Our Aquariums

The 46G Bow front tank.  
It is a partial south east asian biotrope aquarium.  We are using a full spectrum LED lighting here and we ended up having to do a major aquascape because it got very grown over with plants.  Unfortunately a lot of the new plants we added got eaten by the fish but some of them are making a really good come back.  The Lotus plant (looks like a lily pad) has to be regularly trimmed back.  

The fish in this tank are:
Female Betta, Clown Loaches, Siamese Algae eaters, Chain Loaches (a personal favourite), Harlequin Rasboras, Sissortail Rasboras, Zebra Danios, Bristlenose Pleco (South American but needed help with algae), 3 spot Gouramis, cherry Barbs (successfully bred) and one January Tetra (not south east asian but was to aggressive for the 35G hex)


The 35G Hex
It is a partial south American biotrope aquarium.  This is a beautiful tank.  Moss has grown over the central log and plants are quite healthy.  The streaks in this picture are from an air bubbler.  Hex tanks tend to be tall and need extra circulation and bubblers can help with that, as well as ample filtration.  

The fish for this tank include:
Glass Bloodfins, Black Neons, Neons, Panda Corys, Bronze Corys, Peppered Corys, Lemon Tetras, Brown Pencilfish (a personal favourite), Bristlenose Pleco, Rummynose Tetra, Otos

This is the 65G tank
This is our largest tanks and our newest.  It is still very much a work in progress.  It currently does not have the best lighting system but we are hoping to change that soon.  We actually have two different types of light in this tank.  Both sides have full spectrum lights for plants but the right side focuses more on the reds and blues that plants like.  The bulbs are currently single 18" T8s which are not great for have a planted tank (and the benefits of a planted tank are huge).  We are hoping to switch to a dual or quad T5 rack for the lights.  Some of the plants in the tank will grow anywhere and will provide the fish with shelter until we get other plants.  We have two large pieces of wood that have nice tunnel systems and caves in them (which is prime real estate).  

The fish for this tank include:
Congo Tetras (a personal favourite), Checkered Barbs, Golden Rams, German Blue Rams, Black Phantom Tetras, Clown Pleco, Dwarf Gourami, Female Bettas

The 5.5G
This is mostly a shrimp tank.  We will hopefully be breeding the Red Cherry Shrimps here.

The fish for this tank:
White Cloud Minnow, Red Cherry Shrimp, Amano Shrimp, one baby cherry barb

The 10G
We are using this tank as a tank to grow plants.  Fish seem to love eating baby plants and we have lost numerous plants this way.  In this tank we are growing them larger and propagating them so we can harvest them for other tanks.  This tank is using a single full spectrum T8 bulb and also has a CO2 system with it to provide adequate carbon for the plants. This tank also has an air bubbler.

There is a Male Betta in this tank

aquariums complicated expensive and really cool. Something about that cube of contained pressure straining to push past the brittle glass and tape, beyond the danger limiting boisterous play in the vicinity (hopefully). a prism of another element, a drop of the ancient maternal world, a tiny eco system for the enjoyment of the magician gods who sustain it

if the vegetation was sufficient for your fish you would really save on fish food, and it would be cool have a functional food chain living off your electricity.
in such a seemingly productive set-up have you given thought to cultivating edibles for species other than fish? namely demented sorcerer neo-apes. is that the purpose of the shrimp tank? i personally prefer green curry. but that's a kind of micro farming worth considering. everyone could have a giant tank in their basement brimming with shrimp feasting on whatever shrimp eat grown by stored solar radiation, or perhaps raise the hyper-nutritious form of blue-green algae that i believe costs around $60 for a half litre.

really really cool
thanks for the pics and info, have some things to google now

The neon lights and fish colors are very modern yet there is something ancient about the glass containers and the fish themselves. The magical appeal of aquariums goes back to the Victorian era and I'd like to investigate that topic someday, I ran into it when looking at the roots of Cthulhu.

Sea creatures and thoughts of their lives in the briny depths where favorite ideas of Victorian scientists and poets. Squids, jellyfish and aquariums are - as the Innu say about bears - "good to think with".

I like the idea of a aquarium where you could pinch some plant matter off the top for a garnish (or even use the net to scoop up a small snack....). Ever sci-fi setting a create inevitably has a vats of hyper-nutritious algae for food....

I have most certainly given thought to growing edibles in a tank and they system you described is actually called aquaponics. It involves growing edibles in a symbiotic relationship with aquatic organisms. Most commonly talipia, however, shrimp and snails are also used for edibles. Plants filter out a lot of the toxic waste fish produce. This is one of the reasons a planted aquarium is so much healthier than a non planted one. The scale of aquaponics is a little large for what we can do, however, ripariums are very doable. A riparium is an aquarium with the lid off and not completely filled with water. The lights hang from the ceiling and the plants grow well above and outside the actual aquarium. I believe you can grow a fair number of veggies this way. Again you have fish in the aquatic part of the set up. Ripariums are very beautiful.