# Ukaps at glee, featured on the Unipac stand.



## Graeme Edwards (24 Sep 2008)

Hi all,

I thought it would be nice to share with you all the work Ukaps is doing in the hobby. We were approached by Roy Devani Director of Unipac, http://www.unipacpet.co.uk/index.html to attend the Glee Show at the NEC -  http://www.gleebirmingham.com/ He asked us to aquascape a tank using a selection of his products and a healthy number of freshly delivered Tropica plants. http://www.tropica.com/default.asp .

Obviously it was a must and me and Dan attended. It was a great opportunity to present Ukaps, even if it wasn't with our own stand, at the Glee show. Hopefully spreading the word to traders that UK is serious about aquatic plants. 
It was very interesting to see it from the business point of view. Dennerle and JBL where there, and also Tropica attended. 
Me and Dan where a little excited at the initial stages of set up, so we had to take a breather and a step back. As you all should know, these things cant be rushed. 
We were presented with the challenge of aquascaping a tank using 7 yes 7 different materials. Not what we would choose, nor would we recommend, but we had our brief and ever the professionals, ( Oi, I heard that snigger then!! ) we set about the task in hand. There was a dry run done before the show which Dan and Jeramey Gay constructed. We set to try and recreate that original idea.

The XL bog wood in position.




Im positioning the fossilized wood, while Dan is leveling the fine silver sand.




Ukaps baby!!!! Nuff said.




The box of plants strait from Tropica.




Check out the amazing quality.




Nice!




Hard at work! Yes, work   




Errmm - Me.   




Finished.










Here is where we met Lottie and Troels from tropica. Really nice people, and taught me a few things as well. It was nice to network with such people, as you can imagine.




They liked it!





Lottie and Troels talking to Roy.





Plant list and materials used to follow.

I think we did rather well considering our brief and that we had to make up an instant aquascape.

Cheers.


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## George Farmer (24 Sep 2008)

Nice work fellas!  Scape looks awesome too.  

Troels is tall eh?!  Any new Tropica products on the cards?

Any other exciting planted products featured at Glee?

Very well done, you're doing UKAPS proud.


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## zig (24 Sep 2008)

I'm impressed! looks sweet, very nice job boys given the circumstances of  7 types of hardscape. No pressure either eh! with the Tropica crew looking on. Well done.


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## Tom (24 Sep 2008)

Saw this yesterday when I was up at GLEE. Looked very good even with the lines of different substrates and rocks! Liked the nice piece of petrified wood on the stand too.

I didn't see any exciting new plant products, but I may just have missed them. Managed to fall out with Dennerle though   

Tom


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## LondonDragon (24 Sep 2008)

Nice work guys, scape looks brilliant too  Didn't know about this event! 

Tom what did you do to upset D?


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## Tom (24 Sep 2008)

> Tom what did you do to upset D?



I wanted them as a supplier for my business so went to have a chat with them. They refused me business on the grounds that there are loads of idiots like me trying to set up an aquarium design business, and that they would have to put me through their course to "teach me how to grow nice plants". You'd think they would just sell me stuff!

They were just being their usual "do it our way or die" selves, and I said no, there's better companies out there. The guy didn't take it too well. 

He also contradicted himself over and over again as I threw points up about ADA etc. and even though he was a "good friend of Takashi", he basically said his attitude to planted tanks won't work. Obviously   

The conversation went on like that...

Tom


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## nickyc (24 Sep 2008)

Nice work!  And loving those t shirts!      Wish I'd have known - I was down in Brum so could have had a peek


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## Tom (24 Sep 2008)

Oh Lottie from Tropica seemed really nice. Had a chat about the plants etc etc

Tom


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## Dan Crawford (24 Sep 2008)

What a day folks, i was all up for a jolly at Glee, strolling around, setting up a tank, chatting to the "famous folk" but man was i wrong?! Graeme and I grafted all day, 11 till 7 if i remember rightly.  (thats a long time for little old me LOL)
It was great fun though, i mean, it's not everyday you get given all the materials to make a nice planted tank and not have to pay a penny towards it.

I found JBL great, sorry Tom. We had some problems with the Fluval 405 and need more hose, inlets and outlets and JBL couldn't have been more helpful, everyone else we asked kinda gave us the brush off.

They guys at Tropica were top draw, really really nice people and they "wanted" to talk to us, not just the obligitory "hi, how are you?" they were getting as involved as we were! They really knew their stuff too, not just the usual sales people that you generally find at Glee. There wasn't an awful lot new on their stand and it would seem that they have cut back on their exhibition stand a bit but never the less, it was nice to see some quality plants in a tank with CO2! all be it a JBL ladder that kept letting off massive bubble at the surface.


The Unipac products were great. As Graeme said, they aren't all perfectly suited to planted aquaria, well i suppose it's only the nordic gravel thats unsuitable due to it's size, everything else worked a treat. I'm a huge fan of the fossilised/petrified wood and that XL driftwood is delightful. The Zambizi and silver sand work very well together and is readily available, TGM have LOADS of it.


Tonight i have the task of setting the tank up again at Roy's office, on my own!!! anyone fancy a trip to Northampton? LOL

All in all, a great day for Graeme and I and another great day for UKaps


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## Tom (24 Sep 2008)

> I found JBL great, sorry Tom



No problems with JBL, it was Dennerle     




> Tonight i have the task of setting the tank up again at Roy's office, on my own!!! anyone fancy a trip to Northampton? LOL



I'd love to if I hadn't used all me money gettin to brum!! 

Tom


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## Steve Smith (24 Sep 2008)

Amazing scape considering the time and materials pressure guys!  Hope you managed to band the UKAPS logo around   Did they allow any sort of "Tank aquascaped by UKAPS" banners or anything?

I've liked the few UNIPAC products I've used so far, especially the zambezi sand.  Lovely natural looking stuff


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## Tom (24 Sep 2008)

There was a sign on top of the tank, saying it had been set up by Dan and Graeme


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## Dan Crawford (24 Sep 2008)

SteveUK said:
			
		

> Did they allow any sort of "Tank aquascaped by UKAPS" banners or anything?


Hell yeah! Roy is a huge supporter of ours and is happy to bandy the UKaps brand where ever possible, he actually wanted a 1m wide logo on the stand but we never thought about it till it was too late.


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## oldwhitewood (24 Sep 2008)

Tom said:
			
		

> > Tom what did you do to upset D?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Typical Dennerle! I still read their big manual type book sometimes, I like the comment that goes something like 'if you do have algae it is even fair to say it is your fault', erm thanks for that guys!


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## Tom (24 Sep 2008)

> 'if you do have algae it is even fair to say it is your fault',



Haha I hadn't read that bit    They gave me a book and told me to read it as it tells me the plant's names and how they grow    He nearly got me started on heater cables too. 

Tom


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## aaronnorth (24 Sep 2008)

> Hard at work! Yes, work



 

Great scape guys, you have done well to incorprate all 7 materials,  

Did you hand out any flyers about UKAPS?


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## UNIPAC (24 Sep 2008)

To all affiliates (members, regular and casual visitors and everyone else interested in the forum) of Ukaps:

On behalf of UNIPAC, I would like to extend very special thanks to Dan Crawford and Graeme Edwards of Ukaps for their immense contribution in aquascaping our tank for the GLEE show at the NEC, Birmingham. Our sincere thanks also go to Jeremy Gay of Practical Fishkeeping for being involved in the original concept and idea of the set up.

As you are probably aware, the GLEE show is strictly directed at promoting and marketing products to the trade in the pet and garden industries, with the intention that the products will eventually make it on the shelves of the stores and therefore available to the fish keeping and aquascape enthusiasts. With our tank set up, we believe that we may have achieved that objective in that we have shown the true aesthetic value of some of the UNIPAC products that were used. We are basing this claim on the countless number of visitors to our stand who have stopped and admired the aquascape and indeed inquired about the wood and substrates used.

Again, well done boys.

Sincerely

Roy Devani
Director - Unipac.


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## Superman (24 Sep 2008)

I was thinking of going to Glee, shame i missed it.


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## Dan Crawford (25 Sep 2008)

UNIPAC said:
			
		

> On behalf of UNIPAC, I would like to extend very special thanks to Dan Crawford and Graeme Edwards of Ukaps for their immense contribution in aquascaping our tank for the GLEE show at the NEC, Birmingham. Our sincere thanks also go to Jeremy Gay of Practical Fishkeeping for being involved in the original concept and idea of the set up.



Thanks for that Roy, i'm glad your pleased with the outcome and i'm also glad that the public seemed to like it  
It was a real pleasure and an honor to have been asked to contribute.
All the best, Dan


			
				Superman said:
			
		

> I was thinking of going to Glee, shame i missed it.


It's a trade show pal, no access to the "general" public


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## Dan Crawford (25 Sep 2008)

Here a shot of the whole stand, looks nice i recon


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## Tom (25 Sep 2008)

It did look impressive. And I had my eye on that large rock on the tank stand


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## Superman (25 Sep 2008)

Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> Superman said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had a look, just needed to say you were looking to open a shop and got a free ticket.


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## John Starkey (3 Oct 2008)

Hi All,i was there in person with jimmy,mark,and euwan (tgm) the scape looked well good,regards john.


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## The Green Machine (3 Oct 2008)

With the given brief guys and the logistical problems involved in showing so many different materials you really did a very fine job indeed. This was a real showcase of skills and in our opinion the best scape at Glee.


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## Dan Crawford (4 Oct 2008)

Thanks guys, that's real nice of you. It certainly was a challenge


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