chrisfraser05
Member
- Joined
- 12 Jun 2010
- Messages
- 434
After planning for nearly 6 months here, Finally is "Forrest Bridge".
I'll start with a little (if boring) intro for those who don't know me.
I've liked the idea of getting a tank for a long long time and have a good friend who works in local tropical fish shop.
In April this year I got myself a 40 liter tank which I promptly overstocked and had to quickly buy an 80lt clearseal as I was doing Very frequent waterchanges in the first few weeks lol
I then started learning, and reading, and spending and ended up with a pair of pretty nice little tanks with some healthy plants in them. Both had gravel substrates but I was making do as I learned with the intention of a much bigger upgrade.
I have to point out here that when a hobby bites me I tend to go all in, try to learn what I can and maybe become a little obsessive?!?
Here being my case in point.....
If you are going to do something..... Do it well lol
Anyway. I managed to get my tanks up and running, then had to deploy to Afghanistan
Not to worry though, I have a pretty reliable (and patient) wife. I showed her what I wanted her to do, she thankfully kept really good care of my tanks and developed the plants and fish well. On my weeks leave in september I was amazed how good my little tanks were looking. To say I was proud of her was an understatement.
I started my spending spree safe in the knowlege that my plants were growing ready for my new plan...
We had a couple of algae issues, both times she sent me photographs, stuck her hands in and felt it for me, was it slimey, was it powdery etc etc.... I did the research, came up with the solutions. Overcame the problems
I was basically maintaining the tanks from 3000 miles away lmao.
Uh oh!!!
My fatherinlaw is rushed into hospital. My wife needed to run to be at his bedside.
Her friend offered to feed the fish and rabbits, my friend offered to come round and do water changes. Sorted... you'd think!
Now my missus forgets to tell her pal how much to feed, also never mentions that the CO2 (tetra optimat) needs done in the morning. My friend, unfamiliar with planted tanks pops round after the first month, changes about 25% water and cleans the glass. Leaves it the second month as he knows I'm due home!
The fatherinlaw is now home and stable My tanks was full of BGA, BBA, green algae, brown slime....
Plants wise some of my plants had overtaken the others and had blocked their light. My HC was gone and after trimming BBA off most were almost not worth keeping!!!
Oh well then... best layed plans lol
I'll start with a little (if boring) intro for those who don't know me.
I've liked the idea of getting a tank for a long long time and have a good friend who works in local tropical fish shop.
In April this year I got myself a 40 liter tank which I promptly overstocked and had to quickly buy an 80lt clearseal as I was doing Very frequent waterchanges in the first few weeks lol
I then started learning, and reading, and spending and ended up with a pair of pretty nice little tanks with some healthy plants in them. Both had gravel substrates but I was making do as I learned with the intention of a much bigger upgrade.
I have to point out here that when a hobby bites me I tend to go all in, try to learn what I can and maybe become a little obsessive?!?
Here being my case in point.....
If you are going to do something..... Do it well lol
Anyway. I managed to get my tanks up and running, then had to deploy to Afghanistan
Not to worry though, I have a pretty reliable (and patient) wife. I showed her what I wanted her to do, she thankfully kept really good care of my tanks and developed the plants and fish well. On my weeks leave in september I was amazed how good my little tanks were looking. To say I was proud of her was an understatement.
I started my spending spree safe in the knowlege that my plants were growing ready for my new plan...
We had a couple of algae issues, both times she sent me photographs, stuck her hands in and felt it for me, was it slimey, was it powdery etc etc.... I did the research, came up with the solutions. Overcame the problems
I was basically maintaining the tanks from 3000 miles away lmao.
Uh oh!!!
My fatherinlaw is rushed into hospital. My wife needed to run to be at his bedside.
Her friend offered to feed the fish and rabbits, my friend offered to come round and do water changes. Sorted... you'd think!
Now my missus forgets to tell her pal how much to feed, also never mentions that the CO2 (tetra optimat) needs done in the morning. My friend, unfamiliar with planted tanks pops round after the first month, changes about 25% water and cleans the glass. Leaves it the second month as he knows I'm due home!
The fatherinlaw is now home and stable
My tanks was full of BGA, BBA, green algae, brown slime.... Plants wise some of my plants had overtaken the others and had blocked their light. My HC was gone and after trimming BBA off most were almost not worth keeping!!!
Oh well then... best layed plans lol
