Dan Crawford
Founder
Hello folks,
A few weeks ago UKAPS was contacted by Aquarium Architecture (www.aquariumarchitecture.co.uk) about setting up a planted tank at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Obviously we jumped at the chance after tirelessly trying to get The RHS to allow us to put a display in for the last few years. We had very little time to arrange things once it was confirmed; just 7 days.
We contacted a few London-based members and fellow UKAPS star, James Starr-Marshall stepped up to the plate and did the majority of the organising with help from George who organised hardscape and plants.
The tank was originally going to be 80 x 45 x 45, a lovely size but at the last minute it was change to 80 x 20 x 45! This presented us with a real problem; we'd already discussed and decided on an Iwagumi style layout and the people who owned the stand - Vitra had approved it. So how do we do an iwagumi in such an thin tank?
We chose the most suitable rocks from Unipac's base in Northampton and a load of sand and gravel with the hope that we could do something with it to add some height to the layout.
The next challenge was the plants to suit an Iwagumi, give height, and also work for an "instant" aquascape.
We contacted PlantedBox.com and they offered to supply the plants on the short deadline which by this time was a matter of days!
We went for Cyperus, Vallis, Staurogyne, HC and Eleocharis Acicularis and it worked a treat, the HC pots were real big and Vallis and Cyperus were the perfect size for what we wanted to achieve.
So with everything on board I rocked down to London Village on Wednesday 19th to stay at James's for the evening to make travel easier in the morning.
7 in the AM saw us all packed and ready to hit the road to Aquarium Architecture's base at London Bridge. After introductions and a risk assessment we set off, Roland and Jeremy from Aquarium Architecture jumped on their Vespas and swiftly left James and I for dust in the rush hour London traffic!
After around ten 3 point turns we rocked up at the flower show, somewhat stressed! Draped in a hi-vis vest (which covered up my UKAPS logo!) we got to work.
After some hammer and chisel action we had our hardscape ready and in position and got to planting. In around two hours the tank was planted and filled. We popped in a Fluval U filter filled with JBL filter floss and Purigen which cleared the water really quickly and our job was done. Roland and Jeremy added some Danios and have been maintaining the tank during the week, using TPN+ and Flourish Excel to great effect.
Yesterday's lunchtime BBC coverage saw the tank on display! You can see the episode on the iPlayer around 7 minutes in. It's a short clip but it's coverage none-the-less! The stand that we were on earned a Silver medal, hopefully our help went some of the way to them gaining such an accolade.
Here's a link to the iPlayer video and some photos, i hope you like it, we were really pleased with it!
http://bbc.co.uk/i/sl6gs/
Thanks to everyone who helped put this together and thanks to Aquarium Architecture for allowing us to show off this hobby to a global audience.
A few weeks ago UKAPS was contacted by Aquarium Architecture (www.aquariumarchitecture.co.uk) about setting up a planted tank at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Obviously we jumped at the chance after tirelessly trying to get The RHS to allow us to put a display in for the last few years. We had very little time to arrange things once it was confirmed; just 7 days.
We contacted a few London-based members and fellow UKAPS star, James Starr-Marshall stepped up to the plate and did the majority of the organising with help from George who organised hardscape and plants.
The tank was originally going to be 80 x 45 x 45, a lovely size but at the last minute it was change to 80 x 20 x 45! This presented us with a real problem; we'd already discussed and decided on an Iwagumi style layout and the people who owned the stand - Vitra had approved it. So how do we do an iwagumi in such an thin tank?
We chose the most suitable rocks from Unipac's base in Northampton and a load of sand and gravel with the hope that we could do something with it to add some height to the layout.
The next challenge was the plants to suit an Iwagumi, give height, and also work for an "instant" aquascape.
We contacted PlantedBox.com and they offered to supply the plants on the short deadline which by this time was a matter of days!
We went for Cyperus, Vallis, Staurogyne, HC and Eleocharis Acicularis and it worked a treat, the HC pots were real big and Vallis and Cyperus were the perfect size for what we wanted to achieve.
So with everything on board I rocked down to London Village on Wednesday 19th to stay at James's for the evening to make travel easier in the morning.
7 in the AM saw us all packed and ready to hit the road to Aquarium Architecture's base at London Bridge. After introductions and a risk assessment we set off, Roland and Jeremy from Aquarium Architecture jumped on their Vespas and swiftly left James and I for dust in the rush hour London traffic!
After around ten 3 point turns we rocked up at the flower show, somewhat stressed! Draped in a hi-vis vest (which covered up my UKAPS logo!) we got to work.
After some hammer and chisel action we had our hardscape ready and in position and got to planting. In around two hours the tank was planted and filled. We popped in a Fluval U filter filled with JBL filter floss and Purigen which cleared the water really quickly and our job was done. Roland and Jeremy added some Danios and have been maintaining the tank during the week, using TPN+ and Flourish Excel to great effect.
Yesterday's lunchtime BBC coverage saw the tank on display! You can see the episode on the iPlayer around 7 minutes in. It's a short clip but it's coverage none-the-less! The stand that we were on earned a Silver medal, hopefully our help went some of the way to them gaining such an accolade.
Here's a link to the iPlayer video and some photos, i hope you like it, we were really pleased with it!
http://bbc.co.uk/i/sl6gs/
Thanks to everyone who helped put this together and thanks to Aquarium Architecture for allowing us to show off this hobby to a global audience.
