Hello from Louisville

genuine_red · September 3, 2020

I've been aquascaping and keeping fish for a little over a year. I've been through several fish (unfortunately), many plants, a few tanks, and much equipment as I learn. All of my tanks have been nano, which I NOW know are quite time consuming if I want them clean, healthy, and beautiful. I admit my tanks are overstocked, but I do the upkeep to compensate. I currently have three planted tanks and one plant grow-out/quarantine tank. All tanks are running Seachem Tidal 35 HOB filters and airstones, and I do water changes at least weekly. Two of the tank lights are Hygger LEDs (cooler tone) and one is a Nicrew LED (warmer tone), and all are on timers for eight hours daily. Easy Green is dosed with each water change.

Tank 1: 10 gallon Dennerle rimless cube, heavily planted, 4 blue tuxedo guppies, 3 home-bred black moscow guppies (all current guppies are male), 3 snow white rice fish, 3 Amano shrimp, and 2 pygmy cories.

Tank 2: 12 gallon Aquatop rimless (tall, wide, narrow to fit on my fireplace mantle), fairly heavily planted, 15 green neons, 4 honey gouramis, 3 dwarf chain loaches, 4 nerite snails.

Tank 3: 10 gallon Waterbox rimless, heavily planted, 9 ember tetras, 3 golden white cloud mountain minnows, 3 Amano shrimp.

My tanks are stocked so heavily because the fish were consolidated from three additional nano tanks I no longer run. The rice fish have proven to be the most difficult to keep alive--10 of the original 13 have died from some wasting parasite disease or for unknown reasons.

I love playful fish, so my favorites of those I have are the guppies, ember tetras, and dwarf chain loaches.

I find plants more difficult to keep healthy and growing, even though I've stuck with beginner plants. Since I won't run co2 or super expensive lights on such small tanks, my plant choices are limited. I use Fluval Stratum for planting media, temp for all tanks is 76-78, water has high ph, extremely low kh, 0 nitrites, nitrates run around 20-40, and water hardness measures off the charts. I have managed to kill such easy plants as water sprite and guppy grass (GUPPY GRASS!). I've experienced brown diatom algae and cyanobacteria, and continue to battle green hair algae and BBA. I do keep trying new things and learning, so the frustration is worth it--especially when the room lights are out and the aquariums sparkle like jewels.

I'm attaching pics of each tank. Some plants and inhabitants have changed since these were taken, but you'll get the general idea.

As much as I love the nano aquariums, I'm going to trade up to a 40 gallon breeder. Aside from considerably less time spent on upkeep, the larger tank will give me more space to try some different, larger plants, and maybe co2.

Other Things: I live in a 120-year-old Victorian house in Historic Old Louisville. I have a large collection of vintage and antique Steiff (stuffed animals made in Germany). And I make room boxes, which are like doll houses, but are single rooms or settings like a shop or garden--and are created within a box or other enclosed item.

So that's me.