My Natural Aquarium Coming To Life.

[a.person61]

Hey guys,
I've decided to make a sort of journal thing here showing my first ever Natural aquarium from start to Finnish And telling abit of a story of how I got to this point In aquariums.
My name is Austin Frendo from Albury Australia, I am 13 years old son to be 14 in May. Since I was young I have always loved nature and wild life but have always had a thing for fish And lush Green plants. When I was young I always thought anything under the name of aquarium was one of those aquariums at a zoo and fish tanks were anything else. All though there basicly the same thing I now have a differnt understanding. A fish tank is a glass box with fish in it. A aquarium is a glass box with a eco system in it.
I started off with a crown tail fighter fish named Jesus in a 2 liter betta starter kit, I new it was mean to keep a animal in such a small space so as soon as a could I purchase a 21 L with a heater, filter and plants. From that moment on I've tried my best to make that 21L look amazing, from carabeen style to filled with plants. Sadly Jesus passed away due to a bad heater since then I've been keeping Coldwater in that tank... but that's another story.
while doing research I descoverd planted and natural aquariums sence then my life hasn't been The same. I started to have a love for clown loaches but I decided not to go down that lane because they tend destroy plants as they get older. Then I discovered discus and to My delite I discover they are compatible with plants. I started making plans to get a larger tank for the aquascape and discus. I even started delivering junk mail... worst job ever... this was all happening when I was about 11.
After 2 years of saving, research and discovering SD I started getting leg pains... they slowly got worse and worse to a point I was scrambling in the middle of the night looking for pain killers and had to be taking out of school. I went to the doctors and long story short I had developed bone cancer called osteo sarcoma. I had to quit my job and stop going to school to get chemotherapy in Melbourne. I was devastated that I could no longer reach my dream of owning a Natural discus aquarium.
Then a side of humanity what I've never seen before decided to show up. And with the help of the comunity my school and my family I can now reach my dream. And Massive thanks to josie from Chicago discus for securing discus for me in the future.
I'm still getting chemo and have not yet been to school since September however things are going well I've had my hip replacment, the worst and most of the chemotherapy is done and I'm starting to walk without crutches.
I now own a 140 gallon tank here's my latest picture.
I'm going to change the way it looks and transform it to a natureal aquarium when my feature wood arrives here a link to some pics.
http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/sh...od+Extra+Large
I will keep this updated as things happen, I'll love to hear your thoughts, opinions and feedback.
Take Care-Austin

[Northwoods Discus]

Austin, I wish you well and good health. You are an amazing young person. Aquariums are a great reprieve from all of life's trials. Your tank is beautiful. Great job.

[Rudustin]

Hi Austin, I think you are a very brave young man! I also think that your passion about keeping fish is what this forum is all about. Congratulations on your new 140 gallon tank! I think it's really coming along. Just a few suggestions. When you choose your discus try to stay away from Pigeon Blood strains because of the dark substrate that you have chosen. Pigeon Bloods tend to pepper with a dark substrate. I'm not suggesting that you need to change the substrate if that is what you like. The photo is a bit fuzzy so I can't tell exactly but I think I see two heaters that on the back of the tank in a horizontal slant angle? If they are heaters I would suggest that you drop the heaters to a horizontal position at the bottom of the tank so that you won't have to unplug heaters during water changes and aesthetically it will be more attractive plus discus and other egg layers like to use anything in a vertical position to deposit eggs on and a heater isn't a good place for fish to lay eggs on because they can hurt their breeding tubes. I hope you will continue to let us know how the tank continues to evolve and to let us know here at SD how you progress in your treatments. I wish you the best recovery and the continued love for the keeping of fish including Discus. Don't be shy and keep us up to date. Rufus

[jmf3460]

Austin,

I am very proud of you for conquering such an amazing tank at such a young age, and for being so upfront and brave with your health problems. Regarding the substrate. I think you should remove maybe half an inch of it and replace it with sand. When syphoning up discus poo and uneaten food, sand is much easier because the poo lays on top and can easily be syphoned up. With substrate such as yours, the poo and uneaten food will settle down in the grooves and become a nitrate problem. Maybe just put some sand over top of what you have, cap it with say a quarter to a half inch. This will lighten up the whole look of your tank and will help with peppering in your upcoming fish. Your plants will do well with the substrate you currently use, but your fish will do better with sand. Make sure to get adult discus and like Rufus said, try to stay away from pigeon blood strains to avoid peppering. Good luck and good health to you. Your parents must be so proud.

[a.person61]

Hey guys thanks for the great responses!
Rudustin thanks for the suggestion with the heaters I'll be sure to fix them up. I'm sorry for the bad pic the camera isn't to good on my tabilet.
hi Jacklyn I was going to get sand originaly but sadly it would cost a bomb to get it over to me. I'll consider getting some sand prior to discus arrival meanwhile I'll just vacuum really well.
it's strange how fish pepper I've noticed some of my rummy noses have pepperd abit. they look so unique now.

[Lighthouse]

Hey austin im praying to the good Lord for you for your health and that hill countinue to bless you with the things that make you feel better

[Chaz88]

Looking forward to the updates on your tank!

[a.person61]

Hey guys I've decided I'll add some fine crushed gravel kinda like sand to the tank to fill in any cracks where the food and waste can get trapped. I've decided to go for a darker colour because I be leave it makes the fish Plants and driftwood pop out. I'm thinking of these colour bases with the discus 2 red 3 blue and 3 other.
Sence I have plants that feed from the leaves I'm thinking of adding some stuff to the water to get the full potential of the growth, no CO2. Would this be a good idea? I'm also thinking of adding trumpet snails as I'm not home all to ofen to move the gravel around.

[Frankr409]

God bless you Austin, you are a brave young man to say the least, and I am impressed by your accomplishments! You strike me as a person who will not be held back by adversity. My girl friend is going through a similar situation in that she will need a hip replacement. I hope I can have her read this thread that you wrote, you are so brave! I am praying for you!

[rickztahone]

First Austin, I'd like to commend you on following through with this build considering all the health problems. I remember hearing your story a while back and I hoped you'd carry it out.

Moving on to the tank. I think it looks great. However, i do agree with the above comment about the substrate being too high. I would remove some of it so that you are roughly anywhere from 2-3".

One recommendation I would make to your scape is that I would move the branchy piece of wood further to the left. It makes for a far better composition with the piece branching off to the right from the left 3rd of the tank.

I would avoid putting any crushed gravel in the tank. If you have any pool supply store in the area, ask them for pool filter sand and they will sell you a #50 lbs bag for a lot less than a bomb

Lastly, I would avoid PB's as recommended already.

Please keep us updated and I hope you get better. Very nice of Josie and Miranda to do that for you

[Rudustin]

Dear Austin, Adding more gravel to " to fill in the cracks," is not such a great idea. The suggestion was made to put a light layer of sand in the tank because it will be much easier to clean up the excess food and poop from any of the fishes you get. Does anyone around you have a pool? If so they may know of a pool supply store that you get pool filter sand, wash it thoroughly before putting it in the tank. You would of course have to remove the gravel you currently have first. I would also suggest that you get used to a tank with less in it because of the need to keep the water free of waste from fish and food. Trumpet snails will not clean very much up. Snails also can carry diseases if not quarantined for some time so I wouldn't suggest you do that either. I know you want a very natural looking tank with plants etc., however, if you want to put discus into a tank after all the trouble and money and time then you want them to be in the perfect conditions. In the Amazon discus come from rivers that are slow moving in the shallows with drift wood and roots with primarily a sandy bottom. Plants and Discus don't necessarily go together for a beginner. I am not a beginner and I have eight tanks of discus including two quarantine/hospital tanks and they are completely bare on the bottom with some drift wood and no sand at all. I rather like it because the fish have plenty of room and they kind of pop out so the tank isn't the show, the fish are. I know you are excited about having this big, wonderful tank but go slow and read a bit more from the beginners section of this forum. Most people start out with teenage discus but in your case it might be better to start out with adults. Adults are easier to care for than baby or juvenile discus. Discus require a great deal of care and one of the best ways to make sure that they don't run into a situation that would spoil the water and then make them sick, it is necessary to do several water changes a week. Are you or your parents going to be able to do that? If so, then you might think about removing the gravel that you have and leaving the bottom bare and start that way so you can thoroughly clean the tank. If you want plants you can put them in clay flower pots with gravel and that will make things easier as well because you won't have to vacuum the gravel all the time. I hope this helps and again ask questions and they will be answered by so many here on SD. Good luck and think about what I said. Trust me I still make mistakes but it is still very exciting and I understand your excitement and I wish you the very best. Rufus

[rickztahone]

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask the main question I wanted to ask when I first saw your tank. Do you happen to know the names of the plants you have in there? I ask only because these do not look like any aquatic plants that I am familiar with. If they are not fully aquatic plants, the rhizome will begin to rot after a while and will degrade your tank very quickly. Look towards anubias and ferns because they can both be attached to driftwood, rather than buried.

[a.person61]

I do understand the gravel is to thick around the corners but though out the middle it's what I've always had With my tanks. The crushed gravel is so fine it could be called sand. If I put a layer on top either way it will slowly mix in with the bigger gravel as I clean. I use this gravel on my other 2 tanks and it's the best gravel or sand I've used It's also cheap, 100% natureal and dosenot alter the water. I was going to add discus when I felt I'm truly ready for it, of course I'll be ok to do the water changes etc.

The plants in there are 100% java fern and anubis, most of the anubis is Nana. The larger ones cost a little more but there worth it. Once I receive my center piece alot of the anubis will be tied on it and on flat river rocks.

I'm sorry I didn't explain what I had in the tank to well after I redo the setup I'll write up a post explaining what I have. ill also like to mention things cost abit more over here so what I purchase I'll use Some way or another.

[rickztahone]

Glad to hear about the plants. Are you sure you have anubias nana in there? I ask because anubia nana is typically a lot more expensive than the larger ones. They are typically bought to put in nano tanks where smaller footprint plants are a must. Either way, I'm glad they are aquatic and I am glad they are doing well for you in no co2. Anubias are super resiliant as well as fern. They do well with low light.

Notice how tiny the Anubias barteri "Nana Petite" is:
http://www.substratesource.com/?p=products&c=p

[a.person61]

My pet store Sells differnt anubis 12 bucks a pot on any type they have. It comes prepackaged snail and Desiese free I also have some nana petite on some of my driftwood.