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Awesome write up, and interesting filter set up. The pond I inherited just has a large bag of red lava rock as the bacteria substrate. I do wonder, if that is big enough for a koi. When I looked into it, it was recommended they have 3' depth and at least 8' of length.
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Jun 24, 2021 18:43
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Desert Bus posted:I've heard multiple stories of people going to clean their filter only to find a colony of shrimps happily living and breeding in there. I find ~4 scrimps in my Aquaclear HOB about monthly despite having an appropriate pre-filter. Have yet to find any in my FXs from my community tank, but I use mesh filter media bags as covers in that one. Maybe the babies are small enough to fit through the foam pre-filter, but not through the fine mesh of the filter media bags.
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Jun 24, 2021 19:06
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eSporks posted:Awesome write up, and interesting filter set up. The pond I inherited just has a large bag of red lava rock as the bacteria substrate. I do wonder, if that is big enough for a koi. When I looked into it, it was recommended they have 3' depth and at least 8' of length. Thank you! This silly little pond of mine has been a dream for years now. I made a 20 gallon vertical tank using this guy’s method about 3 years ago, that really got me into the hobby. https://youtu.be/ZvmGJuquuLE What I would say about the pond you inherited, if it’s about the same size as mine, is that you should go get 5 or so Home Depot buckets, keep the fish, the plants and the rocks in them, drain all the water till it’s just the last little slushy 3 or 4 inches at the bottom, cover with soil compost mix and stir so it’s really good and muddy, put the lava rocks back in as they’re like aerobic bacteria archolgies, cover with washed pea sized gravel about an inch or two in the 2/3 ratio, leaving the last third empty, cover about 2/3 of that gravel with some sand, maybe another inch deep, then add large rocks to the empty side. The lava rocks are so fantastic as homes for the beneficial bacteria, they just need more variety of living space to really get a nitrogen cycle factory roaring. Google dem bog filters too if you’re not familiar, they’re soo cool. When I have more space I want to make one full of carnivorous plants. I mean I’m gonna have to, those koi will need another 1000 gallons pond or so by the time they’re full sized. Something that big would need a scaled up spillway. E: here’s some pics of that 20 gallon vertical https://imgur.com/gallery/6AJuEQP Solvent fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Jun 24, 2021 |
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Jun 24, 2021 19:42
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candystarlight posted:I find ~4 scrimps in my Aquaclear HOB about monthly despite having an appropriate pre-filter. On more than one occasion I've pulled 30ish live pleco fry out of an FX6 canister.
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Jun 24, 2021 20:15
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Enos Cabell posted:On more than one occasion I've pulled 30ish live pleco fry out of an FX6 canister. Yep, I'm running an FX7 series canister and I've already had shrimp fry in there twice now. Today's project was cutting up some polyester fiber acoustic panels to make a cover for the back 4 inches of the glass aquarium cover where the plastic strip is. Cut some vent holes in the plastic, fit a pair of 60mm fans to push air through them, and fit the acoustic panelling strips on top to help kill sound and make a good seal for the vent fans. Then I fit a couple of the panels inside the stand to kill sound from the air pump and canister filter. This made a pretty appreciable difference in sound. Also made a rest for the lid section so it doesn't rest on the light bar. 
Warbadger fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Jun 24, 2021 |
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Jun 24, 2021 21:43
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Warbadger posted:Yep, I'm running an FX7 series canister and I've already had shrimp fry in there twice now. This tank looks beautiful, I normally love heavily planted tanks but you've done very well with this scape.
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Jun 24, 2021 22:01
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All of you Fluval XF? canister filter people are spending way too much money when the Eheim Classic canisters exist. Pull all the sponges, fill with ceramic media, slap on the mechanical sponge prefilter. Cheap as poo poo solid as a rock, no fancy bells and whistles. Nothing weird that can fail and replacement parts are easy to find and install.
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Jun 24, 2021 22:10
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VelociBacon posted:This tank looks beautiful, I normally love heavily planted tanks but you've done very well with this scape. Thank you, I'm going for a stream bed look, with (aside from the 3 platys and shrimp - my son loves them) Eastern US stream fish. Adding a few more anubias plants in the bunch near the front of the tank to beef up the nitrate consumption and provide some cover for the smaller shrimp but otherwise pretty happy about it. ^ I ended up going with a Fluval 407 because it pushed a lot of water and (most importantly for Mrs. Warbadger) did it very quietly. Warbadger fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Jun 24, 2021 |
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Jun 24, 2021 22:14
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Warbadger posted:Yep, I'm running an FX7 series canister and I've already had shrimp fry in there twice now. Love this look! Any chance you can take a pic from the top? Asking because I need something to cover the back 4 inches as well, but I'm having a hard time envisioning what's going on.
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Jun 25, 2021 00:21
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candystarlight posted:Love this look!   Nothing too fancy. I had some of these acoustic panels left over after soundproofing some of the old, cheap hollow core bedroom doors in our house. I cut two holes exactly to the dimensions of the fans so they fit tightly into the panel along with slots for the pump tubing/wires. I'll also be fitting in an aluminum mesh underneath the central vent to prevent jumpers. It improves the look a bit by hiding the cheap plastic strip and deadens some of the surface agitation noise from the canister filter's return. I cut some 3 x .5 inch strips out of the leftover bits and adhered them with some double sided adhesive tape right behind the glass lid hinge so it rests on them at a nice stable angle when I open it up. You can just barely see them at the bottom of the lower image. Warbadger fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Jun 25, 2021 |
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Jun 25, 2021 02:17
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I really wish I could have a UNS or rimless tank. The hand me down tank is cool, and good where my fish are, but the lid's not a full cover so I have to mind light more. Hard water is a pain. Also I miss having a betta. Grumpy faces are part of the sharm.
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Jun 25, 2021 03:26
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Aerofallosov posted:I really wish I could have a UNS or rimless tank. The hand me down tank is cool, and good where my fish are, but the lid's not a full cover so I have to mind light more. Hard water is a pain. I would love to upgrade to something like the UNS 90U at some point in the future. They look amazing, as do the cabinets. Edit: The fans dropped the water temperature by 3 degrees. That's a success! Warbadger fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Jun 25, 2021 |
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Jun 25, 2021 03:58
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Aerofallosov posted:I really wish I could have a UNS or rimless tank. The hand me down tank is cool, and good where my fish are, but the lid's not a full cover so I have to mind light more. Hard water is a pain. I LOVE my UNS tanks. I only have small ones though, ~10 gal and ~8 gal. I still have to have the custom lids made for them though, so thank you for the unintentional reminder. If I win the lottery, one of my first 5 purchases would be the $3k for the 150gal version. It's so pretty. Warbadger, thanks for posting the top! I love how that turned out and will be looking to do something similar with whatever mats I can get my paws on.
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Jun 26, 2021 00:17
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It actually worked out much better than expected. The temperature up until yesterday was hovering around 77-78F with the room temperature at 73F. Currently with the fans on the lowest setting it's been at 72F all day, which is pretty ideal for everything in there.
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Jun 26, 2021 01:35
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I put a mirror next to my Bettas tank to make him flare to give him exercise. Now I am wondering if I should do that or not. It's not often that I do it I just figured he would do it I. The wild. Should I stop? He is a good Betta anyway, and I don't want to do anything that will hurt him.
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Jun 26, 2021 13:01
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nunsexmonkrock posted:I put a mirror next to my Bettas tank to make him flare to give him exercise. Now I am wondering if I should do that or not. It's not often that I do it I just figured he would do it I. The wild. Should I stop? He is a good Betta anyway, and I don't want to do anything that will hurt him. Don’t leave it there. If he’s flaring he’s stressed. It’s enriching for him and you, and it’s exercise, but it also triggers a stress response and prolonged stress is very bad for fish He’ll never figure out it’s not another fish so it’s not like he can switch “off”. It’s up to you to decide that for him and when he’s had enough. There’s also the issue of self injury. Fish that are constantly trying to fight with their own reflection and repeatedly smashing into the glass or into their scape can seriously hurt themselves, especially over time. There’s a level of light intensity at which point my GFP+ betta can see her own reflection in the tank glass and I can’t light the tank that brightly because she’ll smash her face into it over and over and try to slap it with her tail like a vicious idiot.
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Jun 26, 2021 15:01
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Desert Bus posted:I just introduced new genetics and tbh the new MTS are very... stumpy? So i'm hoping that is recessive. But it's been a few years since I put new ones in so I def needed the new genetic infusion. I bought some snails listed as Thiara Scabra. Google seems to think they are spiked MTS but I cant seem to reach a conclusion. Pet shop guy said they don't really seem to breed much, but from the three I took home, I saw a little baby one the other day. Reference picture; not mine.
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Jun 26, 2021 15:30
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N17R4M posted:I bought some snails listed as Thiara Scabra. Google seems to think they are spiked MTS but I cant seem to reach a conclusion. Pet shop guy said they don't really seem to breed much, but from the three I took home, I saw a little baby one the other day. You found it! Apparently they don't breed too fast like their cousins the MTS but they do still pump out a regular stream of babies. Please try and remember me when you've got a good healthy population going. 
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Jun 26, 2021 16:35
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The tiny cherry shrimp I found in my filter weeks ago has re-appeared at 1/4 inch long now. Happy to see he made it.
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Jun 26, 2021 16:41
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I do love watching baby shrimp grow. We've had our first two clusters of cherries hatch about two weeks ago and theres dozens. Turned out all our previous shrimp were female and adding a couple males into the mix got it going. Re: Spiky MTS, I've sent you a PM. We've had them three months now, and only now have I spotted a baby. Though they spend a lot of time buried in the sand and are hard to keep track of at the best of times. Speaking of I should check on the clams Shrimp tax:
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Jun 26, 2021 18:14
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My amanos are working hard. I'm switching to sponge filters, and wow. These are some big ones, so now I have a bunch of sponges saved up I guess. I still want a nice UNS one of these days. The hand me down tank is okay, but the lid leaves so much open to drive me batty with evaporation. And more fish seem to be missing. Maybe I'll find them when I scrub the algae off my log.
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Jun 26, 2021 22:57
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Ok Comboomer posted:Don’t leave it there. If he’s flaring he’s stressed. It’s enriching for him and you, and it’s exercise, but it also triggers a stress response and prolonged stress is very bad for fish Oh no I don't leave the mirror there and I monitor him while I am showing him his reflection. This was about 10 years ago but I had to put a paper towel behind my filter because that Betta saw his reflection and kept trying to attack it. Paper towel didn't work but crinkled up aluminum foil worked(it was a overhanging filter, ).
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Jun 26, 2021 23:38
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I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do. I had a 20g tank as a kid, and now that I'm a Grown Up and can afford basically whatever I want, I don't know where to start. (It's been about 20 years since I had a tank.) I definitely want a planted freshwater aquarium. I know there's lots of fun decisions to make about substrate and filtration and whatnot to come, but to start with I can't even pick a tank size or likely stocking. I have room for anything up to 5' wide and 18" deep. So up to a 75 gallon basically. But I've no clue about larger fish. The coolest fish to me from just watching stuff online are smaller bottom/wall dwellers like corys, hillstream loach, kuhlie loach. The only big fish that jump out to me are discus but they're more challenging just in terms of keeping them with other things, due to temperature and I suppose sensitivity to fertilizing nutrients for plants. I find most of the schooling smaller fish totally boring. Couple ideas so far: 1) Get a 33 long (48" x 12" x 12") or 40 long (48" x 12" x 16") and just keep the little guys like corys, hillstream loach, etc... and focus on plants as the visual 'wow' factor, maybe with some cherry shrimp or something for color and to crawl around up higher on the plants. 2) Similar to above, maybe in a 40 breeder, but with a 'centerpiece' fish like a large-ish gourami or smaller cichlid? 3) Get a 55 or 75 and do smaller tanganyika cichlids? I know these wouldn't normally be planted but it sounds like they don't mind. 4) 75 with angelfish? Or just go for the discus that I want, with some corys and nothing else.
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Jun 27, 2021 15:36
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Anyone have any advice for moving a fish? I'm going to go away for 2 weeks and going to bring my 5 gallon tank over to my friends house. I saved the little cup thing he was in to transfer him back when I get him there. He is going with all the same water in the tank and I will be sure to keep the filter wet but other than that I know nothing. Fake edit: I also told her not to just dump food in. Told her to break the crisps in half and feed him that 2x a day.
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Jun 27, 2021 19:03
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nunsexmonkrock posted:Anyone have any advice for moving a fish? I'm going to go away for 2 weeks and going to bring my 5 gallon tank over to my friends house. I saved the little cup thing he was in to transfer him back when I get him there. He is going with all the same water in the tank and I will be sure to keep the filter wet but other than that I know nothing. If you can manage to obtain/afford a large Kritter Keeper, I'd just put him in that for two weeks. Way easier to transport and he probably won't be any worse for wear. Honestly, bettas can go like 2 weeks between feedings-- I wouldn't remotely do that tho-- 1 week or every 3-4 days is fine, if you'd rather leave him where he is and have somebody swing by your house and feed him 1-3 times before you get back instead. Also if your local petstore has glass shrimp you can just toss 10 or so offerings in there and he'll sort himself out.
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Jun 27, 2021 19:25
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Schmoe Cwead posted:
not mine
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Jun 28, 2021 06:41
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Rescue Toaster posted:I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do. I had a 20g tank as a kid, and now that I'm a Grown Up and can afford basically whatever I want, I don't know where to start. (It's been about 20 years since I had a tank.) I wouldn't start with Discus but why not start with a tank you can add them too later after you get more experience? Get a 75 and get the hang of keeping plants and less demanding fish alive and when you feel comfortable and the tank is well established, you could try adding them? Basically the opposite of what most people do when they buy fish that will outgrow their tank and have vague plans to upgrade "later."
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Jun 28, 2021 15:03
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Bums. Found a bamboo shrimp dead this morning. Very fresh, only the head area had turned orange. Diagnostics on water provided no useful info. Put some active carbon into the smaller filter as a precaution. I suspect her days were numbered as the store we got her from was utterly disgusting, with half their amanos dead, cherries kept with whisker shrimp, and their snails dying. How do you gently caress up so bad to kill snails?! Their Caradina shrimp were fine... So. Uh. Right... I really hope it wasn't our tank. No other shrimp, snails or clams seem to be having any problems though.
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Jun 28, 2021 16:51
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Rescue Toaster posted:I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do. I had a 20g tank as a kid, and now that I'm a Grown Up and can afford basically whatever I want, I don't know where to start. (It's been about 20 years since I had a tank.) Bigger is always better. Gives you more time before your next upgrade and keeps the water more stable. Angelfish and Discus can be finicky but there's lots of neat stuff you can put into a 75g until you're sure the tank is stable.
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Jun 28, 2021 16:53
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Speaking of bigger is better. Anyone have suggestions for large water changes? 20% of a 75 gallon would be a separate 15-20 gallon tank to let the water sit in for a day or two to dechlorinate and preheat. And I guess I'd need a ~20-30 foot hose I could attach to my sink to fill it. Plus something to dump waste water into and then somehow get it to a drain... Hauling 3 or 4 five gallon buckets around over carpeted floors seems dangerous too. Plus unfortunately there's a step from the kitchen down to the living room so I couldn't easily do it all on a swivel cart.
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Jun 28, 2021 21:13
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I wouldn't even worry about aging water unless you're trying to do something cool. Just treat the volume of the water with like 250 mg of Safe and be done. Pipe it up and down with the same hose. I'm getting tired just thinking about the buckets.
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Jun 28, 2021 21:43
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Gotcha, yeah searching around seems like everybody over 55+ gallons just fills from the tap and treats in-tank with Seachem Safe or similar dechlorinating products. Our water is incredibly cold in the winter though so I'll have to remember to get the crap flushed out of my hot water heater in the fall.
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Jun 28, 2021 22:08
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Rescue Toaster posted:Gotcha, yeah searching around seems like everybody over 55+ gallons just fills from the tap and treats in-tank with Seachem Safe or similar dechlorinating products. Our water is incredibly cold in the winter though so I'll have to remember to get the crap flushed out of my hot water heater in the fall. If you have a bathtub near by, you can treat first that way and buy a ~$20 pump off Amazon to fill it from the tub to your tank. You'd still need whatever appropriate amount of hosing as well. I have to do it this way because summertime tap water temps are in the +100°F range and so it allows me space and time to cool it to ~78°F.
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Jun 28, 2021 23:19
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I have a rainwater barrel (100lt/ 25g) and a home brew fermentation drum (60lt/15g) set up in my laundry to treat and preheat water. I've also got a couple of 200lt pickle drums that I don't use for water changes but that sort of thing could be used, pretty much anything food grade is fine. I use a cheap overpowered powerhead and a 17m long crush proof food grade hose to reach all the tanks in my house from the laundry. I'm currently running 15 tanks and I do water changes for maybe an hour, 2 or 3 times a week; the water doesn't take that long to heat up or to fill, I've got a heater and agitation pump in each container making sure everything is even before it goes into my tanks. I also have a 30lt drum with pump and hose as a sump to get my water out of the house and into the back yard. The easier you make it for yourself, the easier it is to keep your tank healthy when unexpected problems crop up in other areas of life. I got my hose system set up in advance when I knew I was having surgery and wouldn't be able to bucket everything any more. It's got me through depression, back pain and other injuries, emergency water changes to tanks that have problems - having all the water ready to go and and an easy way to get water in and out is a huge advantage. I hear lots of people giving up on the hobby because they "can't keep up with maintenance" but once you get buckets out of the picture that doesn't have to happen.
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Jun 28, 2021 23:50
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Stoca Zola posted:I have a rainwater barrel (100lt/ 25g) and a home brew fermentation drum (60lt/15g) set up in my laundry to treat and preheat water. I've also got a couple of 200lt pickle drums that I don't use for water changes but that sort of thing could be used, pretty much anything food grade is fine. I use a cheap overpowered powerhead and a 17m long crush proof food grade hose to reach all the tanks in my house from the laundry. I'm currently running 15 tanks and I do water changes for maybe an hour, 2 or 3 times a week; the water doesn't take that long to heat up or to fill, I've got a heater and agitation pump in each container making sure everything is even before it goes into my tanks. I also have a 30lt drum with pump and hose as a sump to get my water out of the house and into the back yard. This reminds me of the inflection point wherein one has “too many plants”, before one either fucks a bunch of them up and gives up or starts looking into artificial lighting and irrigation solutions.
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Jun 29, 2021 12:48
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I just watched my Festivum chomp down on the dorsal fin of an angelfish and try to pull it off.  CIchlids can be such dicks, even the "peaceful" ones. Ugh. Naturally the other angelfish swam over and bit the angelfish, too. Just for good measure.
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Jul 1, 2021 17:35
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a happy festivum a festivum for the rest of ‘um
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Jul 1, 2021 17:51
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:I just watched my Festivum chomp down on the dorsal fin of an angelfish and try to pull it off. Time to rearrange your scape and pull the bullied one to QT or a breeder box. Behavior like that tends to go downhill fast. You could pull the Festivum but if the other Angel is already picking up on it meh.
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Jul 2, 2021 14:36
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My injured denison barb is healing up nicely.  I also added some more filtration to the tank, and my old light refused to power back up after being unplugged. So now I've got a new Fluval Plant 3.0 on there too.
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Jul 2, 2021 14:43
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Enos Cabell posted:My injured denison barb is healing up nicely. That's the light I'm using and I really like it so far. Edit: Coming up on the second week without any water changes, still sitting at zero ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates so crossing my fingers that the last batch of plants let things hit a good equilibrium. I'm wondering if the Purigen bag I've got in there for tannins is keeping the nitrates flatlined, I see a lot of conflicting info on the internet about that. Also added a wavemaker to get water circulating in the middle/bottom of the water column and as a side benefit give the fish a current to swim into near the front of the tank. The only remaining deadzone I've noticed is right on top of the big flat rock in the middle of the tank - which is pretty ideal for monitoring/cleaning. Seems successful in that it kicked up a ton of debris for the first couple hours running - I'll hopefully see all of that inside the filter next cleaning. Warbadger fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Jul 6, 2021 |
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Jul 3, 2021 02:04
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