I keep all my tanks planted, since the
fishroom is my living room and I prefer to look at planted tanks.
The fish like them too. It all started with Spot and
Nameless, the once small, and later giant goldfish:
They liked the plants too, but as much to eat as to hide behind, and they also liked to rearrange the furniture regularly, pulling plants up by the roots from some locations....so only tough and unpalatable plants survived here. We identified some goldfish-compatible plants, but I wasn't satisfied. Eventually they were relocated to the home of a friend with a much larger tank and a pond for warmer weather.
Meanwhile, I decided I wanted a planted tank whose inhabitants didn't rip everything up.....and things snowballed from there. Now I have 3 29 gallon tanks, 3 12 gallon nano cubes, and three 3 gallon Eclipse tanks up and running.
(29G community tank)
(29G community tank)
(stack of 3 12G "nano cube" tanks)
The 29G and 12G tanks all have compressed CO2 on 24hrs/day and get fertilized with PMDD daily.
The 12G Nanocubes have 24W powercompact fluorescent lighting and filtration built into the back of the tanks. Almost anything grows well in these. They are very very quiet. I love them.
The 29G tanks have Eclipse3 hoods with biowheel filters and I've added a mounting for an additional 33W GE Gro 'N Sho BriteStik bulb to give them net 73W or about 2.7 W/g fluorescent lighting. The BriteStiks have a warmer color temperature, and they are set to go on an hour before and after the other hood lights, giving the tanks a "sunrise" and "sunset" time. I don't know if the fish appreciate it, but I like the warmer look. These tanks are not quite as good as the Nanocubes for difficult plants, but part of that is also the fault of the inhabitants, particularly the goldfish.
I did not like the mechanical filters that came with the Eclipse setups and made my own washable/reusable filters from mesh shower sponges. I also use these in my 2G and 3G Eclipse tanks.
The fish cart helps keeps things organized and is mobile from tank to tank. When doing water changes, I can drain one tank with the gravel vac and long hose while filling another with the python. That saves a lot of time. Also, small portable powerhead helps drain the lower tanks where the gravity-fed gravel vac is useless.
I like to feed my fish a variety of foods, but after hearing an expert talk about how perishable most good fish foods are, I keep only a few weeks' worth of food in these spice jars and store the rest in baggies in the freezer.
The perforated lids also help prevent unexpected food dumps when you tip the jar too far....and can be trimmed and adapted as needed to different sized powders and pellets, and to limit the amount that comes out further if needed.
They also get frozen and live foods at their second daily feeding.
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They liked the plants too, but as much to eat as to hide behind, and they also liked to rearrange the furniture regularly, pulling plants up by the roots from some locations....so only tough and unpalatable plants survived here. We identified some goldfish-compatible plants, but I wasn't satisfied. Eventually they were relocated to the home of a friend with a much larger tank and a pond for warmer weather.
Meanwhile, I decided I wanted a planted tank whose inhabitants didn't rip everything up.....and things snowballed from there. Now I have 3 29 gallon tanks, 3 12 gallon nano cubes, and three 3 gallon Eclipse tanks up and running.
(29G community tank)
(29G community tank)
(stack of 3 12G "nano cube" tanks)
The 29G and 12G tanks all have compressed CO2 on 24hrs/day and get fertilized with PMDD daily.
The 12G Nanocubes have 24W powercompact fluorescent lighting and filtration built into the back of the tanks. Almost anything grows well in these. They are very very quiet. I love them.
The 29G tanks have Eclipse3 hoods with biowheel filters and I've added a mounting for an additional 33W GE Gro 'N Sho BriteStik bulb to give them net 73W or about 2.7 W/g fluorescent lighting. The BriteStiks have a warmer color temperature, and they are set to go on an hour before and after the other hood lights, giving the tanks a "sunrise" and "sunset" time. I don't know if the fish appreciate it, but I like the warmer look. These tanks are not quite as good as the Nanocubes for difficult plants, but part of that is also the fault of the inhabitants, particularly the goldfish.
I did not like the mechanical filters that came with the Eclipse setups and made my own washable/reusable filters from mesh shower sponges. I also use these in my 2G and 3G Eclipse tanks.
The fish cart helps keeps things organized and is mobile from tank to tank. When doing water changes, I can drain one tank with the gravel vac and long hose while filling another with the python. That saves a lot of time. Also, small portable powerhead helps drain the lower tanks where the gravity-fed gravel vac is useless.
I like to feed my fish a variety of foods, but after hearing an expert talk about how perishable most good fish foods are, I keep only a few weeks' worth of food in these spice jars and store the rest in baggies in the freezer.
The perforated lids also help prevent unexpected food dumps when you tip the jar too far....and can be trimmed and adapted as needed to different sized powders and pellets, and to limit the amount that comes out further if needed.
They also get frozen and live foods at their second daily feeding.
Back to Fish Page
Return to Diane's Home Page