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Re: [APD] Books



Re books, the Kasselmann and Walstad books are top choices. Both use an organic underlayment with the substrates in their tanks. Re the conventon, this year's should be have plenty that will be satisfying to both novices and advanced aquarists. Besides the Research Director of SeaChem, Troells Andersen from the Tropica Nursery will giving a talk on his plant research. Here's a summary: Plants acclimation to life under waterBy Troels Andersen, Tropica Aquarium Plants, E-mail tra at tropica_dkMost aquatic plants are amphibious and grow well above as well as under water. However, plant growth under water is very different from plant growth above water. For instance, the light intensity is considerably lower and uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) is dramatically reduced due to low diffusion rates in water compared to in air. In addition, the availability of nutrients, e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus, varies over time and space from very low to very high concentrations. Based on fieldwork, tank experiments and review of the scientific literature, this talk focuses on how plants acclimate morphologically and physiologically to the aquatic environment. It will provide a brief introduction to the availability of light, CO2 and nutrients in water and substrate. Examples on changes in morphology from emerged to submerged plants will be shown, and growth results from plants both in tanks and in natural environments will be used to describe changes in physiology. Finally, the aspect of interactions between resources (light, CO2 and nutrients) will be used to demonstrate how apparent insufficient light can be alleviated in the aquarium by adding CO2 to the water or vice versa.
 Also, Taking a short break from his research and many plant finding trips, Ole Pederson will be presenting a refreshing perspective on aquascapes: Aquascaping the natural wayFrom 67Â North to 32Â SouthBy Ole Pedersen, University of CopenhagenThe single most significant contribution to our planted aquaria hobby within the past decades has been the Nature Aquarium books merging the rich Japanese garden traditions with highly ornamental elements from natural aquascapes to produce the most eye-catching planted aquaria. This talk will focus entirely on natural aquascapes with examples from cold clearwater lakes in Greenland in north to the odd saltlake vegetation in Australia in south, and from high altitude lakes in Canada in west to Cryptocoryne streams in Laos in east. Ecological characteristics of the habitats will be discussed as well as some peculiar physiological adaptations to challenging environments. An important take-home message is that plants do not necessarily occur in environments where physical and chemical parameters are optimal for growth. On the contrary, suboptimal environmental conditions may lead to healthy populations if competition from other plants is absent. The latter is mostly the case in aquaria, where pruning and gardening lead to beautiful co-existence of plants which may otherwise come from very different habitats when found in nature. Plus Jeff Senske and more -- detailed on http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/convention.html If you're serious about aquatic gardening, I think you'll find lots to feed your curiosity.

Good luck, good fun,sh----- Original Message ----From: Gregory Dawson <rhadamenthes at gmail_com>To: aquatic-plants at actwin_comSent: Tuesday, August 1, 2006 11:47:37 AMSubject: [APD] Books

Greetings All,


As a newbie to the planted tank arena I have thoroughly enjoyed reading yourposts, however, not having a good basic understanding of the fundamentalsmost of the conversations have been over my head. To remedy this I'm lookingfor book recommendations.


For my first tank I have a 125 gal I'd like to set-up as an Amazon(schooling tetras) or Asian (rainbows) using low tech methods, low to medlighting, and no CO2. Recommendations for books covering this methodology aswell as biotope plant selection, plant ID, and aquascaping would be greatlyappreciated.


I have also considered attending the conference in SanFrancisco(fortunately it's drivable). For those that have attendedpast conferences:do they have enough novice information or is it geared to more advancedhobbyists?


All responses are appreciated,

Regards,
-Gregory
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