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!