# Interzoo BABY!



## Dan Crawford (14 May 2010)

So George and I are off to Interzoo this evening, we're meeting up with Roy Devani from Unipac at the airport and traveling over with him.

We've gotta celeb packed list of folks that we need to meet up with including Lars Green, Oliver Lucanus, Chris Lukhaup, Oliver Knott and Heiko Bleher! Oh, and some bloke called Jeremy Gay  We're only going till Sunday and theres a packed schedule but we'll be sure to find every new product out there and let you all know.

Graeme is already there and says it's awesome! The tanks that we did for Tropica have made it over and looking good apparently  

Woo hoo, Germany BABY!


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## LondonDragon (14 May 2010)

Enjoy the trip  (I am sure you will haha) and take lots of photos


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## George Farmer (14 May 2010)

Chris Lukhaup is rumored to be coming over to the UK with Takashi Amano and Heiko Bleher as part of a "World Series".

I'm also meeting up with David Saxby, owner of D&D and the UK's best reef tank (IMO). See if I can get him into planted tanks... 

It's going to be fun! I'm taking my usual camera and compact to get some video footage.

Can't wait to see the UKAPS/Tropica tank. I got a text message from Jeremy Gay saying there were about 20 people standing around it yesterday, all admiring it. 

Beir bitte!


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## Steve Smith (14 May 2010)

Without photos, it didn't happen! 

Looking forward to pics


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## chilled84 (14 May 2010)

Have a great time, And you make sure to get the inside info!  And take care.


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## Kosh42-EFG (14 May 2010)

Tell Saxby that Eco System is the way forward... The days of Deltec are gone


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## Fred Dulley (14 May 2010)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> I got a text message from Jeremy Gay saying there were about 20 people standing around it yesterday, all admiring it.




Please tell me it's using glassware pipes


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## Nick16 (14 May 2010)

count me in for the world series!!!!


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## keymaker (15 May 2010)

Hungary -  UK aquascaping bridge 3+3!  Cool to meet you in person, guys!




(Keymaker, Nigro, George, Viktor, Dan, Graeme)




(Key, Oliver Knott, Nigro, Viktorlantos)

I made some photos at the Tropica stand of the stunning UKAPS-Green Machine scapes... I need permission to post them. Can I?



			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> I got a text message from Jeremy Gay saying there were about 20 people standing around it yesterday, all admiring it.


Check. I have to confirm that it absolutely was a star when I got there... And it still was, when I had to go back a couple of hours later to see it again. 

You guys have without doubt made the best scapes around... It was an absolute revelation to sit around and watch them. For me it is obvious that the road you walk is the "One". Respect.  :idea:


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## Garuf (16 May 2010)

Looks like you're having fun there. If you could snag one of those elos led lights I'm sure I can find someone who'd have it .  
Do we know anymore about tropica's new plants, weren't they meant to be being launched at interzoo? What's dennerle offering? Are the LED lights for their cube rumors true?


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## Mortis (17 May 2010)

Now is the time for you guys to get those cool shrimp you all wanted without the Â£80 shipping fee


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## Stu Worrall (17 May 2010)

you lucky bunch!  looks like a really cool show with tons of planted stuff from the pics


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## George Farmer (18 May 2010)

It was great!

We'll get some photos etc. up soon.

It was brilliant to meet up with our Hungarian friends.  Viktor Lantos took this shot the UKAPS/Tropica aquascape.


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## Krishs Bettas (18 May 2010)

Even though its half the tank it looks STUNNING. Great Job.


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## Kosh42-EFG (18 May 2010)

That's teasing... We want to see the other half of the tank too


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## keymaker (18 May 2010)

OK, so here we go with the best tanks at Interzoo 2010:

*George and Dan @ Tropica:*


















*Graeme @ Tropica (Nature's Privilege - what a fantastic name):*

















The making of the previous photo:





*Lars Green (?) of Tropica* (the incredible Tenellus carpet was pruned several times to keep it dense and short - with spotless leaf-ends!)













Oliver Knott has made 5 great scapes for Tropica, HP Aquarium, Anubias, AquaDeco and Ceab. I sent my full-tank pictures to him and he said he was happy to post them on his site in the coming days, so please check back there later (currently only his wider shots are uploaded). Teaser:





Two stunning Glosso carpets. One from AquaticNature...









... and the other from... ?





Vitrea showtank:





There also were at least 15-20 other stunning planted scapes...


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## andyh (18 May 2010)

WOW! 

George, Keymaker Great pictures!

WOW


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## Tony Swinney (18 May 2010)

Awesome work guys - loving the tanks, and pics too Victor.  The hydrocotyle maritima is just beautiful   

Tony


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## zig (18 May 2010)

Brilliant stuff guys love it all !


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## viktorlantos (18 May 2010)

Tropica tanks were amazing. The acrylic tanks with the beauty healthy plants in it all professional scaped was really the top of the show. we had to visit that several times they were like a magnet   

Congratulations to George, Dan, Graeme and Tropica for the Tropica booth. 

the strange thing is that Oliver's tank was the weakest at the Tropica booth. he made many excellent tank on other places but the one he had on Tropica not worked out well. maybe the plants overgrown i do not know, but he was beaten by the ukaps guys for sure   

i was happy to see that planted tanks were there at many places. probably half of the tanks or more were planted at Interzoo. And finally many company realized that they need prof scapers to do the job. The result was really good. 

it was a pleasure to meet the ukaps founders. we had so much virtual talk here, but to meet with you guys worth the trip alone


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## viktorlantos (18 May 2010)

a few other scape from Interzoo....

Oliver Knott @ Anubias. Looked great!






Oliver Knott @ Aquadeco





This one was a stunning tank at ELOS. The foliage background and the blue spots around the both gave a real special effect on this tank.





Oliver Knott @ Vitrea. Really cool and these LEDs was the top of the show in lighting





Oliver Knott





There were many amazing tank on the fair. I am sure you will see them shortly on many blogs and magazines.


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## Garuf (18 May 2010)

Cheers Viktor! Those tanks look great! I really like the aquadeco one. Do you know who made their intake by the way?
Elos are always amazing, from scape to equipment, but when even a nano costs upwards of a grand I guess it has to be!

This picture made me smile





 it reminded me of R crumbs keep on truckin'.


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## keymaker (18 May 2010)

Garuf  -- Good idea, I'll put it in my signature: _Keep on Scapin'.._. 
Here (note Graeme's tank at the end):


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## Garuf (18 May 2010)

Haha! Deffinately, give each one of them a scaping tool and the last one a bag of substrate.


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## sanj (18 May 2010)

What are those fern like (sort of bolbitis) plants? Was in olivers and Ukaps scapes.

Really liked the Elos one.


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## sanj (18 May 2010)

I think it is this Hygrophila pinnatifida. Not a fern...


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## flygja (19 May 2010)

Wow, the two scapes at Tropica's booth really represented the best in aquascaping styles to me. One is a lush fully planted tank with a carpet and one is an open-foreground one. Beautiful scapes from from UKAPS and TGM. Elos' scape is really nice too. 

Did you guys check the number of new members signing up after Interzoo?  8)


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## keymaker (19 May 2010)

sanj said:
			
		

> I think it is this Hygrophila pinnatifida. Not a fern...


Yes, it is Hygrophila Pinnatifida.

Somebody at the stand also told me that if getting proper ferts it does not stay like this and it can grow really wide and big leafs... So he advised me to be careful with it, for this "visual effect" will not last.

I really do not know if that is true, I know they have been in the tank with proper dosing (check the plant health) for some time, so I will wait for some feedback from fellow aquascapers.

Talking of plants --- I did not know of Anubias Petite before (it might have been around, just skipped my attention), and have seen them in at least 3 tanks at Interzoo. A really good foreground plant instead of say Staurogyne if you want darker colors - or darker spots to contrast with say Eleocharis or HC.


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## LondonDragon (19 May 2010)

Sounds like you guys had a great time  when am I going to get an invite? 
Congrats on showing what UKAPS is all about


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## Dan Crawford (19 May 2010)

What can i say? Interzoo rocked! It's like a dream for people like us, more equipment than you can shake a stick at with some good looking tanks and a few lovely fish too.

It was great to meet Keymaker, Nigro and Victor, it was a shame we couldn't spend more time together.

Oliver Knott's tanks were pretty cool, as it was mentioned, his Tropica tank wasn't as good as i expected but it did have it's own charm and to be fair, he included ALL of Tropica's new species which we new would be a challenge. He's got his own fertiliser range too.

LED seemed to be "in" thing this year, there were some lovely units there. The major thing for me was the release of Tropica's fourth generation plants - plants grown inside a sealed clear pot with a nutrient rich gel for the roots to feed off. They have a shelf life of around 4 weeks and i'm sure the concept is going to work a treat. A lot of the plants that we used on our tank were grown like this and it's great to work with, no messing around with rock wool.

We had a chat with Chris Lukhaup and the world tour with him, Amano and Bleher is happening, he's gonna let us know when he's arranged some dates etc but they are looking to do at least two dates in the UK.

A big thanks goes to Tropica for giving us the opportunity to to work with them and show what the UK has to offer. 

I'll get some photo up soon.


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## Kosh42-EFG (19 May 2010)

keymaker said:
			
		

> Talking of plants --- I did not know of Anubias Petite before (it might have been around, just skipped my attention), and have seen them in at least 3 tanks at Interzoo. A really good foreground plant instead of say Staurogyne if you want darker colors - or darker spots to contrast with say Eleocharis or HC.



According to the Tropica site, its very slow growing but also low light, low CO2, etc... May make a nice carpet in a low tech but may also broke you when you have to buy hundreds to put in the tank, though... May start a thread in the plants section about this...


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## Garuf (19 May 2010)

I thought petitie was one of the plants that they dropped from the range along with phillipene fern?


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## George Farmer (20 May 2010)

Here's a low-res video of the Tropica stand.  

I'm in the middle of writing up a report so will post that and plenty of photos soon...(Early next week).


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## chump54 (20 May 2010)

fantastic scapes and great plants.

well done 
Chris


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## JamesM (20 May 2010)

Awesome guys! 

I've been away for a while as my old man had a heart attack, but damn, this is a welcome return, good job


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## Etherelda (21 May 2010)

JamesM said:
			
		

> Awesome guys!
> 
> I've been away for a while as my old man had a heart attack, but damn, this is a welcome return, good job


sorry to hear that, my dad gave us a big fright recently with a stroke. What are they like, parents!? Hope he is doing well.


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## flygja (21 May 2010)

Anubias barteri sp nana var Petite? That's strange, I thought you can't plant the rhizome into soil?


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## LondonDragon (21 May 2010)

flygja said:
			
		

> Anubias barteri sp nana var Petite? That's strange, I thought you can't plant the rhizome into soil?


You can always attach them to some pebbles and just sit on on the gravel!


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## JEK (21 May 2010)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> Here's a low-res video of the Tropica stand.
> 
> I'm in the middle of writing up a report so will post that and plenty of photos soon...(Early next week).




What lighting is it on the nanos, George? They look great... Looking forward to the report.


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## Garuf (21 May 2010)

The lighting on the nano's is from an italian company, Oliver knott put a link to them on his pbase site but it's since been removed and I can't find it in my history.


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## JEK (21 May 2010)

Garuf said:
			
		

> The lighting on the nano's is from an italian company, Oliver knott put a link to them on his pbase site but it's since been removed and I can't find it in my history.


Thats a shame.


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## Garuf (21 May 2010)

Email Oliver, he might take a while to get back to you but he's never not replied to me.


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## chump54 (21 May 2010)

hi guys, 

what do you reckon the ratio of planted tanks to non planted tanks was?... looks like a lot of planted tanks.

Chris


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## FishBeast (23 May 2010)

Would be awesome to be there to experience it. Must have given you guys a buzz to say the least!


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## Brenmuk (25 May 2010)

Was this event open to the general public or was it trade only?


I noticed more interzoo pics on this blog:-
http://faao.blogspot.com/


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## George Farmer (25 May 2010)

chump54 said:
			
		

> hi guys,
> 
> what do you reckon the ratio of planted tanks to non planted tanks was?... looks like a lot of planted tanks.
> 
> Chris


Hi Chris

I'd say around 50-60% of the tanks were planted.  The other half was made up of marine and non-planted FW.

Unfortunately I don't think this is necessarily a reflection of how popular the planted tank hobby is compared with other types of fishkeeping.  It's more that a planted tank is high-impact and a lot easier to get looking good in a temporary setting compared with reef.

I'd love the planted tank hobby to have any way near 50% of the reef hobby's market share...


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## George Farmer (25 May 2010)

Brenmuk said:
			
		

> Was this event open to the general public or was it trade only?
> 
> 
> I noticed more interzoo pics on this blog:-
> http://faao.blogspot.com/


Officially trade-only, but if you had a business card and 30 Euros you could get in.

Thanks for the link.  FAAO (Filipe Oliveria) is one of Europe's top 'scapers, FYI.  I suspect he 'scaped the Elos tanks...


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## viktorlantos (25 May 2010)

Filipe is now part of the Elos family. I had a talk with the head of ELOS at Interzoo. They hired Filipe after his great activity with the Elos brand.

i would not be suprised if he would have scape that large tank. looked really good with those ambient background lights.


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## George Farmer (25 May 2010)

viktorlantos said:
			
		

> Filipe is now part of the Elos family. I had a talk with the head of ELOS at Interzoo. They hired Filipe after his great activity with the Elos brand.
> 
> i would not be suprised if he would have scape that large tank. looked really good with those ambient background lights.


Very cool! 

I'd like to see Elos over here, but wonder if there's a market for it?  I think most folk with the money to invest in Elos prices would likely choose ADA.  One day maybe...


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## Garuf (25 May 2010)

I believe elos works out around double what ADA does, they picked up a distributor last interzoo only to be dropped when the distributor decided it wouldn't be anywhere near cost effective enough. I searched up prices not all that long ago (would have been before christmas) and those nifty LED lights for nanos come in at nearly a Â£1000 for example, their diffuser aimed at a 60cm tank was Â£90...


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## Stu Worrall (25 May 2010)

ive not heard of Elos before. are they a big brand in something other than planted like reefs?


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## Graeme Edwards (25 May 2010)

No Stu, they have been around for some year. They are aiming to be high end planted tank specialist, but they do, do marine too.

Their lighting is something ells. 8)


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## andyh (25 May 2010)

Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> No Stu, they have been around for some year. They are aiming to be high end planted tank specialist, but they do, do marine too.
> 
> Their lighting is something ells. 8)



I have been trying to get prices and find out who sells them! That LED light is friggin awesome!

Andybody know anything? price, who sells? I think they are Italian?


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## bogwood (25 May 2010)

andyh said:
			
		

> Graeme Edwards said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 I can find Nothing in Uk, you appear to have a choice between germany/france, Address etc on Italian co website.
I would stick with the ADA lights.


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## Garuf (25 May 2010)

Andy, see the last post of page 5. . They'll sell direct to you but the prices will make your socks come off.


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## LondonDragon (26 May 2010)

andyh said:
			
		

> I have been trying to get prices and find out who sells them! That LED light is friggin awesome!
> Andybody know anything? price, who sells? I think they are Italian?


You can actually PM Filipe via UKAPS, just send a PM to FAAO, last time I asked him about the LED luminaire he used on his 60cm tank it cost around 600 euros! I am sure if you wanted any Elos stuff Filipe could ship it here to the UK, its not cheap though!


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## Vito (27 May 2010)

Wow I love the thickness of those tropica tanks where can I get one? is it glass or acrylic?


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## George Farmer (27 May 2010)

Vito said:
			
		

> Wow I love the thickness of those tropica tanks where can I get one? is it glass or acrylic?


They're acrylic, supplied by TGM.

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=9567


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## Graeme Edwards (27 May 2010)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

One of the ELOS LED lights. 

Ive been trying to upload images through imageshack to show you some of what I saw while I was there, but its doesnt want to play ball, so this is all I have to show you. Ill have a think of what I can do to get more up. 

Any ideas why image shack is not working very well?


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## George Farmer (27 May 2010)

You could try Photobucket instead mate?  I actually use my Flickr.


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## samc (27 May 2010)

thats a smart light!

i have had problems with imageshack the other day. mine just stopped loading when the loading bar gets to the end.


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## Graeme Edwards (27 May 2010)

Got another to work.

My scape at Interzoo. Lars told me that no other than Holger Windelov bought this scape for his own house. Apparently he like the fact that it only had sand as a for ground, though this was not my intention.


Ill keep trying with my pictures.





Uploaded with ImageShack.us


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