Sanjeev Kumar's Rainbow Aquariums Video

Check out these awesome Rainbow fish aquariums. I have a personal soft spot for Rainbows (I had a family of Boesmanis), and these two aquariums are just incredible. These must be very happy fish! It looks like the aquarium owner has chosen mostly low light, low maintenance plants. Seems like a good decision for a tank as big as the first one, since trimming that with lots of stem plants would take hours. Note the mesh over the top of the aquarium: Rainbows have a tendency to jump, so if you keep them, make sure you have something to stop them from jumping to their deaths!

Impact of Japanese Earthquake on Aquarium Suppliers

ADA Gallery in Niigata

As you've probably heard, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the northeastern coast of Japan on March 11th, 2011. Since then, a group of brave workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been battling explosions and radiation leaks in an attempt to bring the crippled plant under control.

Although it may seem a world away from most of us, these events may have a very real impact on our aquascaping hobby. Many companies that make aquarium supplies are based in Japan, with Aqua Design Amano and Hikari probably being the most well known. ADA is headquartered in Niigata (about 100 miles from the worst devastation in Sendai) while most of Hikari's facilities are in southern Japan.

Everyone at ADA headquarters, which is closer to the affected area than Hikari, is alright. The gallery there sustained little damage if any, with all tanks surviving the earthquake. Apparently, ADA stands and tanks are designed to withstand earthquakes. However, as you can see in the map above, the ADA gallery and headquarters (marked A) isn't all that far from the Fukushima nuclear plant that's been leaking radiation for the last two weeks. Since ADA's substrate product, Aqua Soil, is collected nearby, there has been some concern over radiation levels in the product. ADA was quick to release a statement stating that radiation levels are being monitored:

Our national and local government is monitoring the radiation level every hour, and we do not see any abnormal value of radiation reported from the area of collection. In addition to that, we are not collecting these soils every day, and we now have been processing the soils collected before the earthquake. The raw materials of our AQUA SOIL series are collected from a layer of earth in the ground, and we do not see any concern of having soils contaminated with radiation. Therefore, there is no effect of radiation in all AQUA SOIL SERIES and it remains as ideal substrate for aquarium use.

Even if radiation isn't an issue, the general destruction of highways and ports and other infrastructure, along with the power outages could delay some shipments of ADA products to the US. If you were planning on making any necessary ADA purchases in the near future, and the products are in stock, I'd go ahead and make them now just in case. As a show of support for ADA and the Japanese people, ADG Shop is offering a special deal on Aqua Soil with 10% of proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross. Keep in mind though that this is a pre-order and that the Aqua Soil is not in stock right now, so if you are in a rush to set up a tank, you may want to contact the folks at ADG to see when they expect their next shipment. The ADA Gallery in Niigata has also opened up their gallery seven days a week until further notice to help provide a relaxing escape from the destruction.

The International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest (IAPLC) run by ADA has not been impacted or delayed though, so continue working on your submissions!

Meanwhile, Hikari has most facilities in southern Japan, but will probably also be impacted by damaged infrastructure and power shortages. There hasn't been a lot of mention about the quake on the Hikari USA website, but their Facebook and Twitter feeds have posted a video of a koi farm during the earthquake and offered their condolences to those impacted. Again, if you depend on Hikari products (say a special fish food for example) you may want to get it now just in case there are any interruptions in availability.



One thing you probably don't need to do and shouldn't do is go on a panicked buying spree. ADA and Hikari products are going to continue to be available, there just might be some short delays. I'll update this post if I hear anything else back on product availability or delays from Japan.

Collectoritis Aquascape Video Shows Plenty of Plants

Ever seen a for-sale add on an aquascaping forum for a plant you're just not sure of based on photos you could find on Google? Finding a plant that's a perfect fit for your aquascaping style is all part of the hobby, and the photos you can find on the internet aren't always the most helpful in determining if a plant is right for your aquascape.

Well, this video from Aquascapist.com should help a bit. In it, many of the most popular and sought after plants are shown including Elatine triandra, Hygrophila sp. "Pinnatafida," and Staurogyne sp. "Puerto Velho." They're all extremely healthy and gorgeous looking, providing an excellent view of what they should look like in an aquascape. Even better, the video is available in 720p HD. Take a look, and you just might find a new perfect plant to seek out for your aquascape!

Waterplant Multi Function CO2 Diffuser

From one aquascaper to another, this thing is amazing.


I've tried all kinds of CO2 diffusers before, from just sticking the CO2 tube into my Eheim filter intake, to ceramic disc diffusors in the tank, to a dedicated powerhead "bubble-basher." All had some drawbacks, whether it was incomplete diffusion, noise, or having to have something ugly in the tank.

This Waterplant diffuser is an inline diffuser though, so it goes in the outlet or inlet tube of a canister filter. The principle is the same as a ceramic diffuser, but it doesn't need to clutter up the inside of your tank. Just pop the diffuser on and tiny CO2 bubbles are pushed through the ceramic cylinder into the water flow. Nothing to clean, nothing to replace. It's efficient, quiet, and clutter-free. It's also plastic, so there's no glass to accidentally break, and it fits multiple tube sizes.

I have mine on my outlet tubing, only because I feel like putting it on the intake would probably lead to "burping" of the filter still. The diffuser does come with an intake screen though, and is ready to be put on the end of a filter intake directly in the tank.

There are some important things to remember with it though. One is, you absolutely must have a check valve installed in your CO2 line. Because the ceramic diffuser works both ways, water can be forced into the diffuser and up the CO2 tube if your pressure gets low or it shuts off overnight.

For $24, I'm very happy I don't have to fuss with suction cups, have ugly tubing in my tank, or listen to my filter "burp" all the time.

Aqua Design Amano Prices Increased

Bad news and good news for Aquarium Design Amano (ADA) fans. First, the bad: as of November 1st, 2010, the prices of Aqua Design Amano products in the US have increased due to increases in raw material prices and exchange rates. Yes, some of the best aquarium equipment available here in the US to aquascapers has become even more dear. No word yet on exactly how much of a price increase it was.

Now the good news: The Aquarium Design Group (ADG) store is delaying the price increases until January 2011. That means that even though the prices on ADA items has increased, you'll continue to pay the old prices at ADG until January, and ADG's next container shipment of ADA goodies is set to arrive December 7th. This means most out of stock items will be back in stock in time for the holidays.

Just in case you aren't exactly sure what ADA offers, they'll also be receiving copies of the new "book of ADA" catalog, which will be available for free to all ADA customers. All you need to do is pay postage! Here's a quick description from the ADA website:

Not only Nature Aquarium Goods but also Do!aqua products and Wabi-kusa are introduced. It presents the full lineups of ADA products. This informative book shows ADA products, beautiful aquascapes, layout making, technical know-how of maintaining living organism and equipments, distributors and supporters' list, and more. It is recommended for all aquatic plants hobbyists from advanced level to beginners!

This sounds like an amazing resource, even if you aren't sure you want any ADA products! I'll be sure to try to get my hands on one, and don't forget to place your orders at ADG before January 1st to get the lower prices.

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.

Pavel Bautin's First Place 2010 IAPLC Aquascape

The 2010 IAPLC embargo end is just 2 days away and images from the aquascaping contest are already beginning to leak out. Several sites have already published some of the top aquascapes (although most of the pictures are horribly grainy and clearly poor scanning jobs), but Pavel Bautin has released a high quality image of his first place aquascape on his own website. The tank is quite different and the use of differing sizes of "tree trunks" for forced perspective works very well. Congratulations again to Pavel, and I'll post the top 10 aquascapes from the ADA contest as soon as I can find high quality images.

Tanglerose, an ADG Aquascape

ADGVibe, the ADG YouTube channel, released this new video recently, and wow, I never realized a driftwood-only aquascape could be so stunning. With over 100 pieces of driftwood layered to create two dense thickets on either side of the tank, it really almost takes the place of plants. The choice of the Roseline Sharks really suits the layout as well, and watching them glide gracefully in and out of the driftwood makes this video simultaneously stunning and relaxing. Although driftwood like this isn't exactly cheap (this much could easily cost $500+) it's an interesting idea for the aquascaping community.

As a planted aquarium keeper, however, I'm just dying to add some plants in there. I think a carpet of hair grass beneath the driftwood would keep the minimalist look of the tank. What plants would you add if you could?

Alberto Sosa's Beniamino Aquascape

Beniamino by Alberto Sosa

Just a heads up of a fantastic aquascape over on Aquatic Plant Central, this little scape (about 10 gallons) by Alberto Sosa is incredibly detailed and interesting. The use of different sized and shaped leaves is top notch, and adds a lot to the aquascape. Check out full size pictures and details, including a plant map and technical details over on his post.

IAPLC 2010 Aquascape #134 Released

"Tamo daleko" by Slobodan Lazarevic of Serbia, #134 2010 IAPLC

And so it begins. After IAPLC rankings are published, there's always a slow trickle of entries released ahead of the ADA Party in October. Technically, contestants aren't supposed to publish their entries until the party is over as part of the contest terms, but "Octopus" has released his entry into the IAPLC 2010 contest early. Another of the up-and-coming Eastern European aquascapers, "тамо далеко," which Google roughly translates as "Far There," is a captivating aquascape. The aquascape ranked 134th out of over 1000 entries and uses rock very effectively to create a narrow pass up the center of the tank. One of the best parts of this aquascape in my opinion is the lighting, looking amazingly like the soft light of early morning. The only thing I don't like about this particular photo is the reflection off the surface of the water, since it takes away from the whole mountain-scape feeling. You can find a full list of flora and fauna in a post on APC.

IAPLC 2010 World Rankings Announced

Where the River Begins - Pavel Bautin

Although there aren't any pictures of the winning aquascapes that I've found yet (the aquascape above is just one of the winner's other aquascapes), the world rankings for the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest have been published. Congratulations to Pavel Bautin from Russia for being ranked number one! It's a bit of a shock to see someone from a country where aquascaping isn't traditionally as big as it is in other Asian countries place first, but the win, along with some great rankings for Polish and Ukranian aquascapers really shows how the hobby is taking off in Eastern Europe and Russia. Pavel Bautin does have a gallery of his aquascapes for his aquarium design company, and he is very talented. They look wild and full of life, and if his contest winning entry followed the same line, it's easy to see how he won.

The U.S. and U.K. rankings are few and far between, so get some ideas and get planning for next year's IAPLC!

Win an iPad from Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine

This is kind of cool...subscribe to TFH magazine's digital version for the iPad for just $1, and be entered to win an iPad. Not sure why you'd need an iPad if you were subscribing to the digital version in the first place...but you can subscribe to the regular print version for $28 and be entered to win that way as well. The video of the digital version above looks gorgeous, highlighting several planted aquariums, and the digital version comes with archives dating back to 2007. What better way to use an iPad than look at gorgeous pictures of aquascapes?

Anyone have a subscription to TFH? Looks pretty aquascaper-friendly!

ADG Shop Offers New Driftwood

If you've ever tried to find fancy, branchy driftwood like they use in the aquascaping competitions, you probably got frustrated by those horrible looking sandblasted stumps nailed to an unwieldy piece of slate that every pet shop seems to have exclusively. Buying it online isn't exactly easy either, since you often don't get a piece that looks like the picture. Finding good driftwood is tough. Always a pioneer in providing aquascaping basics to hobbyists (like ADA Aquasoil and ADA rimless tanks), Aquarium Design Group has recently started selling custom pieces of driftwood, called TX Select. No, they won't just send you anything they have in a size range, they'll send you the exact piece pictured. How cool is that? Although it's a little pricey (a medium piece will set you back $50-75), you know what you're getting, and it's been used in hundreds of their amazing layouts before with minimal tannins and minor buoyancy.

With my year-old Manzanita driftwood getting softer by the day, it might be time to look into replacing it pretty soon...

North American Discus Association 2010 Show

 

Planted tanks and discuss go together like peanut butter and jelly. There's almost no more colorful, majestic freshwater fish than the discus, and seeing a school of them swim through some of Takashi Amano's aquascapes is breathtaking. I've even considered keeping some...that was until I saw the rigorous water changing schedule required to keep them healthy. My plants (and algae) keep me busy enough. A fussy $50+ fish that requires a daily water change? Maybe when I'm retired.

If you have the time and dedication to care for these gorgeous fish and live near the Dallas area, you may be interested in the 2010 North American Discus Association (NADA) Show that will be held on June 10-13 of this year. For $45, you get a discus show, an auction, and a slew of speakers discussing everything from Discus 101 to Diseases and Sickness. Heck, for $45, forgo the hundreds you'd spend on the fish and live vicariously though others for a few days!

Question: Aesthetically pleasing equipment worth it?

You're looking at the brand new Fluval Edge aquarium kit. Recently released, the kit is innovative in a number of ways. Although lots of people have been poo-pooing the practicality of the design, I think Fluval is really onto something. It's rare that a traditional equipment manufacturer incorporates such advanced design aesthetics and brings something like this to the market. I feel like some in the aquarium equipment industry have really sat up and taken notice of ADA's success with its high end line of rimless aquarium tanks and minimalist glass equipment. Of course, the aquascape inside a tank will always be the main focus, but just like any good painting, a decent frame can do wonders.Yeah, it may not have the best lighting, but when has that stopped us?

So what do you think? Would you spend $129 (Edit: The price has dropped a bit from this already to $119) on the Fluval Edge when an equivalent traditional tank, filter, and light would probably cost half that? How much weight do you put in your equipment's appearance?