In Shambles

     The pictures ablove display the current state of my aquarium. What was one a centerpiece of the living room is now just a pile of equipment. In order to save money, I will try to re-use most of my old equipment. Here is the list of equipment that I intend to re-use: 44 gal pentagon (All-Glass aquarim) w/ stand and custom built, open top canopy (not in picture), custom built sump connected via CPR's continuous siphon overflow, Eheim Pro II filter, Aqua Medic Ocean Light HQI 150w metal halide fixture (will probably get an Amano 8800K bulb), 10 gal CO2 tank, Milwaukee CO2 regulator w/ pH monitor, Aqumedic CO2 reactor (thinking of using something else but still undecided), and some other things I can't think of at the moment. Before I begin my set-up, here is some material to get us started.

How to Clean Aquarium Equipment + Top 5 Filters at MarineDepot.com

The Adventure Begins

This up coming week should be a busy one. I plan on visiting a few local pet stores and checking out what they have to offer. I will give a general review on the stores I visit and discuss how relative these stores are to our hobby of planted tanks and aquascaping. Before I begin my tank setup, I want to get a feel of the resources I have in my area; which I think every begginer should do.

Inspiration

     I found these pictures from an old hard drive I managed to salvage. This was my fish tank from 2004 - 2006. I experimented with many different plants, addition of CO2, and fertilizers. It was arduous time for me as I had to struggle with an assortment of algae issues, plant growth issues, etc. These pictures will serve as my inspiration as I begin my new journey in creating a planted aquarium. It's been awhile, but hopefully I learned from past mistakes and will be able to create a masterpiece as seen in the works of Takashi Amano.

In the Beginning

I am new to this high tech age of what you humans call blogging. I am currently playing around with new features and layouts. I am also working on providing links to various forums that spurned my interest in planted tanks and aquariums. These forums were very informative as well as inspiring. My old computer crashed so I have to dig up new links that I have to recall by memory.

I have also decided to rebuild my old planted tank from the ground up hoping to get it back to its glory days. This will of course be dependent on financial funding but I shall make it work somehow. This blog will serve as my personal journal of my upcoming planted tank build. Stay tuned.

Welcome

I will be working on this blog as the days pass. It's definitely a work in progress. My goal is to educate Oahu residents who are interested in freshwater planted tanks. I will provide reviews of local stores, general products, plants, etc. I will also provide valuable resource links which have helped me succeed in the past. For some reason, resources were very limited here in Oahu when I first began 10 years ago. Trying to restart a hobby which I once loved so this will be a learning experience for me as well.