Category: Community

Aquarium Gardens – Peterborough

Posted on by Andy Pierce

I love Aquarium Gardens.  Such a great aquascaping shop.  They recently opened a new larger operation in Peterborough, so I thought I’d check it out.  Owned by Dave Pierce (no relation) they stock plenty of aquascaping kit and plants.  They also have a showroom where you can get some inspiration.

They only moved in two months ago – used to be in St. Ives – so most of the scapes have a newish look to them.  It does look like some might have been moved from the previous location.  I’m sure that was a serious challenge!

Aquascapes look great

The scapes all look great, even the newish ones.  No algae anywhere in sight and the water always looks sparklingly clear.  Interesting most of the scapes have a white background or even a lit white background.  I think I prefer without.

Aquarium Gardens water parameters

Aquarium Gardens uses out-of-the-tap water from Peterborough which is going to be just rock hard.  They don’t worry about that.  The idea is if the plants can grow and look great in their tap water, they will work for customers located wherever as well.  They do inject CO2 pretty aggressively and their lights are really bright.

Coming home with purchases

I didn’t actually need to buy anything, but hey, you have to play nice.  I came home with Lobelia cardinalis ‘Mini’ which might be the same as the Lobelia cardinalis ‘Dwarf’ I tried previously in the Fireplace aquarium.  This time it’s going in the low-tech Shrimphaus.  Also for the Shrimphaus, some Helanthium tenellum ‘Green’, which looks pretty similar to the Helanthium bolivianum ‘Quadricostatus’ which did well previously.  Finally, some (more) Rotala rotundifolia ‘Blood Red’ which looks so amazing in Aquarium Gardens and which has struggled mightily for me in the Fireplace Aquarium – probably not enough light.

 

Fish increase in popularity

Posted on by Andy Pierce

As reported in the Guardian “Going for gold(fish)” the pandemic with associated lockdowns and work-from-homes has led to a upsurge in popularity for aquariums at home.  Something nice to watch from the side while on those conference calls.  This is good news, but problematic in some ways as the investment in time and maintenance is often severely underestimated.

[Peter Pritchard, CEO of Pets at Home] said the cost of setting up a tank started at about £50, with the fish “a couple of pounds” on top of that. But as with any hobby, the sky is the limit, with the retailer selling extras such as £60 ornaments shaped like the Acropolis.

It’s obviously not as simple as buy a tank, put in some water and a fish, sprinkle in some food flakes every now and then and off you go.  That said there are lots of online resources so with a little research people won’t go far wrong.  At least the fish part is reasonably straightforward, now if you want live plants to go with those fish, then you’re entering a whole new world of complexity (and expense).