I have recently returned from a holiday to North Yorkshire. I thought it would be a good idea to take the opportunity to visit the new Planted Tanks shop, owned by Tony aka Frosties.
I think it's worth mentioning that Tony and I have not always seen eye-to-eye in the past, but the Internet lacks the human aspect that is often required for effective communication. I looked forward to discussing our issues face-to-face and I'm glad we did. It was a worthwhile visit on several levels.
The shop itself is relatively small - two rooms inside a unit on an industrial estate. What the shop lacked in size Tony made up for in real enthusiasm and passion for the hobby. I was surprised to hear how little experience Tony had of the planted aquarium world and he admitted it had been a very steep learning curve, gaining much advice from Luis aka ghostsword.
There are three 180cm plant holding tanks, including one dedicated to crypts. This was the most impressive for me, with many species I had never seen before.
The plants, all shipped in from the Far East were mostly in bunches and in good health, for the most part. The holding tanks themselves were a simple but effective design, lit by T5 with decent levels of circulation, CO2 and other nutrients.
The selection of dry good was impressive for such a small shop including some nice hardscape and very interesting products I had never seen before.
Planted Tanks are the sole UK distributor of Dupla and the stock was impressive, even though they still don't produce T5 lighting or NPK ferts... However, if you're after a high-end CO2 regulator then look no further!
'Hobby' (Dupla-owned) products are also stocked and they produce a substrate material that looked identical to a well-known Japanese substrate product that sits underneath Aqua Soil... They also have some great CO2 fittings such as manifolds and valves that make the running of numerous tanks from a single CO2 cylinder a very simple job.
Planted Tanks supply 3Kg CO2 cylinders at a very good price with inexpensive re-fills. If I lived more locally I would definitely use this service.
Also worth mentioning are the impressive selection of dry ferts (from APFUK), branded aquascaping tools and New Era products.
Perhaps the highlight of my visit was re-scaping the smaller of the shop's two display tanks. One minute I was suggesting areas for improvement, the next we were ripping out plants and re-arranging them.
Unfortunately my DSLR was out of batteries so I had to rely on my iPhone...
Before (photo by Planted Tanks)
After
Overall it was a lovely visit and I'm came away with some great plants and the coolest aquascaping tool ever (self-sprung scissors).
If you're ever in the area then do pop in, and if you're after plants (especially rarer species) and other products at a good price then consider trying out Planted Tanks.
I think it's worth mentioning that Tony and I have not always seen eye-to-eye in the past, but the Internet lacks the human aspect that is often required for effective communication. I looked forward to discussing our issues face-to-face and I'm glad we did. It was a worthwhile visit on several levels.
The shop itself is relatively small - two rooms inside a unit on an industrial estate. What the shop lacked in size Tony made up for in real enthusiasm and passion for the hobby. I was surprised to hear how little experience Tony had of the planted aquarium world and he admitted it had been a very steep learning curve, gaining much advice from Luis aka ghostsword.
There are three 180cm plant holding tanks, including one dedicated to crypts. This was the most impressive for me, with many species I had never seen before.
The plants, all shipped in from the Far East were mostly in bunches and in good health, for the most part. The holding tanks themselves were a simple but effective design, lit by T5 with decent levels of circulation, CO2 and other nutrients.
The selection of dry good was impressive for such a small shop including some nice hardscape and very interesting products I had never seen before.
Planted Tanks are the sole UK distributor of Dupla and the stock was impressive, even though they still don't produce T5 lighting or NPK ferts... However, if you're after a high-end CO2 regulator then look no further!
'Hobby' (Dupla-owned) products are also stocked and they produce a substrate material that looked identical to a well-known Japanese substrate product that sits underneath Aqua Soil... They also have some great CO2 fittings such as manifolds and valves that make the running of numerous tanks from a single CO2 cylinder a very simple job.
Planted Tanks supply 3Kg CO2 cylinders at a very good price with inexpensive re-fills. If I lived more locally I would definitely use this service.
Also worth mentioning are the impressive selection of dry ferts (from APFUK), branded aquascaping tools and New Era products.
Perhaps the highlight of my visit was re-scaping the smaller of the shop's two display tanks. One minute I was suggesting areas for improvement, the next we were ripping out plants and re-arranging them.
Unfortunately my DSLR was out of batteries so I had to rely on my iPhone...
Before (photo by Planted Tanks)
After
Overall it was a lovely visit and I'm came away with some great plants and the coolest aquascaping tool ever (self-sprung scissors).
If you're ever in the area then do pop in, and if you're after plants (especially rarer species) and other products at a good price then consider trying out Planted Tanks.
