May 4, 2008

Well, here’s a pic of my current tank. I give all my tanks names, and this one is “Kahuna’s Revenge”. It seems that my bigger tanks have all met with untimely ends. The first I called Big Clear Kahuna (I’ll post more on that later). It was followed - in true Hollywood “B” movie tradition - by “Son of Kahuna”. After that take tank bit the big one in very dramatic fashion, I had to have another. And this is it… “Kahuna’s Revenge”.

It’s a 180 gallon planted community discus tank. It’s a lot easier to have a a big, heavily planted tank with a few tetras swimming in it. But discus look much more dramatic, and it’s a bit more challenging to do successfully. So being the masochist that I am, once I started planted tanks I was drawn to discus like a moth to light. And in true moth fashion, I’ve been burned. But at the moment the tank looks OK. Not great. But OK.

I say that because the the aquascaping technique is a bit lame at the moment. I’ve got some plants growing out and are left in bad positions temporarily. And a few plants need to be removed once others grow in. But it’s pretty healthy.

I set this tank up about 11 months ago, and I been vigorously battling algae for about 10 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days. In other words, the algae has not been gone long. More about that later. But it does seem to be on the retreat now. But it was a wicked, hard time getting here. Now I just need to let a little time pass so I can grow out the plants and rearrange to a better aquascape.

This is my first real post to my Journal. So take note of how the tank looks today. It’ll change. And if the past is any indicator, all the changes will not be for the better. But relatively speaking, it’s a good day for a 1st post. Some browsers will let you click on the picture for a larger (and much more attractive IMO) pic. If you can get to the larger pic, you can see one of the discus guarding its eggs on a leaf in the back right corner. Spawning is my “canary in the coal mine”. If they are spawning, I assume they are happy.

More later!