The Picasso Project

ADG headed out to Kansas City to help with the development of a new aquarium store that keeps it's focus on modern design and appeal, with ADG consultation, we were able to bring the displays up to speed with the decor and philosophy of the retail space it inhabits.



Check out ADG at Picasso Exotic Aquatics (available in 1080p HD) :

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKoynUslbE4]YouTube - The Picasso Project[/ame]

i live in kansas city.

are they open yet. when was this video taken?

are they gonna do plants and all , or just fish tanks and hardscapes?

thanks

Hey doubleott, I have no idea what they intend to sell. I know they're focused 60/40 marine/fw

Juri, it was their decision to go this route, mostly due to intensive maintenance requirements I suspect (contrast keeping a planted tank perfect vs. a hardscape perfect).

I set up my 125 in a similar fashion using fake plants. I still have three planted tanks, but due to livestock issues (large amphilophus who does most of the aquascaping) and time and money issues with keeping a large planted tank that one got fake plants. So I completely understand the approach they've taken. There is a real challenge that lies in setting up a beautiful tank with fake plants and not having it look super tacky and I think they do a fantastic job.

Very good question ghost!

At the end of the day - low tech setups still take about as much work as a high tech setup. You still end up having to trim and watch for algae. Believe me, we have done hundreds of these 'low tech' type setups in the field with just anubias, ferns and moss. That was in fact the original plan to use in one of the aquariums they had there (not the main displays).

Picasso has a giant 10 foot Live Reef aquarium in the store as well that they did themselves with some small consultation with ADG as far as future coral placement and minor tweaks. However, their expertise is most assuredly in saltwater - not freshwater planted aquariums. So the end decision was to get their feet wet with basic, low maintenance and instant impact aquascapes using the combination of decorative freshwater and hardscape only layouts.

By doing it this way and emphasizing the layouts themselves and how to -aquascape- first, we laid the foundation for expanding on that. It's like a 16 year old who just got their license - yeah they know the basics (aquascaping principles now), but if you give them the keys to a formula one race car (planted aquascapes) they are either going to wreck it or just not drive it well at all. For the same reason you don't give a normal 16 year old a formula one race car we don't give new to aquascaping people planted tanks.

Emphasize success through instant impact and easy maintenance - instill the eye for design, and the natural progression of that is getting into the planted aquascape. You can rest assured that we'll be going back there to do planted aquariums in the future, however right now - the concepts of successfully keeping a nature aquarium is just a little bit too much.

I think ADG did a awesome job with all the work in that high tech shop. They may be plastic, but it will also open doors to other possibilities that there customers can possibly envision.
Its an instant impact to your senses as you walk right into the door. This is a good thing for the shop.

Well done guys!

-O

When people see our gallery and our portfolio - there is almost always a lot of interest in the planted aquarium. However, to do a planted aquarium is much more expensive and that provides a barrier to entry.

The basic equipment cost is of course more expensive - you need Co2, Proper lighting, substrate, plant materials as well as hardscape material, fertilizers, etc. This by itself isn't as big of a barrier - as someone who is going to pay for an install and maintenance can likely afford to add on the extra cost of these additives depending - although they aren't trivial, and many who -do- take the plunge and go for a planted aquarium opt for the ADA route.

However the bulk of the expense is the drastic difference in maintenance requirements. Even at ADG every maintenance technician does not have the training and know-how (or want to know) to properly maintain the planted aquarium (just like not everyone at ADG can properly maintain a Reef setup). Which then limits the pool of available technicians that can service the aquarium. That adds to the time / resources cost on top of the fact that those people would typically demand a higher rate because their skill set is more specialized.

On top of that - it usually takes twice as long or more to keep an aquarium that's planted in "perfection," than it takes a decorative freshwater or hardscape only layout even when all other parameters are the same - like volume, size, bio load, etc. So where as the basic fee for a normal maintenance regime would be X amount, the fee for a planted aquarium of the same size would be XXX or more.

Take this as an example - at *ADG,* which arguably has some of the most talented collective individuals for keeping an aquarium in top notch condition, designing it, etc. There are -maybe- only one or two technicians that can maintain a planted aquarium, then if you switch gears and talk about personnel that can maintain an ADA-style aquarium to perfect gallery standards you're limited -even- further to myself, Mike and Jeff Senske - and none of us are technicians. Now, of course, one of the three of us would be happy to maintain someones true-blown planted aquascape, however that's going to cost much more than the basic planted aquarium monthly rate.

So if you applied those facts, about a company who specializes in aquascaping of all styles - Reef, Planted, decorative freshwater, hardscape only, etc. And you take the fact that of all the employees in that company only two can properly maintain a basic, low-tech layout, and that the pool of individuals that can maintain a Nature Aquarium style layout aren't technicians, you get an idea of why it is so impractical to start another company comprised of individuals who don't have the planted aquascaping expertise of ADG - and why they can't simply just hire people that already know to do all of it for them and keep it pristine.

Let's face it, it takes a passionate interest for someone to maintain a proper planted aquascape and even more so to learn how to do it. So we try to build that passionate interest by keying people in on aquascaping as a whole first.

We still have planted tanks in the field - now, we don't have any full blown Nature Aquarium scapes with stems, intricate carpets, etc (to my knowledge). We have a few that focus a lot on bolbitus, java fern, moss, anubias, et cetera. The hardscape only layout, however has been very popular for it's aesthetic value and low maintenance requirement. We have a lot of people who enjoy these hardscapes most especially with discus and other fish that are harder to keep with planted aquariums. Again, however, most of our client's aren't exactly 'hobbyists,' while they tremendously enjoy their aquariums - they aren't the type that are wanting to do it themselves in terms of maintenance and creation; it's viewed as a calming aesthetic as a part of the greater whole of their living space. We also have a lot of clients who enjoy the scenic layouts of a decorative freshwater or hardscape only - but keep 'predator' type fish, such as peacock bass and other "tank buster" size fish that are not friendly at all with real plants.

Most of the really good planted layouts are either in our personal homes or are/were in the gallery space.

On the other hand, we have a lot of other clients who love their reef aquascapes and decorative saltwater (the decorative freshwater equivalent of the saltwater world), or saltwater fish and live rock layouts, or even in some cases a decorative saltwater layout in a freshwater aquarium! We aren't limited to one type of particular style - we love all the different aquarium design styles, you name it, and we've probably done it.

The key unifying element here is that no matter what the layout - be it planted low-tech, high-tech, saltwater decorative, reef, paludariums, terrariums, hardscape, decorative freshwater - is that it's all designed with the same aquascaping philosophy that goes so much farther beyond just focusing on the high-tech planted aquascape.

One particular style of aquarium isn't for everyone and it never will be - a planted aquarium isn't for everyone just as much as a predator-tank-buster aquarium isn't for everybody. However, good design and -aquascaping- as a broader whole is.