Simon Cole
Member
I have been keeping fish for 20 years. I have a strong professional interest in water quality and environmental management. My first degree honours project was on the nitrogen cycle but I have a lot of experience testing surface water quality in rivers. I enjoy river angling.
At home I have 8 tanks. I never thought that I would get into aquascaping, but recently setting-up a hi tech Rio 125 gave me the opportunity to enjoy some really rare and special plants.
My favourite fish are my male sunset homey gouramis called pinkey and perkey. I also love my shoal of golden pencilfish (Nannostomus beckfordi). I prefer to under-stock and support fish populations through breeding.
My favourite plants at the moment is crypt var. hobbit, which I am hoping will go red, but I also collect Bucephalandra, and prefer dynamic and designed planting arrangements; I have a tree in one of my tanks.
My favourite rock types are schist. My father is a geologist so we have a great fondness for collecting igneous rocks, and I find this part of the hobby really fascinating.
I bought a CO2 Art system after reading this forum and I prefer quad lighting from iQuatics. I have also built custom LED lights, and turbo CO2 systems, but I am looking forwards to testing a new ISTA reactor. I am designing an anaerobic filtration system.
I prefer substrate capping with fine basalt or resin-coated gravels because I like to keep corydoras, and I find great beauty in variation. I recently set up my Dad's first tank, a fluval edge with a couple of pygmy corydors, a beautiful betta called Rob and sand substrate. It is the most low tech tank ever but looks fantastic.
I culture Californian blackworms, grindal worms and daphnia, and mozies during the summer. I am looking at starting a culture of fruit flies and vinegar eels for some fish I am looking to breed.
I have a small emersed plant setup for plants I am not ready to plant or need to bring on. Having some low tech set-ups means I need to think carefully about propagation. But I do order rare plants from abroad sometimes. I am hoping to go hi tech with all big tanks as my new year resolution.
I share the hobby with both of my parents, but more-so with my mother who was a great photographer. She has looked after my oldest cycling tank since before I went to uni, which was over 10 years ago, and it is still going strong. I am hoping to start a local club to encourage more people to collaborate over cultures, plant swaps and breeding projects. I would like to see some good aquarium shows.
I am keen YouTube follower: Crimson Sky by James Findley was an aquascape that gave me some inspiration. I am also a huge fan of Green Aqua; Victor Lantos and Balazs Farkas in terms of planting. I think Rachael O'Leary is a genius when it comes to fish. I also love the videos by Pondguru on filtration. Many people have been a great support to me from that site. I think George Farmer is great at helping people. I guess when I got into fish-keeping that none of this was really around, so it is what makes me want to do more and become part of the UKAPS community. So much has changed - new plants, fish, technology - now is a really exciting time to be engaged.
At home I have 8 tanks. I never thought that I would get into aquascaping, but recently setting-up a hi tech Rio 125 gave me the opportunity to enjoy some really rare and special plants.
My favourite fish are my male sunset homey gouramis called pinkey and perkey. I also love my shoal of golden pencilfish (Nannostomus beckfordi). I prefer to under-stock and support fish populations through breeding.
My favourite plants at the moment is crypt var. hobbit, which I am hoping will go red, but I also collect Bucephalandra, and prefer dynamic and designed planting arrangements; I have a tree in one of my tanks.
My favourite rock types are schist. My father is a geologist so we have a great fondness for collecting igneous rocks, and I find this part of the hobby really fascinating.
I bought a CO2 Art system after reading this forum and I prefer quad lighting from iQuatics. I have also built custom LED lights, and turbo CO2 systems, but I am looking forwards to testing a new ISTA reactor. I am designing an anaerobic filtration system.
I prefer substrate capping with fine basalt or resin-coated gravels because I like to keep corydoras, and I find great beauty in variation. I recently set up my Dad's first tank, a fluval edge with a couple of pygmy corydors, a beautiful betta called Rob and sand substrate. It is the most low tech tank ever but looks fantastic.
I culture Californian blackworms, grindal worms and daphnia, and mozies during the summer. I am looking at starting a culture of fruit flies and vinegar eels for some fish I am looking to breed.
I have a small emersed plant setup for plants I am not ready to plant or need to bring on. Having some low tech set-ups means I need to think carefully about propagation. But I do order rare plants from abroad sometimes. I am hoping to go hi tech with all big tanks as my new year resolution.
I share the hobby with both of my parents, but more-so with my mother who was a great photographer. She has looked after my oldest cycling tank since before I went to uni, which was over 10 years ago, and it is still going strong. I am hoping to start a local club to encourage more people to collaborate over cultures, plant swaps and breeding projects. I would like to see some good aquarium shows.
I am keen YouTube follower: Crimson Sky by James Findley was an aquascape that gave me some inspiration. I am also a huge fan of Green Aqua; Victor Lantos and Balazs Farkas in terms of planting. I think Rachael O'Leary is a genius when it comes to fish. I also love the videos by Pondguru on filtration. Many people have been a great support to me from that site. I think George Farmer is great at helping people. I guess when I got into fish-keeping that none of this was really around, so it is what makes me want to do more and become part of the UKAPS community. So much has changed - new plants, fish, technology - now is a really exciting time to be engaged.
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