It’s been a long time coming.
Years ago I got it into my head that I needed a fish tank. After all, my alternative career choice was to become a Marine Biologist and save the whales. I went so far as to build a stand out of solid pine, but then I decided that a custom shaped tank (a 2x2x2 cube) was not in my student budget. The fish tank stand became a TV stand for a few years instead.
This year (well 2006) my brother got a 25 gallon tank for Christmas. I was immediately envious and I decided that now that my career at We-Create was well on it’s way I’d have to get one too.
In February my wife and I settled on a 54 gallon, corner quarter cylinder (way cooler than a cube!) and we began deciding what we’d put in it. We borrowed books form the library, joined the local aquarium club (KWAS) and eventually decided that we’d “go big or go home.” We chose a fully planted, fresh-water, tropical community tank. Ambitious for first-timers to say the least.
After five months, this is what it looks like:
…but it wasn’t always so pretty.
It started out fairly cloudy on the first day after planting it:
Then we got the inevitable “New Tank Syndrome” slime:
But with the help of the wonderful folks at KWAS (and their online forums), we quickly overcame the hurdles and started to see some measurable progress:
Now I think I need a bigger tank. A 125 gallon maybe? One can dream…
