North American Discus Association 2010 Show

 

Planted tanks and discuss go together like peanut butter and jelly. There's almost no more colorful, majestic freshwater fish than the discus, and seeing a school of them swim through some of Takashi Amano's aquascapes is breathtaking. I've even considered keeping some...that was until I saw the rigorous water changing schedule required to keep them healthy. My plants (and algae) keep me busy enough. A fussy $50+ fish that requires a daily water change? Maybe when I'm retired.

If you have the time and dedication to care for these gorgeous fish and live near the Dallas area, you may be interested in the 2010 North American Discus Association (NADA) Show that will be held on June 10-13 of this year. For $45, you get a discus show, an auction, and a slew of speakers discussing everything from Discus 101 to Diseases and Sickness. Heck, for $45, forgo the hundreds you'd spend on the fish and live vicariously though others for a few days!

Question: Aesthetically pleasing equipment worth it?

You're looking at the brand new Fluval Edge aquarium kit. Recently released, the kit is innovative in a number of ways. Although lots of people have been poo-pooing the practicality of the design, I think Fluval is really onto something. It's rare that a traditional equipment manufacturer incorporates such advanced design aesthetics and brings something like this to the market. I feel like some in the aquarium equipment industry have really sat up and taken notice of ADA's success with its high end line of rimless aquarium tanks and minimalist glass equipment. Of course, the aquascape inside a tank will always be the main focus, but just like any good painting, a decent frame can do wonders.Yeah, it may not have the best lighting, but when has that stopped us?

So what do you think? Would you spend $129 (Edit: The price has dropped a bit from this already to $119) on the Fluval Edge when an equivalent traditional tank, filter, and light would probably cost half that? How much weight do you put in your equipment's appearance?

2009 AGA Aquascaping Contest Results

My apologies for running behind on announcing these; you've probably all seen them by now, but in case you haven't, definitely go check out the entries to the 2009 AGA Aquascaping Contest. The best in show tank (above) is just amazing. The dangling branches are a really creative touch, although I'm not sure how the whole tank looks from a normal viewing angle, since there has to be some sort of structure above to hold those in place. The driftwood is placed in such a perfect manner that it looks exactly like roots of a dying/dead tree. Honestly, I think this aquascape would be just as impressive without the branches dipping in, though a little unbalanced. What do you think? Will you be trying this new method?

A Spot of Bad Luck

It seems like I've been having nothing but bad luck lately with the aquariums. I came home from Thanksgiving with the family only to spot the remains of a brownish puddle on the floor by the big aquarium. Sure enough, I opened up the stand to find the auto-doser jug was absolutely empty. Turns out the tube that ran from the pump to the top of the aquarium had fallen off and fallen behind the stand (it was only held on by a suction cup) and without all that height to slow down the pump, 30 days of fertilizer slurry (yeah, I had just topped it up a few days before I left) emptied onto my floor over the course of two or three days in one minute intervals. I guess it could have been worse...but all those fertilizers wasted and a big stain on my floor now have taught me not to trust a single suction cup again.

Just two weeks earlier I bought a brand new Marineland heater for the big tank (exactly like the one in the photo above), since the one that I had in there was damaged in the move. After a few months of doing weekly water changes without a heater, I had gotten too used to just siphoning the water out. In the middle of my first water change since getting the heater, I heard some weird popping noises and saw an unfortunate leaf being cooked on the outside of the heater glass. I had forgotten to unplug it before I drained the water down and it had gotten so hot it had cracked the glass. The brand new heater was thoroughly fried, but the cracks in the glass were nearly invisible. Luckily, I didn't tempt fate and unplugged it and took it out to examine it. Sure enough, just handling it, it fell apart. Needless to say, I bought a Theo heater that's supposed to offer some protection against running dry, but I'm also going to be much more careful in the future. Heaters are one of the most dangerous pieces of equipment in an aquarium (as Jestep found out recently), so be careful with them!

Sometimes small accidents this hobby can be a real drain on the wallet. I'm just glad I haven't had a near catastrophe, like a leaking tank! (knock on wood)