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Hello all, I used to be a regular across a few forums, but as of late I have backed off and have not been active at all. I am glad to have found this site and to see a few familiar members are actively posting. This might be a very long introduction post - you've been warned.

My name is Zach and I've always had tank(s) on the go. I started planted tanking about 14 years ago and I continue to learn new things each and every day.

My current tanks are a bit neglected. It's funny how life seems to just push forward, and soon enough your behind on a water change or two, that algae you had under control pops up again, you forget to mix up a batch of fertilizer and before you know it, you have a mess on your hands! - I hope you all enjoy the small moments where you can sit back, relax and watch your tanks as I do, regardless of how they look at that specific time.

Between a new job and building my garage / shop by myself, my tanks took a back seat. Then the news hit that I'll be a first time dad so my tanks were really put on hold as I prepped our house. Hopefully when the snow flies shortly I'll be able to fit my tanks into my schedule again.

Here are my current tanks, with a few older photo's:


45g Long - 48" x 12" x 18"

5 x 54w T5-HO
CO2 @ 25cc's / min
RO water target dosed to: 20ppm NO3, 7ppm PO4, 25ppm K, 30ppm Ca, 10ppm Mg
70% weekly water changes (every 2 weeks currently)
Rainbows mostly, with cherry barbs, angels and some corys (more on this in a minute)
ADA Aquasoil V2

40g Breeder - 36" x 18" x 16"
Low tech
Single, budget friendly RGB LED, 30 watts, on 75% power
50% water changes with tapwater (soft) target dosed with "some" Ca and "some" Mg
Osmocote Plus tabs only
Pool filter sand
1 super red bushy nose pleco, 1 remaining discus (more on this in a minute)

120g High - 60" x 18" x 26"
Currently empty with a breached bottom seal

So my struggles as of recent:

(keep in mind all of my time is spent building my shop / new job / dad-to-be during all of this)

45g was always meant to be my high tech tank, pushing PAR, CO2 and fertilizer to the limits. Rainbows and cherry barbs were the only planned livestock, lots of coloured up stem plants and a nice selection of "rare" colourful broad leaf plants. This was my first kick at the can with an active substrate, so it was also a bit experimental for me. I moved twice with this tank, and all 3 homes had a completely different water sources, so I've always used 100% RO. I recently swapped to my tapwater because I'm on a well now, and it's fairly soft + much easier to perform water changes. As soon as I swapped to tapwater though, plants took a huge hit, my aquasoil immediately began to break down, and the tank turned into a blackwater tank. I think I have it under control now, but algae is very much present and plants are not loving life. I'm just trying to hold on to a few of the species I really like until I can get around to a tank renovation. Eventually this tank will merge into a 6' 125 gallon tank - adjusting any aspect as I see fit for my "style" of keeping a tank.

40g Breeder was always meant to be a grow out tank for some small discus - easy to perform large water changes, nice wide footprint, and the price was spot on. When I figured out a larger tank, this 40g would become a perfect DIY sump. So I picked up 5 small discus to start - I've always wanted to try my take on discus, with some corys and a small school of cardinal tetra. Everything was going fairly well except they weren't really eating (brine shrimp, beef heart, flake, pellets, sticks). After some good (and bad) research, I got them devouring bloodworms and I figured this is great, fed them multiple times a day, everyone is happy - but they were not growing. Then they started losing weight, with clear symptoms of parasites in their feces. I got my hands on some meds and treated the whole tank - I was left with 3 of the 5.

At this point a 120 gallon was offered to me from a family member free of charge. It had their turtle in it and they were getting rid of her, so I said absolutely I'll take that tank off your hands! It held water with no issues at all (had a turtle a bunch of feeder goldies in it). I gave it some TLC and had that tank looking 90% brand new, I was happy. I built a stand to match our furniture, my partner agreed we could keep this tank in our living space (instead of in the basement "fish room"). I figured now would be best to get those discus out of the 40g and start fresh. So I set it up, and everything was perfect. Plants looked great, steady growth, no algae, simple design to focus more so on the fish. Over a few weeks, 2 of the 3 discus would eat (no bloodworms anymore, went right to brine shrimp and pellets). The other one would not touch anything. Then one morning before a business trip (I had 1 hour to leave the house from when I woke up) I was greeted by the sound of water splashing from the filters, and the tank 1/3 drained. My first thought would be a seal went bad on a filter, I've had that happen in the past, so I rushed and felt around the filters - bone dry! So I scrambled, grabbed a 45 gallon tote, transferred the fish, filters and heaters into it, drained the tank / removed the plants, threw every towel we own around the tank and set up every fan we own on high. I went about my business trip, and didn't enjoy 1 minute of it.

So, everything is now back into the 40g Breeder were the 1 never started eating again, and the last 2 discus fought and fought until one day, new dog found a discus dried up next to the tank leaving me with 1 discus remaining. The 120 gallon I will reseal over the winter and try again.

What has kept me motivated is the growth and colours of my rainbows. I am feeding them a lot, feeding them a varied diet of high quality foods and it's paying off - they look great.

So, if you've made it this far, here are some older photo's from when I had had everything under control! I'll make sure I snap a few photo's of how the tank actually look right now and post them a little later on.