Starting from Scratch

As some of you know I picked up shop and moved to San Francisco to travel and work before I have to invest in mortgages and other expensive things that are involved with living in Ireland. I got rid of the majority of my fish keeping parafunalia so I'm starting with nothing. I'm planning on being hear for at least two years so I figured I might as well try my hand at one of these planted tanks and keep myself out of trouble.

Too my utter astonishment, I was delighted to find a fish shop less than six "blocks" from my current location. But it is not just any fish shop! This is by far the nicest fish shop that I had ever been in. I'm sorry to the retailers back at home but you couldn't put a scratch on these guys. The name of the shop is Aqua Forest Aquarium and it is one of the few retailers for ADA aquatic plant products in the United States. The shop was set up "I think" by a family member of Takashi Amano and is run by an old Japanese couple. Although the shop is small its the kind of place you could (and will) spend hours in, they even have a library for customer use! desk lights and all. The display tanks in the shop are simply stunning, the range of aquatic plant in immeasurable, a massive selection of books, highly specialised equipment and they only stock plant friendly fish. I know where the majority of my pay checks are going!

I don't really know where I am going with this post and I feel like a am waffeling a bit. I guess since I don't have any fish to look after at the moment I just needed something to write about. As for the tank I am going to setup I don't know what size I'm going to go for and I haven't found my new apartment or a job yet, but once I have those I will start my planted tank diary.

As for the amazing plant shop, I bought the book "Nature Aquarium World" book 3 by Takashi Amano and also picked up the new ADA brochure to figure out what I am going to be spending all my money on.

Here are a couple of snaps from the Aqua Forest Website












Denis

Wow oh wow. Now all I need is a fast-tracked passport & an airfare.

Pig in shit

Some stunning tanks there.
Nice to hear from you bro. Don`t be a stranger as they say.

Waffle away!!That place looks amazing.Keep us posted with what they have over there,always interesting to see how they do it in various parts of the world.
Hope its all going well for you over there.

any urge for the destilled stuff yet?

Wow, looks fantastic. I was in Marbella for a couple of weeks and couldn't find one pet shop, never mind a fish shop. They don't seem to be big into fish keeping in Spain.

Now all I need is a fast-tracked passport & an airfare.

Come on over the waters fine, I'm sure the person I'm staying wouldn't mind another couple of Irish bodies lying around the place. The more the merrier!

Some stunning tanks there.
Nice to hear from you bro. Don`t be a stranger as they say

I will make sure to keep posting. It might be a little lax for the first while as I try an convince a prospective employer that I am a good worker but once I have the foot in the door and I can get back to spending the majority of the working day reading Holgers and Fr. Jacks lively banter about Chemical equations that give me headaches.

Keep us posted with what they have over there,always interesting to see how they do it in various parts of the world.

Will do, Things seem a great deal cheaper than they are at home and thats even in the high end shop as seen above. For instance a twin T5 overtank luminar with an internal cooling system for a 70-80lt tank (cant remember watt outputt) is about 90 euro. I will make sure to let people know when I'm coming home for visits so I can take orders for ADA fertilisers and other quality kit for planted tanks. You may not ask for tanks, externals or other large objects!!!! or Corys!!

any urge for the destilled stuff yet

They have been many and varied

I was in Marbella for a couple of weeks and couldn't find one pet shop, never mind a fish shop. They don't seem to be big into fish keeping in Spain.

That because all the fish get eaten before they make it to the shops!

Hey Dennis,good to see you havent forgotten about us.How are you settling in?BTW you are going to be an honorary committee member of the LFKS,albeit an absentee member.

I'm settling in fine. Finding a job is a bit of hard work as the American Government has made it very hard for companies to hire staff that are non national. I can only fill a position within a company that they cannot get an American to do, regardless of qualification. So basically, If I apply for a job as a utility forester, even with all my experience and education if some american applies for it even though they may only have experience with banging rocks together they would still get the job first. Go figure!! :roll: :roll:

Good to hear that I have made it onto the commitee for LFKS, I have a funny feeling that this is going to be follwed up with a request for a membership fee!! Waw waw. I think I might be able to figure out who elected themselves chair person??? Anyways I should get back to job hunting! I will keep you all informed as to how it progresses. Fingers crossed I wont be coming home like the Craig David after not being able to crack America.

Denis

Best of luck over there. Hope you find a job and a pad soon enough.

Thats amazing Dennis, what a coincidence, I am dead jealous, its on my list of things to do in America next time I visit.

This is the only bricks and morter dedicated planted tank store in America, so you are lucky to be so close, hopefully you get digs nearby. The store is actually run by 2 brothers, George and Steven Lo, I would say the folks you seen today were possibly the guys parents when they were out doing an installation or routine maintainence on other tanks, this is a pretty big part of the business as far as I know.

They will give very good advice I know that, George has started to post over on aquatic plant central, APC, he has posted up a couple of tanks up the aquascaping section from the store, got a good reaction.

I wouldn't get sucked into the whole ADA thing though or you will have no money left, there is nothing really special about the fertilisers that you cannot mix your self for a couple of dollars, the formula I posted up recently I am dosing with the ADA substrate and it works just as good, its the same things that go in the ADA fertilisers, NPK, except you pay quite a bit more money for them.

You can't go wrong with the ADA rimless tanks, these are beautiful and good value (in America, not in Europe, double the price at least) a 60P is a good choice of tank from the ADA range, it measures 60x30x36cm, you will see a lot of this size tank on the forums, its a good size for aquascaping. My next favourite size would be 90x45x45cm, this is a bigger tank obviously, perfect size though for doing bigger aquascapes without being huge.

The substrates are also excellent, ADA aquasoil amazonia is the most popular and widely used, this is the same stufff I used on the tank at the show. ADA sell a whole substrate system with lots of additives which cost quite a bit of money, the only worthwhile thing buying though is the soil itself forget about the additives, they add nothing that anybody can determine, but the choice is yours, just my opinion, read around before you buy would be my advice.

Just be warned though that its highly addictive once you start!

Oh yeah another thing worth checking out is the San fransisco bay area aquatic plant club, very active club, meetings are held once a month, they have open days in members houses, aquascaping displays, lots of free plants, plant swaps, auctions etc, great way to learn, also do cheap fertiliser, buy it in bulk through the club etc, so well worth checking out. Im sure the guys in the shop will point you in the right direction. I think its the oldest aquatic plant club in America. If you do join say hello to Tom Barr for me.

Don't forget to post pics!!!

Heres the link for the club SFBAAPS

www.sfbaaps.org/home.html

Best of luck finding a job

You know what they say about San Francisco.
Ask Holger to send you over his dress and a Thong and wear it to an interview. You will definitely get a job.

Hi Denis

Its nice to hear from you. hope the job hunting and pad hunting go well for you. fingers crossed. The pictures are amazing. it makes teh mind boggle and the green envy drool. anyway looking forward to seeing your planted tank diary.

good luck

You know what they say about San Francisco.
Ask Holger to send you over his dress and a Thong and wear it to an interview. You will definitely get a job.

Designer clothes are much chaeper in the States, I'm surprised your future wife hasn't told you so yet...

You know what they say about San Francisco.
Ask Holger to send you over his dress and a Thong and wear it to an interview. You will definitely get a job.

I do find that comment slightly homophobic, hence inappropriate. Only a gentle nudge from me, I'm not freakin out at ye. [/quote]

ah relax!!

There is nothing Homophpbic about that statement.

There are three people here who can take abuse and must be abused at all times. Myself/Fr Jack and Holger.

And beside I think he looked cool at the Beer festival.. :wink: :oops:

OK no worries about it. A friend of mine was a vitctim to some pretty nasty homophobic abuse a few days ago so I guess I'm just tetchy. Sorry.

Nothing to apologize about. We can live with it. All the abuse I'm getting from the club on top of it as well ....

One thing you get used to on here after a while is them ripping the piss out of each other every chance they get.

if u say piss again anto might ban you for life

Not if you put on a pink skirt

Not if you put on a pink skirt

I rest my case.