Big G
Member
Hello Everyone,
Finally had the courage to join and say hello.
About me;
Used to keep freshwater tanks in the late 80’s. Undergravel filters, rubbish bendy, rusting hoods, corrugated plastic cover glasses, utterly inadequate lighting etc. Everything from community standards to (eventually) cichlids with rocks. All got a bit ugly and got sick of brown fronds of (what I think was) Vallis drooping away sadly in murky water. Compared to now the 80’s was the middle ages in terms tech and aesthetic thinking for me.
Stumbled across George Farmer’s work about five years ago and the concepts of Nano tanks and Aquascaping. Found George and the huge advances in both technology and what a planted tank could be really inspirational.
Always having been a fan of Eheim gear, I bought an Eheim cube and started buying kit as I could afford it ready to set up and have a go. Then had a catastrophic accident which took a year to recover from and the tank, bag of substrate etc has sat gathering dust in a corner unopened since. You know how life can take you in other directions.
In these current strange times I thought I might pick up with a few youtube vids and see if I was still inspired. Yes is the answer so here I am.
Think I’m going to start with a simple, low tech cube (not the Eheim, which I’ll save for now). I’m much more interested in growing healthy, happy plants and hand-making hardscaping in wood and rock that scales with the nano idea. Maybe a community of small shrimp to complete things. Something like a Fluval spec or Dennerle Nano based set up with no more than three of four varieties of plant and see if it appeals.
If it goes well I might try a sodastream-based co2 system on the Eheim, high tech etc and throw a bit more at it as there’s some beautiful plants, gear and even other tanks out there now. Almost like the minimalist aesthetic equivalent of an Apple iMac, if you will.
I’m done with big tanks, done with reams of untidy, uncoordinated and unsightly cabling. The aesthetics and tranquility of healthy water plants presented in well organised aquascapes is my interest now. If I can find the balance between the technical needs and just sitting down and enjoying a tank, I’ll be happy.
Anyway, that’s me.
I’ve got lots to learn and, for all the wrong reasons, lots of time to study.
My resources for study, aside from here are so far George’s Youtube channel as well as Green Aqua, Jurijs Jutjajevs Youtube and a guy called Pecktec who’s vids I’ve watched for years when I was originally going to set up a tank. There are loads of gaps in my knowledge on plants, shrimp and gear so I would be grateful if you could point me in the right direction to resources you think would be useful.
I love books and look forward to GF’s one coming out in November and wish him all the best with it.
When I finally set up a tank I’ll start a thread in the appropriate place and blog?(I’m not super savvy with this) the processes I went through if people would be interested.
I doubt I will ask many questions until I’ve read through the site. The research is most of the fun for me.
I hope everyone is staying safe in these very odd times. Good health,
Big G
Finally had the courage to join and say hello.
About me;
Used to keep freshwater tanks in the late 80’s. Undergravel filters, rubbish bendy, rusting hoods, corrugated plastic cover glasses, utterly inadequate lighting etc. Everything from community standards to (eventually) cichlids with rocks. All got a bit ugly and got sick of brown fronds of (what I think was) Vallis drooping away sadly in murky water. Compared to now the 80’s was the middle ages in terms tech and aesthetic thinking for me.
Stumbled across George Farmer’s work about five years ago and the concepts of Nano tanks and Aquascaping. Found George and the huge advances in both technology and what a planted tank could be really inspirational.
Always having been a fan of Eheim gear, I bought an Eheim cube and started buying kit as I could afford it ready to set up and have a go. Then had a catastrophic accident which took a year to recover from and the tank, bag of substrate etc has sat gathering dust in a corner unopened since. You know how life can take you in other directions.
In these current strange times I thought I might pick up with a few youtube vids and see if I was still inspired. Yes is the answer so here I am.
Think I’m going to start with a simple, low tech cube (not the Eheim, which I’ll save for now). I’m much more interested in growing healthy, happy plants and hand-making hardscaping in wood and rock that scales with the nano idea. Maybe a community of small shrimp to complete things. Something like a Fluval spec or Dennerle Nano based set up with no more than three of four varieties of plant and see if it appeals.
If it goes well I might try a sodastream-based co2 system on the Eheim, high tech etc and throw a bit more at it as there’s some beautiful plants, gear and even other tanks out there now. Almost like the minimalist aesthetic equivalent of an Apple iMac, if you will.
I’m done with big tanks, done with reams of untidy, uncoordinated and unsightly cabling. The aesthetics and tranquility of healthy water plants presented in well organised aquascapes is my interest now. If I can find the balance between the technical needs and just sitting down and enjoying a tank, I’ll be happy.
Anyway, that’s me.
I’ve got lots to learn and, for all the wrong reasons, lots of time to study.
My resources for study, aside from here are so far George’s Youtube channel as well as Green Aqua, Jurijs Jutjajevs Youtube and a guy called Pecktec who’s vids I’ve watched for years when I was originally going to set up a tank. There are loads of gaps in my knowledge on plants, shrimp and gear so I would be grateful if you could point me in the right direction to resources you think would be useful.
I love books and look forward to GF’s one coming out in November and wish him all the best with it.
When I finally set up a tank I’ll start a thread in the appropriate place and blog?(I’m not super savvy with this) the processes I went through if people would be interested.
I doubt I will ask many questions until I’ve read through the site. The research is most of the fun for me.
I hope everyone is staying safe in these very odd times. Good health,
Big G
