Do you ever feel uninspired?

[BumblePrime]

Thanks guys

I really appreciate the feedback. It's clear that while I'm looking at this as a rubix cube, others see it in a better light than I do. I have tried swords before and while they can tolerated 28C they're pretty much stunted at that temp. Especially in comparison to other tanks where it has grown like a weed.

@WhistlingBadger I've never taken a break but I do understand your thought process. I guess I'm just frustrated because I know it can be better... I just don't know what path to take in order to get there.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Yep, I understand. I just think it's important to acknowledge that this is a hobby, not necessarily a life-long commitment, and there's nothing wrong with giving it up and focusing on other things. A lot of us (myself certainly included) get so passionate about fish keeping, we forget that the whole point is to have fun with it. Sometimes a new perspective only comes with some distance.

Another option is to seek inspiration by completely changing up your approach. Research walstad tanks, high-tech tanks, nano tanks, ponds, paludariums, biotope tanks, surrealist tanks...anything to get the excitement back and creativity flowing!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Nice looking discus, BP. I've struggled with that lack of inspiration, too. My tanks just weren't fun anymore, so I finally just decided to take a break from the hobby. I only have one tank now, at a business in town. I'm starting to feel it again, though. I think a nano tank is in the works. And eventually a palurdarium...

Ooohh, please make a paludarium! Those are amazing, and with your scaping skills, would be awesome to see what you do with it! Also, I want to make one some time in the future too, so following your progress would be helpful

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Ooohh, please make a paludarium! Those are amazing, and with your scaping skills, would be awesome to see what you do with it! Also, I want to make one some time in the future too, so following your progress would be helpful

ha ha Your confidence in my is inspiring.

We're working on selling our house and moving into town (with a paved road, and everything! We'll hardly know what to do with ourselves!), but once that settles down, you all might see a couple of Badger Tanks starting to take shape. Until then, planning and research, research and planning...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

ha ha Your confidence in my is inspiring.

We're working on selling our house and moving into town (with a paved road, and everything! We'll hardly know what to do with ourselves!), but once that settles down, you all might see a couple of Badger Tanks starting to take shape. Until then, planning and research, research and planning...

Makes sense to wait til you move, moving tanks is such a hassle, when moving is already stressful enough. And the planning and research is half the fun But I'm excited to see what you do!

 

[BumblePrime]

Yep, I understand. I just think it's important to acknowledge that this is a hobby, not necessarily a life-long commitment, and there's nothing wrong with giving it up and focusing on other things. A lot of us (myself certainly included) get so passionate about fish keeping, we forget that the whole point is to have fun with it. Sometimes a new perspective only comes with some distance.

Another option is to seek inspiration by completely changing up your approach. Research walstad tanks, high-tech tanks, nano tanks, ponds, paludariums, biotope tanks, surrealist tanks...anything to get the excitement back and creativity flowing!

Wise words indeed. One of my favourite tanks was a dirt tank that I kept for three years. The discus themselves are quite elegant and their relationships, even for chiclids, is quite unique. Also spawning... Here's a recent spawn, getting to that point was a journey in and of itself.

https://imgur.com/ipJwKAF

I guess it's more asthetics and working out how to balance the aquarium.

Ooohh, please make a paludarium! Those are amazing, and with your scaping skills, would be awesome to see what you do with it! Also, I want to make one some time in the future too, so following your progress would be helpful

Couldn't agree more

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Spawning fish are so much fun! Great video. I've never kept discus, and I didn't realize that they were vertical surface spawners like angelfish. I think it's fascinating how the babies feed off the parents secretions.
Babies: Hey, mom, we're hungry!!
Mom: Here, eat some mucus.
Yum.

Figuring out the aesthetics of the tank and stocking is a big part of the fun for me. I use the "rule of thirds" in a lot of my scaping, but I next project is going to be one that can't use that rule (a tiny Sumatran rice paddy biotope), so that'll be interesting. Fish choice, for color, size, and behavior, is a big part of the aesthetics too. Fun stuff.

 

[madmark285]

due to the tank being a juwel sumps are out of the question.

Any suggestions?

Why is a sump out of the question? You could get an overflow box which will eliminate the need to drill your tank and will give you an very effective skimmer. With a filter in your sump, you can easily change the filter pad to remove the oily junk in your tank.

What am I missing?

 

[BumblePrime]

Why is a sump out of the question? You could get an overflow box which will eliminate the need to drill your tank and will give you an very effective skimmer. With a filter in your sump, you can easily change the filter pad to remove the oily junk in your tank.

What am I missing?

My main aquarium is in the living room. My other half doesn't want the open system or like the sound of running water. Small compromises really considering that I got a 120 gal aquarium out of the negotiations.

 

[madmark285]

My main aquarium is in the living room. My other half doesn't want the open system or like the sound of running water. Small compromises really considering that I got a 120 gal aquarium out of the negotiations.

Understood. My wife is against putting a 75 gallon tank in an office space which she never uses and is a step below an oak floor made from reclaimed old growth wood. If some type of failure occured, the water would just run into the basement with minimal damage. There is also plumbing inside the wall. It is the perfect location for a tank, she being a bit unreasonable....

From the reefing world, there are the Durso, Herbie, and Bean Animal Overflows which claim to be quiet.

Something to think about, a large acrylic/pvc internal skimmer box connected to a canister filter. This box would act as a small sump system keeping the tank level at a constant level, the cannister would draw water from the bottom of the box. You could put a filter pad inside the box to 'pre-filter' the oily slime you are getting and would be easy to replace compare to cleaning the canister filter.

If you have multiple canister filters, just use one of them for skimmer box.

The problem with this system, it maybe be noisy and limited capacity of the sump. If you were going on vacation and worry about evaporation, just move the canister intake to the main tank.

To be fair, I am a DIY type of person, I would make my own box. To install a skimmer box to an existing tank filled with water, I would embed neodymium magnets in the box and use magnets on the back of the tank to hold them in place. This would allow you to fine tune the system by adjusting the height of the box.

 

[BumblePrime]

Hey @madmark285

Happy weekend and all of that good stuff We're actually on the same page it's just that our approach is different. I plan to use a canister to pre filter except instead of repurposing a canister in the way you mentioned, I plan to purchase an oase bio master that has a quarter of it's filtration dedicated to pre filtering which would remove the oil slick. It has the added benefit of being able to remove the pre filter housing without opening the canister as pictured below.

It'll replace my Fluval FX6 is which is the best filter I've ever had, but the unusual tubing is restrictive in terms of inline heaters, inline co2, etc

I can combine the traditional 16/22mm tubing with an intake that has a surface skimmer attached and that'll end my long running battle with surface oil. After that it'll be tackling the discus planted tank conundrum as in, finding some plants beyond CRYPT balansae that can take the 28C heat.

 

[madmark285]

I hope that solves the problem with the surface slime, sometimes it is a little annoying issue which impedes progress and inspiration.

And I had fun thinking about a solution, I like the idea of using magnets to hold an overflow box.

Mark

 

[BumblePrime]

New skimmer has arrived.