theokie Posted September 18, 2010 Report Share Posted September 18, 2010 After being fish free for nearly six years do to university studies and immigration, I'm from the US, married a Canadian, its time to get my hands wet again. I've always had fish tanks all my life as my mom always found them a great source of fertilizer for her African Violets and other house plants. Tanks have ranged from 1 10gallon set up most of my younger years to 3 55 gallons when I was a teenager, one housing a breeding colony of P. Demonsoni, one having a group of Buffalo Head Cichlids (Steatocranus Sasuarius), and the Final one Having Jade Eye Cichlid Cichlasoma sajica Archocentrus sajica and Red Parrots. The sale of the numerous offspring from these tanks kept my parents happy as my hobby was funded and offset my contributions to the power bills, As all tanks were moderately planted with 1.5 watts of light per gallon. So after having luck for so many years with just weekly water changes, java moss, java fern, water sprite, swords and Aponogetons and never testing my water for anything, I think its time to delve into the realm of High Tech planted tanks. So here are my plans, ideas, criticism and suggestions are greatly appreciated, I have a 150 gallon show tank with a 45 gallon I plan on converting to a sump. I plan on using a DIY LED lighting array that I have seen used to great success on reef tanks, and plan on adapting the lighting to provide more red and blue light to more accurately produce the 6500K and 10000K color temperatures. I will using an arduino to serve as a control unit to provide various light levels through out the day, along with giving me the ability to adjust the colour spectrum as needed. I will be using CO2 injection with an inline reactor and a Milwaukee controller. As for my sump it will have an auto water changer/top off, as my work schedule has me working really odd hours at times and I would like to be able to maintain consistent water parameters, in between weekly vacuuming and trimming. As for plants and other aquatic lifeforms its still in flux of sorts, I would eventually like to introduce 5 discus into my set up, but only after the tank is well matured and stable, so some time next summer most likely. So stocking will probably be rather light with rummy nosed tetras, cory's, and cherry shrimp. My focus for the next six months is to get the tank running and getting the plants established, as this tank will be far from my old routine. In order to try and succeed I'm planning on starting a foreground carpet emmersed after I do the hard plumbing next week. As well as growing a moss wall, though growing it out horizontally in a shallow container for a few months to get it lush and established. Hopefully having the lighting ready in the main tank so that I can be lucky and get the foreground plants and some moss at the Auction next month, though that may be pushing my timeline and my credit card a bit much, but we will see. Since I do live south of town and am a work-aholic, I haven't really found the time to go and explore the various stores in Edmonton to figure out which ones are the best to buy what so to speak. So I am hoping this forum will be able to help me out greatly with that and really help me out on this endeavor I am undertaking, as my mom put it, "[my] first adult tank." I have many more details worked out and many more questions to ask but I figure I should keep this initial post shorter, rather then lumping everything into one rather large basket. Many of them are supplier related as coming from the US I have found many of the usual mail order routes I used in the past are cost prohibitive up here. I'm looking forward to getting to know the people of this forum and making contact with other Edmonton area fish keepers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syno321 Posted September 18, 2010 Report Share Posted September 18, 2010 If you're interested in meeting Edmonton area fishkeepers you might be interested in coming to an Aquarium Club of Edmonton meeting or auction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theokie Posted September 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2010 If you're interested in meeting Edmonton area fishkeepers you might be interested in coming to an Aquarium Club of Edmonton meeting or auction. I've actually put both the next meeting and the auction in my schedule. As I found this forum, and ACE, the day after the September meeting, so I'm hoping my production schedule at work will cooperate so I can make it on October 5th, if I read the website correctly. If I do I will be the guy looking completely exhuasted and strung out on coffee, since I start work at 5am, so I usually crash by 8pm, but I think making it to a meeting will be worth it. As for the auction I plan on attending.Hopefully I will be able to find some Christmas moss and some Glossostigma there, to start getting my tank ready, rather then having to mail order it in. Just have to get my light array built and running before then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLake Posted September 18, 2010 Report Share Posted September 18, 2010 Welcome to the site! Congratulations on marrying a Canadian! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jomhar Posted September 18, 2010 Report Share Posted September 18, 2010 Welcome to the forum bro. Im from the US myself. Cali4nia!!!! Where in the US you from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theokie Posted September 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2010 Welcome to the forum bro. Im from the US myself. Cali4nia!!!! Where in the US you from? Before I moved to Alberta I was living in Denver, though before that I have lived in IL, OK, TN and then CO. My family moved often due to my dad's job, my SN comes from being "the okie" to all my friends back in IL, and well have had it since we moved back in 97, guess you sorta get attached to SN after awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonNeko Posted September 22, 2010 Report Share Posted September 22, 2010 (edited) Congrats on starting up a new tank, and getting married! I've just started myself, after 10 years of my poor tank collecting dust. I'm still trying to find good local fish stores in Edmonton. I really like Paradise Pet's in St. Albert, and I've been in Aquarium Illusions once (they have tons of salt-water stuff and make custom tanks and the store was really nice!). The PJ's in West Edmonton Mall is decent too. I was surprised to find an employee that knows his stuff and the tanks all look in great condition! I've heard a place called Nature's Corner is good, and have a great selection of live plants. I hope that helps a little bit I really hope I can make it to the auction. I'd love to see what all is available, and maybe get some advice from local breeders (I wanna breed mollies and try later to breed corydoras). edit: Oh, there's a list on this site for all the local stores (well not all, but a lot) in Alberta. I think all of Edmonton's are listed. http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=6071 (I hope I'm allowed to post a link, though I'd be guessing it's okay since it's to this site anyway XD) Edited September 22, 2010 by DragonNeko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cale262 Posted September 22, 2010 Report Share Posted September 22, 2010 Welome to AA and Edmonton... :welcome: Sounds like a great project build...everything but the sump, I love sumps but think they're rather counter productive if you're injecting CO2.....too much exchange going on, canister filters are the way to go with a hi-tec planted tanks IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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