Time for our Annual Holiday Party!
Sunday, December 6th, 1:00 – 4:00
Laurel, MD
Bring your favorite dish to share and join in the fun with your favorite plant nerds! We will have our usual mini auction. We’ll also have our yearly elections! So, if you want to be part of the board, please let us know!
Saturday, October 24, 1:00 PM
Fall is here, the temperatures are finally cooling down, and it’s time to get together with your fellow aquatic plant nerds!
Join us for our October GWAPA meeting as we get hands-on and aquascape Cunningham’s 180-gallon rimless tank! This will be a fun, interactive event where everyone can participate, share ideas, and weigh in on hardscape and plant placement. Who knows? You might even pick up a few new aquascaping tricks along the way!
We’ll also be kicking off the nomination process for this year’s GWAPA Board election, with voting taking place at our December Holiday Party.
Whether you’re into planted tanks, aquascaping, aquatic plants, fish, or just enjoy hanging out with people who understand why you needed that one more plant, come join us!
As always, GWAPA meetings are a great chance to meet fellow hobbyists, share ideas, check out what everyone is growing, and maybe even go home with a few new plants—because apparently, we never have enough!
Bring some snacks and drinks to share, come ready to get your hands wet, and let’s have some good old-fashioned planted tank geekery!
Saturday, September 26, at 1:00pm
Location: GWAPA member John Gonzalez’s home.
“Planted Discus & Dutch Aquascaping“
Get ready for a fantastic afternoon of planted aquariums, discus, and aquascaping inspiration with John Gonzalez and Tim Gross!
John will kick things off with a short talk about his impressive 210-gallon Planted Discus Tank, giving us a look at how he balances the needs of discus with a lush planted aquarium.
Then, we’ll dive deep into the world of Dutch Aquascaping with Tim Gross! Tim will give a detailed presentation on the history, techniques, plant selection, composition, and design principles behind the classic Dutch style. He’ll also share insights from his own experience, including his award-winning AGA Dutch Aquascaping entry from 2025.
Whether you’re a longtime Dutch-style enthusiast or have always wondered how those incredible rows of perfectly arranged plants come together, this is a talk you won’t want to miss!
Come hang out with fellow GWAPA members, check out John’s 210-gallon tank, and get inspired to try something new in your own aquarium.
Many aquarists believe discus fish and heavily planted aquariums are nearly impossible to keep together due to their seemingly conflicting requirements. John challenges that misconception with his thriving 300-gallon discus aquarium, where healthy discus and vibrant plants coexist successfully. He’ll share his substrate system, including the dirt and gravel layers, explain the nutrients and supplements he adds to the water column, and discuss the techniques he uses to create a balanced, flourishing ecosystem where both discus and aquatic plants can thrive.
Tim’s passion for planted aquariums began in 1991, when he was 12 years old and received my first 10-gallon aquarium for his birthday. Inspired by Barry James’s Aquarium Plants and its beautiful examples of Dutch aquascaping, he quickly became fascinated with creating planted tanks. What began as a friendly competition with childhood friends grew into a lifelong passion for aquatic plants, aquascaping, and the aquarium hobby.
Tim has been a member of the Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society, Inc. (GPASI) since 2002 and served for 15 years as coordinator of its Aquatic Horticultural Awards Program (AHAP), where he became a Master Horticulturalist. He was also a founding member of the Pittsburgh Area Planted Aquarium Society (PAPAS). Since joining the Aquatic Gardeners Association (AGA) in 2006, he has competed in its international aquascaping contest since 2017, earning multiple top finishes, including First Place in Wabi-Kusa, Second Place and two First Place finishes in the Dutch category, and Top Ten and Second Place finishes in the Aquatic Garden category.
After more than three decades in the hobby, Tim continues to learn, experiment, compete, and share my enthusiasm for planted aquariums and aquascaping with others.
See Francine Bethea's winning aquascape in GWAPA's 2011 Dutch-style Aquascaping Contest. Judging was by popular vote.
Lorena Rodriguez's 2.5G Aquarium Winner of GWAPA's 2007 2.5G Aquascaping Contest (Beginner Category)
Jeff Ucciardo 29 Gallon Filter: Filstar XP1 Substrate: Eco-Complete Dosing: Daily dosing of KNO3, PO4, K, 2ml Flourish, 1 ml Flourish Iron Lighting: 65 watts PC 9 hours, with an additional dual Coralife T-5s for 7 hours in the middle total 101 watts CO2 diffusion: Glass diffusor CO2: Azoo regulator, 5lb. tank Fauna: Harlquin radboras, neons, ottos, cherry and bee shrimp, nerite snails
Robert T Ricketts 55 Gallon Low-Maintenance Tank Substrate: Plenum based with mixed Estes' Nutmeg and Flourite Filtration: Two internal Eheims for mechanical filtration, plus a prefiltered external Eheim 2213 for bio. Lighting: 1-Two-tube strip light, 1 single-strip light. 12 hours/day. Plants: Val, Crinum, Anubias nana and a couple of other small nana cultivars, A. nana petite, Marimo balls, and Java Moss Fauna: school of glass cats, a school of Debaui cats, Otos, one male cherry Barb, Amano and Red Cherry shrimp, ramshorn and common pond snails.
