# Video of Tom Barr's open house meet and trim ideas



## plantbrain (22 Jul 2014)




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## GHNelson (22 Jul 2014)

Excellent stuff.....wish i had a bigger house for a larger tank!
Cheers Tom....thanks for posting.
hoggie


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## John S (22 Jul 2014)

Fantastic Tom. All that wood in the yard too


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## Alje (22 Jul 2014)

Yep he's got the sickness. Lovely place.


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## Gary Nelson (22 Jul 2014)

Great video and some fantastic tanks too! Nice to see your setup.... That would be my dream


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## Michael W (22 Jul 2014)

It is nice to know some of the ideas behind the placement of wood and techniques you used for your stem plants! Very informative.


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## Ryan Thang To (22 Jul 2014)

amazing!!


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## Vinkenoog1977 (22 Jul 2014)

I need a bigger home... 

Simply stunning, the light from the tanks guides you through the home, from colour composition to colour composition, and nothing seems to be out of place, it all flows, both in the tanks, as well as from tank to tank... Hat's off to you kind Sir...

Feeling doubly green now...


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## plantbrain (23 Jul 2014)

Well, I like to have enough space to enjoy the tanks and they are in the center of the living space, so I can do other things while hanging out with the kids and family. 
If you hide a tank away in some odd spot, then it's not enjoyed. 

Same with the Bonsai and landscaping etc.

The wood pic was just the a day's gathering worth, there's a side of the house that's covered about 15 meters x 2 meters H x 1 meter wide that's full of wood also. And you never saw the rock either.
I'm pretty matter of fact about most things.
No poetry here. Just common sense, and Nature style has a lot more than many seem to realize.
Many BS you with the poetry crap, or the Zen stuff, that's rubbish.


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## sanj (23 Jul 2014)

I saw the bonsai and thought "Mr Miyagi".

So now we know what Tom sounds like. Different to what I imagined actually.

I look at those plants and realise I have still so far to go. They are so healthy.[DOUBLEPOST=1406141681][/DOUBLEPOST]Did anyone answer the door?


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## Vinkenoog1977 (23 Jul 2014)

sanj said:


> So now we know what Tom sounds like. Different to what I imagined actually.



I expected a posh Brit to be honest... How wrong I was... LOL


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## Martin in Holland (24 Jul 2014)

sh#@*~t......China is blocking YouTube again...even with my VPN can't see this movie...^&%$#@*


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## plantbrain (24 Jul 2014)

Vinkenoog1977 said:


> I expected a posh Brit to be honest... How wrong I was... LOL




Best to lie and keep the myth alive


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## Marcel G (24 Jul 2014)

Martin in China said:


> China is blocking YouTube again...even with my VPN can't see this movie...


I have upload the video on my website, so you can download the source file from there if you want (I hope Tom approves it):
http://prirodni-akvarium.cz/index.php?id=barr


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## Martin in Holland (24 Jul 2014)

Thanks ardjuna (or is it Marcel?)...your a pall.
Great to see the master at work. He makes it sound so easy to grow and maintain plants.


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## Tim Harrison (26 Jul 2014)

Nice...the laid back Californian vibe from the opening sequence sets the tone...It's kinda reminded me that aquascaping is supposed to be fun...


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## viktorlantos (27 Jul 2014)

Great vid, lovely healty tanks Tom. Would be nice to see more from you later on.


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## Ian Holdich (27 Jul 2014)

Nice vid Tom, and you do a lot of talking with your hands, this is a sign of a leader...Tom for President! 

Also nice to hear Richard Ashcroft getting an outing at the beginning.


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## Tim Harrison (27 Jul 2014)

Ian Holdich said:


> Also nice to hear Richard Ashcroft getting an outing at the beginning.



Thought it was...it's been a long time since I've heard anything of his...


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## Ian Holdich (27 Jul 2014)

Troi said:


> Thought it was...it's been a long time since I've heard anything of his...



It's actually the Chemical Brothers - The Test...but what a tune! It's a proper running tune. He's not doing much at the moment, since he did RPA and the United Nations of Sound. If you haven't heard any of their stuff, I would check it out, brilliant stuff.


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## plantbrain (28 Jul 2014)

viktorlantos said:


> Great vid, lovely healty tanks Tom. Would be nice to see more from you later on.



I plan on doing a few more.

Each tank has a very different schedule and approach to scaping, so they are all this mish mash of different styles, different methods/techniques, something I've always considered and had a strong interest in, not just one method or style.
So a video with more detail generally will be more useful. And not so shaky and in focus etc.
The other thing, is I tend to have more eclectic species, uncommon ones, and then like to discuss different trim methods to get the most, whether it's sales, or consistent looks, or if you lack the time or motivation to trim that much, short cuts etc.

I'm about due to redo the 120 Gallon once again.


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## plantbrain (14 Aug 2014)

After about 3 minutes, you can stop, it's just more of the same. 
A client wanted 300 plants suddenly. I'm like 1$ per plant with extras, he's like okay, sure.[DOUBLEPOST=1408030954][/DOUBLEPOST]


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (14 Aug 2014)

Awesome.
How long will it take you to regrow?


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## Sacha (14 Aug 2014)

I wish my stauro looked like that! 

I love how you just use a standard pair of paper scissors, not aquascaping ones.


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## plantbrain (14 Aug 2014)

About 3 weeks to have a decent looking lawn, but it will not be as thick and tall as what I cut. What I cut needed cut, maybe 2 months(8-10 weeks worth of growth from a cut to the bone trim)


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## Sacha (14 Aug 2014)

So basically what you're saying is that your plants are on steroids.


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## Alexander Belchenko (15 Aug 2014)

So basically you cut the roots to ease uprooting, right?

I see a lot of dust go up off the substrate. As I understand you usually make big water change after such trim, right? Do you clean the substrate with siphon as well?


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## sonicninja (15 Aug 2014)

Immense. An oddly calming video to watch.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (15 Aug 2014)

plantbrain said:


> About 3 weeks to have a decent looking lawn, but it will not be as thick and tall as what I cut. What I cut needed cut, maybe 2 months(8-10 weeks worth of growth from a cut to the bone trim)



Will new leaves appear from the more or less bare roots that are left tom? Or would you have to replant the tops again?


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## plantbrain (16 Aug 2014)

Pre trim:


Time = 0



Time = 7 days



Time= 14 days


Time= 21 days


A trim or two later, maybe a month?



Then I did an older video in 2012 of the tank about then also.


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## Sacha (16 Aug 2014)

The difference between 0 and 14 days is ridiculous. I've never seen that kind of growth before. Reckon you could post the information about this tank for us Tom? Lighting photoperiod co2 etc?


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (16 Aug 2014)

Magician


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## plantbrain (18 Aug 2014)

Gloss and other plants respond the same way to mows. About the same time frame, but if you go several weeks, they really get foul.........whereas Starougyne stays pretty decent, but just piles on itself.
Less demanding than most plants.


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## plantbrain (28 Aug 2014)




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## Jaap (31 Aug 2014)

plantbrain said:


>



1. What method do you use to dissolve CO2?
2. Whats the size of the tank and what filtration do you use?
3. What substrate do you have?

Thanks


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## Sacha (31 Aug 2014)

Also lighting info please Tom


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## plantbrain (4 Sep 2014)

Nuke powered plasma fresnel lens directed thermo lighting system, actually ATI sunpower 8 bulb fixtures.
CO2, gas tank, CO2 reactor in the sump. 
Wet/dry filter. 
180 Gallon 180 cm x 65 x 60.
ADA aqua soil, maybe 7 years old now.


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## Jaap (4 Sep 2014)

plantbrain said:


> Nuke powered plasma fresnel lens directed thermo lighting system, actually ATI sunpower 8 bulb fixtures.
> CO2, gas tank, CO2 reactor in the sump.
> Wet/dry filter.
> 180 Gallon 180 cm x 65 x 60.
> ADA aqua soil, maybe 7 years old now.


Doesnt the wet dry filter drive lots of co2 out of the tank?


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## plantbrain (4 Sep 2014)

No.


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## Konrad Michalski (30 Sep 2014)

Hi Tom. Have you ever tried this method of trimming with HC? I've got a carpet of HC which is about 6 weeks old. But because I had some Diatoms on it it stopped the growth quite significantly. I was planning to trim it all to get rid of them all brown ugly leaves but I'm a bit scared it won't regrow. What would you recommend me to do? Thanks a lot.


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## flygja (17 Dec 2014)

Great video! Great to see Tom's style of trimming... just pinching stuff with his fingers!


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## George Farmer (11 Feb 2016)

Tom is a great guy. Even better in person. I wish we lived nearer. We'd be good mates. Go running and stuff.


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## Manisha (21 Jun 2016)

Thanks to Vink & Troi for re-posting this video  Just watched this & just wow! Such versatility in his tanks & makes maintenance look easy 


George Farmer said:


> Tom is a great guy. Even better in person. I wish we lived nearer. We'd be good mates. Go running and stuff.


I'm sure he is - he's seems very down to earth!


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## MJQMJQ (17 Nov 2019)

It says video is unavailable


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## zozo (17 Nov 2019)

MJQMJQ said:


> It says video is unavailable



Its this one


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## MJQMJQ (18 Nov 2019)

ok thanks!


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## mejamakan (7 Aug 2020)

hogan53 said:


> Excellent stuff.....wish i had a bigger house for a larger tank!
> Cheers Tom....thanks for posting.
> hoggie


thanks for sharing


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