Who was fresh before salt and what kind of fish & setups?

[DaveK]

I have a 90 gal FW planted tank. Compared to my 125 gal reef, it's a bit smaller, but the equipment can be almost as expensive as a reef. In a planted tank, once you get into specialized substrata, CO2 injection, and good driftwood. you can spend a lot of money fast. The up side is that it's less expensive to run because you don't need the extreme lighting or flow like you see in a reef.

A planted tank works a lot differently from a reef. In a reef systems, you want nitrates and phosphates as low as possible to keep algae down, and canister filters are considered undesirable. In planted tank systems, you add nitrates and phosphates to maintain the fertilization needed for the plants. Canister filters are highly desirable in a planted tank, because any nitrates produced are consumed by the plants. It's amazing how much nitrate and phosphate a heavily planted tank can consume.

I have my reef and planted tank side by side, and it's quite a contrast.

 

[Doogle]

I have a 90 gal FW planted tank. Compared to my 125 gal reef, it's a bit smaller, but the equipment can be almost as expensive as a reef. In a planted tank, once you get into specialized substrata, CO2 injection, and good driftwood. you can spend a lot of money fast. The up side is that it's less expensive to run because you don't need the extreme lighting or flow like you see in a reef.

A planted tank works a lot differently from a reef. In a reef systems, you want nitrates and phosphates as low as possible to keep algae down, and canister filters are considered undesirable. In planted tank systems, you add nitrates and phosphates to maintain the fertilization needed for the plants. Canister filters are highly desirable in a planted tank, because any nitrates produced are consumed by the plants. It's amazing how much nitrate and phosphate a heavily planted tank can consume.

I have my reef and planted tank side by side, and it's quite a contrast.

I'd like to see a pic of that! That sounds pretty cool.

 

[Built347]

I'd like to see a pic of that! That sounds pretty cool.

+1

 

[Doogle]

Here's some pics of how they sit now...

This is not a recent pic, I trimmed back a ton of leaves since and it's got a bunch of algae on the side glass, you get the idea tho.

 

[catran]

Oh, I had a 55g setup. I used an Ehiem Pro canister filter and a fluidized sand filter. I had cichlids only. I had several different kinds, Melanochromis auratus, different kinds of Pseudotropheus', Mbamba, Labidichromis Caeruleus, etc. My favorite though, was a Frontosa. I learned very quickly that cichlids are a very aggressive fish! I lost a few to each other.


I love reefers...

 

[Doogle]

Ya I had to separate some of them to prevent deaths.bad guys are in second tank pic. Top tank is very civil and breed a lot . But fish in tank 2 are getting along somewhat, not too much descaling... Auratus males are evil and the females will turn color to look like the males if one isn't present. Frontosia are very sweet and easy going. Lots of character with africans 4sure.

 

[coralmadness]

I started out with fresh water tanks 18 years ago. I have had various styles, sizes, etc. I first had neon tetras. I had a 55 gallon that had silver dollars, silver hatchets, gouramis, and various tetras. I had a 30 gal. that had parrot fish in it. I have had planted aquariums, a pond with koi, pauladiums and I even had a terrarium once that had red eyed tree frogs and barking tree frogs in it. Then my wife wanted a saltwater tank so I sold all those tanks and went shopping. I remember the fed ex guy was pissed off at me because everything came the same day. Rock, plumbing, sump, lighting, doser, sand, power heads, heater, etc. He told me thats what happens when people get crazy on the internet, LOL! I have been just saltwater ever since. I would like to have another pauladium again though.

 

[Doogle]

I started out with fresh water tanks 18 years ago. I have had various styles, sizes, etc. I first had neon tetras. I had a 55 gallon that had silver dollars, silver hatchets, gouramis, and various tetras. I had a 30 gal. that had parrot fish in it. I have had planted aquariums, a pond with koi, pauladiums and I even had a terrarium once that had red eyed tree frogs and barking tree frogs in it. Then my wife wanted a saltwater tank so I sold all those tanks and went shopping. I remember the fed ex guy was pissed off at me because everything came the same day. Rock, plumbing, sump, lighting, doser, sand, power heads, heater, etc. He told me thats what happens when people get crazy on the internet, LOL! I have been just saltwater ever since. I would like to have another pauladium again though.

Lol.I hope I can do that to ups someday! Living in Wyoming you probably don't have a lfs around for miles, huh? Your wife must be pretty cool! I'm glad mine is good with all the tanks too!

 

[JHamilton0170]

Hey, coralmadness.. We're in the same town!

 

[Ceece911]

My Freshwater timeline:

Beta bowl --> 10 gal goldfish --> 55 gal African Cichlids and 110 gal Oscar --> 20 gal goldfish (had to downgrade for college dorm) --> Took a break, now I’m researching and getting my gear ready for a saltwater system. Hope to have it up in the next month or two.

 

[DaveK]

I'd like to see a pic of that! That sounds pretty cool.

Due to an extended illness, none of my tanks are to the level where I'd like to take picts of them, but I'll see what I can do about picts of my FW planted tank. My reef tank has really taken a beating, and it's still not recovered too well, but it's getting there.

 

[Doogle]

Ha, that's how I felt about some of my tanks too!

 

[muffkins]

I currently have a 29 gal FW tank. I've got: 4 Golden Barbs, 1 Tiger Barb, 2 marbled Angelfish (mated), and a spotted Catfish. Haven't been able to get the Angelfish babies past day 7 though, even in a quarantined tank. They keep dying at the free swimming stage

I had lots of goldfish (comets) in high school, lived until I went away to college. Also had African frogs. My BF just swtiched over his 55 FW tank to salt in January (and has since upgraded to a 125 SW, lol) but he had a beautiful black upside-down catfish (9" long) in there and a couple of 6" clown loaches.

 

[blackwater]

started FW with a 20g years ago. then upgraded to my current 65g 36"x24"x18" have had this one for about 2-3 years. have some live plants, one pretty cool its called madagascare lace.(may not have spelled that right lol) lots of caves. have a school of 12 rummy nose tetras, 6 columbian tetras and 6 x-ray tetras. also have 3 dension barbs(also known as red line torpedoe), 1 sunrise platty, 1 orange danio,2 endler guppys and a maited pair of electric blue rams. i have 4 plecos ranging in size. they are...mustard spot plec, flash plec, galaxy plec and a clown plec. had only 3 assassin snails but they have breed so don't know how many there are now. and i keep 2 pea puffers in the tank(really the best way for pest snail control iv ever come across). sounds over stoked but i keep up with maintenance and cleaning and have had no trouble. i use a ac 110 hob filter and a jaguar heater, small air stone just to help break the surface more. lights are 2 bulb 36"t-5 by aquaticlife and its got a full spectrum bulb and a purple(purple brings out the color) . substrate is small black gravel. also had a 29g for breeding kribensis cichlids but broke it down to start a salt tank. my wife loves our FW tank so dont think its goin anywhere, she gonna start helping take care of it so i can concentrate more on the SW.

 

[carlfike]

125g cichlid setup.

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[blackwater]

as for BBA problems u can use flourish excel. its a liquid and works very well. i use a eye dropper and spot dose the worst areas. aslo should be used every other day as per instructions. its kinda like putting your plants on steroids so they can fight it off and have new growth quicker. at least thats how i understand it. BBA happens in any planted tank but if u got it bad then u might need more circulation in that area of the tank, over feeding can also increase the amount of BBA. mine always shows up on the side furthest from the hob. never have any near the hob because of the flow. ive had very good dealings with this product, the day after spot doseing for the first time i saw a lot of improvement.

 

[Clownfishfan]

I started freshwater 10 years ago and still have them, I have 2 20t . I have bettas,guppies,killifish,and platies. I really just like the plain ol' livebearers.

 

[carlfike]

as for BBA problems u can use flourish excel. its a liquid and works very well. i use a eye dropper and spot dose the worst areas. aslo should be used every other day as per instructions. its kinda like putting your plants on steroids so they can fight it off and have new growth quicker. at least thats how i understand it. BBA happens in any planted tank but if u got it bad then u might need more circulation in that area of the tank, over feeding can also increase the amount of BBA. mine always shows up on the side furthest from the hob. never have any near the hob because of the flow. ive had very good dealings with this product, the day after spot doseing for the first time i saw a lot of improvement.

Back when I had a planted tank the Excel made my plants dissolve. Be careful of how much you dose. Start small and work up. A DIY yeast co2 products safer results imo.

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[TheBishop]

I have a 90 gallon freshwater with 2 goldfish that my son won in a county fair 7 years ago. They are still there. Went from a bowl to a 2.5 gallon to a 10 gallon to a 20 gallon now they are in a 90 gallon tank and thinking they need a 150 gallon tank lol

 

[Oxylebius]

26 years ago I started with FW loaches (clown and kuhlii), angels, and silver dollars. Moved on to a couple of african cichlid tanks w/ johanni, yellow morph of Labidochromis caeruleus, M. auratus, and the shell dwelling Neo brevis. I have also kept a tank of goldfish that I practiced different tagging methods on (don't get upset - the fish were all fine and lived long lives for goldfish). I currently have a tank of breeding guppies that feed our three-stripe mud turtle Morla (a little self-sustaining food chain ecosystem).