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My experience goes back to the 1970s with marine and freshwater tanks, but very much off and on because of job related moves.  After retiring, in August of 2021 I retrieved my old Tropiquarium 88 from the garage, cleaned it with vinegar and rinsed it well, then started setting up again after 16 years. It's a European Fluval/Hagen product, bought when I worked overseas, the flower of 1980s technology, with two 24" 20W fluorescent bulbs in the canopy, currently Ocean Sun 10000K.  The tank holds 130 liters, or about 34.4 US gallons.  The old HIT (hang-in-tank) Bio-Life filter wore out long ago.  My old undergravel filter and power head still worked, at least for a few months until I had to replace the power head.  I added a submersible Fluval U3 rated for 40 gallons.  My gravel is a 40 lb bag of river rock for $4.99 at the local hardware store, well rinsed.  Hardscape is petrified wood and a couple of coprolites (petrified "road apples") from the middle of the Arabian desert. After cycling, I gradually added flora and fauna.  Planting started with Amazon's "Florida" pack of ten, followed by some losses and additions.  Now I have Vallisneria, Dwarf Sagittarius, Anubias that's bloomed twice and is branching off a new rhizome, Amazon Sword that's branched out a baby, Java Fern, Pogostemon, susswassertang, Java Moss, Moneywort, banana, Red Amazon Sword also with a baby, couple of others whose names I don't know, and a big bundle of Anacharis.  Most of my little red plants are dying, and I can't change my light fixtures, so I'm thinking of getting a Cryptocoryn Wendtii.  Current fish population, stable for a few months, includes a clown Plecostomas, a Panda Corydoras, six Rasbora hets, six White Clouds, six Rummies, six Cardinals, six Green Neons, six Black Neons, six Glow Lights, one surviving very pregnant female guppy, and the algae patrol.  Last fall the BBA was bad.  After research, mostly here, I got six olive nerites, six Amano shrimp, six red cherries, and six Dalmatian mollies.  The shrimp have bred like crazy, 42 total at last count, but the mollies apparently had too many males, sadly now only one male, two adult females, a juvenile female, and a week old baby.  I used Excel for a couple of weeks, then relied on the critters to finish off the algae, which they did.  No more algae problems, and the "windows" hardly need any cleaning.  I haven't tested any measurable ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate since the first month, but still I change five or ten gallons of water weekly, treated with Prime and a tablespoon of API salt per five gallons, and siphoned in slowly through airline tubing.  Also I use Flourish twice a week, occasional root tabs, and regular Wonder Shell.  And I keep a couple of dried guava leaves from my back yard tree.  I put a variety of flakes and freeze dried food in the once a day autofeeder, and occasionally hand feed blood worms, tubifex, pleco wafers, pleco cakes, Daphnia, and bug bites.  All my food critters are freeze dried; I have no patience for live or even frozen.  I'm hoping my ever increasing jungle will be enough to hide baby guppies, more mollies, and eventually White Clouds.

Edited to add photos.  I chose a very small filesize when I emailed them from my phone; let me know if anyone wants better resolution.  My tank doesn't really have a front and back.  The first view is the "front", but my tank really doesn't have a front and back.  The "front" faces a wingback chair and a vintage rocker, and the "back" faces an end table and sofa.  Looks like I cut off the far right end of the "back" as I don't see the submersible filter or the riser for the undergravel filter, just part of the power head.  Sorry about that.

_Front 20220310 IMG_0479.jpg

_Back 20220310 IMG_0480.jpg

Edited by Cajun Charlie
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On 3/10/2022 at 7:13 PM, Cajun Charlie said:

My experience goes back to the 1970s with marine and freshwater tanks, but very much off and on because of job related moves.  After retiring, in August of 2021 I retrieved my old Tropiquarium 88 from the garage, cleaned it with vinegar and rinsed it well, then started setting up again after 16 years. It's a European Fluval/Hagen product, bought when I worked overseas, the flower of 1980s technology, with two 24" 20W fluorescent bulbs in the canopy, currently Ocean Sun 10000K.  The tank holds 130 liters, or about 34.4 US gallons.  The old HIT (hang-in-tank) Bio-Life filter wore out long ago.  My old undergravel filter and power head still worked, at least for a few months until I had to replace the power head.  I added a submersible Fluval U3 rated for 40 gallons.  My gravel is a 40 lb bag of river rock for $4.99 at the local hardware store, well rinsed.  Hardscape is petrified wood and a couple of coprolites (petrified "road apples") from the middle of the Arabian desert. After cycling, I gradually added flora and fauna.  Planting started with Amazon's "Florida" pack of ten, followed by some losses and additions.  Now I have Vallisneria, Dwarf Sagittarius, Anubias that's bloomed twice and is branching off a new rhizome, Amazon Sword that's branched out a baby, Java Fern, Pogostemon, susswassertang, Java Moss, Moneywort, banana, Red Amazon Sword also with a baby, couple of others whose names I don't know, and a big bundle of Anacharis.  Most of my little red plants are dying, and I can't change my light fixtures, so I'm thinking of getting a Cryptocoryn Wendtii.  Current fish population, stable for a few months, includes a clown Plecostomas, a Panda Corydoras, six Rasbora hets, six White Clouds, six Rummies, six Cardinals, six Green Neons, six Black Neons, six Glow Lights, one surviving very pregnant female guppy, and the algae patrol.  Last fall the BBA was bad.  After research, mostly here, I got six olive nerites, six Amano shrimp, six red cherries, and six Dalmatian mollies.  The shrimp have bred like crazy, 42 total at last count, but the mollies apparently had too many males, sadly now only one male, two adult females, a juvenile female, and a week old baby.  I used Excel for a couple of weeks, then relied on the critters to finish off the algae, which they did.  No more algae problems, and the "windows" hardly need any cleaning.  I haven't tested any measurable ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate since the first month, but still I change five or ten gallons of water weekly, treated with Prime and a tablespoon of API salt per five gallons, and siphoned in slowly through airline tubing.  Also I use Flourish twice a week, occasional root tabs, and regular Wonder Shell.  And I keep a couple of dried guava leaves from my back yard tree.  I put a variety of flakes and freeze dried food in the once a day autofeeder, and occasionally hand feed blood worms, tubifex, pleco wafers, pleco cakes, Daphnia, and bug bites.  All my food critters are freeze dried; I have no patience for live or even frozen.  I'm hoping my ever increasing jungle will be enough to hide baby guppies, more mollies, and eventually White Clouds.

Welcome to the forum Charlie! It all sounds good, I would recommend following @Guppysnailfor some cool plant tricks, including how to get red plants to look good, even without CO2. Mmiller2021 is a guru at identifying insufficiencies to make plants look gorgeous and exceed expectations. I have discovered I like the easy to raise live foods, like amphipods (highly entertaining all on their own, tbh) and seeding my tanks with black worms before adding the fish... not to mention my fish love to eat snail eggs, so win-win.

I'm a wee bit jealous you have a guava tree in your backyard, I miss walking out back to pick fresh mangoes, etc... and fresh apples when I lived in WA. Are the temps where you retired consistent enough to try tubbing? Having a few tubs outside can speed up spawning in fish, as well as growing plants. As for your current light set-up, you might notice a bit more success with the red plants if you try a siesta period. The research seems to be mixed, but from what I have been able to find, plants use the majority of the CO2 from fish respiration, plus surface water agitation, in the first 4 hours after the lights turn on. The theory is, turn the lights off after 4 hours for a 3-4 hour siesta, and then turn the lights back on for the plants to use more CO2 for growth.

My tanks say it works. I had my first success with red plants last year, and next month I will be ordering more for a new tank set up.

(My 4' tank for my spouse, from beginning of January, when I did a massive clean. Tank is full of plants again, I need to get a new pic)

 

T4.jpg

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Tried to post photos.  Don't know if they made it.  If not, let me know.  I'm in Houston, so tubs might work.  I hope my guava tree survived the winter.  It's less than a year old, has grown from ~3' to ~7', and even gave us a few guavas!  Unfortunately my mother-in-law's papaya trees didn't survive our only hard freeze this season.  But I digress; back to the aquarium.  It's in our family room, with the "front" facing a wingback chair and a rocker, and the "back" by an end table and sofa.  My wife and her mother are always asking about the babies and the mothers, and study them closely, so tubs might not interest them.  And I don't want any more tanks.  I evicted the betta, moved to the end table into a big bowl with a few plants, and bought a female and LED lights, but I don't want the fish tanks to spread further.  Appreciate the tip on lighting for my red plants, but I can't try it.  My lights' automatic timer handles one cycle per day, but the manual on/off switch doesn't work.  I've replaced the timer circuit twice over the years, and this is the best of the three I have, but it's still hinky, and parts are no longer available.  I will look into the references when I have more time.  It's surprising how busy I stay in retirement.

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On 3/11/2022 at 1:26 PM, Cajun Charlie said:

Tried to post photos.  Don't know if they made it.  If not, let me know.  I'm in Houston, so tubs might work.  I hope my guava tree survived the winter.  It's less than a year old, has grown from ~3' to ~7', and even gave us a few guavas!  Unfortunately my mother-in-law's papaya trees didn't survive our only hard freeze this season.  But I digress; back to the aquarium.  It's in our family room, with the "front" facing a wingback chair and a rocker, and the "back" by an end table and sofa.  My wife and her mother are always asking about the babies and the mothers, and study them closely, so tubs might not interest them.  And I don't want any more tanks.  I evicted the betta, moved to the end table into a big bowl with a few plants, and bought a female and LED lights, but I don't want the fish tanks to spread further.  Appreciate the tip on lighting for my red plants, but I can't try it.  My lights' automatic timer handles one cycle per day, but the manual on/off switch doesn't work.  I've replaced the timer circuit twice over the years, and this is the best of the three I have, but it's still hinky, and parts are no longer available.  I will look into the references when I have more time.  It's surprising how busy I stay in retirement.

Oh yes, the myth of the lazy retired person!

I use kasa timers where I can. Streetwise talks people through programming issues in a very supportive way.

I use old-fashioned peg timers on the rest of my lights. Most of my lights don't even have an on/off switch. ::shrug::

Sorry to hear the fate of the papaya tree, I haven't heard of many that survived the 2021 great freeze. The tubs will be more likely to be a hit outside if there are strategically placed outside recliners/chairs, and a good coffee table. Might need to invest in a little shade depending on burn potential.

My BIL thought the outside tubs would be his quiet domain... alas, a few chairs made their way into the vicinity... and then a small table was tiled... and now Vietnamese coffee is a 10 am tradition, lol

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Finally fingered out how to post the uploaded photos.  Resolution isn't good, but I can work on that if anyone is interested.  I chose the smallest filesize when I emailed them from my phone.  I could try again, larger.

The timer on my light is a 1980s circuit board that works for one and only one cycle per day, the manual on/off controls don't work, and parts are no longer available.  On this tank, the lights, heater, and filters are designed to be connected to an electrical junction bus in the canopy, so one power supply cord should run everything.  I had a few connection problems, but I'm still not anywhere close to being able to put the lights on a separate timer without losing heat and some filtration.

I don't think I have the time or energy to get into tubs ... yet.  I have a lot of outdoor work to do first.  I bought this house as a foreclosure in 2015 and moved the family in while I was working overseas.  After "retiring" I am slowly catching up on many years of "deferred maintenance," both indoors and out.

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