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Aquatic Gardeners Association Convention 2008 - November 14-16, 2008

My Arrival to AGA 2008
As my flight landed in Atlanta, GA, I was finally able to meet my roomate, Jason Baliban, in person. I tell ya, after talking with him over the internet for the past 2-3 years, it was a relief to finally actually meet the guy. After we got all of our luggage, we took a shuttle to the Sheraton hotel where we were staying. After we dropped of our luggage in our room, we headed down to the hospitality room to meet more planted aquarium enthusiasts. Upon arriving the hospitality room, I was greeted by Cheryl Rogers, checked in and was given my nametag, which I would be wearing for the entire convnetion. During our time in the hospitality room, we spent time socializing about planted aquariums, getting to know each other a bit more, and participated in a small group talk about cryptocorynes. As the evening was winding down, Ghazanfar Ghori, Aaron Talbot, Jay L., Jason and I headed to the hotel lobby lounge to finish the night with a couple games of poker.

Georgia Aquarium Field Trip
After a delicious, but quite expensive all you can eat breakfast buffet, we headed down to the main lobby to group up for our walk to the Georgia Aquarium. The walk to the Georgia Aquarium was roughly six blocks away and took us about 15-20 minutes to arrive. I figured the walk wasn't so bad after all that breakfast that I had ate prior. During the walk, I was able to personally talk to Phil Edwards and shared with him my views of the planted aquarium hobby and how a young enthusiasts like me was able to make the trip.

As we arrived to the Georgia Aquarium estate, I must say that the place was quite fascinating from the outside and the inside got even better. Inside the Georgia Aquarium were several exhibits such as; Coldwater Quest, Georgia Explorer, Ocean Voyager, River Scout, Tropical Diver, 3D Theater, and the Behind the Scenes Tour. More information about these exhibits can be found on their website at Georgia Aquarium.

Due to the vastness of my trip at the Georgia Aquarium, I have decided that I will write a separate article on my experiences at the Georgia Aquarium. Please stay tuned for this article!

Lunch with Takashi Amano
After our journey through Georgia Aquarium ended, our stomachs were growling, a sign of begging for food! As we walked outside searching for a nice fancy restaurant, Takashi Amano scoped out a restaurant I believe was called Legal Sea Food, please correct me if I'm wrong. As the staff seated us to our tables, there were lots of great discussions going on about ADA products, the future of ADA and how will it withstand other competitors. During these discussions, Jason, Mike Senske, John Ciotti, and Yoshi (Amano's assistant) got to know each other a little bit more and talked more about planted aquariums. As we finished our foods, we got our stuff and headed our way back to the Sheraton hotel. I would like to specifically thank Takashi Amano for treating us the wonderful seafood lunch and the company of the rest at the lunch table.

Iron Aquascaper Competition
The Iron Aquascaper Competition, sponsored by Aquarium Design Group, was one of the events I was really looking forward to. After hearing that one of the competitors was not able to make it, I was quite disappointed. However, after hearing that a buddy of mine, Jason Baliban, was selected to be one of the aquascapers, going against John Ciotti, another planted aquarium enthusiast, it became a more interesting event to me. It was great seeing the two aquascapers go head to head and aquascaping the ADA 60-P rimless aquarium with limited choices of hardscape materials. When the timer finally reached its end, both aquascapers, Jason Baliban and John Ciotti finished strong and did a great job of completing their aquascapes within the time limit given. As the judges scored both of the contestant's aquascape, they have concluded that John Ciotti's creation of art came out on top and turned out to be the better aquascape. Overall, I thought that Jason's aquascape turned out better for my taste, but due to the excess planting of plants and the positioning of some of the live plants in his aquascape, his score was slightly lower. In the end, I think both contestants did a great job and each of them should be considered as winners.

Convention Presentations

All of the presentations and speakers were really helpful and beneficial in the planted aquarium hobby. I would really encourage all of you planted aquarium enthusiasts to purchase the DVD’s of the AGA Convention 2008 to see the presentations. If you missed the convention and would like to know what went on, this would be a great time to purchase a copy of the DVD. It is appreciative that AGA has put in a lot of work to be able to provide us a comfortable place to meet and discuss planted aquariums, and by purchasing your own copy of the DVD, you are not only getting to see the presentations, but also you are showing your support to AGA. 

• Greg Morin - "Foliar vs. Root-zone Uptake for Ferric and Ferrous Iron"
• Michael Kane - "Tissue Culture for Aquarists"
• Benito Tan - "Aquatic Mosses: Taxonomy and Its Application In Commercially Sold Aquarium Bryophytes"
• Jeff Senske - "Effective Design"
  Jeff Senske and the Aquarium Design Group maintain well over 500 aquariums throughout their clients. By applying an effective and efficient design, the Aquarium Design Group was able to maintain their client's aquarium(s) more efficiently, thus alleviating the consumption of a lot of time.
  
• Takashi Amano - "Aquascaping Presentation and Demonstration"
  During the presentation Amano went through plenty of aquascapes of the International Aquatic Plant Layout contests and talked about the pros and cons of each aquarium. Throughout this presentation, I found a lot of what Amano said was helpful for me so that I do not make the same mistakes when planning out my own aquascapes.
  
• Karen Randall - "Collecting in Thailand"

Amano Aquascaping Demonstration
The big main event of the convention that I anticipated for the most would be the aquascaping demonstration by a true aquarist at heart, Takashi Amano. The aquarium that Amano used was an ADA 90-P rimless aquarium setup with the full line of ADA filtration, filter pipes, substrate additives, substrate, driftwood, decorative sand, etc.... Throughout the demonstration, Amano explained what kind of scape he was doing, his thought process and the little things that could greatly help improve an aquascape. As always, the finish aquascape looked awesome, and it would be more awesome to see how it will look as it matures. I plan on writing more about the demonstration given by Takashi Amano, so please keep checking back for updates.

AGA Banquet / Karen Randall's Talk
The last main event before the Sunday auction would be the AGA banquet and Karen Randall's talk on her recent collecting trip in Thailand. During the banquet, it was great eating and talking to the NASH guys sitting at our table. As we finished eating, the announment of contest winners for the AGA International Aquascaping Contest was beginning. Surprisingly, without a clue, Jason Baliban, a well known planted aquarium enthusiast, took 2nd place in the aquatic garden 200L - 400L category with his aquascape title named, Meander. Congrats to him and his hard work and also for being the only winner from the U.S. this year. You can view more about his 2nd place prize winning planted aquarium here.

Following the aquascaping contest winners, Karen Randall shared to us her trip to Thailand. The presentation she gave was great! She shared tons of pictures and spefically described each photo she took, the place she was at, and what she was doing at the time.

My Last Thoughts
Overall, my weekend spent at the convention was truthfully awesome and memorable. I enjoyed every bit of time I had talking with many of the planted aquarium enthusiasts, time listening to the presentation speakers, and lastly the whole atmosphere of the convention. By attending this event, I truthfully became more inspired by other planted enthusiasts to dig deeper inside the planted aquarium hobby to find new ideas and techniques that we ourselves as hobbyist would enjoy learning about.

I would like to express my thanks to AGA, its board members, and the volunteers for putting their own time into making this all happen, it wouldn't be possible without your help and contribution. I would also like to say thanks to all the planted aquarium enthusiasts from the different states and countries for being able to make this a fulfilled and enjoyable event. For those who have never attended an AGA convention, I highly recommend and encourage you to attend future conventions by the AGA. You will definitely get a lot out of it, because I know I did.

- Johnny

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