Winter hobbies setting in. Aquarium

Well as winter come my other hobbies start going crazy. I love aquariums and planted aquariums are my favorite. Of course it can be a bit of a pain on the wallet but once you get the lights the CO2 in the water. The plants go crazy and you can have a aquascape that looks like a piece of the Amazon. I manly deal with tetras they are small colorful and I manly have a tank for plants but they are always a great addition. I am currently putting up my newest tank. I am also working on building small waterfalls out of styrofoam to grow in the greenhouse. It should be interesting I will post pics of this as well. Anyone else into the aquariums and indoor waterfalls for winter?

This pic is my old aquarium. I try to make it as natural as possible and had a cyperus swamp like look to it.

This is the second thread of yours that has caught my eye...you are a busy beaver.

Interesting waterfall.... love to have more pics.

On this aquarium......these are real water plants? Not just plants that have been put in water and then rot like I see in pet stores? Wow,,,,what are some of their names?

Hap

PS...I had an aquarium 100 years ago and the only thing that I grew, because it was the only thing available, was anacharis...

Now I see it growing in the water here and in the islands. LOL

Hap

This tank had three lights and 3 inches of sand on the bottom. The sand is regular play sand slightly cleaned the aquarium cannot run when you put in the water and will stay cloudy for about 3 days. But it makes a great rooting area for plants. The plants in the tank are all over 1 year old here are some of my favorite Anubias langendra and Cryptocoryne all are aroids that grow in and out of water usually on the sides of tropical creeks about 5 inches down. Most will flower above water. I think once you get the right system going most plants so well except for the few pet stores sell like brazilian sword and aluminum plants or waffle plants.

HUMMMMMMMMMM.....I live on a small lake here and there are two interesting plants in the water. One has small leaves and in the summer turns redish. When the lake goes down, it's little heads stick above the water and seem to just love it. Then soon again, they are under water....and happy. Then there is a vine that loves to come up out of the lake and flower a daisy sort of bloom. That too lives happily in the lake. Weird.....

Thanks for the info.

Brian, so glad you started this thread. I plan to fire up (so to speak) my aquariums, one at a time, after the holidays.

It's been about 15 years since I had one running.

I only have 55 gal tanks , I filled one for a couple months this summer just to be sure it was still solid with no leaks.

Your Amazon like setting is exactly what I want.

In the past I've had a couple of red Oscars but my fav was fancy angel fish (fresh water).

My dream is to have a naturally dark watered Amazon tank with a couple turquoise Discus fish.

I also hope to build a wood stand with basic tools (no fancy joinery).

When I first got my 'true' wrought iron stands they were so beautiful. but even after refinishing them they just don't fit in with my decor at present.

TTYL

Here's my "low light/low tech" planted tank. That just means low wattage and no CO2.

I also keep Ranchu Goldfish and several marine and reef tanks.

Oh, yer killin me here, I love dat picture.

One of my fav little fish for brackish water was the little bumblebee gobies .