Show off your Aquarium!

Great thread! I have had at least one and up to three fresh water tanks at a time for the last ~23 years (since Junior year in college). I graduated from 20 to 36 to 55 to 65gallons. I currently only have one extremely overgrown (not photo worthy) planted 30 gallon fw tank, but I have plans to get a 75-90 gallon when I complete my basement remodel.

Keep the pics coming!
 
Some cool stuff... I used to be pretty heavy into fish too... Had a 55, a 120, and a couple 15's and such... but man can they become work. Loved starting at them, but sure hated to clean them. Never lost many fish though. always had good luck with them.

My brother just tried to give me his old one last weekend. Like new actually, but I said enough is enough.. I got a cat and a bird, I'm not gonna start animal stacking... I do miss watching a really nice aquarium though.. I'll just watch ya'lls :D

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I think I am about to get out of that hobby. I have done it for almost 37 years. At one time I had almost 45 different aquariums set up and running. I have bred most freshwater fish. I have had a saltwater or two that put the local zoo set up to shame.

Currently I have a 125 gallon that is sitting nearly empty(meaning fish). I have been thinking on what to try next. My last endeavor was the high tech plant tank. I thought it would be easy, turned out to be one of the more challenging things I had done.

I also have my rubbermaid 150 gallon stock tank outside with a few koi and shubikans.

Can anyone give me a nudge and an idea on how to set up my tank? I need an idea or two on what to put in it.

My favorite for variety and beauty was the saltwater, but I won't do that again - that is just tooooooooo DAMMMMMMMM Expensive.

Oh, 125 gallon tank is 72" L x 21"T x 18"D It sits in my front room too.
 
My patio pond (though no longer there) Its a free-form shape of apprx. 3'x5' and 24" deep. It was suggested to me to be around 400 gallons.:
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It went through a few iterations in filtration. This is the filter return flow channel of a later version:
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Mechanical filter pan from the bottom of the pond, made from a cat litter box, and PVC pipe, w/ Matala mat filter media:
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The biological filter by Matala. It is a series of mats that reduce in pour size down from a coarse mat (green) to a fine foam mat. The filtration runs right to left in this image:
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Many people are unaware of the work that goes into keeping an aquarium running properly. That is why the death rate of their fish is high.

Keeping proper ph levels & watching for diseases like "Ich" can be severely overlooked by the owner.

I went to help a friend (who coincidentally worked in a pet store at the time) move his stuff out of an abandoned apartment one time. He hadn't been there in 6 months, so we assumed that all of the fish in his 47 gallon hex tank would be belly up.

Wrong. They were not only still alive, but thriving and had grown to be quite large, just living off all the algae that was growing in the tank.

He told me later that it turned out that most of the problems his customers had with their fish were self inflicted, too much testing, chemicals, etc.

I've gone from multiple tanks to a single 2 gallon with a betta fish in it at the moment, and my experience has proven this to be true. I keep the water clean and leave things alone, and the fish do well.

I did keep salt water fish in the past, and that is a lot of work. You can't ignore the salinity levels..

ymmv,

bs
 
Here's my 120 gallon tank. I've had it going since late July. Going really well so far. I had 3 angelfish, 2 mated and picked on the silver angel, so those got re-homed. Here's what's in there:

1 Angelfish
1 Corydora
4 Cherry Barbs
2 Clown Loaches
10 tiger barbs
1 brown knifefish

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Before this tank we had a 10 gallon with an Oscar. When we bought the new house, we got this tank and I gave the oscar to a friend. So in that 10 gallon I am currently getting it set up to try some live plants in it...well see if it works out.
 
I would love to have a Salt Water tank. However as it stands now, we have the two dogs and they make it difficult to travel. If we had a tank, I imagine we would never be able to go on vacation as I really don't have anyone who can come over and tend to it for any length of time. For now, I will just enjoy the pics that will show up in this tread.
 
I would love to have a Salt Water tank. However as it stands now, we have the two dogs and they make it difficult to travel. If we had a tank, I imagine we would never be able to go on vacation as I really don't have anyone who can come over and tend to it for any length of time. For now, I will just enjoy the pics that will show up in this tread.

yeah...that's what I want to get up to, but I'd need to retire to have the time for the upkeep. And they are much more expensive than the freshwater tanks.


I went out and got some substrate for the 10 gallon tank, and some plants to try out a planted tank. I filled it up with this fishwater from the 120g, so once i get some plants in it, I'll get some neon tetras or some other small fish.
 
Some are sicker than others!

I guess I'd have to say the big tank and stereo were on my bucket list.
 

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I spent over 30 years messing around with aquariums. I sold all of my equipment two years ago, and am starting to really miss it. I was mainly into fresh water south american fish with live plants, but tried salt water and brackish tanks too. It really is a lot of work to maintain an aquarium, and I got tired of it. I loved the look of a large live plant tank in my house, but not the time it took to make it look that way. It would be too expensive to start over now, after practically giving away 30+ years of equipment, but I do occassionly look at the aquariums listed on Craigslist. :D. I saw an earlier recommendation for buying fish at Petsmart. Please do yourself a favor, and find an aquarium shop that is near you. Petsmart has some of the least healthy fish I've seen for sale.
 
I own a 77 gallon Oceanic show tank which I have not set up in 10 years. In 1995 I purchased this Plecostomus and he is still around to this day in my 30 gallon. They are nocturnal, so I have always given him a place to hide. About 5 years ago I almost gave him up, had him in the car but reconsidered. We have power outages here, so I have to get him over to my mother's house so I can keep him warm. He is over 6 inches. When I was a kid I would wait by the tank to see the black mollies give birth. Lots of happy memories in this hobby. And my first job was working at the famous Martin's Aquarium around here, now gone.

The tank is cleaner than it appears.

I have seen the fish in Petsmart. They are well cared for.
 

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I guess I'd have to say the big tank and stereo were on my bucket list.

Nice tank!!

You gotta give me some tips on starting a planted tank.

I got new lights coming in the next few days. I have some dwarf grass in, but will need the new HO lights for that.

What I really want is some moss, but no local stores had any.
 
Ok, since I started this thread, EVERYTHING has changed for me. My 5-gal is gone, and my 20-high is now a 20-long, and soon to be a 29gal. My wife has set up a 55 gallon, and I have set up a 60 gallon. We have just taken down a 10g, and a 38 g bowfront. We've been busy, for sure! I'll get some pictures of the 20, 55, and 60 gallon aquariums up soon.
Thanks for posting pictures of your aquariums! They look awesome!
 
Ok, since I started this thread, EVERYTHING has changed for me. My 5-gal is gone, and my 20-high is now a 20-long, and soon to be a 29gal. My wife has set up a 55 gallon, and I have set up a 60 gallon. We have just taken down a 10g, and a 38 g bowfront. We've been busy, for sure! I'll get some pictures of the 20, 55, and 60 gallon aquariums up soon.
Thanks for posting pictures of your aquariums! They look awesome!

Glad you made the topic! Would love to see pics of your tanks. BTW, I used to drive through Nashville on my way home from college (SIU Carbondale).


As for my 10g planted tank, I think I'm gonna try out the dry start method. Seems to be a better way to get the plants to take root.
 
Cool thread! The girl I started dating a few months ago runs an aquarium services store and maintains tanks for a living. I've really fallen in love with some of the salt water tanks she works on and am starting to plan my own 75 gallon saltwater.

These are some pictures from the tank I help her with on Sundays, in a dentist office. I love it and want mine to look very similar. Clownfish, tangs, and lots of coral.
 

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Glad you made the topic! Would love to see pics of your tanks. BTW, I used to drive through Nashville on my way home from college (SIU Carbondale).


As for my 10g planted tank, I think I'm gonna try out the dry start method. Seems to be a better way to get the plants to take root.

No kidding! Small world!I live right on route 127!
Philviral: Nice pics! I'd love to try a saltwater tank....one of these days...
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Ok. Here we go. The first picture is the wife's 55 gal. It contains some leaf fish, a black Angel, a HUGE lace catfish, and some smaller corys. The Lace is hiding behind the red plant, and the rest of the fish kind of blend in. The plant is a water lilly.
 

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Next up is my little 20gallon long tank. I will be emptying this soon, in favor of a 29 gallon I just received, which is the same size, but a few inches taller. It contains some long-finned zebras, some albino cory cats, some black skirt tetras, a red wag platy, and a pleco. Oh, and a rosy barb too! It's a good community mix, and everyone gets along fine. Not my biggest tank at all, but still one of my favorites.
 

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