Happy to be here!

[Monkeypoint]

I'm a documentary photographer and educator from the Washington, DC area. I've kept freshwater aquariums for most of my adult life. I've been adulting for a long time, but I recently discovered I've pretty much been clueless about maintaining freshwater aquariums. I equate my fundamental understanding of this closed system aquatic microcosm with the hobbyist photographer who's been snapping pictures for decades without understanding the basic grammar of photography: they've stuck to a few automatic camera settings and have had some successes. But it's mostly art by accident.

Since the pandemic, I've learned a lot, but I'm still a newbie. I stumbled upon Aquarium Co-Op and got hooked on the videos. I think I've probably learned more over the past couple of months than I have over the past 3.5 decades.

I recently set up a new 10 gallon planted tank. I did this before watching the aquascaping videos. That was dumb. I'd include a picture of it, but it's too embarrassing. I'm going to rip it all apart, start from scratch, and then post a picture. Or maybe I'll do a before/after. I also have a 55 g aquarium that I set up 21 years ago when I bought my house. Someday I'll tear it down and rebuild it, or replace it with a frameless tank. I love the clean lines. But that'll be some time in the future after squirreling away a lot of ca-ching.

[Minanora]

Welcome to the community! I look forward to reading about your adventures. No tank photos are embarrassing! Share away! We love fish!!! 😄 

[Kurt Brutting]

Welcome aboard! I believe this is the best freshwater aquarium forum available! 

[Levi_Aquatics]

Welcome! Western md here, so kinda close!

[Monkeypoint]

Okay, so here's the current setup of both the 55 gallon and the 10 gallon. A bit of a hot mess, but I'm going to completely redo the 10g, hopefully this weekend. I'm going to put up a background on the 55g to hide some of the hardware and I need some sort of curtain or cloth to drape along the front. I kind of like seeing the canister filter, but all of those cords are an eyesore.

Am I the only weirdo who likes duckweed? Or is the world a dichotomy of People Who Hate Duckweed and People Who Don't Hate Duckweed Yet?

I added 6 Otos and 3 Panda Corys. I'm going to add another 3 Corys and a Pleco. I already have a variety of bottom feeder food for them. I have 6 juvenile Angelfish, which may be too many once they get bigger.

[Patrick_G]

Nice to see looking tanks! 

I love the analogy you made between a long term beginner level aquarist and an amateur photographer. I feel like I was at that same spot at the beginning of the pandemic when I discovered aquarium co-op videos and the world of planet tanks. I had also kept tanks for my entire life, occasionally they would be decent, but it was mostly luck. I didn’t really know what I was doing.

[JJenna]

Welcome to the group, your analogy is apropos to so many fields! I appreciate you posting your tanks, I would be happy to look at them anytime. I recently posted my first planted tank after 50 yrs away from the hobby. I'm laying out my next planted tank now that I've learned more. Lots of inspiration here and a helpful group. 

[Monkeypoint]

On 11/24/2022 at 3:16 PM, Levi_Aquatics said:

Welcome! Western md here, so kinda close!

We're neighbors!

[Monkeypoint]

Patrick_G,

 

Gorgeous tank and it's giving me ideas about how to rearrange things to better hide some of the clutter.

Re: photography and aquariums: photography is a visual medium (the word literally means painting with light), so when I watched some of Cory's videos about maintaining a balanced, healthy ecosystem, the part that light plays in the aesthetics of the tank resonated with me. I'm always yammering at my students to be mindful of light - not necessarily the quantity of light, rather the quality of it. Light and composition - avoiding visual noise, clutter, distracting elements. So, then I look at my tanks and think, do as I say, not as I do.

[Schuyler]

On 11/29/2022 at 7:13 AM, Monkeypoint said:

Re: photography and aquariums: photography is a visual medium (the word literally means painting with light), so when I watched some of Cory's videos about maintaining a balanced, healthy ecosystem, the part that light plays in the aesthetics of the tank resonated with me. I'm always yammering at my students to be mindful of light - not necessarily the quantity of light, rather the quality of it. Light and composition - avoiding visual noise, clutter, distracting elements. So, then I look at my tanks and think, do as I say, not as I do.

Oh man, aquascaping sounds like it's right up your alley. If I remember right, Takashi Amano started out as a landscape photographer and incorporated concepts from that into his aquarium designs.

If you do end up tearing down one of your tanks to start an aquascape, you should do a journal on her. It would be interesting to see how you approach it.

[Monkeypoint]

On 11/29/2022 at 12:09 PM, Schuyler said:

Oh man, aquascaping sounds like it's right up your alley. If I remember right, Takashi Amano started out as a landscape photographer and incorporated concepts from that into his aquarium designs.

If you do end up tearing down one of your tanks to start an aquascape, you should do a journal on her. It would be interesting to see how you approach it.

Theoretically! But, yeah - now that I've had the Ah Ha! moment, I can let the aesthetic sensibility part of my brain get to work. I also wish I had done more research before setting up the tank so I wouldn't be dealing with an algae problem.  The good news is the tank is fully cycled. The bad news is there's a lot of diatom type algae, which I'm not sure what to do about. I'll be removing all the plants, rocks, driftwood, equipment, but wouldn't algae spores still be present in the filter media? I'm also going to scale way back on the light intensity and hours of light. I got a Fluval 3.0 and watched setup tutorial so that all makes a lot more sense to me. But I love the idea of keeping a journal on this, starting with some detailed before images.

[Schuyler]

On 11/30/2022 at 8:10 AM, Monkeypoint said:

Theoretically! But, yeah - now that I've had the Ah Ha! moment, I can let the aesthetic sensibility part of my brain get to work. I also wish I had done more research before setting up the tank so I wouldn't be dealing with an algae problem.  The good news is the tank is fully cycled. The bad news is there's a lot of diatom type algae, which I'm not sure what to do about. I'll be removing all the plants, rocks, driftwood, equipment, but wouldn't algae spores still be present in the filter media? I'm also going to scale way back on the light intensity and hours of light. I got a Fluval 3.0 and watched setup tutorial so that all makes a lot more sense to me. But I love the idea of keeping a journal on this, starting with some detailed before images.

Don't worry too much diatom algae. It will go away as your tank balances out and if you have any snails, shrimp, or otos they'll keep anything growing at bay.