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Len posted:Ok one more dumb question because my googleing has failed me. Typing in sponge filter into amazon just turns up these which don't really look like this kind of filter. Is it an attachment onto something else? Am I overthinking this whole filter thing to begin with? I just want a tank that won't get super scuzzy and require me to go in every weekend to clean. Honestly, for simplicity sake just go buy a hang on back filter. I prefer the aquaclear line available at pretty much every pet store. They have a sponge for mechanical filtration, a bag of activated carbon for chemical filtration (largely unnecessary, but oh well) and bio-media (same concept as the bio balls you were referring to) for biological filtration. The aquaclear 20 will work for a 10 gallon and should cost about 30 bucks. Other hang on back filters will be cheaper, but most use cartridges that need to be replaced monthly - The media for the aquaclears can just be rinsed off periodically and reused (with the exception of the carbon which most people just throw out anyway). For clarity's sake BTW, in case it isn't clear - Every filter provides mechanical and biological filtration. Some advertise it as such, some have special media designed to give bacteria more surface area to live, etc, but every filter ever built is a thing that strains out particles and where beneficial bacteria grows.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:47
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Yeah, if you look at hang-on-back filters, they'll usually have a sponge and maybe additional baskets for specialized media as well. i.e. here the red baskets hold various sponges at different coarseness levels, while the black basket holds ceramic media. Nothing says you cant go crazy with filtration though:  All that's really doing is adding even more sponge for bacteria to colonize and to filter out large particles. Weekly cleaning is usually a good idea though, but with a hang on back filter is pretty easy. Take the basket out, squeeze the sponge in dechlorinated or old tank water to unclog it, then put it back in.
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Jun 18, 2014 03:00
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So I decided to add some new plants to the tank to cover up some of the empty backing. Mangroves and Cabomba. Mangroves were in good shape and got them situated in a group, but the Cabomba was a different story. The company shipped me Jungle Val instead that looks like it went through a lawn mower. Must have been their scratch and dent tank. Some of the plants were in decent enough shape to be used. Most however are heading for the mulch bin. Anyone have any tips on getting val to clean up a bit? The tips of the blades look like someone took a dull mower blade to them.
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Jun 19, 2014 16:48
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Plant them and snip the leaves when they get too long. They'll just keep growing to their full length, which in jungle vals, can be 3 feet. I just cut mine at an angle so it looks better than if I'd just trimmed them flat. The only way you get natural rounded tips is if you leave them to grow from the start, which may or may not suit your tank. If the root base on the damaged ones are still solid, you can try just trimming off the worst damage and planting them too.
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Jun 20, 2014 04:13
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Set myself up a DIY co2 system on my 75 tonight, to go with my crappy looking but surprisingly effective brooder lamp array. Starting with two "reactors" (feels weird to call a 2 liter bottle that but eh) with plenty of room for growth. They're running into a heavier bottle that I'm using for a collector that I also filled mostly with sand just so it would have some weight. I put a small hole in the intake for my hang on back filter and ran the output line for the co2 there, with an airstone on the end of the line of course. I'm hoping that since the co2 will be put out in an enclosed area with lots of current that I'll get decent results but I won't know for a few days. Kinda glad the LED fixture I had on that took a bath, really. It's nice to have a project and having an excuse to fiddle with DIY stuff really adds to my enjoyment of the hobby.
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Jun 20, 2014 06:08
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My experiment with DIY co2 came to an end awhile back when all my shrimp got gassed enough not to kill them, but made them sluggish enough for the entire tank to help themselves to the shrimp banquet. 
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Jun 20, 2014 06:30
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I gots no shrimps in that tank, I'm pretty sure. I started off with a few glass shrimp before I put fish in, but once I added the loaches they disappeared 
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Jun 20, 2014 06:40
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SynthOrange posted:Plant them and snip the leaves when they get too long. They'll just keep growing to their full length, which in jungle vals, can be 3 feet. I just cut mine at an angle so it looks better than if I'd just trimmed them flat. The only way you get natural rounded tips is if you leave them to grow from the start, which may or may not suit your tank. If the root base on the damaged ones are still solid, you can try just trimming off the worst damage and planting them too. Thanks. I stuck in what I could (out of a pound of val, only got 5 decent ones). I think I'll wait a bit before I trim them though, to let them adjust to the transfer
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Jun 20, 2014 08:08
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Welp.. the handful of stray RCS that hitched a ride into my 55 seems to have multiplied more than I thought. I walked into the room and saw a carpet of red on my substrate foraging. After feeding I ran off to grab some tea, came back and they are now bold enough to feed in the open and not content with scraps they are going for the algae wafers I feed the cories. This will get interesting, I mean I don't mind if they take off in this tank but outcompeting the fish for food too? If memory serves me correctly I think the count was 7-10 that made it in because I saw them all on the plants in the QT and thought nothing of it. I lost count at over 50 today. Oops. demonR6 fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Jun 20, 2014 |
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Jun 20, 2014 12:28
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Will loaches get aggressive if there are already an abundance of bottom dwellers? I'm looking to take care of my snail problem but I read that loaches get mean if they have to compete for substrate turf. I have 15 cories in my 110 gal. My other option is assassin snails, but I think loaches do the job better.
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Jun 20, 2014 15:06
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Egan Yardley posted:Will loaches get aggressive if there are already an abundance of bottom dwellers? I'm looking to take care of my snail problem but I read that loaches get mean if they have to compete for substrate turf. I have 15 cories in my 110 gal. My clown loach hangs out with my two SAE's actually.. no issues whatsoever but ymmv. I looked over and right now in fact he is chillin with the GBR hiding in some plants.
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Jun 20, 2014 15:14
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Egan Yardley posted:Will loaches get aggressive if there are already an abundance of bottom dwellers? I'm looking to take care of my snail problem but I read that loaches get mean if they have to compete for substrate turf. I have 15 cories in my 110 gal. They tend towards being peaceful but they are pretty rambunctious fish so even if they aren't bitey-aggressive typically. In your case, what kind of cories are they? If they're close-ish to one of the common loaches they may just start schooling with them because they're social critters.
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Jun 20, 2014 23:41
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So the snail infestation in my shrimp tank has gone exponential. They're literally hatching faster than I can scrape them off the sides, when they're not busy hiding under the strata, and my assassin snails have decided that they just prefer the algae wafers. I've conceded defeat and I want to restart my tank, but how do I make sure that there are no leftover eggs? I have a piece of spider driftwood I want to use again, will boiling it for a short while take care of any on there? Planning on dumping all the plants/strata and starting over, but how do I properly wash out my (acrylic) tank? I'm also making the assumption that my RCS will survive in a bucket for a day or two with some food.
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Jun 21, 2014 00:04
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Fejsze posted:So the snail infestation in my shrimp tank has gone exponential. They're literally hatching faster than I can scrape them off the sides, when they're not busy hiding under the strata, and my assassin snails have decided that they just prefer the algae wafers. I've conceded defeat and I want to restart my tank, but how do I make sure that there are no leftover eggs? I have a piece of spider driftwood I want to use again, will boiling it for a short while take care of any on there? Planning on dumping all the plants/strata and starting over, but how do I properly wash out my (acrylic) tank? I'm also making the assumption that my RCS will survive in a bucket for a day or two with some food. Well, I may catch hell for this but when things really went to poo poo before the loach and the slew of assassin snails I added months ago.. I was baiting the snails using a trap with algae wafers and making them disappear.
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Jun 21, 2014 00:49
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demonR6 posted:The population will peak then at some point will start to diminish as the females who are capable of having babies either gets too low or inbreeding occurs to the level you have an aquarium of sterile shrimp. If you do not introduce new shrimp into the gene pool they will gradually die off. Good to know, thanks! Here's what the tank looks like now. Not much going on yet since I only added the shrimp a few weeks ago and still need to take more anubias/java fern from my big tank when it stops being messed up (which is probably never, so I might just buy more instead):     The shrimp still like it, though. I see them out on the wood a lot just grazing on it, which is really cute, but I've never had shrimp as pets before so everything they do is amazing to me right now.
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Jun 21, 2014 04:51
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Not Your Senorita posted:Good to know, thanks! Here's what the tank looks like now. Not much going on yet since I only added the shrimp a few weeks ago and still need to take more anubias/java fern from my big tank when it stops being messed up (which is probably never, so I might just buy more instead): Looks good. I love watching my shrimp forage and carry on about.
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Jun 21, 2014 17:24
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Hi guys, looking for some advice for my outdoor goldfish pond. I had a successful container pond last summer and decided to up the size, setting up a 75 gallon heavy duty plastic container in late April. Added a few mollies and a gorgeous 5 inch Shubunkin that a friend didn't have room for anymore. All was well for a month, so I bought 5 small fantail goldfish. A week later, I added 3x 3 inch Shubunkins. The next day, the smallest of the fantails was floating dead. Checked parameters, all good - the pond is heavily stocked with water hyacinth/water lettuce along with potted marginals, and has both an Eheim 306 canister filter and a bog filter with gravel and pennywort. Parameters have basically been 0 ammonia/0 nitrites/sub 10 nitrates since day one. 2 days later, I noticed one of the fantails weakly swimming at the surface. However, he still ate when I fed and responded to me walking near the pond, so I left him. Was away for 2 days and when I came back, the first fantail was dead, with a light coating of ich and the other 3 remaining fantails had ich as well. I pulled all 3 out, put them each in their own 5 gallon bucket and administered a dose of API "super ich cure" (which has Benzaldehyde green, which I assume is basically malachite green). Over the last 36 hours, all 3 died one by one. None of the main pond fish, including the new Shubunkins and the dozen+ Mollie fry swimming around have ich showing (they eat voraciously and swim normally). My question is this: What should my next step be? Do I use the product I purchased on the whole pond, do I remove as many plants as I can and treat with salt? Or do I just let things be and hope it was just a bad batch of fantails (they were all very small, sub 1.5 inches). cheese fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Jun 28, 2014 |
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Jun 28, 2014 02:24
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Every pond I've ever worked on has become a feeding trough for my local raccoon family. I gave up. Good luck!
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Jun 28, 2014 07:16
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I recently upgraded to a 90l tropical aquarium which went fine at first, but in the last 10 days/2 weeks, the water has gone from being nice and clear to green and cloudy, as below. Anyone got advice on getting it clear again, as from looking online, people are suggesting UV filters, daily water changes, 3 day blackouts, etc.
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Jun 28, 2014 14:55
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That looks like an algae bloom. Water changes and less light (like none for a while) is about all you can do.
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Jun 28, 2014 16:05
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LingcodKilla posted:Every pond I've ever worked on has become a feeding trough for my local raccoon family. I gave up. Good luck! I live in the middle of urban San Jose and the patio the pond is on is a second story apartment balcony  Just not sure how to address it. My aquarium mentor when I was a kid was firmly in the "every fish always has ich, just keep em fed and low stressed in good water quality and the healthy ones will survive" mentality, but I'm not sure I ever really bought it.
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Jun 28, 2014 16:51
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Looks like the DIY co2 on my 75 is working out pretty well. I've got much better looking growth on all the new chutes of the corkscrew vals, the pathetic little rotala I had in there is perking up a whole lot, and I managed to plant a little bit of a crypt that didn't melt and instead has shot up two new leaves this week. I am noticing a bit more algae growth on the glass though, so so I'll have to do something about that. Scraping for now, but I'll probably buy some otos to help out the farlowella because the loaches would just make $3/each snacks of nerites. Still, pretty stoked about it. Did have to put down one of the kribs from my 55, though. Had a few fish come down with a bacterial infection in that tank so I treated it accordingly. She didn't respond though, and just got worse. I managed to catch her in my hand last night, so I put her in a small container of water with some clove oil, and then into the freezer she went. The other fish all appear to have bounced back and act like nothing was ever wrong, so at least there's that. Still not sure what caused the infection in the first place, because I have not added anything to that tank in at least six months.
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Jun 28, 2014 21:23
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I recently bought a 75g and stand from Craigslist for pretty cheap. The stand needs refinishing, and the tank needed to be resealed, since it had a minor leak. I've got the resealing done and it's been filled for several hours now with no leaks, so that's all good. However, the people that sold it to us had a mirror glued to the back of the tank (they said it made it look like there were more fish). Instead of just sealing the edges of it to the glass, they decided to use some type of adhesive all over the glass and front of the mirror. Of course, this was a brilliant idea, since it looked like absolute poo poo being able to see all of the glue in front of the mirror. I've gotten the mirror off, but the glue residue does not want to come off the glass. It's on the outside of the glass, and I've already tried acetone, alcohol, and razor blades, but it's hardly making a dent and it looks horrible. I've tried painting over a small section of it to see if it would hide it, and it does hide most of it, but it still doesn't look great. Anyone have any other suggestions for getting this off?
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Jun 28, 2014 22:19
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You could try something like Goo-Gone? You can let it soak in a bit if it doesn't work instantly. MEK would almost certainly take it off, but that stuff is pretty harsh so if you go that route make sure you've got plenty of ventilation and aren't doing anything to ignite it. Do you have any idea what kind of glue they used for this? Like I don't know what you'd use to stick two pieces of glass against each other that would actually hold for very long since I'm guessing this is half-assedly done.
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Jun 28, 2014 22:35
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Shakenbaker posted:You could try something like Goo-Gone? You can let it soak in a bit if it doesn't work instantly. MEK would almost certainly take it off, but that stuff is pretty harsh so if you go that route make sure you've got plenty of ventilation and aren't doing anything to ignite it. No idea what kind of glue they used, but it didn't hold very well or was really old, since once we got the sealant they used off, the mirror almost fell off the back of the tank. I'll try some Goo-Gone though, hopefully that will take care of it.
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Jun 28, 2014 23:22
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A couple of weeks ago MY GIRLFRIEND came home from a street fair with a sickly looking 1.5" baby common goldfish. I resolved to keep the poor thing alive, but it's been a while since I kept fish and I've never kept goldfish in particular so I need some advice. Apologies for the monster post. I picked up a 20g tank and all the requisite testing supplies but obviously it has not been cycled properly since the fish was unplanned. Unfortunately my first trip to the pet store resulted in a cracked tank and I had no time to go back right away, so the fish spent its first 6 days in a 2g cooking pot with some gravel and a small hiding space with twice daily water changes. It survived somehow and has now been in the 20g for a full week. I realize this might not be big enough for a fully grown common, but it'll have to do for now. Since the tank isn't cycled, ammonia is spiking periodically. What is the best method as far as cycling a tank when you already have a fish? Everything I've read says to cycle first, but I don't have that luxury. When I set up the tank I dumped the pot water and gravel into it hoping that at least some bacteria in the gravel formed over the past week. I'm assuming it is the correct move to keep the fish in the tank as opposed to going back in the pot and waiting for the tank to cycle. I've been doing daily partial water changes via a gravel vacuum to deal with the ammonia; should I instead be dosing with Prime daily or something? Also, are there parameter tests that are a little more....accurate? I have a vial & drops ammonia test with a color card that goes from yellow to green, but it's hard to tell exactly what the level is from colors alone. The first marking on the card is 0.25ppm and is like 4 parts yellow, 1 part lime green. The scale goes up to 8ppm which seems pretty pointless since you'd choke just being near the tank. I have 6-in-1 test strips for nitrates/nitrites/chlorine that are equally vague - the chlorine one for example is either pure white = fine or 95% white 5% pink = lethal. To be honest only the pH and nitrate tests are on a scale that could actually be useful. Is there a cheap digital meter out there for any of this? The fish was missing a few scales on either side and had what looked like ammonia burns on the tips of its dorsal and anal fins when I started. The burns have since turned black which I assume means healing, but the scales are still MIA - how long do these take to grow back? Most of the gravel is too large for its mouth, but occasionally the fish sucks up a smaller piece and spits it back out, will this be a choking hazard when it gets larger? Should I just ditch gravel alltogether or go for really big pieces. Once the tank gets stabilized I'd like to add duckweed to it with the goal of making the system a little more robust - it should consume nitrate and outcompete algae, along with providing some food for the fish. I realize weekly water changes will always be necessary to remove misc toxins and replenish trace elements, but to what extent can I minimize them via regular removal of duckweed? Is it possible to keep a self-sustaining population of the stuff in a tank this size with a single goldfish? What kind of lighting do I need? Do I need to be concerned about it covering the entire tank surface and consuming all the oxygen at night? Will it cast an ugly green shadow on the tank? I havent found any particulars about intentionally growing this stuff.
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Jun 28, 2014 23:22
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Ahh the ol' goldfish scramble. As far as cycling goes, they waste the fish produces will speed up the process a lot. In the olden days tossing a live goldfish or molly into the tank was standard procedure for speeding it up, rather than the waiting method that lots of people go with today. Goldfish are little crap factories so they're great for this task, so you got that going for you. Until you're good steady water changes are the order of the day, though. And yeah, get some Prime. I don't know what the water is like where you are but here mine comes chlorinated and not fish-ready at all, so I run it a bit to try and reduce he heavy metal buildup, then fill my buckets and toss the Prime in. I like to have them sit a few hours just to be thorough but you could just up how much Prime you're adding. Too much Prime isn't going to hurt things and helps with the slime coat anyway. As far as duckweed goes I'm pretty sure you could grow it under just about any light. A couple brooder lamps and some 6500k CFLs would give you plenty of light for duckweed and pretty much anything else you'd want in there, just don't go nuts and get the biggest ones because they can be overkill. On a 20 long tank I'd bet even the lowest watt ones would work just fine but on a 20 tall I'm not sure. I've heard of goldfish eating gravel and it being a problem, but I've never kept big ones so I really don't know the specifics. And on the test kits I tend to just use the ones like you already have, so I gots nothin'.
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Jun 28, 2014 23:53
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Hemp Knight posted:I recently upgraded to a 90l tropical aquarium which went fine at first, but in the last 10 days/2 weeks, the water has gone from being nice and clear to green and cloudy, as below. Yipes. How many hours per day are you running the lights on that thing? And is it already getting a lot of natural light? Daily water changes and just not doing any lighting at all will be a good start. I cant see what plants if any you have in there. Maybe an anubias? Plastic? Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 01:57
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SynthOrange posted:Yipes. How many hours per day are you running the lights on that thing? And is it already getting a lot of natural light? Daily water changes and just not doing any lighting at all will be a good start. I cant see what plants if any you have in there. Maybe an anubias? Plastic? Probably also a problem with nutrients in the water, given the scope of that bloom. What size filter are you running and how much / how many times are you feeding. Are you using any ferts? I always get an algae breakout when starting a newly planted aquarium, but never to that degree.
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Jun 29, 2014 04:01
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I have the lights on 8 hours a day (May cut that down upon reflection). My previous tank was a lot smaller and had a lower wattage lamp, so I'm having to adjust fast. Not sure about natural light, as I may work most days, but it has been sunny here for a long time now, which may have had an effect, the tank is right next to a door, so I nay leave the door open to block any direct light. Plants are all live ones, I feed every two days, and the filter came with the tank from a pet store.
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Jun 29, 2014 10:29
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Eyes Only posted:Also, are there parameter tests that are a little more....accurate? I have a vial & drops ammonia test with a color card that goes from yellow to green, but it's hard to tell exactly what the level is from colors alone. The first marking on the card is 0.25ppm and is like 4 parts yellow, 1 part lime green. The scale goes up to 8ppm which seems pretty pointless since you'd choke just being near the tank. I have 6-in-1 test strips for nitrates/nitrites/chlorine that are equally vague - the chlorine one for example is either pure white = fine or 95% white 5% pink = lethal. To be honest only the pH and nitrate tests are on a scale that could actually be useful. Is there a cheap digital meter out there for any of this? Seconding the request for a cheap, usable digital meter.
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Jun 29, 2014 14:36
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How bad of an idea is using terrarium sand in an aquarium? I have an unused bag of ExoTerra black desert sand lying around that would be pretty neat.
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Jun 29, 2014 21:20
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IM_DA_DECIDER posted:How bad of an idea is using terrarium sand in an aquarium? I have an unused bag of ExoTerra black desert sand lying around that would be pretty neat. Depends on what it's made off, really. Quick googling tells me that lots of reptile sand have calcium in the mix, and that will definitely show in your water hardness, so I'd say no but I didn't dig too long. For black sand I use blasting sand. If you're in the US and there's a Tractor Supply Company near you, Black Diamond blasting sand is like $8.00 for fifty pounds and works great.
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Jun 29, 2014 21:54
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Play sand from Lowe's or Depot will also do. I went a different route on my tanks capping the dirt with a product called Zeobrite after a friend of mine who works at Sea World recommended it. They use it in the various aquariums to help absorb ammonia in the water. If you are familiar with the product Ammo-Carb, it zeolite in the mix but I would not use just that. EDIT: also both tanks I am using Zeobrite Zeolite which is one of the trade names. It has been in the tanks for over two years and still going strong. It is not as fine as sand but still needs to be washed prior to using it. demonR6 fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Jun 30, 2014 |
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Jun 30, 2014 11:48
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Doing a quick search of it in other forums shows that a few people have used it with few problems, just that it's really fine and light and easily stirred up, covering everything in it.
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Jun 30, 2014 13:05
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Well gently caress. Ich spots on a number of other goldfish this morning. Pulling what plants I can and starting salt.
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Jul 1, 2014 01:29
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cheese posted:Well gently caress. Ich spots on a number of other goldfish this morning. Pulling what plants I can and starting salt. Don't forget heat.. not sure what temps goldfish tolerate but a tank heater and turning up the temperature also is suggested.
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Jul 1, 2014 13:22
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demonR6 posted:Don't forget heat.. not sure what temps goldfish tolerate but a tank heater and turning up the temperature also is suggested. Raise heat, add some air stones. Increase oxygen, pretty much.
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Jul 1, 2014 23:17
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You hit the nail on the head. That is probably the most important regime I read in order to treat Ich. I'll throw this out there but I used API Super Ich Cure to treat a really bad outbreak that occurred when I bought my clown loach. It had the Ich already and the transition to the new environment made it blow up. Almost every fish I had was covered in it. I bought med and followed the instructions to the letter and it worked like a charm. I had ten Amano shrimp plus my favorite ghost shrimp and was worried it would kill them but they survived, along with the loving pest snails which I was really hoping would be wiped out but w/e. Anyhow, good stuff if you are not against using meds to treat.
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Jul 1, 2014 23:52
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What is the consensus on resealing tanks? I have a 55 gallon that is probably almost 20 years old. From 2000 to 2010 it was empty and in storage. In 2010 I put some water in it, no leaks, back into service. No leaks in the 4 years it's been up. However, I'm moving in a few weeks and have heard conflicting things about the need to reseal. I'm generally in the if it ain't broke, don't fix it camp, but drat, it is pretty old. Any thoughts?
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Jul 2, 2014 13:51
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