Ghazanfar Ghori hosted GWAPA’s January meeting last weekend, and I wanted to share a fantastic video that our recording secretary took of Ghazanfar’s 90-P aquarium and aquascape. The wood in this aquascape is a special wood from Southeast Asia that maintains its bark underwater without releasing too many tannins. He complements the detail in the wood with lots of Riccardia chamedryfolia (Mini Pelia) , Fissidens moss, Bolbitus, and Anubias barterii var. ‘nana’. The foreground is a very shallow layer of pool filter sand, with ADA Aquasoil in the background to provide nutrition to the plants. Check it out!

For more information about this tank, and the rest of the meeting, please see GWAPA’s website.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted an update on here. I snapped a quick photo of the Mini-S how it appears right now. I’ve recently replaced the Taiwan moss with Flame moss. The Rotala macrandra variant have been trimmed and is growing back in. Everything else has been filling in a bit. It like how the sand has bits of Aquasoil on top of it, as it looks more natural to me than plain white sand. Comments/critiques welcome!

After getting some great feedback from the aquascaping community, I’ve replaced the rock in the back right of this scape. Many folks felt that the original rock didn’t balance out the large focal rock enough. I also added in a little bit of Eleocharis acicularis in the background to fine-tune things back there. Comments/critiques welcome!

After neglecting all but essential maintenance on my aquariums for some time due to an on-going home-improvement project, I finally aquascaped a new ADA Mini-S aquarium for my office. Below is a picture of the tank after being setup for a few days. This is the first aquascape I’ve ever actually done using a sand foreground and path, as I’ve always favored foreground plants.

The low ground cover is Taiwan Moss tied to lots of small stones. Mini pelia accents lots of the larger rocks, with Blyxa japonica, Staurogyne repens, and Rotala macrandra (some variant) in the background behind the large rock. I think I may need something in the back right, but I’m not sure if that should be a slightly larger rock, or just some hairgrass trimmed at an angle for some height and depth. I’d love to hear everyone’s feedback on the hardscape and aquascape in general, comments/critiques are welcome!

After the banquet tonight, the Aquatic Gardener’s Association announced the winner’s of their aquascaping competition. I took quick shots of every winner, and am listing them below. Do you agree with the winners? You can view all of the entries on the AGA website.

SMALL CATEGORY

PALUDARIUM CATEGORY

MEDIUM CATEGORY

BIOTOPE CATEGORY

LARGE CATEGORY

EXTRA LARGE CATEGORY