[MatPat]

In my introduction, I decide to include a little bit of how SWOAPE was started so it may be a little long

My name is Matt and I live in the Dayton, Ohio area. We moved back to Ohio in late 2004 after living in various areas of the country for the past 20 years. My last job prior to the birth of my first child was as a professional cabinet maker. Since it is hard to find an evening job working in a cabinet shop, I am now a stay-at-home Dad of two.

I have been into planted tanks for about 4 years now and into aquariums in general since the late 80's. I recently had 6 high tech planted tanks going but have downsized to three, after the birth of my daughter. I have two 75g tanks and a 50g tank planted right now along with two low tech 10g planted tanks.

When I moved to Dayton I found two others in the area via APC and Aquabid, Damon (Simpte 27) and Ken, who were interested in planted tanks and lived nearby. After talking with them, the three of us decided it would be a good idea to start a plant club to meet other enthusiasts. Since I didn't know too many folks from this area, I posted this thread on the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS.org) site wondering if there was enough local interest to start a club.

Jack (Jack W.), Rob (rwoehr), Sean (ctmpwrdcamry), and probably a few others I am forgetting to mention decided it would be worthwhile to start up a plant only club. We held our first "meeting" in April of 2005 and SWOAPE was born. We now have nearly 30 members and seem to add a new member every month.

 

[ctmpwrdcamry]

My name is Sean and I have been dabbling with aquariums for about 6 or 7 years. I tired to have one when I was younger, but as we all know they can get costly fast, so without an income, once the fish died, I was done.

I moved to Ohio in 97, found Aquarium Adventure in Columbus shortly there after. After being amazed by their large planted tank I decided I wanted to have something like that one day. After trying to keep plants in a 10 gallon, and then again in a 37 gallon, I got on the Internet to find out what I had been doing wrong. Turns out, I had been spending to much money at AA Thanks to Matt and others here, I learned the beauty of Dry Ferts and cheap plants. But thats all that was cheap.

I currently have 5 tanks. The original 10 and 37 gallon tanks now have nice plants in them, as well as a 20, 20L and my 75 which is the only tank with co2. Thanks to Jim, not only do I have a plant problem, I also have a discus issue. I still have not found a cream to clear these up.

In addition to fish I also like cars, hence the screen name. For 4 years I ran an on line parts business. After starting a full time job while still in college, I decided I needed to spend more time on school work and dissolved the business. I also sold the Camry and purchased a MINI. So much more fun.

 

[Six]

I guess I'll go next.

I'm 24, female, and have lived in Columbus my whole life (not that I'm entirely proud of that ). I attend OSU full time with classes starting yesterday. I'm a junior there.

I attended Otterbein College to basicly play D3 soccer and when I didnt get playing time I wanted to transfer the next quarter. Life worked oddly for me then... I picked up a job at Aquarium Adventure and made it up to an assistant manager there. I also met my current boyfriend, Daniel, there so it wasnt a bad experience all around. I had that job around 2001. There I met Sue who created and cared for the plant tank there. My interests turned to reefs, but plant tanks still amazed and enthralled me. I'm "six' nano-reef.com and maintain a large reef set-up and planning on creating a propagation system that will push 300gallons.
Anywho, I quit AA and worked at Byerly's for a little while. I then got a job at FedEx Ground where I am currently employed part time as a service manager. My area loads packages to NY, so please no service comments.
So, I'm with another fish nerd, Daniel, I'm maintaining a few semi-serious plant tanks (for danio choprae, pelvicachromis species, and shrimp mainly), a large reef, working and attending OSU.

 

[ctmpwrdcamry]

There I met Sue who created and cared for the plant tank there.

Sue was an awesome and tallented person. So unfortunate....

 

[Yzfr6]

Hi my name is Scott; I have had aquariums in and out of my life since I was a child. I have done the standard Fish only tanks and then moved onto Salt water. Although saltwater tanks are a thing of beauty they also require a lot of work. More work than a planted tank. Given my busy work schedule, I am a principal consultant with Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions. I had very little time to take up the great hobby. You just have to know your limitations. I can at times travel a bit and thus have no time for the saltwater tank. So in case anyone wants to know my job consists of computer technology from Microsoft, Linux, Citrix, SAN's, clustering, networking, and so on. I have had a planted tank since the June meeting where most of you came out to lend a hand. I was treated with a warm welcome and have since been on this forum. I have now started a 30 gallon planted tank for the office.

 

[Pyro]

Hey everyone, I decided to introduce myself too! You may have seen me hanging around, but I'm one of the newer members of SWOAPE and planted tanks in general.

I'm a 17 year old High School student and I've been into aquariums for about a year now. Although I spent about 3 months trying to do a fishless cycle with plants. The bulb that was recommended by the LFS for plants was 21,000K I believe. It was something outside the usable spectrum of plants. Not to mention I was at something like 0.9 wpg. So my 20 gallon was dormant, and I consistantly tested water and put in huge amounts of ammonia hoping to make progress. Unfourtantly, the tank was rather old so it ended up springing a leak, putting an end to to my planted tank happiness until last December (there was lots of reading and hanging out on aquatic plant boards until then!)

Finally in December I setup my 1st planted tank...with vals and anacharis, and blue gravel with eco complete on the bottom! Unfourtantly, a massive hair algae attack forced me to upgrade. During the upgrade, the clown puke gravel was replaced, and the filter was changed from a Penguin to an Eheim 2213...killer canister filter

Just last Friday, I drained the tank again and replaced everything with 100% eco-complete, and finally fired up CO2 injection. At this point, I think I've replaced everything in my tank that could possibly have been wrong and holding me tank. I don't think I have 1 original component from my first setup besides the tank thermometer.

Planted aquaria is really a hobby that I enjoy quite a bit. It just seems like such an odd hobby, but I really enjoy it. Friends look at me really strangely when there's a CO2 tank sitting in my room too, although I think the jubilant celebrations at the arrival of my KNO3, or considering taking my CO2 regulator as a prime date might've franky disturbed a few people.

Right now plants still look rather...depressing, and I'm looking to see if I can find some more cool ones online right now. I finally have my dosing regime up, and right now I'm tinkering with the bubble count on the CO2, trying to get the CO2 right. I graduate early from High School in January (have to decide what I want to do with my life too I was thinking about being a high school science teacher, but that almost requires a vow of poverty), so I'm a bit busy with school - hopefully I'll be able to attend a meeting eventually!

 

[molurus73]

Hello all,
My name is Jim. Married :ballchain with a 5 year old child. I had fish tanks as a child ever since I can remember until I was about 18. Got out of them for awhile and finally got a 29 gallon from Jack's about 3 years ago. Threw in some mixed africans. You know the ones, "Anything in that tank will go together well". :mad2: Nope. From there I just exploded with MTS.

Found Swoape or the beginnings of, in April of '05. Started planting tanks. Started off not wanting co2, then DIY co2, then pressurized co2. Damn you Matt. I think I enjoy the journey more than the destination. I am in a state of constant "What do I want now?" I have had a discus addiction (bad) and now am seeking to put together a beautiful planted african cichlid tank. :fear:

I love football (WHO DEY), NASCAR 8, fish, reptiles and hanging with my son. In my spare time, [smilie=l: I decorate cakes. I am a baker in a restaurant in West Chester. I aspire to be professional pastry chef. I make a little extra money doing birthday, wedding, shower, etc. cakes.

I can haul a full 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and Matt cannot. I love to sit and talk plants and fish for hours if I could. Anyway, I guess that is about it.

Jim
Oh, and did I mention
[B]WHO DEY[/B]

 

[allen]

HI all,

my name is Allen.I had a few tanks when i was a kid growing up on the farm.Kept just about everything I could find from the creeks and streams.frogs,fish,crawfish and turtles.

Around 15 years ago I had 2 tanks.A 50g with a 15"silver arawona,15"clown knife and a 6"clown loach.A 29g with jack dempseys that breed.sold the fish a few years later and gave away the tanks.a month ago I got back the 50g.

So now I have the 50g and a 110g oceanic to setup.A 60g planted with 3.2wpg and co2.A 10g that started as an invert tank but is now planted and has tiger barb fry in it.

Last year when I setup a planted tank I didn't have a clue.And all the algae proved it.I've learned alot from everyone at SWOAPE about planted tanks.Been algae free for months now.

My other interest are nascar,fishing,camping,hunting,shooting and reloading.

Hope to see everyone at the next meeting.

Allen

 

[ukedude]

UkeDude (Roger) Introduction

Greetings! I'm Roger (ukedude), and I live in the Eastgate area of Cincinnati. I am setting up a 29g tank to be heavily planted for the first time. I have had a 20g and this 29g with fish and a few easy plants for several years. In my recent move to another house, I had to tear down the 29g.

My daughter and I are now working on setting up the 29g together. Our objective is a beautiful planted tank with reasonable (for planted tanks, that is) maintenance.

Having read in many places that the best sources for plants are other local hobbyists, I started searching and quickly found SWOAPE.

I have spent a great deal of time (2 months) researching, buying, and installing all the requisite upgrades to the tank. Here is my current setup:

• 29g tank
• XP2 filter
• In-line 200W heater on filter return
• 5lb CO2 bottle
• AquariumPlants.com regulator
• Homemade 2" PVC CO2 reactor inline with return (after heater)
  • I'm not so sure it works all that great in my tests
• CurrentUSA CF light 1x65W

I have also decided to use PPS for fertilizing (please see my PPS log in the PPS Analysis forum) and have all the dry checmicals for solutions via GregWatson.com and Wal-Mart (K2SO4). I also have complete set of needed Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kits and assorted plasticware for dosing.

The only thing I lack now is plants!.

I am hoping that fellow SWOAPE members can assist me in obtaining a solid set of startup plants with which to kick off this new tank. Since I have nothing to offer in trade (yet!), I am happy to contribute in whatever ways would be of value to the group.

My daughter is very excited to get this tank planted. I have tried to take away the complexity and cost from her so she can enjoy the plants.

I understand there is a SWOAPE meeting in October, but I don't know if my family commitments will allow me to attend (4 kids!), and I'd really like to get started right away. If there is any to work with members to find sources for plants, I would be very grateful for any assistance.

I would most appreciate the help of one or more persons who can accumulate sufficient plant stock for a 29g, then help me make the transfer at once, rather than little-by-little. I understand one of the most important beginner gotcha's is too little plant mass.

Thanks for reading

 

[redstrat]

Hi my name is Ryan, I'm 23 years old and live in NW columbus. I have had several fish tanks since I was about 10yrs old. I had my first planted tank when I was about 12 or so and maintained it for a couple years untill I had the urge to try a Marine reef tank. I played with marine for about 3years and gave it up because I was starting college and didn't have the time, money or energy to keep up with it anymore. I completely got out of the hobby for a couple years untill last winter/spring when I got the itch again and decided to start a 75gallon high light planted tank. During that time I found APC and recently joined SWOAPE.

Aside from aquaria, I'm still in college at OSU studying Civil Engineering. For the last 5years I've worked for a local engineering/architecture firm called Burgess and Niple (pronouced Nye-ple).

 

[Paywan]

Hi all,
My name is Scott, and I've also had fish tanks since I was a kid. Started getting into the planted tanks a few years ago, but it's been kind of off and on. Right now I just have a few small tanks (20g or less) set up, while my 125g and 2 75g tanks sit empty. It's likely I'll be moving a little closer to Kentucky in about a year, so I'm waiting until then to set them up.

Right now I live in Hamilton. I'm not married and I work for an investments firm. I've been following the SWOAPE forum for about a month or 2 now, and been to one meeting. Great group of people here!

 

[CincyCichlids]

Hi my name is Chris, and I'm an Aquarium-Aholic. I've had a tank since I was probably like 6, you know the 10 gallon tank with the tetras and whatever else Mom thought was pretty.

Over the years it was just a tank on the dresser, nothing too exciting. Sometime around 7th grade, I surprised my parents by paying for a 20H to replace the 10 gallon. Not long after that, I bought a pair of Convicts to go in with my mom's mollies, sword tails and tetras. The Convicts spawned shortly afterward and killed everything else, I was suddenly addicted to Cichlids!

Shortly after I bought a 55, and then it just continued to grow.

Fast forward to late 1999. After graduating high school and going to Wright State, I decided I absolutely couldn't stand the school and moved back home in West Chester and started commuting to UC. At the time my fish "collection" was a part time business called... CincyCichlids. I had somewhere around 50 tanks, just over 2000 gallons. My main focus has always been Tanganyikan Cichlids. Many from the Neolamp and Julidochromis families. My favorite are definitely the Cyprichromis Leptosoma.

I've tried raising plants a few times. In some tanks I could get java moss and java fern to grow, but even the anacharis was a waste of money and I soon gave up on plants.

After 9/11, I was no longer able to ship air cargo so it gave me good reason to close up shop and sell everything. About two years ago I purchased a 300 gallon acrylic tank, and the bug came back!

Now I'm up to 20 tanks again and ~1300 gallons. Late last winter I sold a tank to Matt. When I delivered the tank, he showed me his planted tanks, and I was pretty much hooked.

After 3 attempts and 60lbs of C02 (in 8 months) I can now say that I have a pretty stable 75 gallon planted tank.

I'm in the middle of setting up a 125 planted tank, all I need now is the substrate and the 6 T5 bulbs that will go on top.

So, that's a bit about me. I graduated from UC with a BA in Communication. Currently I'm selling generic pharmaceuticals but still looking for a "real" job.

I have some connections too for some dry goods (heaters, water pumps, etc) so please let me know if you're looking for anything.

 

[TheLoachGuy]

Im 39 years young. Been keeping fish since I was 13. Worked for a small fish store in Athens called Fish-n-Stuff from age 14-20. Started there officially at 16, but would "hang out" there with the owner prior to that helping him bag fish for customers in exchange for the occasional guppy trio or tetra. (Mike the owner is one of my better friends now btw)

Spent 8.5 years in USAF and visited saudi arabia back at the beginning of the gulf war in 1990/91. Got out and started working at Safari World in Goldsboro, NC. The owner was a specialist in exotic animals. We had rare poisonous snakes on display,(taipain, green mamba, asian king cobra), a 14 ft albino burmese python, monkeys, tarantulas, you name it.. I was one of their fish guys. Its funny.. Every job Ive ever worked (fish related) I thought I knew soooo much about fish.. I look back at those days and realize I didnt know nearly as much as I thought.

I abandoned my "fish shop whore"(will explain that another day ), days and started working in the IT industry. Currently working for Reynolds and Reynolds as a software analyst here in Dayton.. I have a gorgeous understanding wife and two handsome young boys, ages 7 months and 4 years. The oldest likes to put hotwheels and gi joe into my bottom aquariums, so all the lid handles have been removed.

Ive had various lvls of success with planted tanks. All have been low tech/DIY variety. Selling off all of my large central/s. american cichlids now to make room for planted tanks that will be accompanied by angelfish and other bread/butter fish. I started out 2006 with 16 tanks.. Down to 9 now, with the goal of being at 5-6 by end of this year. I'm a member of the GCAS, AKA TheLoachGuy. I love clown loaches. I have 14 of them from 3-6" in a 75 gallon.

Thats about all I have to say about that....

Jeff E.

 

[04cobratorchred]

Hi my name is Mark I live in Lebanon Ohio I am 20 years old and have been into aquariums for about two years now. I lived in West Chester my whole life and just moved to Lebanon about a year ago where I finally got a little fish room up and going. I attend Miami University. I wasn’t too crazy with aquariums until I got involved with GCAS and then it because an addiction.

Right now I have about 30 tanks up and running from 10’s to 150’s I do a lot of breeding I have 4 pairs of angels, one pair of discus and some albino bushynose that I finally got to spawn. Most of my tanks are well planted with some medium to low light plants. I’m really glad I found this site and hope to make some new friends and learn some new tricks. Look forward to meeting everyone at the upcoming meeting.

 

[JRJ]

Hi folks,

Name's Russ. I'm a filmmaker and I teach filmmaking Dayton, but I live in Cincinnati. I've kept aquariums since I was 9 years old; bred my first cichlids (Severum) when I was 14; got into Africans in my 20s, until I got sick of watching them rip each other's fins off; tried keeping and breeding Rainbows in my late 30s; stopped for a decade and got back into it with plants a couple of years ago. I still like fish, probably too much because my tanks are stuffed with them. I bought some Tropheus at the auction, but came to my senses and sold them before they killed each other. I like aquascapers Takashi Amano, Oliver Knott, Wayne Sham, and Eric Cheng. I'm probably too busy to be doing this.

Good 'scaping,

-Russ

 

[Rob Tetrazona]

My name is Rob. I live in the Greater Cincinnati area. I've been an aquarium hobbyist since 1994, off and on due to different living establishments. I've had 10, 20H, & 29 gallon community tanks (3 in all) for most of the duration until about 2 years ago, when I got serious about breeding fish & planted tanks.

I've always been into smaller, peaceful, community fish, because I'm not a fan of my fish killing my other fish. I've had Angelfish in the past, but never had any aggression problems. I did get tired of my blind cavefish chewing up the Angelfish fins though! I also think schooling fish like Tetras & Corydoras pygmeaus make for quite an interesting & attractive tank.

In January 2005, I bought my first 75 gallon tank from Aquarium Adventure and added a few bunches of plants to it. Around the same time, I started researching the heck out of breeding Tetras. It didn't take long before algae started appearing in this tank and the plants started to wither away.

I soon found the GCAS on the Internet and started asking all of my algae erradication & Tetra breeding questions. This is where MatPat found me (or vise versa) and changed my perspective of the hobby forever. He told me my 40W light was not intense enough, so I replaced it with a 2 bulb T5 @ 6700K. Then he told me I needed to add CO2, so I bought a used system and set it up. Then he had me order up Greg Watson's dry fertilizers. In no time, my pitiful, dying tank was resurrected & started to flourish with greenery. Within a couple of months, the tank was completely grown in with no sign of algae. Then I bought another 75 for a 2nd hi-tech, planted setup.

On the same weekend at the end of June 2005, I attend my first planted tank meeting (pre-SWOAPE) and joined as a GCAS member at my first club meeting. I really like both clubs. GCAS is a more fish oriented, structured meeting without much social interaction between members, where SWOAPE meetings are more socially driven with dispersement of group orders, plant swapping, & chatting it up, but have had topics and guest speakers in the past. I really enjoy the bi-annual GCAS auctions where I can sell extra plants & fish. OK, buying gets out of hand every once in a while too.

Both clubs have made a huge impact on my success as an aquarist. The plants have assisted my Tetra breeding (first foods & hiding places) and my Tetra breeding has stocked my planted tanks. Win, win! I could never imagine not having my planted 75 from here out and baby plants have been tranferred to newer, smaller, low-tech tanks throughout the house.

I'd like to thank Matt for his time, patience, & dedication to share his planted tank knowledge in order for me to succeed as a hobbyist. I've met a lot of good people between the 2 clubs as well. Far too many to list and the list keeps growing.

Since I'm actually an old timer with the club, I'd like to welcome all of the new people who keep finding the club who I haven't met yet.

My computer job is quite boring. That's why this is a rather lengthy post for me!

 

[PAINKILLER1009]

my name is travis and im 26 years old.
i have lived in marion my hole life, i have been married for 2 years and have a 9 month old son. i just go into fish tanks really, my lilttle bro just hooked my up with a 55 gal dirt cheap. i started searching on the net for what i wanted to do with it when i came across some planted tanks. form there on i knew what i wanted.

 

[brynnhilde]

Hello all, I am Chad from NW Columbus, have 3 cats (Chase, Chance, Chester), 1 hamster (Hamloaf), some fish and plants, and I am married. I orginally am from Cleveland and moved here to be with my wife, then fiancee. 3 years ago we decided to try a fish tank in our new home, mostly as entertainment for our cats. Well, we fell in love with fish keeping and decided to try aquariums plants. Now I am addicted and currently trying numerous easy to moderate plants. I figured joining SWOAPE would be a good way to meet people in the hobby and maybe share a few plants.

 

[mousley]

The Oozeman

Hello All,

My name is michael Ousley and I have been interested in planted aquariums from the start(about4-5 yrs. ago). I decided to start a 12g nano cube at the onset and I planted it heavily from the beginning and set up DIY co2 and retrifitted lighting to make a 4wpg tank. I was living in Kentucky then and now I live in Jamestown, which is near Xenia and Dayton, Ohio. I work in Cincinnati and I am an innercity teacher. I currently have two planted tanks going one is a high light bowfront the other I'm still working on as I have just moved recently...it will be a high tech 65g. I am currently keeping Discus, right now just for enjoyment and not to breed. I have plants such as G. Spilanthoides, Rotala Rotundifolia, Marsilea Quad., Glosso., Wendti red, Broadleaf Sag., AmmaniaGracillis. The new tank I am planning will focus on swords and some other taller plant species...it will beasically be an Amazon Biotope. I would interested in meeting and sharing with other enthusiasts. Thanks.

 

[t2000kw]

Melissa Hellen, from Chillicothe, Ohio. I'm posting this from my husband Don's account. We both belong to SWOAPE, Don being the late-comer, getting interested in planted tanks just this year. He's still new to a lot of this.

I got my first ten gallon a few years after we first married--that was 30+ years ago now. In the 80's I started keeping inexpensive fancy goldfish in a 40 or so g. tank. Back then I was trying to use plants, afraid to use real aquatics from the riverside--we lived in Pa then--and using nephthys and pothos, rainforest plants that do well underwater for a while. In the late 90's I was starting to wonder if I was going to be able to continue to keep fish because of health problems. I had a 20-some tank with three medium goldies in it and did water changes weekly when I was up to it.

At some point I discovered Diana Walstad and her attempt to revive the old Victorian idea of balanced aquariums where the plants and fish complement each other and since discovering this easy way of keeping tanks I've not looked back. I went from not being able to keep up with a single 20-some gallon tank to having eleven tanks, and one more at a friends' home I care for. One of these is a hundred, 4 are 55g. tanks and the rest are smaller ones. We keep goldfish, angelfish, discus, three different kinds of tetras, Endlers, white clouds, corys, cherry barbs, cherry and ghost shrimp, ramshorn and trumpet snails and and a betta named Spike.

My oldest goldfish Bertha will be 17 this spring. We've also got 3 cats ( Bob, Dave and Lily) and a greyhound, also named Spike.

Melis