Bailin Shaw presents: Essentials of the Planted Tank

The Essentials of the Planted Tank will cover the necessary equipment including the proper tanks, lighting, and filtration, talk about the best substrates, briefly discuss basics of nutrients, and finally talk about some very basic principles of aquascaping. The presentation will provide a template for hobbyists to create and maintain a planted tank successfully.

About the speaker

Bailin Shaw has had a love of fishkeeping from when he received his first aquarium for Christmas at the age of 5 and has had at least one aquarium running since that day. To relieve the stress of graduate school, back in 1997, he started learning about planted aquariums through the Aquatic Plant Digest listserve and has been an avid planted tank enthusiast since.

He has served as the President of the Oklahoma City Aquarium Association, founded and served as the President of the first aquatic plant club, the Dallas-Fort Worth Aquatic Plant Club and founded and served as the president of the New England Aquatic Plant Society in Connecticut and the surrounding states.

In Chicago, while working the Aquatic Gardeners Association’s booth at the Aquatic Experience, he collected names of people who were interested in starting a planted aquarium club in the area. As a result, the Chicago Aquatic Plant Society started in early 2016 in a meeting room at a local Panera Bread and has grown to be one of the largest and strongest planted aquarium clubs in the United States.

In addition to serving as the current president of the Chicago club, Bailin also serves as an executive board member for the Aquatic Gardeners Association and is the chairperson for the annual Aquatic Gardeners Association International Aquascaping Contest.

When he’s not working on various club duties, Bailin runs 6-7 low maintenance and high-tech planted tanks and is passionate about educating hobbyists about the benefits of keeping a naturally planted aquarium.