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There's this part of me that wants to go back and buy a couple more of those 20G tanks for $25 adn just have to them without fish or water or the expensive equipment and decorations to try poo poo like that with and figure out how to do it. Because I love those pictures of those tanks that look like the bottom of the ocean or something. Mine looks so cheesy by comparison. I just don't have the room to put the tanks anywhere. But I'm debating clearing out a spot in my basement to make a kind of work station, getting a couple of tanks, and researching how do something like that and mess around as a pasttime.
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Aug 11, 2018 23:14
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STAC Goat posted:There's this part of me that wants to go back and buy a couple more of those 20G tanks for $25 adn just have to them without fish or water or the expensive equipment and decorations to try poo poo like that with and figure out how to do it. Because I love those pictures of those tanks that look like the bottom of the ocean or something. Mine looks so cheesy by comparison. It begins
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Aug 12, 2018 00:19
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Mozi posted:These are good but they are so thick and hard I can't cut them to change the dimensions, which is rather limiting. Pliers? I use plastic grids for my stuff and just tear them apart to my liking with a needlenose set. That looks thicker but you could probably do the same.
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Aug 12, 2018 00:28
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SocketWrench posted:It begins I'm a massive nerd and when a project interests me I tend to throw myself TOO hard into it. I've been holding myself back with this because of the cost and actual living creatures on the line, but the idea of just having an empty tank I'm learning to "aquascape" (a new word I just learned) is right up my alley. I blame my father who bonded with my by building mountains and lakes and poo poo for train boards.
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Aug 12, 2018 00:28
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Btw, you can also build those mounds and poo poo with bagged up media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6uOcRXivp4 And for those of us REALLY into aquariums https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEgki4IYB5I SocketWrench fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Aug 12, 2018 |
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Aug 12, 2018 01:08
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SocketWrench posted:And for those of us REALLY into aquariums 
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Aug 12, 2018 13:40
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Anyone know how long golden pearls are good for? I found some in my breather bag stash and they smell fine, but I haven't ordered these in over a year.
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Aug 12, 2018 15:08
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I heard a breeder on YouTube say he keeps all that kind of thing in the freezer so it doesn't go stale as quickly, so that's a possibility. I'd imagine some of the vitamins would break down over time depending on what preservative was used if any. I wouldn't rely on them if I was trying to feed up some fry I really wanted to do well. I've got some early stages of blue green algae starting in my planted 20g tall tank! I'm not sure what the culprit is as I haven't ever seen it before. That tank is fairly deep and I reused a dirt layer that I'd done some experimenting on in a different tank, so I'm wondering if it's weird stuff leaching out of the dirt and giving the cyano something different to eat. It cleans up really easily though at this point so I'm not too concerned, I was just able to vac it off and it peeled up in sheets.
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Aug 12, 2018 17:26
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This is probably a dumb question (and I keep asking them), but should I be concerned if my fish have been hiding from the light the last day? Like, I assume that's it because as soon as I turn the light off they relax and start swimming around. Maybe its hot since goldfish are coldwater? They're LED lights and the tank thermometer reads around 68-70 but its been hot the last few days so maybe they're just avoiding a heat wave or something? It seems like a simple "turn the light off and don't stress them out" thing but I just want to make sure its not a sign of something else. Everything else seems fine. Regular tests and water changes, conditioner and salt, not over feeding, tank looks clean, fish seem cool when they're not hiding from the light. edit: Upon reflection and a couple of small feedings I've decided they were just really hungry and moody. My bad. I probably should have gotten the hint when I did a water change and they like swam into the flow of the new water like they were expecting food. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Aug 12, 2018 |
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Aug 12, 2018 21:24
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I've found goldfish are attracted to the flow of water, whether or not it's for food. We used to have a waterfall filter, and they'd just swim against it all the time. It reminds me a little of the old myth about the koi trying to swim upstream and become a dragon.
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Aug 13, 2018 00:47
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Looks like I over did the osmocote root tabs, not hard to do in 5 gallon tank. I tested nitrate and it was off the charts. Did a couple water changes in the last week and it seems to be only around 20-40ppm now. I noticed when the nerite snails stopped moving for a couple days. Put them in my other tank and they are fine. Didn't lose any of the 6 amano shrimp and the fish didn't seem bothered. Plants are doing really well just a little greener than I would like.
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Aug 13, 2018 16:12
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SocketWrench posted:Btw, you can also build those mounds and poo poo with bagged up media Oh wow, that looks like a really good idea.
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Aug 13, 2018 19:30
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Just gonna leave this here because wow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuScdr53SM8
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Aug 15, 2018 04:54
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I just ordered one of these bad boys for my 29g planted tank: Finnex Planted+ 24/7 CC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3r0YPSd_k0 Will I be the first person in the thread with this set of lights? Surely, that cannot be the case. I would love to hear any thoughts or reviews from current owners because everything I have unearthed has been overwhelmingly gushing.
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Aug 15, 2018 18:37
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Applebees Appetizer posted:Just gonna leave this here because wow. This is what I'd do with a million dollars.
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Aug 15, 2018 18:38
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Neitherman posted:I just ordered one of these bad boys for my 29g planted tank: I've got one on my 90, it's a good light but my plants are in terrible shape because I'm bad at fertilizing and maintenance.
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Aug 15, 2018 18:39
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They don't sell finnex here, 240v vs 120v! With decent lighting fertiliser becomes important to combat algae. In my brightest lit tank I'm using an all in one pump fert and underdosing (probably using a quarter of recommended) and that's enough to get green growth that outpaces the algae. Before that I was getting all kinds of algae on every surface. I've also got a really bad undersized DIY co2 set up on that tank too, instead of bubbling the co2 into the water under pressure it has 2 upside down cups that hold a pocket of gas which slowly dissolve into the water. No possible way to gas my fish and it's gotta be better than nothing. It's "fun" looking for the balance point to make the plants happy without making the algae happier!
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Aug 15, 2018 18:57
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Neitherman posted:I just ordered one of these bad boys for my 29g planted tank: I got that light just a few days ago! So far I'd say it's good but has a few drawbacks - I wish it were easier to set the current time for the 24/7 mode, you can only set it to the nearest 3 hours (12, 3, 6, 9, etc). I also wish it could get dimmer than it can, as it's still kind of bright at night. The remote is a bit tricky to use but I managed to figure it out... I was regretting getting this instead of the Fluval 3.0 (which has an app that controls it via Bluetooth,) but it looks like Finnex is even more customizable than the Fluval. That is, I can set any lighting settings for the times (12am, 3am, 6, 9, 12pm, 3, 6, 9) and it will gradually go between them, but for the Fluval you can only set sunrise/sunset times and the color choice for daytime. The reason I prefer the Finnex here is that I can have sunrise, brightness, a cloudy afternoon, bright again, sunset, moonlight, total darkness, then sunrise. So it's much more flexible in that respect. Just wish it was more granular in what times I can set and that it were easier to set the current time. And yeah you better believe I watched all those Green Machine aquascaping videos - big reason why I got my first tank to begin with. Very inspirational. Mozi fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Aug 15, 2018 |
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Aug 15, 2018 19:12
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My relatives managed to kill the entirety of my planted tank so I sold the tank and went with a 9.7 gallon rimless cube tank I can keep at work where I know it can't be messed with. I'm going to plant it up and put a betta in it. Maybe a ghost shrimp depending on how its temperament is. my local petsmart/petco is a loving concentration camp for bettas. Poor little things confined to a coffee cup full of their own filth. I rescued male veiltale that had a nasty case of finrot so we'll see if I can rehab him.
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Aug 15, 2018 19:14
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'rescuing' bettas from lovely shops just encourages them to keep more in stock. :\
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Aug 16, 2018 03:50
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My Petco was carrying a bunch of "exotic betas" not in tanks but in little plastic cups of water on a shelf. That seemed bad. I wasn't shopping for fish so I wasn't super inquiring but it struck me as I nearly like knocked a couple down maneuvering my shopping cart with a 20 G tank and a ton of poo poo in it. I'm gonna go back tomorrow or Monday to get some plants and some rocks or something to try and do some minor aquascaping (and maybe grab a 20G tank on the cheap just to have for later) so I'll take more notice of that and their general fish selection. I'm probably gonna inquire into some shrimp or a beta for my 5G. And ask suggestions if there's anything I can put with the goldfish. There was a PetSmart across the road so I'll probably check that place out too. I imagine its pretty similar but can't hurt to check and do some comparison shopping. And I feel bad for abandoning my local place so I might go by there. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Aug 16, 2018 |
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Aug 16, 2018 04:04
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The first fish store I worked at, I went to specifically because they had a livebearer wall, with a single betta in each of those tanks (except for the guppy tank, until a betta accidentally wound up in that too and it turned out to be fine). Still had bettas in cups, which were cleaned very regularly, but the wall was the priority spot for bettas, and it was literally the best thing ever for moving bettas. Worse than the cups is the shipping. Tiny bags, four square inches of air at most, and just enough medication-loaded water in the corner for the fish to mostly lie in. Sideways. Combine that with winter conditions, even with styro and heat packs, and you're usually looking at 90%+ losses within a few days of arrival. I introduced indian almond leaf, which brought that down to about 50%, which is still pretty loving bad, but it wasn't "maybe we just shouldn't restock bettas for an entire third of the year" bad.
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Aug 16, 2018 06:08
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The local Walmart here has bettas in those little cups, heavily dosed with whatever that blue poo poo is. But instead of sticking them near the other fish they have them stacked in rows on the shelf between tank decor and the fish food.
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Aug 16, 2018 18:34
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I was picking up some frozen food from my local place today and checked out the bettas. They’ve fairly recently switched to recirculating betta barracks instead of lovely cups. Still woefully inadequate space, but every betta was alive and healthy looking, all heated and clean looking. A good change from the half dead mess that it used to be and honestly I think they are safer on that system than mixed in with the rotting corpse and disease riddled main fish rack. If they ever got a green or blue mustard gas in stock I would buy it no hesitation. Fish noise your name reminded me, I have got my new air blower half set up and replaced 3 regular air pumps with it. It’s doing air for 9 objects on 5 tanks with plenty of pressure to spare so I’m confident that it will be able to cover the room once I get the pvc manifold set up. Even with the open valve I have hissing to release excess pressure it is way quieter than the old vibrating diaphragm pumps. Managed to overflow a bucket all over the floor for the first time in ages, I left it siphoning to go grab a bucket from the other room because I knew one wasn’t enough, but when I got to the other bucket there was something in it already and I just blanked out on what I wanted it for or what I was supposed to do. So I ended up vacuuming about 5 litres off the carpet and it’s still quite wet. Oops!
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Aug 16, 2018 18:42
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I set myself up a shrimp tank. 5.5 gallons. I'll be curious to see how well this goes, it's my first attempt at a dirt tank.
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Aug 17, 2018 04:20
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Got my little betta tank at work going. Found a stunning half-moon betta that was in good shape at my Pet Valu. Got the tank running, let it go for a weekend, then brought in some plants from home along with lava-rock so theres a bit of BB to seed the tank. Little dude(tte)? has been in since Monday, and seems to be settling in. Nice piece of driftwood with a bunch of java moss, a chunk of java fern on a piece of lava rock, and a little ceramic log. I have a coconut "hideout" on order for the tank, along with some more moss. Now everyone comes in to see my fish.
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Aug 17, 2018 14:42
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Slowly getting more plants for my new 27g puffer tank
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Aug 17, 2018 19:05
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Looking good! I finally got mine all planted up - I think it turned out rather well. Changed the background to black which I think is much much better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIJMn9eMaeI Mozi fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Aug 17, 2018 |
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Aug 17, 2018 20:59
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Mozi posted:Looking good! Awesome! Definitely a fan of the black background after having tried it for the first time. Really completes the tank
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Aug 18, 2018 05:57
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Siochain posted:Got my little betta tank at work going. Found a stunning half-moon betta that was in good shape at my Pet Valu. Got the tank running, let it go for a weekend, then brought in some plants from home along with lava-rock so theres a bit of BB to seed the tank. Little dude(tte)? has been in since Monday, and seems to be settling in. I'm sorta jealous. I've had people ask me if I wanted to do one in my office, and I would, but I don't think the fish would enjoy the steel presses stamping away 20 hours a day, let alone that whenever we plug something new in the office it blows the breaker again
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Aug 18, 2018 07:28
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Another glamour shot...  I've been tweaking it here and there, added a few bits and changed the slope in the back a bit. Wish the cloudiness would come down quicker, I'm thinking of changing the powerhead prefilter to a smaller-pore sponge filter to help with that. Cycling is going well, the aquasoil puts out a lot of ammonia so I can just sit back and watch. I'm seeing online that people do a lot of water changes initially with this stuff but I don't really see the point... ammonia is just plant food, from a certain perspective, but I could be missing something. After it's safe I'll add some Malaysian Trumpet Snails to prevent re-cycling and get to work in the substrate, then it's shrimp time!
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Aug 19, 2018 14:27
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As long as there are no fish in there I don't see why anyone would do a water change. That would just make the cycling take longer because you keep pulling the stuff out needed to establish bacteria.
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Aug 19, 2018 23:18
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I want to do a false marine tank. 29 gallons. Has a few dojo loaches, panda garras, and bettas. Now to get the decor set just perfect.
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Aug 20, 2018 01:39
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SocketWrench posted:As long as there are no fish in there I don't see why anyone would do a water change. That would just make the cycling take longer because you keep pulling the stuff out needed to establish bacteria. Most of the bacteria isn't in the water so should be fine on that front E: that said I guess you're pulling out nitrates etc. If your trying to cycle, the best thing you can do is search around locally online for some established media. Get a spongefrom a healthy established tank, or better yet some ceramic media and throw it in your filter w00tmonger fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Aug 20, 2018 |
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Aug 20, 2018 03:27
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Cowslips Warren posted:I want to do a false marine tank. 29 gallons. Has a few dojo loaches, panda garras, and bettas. Now to get the decor set just perfect. What's a false marine tank?
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Aug 20, 2018 05:25
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a tank that looks like it has saltwater fish but surprise, they're freshwater
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Aug 20, 2018 06:05
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Today I saw a tiny baby assassin snail!  Hopefully this will soon lead to them getting the 4 other types of snail infestation under control.
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Aug 20, 2018 13:32
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w00tmonger posted:Most of the bacteria isn't in the water so should be fine on that front Oh, I was able to transfer some bacteria from an established filter, plus I had some ATI Quick Start to use up, so I definitely had everything in place to get the cycling going from day one. I'm also testing daily so I'm confident it's not crazy in there. Just that when you Google for "amazonia cycling" everybody says 50% water changes daily for the first week or something crazy like that, and I've barely changed 10% in a week and the ammonia levels are only slightly toxic and decreasing.
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Aug 20, 2018 13:53
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I googled halfheartedly and could not find a single thing one way or the other regarding high ammonia levels - tons of people had anecdotes of their filters cycling just fine and plants not being burned on high ammonia fish free cycles. Who knows. People learn about the numbers and then fixate on hitting the "right" numbers I guess. I had a leaky tank scare yesterday after filling my riffle shrimp tank right up - I am still not sure whether it leaked or if I spilled a lot of water without realising. It's a pretty crappy old tank that I resealed, constructed such that the sides sit on the bottom of the glass instead of the bottom being surrounded by the sides. Lots of areas of chipping around the bottom edge. It seemed water tight after my practice reseal and I've been using it around 18 months - I didn't really remember how badly smashed up it was and was kind of shocked looking at it closely trying to work out where a leak might be. I reckon I need to look for a new tank for these guys, just my riffle shrimp and a bunch of cherry shrimp culls. I'd still love to set up a longer, shallow hill stream type tank one day so that would be an ideal home for the riffle shrimp. Anyway I dropped the water level down a bit and after a while couldn't find any more water pooling but I'm still nervous about it. Also at some point in the past I ordered a fert dosing pump along with some food I was running low on, and I'd completely forgotten. It must have been on special because I don't know why else I would have impulse bought it. It arrived today along with some other stuff I've been waiting for, just as well since I've started forgetting whether I've added ferts to my main tank or not so it will definitely come in handy, I think what I'll do is check it's calibration then run a daily dose schedule with some watered down ferts. I've got a sump pump today too which will greatly assist in my ability to shift waste water! looking forward to automating more and more things. I don't trust autofeeders though!
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Aug 20, 2018 14:12
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Synthbuttrange posted:a tank that looks like it has saltwater fish but surprise, they're freshwater Yes. The hardest part is the stocking because marine tanks are usually, to the naked eye, understocked. It'll take some time though, it might get veto'd if my mom prefers the freshwater look.
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Aug 20, 2018 14:13
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