April 13, 2019 Meeting @ Steve’s Cherry Hill NJ

The April meeting of the NJAGC was hosted by Steve M. of Cherry Hill, NJ on Saturday, April 13, 2019. There were sixteen members in attendance.

We had one first time club member attending this meeting. He was Victor H. The others in attendance were: Hock N., Evan S., Darin P., Carl W., Kevin F. , Jerry S., Darek K., Kara M., Khanh T., Geoff C., Aram B., Z. Kehoe, Maria S., and Kat D.

We began arriving at Steve’s house a little before noon and on and the food proved to strong of a temptation to not dig in right away. Jerry is here caught wiping his plate with his finger in order to get the last of the “semi-garlicky” black bean dip. Darin was heard to exclaim or groan as he bit into a piece of garlic. When asked, Jerry said he only used 24 cloves of garlic to two cans of black beans. But they were cooked so they didn’t have an especially strong taste. Or at least he thought so. But then he added that he ground in an extra 4 or 5 raw cloves to be sure the garlic could be tasted as he ground the beans. He did use the excuse that it was only his second time making this dip and that he also had cooked bacon in it!!! Can’t beat bacon.

Conversations around the food.

Carl and Aram with Kehoe getting a drink.

Notice to the GWAPA and CAPS Large Tank Teams for the 2019 Aquatic Experience. NJAGC is planning their tank already. Here they are starting their “twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explainin’ what each one was” so they can start their tank to be prepared for this October. Just be forewarned. The competition is going to be tough this year.

Hock is pleased with the progress they are making as Geoff is drawing it all. The color has not come in yet.

Khanh and Darin are astounded at the intensity of the planning. This is going to be an intense contest this year.

Our President Khanh T. opened the meeting. He greeted Victor H. at his first meeting. Good to have you Victor!

Victor thanking Khanh and introducing himself.

Our VP Jerry S. is giving an explanation of our Donation Jar where donations are placed to defray the food costs and go towards the Host for expenses involved in hosting.

Good conversation, good times!!

Steve is very relaxed even though such a large group has “invaded” his home. Thanks again Steve. We all had a wonderful time.

More chairs to the rescue, as well as some hardscape to be donated to the 100 gallon scape by Evan, along with many plants and product samples (and some out of this world macaroons!) from Kat and Maria. Thanks for bringing everything Evan, Kat, and Maria!

These guys aren’t kidding around!

This is the blank slate at the start of the meeting- a newly set up 100 gallon long for the club to aquascape. It uses a DIY mattenfilter with foam from Swiss Tropicals, and has a mineralized earthworm casting substrate (Jerry’s secret recipe!) with a blasting sand cap. The lighting is 2 four foot Finnex Planted+ 24/7, and it has pressurized CO2 with a DIY PVC reactor.

Some type of moss growing out in one of Steve’s cycling shrimp tanks. Notice the brown fuzz hanging down, anyone have any ideas what that might be?

FTS of the shrimp tank- note the Tupperware container filled with ADA Aquasoil for buffering. Filtration is a 3″ block of Poret foam, and in the tank are some type of moss, some Fissidens, and a burgeoning Java Fern.

All four ten gallon shrimp tanks in various stages of cycling.

These are Steve’s plant grow-out tanks. Three 30 gallon breeders, each plumbed into the one below it (with the last plumbed to the basement sump pump). They all have a mineralized earthworm casting substrate, and each has a separate CO2 line feeding a homemade PVC reactor into the tank (you can see the CO2 rig on the right hand side).

Steve’s 50 gallon rimless show tank, brilliantly scaped (and donated!) by Darek. It is a truly beautiful tank, filled with Fissidens on driftwood, along with Anubias, Bucephalandra, and Bolbitis.

One of the blue dream shrimp (courtesy of our friends in GWAPA) from the 50 gallon rimless. These guys are indestructible, a wonderful shrimp for beginners.

Some Blyxa growing out in the “toxic tank.” This is one of the 30 gallon breeders with a high concentration of humic acid in the substrate- makes for some brown water and tons of Hydrogen Sulfide pockets. The plants seem to love it though!

The group exploring the basement and offering input into the 100 gallon scape.

Kat hard at work making the tank beautiful!

First pass at the driftwood hardscape- what do you all think?

Another shot of the first attempt.

Khanh and Darin in deep thought over the layout of the tank- we take our aquascaping seriously in the NJAGC!

Victor making his attempt at the scape- everyone was welcome to try their hand at aquascaping the tank, with the others making comments or suggestions. It was a wonderful way to learn and a great time!

Victor plugging away.

Geoff jumps in!

Must be quite a text message 😉

Hardscape attempt #2- lookin good!

Now it’s the President’s turn to try, with Darin helping out with the driftwood. What will these two come up with?

Meanwhile, everyone else is having a good time, socializing and getting to know each other (and obviously discussing plants!)

More conversation.

Steve explainabraging about his DIY CO2 rig- this system feeds the 50 gallon rimless, the three 30 breeders, and the 100 gallon from one 20lb CO2 tank.

Geoff and Victor had to take off early, but we are glad they were able to come at least for a little while!

More explainabraging.

Kara and Jerry checking out the shrimp tanks- I wish they actually had shrimp in them! 😉

Khanh and Darin still hard at work.

Kat planning where she’s gonna put her 100 gallon that she now realizes she absolutely needs 😛

More explainabraging. Jerry seems very interested in that moss!

Khanh’s attempt.

Another picture.

And yet another!

Some more hardscape thrown in- looks interesting!

Yet another hardscape design! Incorporating the rock and wood, interesting layout.

Kehoe approves!

Another basement shot- looks like plenty of room for more tanks!

The plant donation table, with a massive pile of Anubias that Kat and Maria are sifting through.

Now that’s a lot of Anubias- Darek where were you hiding all of these?!

Pure joy.

Tank is flooded!

Some floaters hanging out on their new home.

Lookin good! (except for those lights- someone needs to buy a level!)

Once it clears up this tank will be fantastic

Very beautiful tank- we will need to see if those white rocks are able to build up a decent algae colony, they are a bit too bright as it stands!

FTS

A FTS of the 50 gallon rimless- doesn’t do it justice, really is a wonderful tank if only Steve would get rid of that breeder box and heater cluttering it up!