Free contest... Any one can enter.

[brewmaster15]

Im really hoping I can get a few more of you posting regularly . Its really important that members do more than just read on a discussion forum. So lets use some tried and proven techniques to get people to do something... bribery... I mean a contest with a prize. This is really simple. Alls you need to do is post in this thread a picture of your fish tank and tell us a little about it and if you want..yourself and hobby. You may post 1 different picture per day for the next 8 days.. For each picture you get an entry.. post 8 pics and we enter your name 8 times. At the end of the 8 days We will randomly draw a winner.

The prize so far is a book. I have for the winner a piece of Discus History.. Jack Wattley's "Discus Breeding For Beginners" which I will donate and Include shipping to anywhere in the world usps will deliver to. This book is an easy read and kind of cool just because it was written by Jack Wattley and You can never have too many Discus Books. I learned alot about discus in my early days from Jack's Articles and books.


If the response here is lame.. it will be an easy win for someone.If the response is great I will add other prizes.


20230220_093434.jpg


Questions ? Ask them here. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE.!

Al

[jwcarlson]

20230214_194725.jpg

You're in luck, I just took a bunch of "one year" pictures the other day.

I've been keeping fish on/off for about 25 years, pretty heavily when I was a teen living at home. Less so when I was in college, but I had a 10 gallon community tank in the dorm for a year and a 29 in the house I rented for two years. And I've had something small on/off since then. Years ago I had wanted to get discus, I actually have another account here from back then. I never posted, just read. The join date on that account says July of 2006 which would have been an absolutely terrible time for me to get discus as I was off at college and about two years from graduating. They'd have been dead fish swimming had I bought some at the time.

In any event, the forum here convinced me that I wasn't ready. But... the seed had been planted an eventually germinated. I've been back in the hobby for a bit over a year and have had discus for one year. Got a number of different tanks going, mostly planted and community stuff. But am trying my hand at breeding Apistogramma Hongsloi. I do not currently have plans to breed discus... but I will have a hard time not doing it at least once if I end up with a willing pair someday!

[farebox]

Here's a video of my 125-gallon discus tank. The tanks have been running since I joined the forum back on 12-26-2009. The current stocks are 11 discus from Chicago Discus and 1 discus from Han's. The tank is bare bottom, which I highly prefer, with plants that can take the high temps in terra cotta pots. I'm fully retired, 21 yrs. in the United States Air Force and 19 yrs. as a bus operator in San Antonio, TX. My age is going on 74 in April and always have had a freshwater aquarium since the age of 21 in the house where ever I was. When I retired in 2009 started keeping discus and the current tank is the end result of gaining pertinent info from all the folks on SD. I hooked on this hobby and fully enjoyed my fish 24/7. https://youtu.be/RIbW-WgWqoI

[Iminit]

99C5F449-54D4-47B4-A735-7B2008F4995A.jpg

Well I started keeping fish in the 70s. Guppies my uncle started me with. Still have the 35g metal and slate bottom tank. Sometime in the 80s I started keeping discus. Jack Whattley’s turqs were the discus to have. Bought 2 from him from an add in tropical fish hobbiest. Had to pick them up at the airport. Went to 2 discus symposiums in the late 80s early 90s and even won a beautiful cobalt discus from the German breeder Bergen. Just a beautiful fish! So nice it was the cover of the next TFH mag. Kept discus till 04 than when the 200g they were in broke. Saved all 14 discus and kept them in the 20g qt tank I had for about a month till I could buy a 90g. But with redoing the basement and kids that was it with discus. Just too much money spent on them . Got back into it in 19. Thinking it’s been 15yrs these fish with all these great colors must be easy to keep. Well I was wrong. Got to say I think they’re harder now then then. But now retired I’ve got time to keep them and my 5 other tanks . Keeps me busy!

[dspeers]

Spoke with Al and he is OK with an entrance of my two aquariums which due to family and personal health issues remain empty. Bought about 3 years ago from Amazon for too much money but I was enamored with the seamless front, which far as I can tell is no longer offered. Hope that is not due to leak problems inherent in this design. Will eventually see....I hope. Anyway got two (advertized via the always suspicious "Last Two Available" gambit). In this case I think it was true as the first tank delivered was excellent, the second came with a stand that seemed slapped together by someone's son with a variance from square of over 4 degrees such that the doors didn't close and I would never put a tank filled with 175 gallons on top of it. The hoot was that these tanks have a capacity of ~ 130 gallons as the trim is proud of the glass by 1/2 inch all around, the bottom is raised 1 inch above the bottom of the trim and the tank is designed be filled to 3.5 inches below the top of the tank. Using the exterior dimensions does yield ~ 175, in reality slightly less than 130. Now they advertize a total volumn of 175 gallons including the 40 in the sump. Also a hoot as that the sump is designed to only be filled with about 25 gallons. Anyway the second tank was also different and though close was not the same as the first. They only sent this particular second after informing me that my original second tank had been lost somewhere.
Will add pictures momentarily. Plan is to describe my modifications tomorrow, then the floor next. Hopefully not too booring.

[dspeers]

Resized_20230220_122209 (002).jpg

[dspeers]

That worked. This is tank # 2. If you look closely you will see that the gold trim on the bottom corners does not match the base cabinet. In addition I had to deconstruct the base and rebuild. Unfortunately broke one of the glass side facades. Will replace with plastic which is bairly noticeable. Also this tank was unmarketed with hook ups for temperature, lights, and wifi as is evident by the display on the upper R trim. Also thought that I could remove the upper glass trim and repaint to eliminate the logo on the front. Not sure I can do that without breaking as that glass is thin, very thin (Just like the side panels). Ultimately they sent this after I threatened legal action. They sent the onetank, then informed me that the second was lost and I needed to choose a different color or tank with front glass seams. Told them to come and pick up the first tank or deliver on contract or chat with my lawyer. Love dealing with chinese import companies, never again. Although in this case Tiawan company, so expected better. If you notice the big hole on the bottom of the plastic facade covering the return on the R, that is my mod for the undergravel reverse filter. Pulled all thaT as I am upgrading the covering of the rear glass from tinted film to a LED system with adjustable tint and light intensity. All I gotta do is build the light system and a wheeled apparatus to slide the tank off the stand so I can get to the back glass. Not putting that tank on the floor again.

[dspeers]

Tank 1.jpg

[dspeers]

This is tank 1 of the pair. Base was great and so was tank. Wish both were of this quality. After the company offered a relatively paltry financial settlement decided to live with tank 2 rather than probably spend more in legal fees that the two tanks cost, as well as years of headaches. You can also see the changed sump bottom left, but more on that tomorrow's entry. Also shown is a pack and play as I am a new grandfather for the last two months. My son's firstborn daughter Alessia.

[Greg-Florida]

Great idea, Al. I'm on a learning streak...

I inherited my teenage sons' 4 fish tanks when he went away 4 months ago to a treatment center for youth with substance use and depression/anxiety disorders down south 3 hours. We went to visit him this weekend and he's doing well.
I will tell more about his tanks in this thread in the coming days as I intend to increase my chances of having Al ship me that cool book!

I have had a couple tanks so understand the basics, and I've cared for Nick's tanks before. One of his tanks is a small reef all-in-one tank with a nice variety of sea life in it.
I got Nick into the hobby about 5 years ago when we bought him his first tank (20 Gal) for his 12th birthday.

He has a nice 30 gal bow front with an assortment of gentle community fish, a 60 gal tank with 4 Discus he's had for over 2 years (one Discus just passed away last week), a 20 gallon salt tank with coral and fish and a 5 gallon tank he grows plants in.

Below, a black, long-spined sea urchin looks for a meal. I learned recently he loves seaweed sheets and I rubber band them to the shell seen in the image so it will stay submerged where he can find it.
He lost all his spines recently and I thought he was done, but he recovered once he began eating these sheets. And this is Nick and I in Palm Beach yesterday.
Aquariums and fishing are two of his favorite hobbies, his other favorite is dirtbiking.
IMG_5637B.jpgIMG_5685.JPG

[Greg-Florida]

Here's a video of my 125-gallon discus tank. The tanks have been running since I joined the forum back on 12-26-2009. The current stocks are 11 discus from Chicago Discus and 1 discus from Han's. The tank is bare bottom, which I highly prefer, with plants that can take the high temps in terra cotta pots. I'm fully retired, 21 yrs. in the United States Air Force and 19 yrs. as a bus operator in San Antonio, TX. My age is going on 74 in April and always have had a freshwater aquarium since the age of 21 in the house where ever I was. When I retired in 2009 started keeping discus and the current tank is the end result of gaining pertinent info from all the folks on SD. I hooked on this hobby and fully enjoyed my fish 24/7. https://youtu.be/RIbW-WgWqoI

VERY cool tank Roland! Love the potted plants! Nice work.

[brewmaster15]

Great posts everyone! Please keep them coming SimplyDiscus!
al

[Disgirl]

Hi Al and everyone! I am back after a health related absence, and deaths in my family. I am ready to make more cones and will offer one as a prize here after your great book gets given away. Will keep an eye on this thread to see how it goes. I will take a tank pic soon, but not for the contest, I have that book and don't want to give myself a cone I made, LOL.
Barb

[Greg-Florida]

Good day all.

I've taken the advice of some SD contributors and added live plants to our community tank.
I've started off with a Sword plant, Java fern and a nice red plant, a
red Telanthera (var. Roseafolia). (Water is a tad cloudy bec. I just did a WC.)

After I learn more about them and get my sea legs, I'll add plants to the Discus tank.
There's a small live plant in there now but it's not thriving.

Have a great day! Greg
IMG_5660.JPGIMG_5661.JPG

[brewmaster15]

Hi Al and everyone! I am back after a health related absence, and deaths in my family. I am ready to make more cones and will offer one as a prize here after your great book gets given away. Will keep an eye on this thread to see how it goes. I will take a tank pic soon, but not for the contest, I have that book and don't want to give myself a cone I made, LOL.
Barb

Hi Barb! Welcome back! Sorry to hear you have been unwell and dealing with family loss. Its never easy, is it? THANK YOU for your generous donation here.We can always count on you for supporting the community here Barb. You are the best!
Al