Ugly tanks that rock

[TheCzarista]

Come on.... we all have them.

That one tank that is amazing, that grows plants like nobody's business, that the fish love, that the shrimp love, that just thrives....
but it is ugly.

So we never share pictures of them, because they don't LOOK the way we want them to.  We don't find them pretty enough to share.

So I thought I would make a place where we could share our ugly tanks that rock.

I will introduce ours... please show me yours!

 

 

Meet our 5 gallon, acrylic, curved tank that was part of a kit.  It never looks clean, it always has algae, we can never get the substrate nice looking....

but this tank rocks.

Plants thrive in here, plants that die in any other tank. (I mean, just look at that anubias in there)

Our cherry shrimp LOVE this tank, and are always moving about and active.

Our green neons LOVE this tank, and have done very well, and stayed healthy.

This tank never seems to have parameter problems, but we never share pictures of it.

Why? Because it isn't the prettiest, but if I am being honest, it is our best functioning tank.

Edited January 30, 2022 by TheCzarista

[GameCzar]

We've threatened to completely reset this tank so many times, but its hard to justify that when its such a trooper!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'll bite. The picture below is what I dubbed "The Parent Tank" I love this tank, it was my first 20 gallon tank and where my Otocinclus spawned. It has evolved big time since I set it up, each of its incarnations happened around the inhabitants- nobody was ever removed so as some of us know that can make it harder. Of 2 original Amazon swords one is GIGANTIC (back left) the other is stunted but belongs to my "Momma Oto" (front right). Because I scrapped the original statue I thought the fish would use for living/hiding and they did NOT I put in pots (that simulate rock and wood) and planted random stem plants- which have gone nuts, and added more SMALLER, Amazons because the Otos like them- added Anubias because I love them. I kept the original blue glass "stream" but it has moved. The Buddhist temple that was originally placed in there was replaced by just a small contemplating Buddha. Honestly it's not an ugly tank but it takes TERRIBLE pictures- it's SO much prettier in person and the plants are amazing to me. 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[Guppysnail]

I don’t currently have this set up so no full tank shot...never worth a picture. Whenever I want to hatch eggs from CPD I set one up. I squeeze out every sponge and prefilter I have in it. I want it ugly. The more critters algae and diatom I can grow the healthier the tank is. I even threw BN pleco babies in here on the verge of starvation from being outcompeted. A week and they were thriving. I did not lose a single one from this tank. I had a few shrimp I threw in as egg nannies maybe 5. When I broke the tank down I had well over 20. I hatched out about 30 CPD  that all survived in this nasty mess. Ugly tanks are YUMMY tanks 🙂 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Fonske]

On 1/31/2022 at 5:40 AM, TheCzarista said:

That one tank that is amazing, that grows plants like nobody's business, that the fish love, that the shrimp love, that just thrives....
but it is ugly.

This is the perfect description of the tank below. It was never intended to be a permanent setup, I want to re-purpose it every day, but I don't, because it's doing so great. Less than 5g of water, thriving fish, breeding shrimp, pearling plants. Crazy overstocked, with an inch of a foam for the filter, unheated and right next to the window, and yet it works and requires less maintenance than other tanks. Maybe mother nature is telling me something about my fish keeping skills with this tank...😁 

[Odd Duck]

Lights are out currently, but I could show you some seriously ugly, murky tanks that are growing plants like crazy.  I pulled big bunches of red root floaters and frogbit out of 2 separate tanks (6-7 bags of each that I sold), then pulled a dab of Vesuvius sword out of one, a big wad of pearlweed, and a huge bunch of Ludwigia glandulosa ‘Diamond’ (made 13 bags worth), out of another, and then discovered a couple big clumps of susswassertang underneath the ‘Diamond’.  Got store credit of $75.00 from all of it!  Have I mentioned lately how much I like my lfs?  I even gave away a couple good sized bags of floaters to a friend.

These murky tanks will get a really good cleanup when I move the rack since they will become shrimp or fish growouts.  Some of the biggest plants out of these will be going into the “new” 100G before then, so I may do a big cleanup after I move those plants, depends on the timing.  I’ll see if I remember to get pics Tuesday.  I have another long shift tomorrow.

[anewbie]

Well I do have problems with my plants out growing the tanks but i don't have shrimp so take that into account:

[Guppysnail]

@anewbiewhat are all these gorgeous long leaves in these two tanks of yours. Looks like a type of aponogeton but I’m not certain. I love overgrown tanks. 

[H.K.Luterman]

On 1/31/2022 at 12:38 AM, anewbie said:

Well I do have problems with my plants out growing the tanks but i don't have shrimp so take that into account:

These are gorgeous! Overgrown jungles are my favorite!

[anewbie]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:06 AM, Guppysnail said:

@anewbiewhat are all these gorgeous long leaves in these two tanks of yours. Looks like a type of aponogeton but I’m not certain. I love overgrown tanks. 

In the lower tank it is boivinianus apongogeton; in the upper tank; i have jungle val on the left side and a ruflle sword in the middle back and a Uruguayensis Sword to the right of the ruffle and a melon sword behind right of the uruguayensis; java fern is left front.