# Planted tank hobby...



## Pigheaddd (Feb 27, 2004)

Hi members,

let's discuss planted tank hobby history in the U.S.! does anybody know how long this hobby exist in the U. S.? i think this is still a pretty new hobby recently. this hobby will keep growing in the future in my opinion. people always like to try NEW stuffs. don't we? as far i know the reef tank was introduced to the U.S. around 1995, which only less than 10 years.(thats what i heard from someone. i don't know if it's true or not.) what do you think?

if we want more people to involve in this hobby, there are some ways that we can do. in my opinion, first thing we can do is to let people getting more information about this hobby or this website. so... how about a bumper sticker?(it may sounds stupid to som of you. :lol: ) bumper sticker will help to introduce this great website to public coz you have to drive everyday. it likes a mobile ad. sticker is simple just like aquaticplantcentral.com or an icon. it's just my quick thought.  what's your opinion? 

have a nice weekend,

Tim


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## Steve Pituch (Jan 25, 2004)

Well, lets see....

The Aquatic Gardener Jan-Feb 1997 has an article called "The Aquarium and Water Plants" which was reprinted from _Flowers for the Parlor and Garden_, 1868. It also as many articles on planted aquariums published around 1916 and 1930.

I believe but can't confirm at this moment that there where planted aquarium books written in Europe in the 17th century.

My Metaframe book called "Tropical Aquarium Fishes Freshwater & Marine describes; 1) the clinical system (UV and skimmers), 2) the semi-natural system (undergravel filters), and 3) the natural system. All these systems were well into practice before the book was published. It was published in 1972. The color photos show beautiful reef systems made in the 1960s.

The Encyclopedia of Tropical Fishes shows undergravel filters, plants. It was first published in 1958. The Innes book puts an emphasis on plants and was published in 1938, but research for it went back to 1905.

Keeping planted aquariums is actually a pretty old hobby. (There was life before the Internet!)

Regards,
Steve Pituch


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## Sue (Mar 19, 2004)

*Thoughts*

I'm a bit of a farmer and draft horse enthusiast. Can you tell by my Avatar?  
There's a little draft animal/farming mag that has a website with a busy message board. They sell hats with the messageboard logo pretty cheap so that fellow posters can recognize each other at certain farming events. Works nice and some good solid friendships have been made that way.

They also made a little map where everybody was. No real personal info just state and username. Helps sometimes with some of the answers you get and give. Would probably be useful here too. For example water in New England tends to be soft with little to buffer it. The southwest often has liquid rock. Helpful if your growing acres of wheat or gallons of tropical stuff.

Not a bad idea at all. It works.


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## Pigheaddd (Feb 27, 2004)

i think i didn't make this topic clear. what i'm trying to say is that when was planted tank hobby becoming popular in the U.S.? ex: like 10 years ago? 20 years ago? or recently in these few years! i mean more people get into or interest in aquatic plants/aquascaping! sorry if i make you guys/girls misunderstand my topic. :lol: 

Tim


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

i've heard of plant tank as far back as 50 years ago.. They were in Germany


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## Daemonfly (Mar 21, 2004)

Pigheaddd, maybe you should bold & use a larger font on your first sentance of the initial post, so people notice what you're really looking for 

Personally, I have no idea when it started getting popular, I just started last year


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

oh whoops, I apologize, i didn't catch the U.S. part of it. AS for U.S., I've heard as far back as 30 years ago. The old tanks back then....phew, they were ugos


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## cactusdoug (Feb 17, 2004)

I recently found a Sunset book on making terrariums published in the early 70's.

There was a chapter on planted tanks listing several of the most common plants that are still in use today, Amazon Sword, Etc.

CD


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

Yea! I believe that's the same one that I've seen too! It has Cabomba, Vals, Anacharis along with the Swords right?


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## cactusdoug (Feb 17, 2004)

Yes, it has all of those.

I'ts about a 3 page chapter in the middle of the book.

CD


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

I recall reading about "the most beautiful aquarium plant - Uvirandra" in a Russian aquarium book from the 50's or late 40's. 

It had a "secret" on how to grow "Uvirandra" (Aponogeton madagascariensis) - "put a ball of clay under the roots"  

--Nikolay


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Ah, maybe I can chime in with a Reader's Digest version...

The planted aquarium hobby in the US is still in its infant stage. For many years it was the hobby of only a few North Americans. Information was extremely hard to come by let alone equipment. Most of the time, we made our own.

Back in 1986, I think, AquaDocumenta published The Optimum Aquarium by Dupla's founders. This book ignited a fire under the current US aquatic gardeners and the hobby began to grow quicker. Of course, the AGA was re-formed by then and it was growing.

With the Internet, the Aquatic Plant Digest was a tremendous help in getting new members and sharing ideas. Then came CompuServe's FISHNET where the Aquatic Plant Section was the first online community for aquatic gardeners.

By this time, Amano had released his first book in the US under an arrangement with TFH. As it began to hit bookstores, the hobby began to change from a group of hard-core enthusiasts to a more main stream lot.

The release of PMDD (originally, Poor Man's Dupla Drops and now, Poor Man's Dosing Drops) increased the interest in understanding plant nutrition and, indirectly, would lead to current methods (e.g., Tom's method) that increase the chances of success for all newbies.

Online communities were formed to increase the sharing of knowledge between aquatic gardeners and then APC was born...


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