# Meeting with Unipac and Director Roy Devani.



## Graeme Edwards (3 Dec 2007)

I wanted to mention the meeting we had with Roy Devani Director of Unipac. A very nice and down to earth guy. 
We went through to their head office and warehouse to rescape their aquarium they have in the public waiting area. We were basically doing this to say thanks to Roy and pay back a favor for all the hard scape ie rocks wood and gravel he has kindly given to us for the festival of fish keeping. We also filled Roy in on what we thought of his product range from artificial rocks ( great for Malawi set ups ) through to what our thoughts were about the wood he can supply. He supplies many wholes sale's, but as we ( Ukpas ) are concerned, not enough, considering how extensive the range of rocks and interesting gravels and sands he provides. We gave Roy some feedback about the cut ends on Unipacs wood, and he is looking into changing the appearance of the woods cut ends, ie braking them or cutting them on an angle.Also we talked about planted substrates. He seems very interested to hear about this new hobby ( nature aquarium ) in the UK, obviously this could open a market for him.
This mutual back scratching seems to be one step forward to promoting the hobby to Uk traders and raising the awareness of what UK aquascapers want. At the same time we are helping and supporting UK trade which can only be a good thing. One small step for plant, one giant leap for plant kind!
We will be keeping in touch with Roy to give him feed back and to encourage him to help us push this side of our hobby forward.
I should say, when at your local fish shop, please ask them about stocking Unipacs range of hardscape materials they offer.

Heres some pictures of the event.

The Gravel is Unipacs own complete substrate. We need to look into this product some more to see how it fairs for planted aquaria. The rock are amazing. They are called spaghetti rock, very interesting shapes and color. Its hard to say what they are made from, they are a natural rock but from what part of the world we are unsure. This is just one of many interesting rocks Unipac supply.

These rocks were very easy to arange, that was my part done )










Dan filling the tank.




Were were limited by the plants we had, hence the sparce appreance, i think Dan will top them up at some point, he only lives around the corner.





Cheers,
Graeme.


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## beeky (4 Dec 2007)

I'm more inclined to look at Unipac stuff now I know they're British. I always assumed they were a european company for some reason - Dupla, Dennerle kind of thing.

Do they have a list of current retailers? Catalogue?


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## George Farmer (4 Dec 2007)

Graeme has a load of catalogues.  PM him and I'm sure he'll send one.

Maidenhead Aquatic stores tend to stock their stuff.  It's good, especially some of the inert substrates and Sumatra wood.


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## ulster exile (4 Dec 2007)

Do we have any contact details for Unipac that we can ask them for an Adobe or similar scanned version of the catelogue to post on here?

I know that Ripples in Shenstones nr Lichfield stocks Unipac stuff, since the sand and wood I used for my little tank are Unipac branded and I suspect that the landscaping rock available there is the same, although it wasn't labelled.  it would still be interesting to see if there are other places stocking their stuff near me too.


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## Dan Crawford (4 Dec 2007)

Hi Ulster Exile, the catalogue is very basic and it's really hard to try and gather what the rocks actually look like, both times i've received rocks from them they have been very different from the catalogue (in a good way). Also unipac will not appreciate calls from the end user, they are strictly for the wholesalers. You/the retailers may have to trust us in saying that there stuff is good. The shops should have no problems in calling them and asking for some details.


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## ulster exile (4 Dec 2007)

BigDanne said:
			
		

> Also unipac will not appreciate calls from the end user, they are strictly for the wholesalers.



That's precisely the point I was trying to make - one contact asking for something that can be posted online (ie for lots of people to see) to give an idea of who stocks this stuff!  I certainly wasn't asking for a contact number so that it can be posted publicly for every Tom, blahblahblahblah or Harry to use  

As stated, I know their stuff is good as I have some of it - I just want to know where I can see more of it!  If I wanted to buy unseen or purely on the word of others, I'd buy from AE.


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## Graeme Edwards (4 Dec 2007)

I will give Roy an email and see if he can send me a list of shops that stock his prducts. Its possible that he does, but i would think he only has a list of the whole salers that he sells to.We shall see, i will pass on your coments.

Cheers,
Graeme.


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## Garuf (4 Dec 2007)

I use unipac wood the stuffs amazing, now lets see if they can come up with some substrate as good as aquasoil


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## beeky (5 Dec 2007)

I did a google search to see what substrate (sand, gravel etc) they did and hardly anything came up. I couldn't find any shops advertising it.


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## Dan Crawford (5 Dec 2007)

I've spoken to Unipac and they are happy to give me a list of who sells where but it'll take a while. I'll keep you posted.

Has anyone used "aquaclay" http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... cts_id=189
Unipac sell this stuff and i was wondering if anyone had any experience with it. I have some but i'm yet to test it.


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## beeky (5 Dec 2007)

I considered aquaclay as it was described as a type or nutrient gravel with small grain size, but the review on AE put me off.


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## beeky (11 Dec 2007)

Just uncovered a stockist for unipac wood and rock:

http://www.onlineaquariumstore.com

They don't seem to do any substrate though, and no pictures.

I found them by looking for plumbing bits, of which they they have a good selection. Unfortunately they want Â£7.95 for postage which is a bit steep. Especially, if you only want a 'T' piece.


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## Dan Crawford (11 Dec 2007)

Good spot, shame they don't have pictures.


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## Themuleous (11 Dec 2007)

Graeme or anyone who when have a catalogue with pictures of this stuff?  In particular the wood?


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## Graeme Edwards (12 Dec 2007)

LOL, whats that your trying to say? Does any one have a picture from a catolge of the wood? I have quite a few booklets, but the picture doesnt do it justice. Have a look back at the FOF dissplay tank we did, all the wood in there is Unipac wood. I have some peices at home, if i get a chance ill take a pic of them and show you what its like.


Graeme.


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## Dan Crawford (17 Dec 2007)

Hi Guys, i've now got the catalogue images, some of the photos are ok but a lo of them don't do them justice.



This replica wood is really quite convincing in the flesh! they do a "bog wood" style too which is better.



I am yet to check out the mopani wood



these are some of the more appealing rocks but there are loads of other varieties.
























This replica rock is really really good, would be great in a milawi setup.



Well as you can see they do a lot of stuff and from what i've used it's all really good. Alot of LFS already stock their stuff, MA for one but but i'm yet to see them stocking Sumatra wood it always seems to be Bog Wood.
Anyway, i hope yo see somthing that you like? if so ask your LFS to stock their stuff.


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## Themuleous (17 Dec 2007)

Couldn't see the photos, but cheers Dan.  I have asked at the Oxford MA re the Sumatran wood but they looked at me blackly, will try again.

Sam


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## Dan Crawford (17 Dec 2007)

i've just sorted the links, cheers Sam.


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## Arana (17 Dec 2007)

Wow they do look good  8) really helps to see them in the flesh.


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## Themuleous (17 Dec 2007)

Cheers Dan


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## Ed Seeley (17 Dec 2007)

Really like that Sumatra driftwood!  Do they have a list of stockists on their website?


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## ulster exile (17 Dec 2007)

Thanks for the pics Dan.

I obtained the following Unipac goods from my local lfs (Ripples)










They did beautiful bits of Redmoor wood too *sigh*


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## GreenNeedle (30 Dec 2007)

Is all the UniPac stuff Replica?

I was reading this thread thinking they did real wood and rocks?

Andy


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## Dan Crawford (30 Dec 2007)

sorry, no they are all real except the replica driftwood and they do replica ocean rock.


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## GreenNeedle (30 Dec 2007)

Thats a pity.  It was the Sumatra wood I like but I want real.  It was this replica that initially led me to believe they reproduced the whole range.

Andy


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## Graeme Edwards (31 Dec 2007)

All the rocks and wood are real. But they do a very small range of replica wood and ocean rock. 
Remeber we are Ukaps, real is the only way forward lol


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