xysti53 Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 Tom Barr is coming to Brisbane!! :D For those that don’t know him, Tom Barr is a world famous planted tank and aquatic plant “guru”. If you haven’t seen his “Barr Report” you can see it here: http://www.barrreport.com/ Tom is a keynote speaker at the upcoming ANGFA Convention (in Sydney 12 – 13 September). But as an added incentive for Brisbanites, Tom is coming to Brisbane and this is your chance to hear it directly from the guru himself! Details of his Brisbane appearances are: Friday 18th Sept 7.30pm – planted tank demo. Tom will speak about tank design and demonstrate the techniques he uses for planting a tank. This is your chance to hear directly from Tom and ask him questions. At the end of the evening the tank that Tom builds will be raffled. How cool would it be to say that you owned a tank built personally by Tom Barr!!? This talk is free to members of ANGFA QLD, and $5 for members of the general public. The venue is expected to be the Bar Jai Hall in Clayfield (confirmed). Saturday 19th Sept 11.00am – Q&A session At LFS. someone Matheson is hosting Tom at LFS at shop 17, 478 Ipswich Road in Annerley (Tel: 3848-9585). This is a Q&A session, your opportunity to ask all those tricky questions about substrate, lighting, algae, CO2, etc. This will be followed by a BBQ lunch at 12.00pm (gold coin donation) where you can speak to Tom in person. Ring someone if you can help out with food for the BBQ. someone also stocks aquatic substrates, plants, a wide range of fish, and a fabulous selection of driftwood. Please spread the word, as this is a rare opportunity to hear from a world renowned expert. Graeme :gz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninoid12 Posted September 8, 2009 Report Share Posted September 8, 2009 SO jealous im not up there. Sounds so good. Someone take notes and post on here in plants section, PLEASE? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted September 8, 2009 Report Share Posted September 8, 2009 <_< Thank you! that sounds great. Do we need to book ahead for either of those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davo Posted September 8, 2009 Report Share Posted September 8, 2009 Don't forget he is one of the keynote speakers for ANGFA Convention happening this weekend!!!... Also you can also meet a lot of the highly known aquarium guys...ie Diana Walstad, Gunther Schmida and Tom Barr.. And you can most likely meet some other interesting folks around. Hope to see you there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killimike Posted September 8, 2009 Report Share Posted September 8, 2009 You can register just for one day too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted September 8, 2009 Report Share Posted September 8, 2009 LOL! I'd love to fly down to Sydney, but my arms just aren't strong enough! I will be very happy if I can just get a ride up to Mr Barr's talk. For those who are going to the ANGFA Convention, all I have to say is PHOTO'S PLEASE! <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davo Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 Ok all just got back from the angfa convention. It was great.. We have talks on Tom Barr and all the speakers up on the angfa convention website in a few weeks. Will keep you all posted. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xysti53 Posted September 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Just a quick reminder that Tom Barr is this Friday and Saturday no bookings needed just turn up on the night and in the morning. Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJ Posted September 17, 2009 Report Share Posted September 17, 2009 I've got the Green light from MrsJ to go tomorrow night, so I'll be there. Sounds like it'll be worth taking some extra pocket money too. I got to have a sneak peak at some of the driftwood that Steve Baines is taking in for the ANGFA shop and there's some great pieces in there. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted September 17, 2009 Report Share Posted September 17, 2009 I'll be there too! Didn't realise there would be stuff to buy, guess I'll have to raid my savings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 so, how was it? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 :embarrass: It was good. I learnt why my plant tank failed, and how to make one that is right for my requirements, basically I think I need a lot of moss, crypts and anubias! Tom was a very nice sort of fellow, loves to talk, incredibly enthusiastic and eager to share what he knows. I'm glad I saw him in real life, now I can read his forum without finding it so abrupt because I know it's just his passion comming through. His wife came with him, she seems very nice too, a very patient sort of lady I think. Tom put together two tanks at the ANGFA meeting. The first was natives from Dave at AquaGreen. He used a substrate in it that I am not familiar with, can anyone fill me in on what it was? He would have liked to use the AquaSoil, but got a bit of a shock when he heard it was more than $50 a bag here , aparently most things are cheaper in the US. He highly recomends the 'dry start' method for establishing plants, especially HC carpets. The tank was about 2 ft, needed to have good lighting and cO2 to thrive. The second tank was a low maintenance tank. It was filled with moss covered drift wood surrounded by a forest of crypts and anubias. with a background of twisted val. The substrate was a gravel, about 3mm I think. This tank was about 1ft long, needed only basic lighting and would be happy being dosed with Dino Spit or similar instead of CO2. I loved it, it had that deep forest feel to it. For those with CO2, Tom suggested using riccia as an indicator as to the proper level. He said it should start to purl about the middle of the light cycle, about 4 or 5 hours in. If it starts earlier, you have too much CO2, if it starts much later or not at all, you need to increase. Another interesting question he answered was on using a siesta period to control algae. His theory is that a siesta period won't help, unless your tank is low in Co2. In this case a siesta period would allow the CO2 levels to rise again boosting the plants ability to out compete the algae. I'm a bit foggy on the details, but another thing I did pick up was that we should use a reference solution to test our test kits. Aparently they are extremely variable. I haven't looked into it yet, but if anyone knows how to do this please feel free to share! After completing the tanks each one was raffled off, and at the end of the night everything left over from the stuff Jod and Pisces had donated and Angfa members had bought in was auctioned. We left as they started as my savings were found only to contain an IOU. At someone's on Saturday, everyone there had been the night before as well, so there wasn't a whole lot of questions left to ask. We mostly just admired the fish and sat around in general chit-chat, which was quite enjoyable. I got a little past my shyness and managed to meet Graeham, which was nice. ( I clamed up the night before and chickened out asking if the man with Peter writen on his shirt was our PeterJ ) After we had our BBQ (thank you someone, the sausages were very nice!) Tom wanted to do something constructive, and so he set up someone's new CO2 system. We all crowded into the little front section of someone's shop and watched and tried to remember everything he was saying. (actually a nice young man I can not recal the name of took lots of pictures of this on someone's camera, so there is a visual record )It looked lovely set up, and it's not so scary now I've seen it done. After that he had to go catch his flight home. The rest of us spent what money we had and departed soon afterwards. Overal I'd say it was a succesful meeting of fish enthusiasts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenR60 Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 The second tank was a low maintenance tank. It was filled with moss covered drift wood surrounded by a forest of crypts and anubias. with a background of twisted val. The substrate was a gravel, about 3mm I think. This tank was about 1ft long, needed only basic lighting and would be happy being dosed with Dino Spit or similar instead of CO2. I loved it, it had that deep forest feel to it. Second Tank was actually a 2 footer too :-) I have put a trio of Japanese Blue Grass Guppies from Jodie's in it ... Yes I was the Very Lucky person to win the tank and everything in it :-) As you said Bender, was a good night and I think everyone would have walked away thinking about their Tanks and how they could put some of the tips in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 It sounds wonderful! Thank you for the run-down guys, and congrats Ken! Hopefully your luck is changing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghengis Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 For those with CO2, Tom suggested using riccia as an indicator as to the proper level. He said it should start to purl about the middle of the light cycle, about 4 or 5 hours in. If it starts earlier, you have too much CO2, if it starts much later or not at all, you need to increase. Wow, this is interesting! I have a riccia carpet. I think it begins pearling around this time each day, but will watch it closer now. Thats so awesome...I have tossed my drop checker out as I just don't really trust it. Glad to have another method for my CO2 readings! ...my savings were found only to contain an IOU. LOL! I am sure many of us can relate to this one!! It's not a good feeling when you go to draw money at an ATM and the machine spits out the receipt with "IOU" written on it :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 Hehe, Yup I'm foggy on the details! Congrats Ken, it's nice to know someone here won the second 2ft tank. Hopefully next time I see you I'll remember your face and introduce myself. The guppies will be perfect I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbies Betta Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 sounds like an oppourtunity (sp? it's 5 o'clock and I want to go home ) that I wish I hadn't missed. would've been good to see a pro setting a tank up and hearing about how to use different methods etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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