# UKAPS visit Tropica, Denmark 2010



## George Farmer (26 Feb 2010)

Recently the UKAPS founders were thrilled to be invited to aquascape some aquariums, to help celebrate Tropica's 40th Birthday at the Interzoo in Germany.  So off we flew to Denmark to visit the incredible Tropica nurseries and production facilities!

A special thanks to The Green Machine who recommended UKAPS to Tropica.  Tropica were inundated with requests from other international forums and clubs to help set up their display tanks, but they chose UKAPS.  Graeme will also post a thread in the TGM sub-forum with more photos.

We were all both honoured and privileged to be invited, and it's no understatement to say it was one of the best experiences of our lives.

Dan and I were representing UKAPS, and Graeme representing The Green Machine.  Dan and I did one tank, Graeme the other, although we helped each other out, of course.

We set off from Dan's place at 4am on the Thu 11th Feb, and to cut a long and eventful story short, we landed in Aarhus, Denmark at around 10am local time.

Lars Green, Tropica's Managing Director, was there to meet us and drive us the 40 minutes or so to Tropica HQ.

We began work almost immediately after some brief introductions and some much needed superb fresh filter coffee (we were up at 4am after 3hrs sleep the night before!)

Day one was spent installing the hardscape, siliconing it in place to ensure it did not move during transit.  

Later we had a grand tour of the nurseries, following the whole process from growing the plants in tissue culture, to the green houses, to the potting process.  I cannot express how impressive the whole thing was - it was truly mind blowing to see so many beautiful aquatic plants in one place, and seeing them develop from tiny specimens into bursting pots in the space of weeks was phenomenal.

In the evening Lars took us out to an amazing restaurant where we ate delightful steak and drank wonderful beer.

Day two was spent going out to the nurseries and selecting our plants, prepping and planting the tanks, including a 40cm tank planted with plants grown purely in the lab.

We went out for another incredible meal in the evening, including a few select beers, of course.  At around Â£9 each though, we limited ourselves!

Anyway, enough of the words; you want photosâ€¦

Arrive in Aarhus, Denmark.  -8Câ€¦






George and Dan position bases ready for hardscape to be siliconed into position for transit





Dan installing substrate





Dan siliconing in Sumatra Wood





Graeme installing hardscape; Old ADA Iron Wood and Petrified Wood





Dan inspects wood placement





Graeme admires his handy work





The UKAPS and TGM display tanks just after filling (full step-by-step to be published on Tropica website)





Dan ties the moss on




Graeme and Troels (David and Goliath!)





Dan and Graeme check out the new Tropica catalogue





Graeme and Dan hardscaping the 100cm Tropica acrylic display tank





Riccia, anyone?





The experimental lab filled with a wide variety of set-ups; from low-light non-CO2 to high-energy tanks





The lab with plants are grown from cells in inert conditions in special growing media.  Fascinating stuff.





Dan and Graeme suffered from sore necks after a whileâ€¦





Potting initial specimens.  A few weeks later they will be ready for sale





Youngest plants at the front.  Mature plants to the rear.





Amazon swords.  Some over 8 foot tall.





Plants as far as the eye can see!





â€œMy name is Graeme and I like aquarium plants!â€





More plants





And more plants





HC brimming over their pots




George Looks pensive whilst trying to decide which plants too choose, there is simply too much to choose from...





So lets have a bit of everything!





Echinodorus sp. flower





Moss on wood





A square meter of the healthiest moss I have ever seen!





Errr, more moss





Just in case you werenâ€™t bored of moss yetâ€¦












The best room in the house





Hair anyone?





The working area where we drank litres of filter coffee, ate the most amazing baguettes, talked about plants, and aquascaped a total of four tanks










Just a few pots



Graeme chatting to the legendary Holger Windelov, founder of Tropica in 1970.  It was a real honour to meet this great man who shared some amazing stories of his plant discoveries!





The fantastic Tropica main show tank using Elos gear.  Absolutely algae-free and lit with 2 x 150w MH, 8 x 24w HO T5.  With overflow and sump.  Autodosing system.  This beauty is 70cm front to rear depth.





George, Dan and Graeme planting the 40cm acrylic display aquascape with 100% laboratory grown plants



A real team effort





This wonderful trip has to come to an end.


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## Nick16 (26 Feb 2010)

wow, 8ft tall echinodorus. now thats a mother plant i want!   
some of those pics are incredible, just so healthy, and that particular moss pic, its so lush. 

places i want to visit now include 

ADA gallery in japan
kuroshio sea in japan
Tropica in denmark! 

good work lads. 

bigging up the uKaps massive!


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## andyh (26 Feb 2010)

Excellent Pictures as always guys! Looks like you had a lot of fun! really jealous! Just reinstates the fact that tropica are at the top of their game!

UKPAS Baby!!!!!

Andy


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## mlgt (26 Feb 2010)

Fantastic write up and photos. 
Most impressive, the stuff we all dream about.... 

Thanks for sharing the experience.

Rik


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## Gill (26 Feb 2010)

Truly amazing Guys, How on Earth Did you pry yourselves away from all those plants. 
And most importantly, did you buy any choice specimens.


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## samc (26 Feb 2010)

that place looks amazing  

the acrylic tanks look sweet too


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## LondonDragon (26 Feb 2010)

Amazing stuff guys  congrats on the invitation and the trip! Looks like a trip of a life time!! *drools*


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## Stu Worrall (27 Feb 2010)

deffo a trip of a lifetime, nice one fellas!  Good write up too george and interesting to see the inside of tropica and how they work.  That moss looks sooo healthy


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## Steve Smith (27 Feb 2010)

Amazing stuff guys!  Jealous just doesn't cover it!   These are the tanks for the trade show in a few months?

The big question is, how many plants did you manage to stuff into your bags before you left?!


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## zig (28 Feb 2010)

Looks like a great trip guys a privilege indeed, large tank on right hand side looks like it has quality potiential, well they all do of course! Thanks for sharing the pics look forward to the rest. How do they transport the tanks btw Air or road?


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## John Starkey (28 Feb 2010)

Wow looks like you three had a great trip,what a place to visit a must for a ukaps trip i think,i like the look of those acyrilic tanks i will be interested to see those very soon,seems like you were well looked after guys and those green houses just mind blowing,one thing i never saw was any moss pics   ,gorgeous looking stuff hey,
well done guys big up for ukaps,
regards,john.


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## JamesM (28 Feb 2010)

Awesome 

I would have tried to run off with an 8ft Echindorus personally


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## bazz (1 Mar 2010)

you guys are so lucky, you're living my dream (i'll bet your going on a trip to amazonia in the near future aswell!)
awesome write up, fantastic pic's and a revealing insight into probably the best aquatic plant nursery in the western world!
look forward to some more pic's,
bazz!


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## flygja (2 Mar 2010)

That looks fantastic! Wish I could tag along too.


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## Mawgan (3 Mar 2010)

Fascinating record of a wonderful visit.  Thanks for sharing it, and well done for being invited in the first place!

David


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## Themuleous (28 Apr 2010)

Sod an absolute bloody dog!!! Thats mad, guess thats why they are the best. 

Sam


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## adamnguyen (27 Jun 2013)

Hello. I want to kown imfomation about aquatis farm. what conditions to planting trees??


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## justissaayman (10 Jul 2013)

Do they grow the plants via Hydropnics?


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## Edvet (21 Oct 2017)

Just found this, jaw dropping jealousy............................


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## Ryan Thang To (21 Oct 2017)

Wow. George and dan look so so young a


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## PARAGUAY (22 Oct 2017)

Think Dan could have got in half price if there was a fee


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## Tim Harrison (22 Oct 2017)

Crikey, that's a blast from the past


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