FoF 2009 UKAPS Display Aquascapes

[ilaymir]

Selection of unsuitable materials will effect the continuality of the tanks.
Mistakes done at the tanks -especially ones about rocks- will return as brown blanket.

Regards

ilaymir

 

[George Farmer]

Hi Ilaymir

Can you elaborate, please? I don't understand you.

What materials are unsuitable? What brown blanket?

Three of those four tanks have been running successfully for several months.

 

[hydrophyte]

Those are nice little show tanks. I'm sorry what was the FoF?

You are up bright and early George; I still haven't packed off to bed.

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks hydrophyte!

anyways what is FOF?

Hi,

The Festival of Fishkeeping. It's an annual event hosted by the FBAS and is held on Hayling Island - usually the second week of October.

Has most types of fish there for showing, some for sale, trade and craft stalls and informations stands, such as UKAPS one 😉

More photos from the show http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8185

 

[LondonDragon]

Great stuff guys, has always you doing UKAPS proud, shame I couldn't make it once again! 🙁

 

[ilaymir]

Hi George;

The tanks are small+Some of the rocks are quite large+There is little water

The rocks used, looks like easy to dissolve in water.Especially the iron compounds they contain, oxides easily and spread out particules all over the tank.That is why in such tanks water changes and cleaning of the glases are needed frequently.
Thus,such problems are obvious from the brown formings at the corners of tanks which are not cleaned well.

Regards

ilaymir

 

[Mark Evans]

The rocks used, looks like easy to dissolve in water.Especially the iron compounds they contain, oxides easily and spread out particules all over the tank.

but surely with good maintenance, this wont be a problem?

personally no.1 is brilliant. classic iwagumi.

no2. amano stylee nano/small tank

no.3 potentially, genius

no4. a great GE scape.

good work guys. I'm a little envious. 😀

 

[George Farmer]

Hi George;

The tanks are small+Some of the rocks are quite large+There is little water

The rocks used, looks like easy to dissolve in water.Especially the iron compounds they contain, oxides easily and spread out particules all over the tank.That is why in such tanks water changes and cleaning of the glases are needed frequently.
Thus,such problems are obvious from the brown formings at the corners of tanks which are not cleaned well.

Regards

ilaymir

Thank for clarifying, Ilaymir. 🙂

The rocks used are Unipac's Petrified (fossilised) Wood and in my experience do not lead to the problems you suggest. I have been using this product for around 3 years now, sometimes in low maintenance tanks with minimal water changes.

The smallest tank you see is Dan Crawford's, who will admit that he is low-maintenance advocate... This layout is 8 months old and thrives on neglect (shrimp breeding, no algae etc.), yet does not see the issues you suggest.

Here is another low-maintenance layout with 50Kg of Petrified wood. Non-CO2 injected and minimal water changes...



I may sound defensive about this product but it really is a superb hardscape material that deserves positive recognition.

personally no.1 is brilliant. classic iwagumi.

no2. amano stylee nano/small tank

no.3 potentially, genius

no4. a great GE scape.

good work guys. I'm a little envious. 😀

Thanks, Mark. 😀

 

[ilaymir]

Hi George,

I believe what you say.
Sorry, but I trust to my observations and experiences more.




Regards,

ilaymir

P.S. Please don't tell that these are reflection.

 

[JamesM]

Ilaymir, hows about you post some of your tanks?

IME, if you dose right and have a nice balance of co2 and light, you wont need to clean the glass. And there are far more adventurous and restrictive (for maintenance) 'scapes out there than any of these, which are nice btw (except for the last one which I don't like much at all).

 

[Stu Worrall]

Hi George,

I believe what you say.
Sorry, but I trust to my observations and experiences more.




Regards,

ilaymir

P.S. Please don't tell that these are reflection.

Sorry ilaymir but I've got to say it. in your last posts i just havent got a clue what you're talking about 😵 The edges of the glass in these shots are clearly reflections, what else would they be, portholes to another world??????????

 

[George Farmer]

Hi Ilaymir - I think it's best if we agree to disagree, and leave it there. 🙂

Here's some more pics. Graeme's Tropica AquaCube was by far the most popular aquascape on display, even with no fish or inverts, which is somewhat of a breakthrough in a publicly attended event like this, I think.

Soon I will write up a proper report from the Festival and explain what event we're potentially planning next year... It's exciting stuff!







Dan's "Slow Burner" was a big hit too...

 

[Lozbug]

Really great shot's George. That tanks are great, i know i wouldn't be able to maintain any of those like you guys can, i am envious.

Looking forward to the 'exciting news' 😀

 

[ilaymir]

Hi George,

-What I wrote are my general thoughts about the tanks.

I said "I believe in you" because I know that petrified woods are quite suitable for tanks.
But then I trust t my own experiences and observations.Because these rocks are not that innocent.
As petrified woods take form they are efected from surrounding.Minerals and organik materials in water enter in them.After that they petrify by help of microcrystalline quarts(silicate).That is why they contain elements like calcite,iron,magnesium,manganese,zinc,cobalt..etc.
Colour of the rock shows what kind of an element it has.If it is yellow,brown,red like on the photos it has iron oxides in it.If it does not have too much pyrite in it,there is no problem,iron that oxides spreads around and causes pollution.That is the case.Also instensive silicon dioxide(SiO2) is one of the main causes of brown algea(diatom).
-Tanks at the photos you send are cleaned before shoting.Even though you can see some at places I marked.








-Some of petrified wooods -especially brown and yellow ones- contains "carnotite".And "carnotite" is an "uranium" mineral.
In fact I found some of them suspicious.Personally I would test them with a "geiger counter".

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/top ... /carnotite
http://images.google.com.tr/images?hl=t ... =0&ndsp=20

Regards

ilaymir

 

[Lozbug]

Having seen the tanks up close and with the naked eye. They really were perfectly crisp and clear. I spent a lot of time over the weekend looking at them, and even watched when the photos were being taken and the end of the show, the tanks weren't prepped for the photo shoot, photos were taken just as they stood.

What you have highlighted as marks etc, i really believe are just reflections of the light /glass/surroundings and such. Two of the tanks also had a frosted back to them, which may be being mistaken for 'dirty' glass.

My thought's on the matter at least.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

What a stange discusion.

Hi George,

-What I wrote are my general thoughts about the tanks.

I said "I believe in you" because I know that petrified woods are quite suitable for tanks.
But then I trust t my own experiences and observations.Because these rocks are not that innocent.
As petrified woods take form they are efected from surrounding.Minerals and organik materials in water enter in them.After that they petrify by help of microcrystalline quarts(silicate).That is why they contain elements like calcite,iron,magnesium,manganese,zinc,cobalt..etc.
Colour of the rock shows what kind of an element it has.If it is yellow,brown,red like on the photos it has iron oxides in it.If it does not have too much pyrite in it,there is no problem,iron that oxides spreads around and causes pollution.That is the case.Also instensive silicon dioxide(SiO2) is one of the main causes of brown algea(diatom).
-Tanks at the photos you send are cleaned before shoting.Even though you can see some at places I marked.








-Some of petrified wooods -especially brown and yellow ones- contains "carnotite".And "carnotite" is an "uranium" mineral.
In fact I found some of them suspicious.Personally I would test them with a "geiger counter".

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/top ... /carnotite
http://images.google.com.tr/images?hl=t ... =0&ndsp=20

Regards

ilaymir

These tanks where clean and spotless. Those areas you have spent time highlighting are reflections. Im not sure where you are going with this discusion?
The rocks in my Tropica cube are not fossilised wood, just plain old stone from the garden - simples.

Thanks for putting up the photos George, they look great.

Cheers.

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks Graeme and Lauren.

Ilaymir - I appreciate your thoughts on petrified wood and the info is interesting. I will investigate further about the radiation in particular.

However, I do not know why you insist on drawing over my photos to show algae that is not there. I will be honest with you - I find it rather offensive, especially after I have politely asked you to leave the issue alone. I appreciate you are probably trying to help, but in this case I can assure you the petrified wood is not leading to any algae issues. Please, let's leave it there, before this thread descends into a mockery.

 

[andyh]

George

Top quality pics of Graeme's Nano! I can see why it was so popular.

Couple of questions for you or Graeme what filter and what light bulb are you using?

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks, Andy!

The light is a 20w Halogen. It got damaged in transit so Lisa Perry kindly nipped to the local B&Q to replace it. I had to adjust the WB settings as the colour rendition is quite yellow/orange in the flesh.

I'm not sure what filter Graeme was using - I think a small Hydor external with nano glassware. There's no filter fitted on the stand for the weekend, as there was no fish/inverts. Graeme figured minimising the hardware was the way to go, and it worked.

Hopefully Graeme can eloborate or correct me if required.

 

[John Starkey]

Hi George ,
nice pics mate and thanks for all the updates on the fof,
regards john.