A Gardener's Aquarium

[Shmaty]

So I'd love to start a journal/blog and I just can't decide if it would be right or not. More specifically, I would love to do a journal of my aquarium doings but I really want to be able to talk about my plants/garden and maybe plug in my bunnies once in awhile. Hah There isn't really a guideline on journals, at least not that I see. My aquariums have always been planted and I use my aquarium water to feed the garden and to propagate cuttings. To me my garden and my fish are one big disfuntional but happy family. Both hobbies started up at the same time and now it's got me looking at aquaponics as a future. 

Would people prefer If this blog/journal was in the unrelated subject? I just want to connect with people and share experiences. This community is a good thing. I think we expect a lot of Cory and his crowd but he's awesome and they always go above and beyond. I've gotten so much good help here in the forums.

Where should I post? 

 Some pics of interests The 180 layouta 40 breedera pothos growing out of 180gpart of the gardenMy corner of joy, house plants next to my 180g(I don't know why it flipped it)

Edited December 28, 2022 by Shmaty

[scott the fishman]

if you did i would read it. when you talk about your bunnies maybe through in they love fish water😉 hehe. love your house looks like a tropical paradise😄

[FrozenFins]

Your aquariums are very beautiful, and you have some very healthy plants. I would love to see a jounal from you, I know I would read it. 

Its been about a year since I started writting a journal on this forum. I've loved every step of it. Being able to document on your steps and thoughts, and just having a space to share your hobby with those of simillar setups. 

 

[Streetwise]

You have made an excellent journal introduction. Pick a title! We can help with the rest. I can move this thread if you want, and you can edit the title and text.

[PineSong]

I think gardening and fishkeeping go hand in hand---lots of us here do both 🙂

[Levi_Aquatics]

I would be interested in hearing about your aquariums, plants, and bunnies. Plants and aquariums go well together and who doesn't love rabbits? lol

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I agree with everyone, do it all! We talk about general subjects here all the time, aquariums are just our common ground. It's neat to see other things here!

[Shmaty]

Cool! 

On 1/9/2022 at 5:29 PM, Streetwise said:

you can edit the title and text

Really? I figured I'd just delete the post and start a fresh one, but I'm not entirely sure I would know how yo do that either haha 

How do I edit?

[BETTA999]

On 1/10/2022 at 11:04 AM, Shmaty said:

Cool! 

Really? I figured I'd just delete the post and start a fresh one, but I'm not entirely sure I would know how yo do that either haha 

How do I edit?

smarty in the top there three buttons and then option appears the just click edit

[Shmaty]

Nearly a year later I'm revisiting this. Guess I'll briefly fill in that void in time... Where as many prople may only show their ups, I feel like I can't give you a sugar coated version.

This year was unkind. Lost a lot of friends and family. Even lost a few pets, my dog being the hardest. Transitioned out of the Navy, as well. Everyone thinks their ready but that transition is rough. Just been a hell of a year. I have some really unfortunate anxiety and depression issues and I'd been struggling badly for months. My wife, (coincidentally, she also had just transitioned out of the navy, though a lot more smoothly) has recently rekindled my aquarium love. It's really hard to maintain these beautiful tanks when the world feels like it's a train wreck.

Anyway, enough doom and gloom history.

I've had this wonderful 180 set up for almost 2 years now. Stocked with a bunch of small critters and loads of plants.

Despite my lackluster care over the better part of a year, it's was doing rather well. The water had heavily evaporated and the taller plants were really starting to suffer. Maybe 5% of my fish had died, but my shrimp population boomed. Regardless, it wasn't fair to them. I left their home in shambles. My wife, bless her soul, had been trying to nudge me into working on it for awhile. It would give me anxiety attacks just looking at it.

So one day, a few months back, she decided she'd try and help me. I discovered one weekend morning, that she had gotten up early and did a bunch of maintenance on the tank. Mind you, she doesn't do aquariums..at all. I was blown away. She had done so much. I panicked briefly. I worried she may have accidentally bombed the aquarium. All was well. Crisis averted. Several shrimp and 2 tetras died. Far fewer than I feared. Ever since, I have been working to reinvigorate the aquarium slowly.  Trying not to add or change to much at a time. Everything had survived this far- and I owed it to them to restore their home. I have done a lot to really refurbish the environment for them and us. I think it looks great and I hope you do too!

 

I'm going to start sharing some photos and stories as well as various projects I'm working on. Should be a lot of updates throughout the future. There'll also be a newly set up aquarium sometime early next year...if not 2. 

 

Look forward to chatting with everyone!

Edited December 28, 2022 by Shmaty

[JJenna]

As an avid home gardener both inside and out, I look forward to your posts. It sounds like your recovery from your losses is improving, you had some life changing events happen. We love to chat about all things. 

[A3M0N]

On 12/28/2022 at 2:45 PM, Shmaty said:

Transitioned out of the Navy, as well. Everyone thinks their ready but that transition is rough.

Agreed, I felt like I lost a part of myself when I separated from the Air Force. Make sure you do some self-care, no shame in a few counseling/therapy sessions to process all you've gone through. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I will share, that the only tattoo I have is a giant Phoenix. It's a reminder of many things but the most importantly- rising from the ashes. As a hobbyist, as a relative, as a friend, as a military person, as a human being- it's one of the beautiful things we as people are capable of. Sometimes it takes a chunk of time to rise, other times it only takes a second....what's great is that the tank will rise again with you- and you get to see it- both there and in yourself. 

[Shmaty]

On 12/28/2022 at 6:38 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

the only tattoo I have is a giant Phoenix

Please tell me that is a back tat! But honestly, that was pretty inspirational. 

I have a single tattoo as well. Symbolic in a similar fashion I suppose. It's a man walking into the gates of hell with a massive demon screaming out at him. Foot injury-2 years of military medical fumbling about. I told myself that I would get the opposite calf, with him walking back out, dragging the demon behind him, once everything was healed. Years later, and for better or worse, I still haven't allotted the funds to accomplish it. haha  

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Well, no it's most of one of my legs- but that's because by design I see it every day, more than once. 😁

 

I hope you get your tattoo some day, that would also be inspiring, but for now, rebuild! ( and take us with you!)

[Shmaty]

On 12/28/2022 at 10:30 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

by design I see it every day

*sigh* My only regret. I constantly forget I have a tattoo. It's one of those things where I'll be walking and someone asks about it, and every time-without fail, I am stuck with this surprise Pikachu face "Oh! I forgot I had that..." Yeah, it's probably the lowest thing on my list of to-dos, 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/9/2022 at 12:42 PM, Shmaty said:

Where should I post? 

You're in the right spot!

 

 

On 1/9/2022 at 12:42 PM, Shmaty said:

That's pretty epic.  Nice work.

 

 

On 12/28/2022 at 12:45 PM, Shmaty said:

Despite my lackluster care over the better part of a year, it's was doing rather well. The water had heavily evaporated and the taller plants were really starting to suffer. Maybe 5% of my fish had died, but my shrimp population boomed. Regardless, it wasn't fair to them. I left their home in shambles. My wife, bless her soul, had been trying to nudge me into working on it for awhile. It would give me anxiety attacks just looking at it.

So one day, a few months back, she decided she'd try and help me. I discovered one weekend morning, that she had gotten up early and did a bunch of maintenance on the tank. Mind you, she doesn't do aquariums..at all. I was blown away. She had done so much. I panicked briefly. I worried she may have accidentally bombed the aquarium. All was well. Crisis averted. Several shrimp and 2 tetras died. Far fewer than I feared. Ever since, I have been working to reinvigorate the aquarium slowly.  Trying not to add or change to much at a time. Everything had survived this far- and I owed it to them to restore their home. I have done a lot to really refurbish the environment for them and us. I think it looks great and I hope you do too!

 

I'm going to start sharing some photos and stories as well as various projects I'm working on. Should be a lot of updates throughout the future. There'll also be a newly set up aquarium sometime early next year...if not 2. 

 

Look forward to chatting with everyone!

Consider us all intrigued.  Even if it's just once every few weeks, try to take the time to sit and enjoy the tank for 10-15 minutes.  It's the type of thing where you will find the serenity in it.  That might help, hopefully so, with some of the things you've been going through and finding some zen time to get through the day.

I wish for some strength and peace for you.  Hoping to see that gigantic tank next post!

[Shmaty]

On 12/28/2022 at 11:12 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Hoping to see that gigantic tank next post

I'm trying...

I seem to be having issues with my photos. They all want to post upside down. I have tried editing them to be actually upside down, on my pc, and they still want to post upside down. I looked through the forum a little and found others but the common issue seemed to be related to apple phones. I don't have an apple phone haha 

So yeah, I haven't been able to figure out how to post them right-side up. If this site allows me to edit them, I have yet to figure it out. 

[Schuyler]

On 1/9/2022 at 12:42 PM, Shmaty said:

Some pics of interests 

Oooo that's cool looking!

On 1/9/2022 at 12:42 PM, Shmaty said:

I really want to be able to talk about my plants/garden

There are a few of us here who also garden and the two hobbies overlap more often than you would expect. I know are least @Minanora is a gardener too.

[Minanora]

On 12/28/2022 at 8:21 PM, Shmaty said:

I'm trying...

I seem to be having issues with my photos. They all want to post upside down. I have tried editing them to be actually upside down, on my pc, and they still want to post upside down. I looked through the forum a little and found others but the common issue seemed to be related to apple phones. I don't have an apple phone haha 

So yeah, I haven't been able to figure out how to post them right-side up. If this site allows me to edit them, I have yet to figure it out. 

It happens to me as well and I have a Samsung phone. Happened on my pixel as well. Depending on the mode/aspect ratio of my photo it doesn't happen. If I take a vertical photo with my wide lens they go upside down.

Also in the "off topic" section of the forum there's a thread about "show off your garden" there's a few avid gardeners with us here. 😁

[Shmaty]

On 12/29/2022 at 11:02 AM, Minanora said:

Depending on the mode/aspect ratio

 Thanks for the advice here. New phone takes all photos in 4:3 but when I crop down to 16:9 that seems to resolve the issue of them flipping.

 

This was probably a week after my wife's adventure. For somewhat obvious reasons, I dont have a before photo. Water was still quite low and dark. Even so, I'd wager there was still 70+/- gallons . We had just gotten some new plants that were acclimating in the forefront-left. I was also playing around with some additional hardscape on the mountain. One of my biggest bummers in designing this tank. I really wanted a high point on the aquarium. High enough that I could have a volcano of pothos spewing out of it. I actually had that for awhile but it didn't look good underwater. Just looked trashy. A big part of that came from one thing I couldn't have really gauged. I knew the substrate would move and settle over time. I underestimated by how much. The "scaffolding" of egg crates was showing it's ugly face at the top of the mountain. I couldn't keep it hidden.

 

Fast-forward and now the surface of the mountain was exposed. I figured, if I am going to restore this tank, I may as well find a way to fix the eye sore, too. I broke what some would consider a cardinal rule. Never mix hardscape. Wood or stone. Yea, I'm sorry but that's hogwash, imo. The stone bit is quite a bit more understandable,. Wood, hmm? I'd challenge anyone who thinks otherwise, to go to a creek/lake and find an area with a single species of wood on it's shoreline. Wont rant, just my opinion.

Anyway, I was messing around and I realized I could bring the wooded area to a level that was similar to that of the Poth-o-carry boxes. Shout out to @Matt_AKA_Poth-O-Carry. He's very helpful. So yea, queue my thoughts of bringing emergent plants into the aquarium. The question on my mind; What to grow and how?

 

 

Next time, on Dragon Ball....oop!

Edited December 30, 2022 by Shmaty
typo

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/30/2022 at 3:36 PM, Shmaty said:

The question on my mind; What to grow and how?

Similar questions here. I wish I knew more about plants. Especially how to take an existing one and try to add a piece of it to the back of my tank. 😞

[Shmaty]

I had two big hurdles to overcome before I could even do anything with plants. I had done research on Riparium and Paladarium plants and had already sorted through my house plants looking for suitable ones. 

Issue 1: Humidity

Issue 2: Lighting

One of the biggest issues i've had with this tank, is that I purchased the wrong cover at the LFS. I didn't realize it at first. I had the aquarium for some time before first attempting to put the cover on. Now I have lids for a completely different brand with no way to return/exchange and every time I have gone back since, they've been sold out on the appropriate lid. It's a non-issue now. I made DIY covers out of green house roofing. They were cut to shape but i've not yet cut them out to fit the plants. I want to make sure everything works where they are first. They should help raise the humidity inside and cut down on that dreaded evaporation issue.

Arguably the larger issue was how to provide light to the plants. My Fluval lights sit above the lid by another 5-6 inches, but that wasn't going to cut it( I got these risers from Etsy, can provide more info if anyone needs). I decided to use some spare grow lights I had. They were backups just sitting in their boxes so it was a perfect match. Sort of. I used strong magnets to find the nails in the ceiling so as to locate the beams. Unfortunately, they weren't really ideally located where I'd want the lights to hang, so I had to hang the lights both between two beams each. I ran rope between 3 eyes and hung the lights from the rope. After that, I discovered an unforeseen issue. These lights are bright! Surprise, not sure how I forgot that bit... They are meant to simulate daylight, after all. So once again I had to improvise and diy some kind of shade. Used some extra landscaper fabric and folded it into 4 layers. I stapled it together and hung it from the light's small shroud using Gorilla tape. Look I know this sounds ghetto at this point haha It's kinda comical. I have a lot of spare garden supplies sitting around. It worked though; keeps the light from flooding the room and out of your eyes.

I used the scrapper as a handle to move the magnets from one area to another. The paint is really thick but the neodymium magnets still found their target. Find two nails on a beam and you have a line. To someone doing something similar. For me the ceiling beams were all offset right of the wall studs, so if you have a studfinder or know where your studs are, you know approximately where to look for a ceiling beam. Dont assume though. Dangerous game right there. For me they were on the right, may be left for you or centered? I'm not a architect. *shrug* 

Those little shrouds weren't going to help much from this height. Prepare to be amazed at this shocking transformation!

TADAHH!!! These only have two settings: Off and Blinding.

Meh, It works. Also, a guest appearance of the DIY covers.

The emergent plants have been in their spots for awhile but i'll probably wait a few days more before posting about them. So far, most have acclimated well, but two are struggling. I'll go more into it.

[Schuyler]

That would be cool if you could find a climbing plant that you could grow emersed

[Shmaty]

On 12/31/2022 at 11:57 AM, Schuyler said:

That would be cool if you could find a climbing plant that you could grow emersed

There are currently 5 vining species growing out. 2 philodendron, 1 pothos, 1 fern and 1 monstera. The one Philodendron is sadly not doing well. It was weak when I got it, not sure if it will recover.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Shmaty