Anyone into aquariums?

[FlyPenFly]

If you're doing freshwater, the Zen garden Japanese setups are crazy and out of this world. But I'm saltwater or nothing. I did drop way too much cash and time into it. Could have had a ROO or two with how much it cost me in the end.

[sierra11b]

Those freshwater aquascapes are crazy.

[ElChingon7]

Looking good

[gwells]

i gave my wife a little 5 gallon portrait oriented freshwater tank for her birthday a few weeks ago. have a couple of guppies and a couple of neons in it for now. really need to "aquascape" it. it has a few moss balls and one plant. need some grasses and a piece of driftwood (even if to just naturally lower the PH a bit).

[sierra11b]

i gave my wife a little 5 gallon portrait oriented freshwater tank for her birthday a few weeks ago. have a couple of guppies and a couple of neons in it for now. really need to "aquascape" it. it has a few moss balls and one plant. need some grasses and a piece of driftwood (even if to just naturally lower the PH a bit).

The driftwood I have doesn't seem to be doing anything in terms of PH for my 7.6-8 tap water. From all that I've read so long as ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, and nitrates stay under 40ppm, most fish can adapt to PH, and mine seem to be happy. I'm right on the upper-limits of PH though…

Problem is my Bolivian Rams require pristine water and so 50% water changes weekly are a must which means the driftwood can never keep up with the water buffering demands. I've got changes down to 30 minutes for both tanks (50,10) so that's not a problem, but unless I get into serious ion exchange water softening, my PH will remain at that level, and I am positvely NOT inclined to take it to that level with an expensive softener and salts. 25+5 gallons is A LOT of weekly water as is let alone a dedicated water softener. I will say my roses love the fish crap water.

Right now the tank is purely South American and I intend to keep it that way for awhile, but I will gear myself for an African Cichlid tank as they prefer slightly alkaline water. If I did a little more homework out of the gate then I would have went that route to start as my water is perfect for them, and they're what most avid freshwater keepers strive for. Most usually run an African lake theme... Take Lake Malawi for example... I must say, if Malawi weren't in Africa I'd love to visit it. Snorkeling and all.

In the meantime, here's some of a total 15 rummy nose tetra in quarantine... It will be the last major addition in another week and should make the Rams more comfortable as the rummy nose are dither "target fish". Basically, their role will be to school giving the impression there are no predator fish in the area in turn making my crown jewel SA Cichlids comfortable. Plus they look badass when they school... Pictures do them no justice. Like the rams, they act like dogs in that their colors pop when I'm around as they think I'm about to feed.