# AGA 2004 - Pictures



## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

I have a laptop with internet access. Please check daily for more updates. Me and Giancarlo just arrived at the hotel and getting ready for VIP party w/ Amano. 

Pictures coming up tonight. Be patient :lol:


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

cant wait cant wait cant wait...where are the pics??? i dont see em yet?? oh...wait..you said tonight... :lol:


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

I'm leaving in a few hours. See ya thar.
Tom Barr


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Few pictures taken at the VIP party at Ghazanfar's house.

1. 10G reef tank by Ghazanfar Ghori









2. Amano looking at Ghazanfar's 75 aquascape









4. 46bow by Ghazanfar Ghori









5. At the dinner (left: Giancarlo Podio, Phil Edwards, Oliver Knott, Takashi Amano, Amano's translator, Amano's Business Manager, Luca Specchio)









6. Looking at the book (left: Takashi Amano, Amano's Business Manager, Jeff Senske, Karen Randall)









7. 75G by Ghazanfar Ghori









8. Ghazanfar and Giancarlo exchanging frags.


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Nice! What did Amano say about Ghanazafar's 75g? What's the deal with the business manager, is he auctioning ADA products?


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Raul-7 said:


> Nice! What did Amano say about Ghanazafar's 75g?


I don't think anyone asked him that question. His face showed no emotion which is normal for typical Japanese person. I hope he liked it as much as we all did.



> What's the deal with the business manager


Top Secret :wink:



> is he auctioning ADA products?


His setup will be ripped apart after the workshop and entire ADA equipment will be taken by "Senske Corp." I'm not sure if there are additional items prepared for the auction.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Thanks for the reports and pics, Jay. Hope to see more.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Very nice, Jay!

Nice tanks too, Ghazanfar!

Please, post more pictures.

--Nikolay


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## Claudio Trinta (Nov 12, 2004)

Very nice acquariums....

Claudio


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

Awesome! man i wish i was there!


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## Ibn (Oct 20, 2004)

Awesome...keep those pictures coming.


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## chrisl (May 24, 2004)

Great looking tanks! Nice to put some faces to names, Thanks Jay!

Chris


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## amber2461 (Jun 15, 2004)

Thanks for the pictures and the names .... finally a face to go with the names !


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

I just got home. Friday/Saturday was very intense. I was eating only once daily and enjoying rest of the show. I have over 2gigs of pictures which should be edited within next few days.

I'm in charge of editing ALL photo submissions from various individuals who took pictures at the convention. Please stay tune for new and improved AGA gallery.

I will add more to the forum and those who didn't have the camera at the time and I was taking picture of you and Amano can freely use it for their personal use.

At the end excellent news from AGA 2004.

Last night at the "VIP Party" Mr. Amano announced the following:

*ADA products will be available in USA and Senske Brothers will be responsible for distribution. Save your money and get ready for top quality gadgets !!!!!!!!!*


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

Convention? What convention? Why didn't somebody tell me there
was a convention!!!

Just got back home - last few days are a blur. Was running on
3-4 hours of sleep / night for the past 4 days.
Don't remember the convention .Will need to buy the DVD.

I do know - it was UNbeleivable! For the folks who missed it - 
get the DVD when its out later this year.

Folks who attended - please post your comments!


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## JLudwig (Feb 16, 2004)

Ghazanfar Ghori said:


> Just got back home - last few days are a blur. Was running on
> 3-4 hours of sleep / night for the past 4 days.
> Don't remember the convention .Will need to buy the DVD.


Heh, so I guess the auction finally ended  I've never seen anything quite like it, 700+ bags of just plants, and not boring stuff either: HC, L. brevipes, oddball crypts, R spec. Green, R Spec. Nanjanshan, L sp. Cuba, on and on. I grabbed some HC and R. spec. Green... several stems being sold were "touched by Amano" in the aquascaping demo the night before 

Since everyone at the conference gave me a jab for not being online as much, I'll make a little more effort to be around... life gets busy, but its good to actually go and meet some fellow hobbyists (nutcases) to recharge the planted tank batteries so-to-speak... met lots of new people, Gomer, Nathan, Phil, Bailin, Oliver, and Tom Barr for the first time, several old faces, good to see everyone!

Mike Senske did the awful awful (read: expensive for me) thing of showing us how he makes his paludariums, every last secret was revealed! No spoilers here - buy the DVD this one is worth it alone! He even reveals how to DIY fog, best way to plumb the tanks, best and how to use terrestrial ferts safely. This is my second time meeting the Senkes, they are very helpful and always eager to share what they know.

Jan started my next morning with a lecture on emersed crypt culture, once again, he told all, but in this case things were susprisingly simple. No secrets, but his rule of thumb was if it doesn't flower in 3 months change what you're doing. He also gave the helpful hint of using RO water for base and fert water to minimize algae problems.

I was helping with the best of show voting, so I didn't catch Paul or Oliver's workshop hopefully someone can post some summaries.

Mr. Amano gave an afternoon lecture in two parts, one with aqauscapes, then questions, then he gave a presentation about building his home. I think you all have seen the tank in the house, but he also showed us the creation of the pond outside his home which is equally if not more impressive... I can't really put this into words, you just need to see this to believe it.

Jan continued with another crypt lecture, this time crypts in nature with beautiful shots of SE Asia, problems with collection, and development. Not sure I would brave the leeches up the nose to get my hands on a rare crypt, but I'm glad people like him are up for it.

Dinner followed, I ate with some "fish" folks: Randy Carey http://www.characin.com and Milo from MN, glad to see we're drawing people from other parts of the hobby, this is very important folks - we don't want to isolate ourselves, not everyone is after an Amano scape, some people are in it to learn more about plants to help with breeding/biotopes/etc... fishrooms don't need to be restricted to duckweed and java moss, stuff like killie tanks are great for crypts, anubias, and plenty more. This is how we bait people in  Erik Olsen, Bailin and Phil were also at the table, we all had a good time.

The contest winners were announced next, not sure when Erik is having the results come out so I'll keep quite right now, anyhow APC should be proud. Honestly, I didn't care for the judges having to explain themselves, a simple announcement would have done it for me. :roll:

Then the master set to work.... FAST. With the help of one day ADA workers Ben and Luis, Amano setup the tank in about an hour, altho he said 30 minutes is not uncommon somethings. It was amazing how unplaned the whole thing was. With respect to driftwood placement, he kind of threw it around in there like well driftwood. It looked like something that washed up on shore and he had no desire to manicure it. Plants went int he same way, he really only paid attention to height. Used a LOT of color, I was suprised.

Getting real tired, I'll leave off here for now, finsihed my summary later..

Jeff Ludwig


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

Sean (SCMurphy) Murphy in shock about the contents of the goodie bag given to all. I cannot thank Mr Amano and ADA's Marketing VP Nozomi Hayakawa as well as SeaChem, Kent, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and ZooMed enough for their generosity.










Contents:

AQ Pharm - Stress Coat
SeaChem - Plant Pack Fundamentals and various Planted Line items
Kent - Various Botanica items
ADA - 7 AquaJournals , 2003 and 2004 ADA Contest Book
ZooMed - Bags


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

: insert very elaborate smily for shedding tears and bashing head into computer screen So sad.........


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

The convention was awesome! It was a pleasure meeting so many people and putting faces to names, everyone was a delight and I think we all had a lot of fun. I'm still recovering myself, think I lost a few brain cells at the "after hours" party... 

Great news regarding the ADA products, I think they made a good choice both in the products to start off with and the parties involved in bringing them to us, congratulations to both ADA and the soon to be Senske Corp. :wink:

Thank you to all the organizers for making this happen, the speakers who presented some very interesting topics and revealed some of their secrets to us (can't wait for the DVD!), congratulations to all the contest entries and of course those who brought home ribbons!

Need to go through the photos, will post some later on. Jay took many photos, can't wait to see them all!

Giancarlo


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

More pictures.

Please stay tune for New AGA Gallery and tons of pictures.

Mr. Amano with ALL the ladies 









Placement of the wood









Help Squad (left: Luiz Navarro, Ghazanfar Ghori, Ben Belton)









Audience with the cameras









Help Squad (guys are wrapping rocks with java moss)









Mr. Amano pruning anubias









Mr. Amano adding anubias to the aquascape









Mr. Amano adding water to the tank. Diffuser was necessary at the end of the hose plus movements of the hose from left to right were performed to prevent from messing up the substrate 









First peek at almost done aquascape









APC Squad









Finished aquascape


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Amano, discussing design.


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

Names of folks pictured in the APC Squad Picture. I met so many people I do not remeber all the names the proper spellings or the nicks for all. If you are pictured here and I missed or otherwise fouled up part of it please PM me and I will fix. 

Starting in left rear

Paul (HeyPK) Kromboltz, Cavan Allen, Oliver Knott, Giancarlo (gpodio) Podio, Nathan (gnatster) Freedenberg, Tony (gomer) Gomez, George (carpediem212)

2nd row from Left

Jay Luto, Ken (ryuken168) Ryuken

Front row

Jon G, Takashi Amano, Phil Edwards, (Standing) Tom (plantbrain) Barr, Marian Wojtaszek

That was not all of us that were there, it was quite hard to round up all the APC folks.

APC Members missing from Group Shot but present

Sean (SCMurphy) Murphy
Ghazanfar Ghori
Aaron (grandmasterofpool) Talbot
Jeff Senske
Mike Senske
Ben Belton
Ricky Cain
Jeff (JLudwig) Ludwig
Bob Vivian

Please PM me if I missed you and you were there.


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## ElizaH2O (Nov 16, 2004)

_Folks who attended - please post your comments!_

I am a new member of the AGA and this was my first convention. I am fairly advanced at fishkeeping, terrestrial gardening, and artwork... so aquascaping is a logical next step for me. The information I gleaned from the various lectures was extremely useful, but I also felt that the people attending the convention were equally if not more helpful. Everyone was so accessible, friendly, and eager to share. Having never tried a planted tank yet, I felt like I was being given the answer key to a major exam when watching the Amano aquascaping demo. The lectures by Takashi Amano, Mike Senske, Diana Walstad, Oliver Knott, and Jan Bastmeijer (I missed the others and will need the DVD) were full of excellent new information as well as reassuring... I was surprised at how much I've already learned from the books I've read. I came away from the experience feeling more confident and excited to try things myself.

Thanks so much to everyone who worked to put this together. I watched you guys running around making it all happen and fully appreciate the amount of devotion and effort this took. You all did an amazing job!

Eliza Holcombe


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## crshadow (Sep 25, 2004)

Hey! It was a blast meeting everyone and putting faces to names. All in all, it was a very rewarding experience and I would encourage anyone who did not attend to try and make it to the next one. Seeing Amano in action was great! For those who weren't there, Mr. Amano finished that Aquascape in about an hour or so! (Starting with a completely empty tank.) :shock: He even stated that it would have normally taken him only 30 minutes had he not been narrating! :shock: 
Again, it was great meeting people, I didn't get a chance to meet everyone as there was just so much going on. I'm looking forward to doing so at the next one. I took lots of pics and will be posting some later on once I get a chance to get them all into the system.

-Jeremiah


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## Wahter (Nov 15, 2004)

I'm a witness! That's how it happened!    

It was nice seeing some people again and meeting several new people.


Walter (I'm one of the 'old fashion' people with a 35mm film camera - gotta wait to finish the roll before getting it processed and scanned).


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

So where do we get the dvd and does anyone know when it will be out?


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

Here's a couple photos I took

Oliver showing off his Japanese :wink: (Tomoko helping him out and Karen shooting pics)









Checking out some of the wood


















Lunch after visiting the Baltimore Aquarium









Planted tank at Barnes & Noble in Baltimore









Amano's presentation









Tying moss to the wood









Foreground is done









In go the background plants









That's a lot of depth! ....and color









Made it look so easy...









Hard to get a good shot...









A closeup









The finished product








Zoom in

Backstage :wink: 









Hope you enjoy them
Giancarlo


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

*ADA Tank Setup*

There are so many experiences to tell about and I ran around the entire weekend with a digital camera in my pocket. As one that helped behind the scenes the camera was in my pocket too much. I did manage to get a few shots when I remembered. This is the sage of setting up the demonstration tank.

ADA shipped 3 pallets of ~2000lbs of goods two months ahead. One pallet contained the tank, stand and lighting, one had printed material and supplies, the last all printed material. Japan to L.A. by boat, L.A. to DC via train. Almost all of it arrived undamaged too. This is where we begin...

Upon unpacking the stainless steel light supports it was found they were bent. Needless to say Mr Amano was quite unhappy. The hotel Engineering Dept was contacted and they said they could not straighten the curves. Much brainstorming was quickly done incl looking for an all night or at least open on Sat AM machine shop to figuring where Home Depot was in the area and creating new ones. Being the stubborn sort I am and wanting to fix these things I placed one over the marble topped reception desk and was able to gently bend it back a little. Then Tony, Ricky and Sean jumped in to help, we identified where the bends were and carefully jumped on the bars getting them to bend back some, but still quite off. Sorry about those fingers Ricky, eventually they will heal. Tony and I grabbed a Security guy that came thru and he took us to the Engineering folks. After assuring them we would in no way hold them accountable to any damage they let us use a vice. That didn't work well and put a small dent in a pole. The they pulled out a hand pipe bender, try as we may the curves on the tool were just too sharp on the bender for the gentle bends we needed to fix. The Chief Engineer then led us down to deep in the hotel to another tool room and pulled out a tripod pipe bender for us to use. With this we managed to get them both pretty darn close to straight.

Gomer with pipe bender deep in bowels of hotel.










After Mike Senkse's talk on paludariums was complete we started to open some of the boxes with the supplies but there were to many people about wanting to get a good look. Sorry to all the people we had to ask to leave.

Nozomi overseeing Oliver Knott, Luca Specchio (editor of Italy's Aqua Planta / Reef Art magazine) and Jeff Senkse with unpacking ADA goods.










Oliver and Jeff measuring 22.5cm three times to make sure the light stand bracket is exactly correct. The tape measure is in cm. The wrench is part of the CO2 cannister, comes with the kit.










Nozomi marking the location where the cables line up perfectly so we can slide them right back into place when Mr Amano finished scaping. Mike Senkse praying the light stand holds the light he now owns and ready to catch it. Luca is looking on. On top of the light is a level that is provided by ADA, the attention to detail ADA products have is simply amazing.










Jeff being allowed to attach the CO2 tubing to the diffuser. You have to realize each item has a place and a direction to sit. Tubing is carefully measured and and routed. Nozomi came back after Jeff was finished and snipped about 2mm off the tube while shaking his head commenting on how imprecise it was.










Jeff and the completed setup. We felt it was best to leave the light fixture off the stand all night. Only took about 2 hours to get this setup perfectly.


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

You remember all those 'light bulb' jokes. How about one that goes something akin to: "How many APC members does it take to....?"

Andrew Cribb


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

What sized tank was that? Great pictures!


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Very, very nice pictures and comments!

--Nikolay


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

I gather you mean the ADA tank. I think it is the 90x45x45 cm that works out to ~190l or 50gal


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Yes, it's always a fun thing to go to.
If you have not ever gone, you will enjoy it.
Yammering about weeds all day and night.
Seems to take a lot out of you.

Karen and I always try to limit our talking, we loose our voices otherwise. It was semi nice to just hang out and not speak this time. 

I was able to meet some notable folks:
Jeff, Tony, Big John who was supremely gracious, Luca, Marian, Giancarlo, Eliza, Greg Watson, Mike and Jeff Senske who I had a chance to talk with more, A little with Amano but mainly with his no2# guy this time, Shawn Prescott and the we rest of you all I might of missed and of course the old friends from before.

You could not go wrong about the species of plants that were available.

I'm bucking for next years in SF. We have the folks, we have the location, we have the natural areas, we have great stores, tanks, large public aquariums, killer Japanese gardens, best food, inspiring nature, we can get plants from Asian importers regularly so a large order for the AGA would not be a big issue.
Bing Seto and **** Au discus folks(perhaps a tour), Monterey Bay Aqaurium behind the scenes tour, that place is second to none.
Very tough to beat this place.

Numerous vendors make their home here(Aquaria, Kordon, and a dozen others).

I'm looking for hotel sites for it now.

Hope to get it and see you all here next year. 200$ for coast to coast flights anywhere pretty much in the USA.

If you wanna stay another few days, ski Tahoe, see Yosemite, see the biggest, the oldest and the tallest trees in the world all in the same day.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

if it is SF, then you can count me in next year for sure! ..I can even drive up there if I want...make a nice road trip out of it and all LOL.

AGA hasn't hit SF yet has it?


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## tanVincent (Mar 19, 2004)

Can I be in that road trip???

Cheers
Vincent


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

hmmm..I think that would be a rather wet road trip for you


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## tanVincent (Mar 19, 2004)

...you mean from the boxes of plants I'm intending to bring along for the auction? 



Cheers
Vincent


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Fly into LA Vincent and drive up with Gomer.
Take 101 up for a nicer route. 
There are a lot of folks from up north also, OR, WA, BC etc.
You could likely pay for your flight with plant cuttings.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## carpediem212 (Nov 15, 2004)

The convention was a great success. Me and my girlfriend are new to the planted tank hobby and learned alot from the speakers. ( Oliver Knott, Takashi Amano, The Crypt Man). Amano's presentations of how to do a simple setup with contrasting subtrates was very informative. Also a simple technic in how to get rid of the cloudy dust in the water when you first fill. His presentation of his home was an incredible feat. Especially in Japan where earth quakes are frequent. I like how at the closing ceremony at the awards on late Saturday night gave good insight on why certain tanks won and what made them stand out. 

Also one of the most important of the whole convention was meeting all the friendly people and getting to know how a piece of drift wood and simple rock can be turned into a grand presentation of nature. 

Many thanks to the people we met at our banquet table, Marian Wojtaszek, Jay Luto and Giancarlo. 

Thanks Ryuken for your insite on the many plants and drift woods to buy at the convention. Had fun looking down the excorcist stair case.


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## carpediem212 (Nov 15, 2004)

gnatster said:


> Names of folks pictured in the APC Squad Picture. I met so many people I do not remeber all the names the proper spellings or the nicks for all. If you are pictured here and I missed or otherwise fouled up part of it please PM me and I will fix.
> 
> Starting in left rear
> 
> ...


Tall man in blue shirt is me George (carpediem212)


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

San Jose convention center Tom! So much less traffic than San Francisco. I hate driving in SF! :wink:


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

It was great meeting both of you too, hope to see you again at the next one!

Giancarlo


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## C_perugiae (Feb 26, 2004)

I missed Amano's planting demonstration, stupid earache. Of course, I also missed the picture... 

I managed to wedge myself in for his pic with the ladies, though, so I guess I didn't miss out that much. My coworkers are jealous. 

-Sarah


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

That sucks  perhaps you should get the DVD 

ok...so which one are you in the picture?


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

:shock: I'm jealous , where can i get the dvd ?


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## SCMurphy (Jan 28, 2004)

Gomer said:


> ok...so which one are you in the picture?


I know, I know!!!! :lol:


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

> where can i get the dvd ?


Watch the AGA Site for details.


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

mor b said:


> :shock: I'm jealous , where can i get the dvd ?


Give Erik few more weeks. :wink:


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## claus (Sep 6, 2004)

Hello, 

I was there !! :wink: . For my husband & I it was a lot of fun, also we meet very nice people, who helped us a lot to get more knowledge about aqua scape, plants, etc, meeting Amano was a great experience!, he is very cool and very nice person, I enjoyed a lot his presentations and when I had the opportunity to be close to him I also enjoyed his commentaries. 

Is good finally put faces to names and nick names. Special thanks to Gnaster (Nathan) who was so kind in the auction, thanks to him we could get some special plants early in the auction and we were able to take our fly on time to Mexico. 

Also we got some cherry shrimps (It is impossible to get cherrys in Mexico), all of them had arrived o.k. to Mexico, but I'm a little worry about the females with eggs because they had passed through the X-Rays at airport  (the babies could get a genetic damage). 

Sorry for my English but it is very late and still I'm working, I don't have a clear mind on this time, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to share my experiences with you. 

Best Regards from Mexico !


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Hola, 
I saw you and your husband there. Luis N. wanted to know who you guys were as he is from Zihuatenjo, Mexico.
I lived in Cuerna Vaca, Morelos for awhile many years ago, not too far from DF. My mother grew up in Panama.

There are several folks from Mexico keeping plants on these list.
I've ran across an increasing number from Mexico recently.

It's a challenge there.
Get a net, grab a bag and go collecting yourself!
Lots of fish in your area and plants.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## C_perugiae (Feb 26, 2004)

I was wearing a white shirt over a dark dress... I think I was pretty much right behind him in the pic. Most of you guys would probably recognize me as I went to all the stuff.


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## plantella (Feb 5, 2004)

Hello...good morning...Guten Tag...konichi wa...to everyone,

I want to say "Thank you very much" to all the people at the AGA convention for the big hospitality.
It was very nice to meet so many nice and interesting people.

Also I want to say thank you for the insight of the audience at my workshop, because of my "not perfect English". And I hope you catch some information...I hope :wink:

Thank's for all who organized this great convention.

I hope to see you next year again.

Best regards,

Oliver Knott
Aquarium Picture Gallery


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## Its me (Oct 21, 2004)

Hi Oliver, only one little problem: ya still have to put a "good morning" in portuguese, wich is "Bom dia" haha

Best Regards


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

...add Bulgarian to that

hehe

--Nikolay


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## claus (Sep 6, 2004)

Tom 

It is a nice surprise that you remember us, I was trying find your name in the badges the people was wearing in order to know you, because I have heard a lot of good comments about you, but I couldn't find you. 

We meet Luis Navarro, nice guy, I have also seen his web page, he has very nice tanks. I will keep in contact with him by e-mail. 

I'm glad to hear about new Mexican people joining to this hobby, I'll try to contact them. 

How many years did you live in Cuernavaca ? It's a nice place, isn't it?. We live in Mexico City but we know some nice places to collect very good specimens plants and fish. The problem is we don't have enough free time to go  , but we'll go to collect and if we get some good guys I will send a picture for sure!.


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