All my scapes are dead, push them to the edge
In the whirlwind that was 2023, the first half was filled with aquarium joy; from shop visits to aquarium events, wholesale tours and more! The latter half however was quite the opposite. As I prepared to move to Canada, all my aquariums needed to be broken down and sold off. Did I do it gradually over 6 months? Don't be silly. They were all broken down within the last 4 weeks of the year lol. Normally I'd put that down to my olympic-worthy procrastination, but a bout of depression can do wonders to your motivation. Surprise surprise!
As a result, all of my previously active journals are concluded.
Into 2024, I've now been here for 6 weeks and am thankfully not depressed at all! Aside from all the new experiences, one of the things I've been looking forward to is setting up a new tank. It's been a while since I set up a completely new tank from scratch, and my itch is only increasing!
One thing I've learnt in my short time here is that good hardscape is NOT easy to come by. It's made me realise how good we have it in the UK for this hobby, not only for the access to materials but the price too! Those who know me will know I'm pretty obsessed with manzanita wood and for the most part, you can forget about it in Canada. So you can imagine my surprise when I spotted a cluster of it hidden in a corner of a reptile/fish shop on my way out. I obviously had to u-turn and rummage through, and found a piece exactly like what I had envisioned. I asked the cashier how much, with baited breath. When she replied 'CA$49.99', I acted pained but knew this was a bloody bargain!!! The rest was history...

I had also been searching for a stand for a while, only finding either boring ones, expensive ones or boring expensive ones. I thought about trying to thrift one in a junk furniture shop, hoping to find a random gem but I ended up having access to one in the apartment I moved into. It fits the vision very well and is pretty much perfect, dimensionally. The only hiccup is that it isn't mine and I still haven't worked out how I'm going to hang the lights since the protruding hardscape means I can't use the on-tank brackets (and neither do I want to). A bump in the road for sure...

The aim of this tank is simplicity. Low tech, no soil, bold and wood-only hardscape and a few species of easy plants. Since I'll be a one tank man until further notice, I can give this tank maximum TLC and hopefully it will flourish!

Tank: UNS 60U (60 x 36 x 36)
Filter: Oase Biomaster Thermo 350
Lights: Chihiros Wrgb II 60cm (maybe lol)
Misc: Lightground Lightscreen, Liti Aquaria Pipes