New to the Hobby; Denmark

[daggaz]

Hello everyone! 

I'm totally new to the hobby.  My stepmother used to keep a lot of tanks (fluorescent gravel and plastic plants, but vibrant and healthy fish of all sorts) and we all loved looking at the fish all day.  So when my wife asked me if we should get a fish for our all-things-ocean-loving 5 yr old, I decided to go overboard and we now have a 180 liter (47-ish gallon) freshwater aquarium in the living room!  It's great, we don't even watch tv in the afternoon anymore. 

I'm an engineer/physicist/chemist/microbiologist by trade, so the whole "set up a complex life support system for a self-contained ecosystem" was just my cup of tea.  I spent a few weeks nerding out on the net, learning everything I could about how to do this, and what what my step-mom could have done better -she always said plants were too hard.

I'll post a journal at some point, but my tank is about 6 weeks old and already doing very well.  I went with a father-fish inspired heavily planted, fertilized substrate with a sand cap, but I also figured out how to put an under-gravel filter in there, which so far is working splendidly.  I have nice circulation, good aeration, and crystal clear water.  Plants are growing nicely, and I've even got fish and shrimp that are enjoying their new home.   We uhhh... we had some casualties on the way, and I would like to take a moment to give respect to our fishy friends who gave their lives in the pursuit of the Pond.  We will miss you, Casper and Casper2, and Bob and Bobalina... 

....

So also I learned it's a bad idea to name your fish before they get very established.    
 

Anyhow, I love Cory's co-op videos (also a big fan of Alexander from Fishtory) and it was natural to come to a vibrant, healthy forum to ask questions and share my experiences.  So hi! 😃 

[Whitecloud09]

Hello and welcome to the forum @daggaz! Great story, same, i would 100% rather watch fish than a TV!😉 Hope you can share pictures of your tank! I only namw bettas, or snails, if i have one, i learned that schooling fish.....are kinda hard to keep track of, so i went off that idea lol. Again welcome!