Frank's Planted Tank How-To Mini Novel - The Mini S Returns! New Layout

[FlyingHellFish]

"If Mr.Takashi Amano says it's a good looking tank, then it's an AMAZING looking tank."


Congrats on the 127 placing. Were you surprise when you found out?

[fplata]

Awesome my friend!

[SaltyNC]

Congrats

[andrewss]

congrats, and ya that is a great tank - loving those rasboras too

[acitydweller]

Congratulations frank. Brilliant work and effort.

[theblondskeleton]

Congratulations, Frank! That is very high praise and quite an honor (as you well know).

[frrok]

Originally Posted by Francis Xavier

Hey guys!

Full report when the jet lag is done and over with!



I had the honor of placing #127 out of 2021 entries into this year's IAPLC. It ranked as the 2nd highest American entry and the highest nano aquarium ranking.

It's been a fun journey with this layout - from the people it has helped teach all the way to the end in the IAPLC. For me personally, there has yet to be a layout so valuable in meaning to what it means and represents to me.

When I finally had the honor of meeting with Mr. Amano, he asked me a simple question: "how long have you been doing Nature Aquarium before ADG?" When I gave him the answer, he requested his assistant to print out the layout I entered, and upon receiving it from her took an evaluative look at it and said:

Congratulations frank! What a moral booster to be credited from the master himself!

I hope someday I can get back to aquascaping and enter into the IAPLC. After Sandy, Im not sure when my life will be "normal" again.

[Francis Xavier]

A teaser to the opening of ACT III:



ACT III to start soon!

Layouts to come:

*Wabi Kusa
*Mini M version III
*60-P version II
*on the docket is reloading the Mini S!

Sessions to come:

*understanding wabi sabi
*technique perfection

ACT II & III Intermission:

Nature Aquarium Party Report! Sumida Aquarium blow-your-brains out awesome plus Nature Aquarium Gallery & Autumn in the mountains of Urabandai.

[Francis Xavier]

Thank you to all my friends for the congratulatory posts! I am humbled and appreciative.

Some people who stand out:

Freph - you'll get there, look again at some of my earlier work and on the first page and you'll see it didn't all come in a day. Keep at it and you'll be there sooner than you think.

Frrok - I've lived through my fair share of bad hurricanes. It might not seem like it now but life will get back to business-as-usual sooner than you think. I'm glad for your safety in the event of Sandy.

TBS - thank you very much my friend! When will you enter?

acitydweller - Thank you for your kind words, are you doing okay with Sandy?

andrewss - the rasbora are an excellent fish!

SaltyNC - thank you for your congrats!

fplata - thanks man! when will we see your 120H hitting the contest rounds?

FlyingHellFish - I was surprised twice. Once when a nano aquarium ranked in the top 200, and second when it placed at 127, beating out much larger scale layouts. It just goes to show that much is possible - when you think of it in terms of the 2021 that entered, that places a tiny 5.5 gallon aquarium in the top 6% or there abouts.

bluestems - they certainly do have an excellent personality, don't they? Kubotai are similar in this regard!

Green_Flash - Thank you my friend!

iter - it's interesting, the feel of wabi sabi. I think it might be the most difficult thing to pull off in the hobby. It's something that I see lacking a lot in european layouts - which isn't a bad thing, they aren't necessarily going for the Japanese aesthetic.

somewhatshocked - soon the photos will be made available!

[Francis Xavier]

Apparently I had my own ranking wrong, #125, not #127.

[FlyingHellFish]

^ ROFL , a better rank indeed. Top 125 has a better ring to it than 127.

Anywhoo, how was the whole trip? Any new additions to the hobby? New aquascaping techniques?

I hate to sound like a broken record but your HC Cuba is mighty good looking, how do you keep the bottom leaves from yellowing or dying out? Mine looks great on top but is yellow on the bottom. And, yeah I tried the whole trimming as close to the substrate as possible.

[@marko@]

that really is a teaser.
thats some nice emergent growth. im actually planning on setting up my own wabikusa soon, im hoping on using you and kiran as a resource to help me work out any kinks if anything starts going wrong.

looking forward to all the new scapes

[Francis Xavier]

Originally Posted by FlyingHellFish

^ ROFL , a better rank indeed. Top 125 has a better ring to it than 127.

Anywhoo, how was the whole trip? Any new additions to the hobby? New aquascaping techniques?

I hate to sound like a broken record but your HC Cuba is mighty good looking, how do you keep the bottom leaves from yellowing or dying out? Mine looks great on top but is yellow on the bottom. And, yeah I tried the whole trimming as close to the substrate as possible.

#125 does sound a lot better, doesn't it? I remember why I thought #127, because #126 was a really cool layout in a much larger aquarium by a Japanese shop owner, and I was surprised to score higher.

The whole trip was pretty amazing - I learned how the Sumida guys take care of the world's largest planted aquarium, amazing what you can learn speaking some Japanese! Those guys are the real heros behind that aquarium - and you'll never hear about them outside of that video.

For yellow - up your potassium and iron, remember that the planted aquarium isn't a static beast. Meaning that just because, say, one pump of Brighty K on day 1 is enough, it doesn't mean it's enough on day 30. So you're slowly adjusting over time to compensate.

Of course, maintaining good trimming technique to keep it trimmed shorter helps quite a lot, as the lower portion will die from lack of light if it grows over itself too much.

[Francis Xavier]

Originally Posted by @marko@

that really is a teaser.
thats some nice emergent growth. im actually planning on setting up my own wabikusa soon, im hoping on using you and kiran as a resource to help me work out any kinks if anything starts going wrong.

looking forward to all the new scapes

It's a set of bona fide wabi kusa fresh from Japan. It'll be fun!

[Green_Flash]

looking forward to your next projects Frank, hopefully we can buy wabi kusa soon in the USA.