when it’s right, it’s right… and when it’s wrong, no amount of beating your head against the wall will help fix it…

[Magnum Man]

so I have some tanks that I find amazing… on both the positive and the negative… my hillstream tank is low maintenance, full of amazing fish, and everyday I see a fish that I haven’t seen for months… it’s a standard size 55 gallon… but I also have tanks I’ve used the same thought and care setting up, that the fish don’t survive long, and I continually throw money at, I have 13 tanks, so I’m lucky enough to have both tanks that work, and tanks that don’t… if I only had a couple tanks, and they happened to be of the money pit persuasion, I’d have given up on the hobby all together, long ago… but there is such joy in a well running tank, that I’ll keep beating my head against the wall… though, I suppose at some point a non working tank, has to become a turtle tank, or a snake cage…

 

[bgarthe]

I only have 8 tanks and agree ….some workout great and others less so. My problem, if you will, is that I relentlessly attempt to make all 8 perfect which will never happen. By working tanks, I mean both the mechanical/chemical end and healthy fish ends of the spectrum. There are times when all ‘seems’ to be going well…..and then a pump fails, a fish dies in a corner causing a bacterial bloom, fungus/bacterial issue arises, fish belligerence, or whatever. Overall, though, more goes well than not and thus I remain in the hobby and I do enjoy challenges. Afterall, sitting or reclining in the middle of the fish room is SO relaxing.

 

[Magnum Man]

I find my biggest challenge tanks to be 45 gallon talls… I love them from a viewing point, being 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall, and I have 3 of them, but try as I might, I’ve made them work, but I’ve never gotten one “just right”, where they practically run themselves, like several of my standard 55 gallon tanks… my 65 gallon ( same front dimensions as the 45’s, just thicker ) seems to always work, over the last 30 years, it’s gone from a salt water tank, to my wild type sword breeding tank… but the challenge with any tank, is getting “everything” right, starting with your expectations

 

[GaryE]

All tall tanks are trouble. I have slowly gotten rid of all but my 20 talls, which aren't that tall. I used to have a 24 inch (same base as a 20) 25 gallon, and that tank was awful. My old 75 tall worked if I ran heavy water movement pumps on it. but when I stopped keeping altum and angels, it became a liability.

My two 75s now are deeper front to back and not nearly as tall, and they're just fine.

One reason I'm building my own as I replace old ones is that I can make them shallower. Everything just seems to work better.

I resiliconed a 40 gallon 4 footer this week, and added water back in an hour ago. So far so good. I did a bad repair job on it not long ago, and decided that problem tank needed a complete scrape and resilicone. But that's a different kind of problem tank...

 

[Back in the fold]

Such is the life of a dedicated aquarist and tropical fish aficionado . The way I’m doing things currently works fine . Six of my nine aquariums are no substrate breeding set ups . I haven’t had a fully planted and thoughtfully aquascaped aquarium in years . Plants are a hassle and I like fish better . Dammit Jim I’m a fish keeper not a horticulturist !

 

[GaryE]

"Dammit Doc. It's me, Kirk. I've never seen a life form I didn't try to love".

Plants are cool.

 

[Back in the fold]

I just do not have the skills or the want to when it comes to plants . I like them but they get in the way . Fish uprooting them and snails eating them and the expense of fancy lights . Nope , I have my one Amazon Swordplant that’s still alive despite my care , hornwort , duckweed and some Java Moss and Java Fern that are finally fizzling out . No more plants after they’re all gone .

 

[gimme30]

Plants are a hassle and I like fish better

Truer words were never spoken. The moment I switched to live plants they became the focus, rather than the pleasing background addition they were intended to be. I wouldn't have minded the extra work they require if they'd actually survive, but the hundreds of dollars I've thrown away on plants could have purchased some very interesting fish. Or a Ducati.
C'est la vie. I've got 'em figured out now, (no stems!) but I do wish I'd never bothered.

On topic, this is a phenomenon I've experienced that never should have happened. When I was serious about breeding I had 36 40g tanks and 8 20g tanks in my basement fish room, along with a handful of 10g quarantine tanks and 2 475g reef tanks, not to mention the big show tank upstairs. Obviously maintenance ate up a TON of time, so in an effort to streamline things I drilled the 40s to accept plumbing and built multiple sumps that allowed me to maintain water levels and treat a series of tanks for whatever requirements their inhabitants might need. 6 of those tanks were brackish, where I bred various eels and puffers, but I could never get one to produce. Same tank, water and parameters as the other 5, but NOTHING would breed in it. I had 2 pairs of Hexanematichthys seemanni that were baby machines and when I moved one pair to this tank that was it. Zero, zilch, nada. Never could figure out why.