61*north

I have no idea what I'm doing and am wondering if maybe I'm heading 100mph with my hair on fire in a direction that might not be right.

Sure, I've had tanks before. Bought my first tank in about 1972 or so, used. That little 10 gallon must have been a big deal to me at the time as I even remember who I bought it from. Jim Miller sold me a used 10 gallon with stainless trim for $20 and it had everything I needed including fish. A year or so later I had multiple tanks and a year beyond that I built my first marine tank. Lots of tanks and then a major patch of boredom with it. I blanked with no fish for a few years.

About 6 months ago I saw my first Amano tank and was surprised at how beautiful it was and how different from anything I'd tried before. I decided to give that a whirl and about a month ago bought a 180 gallon AGA and have been puttering around getting it built into a wall in my office. It's in and now I'm wondering if maybe I should set my sites a little lower for a first planted tank.

I've got a 20hi and a 30hi... and a 55 standard. I think I've got a 10 gallon wandering around here too. My question to you is; based on your experience in the hobby would you suggest I set up one of the smaller tanks with plants first? I'm guessing there may be a few lessons that would be taught more gently if I didn't have to tear down a really big tank to fix whatever errors I'd made.

What are your thoughts?

BTW... thanks to TarantulaGuy for pointing me toward this site and letting me bend your ear for an hour the other evening. I appreciate your suggestions and made 5 pages of notes while we were on the phone.

TarantulaGuy

Hehe, no problems! I'm glad you made it here! Look forwards to being able to help you out in any way you need. And I do think you'll be fine starting with the 180, just research research research!

gwclark

Research and planning are the keys.

Seattle_Aquarist

Hi 61*north,

Welcome to APC! Based on your screen name I am guessing you are in Anchorage, I have been there many times. We have several AK/Anchorage area members here, hopefully they will introduce themselves. This is great site this is with excellent information and friendly people to help you if you need it.

When I started a few years ago a member suggested that I start by reading the "Sticky's" at the beginning of the "New to Planted Aquariums", "Lighting", and "Fertilizing" sub-forums. By doing so I saved myself a lot of time (and money) getting up to speed and learning the basics.

As for which tank to start with, I would chose the one with the best lighting system for planted aquariums. Check out the suggested "stickys" and give us some idea of what equipment you are working with in the "Lighting" sub-forum. I am glad you joined us!

61*north

Bummer. I've learned most of what I know by making every mistake possible... at least twice.

I'll root through the stickies though and try to save my wallet the agony this time for sure.


I don't have any lighting for the 180g yet so the few plants I've just ordered from the classified section will go in a 30tall temporarily. I've been looking around at lighting and think I can build a hood fairly easily that will do the trick with T5HO's.

Thanks for the warm welcome and I'm looking forward to meeting some of the other folks in the area. If you wind up w/ a little spare time on one of your trips through this area and are interested in taking a peek at a tank or two... holler.

sonaps

Welcome 61*north! Sounds like you’ve started a fun project. Good to see more planted tank enthusiasts here in Anchorage. I’d be interested in checking out your setup sometime. What area of town are you in? I work downtown and live in ER.

61*north

My house is up by the Flat Top parking lot. Holler when you've got a little time and I'll shoot you directions and a ph #, Sonaps. I'm riding a m/c to Dawson City, Yukon Territory this Th but will be back by Sat evening and when I get back I'll be diving back into the tank.

Might even have some new cool plants waiting for me in one of the other tanks. I ordered a bunch of 'em in the last couple days and will have the warden watching the mail for the care packages.

I've also got some lighting parts en route but they'll be trickling in over the course of the next week or three.

61*north

A few steps forward and a few steps back...

The tank is coming along fine and last night I filled it 3/4's full and added the substrate and and 5 small fish:

1 x Betta
3 x guppies
1 x pleco

The step backward was that prior to getting to this point I had ordered some plants and put them in 3 different tanks that I already had established. Didn't put a whole lot of thought into how much I loath snails before doing that and within a month had 3 tanks with an obvious population, everywhere.

The big tank is sort of a refuge at the moment. Two of the smaller tanks I linked with a pipe connecting the two and then took an Eheim 2128 and put the intake in one and the outlet in the other. Fired up the filter and dumped in a generous portion of bleach. I might have sacrificed some of my own lung tissue to the snail gods in the process but I'm pretty sure that nothing could possibly live through the holocaust in the two bleach tanks.

I've looked for information on how to cleanse the plants I have and am not sure which route to take but I'll be taking one for sure. (The plants were removed from the tanks prior to bleaching and they're in my one remaining tank that will be the last to get treated.) I'm thinking a smallish tank with a ton of plants in it and a handful of clowns or yoyo's first for the remaining plants... then maybe a final dip in some kind of snail death concoction before putting the plants back in the big tank. I know there are some benefits to snails, etc. I just personally find them revolting additions to an otherwise beautiful (planned) aquascape.

Any suggestions on how to more easily resolve this stupid mistake would be appreciated. Matter of fact; if you think I might be about to make a similar blunder in some other way don't hesitate to say so.

Here's the pic to show that I've not been a complete slacker. I've also discovered that this kind of thing takes a little more free time and coordination than I was expecting. A few more blunders like the snail setback would be a major bummer, time wise. I'm also noticing that this is one of those projects that make your wallet bleed but at a rate that seems less painful when your progress is as slow as mine's been.

61*north

See this part here?

Don't do that.

Apparently Eheim 2128's and bleach aren't on friendly terms.

You'll bleach your floor and your 2128 will need repair. I needed plenty of towels this morning. White ones, preferably. The wife will probably gnaw on my head after she notices how some of the others will turn out.

I'll tell you what though... everything looks mighty clean. Mighty.

61*north

Correction:

Use *only* the white towels... or the wife'll be on you like a bad rash.