So back in 1999 I bought a 125g acrylic tank and my 1st Eheim filter and Eheim Co2 rig and made my 1st planted rainbow tank. I ran 4x65w VHO lighting and even though it was technically high tech, I didn't dose anything and I knew little about the chemistry of it all. It eventually evolved into a rainbow/predator tank with Archers, Marbled sand gobies, and a geophagus surinamensis. Long story short I had to tear it down in 2002 and the tank sat empty until August of 2014.
1999(this is only pic I have left from way back then)
Last August my son wanted some turtles so I told him he could use the 125 and get a couple painted turtles. Started very low tech and I used the old 4x65w lights that had been sitting for a decade. When he didn't want the turtles anymore 5 months later, we found a nice pond for them to move to and re-purposed the 125.
9/2014
Tore out everything and bought some eco-complete, hooked up the old Co2, and bought a bunch of plants to see what I could get to live.
2/2015
There is so much more available these days than there was back in the 90's. So many more available plant species, cheaper equipment, and more information than I could imagine is now easy to find so I went to school and started slowly upgrading everything.
Upgraded to BML Dutch 6300, GLA Co2 system, added another filter to my Eheim Pro 2 2028 that is still humming along. Bought some ferts from GLA and started PPS dosing. Then I started fighting algae trying to find my balance.
3/20/2015
I bought a 10x10" emersed glosso mat off the evil bay and started swapping out plants here and there. Old ones were sold or ROAK and most new ones were bought here on TPT.
3/26/2015
3/31/2015
4/5/2015 (was going to make a pearl weed carpet in the middle but changed my mind and let glosso take over entire foreground)
4/9/2015
5/4/2015 (replaced red lotus w/ petrified wood I found in desert and swapped out a few more plants)
Pic of my embers
5/6/2015
Peacock gudgeon
5/17/2015
5/24/2015
5/28/2015 (glosso is going crazy)
6/6/2015 (trimmed glosso)
More to come.