Hello From Calgary

[Crimson]

Hello, I live in Calgary but I'm not "from" Calgary. I grew up in BC, mainly Kelowna and Vancouver. I do really like Calgary and AB though. When I miss the mountains and scenery of BC, I just get my fix by going to Kananaskis. My wife and I are D. (double) I. (income) N. (no) K. (kids)'s

I am a hospitality supervisor at a retirement home in south Calgary. I enjoy all things nature. If there's good weather on my weekend; I'm out somewhere taking wildlife/bird/flower/landscape/...etc...etc... photography. I say my weekend because in the hospitality industry sometimes weekends are Weds... Monday or any day, really. We are open 365, and the majority of our residents depend on us. It's much different/better then a private restaurant though, its a pretty good place to work.

I have been fish keeping for 8 years now, but I'm far from being an expert. I had a few tanks in vancouver, but I downsized to a more manageable 1. When we moved from Van, I sold/gave everything away. I only just started my tank again this year. I have a planted 40G breeder. My goal this time around was low maintenance. So I chose low light tolerant plants, and have minimal lighting. There's moss as a carpeting plant ( I can't remember the type) Anubius; Coffeefolia, and petite nana and Java fern.

As for fish I have cherry barbs, Glowlight Tetras, Ancistrus, Mollies and Platies. I didn't really want the Platies or Mollies, but she did. I wanted her to have some sort of investment in the fish so I caved. I understocked on purpose, because I knew the livebearers would have babies. I still wasn't prepared for how many. I'm a little overrun now.

I DIY the stand out of 2x4, and also the hood out of plywood. With the 2 lights frankensteined from 2 smaller tanks. The filter is a Fluval I don't remember, it's more then it needs to be, but it works well. I was going to cover the stand with plywood and put doors on it. In the meantime I temporarily put a cloth curtain around it, but that is working out so well, that I abandoned that idea.

Oh and I fishless cycled it for nearly 2 months before I put fish in it. Pure ammonia, test kits, and so on. I didn't put plants in until it was cycled either. I figured the buildup of nitrates would do the plants good. don't worry I tested that too.

I knew the lights were concentrated in the middle, so I went for an island oasis feel. I got random rocks from outside, that I boiled. (there's no way I'm paying for rocks)I did purchase a nice piece of wood that looks stump like, that I use to hide my equipment. I'm not too concerned with hiding it completely, I know theres bits showing, but it's pretty good for the most part. The main thing is that its minimally distracting.

Here it is back in April with the fish finally put in.

here it is now, there's a bit of an algae problem, but I'm happy with it so far.

[ckmullin]

Hello and welcome to AA. An easy upgrade for your lights would be to retrofit sunblaster t5ho in those guys...it is easy to do.

[Crimson]

Thank you CKmullin.

I might upgrade at a later date, but they're working well enough for now.

[biodives]

Welcome and nice to see your planted tank. The last image has a nice dark appearance yet the plants seem to be doing pretty well and I expect it worked well with you goal to achieve low maintenance. Might be nice to get a few larger but gentle fish as a focal point. A small school of pearl gouramis would look very nice IMHO.

[Crimson]

Thanks biodives. That might be interesting.

[SomethingIsFishy]

Welcome - FYI that's a Rena filstar filter- I have three of them (easy to maintain)...

[Crimson]

Welcome - FYI that's a Rena filstar filter- I have three of them (easy to maintain)...

Ah thank you! I got it a long time ago and forgot, and for some reason there are no labels anywhere on the filter itself. I used to have a Fluval but it died. It's all coming back to me now.