Hello all!
I’ve titled this journal “High tech, low effort” which I acknowledge could be construed as an oxymoron. I won’t bore you with a long history, but a little background might help explain what I mean.
I’m not new to the planted tank scene, but this is my first tank in over a decade. I previously had a simple but very successful (as a CRS breeding tank at least) 3 gal picotope back in...wow, 2006...that was heavily journaled here. Unfortunately, I forgot the password to that account and the PT admins can’t help me recover it, I presume because it’s so old. Anyway, this was when CRS were relatively new in the US and considered difficult to breed, especially the S+ grades. That little tank that sat on my desk at work and churned out hundreds of CRS, almost all of which were sold, traded, or given away to members of this forum.
The proceeds from those sales funded a 75g completely custom tank (built by Glass Cages) with a 20-gallon sump, a BeanAnimal overflow, auto top-off, auto-dosing, and a homemade stand. I’d like to think that setup would have impressed even the most techie reefers around here. I enjoyed that tank for several years before having to move to an apartment where I couldn’t keep it. I never did, however, journal it - something I deeply regret. This new tank, however, will take a decidedly different approach.
Between shutting down the 75g and now I’ve gotten married, traveled to dozens of countries, moved across the US, and most recently welcomed our first child (she is exactly one month old today, in fact!). As my fellow parents know, particularly at this stage, time and energy are extremely valuable commodities. However, my company has a very generous paternity leave policy which, coupled with my birthday next week, created a perfect storm for me to convince my wife that she should gift me the permission to set up a new tank.
The trick here, however, will be to build as nice a tank as I can with as little time and effort as possible. That means no custom tanks, no custom stands, mostly off-the-shelf bits and pieces, kits where possible (i.e CO2), etc. Although, like @TheUnseenHand (whose awesome thread motivated me to finally pull the trigger on convincing the wife), I enjoy the build process more than the finished product, I will be foregoing all of that fun in order to hopefully instill my love of aquariums in my daughter (gotta start them young, right!?). Despite very good success mixing my own ferts for EI in the past, I’m even going to give off-the-shelf AIO ferts a shot. Maybe this will help those lurkers who are interested in planted tanks but haven’t bitten the bullet yet because of their concerns about how much time it will suck give a simpler approach a shot.
Here’s a quick rundown of the tank so far:
Anyway, that’s enough for now. The tank just arrived today and is currently leak-testing in the garage. I couldn’t be more excited about firing this tank up and I look forward to leaning on this community for some help along the way (particularly the old-timers that helped me along the way so many years ago).
Cheers!
I’ve titled this journal “High tech, low effort” which I acknowledge could be construed as an oxymoron. I won’t bore you with a long history, but a little background might help explain what I mean.
I’m not new to the planted tank scene, but this is my first tank in over a decade. I previously had a simple but very successful (as a CRS breeding tank at least) 3 gal picotope back in...wow, 2006...that was heavily journaled here. Unfortunately, I forgot the password to that account and the PT admins can’t help me recover it, I presume because it’s so old. Anyway, this was when CRS were relatively new in the US and considered difficult to breed, especially the S+ grades. That little tank that sat on my desk at work and churned out hundreds of CRS, almost all of which were sold, traded, or given away to members of this forum.
The proceeds from those sales funded a 75g completely custom tank (built by Glass Cages) with a 20-gallon sump, a BeanAnimal overflow, auto top-off, auto-dosing, and a homemade stand. I’d like to think that setup would have impressed even the most techie reefers around here. I enjoyed that tank for several years before having to move to an apartment where I couldn’t keep it. I never did, however, journal it - something I deeply regret. This new tank, however, will take a decidedly different approach.
Between shutting down the 75g and now I’ve gotten married, traveled to dozens of countries, moved across the US, and most recently welcomed our first child (she is exactly one month old today, in fact!). As my fellow parents know, particularly at this stage, time and energy are extremely valuable commodities. However, my company has a very generous paternity leave policy which, coupled with my birthday next week, created a perfect storm for me to convince my wife that she should gift me the permission to set up a new tank.
The trick here, however, will be to build as nice a tank as I can with as little time and effort as possible. That means no custom tanks, no custom stands, mostly off-the-shelf bits and pieces, kits where possible (i.e CO2), etc. Although, like @TheUnseenHand (whose awesome thread motivated me to finally pull the trigger on convincing the wife), I enjoy the build process more than the finished product, I will be foregoing all of that fun in order to hopefully instill my love of aquariums in my daughter (gotta start them young, right!?). Despite very good success mixing my own ferts for EI in the past, I’m even going to give off-the-shelf AIO ferts a shot. Maybe this will help those lurkers who are interested in planted tanks but haven’t bitten the bullet yet because of their concerns about how much time it will suck give a simpler approach a shot.
Here’s a quick rundown of the tank so far:
- Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion Pro 30g Long (all-in-one)
- MICMOL LED Programmable light
- 4 liters of ADA Powersand topped by 9 liters of Aqua Soil Normal topped by 9 liters of Aqua Soil Powder
- Seriyu stone and a few pieces of either Rhododendron or Azalea (I’m not sure what I got from my LFS)
Anyway, that’s enough for now. The tank just arrived today and is currently leak-testing in the garage. I couldn’t be more excited about firing this tank up and I look forward to leaning on this community for some help along the way (particularly the old-timers that helped me along the way so many years ago).
Cheers!