 2010 Aqua Design Amano Nature Aquarium Party Video

Going to the official IAPLC party every October is the dream of many aquascapers, and Jeff Senske of ADG was fortunate enough to go to this year's events. Lucky for us, he's made a video of the highlights, which include the party and award ceremony, iwagumi contest, Takashi Amano's gigantic home aquascape, a visit to the ADA gallery, and some rock collecting. The iwagumi contest is a testament to these aquascapers' genius and Amano's home aquascape are just amazing in size and beauty. Pay close attention for the new plant, dwarf hydroctyle, in the gallery aquascapes. I can't wait to get that plant here! You won't want to miss this video.