In a lateral section of Ward 4 at Interzoo 2022, against the exit wall of the exhibition area, we found Aquadeco‘s stand, a German company specialized in the marketing of decorations for aquariums and terrariums, and with a tons of marine rocks.
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Their stand was very spacious although simply furnished. A series of linear shelves ran along the whole back wall, supporting every type of dritwood or root you could possibly imagine. On the front, delimiting the area of the marketing managers, there was a row of pallets on which stacks and stacks of materials of every type lied, in wire baskets. This stand was so eye-catching that getting closer to it, it was clear as day what the core business of this company was.
Aquadeco’s stand at Interzoo 2022 in our video
Before we continue, we have linked our video, in which you will see Aquadeco‘s stand and the exhibited products. By clicking on the URL below you will be automatically taken to the beginning of the section. From there, you will be able to see the full report or select another stand from the time stamps in the description.
Decorations of every type
As already said, Aquadeco is a company born in Germany in the late 80’s. It started out importing hole stones from the former Jugoslavia and supplying retailers and sellers in Germany and Austria. Over the years it was inserted in this industry offering not only stones, but driftwoods and roots too, other than whatever can be used to decorate aquariums, ponds, terrariums or reptile houses. Aquadeco‘s displayed products were plenty and, in some cases, difficult to categorize.
We saw driftwoods of every type, with the most diverse shapes, colours and dimensions. Dried roots ready to be inserted in tanks to faithfully recreate the natural biotope of whichever area of the world. The rocks were arranged according to their type, catalogued and labeled one by one.
Several of these products target the aquariology market, giving a nod to freshwater tanks. However many of the materials presented at this Interzoo 2022 could be easily used in other contexts.
Here come the rocks for marine acquarium
Among all of these decorations, the greatest innovation was placed at the heart of the stand to attract attention. We are referring to the brand new artificial rock for marine aquarium, that finally entered the official Aquadeco’s catalog.
With a special consideration for the environment, now common between lots of companies we met here at Interzoo, Aquadeco has brought to the fair this new product to replace the classic live rock, now hard to find because of the import ban put into place by many exporting countries.
(Save the) Reef Rock!
This original name was chosen by Aquadeco to commercialize its own artificial rock for marine aquarium.
We do not have exact information about the composition of this product, but relying on the description of the company, we know it is made of high-porosity materials, and that should favour the installation of bacteria strains to complete the nitrogen cycle.
In addition, the dimensions of these rocks should guarantee an adequate colonization both on the external part, where aerobic bacteria attach, both on the internal one, where the lack of oxygen allows life for the anaerobic bacteria only.
The coloration of this artificial rock is generally pretty neutral and almost white.
The presence of some brown and yellow veins enhances its appearance giving it a quite natural look, even in the early stages of use, when it is not covered by coralline algae or other life forms yet.
Browsing a bit on the e-commerce Aquadeco website, in the description of the product we noticed the caption “gives calcium“. This means that these rocks would release calcium… so it got us thinking… in what form? How much, and especially for how long?
We are therefore looking for more information, for now this is pretty much all we can tell.
Jurassic Reef Rock
The second type of rock, presented by Aquadeco for the set-up of a reef tank, is this stone with a well- defined shape and colour. The shape is deliberately recreated from the characteristics of coral formations on natural rock. The coloration, which is artificial too, resembles the typical coralline algae purplish one. This type of rock helps setting up a tank without giving the impression of falsity that normally, a “non-live” rock as the first one, could engender. The aesthetic appearance and the visual quality is certainly more natural, but the issues and maturation period will be the same as an artificial rock.
Jurassic Reef Rock is sold in 12 Kg or 25 Kg formats.
Substrates for reefs and more
A new entry in the Aquadeco’s catalogue was represented by these two reef substrates, proposed in 5 liters bags.
Eco Reef Ground is a sand easily colonisable by bacteria that is sold in two different grain sizes. Both types enter the market at a controlled pH of 8.2 and contain a small percentage of Calcium and Magnesium, with a negligible residue of Phospates.
Also noteworthy is the wide range of Aquadeco’s ground materials for the set-up of freshwater tanks. Gravel and neutral substrates, of pure calcium or capable of reducing the carbonate hardness of water, white, black, red and green or multicoloured. A huge range in which you can find, other than the proposed products, the accessory that best suits your tank according to your own personal preferences.
In this tank below Aquadeco proposed a simulation of a set-up using both Jurassic Reef Rocks and Eco Reef Ground sand. In general the visual result is pleasing, assuming that you can overlook the super-colorful artificial corals that were decorating the composition. On the other hand we are aware that doing a full set-up and keeping it in fair for many days could be a job that not all companies would be able to support.
Moreover, considering the purely professional targeted public, and that the fair was open to the operators only, there was no point in carrying out a huge live set-up. This trade show did not aim at enticing the public to approach this world. On the contrary, it wanted to give companies a chance for their products to be seen by operators that are already in the scene and that already master aquariology themes.
REFERENCES
As usual here is the link of the official homepage of Aquadeco. We also invite you to read our Editorial on the exhibition, you can access the links of all the articles released so far, that will increase day by day, or watch our videoreport for this Interzoo 2022.
