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Aquarium Gardening

nickyc

Member
Joined
24 Sep 2007
Messages
208
Location
Nottingham
Has anyone tried this place? They didn't have what I was after, but I thought the website was better than many. Obviously keen to know if the plants are any good though! :)
 
Hi Nick,
Yes I bought some plants from him last autumn back when I was setting up my tank. The photos on his site are a bit optimistic and I found his operation very amateurish. He did not accept Paypal or my particular barclaycard. I had to send an envelope with cash in it. His stock was always low and it was like pulling teeth. It was the only place on the planet I could find Echinodorus Imperial Red though, so I bought 3 or 4 Echinodoruses and they have mostly lived up to their billing. I think you can see three different types here (not a very good photo). I also bought the E. Kleiner bar which never turned yellow. Could be my technique though.



Pot luck in my experience. :?

Cheers,
 
Hmmm, that doesn't sound great. He does have some interesting stuff - I spotted the Imperial Red too! Might wait and see if anyone else has any experience and then decide...

Thanks
 
Yes, I have some recent experience of AG. This morning, in fact.

Eleocharis Parvula with BGA on rockwool. Bolbitis on the brink of death. Some fairly acceptable Vesicularia Montagnei. And a perfectly good Hemianthus Micranthemoides, which came with a Tropica label. None of the others had any specific care information, although the package came with a general set of instructions for plant care (mainly recommendations to use AG products, and some noise about Kelvin temperature of lights).

The weather here was -3C and it took two days for the goods to arrive, despite the website claiming a next-day delivery. Rockwool was icy cold to the touch. That could be the fault of Royal Mail. My local office has forged my signature in the past to meet the next-day delivery requirements, instead of delivering on time.

The Bolbitis had a lot of twig-like, heavily pruned-back stems sticking out the rhizome; there wasn't any loose leafs in the bag, so it was obviously in poor condition before being posted. If it was in a LFS, I would have passed on it. I have doubts whether it will survive. The BGA on the Eleocharis rockwool was really disappointing, especially since the "instructions" advise keeping the plants in the rockwool for at least one week before planting out, along with a 12 hour photoperiod. Saying that, it wasn't in bad condition otherwise, once I removed the rockwool.

That's my experience.

Another thing: the website gave the order status as "pending" after it was dispatched, and "cancelled" after I had signed for the goods.
 
Yesterday I had a "free day" with the girlfriend so thought I'd treat her to a trip to Aquarium Gardening seen as it's only about 40 mins away from where I live. They have listed some different plants to what I usually see at Tropica stockists.

Before setting off, I rung them to check they were open. A gentleman answered and said they weren't a shop and gave the impression I wasn't welcome to come and visit and should order online. So decided not to bother going.

First impressions count, and after looking at their website (looks good) thought I'd see what they're like to report back, but will stick to my usual sources of plants.
 
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