Two years have passed since my first attendance to the AGA Convention and low and behold, it was that time of year again. The Aquatic Gardeners Association 2010 Convention was held on the week of November 11-14, 2010 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. With my luggage packed, I was set to head my way down to the warm weather of southern Florida to enjoy a weekend with planted aquarium enthusiasts from all around the world.

Like conventions in the past, Thursday was a day for hanging out in the hospitality suite meeting up new and old planted aquarium enthusiasts, bagging plants, and relaxing before beginning the fun weekend ahead.  I made my way up to the hospitality suite to pick up my name badge, grabbed a few snacks to eat and met up with new and old friends.

Florida Aquatic Nurseries Tour

After a big morning breakfast, we gathered in the lobby area and prepared for our trip to Florida Aquatic Nurseries (FAN) for a tour. I was excited for this event and thank you to AGA and FAN for being able to make this happen. If you do not know, FAN is the leading supplier of aquatic plants in the United States and is probably where most of our pet stores get their aquatic plants.  Both of their facilities contained hundreds of plants in propagation, which ranged from pond plants to aquarium plants. Many types of lilies, Echinodorus, Cryptocorynes, and stem plants were found throughout.

After spending most of the morning touring both facilities of the nursery, FAN was kind enough to provide us with Cuban lunch and also gave a presentation on Lily hybridization, which showcased some of their award winning lilies.

Tissue Culture Workshop with Dr. Michael Kane

After the FAN tour, we returned back to the hotel for a presentation given by Dr. Michael Kane on Plant Tissue Culture for the Aquarist: A Hands-on Experience. Dr. Michael Kane is currently a professor and assistant chairman of environmental horticulture at the University of Florida. Dr. Kane was also a convention speaker at the AGA 2008 Convention where he gave a similar talk on Tissue Culture for Aquarists.  Following the presentation, we were now able to get a hands-on experience with attempting our own tissue culture. Although I’ve had some prior knowledge on tissue culture, I have not yet tried for myself, so this was a first time experience for me.

ADG Iron Aquascaper Competition

Following the tissue culture workshop was the Iron Aquascaper Competition hosted by Aquarium Design Group, another event of the weekend that I looked forward to. At the AGA 2008 Convention, the reigning champion, John Ciotti was to return back this year to defend his title against the challenger, Frank Wazeter of ADG.  However, Ciotti was not able to make it to this year’s convention, so another Aquascaper was chosen to go head to head with Frank. That chosen one would be a great friend of mine that I met at the AGA 2008 Convention, Luis Navarro. Luis is an experienced planted aquarium enthusiast who has been in the hobby for quite a long time. He has an eye for good layout design and usage of plants, which may have contributed to many of his great aquascapes that he has accomplished throughout the years.

To answer the question, what exactly is the Iron Aquascaper Competition? The Iron Aquascaper Competition is an event held at the AGA Convention where two aquascapers go head to head to create an aquascape with given an equally amount of hardscape materials and plants. They are only allowed a one-hour time frame to complete their aquascape before filling and then the judging begins.

More details and photos are posted on the Iron Aquascaper 2010 Competition.

Guest Speakers

The AGA has done a great job of selecting experienced guest speakers for this year’s convention. There are a lot of aspects when it comes to keeping planted aquariums, and they have done a good job diversifying this year’s guest speaker line up presenting a range of different topics related to the planted aquarium hobby.

This year’s guest speakers line consist of the following:

• Jason Baliban – Photography & Aquascaping Contest Preparation
• Claus Christensen – How to Make Plants Happy & Avoid Algae
• Michael Kane – The Secret Lives of Amphibious Plants
• Karen Randall – Modern Aquascaping Design
• Ghazanfar Ghori – Cryptocorynes

Jason Baliban – Photography & Aquascaping Contest Preparation

It was early in the morning and sure enough most of us were probably tired from the day before. Unfortunately, Jason was first in line to begin the day with his presentation on photography and aquascaping contest preparation. Jason shared some tips and tricks on shooting with a point and shoot camera, which may be what most people use today to photograph their aquariums. He has also written a helpful article on Planted Aquarium Photography with a Point and Shoot Camera, which I recommend reading if you are using one.  He also covered some tips on more advanced photography methods like using flash strobes to add more light to an aquarium for better photos. Other tips include cleaning glass, taking out equipment, adding a lot of light, and using a hair dryer to create the ripple effect. Near the end of the presentation, Jason showed us some quick Photoshop tricks he uses to slightly enhance his photos. Although I have heard Jason give this similar talk at the Aquafest 2009, there is always something new that I learn each time.

Claus Christensen – How to Make Plants Happy & Avoid Algae

This was the first time that I’ve met Claus, and was interested in hearing his talk on how to make plants happy and avoid algae. Claus Christensen is a former executive for Tropica, and is currently spending most of his time traveling the world to discover new aquatic plants. In his talk, Claus emphasized many times that the plants we see in nature today may not be growing in optimal conditions, so therefore he suggested that we do not try to mimic the conditions of where plants are found in nature. Throughout the presentation, he showed us many photos of the places he’s been and the condition of environment of plants grown in those environments throughout the year.

Unfortunately, I was getting hungry and end up spending the next couple of hours going out touring the city and then head my way back just in time for Ghazanfar’s talk on Cryptocorynes.

Ghazanfar Ghori – Cryptocorynes

Ghazanfar is another friend of mind that I was fortunate enough to also meet at the AGA 2008 Convention. Ghazanfar Ghori is no stranger to the planted aquarium hobby, and definitely not one to the crypt collectors. Most people would recognize him through his experience with growing Cryptocorynes. He has quite of a collection Cryptocorynes of which he not only grows submersed or immersed, but also through tissue culture. In his presentation, he shared some background information on Cryptocorynes, and showed us some photos of places of where crypts can be found. There are currently 55 species of Cryptocorynes and less than 10 of the 55 are being commercially produced. He also shared what he uses to grow his crypts followed by photos of his freshwater and black water setups.

You can find more information about Ghazanfar and his adventures with Cryptocorynes on his blog, Kyrptokoryne.

Following the Ghazanfar’s talk on Cryptocorynes was the banquet dinner and the AGA 2010 International Aquascaping Contest results. Check out this year’s contest entries and results.

Auction Day!

After the past couple days of fun-filled events, the convention ended with an all day auction! There were common to rare plants available for bidding and even some were released to the hobby for the first time at the auction. Like at most auctions, a lot of heavy bidding was at the beginning and near the end; plants were going for dirt-cheap! And by cheap, I mean $1 cheap. I end up winning some Rotala nanjenshen abd Eleocharis flaverencis, a new plant released.

As the auction was coming to an end, so was the weekend. People were getting ready to pack their bags and head out on their way back home.

Last Thoughts

First and foremost, I want to give credit to the board members and sponsors for making the convention possible. There is a lot of work that goes into organizing and planning a convention like the AGA, and I just want to say thank you for the all hard work that you guys do for us to be able to expand our experience and knowledge in the planted aquarium hobby at this event. It was definitely a pleasure to meet new people and also catch up with old friends.

If you have never attended an AGA Convention, I highly recommend that you make plans to attend one in the future. This is a great event to meet up with other hobbyists, as well as learn and share our knowledge and experiences on planted aquariums. This was my second time attending the AGA Convention and I plan on making an appearance to more in the future.

If you have missed this year’s convention, you’re not out of luck! The AGA is currently working on a DVD set that is available for purchase. I have received a copy of the AGA 2008 Convention DVD, and it always brings me back to the fun times. I highly recommend purchasing a copy to get a feel of what the convention is like. You will get a full coverage of the events that happened during the convention, and maybe some extra footage. Support the AGA!

Again, I will be posting a few more complementary articles to go along with this one, so stay tuned!