The Behemoth Tank

[George Farmer]

Simply awesome. Thanks for sharing Tom.

Did you say that this will be featured in Esquire magazine?

 

[plantbrain]

Simply awesome. Thanks for sharing Tom.

Did you say that this will be featured in Esquire magazine?

Yep.
TFH also wants a spread.
I have 3 more yet to do.

Each will be very different from the other.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[madcaow]

jeebus, 60 bags of AS must be a bit nasty to the old sky rocket! would be like 7 grand here!

 

[netcode]

jeebus, 60 bags of AS must be a bit nasty to the old sky rocket! would be like 7 grand here!

if the cilent can house a tank that size, let alone afford the tank itself and the cost of running it i am sure 60 bags of AS is nothing

 

[planter]

Amazing Tank!!!! But this client has toooo much money!! (not jealous Much) what a great way to earn a living Tom Must be really cool to be able to work to full scale!!

 

[oldwhitewood]

It's nice to see such a big nature aquarium although I confess I'd like to see some more pictures.

What I find a bit weird is that you've taken a lot of pot shots at ADA here in this thread, to me as an impartial reader it seems like you're going to great lengths to compare this tank favourably against Amano's tank, highlighting the difference in fish choice, the quality of the wood and the expertise involved etc, and I just wondered why that was?

 

[Themuleous]

Professional rivalry?

 

[oldwhitewood]

OOOOH cheeky!

 

[craynerd]

 

[plantbrain]

It's nice to see such a big nature aquarium although I confess I'd like to see some more pictures.

What I find a bit weird is that you've taken a lot of pot shots at ADA here in this thread, to me as an impartial reader it seems like you're going to great lengths to compare this tank favourably against Amano's tank, highlighting the difference in fish choice, the quality of the wood and the expertise involved etc, and I just wondered why that was?

It's different than ADA's approach, we see few fish in such tanks.
Many aquarist would like to see more fish and different community dymanics in the fish population.
That's not just me, that's a common statement from many folks.
I've liked to see nice tanks with good fish popyulations as well, not just the scapes and a few fish as accents.

I like such tanks as well.
Differences of these sort are opinions.
Many fish only folks take pot shots at plant folks due to low fish populations.
Why not combine both rather than just doing one or the other?

Seems like a simple thing, Amano seldom does this.
Perhaps he feels it detracts from the aesthetic he likes.
I understand that view point myself to some degree.

The wood is the main focus in this tank and wood work I did was ikely along the same lines that ADA has done in terms of work and thought, it's just different, not really better or worse. I think you are reading into it a bit too much. I'm using more stem and foreground plants in this tank than the larger tank Amano has in his home. all the foreground in that tank is cobble and sand.
But the goals are quite different. Amano is not looking for lots of work on his tank, I cannot say I blame him, personally my own tank would be more like that, but this is not my tank.

As far as expertise, I've never said I'm better than Amano. You suggested I said this though

Regards,
Tom Barr

Professional rivalry?

Why would I use ADA AS and Beetle 50's etc if that where the case or even compare at all?
I'm not scaping nor photographing like Amano by any means, he's got much more experience than most anyone.

When it comes to research and science, I have my strong points.
We all do, each has their strong and weak points.

The best thing is to focus on those strong points and go with it.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[oldwhitewood]

It's nice to see such a big nature aquarium although I confess I'd like to see some more pictures.

What I find a bit weird is that you've taken a lot of pot shots at ADA here in this thread, to me as an impartial reader it seems like you're going to great lengths to compare this tank favourably against Amano's tank, highlighting the difference in fish choice, the quality of the wood and the expertise involved etc, and I just wondered why that was?

It's different than ADA's approach, we see few fish in such tanks.
Many aquarist would like to see more fish and different community dymanics in the fish population.
That's not just me, that's a common statement from many folks.
I've liked to see nice tanks with good fish popyulations as well, not just the scapes and a few fish as accents.

I like such tanks as well.
Differences of these sort are opinions.
Many fish only folks take pot shots at plant folks due to low fish populations.
Why not combine both rather than just doing one or the other?

Seems like a simple thing, Amano seldom does this.
Perhaps he feels it detracts from the aesthetic he likes.
I understand that view point myself to some degree.

The wood is the main focus in this tank and wood work I did was ikely along the same lines that ADA has done in terms of work and thought, it's just different, not really better or worse. I think you are reading into it a bit too much. I'm using more stem and foreground plants in this tank than the larger tank Amano has in his home. all the foreground in that tank is cobble and sand.
But the goals are quite different. Amano is not looking for lots of work on his tank, I cannot say I blame him, personally my own tank would be more like that, but this is not my tank.

As far as expertise, I've never said I'm better than Amano. You suggested I said this though

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[zig]

Very impressive Tom

One thing I will say, is that I bet I learn a lot more from reading this thread than I will from looking at many many pictures of Amanos large tanks, and thats not a knock at you oldwhitewood, just an observation about Amano in general.


Even though I will probably never have a tank this size I do appreciate the knowledge of how these things work at this scale and this knowledge Tom gives freely, Thankyou.

 

[plantbrain]

Amano is a heck of standard to compare anyone's work too, I'm not saying someday another person will surpass him (It will not be me, that much I can tell you), but it's like finding a better cyclist than Lance, maybe a tank here or there, but that's the public's judgement call on that.

I can try, we all should, but the tank is not in my home. I don't want one this big personally.
My own idea is something quite different and based on nature's flow with a series of downstream tanks that are shaped to accent current and habitats of each plant biotope group from the head waters in the mountains to the sea.

This wood is much larger in diameter than most tanks ADA does, the large one in the 1st book is close, that piece of wood in the photo has similar characters to the main piece there.

When people take risk, the can achieve great things.
I focus namely on the science part, but I also enjoy design and art a great deal also.

I'm willing to take large risk in effort to learn and make mistakes. But I share those mistakes and risk also.
Hopefully others will make them!
A small 5 gallon tank is not much of a risk if things do not work out and it's easy to redo it.

This tank will be more work than the ADA's large giant tank, there are few such tanks around, so comparisons will be made. I tried to talk the client into a lower maintenace tank, but....you can imgaine how that goes

I can speak well with my art side though:

The flying fickle finger of faith:

When you can talk with aquascapes, then you ain't bad.
hehe

Fish would detract in this case from the offending piece of redwood

 

[Chunk Da Funk]

Hell who cares if anyone can produce a tank of that size and that quality, my hat goes off to them

 

[Gankutsuou]

Someone, Somewhere, Somehow....

nah....

No one can ever say that this is over stocked