George Farmer at The Green Machine
On Sunday 17th May The Green Machine were proud to host an event featuring a live aquascaping demo form Practical Fishkeeping Magazine’s George Farmer. For the past five years George has been writing about planted aquaria and has inspired countless customers to join the planted tank hobby. George also helped to found the UK Aquatic Plant Society and this is how TGM came to meet him some two years ago. "When George approached us about doing a demo we were very flattered and jumped at the chance to once again, show the UK what can be gained from the expertise of other knowledgeable enthusiasts" – James Findley, Artistic Director, TGM.
The day started at ten o’clock when the doors opened and there were already visitors queuing to get in. For many of the guests it was their first visit to The Green Machine and the reaction from some was fantastic, many had never seen tanks quite so large let alone fully planted aquascapes. One of the biggest topics of talk was Graeme Edwards’ “Bones of the Earth”, an 1800 litre setup which has been quoted by George Farmer as “the greatest aquascape I’ve ever seen”. After all the initial introductions to visitors, old and new George was left get started with his own introductions and a brief synopsis of what was to follow. The audience were encouraged to ask questions throughout the demo, which they promptly did and was to prove beneficial to all levels of enthusiasts.
The above image shows the aquascape at the end of the demonstration. This journal will be updated with more photographs of the aquascape at a later date. There will also be updates to the text accompanying the images.
All photographs kindly supplied by Stu Worrall.
Setup Specifications
- Aquarium – 65 x 45 x 45cm optiwhite glass tank made from 10mm glass and coated with tankguard.
- Lighting – Arcadia metal halide that produces 150w of light at a Kelvin rating of 6500.
- Substrate – ADA Sarawak Sand, ADA Aqua Soil Malaya.
- Décor / hardscape – Petrified Wood, Redmoor Root Wood
- Plants -
Step by Step
To start the step by step George told us about the tank that we were using. It was a 65 x 45 x 45cm optiwhite glass tank made from 10mm glass and coated with tankguard. Next was the lighting, this was an Arcadia metal halide that produces 150w of light at a Kelvin rating of 6500.
After the explanation about the tank itself, George got to explaining the style of aquascape. It was to be a mound/island style aquascape, which consisted of two different substrates. A barrier of cardboard was placed in the tank to divide the two and fixed with sticky tape.
ADA’s Sarawak Sand was poured into the tank in front of the cardboard barrier. This has no added nutritional benefits for the plants but there were was to be no planting in the sand so it was purely aesthetical. ADA Sarawak Sand is a particularly attractive sand and suites the substrate in the next step perfectly.
With the sand in place and the barrier still holding it back it was time to add the next substrate. This was to be ADA’s Aqua Soil Malaya. This is where all the planting is to be so it was mainly chosen for nutritious values but also for it’s particularly attractive appearance. The ADA Aqua Soil Malaya was shaped into a mound to maintain the "island" style aquascape.
With the use of a gravel flattener and a two inch paint brush the two different substrates were evened out and particular attention was paid to the areas of the tank where the sand meets the glass. If it’s not done correctly during setup it’s hard to rectify once planted.
The cardboard barrier was successfully removed and both ADA Aqua Soil Malaya and ADA Sarawak Sand are well divided.
The décor that George chose from our range was made up of Petrified Wood and Redmoor Root Wood. The Redmoor Root Wood was moved around until the right arrangment was found. (The wood was dressed with moss in advance since can be time consuming)
Small pieces of Petrified Wood were added to the layout where the Aqua Soil met the ADA Sarawak Sand. This creates a pleasing transition between the differing substrates. Also, note the angle in which the Petrified Wood is placed - it lays on the substrate pointing to the base of the Redmoor Root Wood and ultimately draws your eye up and through the aquascape.
Now that the "hardscape" is set in place George turned his hand to the plants. Due to the nature of maintaining high tech planted tanks in a busy work environment, George decided on some slower growing species to minimise the pruning and maintenance requirements. Two of the species used were Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow' and Bolbitis heudelotii. These particular plants mustn’t have their roots submerged in the substrate and are by nature better suited to being attached to décor. In this instance George attached the two species to the Redmoor Root Wood using plastic coated garden wire, this was a good tip and proved very successful.
Now that the focal plants are attached, the tank was semi filled and planting began. Fine tweezers were used for the more delicate plants like Eleocharis parvula and Cryptocoryne parva where as larger tweezers were used for the more robust and larger plants such as the Cryptocoryne beckettii "petchii" and Juncus repens.
Now that all of the plants were planted, the rest of the tank was filled with water and left to settle and George open up for floor for questions.
For me, this was a very informative demonstration and a great chance for people to meet, chat and learn about this fascinating and passionate hobby.
A huge thanks to all the staff at The Green Machine, we were, as always treated like royalty and every effort was made to ensure happy customers and visitors throughout the day.
Thank you all - Dan Crawford
