Workshop

Here are some pictures of the workshop held on 15th March 2008 by Nasir (aka Nasfish).

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SLS will be holding planted workshop to be hosted by Nasir a.k.a Nasfish our local "small tank specialist". Nasir who most all you know as Nasfish is also a moderator in MAC (www.my-mac.net) who's been most helpful in answering most questions pertaining to aquascaping and sharing his awesome scapes and works with us....

http://www.my-mac.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2829
http://www.my-mac.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4056
http://www.my-mac.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4569

The tank would be done in a 2ft ADA Cube garden and it would be an "iwagumi" theme.

This workshop themed "By the hobbyist for the hobbyists" as Nasir would share with you guys his personal experiences on his scapes and hobby coupled with his preference of ferts, soil and equipments that he uses and his methods as well. Thus, this would be a totally "impartial" workshop and its purely viewpoints by all the hobbyist for the hobbyist.

Details of Workshop:

Date: 15th March 2008
Time: 2.00 p.m
Venue: SLS

FREE ENTRANCE !! Come join the fun and enjoy the hobby with many who share similiar interests.

On the 27th October 2007, Slippery Little Suckers together with Aquatic Creation Technologies (ACT) organised a workshop to help fellow hobbyist understand the usage of ADA in the planted Aquarium.

Mr LC Chan and Alex Chan demostrated the use of ADA by setting up a planted aquarium. Size of the aquarium used was 36inch (long) x 20inch (wide) x 20inch (tall).

Below are some pictures of the workshop.

1.Approximately 30people attended this workshop.

2.Before planting began, we had to sort out and arrange the plants in preparation for planting.

3.Following that, Mr LC Chan gives a brief explaination to fellow hobbyist about the process of setting up the Nature Aquarium.

4. Let the show begin!! Preparing the substrate with the 5 essential powders.

The powders: Bacter 100, Tourmaline BC, Clear Super, Penac P and Penac W

5. Following that, Powersand Special M is introduced.

6. This is followed by Aquasoil (Amazonia II) and Aquasoil powder (Amazonia II).

7. The hardscape using Rocks and Driftwood is then arranged.

8. A little bit of water is not added just to cover the soil to keep the soil moist. This makes it easier to plant. Plants are planted from the foreground to the background.

9. Once planting is complete, water is filled slowly as not to disturb the ADA substrate.

10. And this is the final aquascape on the first day.

Installing the filter pipes.

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And finally, after 3months of maturation and about 6 trimmings.......

List of plants used:

Glossostigma elantinoides, Microsorium pteropus "Narrow leaf", Echinodorus tenellus. Anubias nana, Anubias nana "petite", Cyptocoryne wendtii "Green gecko", Cryptocoryne wendtii "Tropica",Vesicularia montagnei "Christmass moss", Taxiphyllum sp. "Peacock moss", Ludwigia sp "Guinea", Rotala rotundifolia, Rotala indica, Ludwigia arcuata,  

Planted Tank Workshop 2007 (Sat.Oct 27)

Guys and gals, Aquatic Creation Technologies, the local distributor of ADA products in partnership with Slippery Little Suckers will be conducting an ADA planted tank workshop. This will be a nuts and bolts workshop series.

Nuts and bolts?
That's right, this means, you will get to learn all about setting up a planted tank with ADA products. And at the same time, get answers to some common questions like:

- What's the five elements?
- What's the difference between Powersand and Powersand Special?
- What are the benefits of using ADA substrate system
- What's the proper way of laying ADA substrate

That's all?
Not really, this workshop will be spread out to every 3 weeks over the next 4 months! During this time, we can all work on the tank and see it bloom from initial setup to planting, maintenance to trimming. So, we can all track the progress and learn about the various stages of the tank as it matures! This is truly a first for MAC.

What can I expect at the workshop?
A lot actually. The workshop will be conducted by LC or Alex Chan - the pros of ADA, and their merry associates (assistants). During the course of the workshop, the Chan brothers will also cover topics like the Golden Section,
Q & A, and perhaps members' participation.

What's the objective?
There are many and all of them are positive:
- Clears all doubts and myths about setting up a planted tank in general.
- The more you know about a product, the more informed you will be when deciding on what to use
- Get first hand information, rather than from unqualified sources
- Get a better appreciation of the hobby
- Elevate the standard of aquascaping in Malaysia and ultimately get higher rankings in the annual IAPLC


Venue: Slippery Little Suckers (SLS) courtesy of Kev and Joe
Time: Starts 1pm
Date: Saturdays - 27 Oct, 10 Nov, 8 Dec, 5 Jan 2008

SLS together with the distributors of ADA Malaysia held a party on 9 th September 2007 in conjunction with the annual IALPC (International Aquatic Layout Plant Contest) The party was held to honor the top 3 placements of the IALPC contest winners from Malaysia and to reward their participation. It also seeks to promote the hobby in more exciting ways and gather more enthusiasts alike to participate in next year's event.

Distributors of ADA Malaysia sponsored some very exciting prices for the party and the turnout was rather overwhelming.

Arrival of guests…	Attendees collecting some door-gifts.
Some of the prizes by ADA Malaysia.
Some of the prizes by ADA Malaysia.

Prize Giving Ceremony

The prize giving ceremony was held to the top 3 achievers in the recent IALPC contest and handed out by the Malaysian ADA distributors. They were Stan Chung (No.60 in IALPC, 3rd in Malaysia), Chung Kuan Yew (No.33 in IALPC, 2nd in Malaysia) and Gavin Chong (No14 in IALPC and 1st in Malaysia).

Stan Chung(3rd Prize winner)	Chong Kuan Yew (2nd Prize winner)
Gavin Chong (1st Prize winner)

Iwagumi Contest – Rock layout

Apart from the Prize presentation to the top 3 Malaysian achievers in the recent IALPC contest, SLS also incorporated a little competition to the event. An “Iwagumi” competition was held on the spot, from attendees who wished to participate. The term “Iwagumi” was made famous by none other than Takashi.Amano. This technique simply requires a balance placement of rocks as to incorporate a balance theme and overall tranquil effect on the overall layout of the tank.

There were 6 spots up for grabs and any contestant whom wanted to participate would have to fill in their particulars to be picked out randomly.

All 6 tanks being readied for the “Iwagumi” contest.
Contestant names being called out randomly.	Contestants picking out the suitable rocks.
The competition begins.	One of the contestant fine tuning his layout.
The crowd looks on.	Judging time – Judges with the scorecards.
Each contestant explaining their personal layouts to the judges.
Contestants holding up their scorecards that were received from the judges.
Some of the layouts-close up	Top view.
A view of all 6 layouts done by the contestants.
A view of all 6 layouts done by the contestants.

The Betta Society of Malaysia held their monthly "Betta Sunday" gathering at SLS on the 5th of August 2007. Club members travelled from as far as Johor Bahru for a meeting with fellow betta enthusiast, catch up with old friends and to trade their own bred beautiful fancy bettas (fighting fish).

Here are some pictures taken by fellow members at SLS on that day.

Betta society forum: http://www.bettasocietymalaysia.com.my

SLS held its first planted tank workshop, on the 8 th July 2007. Seachem distributors in Malaysia sponsored this workshop with it's full range of products.

SLS held its first planted tank workshop, on the 8 th July 2007. Seachem distributors in Malaysia sponsored this workshop with it's full range of products.

Seachem, a very established brand worldwide is still a considerably new brand in Malaysian with its planted aquarium product range.

The workshop was demostrated by none other than our 2006 top South East Asian placement in the International Aquascaping Plant Layout contestant, Stan Chung who is a well renowned aquascape enthusiast. His choice of plants used for this particular workshop was chosen for ease of long term maintenance. His use of Anubias sp, Echinodorus sp, Vallisneria sp, Cryptocorene sp, Bolbitis sp and various types of moss complemented the entire tank composition really well.

Whole range of Seachem Planted Tank Products.
Participants looking on and listening attentively to the grandmaster.
The empty tank before it was scaped together with some rocks and wooden branches used to create a simplistic but a very beautiful scape.
Selecting the best rocks and driftwood for the aquascape while a participant looks on.
The choice of substrate “Seachem Fluorite” and pouring them in.
Laying out the hardscape.	Leveling the substrate.
The completed hardscape and sorting out the plants.
Members of MAC tying Moss onto little lava rocks	Planting is done. (Top view)
Let there be water!!	Stan Chung sorting out more plants.
Some final touches.	Planting continued with tank half filled.
Walaa!!! The final scape! (Left View)	Another view (Right view).
THE FINAL SCAPE