Re: Organizing local AGA group

[krandall@world.std.com]

Hi John,

At 08:40 PM 12/19/99 +0530, you wrote: 
>
> I have been urged to form an Aquatic Gardeners Club of some kind for the
> Madison, Wisconsin area.  We are having an organizational meeting on the last
> Thursday in January.  At the meeting some might ask about forming a local
> group of the AGA. What is the experience out there with such a group? Is
> there a way of identifying AGA members who might be attracted to the group we
> are forming?  If we affiliate with AGA officially what are the
> responsibilities and expectations of such a connection? 


At this point, we do not have any formal affiliation process for local groups
but we strongly encourage local groups of aquatic gardeners and those
interested in planted aquariums to gather together for social and educational
purposes.  What we have found is that in many cases, the people who are
interested in these local organizations are also interested in being members of
the AGA.  

Here in the New England area, we have a strong contingent of planted tank
enthusiasts.  Many, though not all, of us are members of local aquarium
societies.  My "home" club is the Boston Aquarium Society, which is well known
for having more plant lots in our annual auction than fish lots!  Many of these
same people are also members of AGA.  In fact 4 people who are now active
members of the AGA Management Committee are also Boston AS members.  

We hold planted tank workshops at various members homes on an irregular basis. 
These are always well attended by BAS and AGA members as well as people from
other local clubs, and people who have read about the get-together on the
Aquatic Plants Digest.  We do not limit attendance to members of any one
group.  The Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies has been generous enough to
allow the AGA to hold a meeting of its own in conjunction with the NEC workshop
for the past several years.  In return, AGA has helped sponsor a plant speaker
for the convention.  Again, these meetings have been extremely well attended by
planted tank enthusiasts from a wide area.

There is a more formal group in San Francisco, which actually charges dues and
holds auctions to defray the costs of bring in speakers from all over.  This is
a relatively new, and very dynamic club.  There are also groups that I know of
in Vancouver BC and Seattle WA.

We are hoping to eventually have a network of AGA area representatives who will
act as spokespeople between their organizations and the AGA.  So far this
project is still on the drawing board, but the more local people band together
the easier it will be to keep everyone in touch with each other though AGA.

AGA encourages _all_ local organizations to submit news of their planted tank
related events to TAG for publication.  Any notices of this type can be sent to
our editor, Mary McCaw (marymccaw@mediaone.net).  This will help other AGA'ers
who are in the area to know what is going on and enable them to participate. 
It is also very helpful to advertise these functions on the APD.  We also can
use our AGA web site to advertise get-togethers of local AGA members.  The
information only needs to be submitted to Erik Olson. (erik@thekrib.com) 

AGA sponsors a certain number of speakers each year at major events that will
feature a speaker of interest to aquatic gardeners.  The event organizer or an
interested AGA'er from the area should contact the AGA with the proposed
program to request sponsorship.  We cannot guarantee that every request will be
honored, but we will help as much as we can.  Some of the things we look at
when deciding whether (or how much) to sponsor an event is, how many people
(particularly AGA'ers) will benefit, how much money is needed, and how many
other similar events there are or have been in the vicinity, (we want to use
our funds to as many people in as many areas as possible) and whether the event
is willing to make space available for an AGA table or a room for AGA'ers to
meet in.

We are also always available via E-mail to help you with any advice we can to
help you get your organization going.  I wish you the best of luck!  Please
keep us informed of how things are going!

>
> I'm recently retired. Through the years I have become comfortable with
> creating beautiful planted tanks with plants as the filter with hardly a
> trace of algae, no Ammonia, no nitrite and no detectable nitrate. The 75
> gallon show tank I've made for a small aquarium shop in the neighborhood gets
> a lot of comments.  Since I spend lots of volunteer hours there helping folks
> become successful with planted aquariums I get urgings to start a club. Many
> customers are from the University of Wisconsin and combine good science
> background and a flare for aesthetics. 
>
> I've included something I've prepared which gives an idea of the orientation
> I give to customers making their first step with a planted tank...


That's great!  I love to see people who are doing it well pass their experience
on to others!  One thing I do need to comment on, however, is your advice to
age water to remove chloramine.  This works well for chlorine alone, but not
chloramine.  The reason that water departments have started using this compound
is that it is (unfortunately for us fish keepers) _very_ stable.  I can't
remember how long the water has to stand before the chloramine actually
disperses, but I believe we're talking about weeks, not a day or two.  If water
changes are small, even chloramine is probably not a major problem in a planted
tank, but aging the water doesn't do much good.  Any large water change done
with chloramine treated water should be pre-treated with a good chloramine
remover.

Incidentally, even for those that choose to use "water conditioners" that
contain chelators for heavy metals as well as dechloraminators, it is really
not much of a problem for the plants.  The same chelators that are used in
these products are also used to stabilize the nutrients in good aquatic plant
fertilizers.  The plants are able to access the nutrients just fine.

Our TAG editor, Mary McCaw, is always looking for good beginner material for
the magazine.  I think yours is particularly interesting because you are
working with extremely hard water... something that many of us don't deal with
on a regular basis.  Would you be interested in submitting this to her for
possible inclusion in TAG?

Karen