Hello, my name is Rick and I've been lurking for a while and thought I would introduce myself. I have been keeping various tropical fish for around 50 years now. When I was in high school I worked at Pet store. After high school I work for a wholesaler who imported from South America, Asia, and also from Florida. Kinda burned out on that job and decided to keep fish keeping as a hobby.
I now have a room full of fish tanks in my home office stacked 3 high. I recently score my dream tank off of Craigslist, a 210 gallon glass tank with overflows. The dimensions are 72" x 24" x 30" high. I ran the numbers and based on the outside measurements it calculates to almost 225 gallons. For Father's day my son and his friends are coming over to help move it into it's permanent home. It was set up for saltwater and has drilled bulkheads and overflows. But I will be setting it up for freshwater and establishing a Frontosa colony.
Over the years I have kept many monster fish, i.e. pacu, arowwana, etc. I presently have on Red Devil who lives by himself in a 75 gallon. The rest of my tanks are filled with central and south american cichlids, a plant tank with tetras, and my starter Frontosas. I also have two tanks with aquatic turtles that were once my son's pets. I think the turtles are going to outlive me.
I am a DIY kind of guy and have built two wet/dry filters for 75 gallon tanks that include house plants (Pothos) growing in them to consume nitrates. I have kept saltwater fish back in the day where UG filters and power heads were state of the art. I appreciate saltwater animals and the advances made in filtration and lighting. But my heart is in freshwater. Plus when I do water changes I pump the old water out on the lawn and garden. My friends swear by Rick's magic fishwater for water their plants.
I'm excited about setting up my new big tank. Will be using a sump and pumping some of the water through houseplants that make up my wife's living wall. Once I get my regular two week water changes complete, I'll post some pictures and I'll post pictures of my big tank progress.
I love to talk fish and promise to resist statements like, "Back in the day...".
Rick
I now have a room full of fish tanks in my home office stacked 3 high. I recently score my dream tank off of Craigslist, a 210 gallon glass tank with overflows. The dimensions are 72" x 24" x 30" high. I ran the numbers and based on the outside measurements it calculates to almost 225 gallons. For Father's day my son and his friends are coming over to help move it into it's permanent home. It was set up for saltwater and has drilled bulkheads and overflows. But I will be setting it up for freshwater and establishing a Frontosa colony.
Over the years I have kept many monster fish, i.e. pacu, arowwana, etc. I presently have on Red Devil who lives by himself in a 75 gallon. The rest of my tanks are filled with central and south american cichlids, a plant tank with tetras, and my starter Frontosas. I also have two tanks with aquatic turtles that were once my son's pets. I think the turtles are going to outlive me.
I am a DIY kind of guy and have built two wet/dry filters for 75 gallon tanks that include house plants (Pothos) growing in them to consume nitrates. I have kept saltwater fish back in the day where UG filters and power heads were state of the art. I appreciate saltwater animals and the advances made in filtration and lighting. But my heart is in freshwater. Plus when I do water changes I pump the old water out on the lawn and garden. My friends swear by Rick's magic fishwater for water their plants.
I'm excited about setting up my new big tank. Will be using a sump and pumping some of the water through houseplants that make up my wife's living wall. Once I get my regular two week water changes complete, I'll post some pictures and I'll post pictures of my big tank progress.
I love to talk fish and promise to resist statements like, "Back in the day...".
Rick
