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Bulky Bartokomous posted:Do you all think my driftwood from my death/plague tank can be reused? It's been sitting out on my back deck in the rain/sun since I took down that tank. Can you use a bleach water solution on wood? Seems like absorption might be a bigger problem with wood than other things you use it on. I don't think I'd use the driftwood again. If you want to re-use stuff like stones, soak them in 3% hydrogen peroxide solution for a couple days. It stinks less and breaks down into pretty harmless byproducts.
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Aug 19, 2021 16:47
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Thanks everyone, when you put it like that it's definitely not worth it. I thought maybe I was just being overly cautious but it sounds like I was on the right path.
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Aug 19, 2021 18:11
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When it comes to keeping living things it's always better to be safe than sorry.
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Aug 19, 2021 18:20
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Legitimate question: if you’re worried about disinfecting it, why not just soak the driftwood in boiling water for an hour or two? Lots of people boil driftwood before putting it in an aquarium in the first place. I might be misunderstanding your concerns, but that seems way easier and safer than bleaching it.
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Aug 20, 2021 01:43
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Luneshot posted:Legitimate question: if you’re worried about disinfecting it, why not just soak the driftwood in boiling water for an hour or two? Lots of people boil driftwood before putting it in an aquarium in the first place. I'd assumed it was a size issue. Driftwood a couple feet long might not be possible to boil, much easier to stick it in a big plastic container and soak it in something for a week or two.
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Aug 20, 2021 12:44
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What is the horrible stuff and how do I get rid of it?  This is in my 12g Fluval Edge that's been established for like 7-8 years at this point. It's had some algae issues on and off for a while, but I moved about two months and had to pull everything up and it was a huge pain in the rear end and now the algae has just exploded. I want to get rid of the Edge because it's such a hassle to clean. I have a 20g long that I'm going to set up as a Walstad tank, and I'd like to be able to use this anubias because I have a TON of it, but not if it's going to bring this stuff along with it.
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Aug 21, 2021 21:00
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Sorry, I don't know what that stuff is. But in good news, I saw my first clutch of mystery snail egg start hatching earlier today, and now there are babies crawling all over my guppy tank.
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Aug 21, 2021 23:07
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Man. I want a 30 gallon tank so I can upgrade for my little dudes and have a lid that doesn't leave huge open parts of the tank. I am pretty sure my gobies are all gone.  So I do want some adorable UFOs (Hillstream Loach). But my options are rimless and rimmed and they are ALL expensive. Has anyone used buceplant for their UNS tanks?
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Aug 22, 2021 02:50
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HelloIAmYourHeart posted:What is the horrible stuff and how do I get rid of it? Looks like Cyanobacteria to me, due to the thick sheets it seems to have formed. Does it smell weird to you? That's supposed to be a way to identify Cyanobacteria. Chemiclean by Boyd Enterprises has worked for me, I think it took 2 treatments to completely get rid of it in the one tank I had trouble in and despite it seeming like a very strong harsh chemical I've never found it to affect livestock. You'll probably still need to vac up the stuff as it dies but it should stop clinging to everything.
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Aug 22, 2021 04:48
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Part of my Python has come undone (well the tube connecting to the siphon tube has a weak grip) so I'd like to superglue it together. Any brands I need to stay away from? Gorilla Glue says it's fine but I've never used it.
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Aug 22, 2021 13:55
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I have a feeling that superglue doesn't bond that well to flexible plastic tubing, especially on something that is going to be under stress during use - wonder if a little stainless steel jubilee clamp might work better? On the other hand putting compression tension on the plastic of the siphon might cause it to split if it's over tightened. Maybe a couple of cable ties could do it?
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Aug 22, 2021 14:44
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For superglue you want something that lists only cyanoacrylate for an ingredient. I use Gorilla Glue gel all the time in my reef tank.
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Aug 22, 2021 14:59
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Holy poo poo I can use this stuff to secure java fern to rocks? loving hell no more fishing line!
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Aug 22, 2021 20:29
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Cowslips Warren posted:Holy poo poo I can use this stuff to secure java fern to rocks? I mentioned that a page or two ago I think...
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Aug 22, 2021 20:57
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VelociBacon posted:I mentioned that a page or two ago I think... I'm sorry, you probably did. I knew people used it with corals, I just wasn't sure how it would translate over into stuff like Java moss. I know corals are a lot more sensitive than most freshwater plants, but still. So my friend hit me up yesterday, and told me that another of his friends is looking to start up an aquarium, and since he knows I have a whole lot of equipment, if I had any extra stuff, his friend would love to get it from me. Totally fine by me, I have a few totes of stuff I've won in various auctions in the fish club. But when I asked what equipment he was looking for, expecting things like powerheads, maybe air pumps, a filter or two, my friend said his friend was looking for a protein skimmer, reef lights, sumps etc. I told him he was looking for a marine stuff, not freshwater which is what I do, and directed him to a few other sources for discount stuff. I'm just not entirely sure he's going to have a lot of luck finding inexpensive or free stuff for a saltwater coral tank.
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Aug 22, 2021 22:00
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Cowslips Warren posted:I'm just not entirely sure he's going to have a lot of luck finding inexpensive or free stuff for a saltwater coral tank. I look through Craigslist and NextDoor for aquarium stuff pretty regularly only occasionally see aquarium stuff for free, or even reasonably priced honestly. It's always people trying to sell their (when purchased new $50) 10-gal Aqueon starter kits for $40, and other similar nonsense.
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Aug 22, 2021 23:01
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To set up my mosses on a tank I had years ago, I used a bath loofa, stretched it over the moss that lived on a stone cave. Worked great. (It was a green line, so it blended in.) It's weirdly hard to find a 30 gallon tank, somehow. I guess it's not a popular size.
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Aug 22, 2021 23:28
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Aerofallosov posted:To set up my mosses on a tank I had years ago, I used a bath loofa, stretched it over the moss that lived on a stone cave. Worked great. (It was a green line, so it blended in.) 29g is gonna be way easier to find for some strange reason
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Aug 23, 2021 01:39
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I lucked into a " 29G long" on Facebook marketplace which had a footprint almost perfectly sized for my kid's dresser. Feeling pretty chuffed with the new home for overwintering endlers and growing out newly hatched mystery snails (hoping to keep this as hard water, and that they both do OK in it)
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Aug 23, 2021 02:19
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Stoca Zola posted:Looks like Cyanobacteria to me, due to the thick sheets it seems to have formed. Does it smell weird to you? That's supposed to be a way to identify Cyanobacteria. Chemiclean by Boyd Enterprises has worked for me, I think it took 2 treatments to completely get rid of it in the one tank I had trouble in and despite it seeming like a very strong harsh chemical I've never found it to affect livestock. You'll probably still need to vac up the stuff as it dies but it should stop clinging to everything. The sludge doesn't smell like much in particular to me, but when I moved the tank and uprooted everything it smelled very sulphorous when the dirst was disturbed. It also looks darker and browner than the cyanobacteria pics I found on google, and there are no bubbles in it (I've had the bubbly algae before and this is very different). I'm leaning towards not putting the anubias in my new tank if I can't figure this out, which is a shame because it's about as long as my arm when all the pieces are put together.
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Aug 24, 2021 03:58
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Hey Im also having an algae issue. I usually have a few tanks going, but at the moment this 75 gallon is upstairs and full of colorful fun easy fish for my daughter / to entertain my cats. Angels and mollys nothing crazy, stuff I dont have to freak out about when I leave town for a few days and have to have someone else come over and feed them etc. Anyway, since I usually prefer large high maintenance fish, I jumped at the chance to try and do a planted aquarium since I finally had fish that wouldnt just rip out all the plants and destroy them. It was going well for a month or two, then out of no where this long stringy algae started growing, at first on the wooden log and it was kinda cool on the log and odd that it came out of no where so I let it go just to see. Well, as I should have expected, its everywhere now. it grows 10x the speed of the other plants, grows on them, slowly choking and killing them, and is starting to get gross. its a 75g with a big fluval 400 somethin cannister filter, 3 medium sized angels, 3 small angels and like 4 or 5 mollys .... and a little electric blue lobster that my daughter insisted we get and I managed to overcome my reservations of it potentially snipping at the angels by telling myself it would eat the algae. Maybe it is maybe it isnt , if it is its not doing so at nearly any rate high enough to stem the tide. Now every time I change water I am ripping out algae as well, which messes with the plants and furthers them along to the brink of destruction.  What can I do ? I would prefer a creature solution to a chemical one, all the fish are small enough I could try shrimp maybe? but Im not sure if the lobster would eat the shrimp? at some point some of the plants I bought must have had snails cause Im slowly noticing more and more snails in the tank that I never introduced but they clean the glass, they dont eat this ever growing green hair menace. Maybe like small fresh water fiddler crab? Im not sure if they would try and escape tho, Ive heard some types are pretty adventurous and will try to escape any not completely sealed up tank. edit: the tank is not nearly as overstocked as it looks in this picture, all the fish congragate near the glass cause they think their being fed and the angle of the pic makes the tank look like a third of its actual size... the water levels are all normal, very hard water but otherwise fine and thats been a constant since I moved to this town like a decade ago. Nitrates and Nitrites are all low to normal. Hi fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Aug 24, 2021 |
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Aug 24, 2021 16:44
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Here is where I am about to sound like a crazy person but I promise you both Hi and HelloIAmYourHeart that I am about to slaughter your algae AND help keep it from coming back (mostly (probably)). Step 1: Acquire 1 500mL bottle Seachem Flourish Excel Step 2: Double dose the Excel 2-3 times see what happens. It's real good at killing algae. Step 3: Get an algae clean up crew (if those SW freaks can have them so can we). I like Amano Shrimp, Malaysian Trumpet Snails, Siamese Algae Eaters, Bristlenose Plecos, smaller Nerite Snails, Mini Rabbit Snails, Farlowella, etc. There are options. Step 4: If your light is wrong or your water going in is fucky you're never going to really fix the algae so fix that or give up. Double dose Flourish Excel til the algae dies, check the water coming out of your faucet, stock whatever CuC best fits your tank. Oh and more plants. More plants = better. Edit: If either of you are in the Continental US PM me and I will send you Malaysian Trumpet Snails and random plants you can try out. lmk. Desert Bus fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Aug 24, 2021 |
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Aug 24, 2021 17:11
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cranking the ph up for a few weeks may cause growth to slow, but i wouldn't put any money on my theory
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Aug 24, 2021 17:19
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Desert Bus posted:Here is where I am about to sound like a crazy person but I promise you both Hi and HelloIAmYourHeart that I am about to slaughter your algae AND help keep it from coming back (mostly (probably)). Thanks, I am definitely interested in snails and plants I sent you a PM, I ordered some Seachem Flourish Excel off amazon should be here tomorrow. From the product description tho I would think it would grow algae not kill it? its essentially plant food isnt it? how does it work? I mean I trust you, its ordered, just curious how feeding the plants kills the algae
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Aug 24, 2021 17:33
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A few things that can be done: 1) More plants. More plants means more things eating the same nutrients the algae needs from the water column. Depending on your stocking/feeding level you may be able to reach an equilibrium where the plants are soaking up all the nutrients so the algae can't take off. 2) Less light. Shave an hour off your lighted time and see if it helps. Obviously works better with shade-compatible plants. 3) Possibly add more bio media. If nitrates are building up a lot it cause an algae bloom. More denitifying anaerobic bacteria can help keep that under control. 4) Treat the tank chemically as the previous poster said. I used aquarium co-op's liquid carbon solution to prevent new growth and gradually reduce the amount of algae in my tank. If you hit it with a big dose to nuke the algae entirely make sure to closely monitor water chemistry for spikes as the dead algae rots and water change accordingly. I had an outbreak of green spot algae that I've more or less handled at this point in my 40gallon. First I went from 8 to 7 hours of light and added a few more plants. This improved things a bit and a couple weeks later I started adding liquid carbon to eliminate a few small tufts of black beard algae before it could get established. Finally, wanting to accelerate things and hopefully stop using liquid carbon I added two male nerite snails to the cleanup crew. Now, if it's spreading at all it's extremely slow - and large sections of hardscape are regularly roomba'd clean by the two snails. I hope that I can drop the liquid carbon soon and the algae will remain at a reasonable level. Warbadger fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Aug 24, 2021 |
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Aug 24, 2021 17:48
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Hi posted:Thanks, I am definitely interested in snails and plants I sent you a PM, I ordered some Seachem Flourish Excel off amazon should be here tomorrow. From the product description tho I would think it would grow algae not kill it? its essentially plant food isnt it? how does it work? Excel is a minor variation on a chemical that is used as a topical desiccant/antimicrobial on humans for open wound care. Excel, if you pour it on your skin (I have tested this), will leave you with a dry red patch that hurts/itches. I don't know how or why it works as a CO2 substitute, but I do know it is NOT kind to anything without a robust cellular wall, such as algae. Google "flourish excel algae" and you will find other people espousing the same concept.
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Aug 24, 2021 17:59
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Desert Bus posted:Excel is a minor variation on a chemical that is used as a topical desiccant/antimicrobial on humans for open wound care. Excel, if you pour it on your skin (I have tested this), will leave you with a dry red patch that hurts/itches. I don't know how or why it works as a CO2 substitute, but I do know it is NOT kind to anything without a robust cellular wall, such as algae. To add some further context, aquarium co-op sells gluteraldehyde (same stuff) labelled as algae inhibitor, rather than as liquid carbon supplement.
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Aug 24, 2021 18:09
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Oh yea I completely believe you guys, I wouldnt have come here asking for advice and then not take it.. I was just curious as to how it worked haha. I ordered some, should be here tomorrow. my nitrates and trites are barely recordable, its a large tank that previously had filtration setup for large messy oscars so a half dozen angels and mollys are nothing, so Im not particularly worried about a toxic algae bloom, I just dont want it to slowly strangle my real plants and its ugly. lot of good advice though thank you, I am following the steps above
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Aug 24, 2021 18:15
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I think definitely you need to feed your plants, actual plant ferts or root tabs as appropriate for the plants you have, and get your lighting on a timer. Your plants can't use more light than the carbon dioxide in the water lets them so beyond a certain point the light just grows algae. Algae is simple, all it knows how to do is reproduce more algae, whereas plants have more going on and different structures to build etc, so plants do have slightly more requirements than algae. But it's easy to overdose nutrients which is why planting a lot of plants is a good idea. Something that supposedly helps is to have a dark period in the middle of the day, something like 3 hours lights on, 4 hours off, 3 hours on, which messes with the algae and maybe lets CO2 build up a bit for the plants to use it in the second round of lighting. I do think excel is an algacide not a CO2 source and most aquatic plants do better with dissolved gaseous CO2 but I prefer a tank that favours the animal life to the plant life, you can't accidentally gas your fish with a low tech tank. There are a lot of things you can tweak and my recommendation is to only try one thing at a time and then wait a couple of weeks to see if it had a result before trying something new. Aquariums need time to find equilibrium. I pretty much have only seen this kind of stringy long algae when I've had too much light, and as far as I know the best critter to demolish it are Amano shrimps. Wait until you've tried the excel method because that might knock the algae on the head, but if it doesn't Amanos will and they are big shrimp who can zoom away from lobsters without a care. I have dwarf crays and have kept them in the same tank as shrimp and the shrimp are just too fast. Both shrimp and crays need cover for when they shed their shells though or the fish will eat them when they are soft. I think your tank doesn't need much to get it back into good shape, you just have to tip the balance away from favouring algae. The challenge is in finding which little nudge is the right one.
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Aug 24, 2021 18:49
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Stoca Zola posted:I think definitely you need to feed your plants, actual plant ferts or root tabs as appropriate for the plants you have, and get your lighting on a timer. Your plants can't use more light than the carbon dioxide in the water lets them so beyond a certain point the light just grows algae. Algae is simple, all it knows how to do is reproduce more algae, whereas plants have more going on and different structures to build etc, so plants do have slightly more requirements than algae. But it's easy to overdose nutrients which is why planting a lot of plants is a good idea. Something that supposedly helps is to have a dark period in the middle of the day, something like 3 hours lights on, 4 hours off, 3 hours on, which messes with the algae and maybe lets CO2 build up a bit for the plants to use it in the second round of lighting. I do think excel is an algacide not a CO2 source and most aquatic plants do better with dissolved gaseous CO2 but I prefer a tank that favours the animal life to the plant life, you can't accidentally gas your fish with a low tech tank. This also makes a lot of sense, I did not cover fertilization or light timing. Just said if your light is wrong you need to fix it.
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Aug 24, 2021 19:18
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Im just using cheap rear end led strip lights, do I need those expensive multi color led lights? I live in the north east US and have a gardening hobby, I bring all my plants in for the winter to the basement where my other tanks are and they all grow and thrive on junk 20 dollar LED strip lights, I assume that aquatic plants would as well. all be it, aquatic plants is a new thing for me. Or are you just referring to how much light they get? I had the lights on a loooong time, like 12-14 hours a day for a while in hopes it would coerce the plants to grow quicker but seems like all its doing is pushing algae into over drive. I readjusted to 8 hours on the timer, I could try that mid day break too. I never know with aquatic plants cause its not like they burn with too much light like regular plants do.
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Aug 24, 2021 20:40
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Can anyone identify these snails? When I said above I had a few of them, I had no idea... I never bought snails, Im assuming they came on some plants.. but what was a week ago one snail, and I saw 3-4 last time I looked has turned into easily a dozen or more in a weeks time... they seem to range in size from like top of a sewing needle to maybe half the diameter of a penny in size. They seem to have exploded along with the algae, I count like 8 on the glass, several more on filtration and even tubes going to air stones... they dont seem to actually go on any plants tho so I dont think their helping my algae problem, at least not the algae that is being a problem.  with how quick they are reproducing, Im assuming they are some garden variety nearly indestructible snail and not like one you would actually pay for at a pet shop. They arent harmful if left unchecked are they? I assume at some point maybe the lobster will eat them if he finds them, but all the other fish are far too small... never had a snail problem before as this used to be an oscar tank and he would kill everything. Im guessing they just breed until theres not enough food to sustain them?
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Aug 24, 2021 22:18
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I've had good luck keeping hair algae under control following the advice from Stoca Zola. Typically, I drop the photo period by an hour and wait a few weeks to see if I need to go further. At this point, hair algae is only an issue in my wife's betta-only tank. Something about only having one fish in there has made it exceedingly difficult to balance, but I think I'm getting closer. I've tried glueraldehyde, with limited success. Without changing your lighting it's likely to just result in a bunch of brown, dead algae hanging next to green, healthy algae. Never tried excel, I remember reading about people OD'ing their tanks with it and causing all sorts of problems, but I've also read about people spot treating with it to great success. Hi posted:Can anyone identify these snails? Those are ramshorn snails. They're some of my favorite inhabitants. My largest are bigger than a quarter and they come in a bunch of neat colors, with the opalescent being my favorite. I've never had an issue with them eating my plants, but they're fantastic at keeping glass clean. Their population will grow until food runs out. If you're overfeeding, you'll likely see a boom. Since I've got shrimp and hundreds of snails in my tanks, I overfeed on purpose and everything runs swimmingly.
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Aug 24, 2021 22:29
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Was just going to reply that it doesn't sound like a snail "problem", more like bonus, free inverts! But Schwack beat me to it. I received some free inverts too, with the water lily I picked up this spring. Almost certain that they're bog standard pond snails. The endlers will eat them if I smush them up for the fish. I also overfeed for my snails and shrimp, but it's more like I knew I would overfeed, so got some bottom pigs to help with that. Disclosure, this is my first year keeping fish since I was a child. Eta. I just had my first ever clutch of mystery snail eggs successfully incubate, and hatch out into the tank I have set up for the endlers we intend to keep over the winter. I am just thrilled to see all these tiny little pinhead crawling around with the much bigger pond snails. Won't be long before the baby mysteries tower over the pond snails:) B33rChiller fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Aug 24, 2021 |
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Aug 24, 2021 22:38
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I dont think I referred to them as a problem, if I did I only meant they didnt seem to help with my problem, which is the hair algae. The goal of this tank is to be as low maintenance and self sufficient as possible as I have eight million other animals to take care of, so snails that I dont have to do anything for and that will clean up the excess food my 8 year old dumps in every time she feeds them when Im at work is right up my alley. Anyone have advice on lights? are regular LED shop lights fine or do I need those crazy LED bars that have like 600 tiny different colored LEDs
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Aug 24, 2021 22:47
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Hi posted:I dont think I referred to them as a problem, if I did I only meant they didnt seem to help with my problem, which is the hair algae. I've had great success with the pretty cheap Nicrew lights from Amazon. Right now my room has a mix of Finnex and Nicrew, and I think I prefer my Nicrew lights for their mount style alone. If you have a typical 75 gallon it's 18" deep. I've got a Nicrew Sky LED on my 40 breeder with the same depth and plants are going nuts in there.
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Aug 24, 2021 22:54
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Schwack posted:I've had great success with the pretty cheap Nicrew lights from Amazon. Right now my room has a mix of Finnex and Nicrew, and I think I prefer my Nicrew lights for their mount style alone. If you have a typical 75 gallon it's 18" deep. I've got a Nicrew Sky LED on my 40 breeder with the same depth and plants are going nuts in there. its 22 inches deep, a bow front 75 gallon. I was considering https://www.chewy.com/koval-led-aquarium-light/dp/163762 since theyre half off and the big ones fit 45-50 inches wide, the tanks 48 But I mean, even half off, Id rather not spend 75 bux if I dont need it
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Aug 24, 2021 23:04
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I would suspect any bright led shop light will work just fine, provided you use a timer, and get the photo period adjusted to work well with your tank. If your goal is just keep things alive, and not super optimizing, I say go for it.
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Aug 24, 2021 23:20
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B33rChiller posted:I would suspect any bright led shop light will work just fine, provided you use a timer, and get the photo period adjusted to work well with your tank. If your goal is just keep things alive, and not super optimizing, I say go for it. Im using two 4ft LED shop lights which are like 3.2k lumens each... that aquarium light is 4600. So I dont think it would replace both, unless I bought two, but if I was trying to avoid buying one , Im certainly not trying to buy two. edit : the Nicrew on amazon seem comperable and a few bucks cheaper than that light from chewy Hi fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Aug 24, 2021 |
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Aug 24, 2021 23:35
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Desert Bus posted:
I want snails! I'll try the Seachem stuff too. I actually have some in tablet form.
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Aug 25, 2021 01:05
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