Matt Hirvonen
New Member
Hi everyone, my name is Matt and I am a retired scientist that spent my career decades at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I got my first aquarium when I was 8 years old! I started with live-bearers and followed by dwarf cichlids and then Killifish - at my peak I maintained approximately 80 tanks, altho 75% of those were small (2.5-10 gallons,9-38 liters). In 1999 I met a guy named John Glaeser who introduced me to aquatic gardening. John helped me set up 2 planted "jungle tanks" (29 and 55 gallons, 110 and 209 liters) that I maintained until recently when life got in the way. My wife and I had significant health/medical issues, and I also was the primary caregiver for my father and step-mother. Unfortunately, my neglected aquatic garden tanks slowly declined and I lost all my fish and most of my plants. On an interesting note, the two species of plants that survived total neglect for over a year were rotala magenta, and anubias barteri (coffefolia, and nana). My parents passed on, and my health issues are under control if not cured, so suddenly I have time again and I am restarting my aquatic gardening tanks. I am basically starting over from scratch - so far I have planted two nano tanks (9 liter cubes) and a 110 liter "farm tank". By farm tank I mean I planted 8 species that I intend to grow out until I can harvest plants to use to start other tanks. The farm tank has no hardscape, just substrate and plants for the time being.
I am fascinated with Aquascaping, and have spent the last couple months learning from the AGA archives, Youtube and George Farmers Aquascaping book. I live on the shore of Lake Superior and have been walking the beach collecting driftwood and rocks. I am working on a simple hardscape for a 20 gallon (76 liter) starter tank, and plan to expand into larger tanks as I learn what works for me. Unfortunately, I live in a small town, rural setting, and the nearest decent aquarium shop is about 3 hours away by car.
Sorry, I didn't mean to write so much... but thanks in advance for everything I will learn by participating in this forum, and I look forward to getting to know all of you!
Matt
I am fascinated with Aquascaping, and have spent the last couple months learning from the AGA archives, Youtube and George Farmers Aquascaping book. I live on the shore of Lake Superior and have been walking the beach collecting driftwood and rocks. I am working on a simple hardscape for a 20 gallon (76 liter) starter tank, and plan to expand into larger tanks as I learn what works for me. Unfortunately, I live in a small town, rural setting, and the nearest decent aquarium shop is about 3 hours away by car.
Sorry, I didn't mean to write so much... but thanks in advance for everything I will learn by participating in this forum, and I look forward to getting to know all of you!
Matt
