neoGeorge's Build: One Reef & One Planted Freshwater

[neoGeorge]

I think it would be neat to make and install a plastic shroud to cover equipment in the back shroud, as shown here:

Not sure if black or white, matte or glossy, would be the best option, given that I have a gloss white stand (and white would not show salt or water stains as much as black). Hmmm.

Tap Plastics looks like a good source for the acrylic - I used them decades ago for a different project when I lived in Silicon Valley...

 

[Hemmdog]

I think it would be neat to make and install a plastic shroud to cover equipment in the back shroud, as shown here:

View attachment 1028892

Not sure if black or white, matte or glossy, would be the best option, given that I have a gloss white stand (and white would not show salt or water stains as much as black). Hmmm.

Tap Plastics looks like a good source for the acrylic - I used them decades ago for a different project when I lived in Silicon Valley...

Where in Silicon Valley did you live ?

 

[neoGeorge]

Where in Silicon Valley did you live ?

Moved there in 1988; lived in San Jose and Santa Clara over an 11 year period - it was a great time to work in the high tech industry and be in the Bay Area

 

[mch1984]

Oh man I missed a bunch of updates, dang notifications. You are so much better about plants than I am, I buy them and then forget most of the names. I'm a little jealous of that ludwiga, I bought some red but it's not nearly that red. That's going to look great. I'll try to stay caught up now.

 

[Hemmdog]

Moved there in 1988; lived in San Jose and Santa Clara over an 11 year period - it was a great time to work in the high tech industry and be in the Bay Area

That’s awesome! My LFS is in Santa Clara! Yea I bet that was a good time, haha. It’s still pretty good now, very high paying which has its pros and cons lol. There’s no houses in the South Bay for under 1.5 million now. It’s pretty tough being fairly young and trying to establish a family here. Property tax alone is around 60k a year for that purchase price ;Dead

 

[neoGeorge]

Oh man I missed a bunch of updates, dang notifications. You are so much better about plants than I am, I buy them and then forget most of the names. I'm a little jealous of that ludwiga, I bought some red but it's not nearly that red. That's going to look great. I'll try to stay caught up now.

@mch1984 I'm preparing myself for some surprises, knowing that some of these plants will be showing their emersed form, and some will only show the illustrated colors under the right conditions (light, CO2, nitrates), but can't help but be excited about planting the tank and watching (hopefully) it fill out.

 

[neoGeorge]

That’s awesome! My LFS is in Santa Clara! Yea I bet that was a good time, haha. It’s still pretty good now, very high paying which has its pros and cons lol. There’s no houses in the South Bay for under 1.5 million now. It’s pretty tough being fairly young and trying to establish a family here. Property tax alone is around 60k a year for that purchase price ;Dead

Stock options and executive pay are what make those prices possible. Housing prices seemed very high when I lived there, so I never purchased a home, but they are much further out of reach now. What a great place to grow a career and expand personal horizons, though!

 

[mch1984]

@mch1984 I'm preparing myself for some surprises, knowing that some of these plants will be showing their emersed form, and some will only show the illustrated colors under the right conditions (light, CO2, nitrates), but can't help but be excited about planting the tank and watching (hopefully) it fill out.

I understand, I did at least get to buy mine in person so you see what the real colors are. However, I never research plants before I buy and that's a problem. I bought some aluminum plants and then realized they are destine to melt in the tank. So that made my choice of which one to grow emersed in the tank. I do how ever, there will be no crypt in my tank.

 

[Hemmdog]

Stock options and executive pay are what make those prices possible. Housing prices seemed very high when I lived there, so I never purchased a home, but they are much further out of reach now. What a great place to grow a career and expand personal horizons, though!

Or a great place to sell real estate lol

 

[neoGeorge]

Or a great place to sell real estate lol

True!

 

[neoGeorge]

Oh man I missed a bunch of updates, dang notifications. You are so much better about plants than I am, I buy them and then forget most of the names. I'm a little jealous of that ludwiga, I bought some red but it's not nearly that red. That's going to look great. I'll try to stay caught up now.

@mch1984 I've started using Watched Threads to let me know when there are new posts on threads of interest:

 

[mch1984]

@mch1984 I've started using Watched Threads to let me know when there are new posts on threads of interest:

View attachment 1028919

Yeah I need to get in that habit. When are you planning on planting everything? Going to wait on the move?

 

[neoGeorge]

Yeah I need to get in that habit. When are you planning on planting everything? Going to wait on the move?

I'm flying out and will be planting this Friday if everything arrives as expected - I'd like the plants to be established when I move the freshwater fish over in May. My husband (hope this doesn't alienate anyone) is working at the VA hospital in AZ and watching over the aquariums - not his passion, but he's totally on board until I can move out.

 

[mch1984]

I'm flying out and will be planting this Friday if everything arrives as expected - I'd like the plants to be established when I move the freshwater fish over in May. My husband (hope this doesn't alienate anyone) is working at the VA hospital in AZ and watching over the aquariums - not his passion, but he's totally on board until I can move out.

Oh ok, you probably explained this but I'm making sure I understand. New tanks are in AZ, and old tanks are in current location. Going to move current fish and other inhabitants to AZ in may? Looking forward to seeing it planted, I hope to get mine done in the next few days. I have them in water at home but not a great holding tank.

ps. No worries, if it does alienate somebody then they can just not follow along.

 

[neoGeorge]

Oh ok, you probably explained this but I'm making sure I understand. New tanks are in AZ, and old tanks are in current location. Going to move current fish and other inhabitants to AZ in may? Looking forward to seeing it planted, I hope to get mine done in the next few days. I have them in water at home but not a great holding tank.

ps. No worries, if it does alienate somebody then they can just not follow along.

Yeah, we have our house in Cleveland on the market, which is holding us in transition, but it's time to move the fish out before it gets too hot, so beginning of May is the plan. Looking forward to see your tank planted!

 

[crusso1993]

(hope this doesn't alienate anyone)

If it does then to he** with them. It's really sad that you even felt like you needed to add the line.

 

[neoGeorge]

If it does then to he** with them. It's really sad that you even felt like you needed to add the line.

Thanks @crusso1993 , really appreciate the support; I've really enjoyed becoming part of this community, and now I like it even more

 

[neoGeorge]

Received shipping confirmations from AFA and GLA, so plants are on their way. Based on the rocks in the tank and the plants I've selected, the scape will be "Dutch" style. Here are a couple examples of world-class Dutch scapes from the 2017 AGA International Aquascaping Contest (eye candy

 

[neoGeorge]

2017 AGA Dutch entrants with judge's comments. Note: Dennis Wong has some really great YouTube videos about freshwater planted aquariums.

DUTCH CATEGORY JUDGING GUIDELINES
Overall Impression - maximum 50 points

• Does the aquarium as a whole; plants, fish, and hardscape, create a positive visual impact?
• Do all parts of the aquarium work together to present a harmonious and cohesive whole?
• Do the plants and animals appear healthy?
• No hardware should be visible.

Composition: Balance, Use of Space, Use of Color - maximum 60 points

• Is the aquascape laid out well?
• Does the aquarist make effective use of the “Rule of Thirds” to create (a) focal point(s)? (Tanks 36” or less in length should not have more than one focal point.)
• Are the plants well grouped, and are the groups well defined? (Traditional NBAT rules dictate a small space between groups)
• Does the aquarist make good use of differences in color, leaf size and shape, and height (growth habit or trimming) to maximize contrast between groups of plants? (Groups of neighboring plants should clearly be of different heights)
• Does the aquarist effectively use differences in height and plant group shape to create a sense of flow and depth?
• Is there a plant “street”? If so, is it easily discerned and does it enhance the sense of depth of the aquascape?
• Are the back and sides are planted? Do the species and planting enhance or detract from the sense of depth and scale? (Traditional NBAT rules dictate the portion of the walls not covered by species in the substrate be planted.)

Selection & Use of Plants, Hardscape Materials, and Animals - maximum 50 points

• Has the aquarist selected plants appropriately?
• Traditional NBAT rules dictate use of no more than 1 plant species per 10 cm/4 inches of tank length (sometimes up to 2 more species per tank if their use doesn't detract from the aquascape; judge's discretion). Has the aquarist effectively used a limited number of species?
• If a Specimen Plant is used as a focal point, does it blend well with the aquascape or is it overpowering? i.e., does it draw and hold the eye too strongly or is it simply too large?
• Do the colors, shape, and size of the fish chosen harmonize with the plants?
• Are schooling fish present in sufficient numbers to make a suitable school? (Traditional NBAT rules dictate at least 12 fish per schooling species)
• If hardscape materials are present, are they used sparingly as a stand alone element? (A single piece of wood or a rock may be acceptable according to NBAT rules if it enhances the aquascape. Wood and/or rocks used as structure and mostly covered by epiphytes does not count.)
• Are planted sides and rear panes present or absent? There should be no visible glass except for the front viewing pane. (This criteria only addresses the presence/absence of planted walls as a hardscape/design element for clarity. If planted walls are not present or if glass is visible deduct points. Use of walls should be considered as part of Composition.)

Viability of Aquascape - maximum 40 points

• With appropriate grooming and maintenance, are the plants selected suitable for use in the aquarium if maintained as-is for a long period?
• If visible, are the fish and other animals likely to be too large for the aquarium, cause damage to the aquascape, or each other at adult size?

PHOTOGRAPHS
The short version:

• 1-5 Photos
• Highest Resolution Possible
• Color-correction, brightness only; no photoshopping
• No identifying burn-ins; no selfies
• No borders or frames, please
• No collages (multiple photos in same image)
• No photos of people

Entrants are requested to provide 1 ~ 5 images of their aquascape, ideally showing both overall views and close-ups of details they wish to highlight.

While the focus of this event is on the aquascape shown in the images, entrants are encouraged to try and provide the clearest, sharpest images possible. The better the images that are provided, the better they will reproduce and display.

Please send the highest resolution and quality possible. We can handle most formats, even camera raw.

You may alter an aquascape's image only for color correction, brightness, shadow/highlight, contrast and/or sharpness. While the organizers realize that in an event of this type it is entirely possible for an unethical person to manufacture a digital image of a non-existent tank, it is our hope that entrants will honor the spirit of sharing and friendly competition upon which this event is based. We are counting on the honesty and integrity of our participants to submit only images that are truly representative of their work as aquascape artists!

Many entrants feel the need to add large frame borders around their photographs; this detracts from the image, by making it scale smaller than other entries. In all likelihood, we will just remove the border. Please save us the work, and submit your images borderless.

Images submitted should not have the photographer's name or Copyright Notice superimposed over the image. Images should not include the aquascaper in the picture (aka, a selfie). Judging needs to be anonymous, and this information could affect the impartial evaluation of aquascapes. We will add a copyright 'burn-in' in the final website.

When creating a planting plan, keep in mind that a blocky diagram works much better than something with thin lines, and high-resolution graphic is just as important as in the photographs. A simple sketch with a Sharpie pen on a piece of paper will look better on the final site than a tiny 320x240 pixel graphic done with a Paint program. Also make sure to list the plants in the caption rather than in the graphic itself. This will save us an incredible amount of retyping and graphic retouching time!

All entrants must agree to a Photo Release before their entries and photographs will be accepted into the contest.

 

[neoGeorge]

Another great vlogger is George Farmer...

This video is a "live" ad-hoc scaping session: one of George's earlier videos where he doesn't list out the plants being used in the comments, but he does describe the basics of dutch style scaping. At about 42 minutes he talks about prepping rock wool plants, dutch style requires a lot of maintenance (trimming) at planting and to adjust for different growth rates and styles as the tank fills out, serious pruning maintenance starts at about 10 weeks, recommends 8 hour photo period, but can start with 5 hours to limit algae growth (will also slow plant growth too), bubble counter - 1 bubble/sec per 50L (30 ppm CO2 max in tank with fish), plant in color streaks and focal points with a left to right or front to back "flow", use rule of thirds, it's a bit shocking how many plants go into this 15 gallon tank, start off without livestock and crank up the CO2 to get the plants growing.