SandstoneSturgeon
Member
- Joined
- 31 Mar 2015
- Messages
- 69
Hello. My name is James and I am from Saint George, Utah. It is a city in the Southwestern United States. I started the hobby in ignorance three years ago and had no idea what I was getting into. My first tank was a Marineland 10Gal (about 38L) which I still have today. At the time I put glofish in it but converted it to a plastic plant/resin wood decor with natural gravel substrate two years ago after managing to kill off all five of my glofish in just one year.
After that I became obsessed with the hobby. I didn't want to loose my five new tetras the same way I lost my glofish. I started to learn things, REALLY learn it. I studied the nitrogen cycle first and the various stages of filtration. I found literature on stocking fish and why bioload is so important. It seemed like there were several different conflicting methods and ideas about fishkeeping. I wanted a tank that I could be proud about all the hard effort I put into it.
Over here in the states many people just buy a starter kit, gravel, plastic, and fish all in one checkout (as I did with my glofish). They go home and throw cold tap water in the tank,not worrying about any method to it. When they get algae problems they go buy a Pleco or Chinese Eater and cram it into their 10 or 20 gallon. When they outgrow the tank and die they are simply replaced. If they live many people will just flush them or throw them into the nearest pond. It just seems like cruel and poor stewardship over creatures who depend on you to keep them safe and happy.
Anyway I didn't want to be like that so I started researching how to keep them in a more natural habitat and that's when I found you guys.
I have two tanks now, both started off with all plastic plants and fake rocks/wood. My 10 gallon now has a Java fern growing on a rock but no other natural features yet. Filter is a Penguin 100 power filter with bio wheel and lighting is Marineland LED 12 whites and 2 blues. This tank now houses 6 black neons and 3 peppered cories.
My newer tank is an Aqueon 55 gal (208L)
Lighting: Fluval full spectrum LED 56k (I've put white trash sacks over the canopy because I had really bad BGA)
Substrate: Gravel
Filter: API Rena filstar canister 250 gph
I keep the temp around 78 (25) degrees.
Plants are 3 Java ferns 2 water wisteria ( they've produced three runners each), an Amazon sword, some dwarf hair grass on one side and rotala on the other, floating frogbit, and some floating water sprite.
Fish are 4 Giant Danios, 8 Zebra Danios, 4 Otocinclus,
and 3 Emerald Cories. Am thinking of adding 5 or 10 glowlight tetras (too messy?)
I'm saving to put in a co2 system and will start adding ferts. I'll include some pictures, I just have to do it from my computer, can't load them from my phone very well.
After that I became obsessed with the hobby. I didn't want to loose my five new tetras the same way I lost my glofish. I started to learn things, REALLY learn it. I studied the nitrogen cycle first and the various stages of filtration. I found literature on stocking fish and why bioload is so important. It seemed like there were several different conflicting methods and ideas about fishkeeping. I wanted a tank that I could be proud about all the hard effort I put into it.
Over here in the states many people just buy a starter kit, gravel, plastic, and fish all in one checkout (as I did with my glofish). They go home and throw cold tap water in the tank,not worrying about any method to it. When they get algae problems they go buy a Pleco or Chinese Eater and cram it into their 10 or 20 gallon. When they outgrow the tank and die they are simply replaced. If they live many people will just flush them or throw them into the nearest pond. It just seems like cruel and poor stewardship over creatures who depend on you to keep them safe and happy.
Anyway I didn't want to be like that so I started researching how to keep them in a more natural habitat and that's when I found you guys.
I have two tanks now, both started off with all plastic plants and fake rocks/wood. My 10 gallon now has a Java fern growing on a rock but no other natural features yet. Filter is a Penguin 100 power filter with bio wheel and lighting is Marineland LED 12 whites and 2 blues. This tank now houses 6 black neons and 3 peppered cories.
My newer tank is an Aqueon 55 gal (208L)
Lighting: Fluval full spectrum LED 56k (I've put white trash sacks over the canopy because I had really bad BGA)
Substrate: Gravel
Filter: API Rena filstar canister 250 gph
I keep the temp around 78 (25) degrees.
Plants are 3 Java ferns 2 water wisteria ( they've produced three runners each), an Amazon sword, some dwarf hair grass on one side and rotala on the other, floating frogbit, and some floating water sprite.
Fish are 4 Giant Danios, 8 Zebra Danios, 4 Otocinclus,
and 3 Emerald Cories. Am thinking of adding 5 or 10 glowlight tetras (too messy?)
I'm saving to put in a co2 system and will start adding ferts. I'll include some pictures, I just have to do it from my computer, can't load them from my phone very well.
