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If you are going to use seachem matrix filter media be sure to rinse it even though the instructions don't mention it. The dust gets suspended in the water very easily. My tank still looks like I poured a gallon of milk into it 8 hours later. That can't be good for the fish...
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Jun 13, 2019 16:29
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Get some filter floss into your mechanical filtration layer and let it get nice and brown and sticky with bacteria, it'll pull those fine particulates out sooner or later. Or if you can't wait, Seachem sell a glue-like product called Clarity which will glue all the particulates into filterable lumps. You pretty much need to toss out your filter floss after using that though.
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Jun 13, 2019 16:48
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Saltwater stuff is fine in here, I think; this place gets like 10 posts a day when it's busy, so combining them can only be a benefit. Maybe petition a mod to change the thread title?
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Jun 13, 2019 17:55
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I haven't had a problem using cheap polycarbonate sheets from home depot for tank lids. I'm in New Mexico, so running lidless isn't an option with how dry and dusty it is here. It was quite easy to cut, and you can probably get one of the employees to show you, and let you mess up some pieces in store.
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Jun 13, 2019 18:01
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papa horny michael posted:I haven't had a problem using cheap polycarbonate sheets from home depot for tank lids. I'm in New Mexico, so running lidless isn't an option with how dry and dusty it is here. It was quite easy to cut, and you can probably get one of the employees to show you, and let you mess up some pieces in store. I've bought glass and had it cut to size at Lowe's
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Jun 13, 2019 18:11
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Designing the tank stand and I have to work around the 9" x 5" internal overflow on this tank. It's rimless so it will need a ply support with a leveling mat underneath. I'll cut the ply to accommodate the overflow but I won't be able to run a full 2" x 4" for the back. This is what I'm thinking with the ply either fully cut away to the back edge, or just cut around the bulkhead. I'm just not sure if I can leave those 45 square inches unsupported to the very edge like this? 
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Jun 13, 2019 18:18
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Are you sure the holes in the overflow are that close to the back glass? I've never seen an internal overflow where they were so close that a 2x4 stand would interfere.
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Jun 13, 2019 19:01
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Enos Cabell posted:Are you sure the holes in the overflow are that close to the back glass? I've never seen an internal overflow where they were so close that a 2x4 stand would interfere. Don't know yet, the overflow is only 5" deep and the bulkheads are always bigger than the holes. I'm getting clearances from the tank builder today hopefully.
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Jun 13, 2019 19:32
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TKIY posted:Don't know yet, the overflow is only 5" deep and the bulkheads are always bigger than the holes. I suspect you'll have plenty of room, otherwise that's the same design I've used on all my stands from 180g down to 40g and it works great.
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Jun 13, 2019 19:46
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What're you planning on doing in terms of finish for the stand?
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Jun 14, 2019 02:33
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Stoca Zola posted:Get some filter floss into your mechanical filtration layer and let it get nice and brown and sticky with bacteria, it'll pull those fine particulates out sooner or later. Or if you can't wait, Seachem sell a glue-like product called Clarity which will glue all the particulates into filterable lumps. You pretty much need to toss out your filter floss after using that though. Still milky 24 hours later  I hit it with clarity but I don't see a change.
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Jun 14, 2019 02:51
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DeadlyMuffin posted:What're you planning on doing in terms of finish for the stand? Skinned with 3/4" ply for shear strength, with moulding top and bottom. Likely black paint over the nastiest primer I can find. Interior in white for some visibility help working in the sump. The ply on the interior will be caulked all the way around as well.
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Jun 14, 2019 03:46
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Still milky 24 hours later.
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Jun 14, 2019 04:04
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Stoca Zola posted:Could be a bacterial bloom if Clarity doesn't touch it but it seems odd that that would happen straight away after adding Matrix. It happened instantly, so I don't think that's it Stoca Zola posted:You don't have a thin film on your glass or anything like that do you?  Nope
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Jun 14, 2019 05:13
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TKIY posted:Skinned with 3/4" ply for shear strength, with moulding top and bottom. Likely black paint over the nastiest primer I can find. Interior in white for some visibility help working in the sump. I didn't skin the outside, but otherwise that's exactly how I built mine. 
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Jun 14, 2019 13:39
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I'll only really skin the sides and the face frame on the front. I want maximum access to the sump so I want the front panel to be completely removable. Just need to sort out a way to hang that panel cleanly. Also a slight change on flow plans. I'll sell off the MP10 and instead of buying another or an MP40 I'll get a WAV starter to run off my Apex. It should be more flow and flow control for roughly the same amount of cash. Edit: Just updated my shopping cart and holy poo poo: 
TKIY fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Jun 14, 2019 |
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Jun 14, 2019 14:40
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So my BBA problem was getting worse and worse, yesterday I needed to trim the stem plants anyways so decided to actually pull the hardscape out of the tank as well, boiling it, and trimming the other plants aggressively where I could see anything that looked like BBA. Also dunked the filter pump and canister chamber in boiling water briefly to kill any that might be in there. I even aggressively agitated the sponge filter under hot water to try to remove any that could be there as well (I don't have any real ammonia producing livestock in the tank, just 4 Amano shrimp so not concerned about nuking my beneficial bacteria). I then took the oppourtunity to give the gravel a good vacuum/siphon and rescaped the tank with the hardwood a little bit for interest's sake before replanting the trimmed stem plants. Hoping this will be enough to have removed the BBA. I'll take some pics when I get home today, the BBA once boiled actually has an amazing green mossy look to it. If I can get it under control I'll maybe get a little Java moss for a similar effect.
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Jun 14, 2019 17:28
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My goldfish tank has been cloudy the last couple of days, was clear when I woke up, I feed them, 10 minutes later I come back and its cloudy again. DOH! I don't think its a serious problem. I'm skeptical of the food but I'm nearly finished with it and I'm gonna switch back. But mostly I'm pretty sure the problem is just that I did a major job scraping all the algae off the glass and removed the hardscape so I could clear out all the plants my goldfish killed. I think the combination of algae/stuff kicked around and the lack of bacteria on the hardscape or presence of plants is just resulting in the cloudy water. Some more water changes and get some of the hardscape back in. My little filter also died so its just a combination of stuff I think I know how to address. I've worked up this theory that I had a delicate ecosystem that by molly dying disrupted. The molly pestered the goldfish and ate some algae. Pestering the goldfish kept them occupied but didn't bother them. Molly dies and the goldfish have extra free time to rip away at my plants. Less plants and no molly means more algae. More algae, dead/ripped up plant matter, and down a filter means dirtier water. It might be gibberish but it helps to think I can make sense of things. So I'll clean, pick up a small filter, some new plants, return my hardscape, and maybe a couple of mollies to try and bring bakc my ecosystem.
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Jun 14, 2019 17:55
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DeadlyMuffin posted:It happened instantly, so I don't think that's it Clarity doesn't work, and a glass full of tank water still didn't settle out after 8 hours. Maybe it is a bacteria bloom causing the cloudiness. I did replace about half of the (very old and I'm sure well colonized) filter media with new stuff. Maybe I forced a re-cycle. Hopefully I don't wipe out my fish... It happened *quick* though.
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Jun 15, 2019 02:42
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This is an established tank right? Try a teaspoon of rock/sea salt.
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Jun 15, 2019 02:49
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VelociBacon posted:So my BBA problem was getting worse and worse, yesterday I needed to trim the stem plants anyways so decided to actually pull the hardscape out of the tank as well, boiling it, and trimming the other plants aggressively where I could see anything that looked like BBA. Also dunked the filter pump and canister chamber in boiling water briefly to kill any that might be in there. I even aggressively agitated the sponge filter under hot water to try to remove any that could be there as well (I don't have any real ammonia producing livestock in the tank, just 4 Amano shrimp so not concerned about nuking my beneficial bacteria). Currently dealing with BBA myself. Tried hydrogen peroxide?
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Jun 15, 2019 02:50
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Synthbuttrange posted:This is an established tank right? Try a teaspoon of rock/sea salt. Yeah very established. Seriously try salt? I'm super paranoid about putting salt in a tank with plants
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Jun 15, 2019 03:26
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What could cause a massive pH jump? A week ago I bought some balloon mollys for my 70l tank, yesterday morning I woke up to 5 of the 6 molly's dead and one of my corys. Tested the water and the pH was around 8.0, ammonia was 0, nitrites around 2ppm and nitrates around 80ppm. Did a 50% water change and tested the water again after an hour or 2 and the pH had jumped up again to the highest reading of 8.8, nitrites around 1ppm and nitrates were around 40ppm. I added some pH down and also did an 80% water change with a triple dose of Stability for good measure. This morning the water is better with the pH back down to around 7.2, nitrites still around 1ppm and nitrates down to around 5ppm but I'm concerned about the deaths and the massive spike in pH levels. My tap water pH is pretty much spot on 7.0 straight from the tap, I also left some sitting overnight and tested it and still got the same reading so it seems stable on it's own. Tank has had fish in it for probably 2 1/2 months now, no additions into the tank apart from fish and I switched to using Stability from API Quick Start about 2 weeks ago.
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Jun 15, 2019 03:27
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Elevated CO2 levels? How is your surface agitation/aeration?
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Jun 15, 2019 03:32
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If this title is not adequate please advise and I will change it to whatever you wish. namaste fishfriends.
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Jun 15, 2019 03:50
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Yeah very established. If it's a bacterial bloom a tiny amount of salt can help kill it off while you're working out whatever else is causing the bloom. Overfeeding, not enough filtering, all possible suspects. I've had blooms before and one teaspoon isnt going to turn it into a saltwater tank. At worst it doesnt work, you can do water swaps. https://www.fishforums.net/threads/bacterial-blooms-explained.246850/#entry2216518 Here's a larger older thead about blooms with other options.
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Jun 15, 2019 04:09
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New title looks good to me.DeadlyMuffin posted:Clarity doesn't work, and a glass full of tank water still didn't settle out after 8 hours. If Clarity did nothing you're almost guaranteed that's a bacterial bloom, which does fit with making a change to the filtration of your tank. It isn't necessarily bad for your fish, and another way to tell if it's bacteria is if it doesn't improve after a water change (they can just reproduce back to the same cloudiness, which dusty water couldn't do). It just means there is some excess nutrient that they are able to feed from that wasn't there before, maybe even something in your tap water or stirred up when you changed your filter. If your fish are acting fine don't worry about it. You'll see them hide more or be less active if there's something wrong. I haven't seen this kind of thing that often but it usually ends when the bacteria run out of food. If the source of nutrient is internal to your tank that's fine but if it's in your source water it's a lot harder to get rid of. The salt idea isn't terrible, that's not enough salt to hurt a thick cell walled plant but it might be enough to upset the bacteria. KTS posted:What could cause a massive pH jump? A week ago I bought some balloon mollys for my 70l tank, yesterday morning I woke up to 5 of the 6 molly's dead and one of my corys. Tested the water and the pH was around 8.0, ammonia was 0, nitrites around 2ppm and nitrates around 80ppm. Did a 50% water change and tested the water again after an hour or 2 and the pH had jumped up again to the highest reading of 8.8, nitrites around 1ppm and nitrates were around 40ppm. I added some pH down and also did an 80% water change with a triple dose of Stability for good measure. This morning the water is better with the pH back down to around 7.2, nitrites still around 1ppm and nitrates down to around 5ppm but I'm concerned about the deaths and the massive spike in pH levels. My tap water pH is pretty much spot on 7.0 straight from the tap, I also left some sitting overnight and tested it and still got the same reading so it seems stable on it's own. Tank has had fish in it for probably 2 1/2 months now, no additions into the tank apart from fish and I switched to using Stability from API Quick Start about 2 weeks ago. If you didn't test the tank water last week when you added the fish, I'm not sure that you can blame high pH for your troubles now (it could have been like that all along). In any case, mollies can live in pretty hard/alkaline water and can adjust to living in brackish or salt. For your nitrates to be so high and nitrites to be present at all, it could just be that your filter couldn't handle the wastes produced by the new fish (and your tank could have been over crowded). 70lt isn't a big tank, what else did you have in there, and what filtration are you running? Usually CO2 gives you low pH not high, and the other source would be minerals dissolving from rocks or substrate. But for it to happen that fast I really don't know. I don't think using pH down type products is ideal as you end up with another sudden change which can shock the fish. Big water changes or more frequent ones would be better. My best guess would be balloon mollies that already are at a disadvantage from being bred to be short bodied, combined with being new so potentially carrying diseases, combined with being kept in water that was possibly softer than what they were used to. Once one fish dies in a 70lt tank it doesn't take long for it all to go downhill as that fish starts to decompose straight away. A Cory as a bottom dwelling fish is at least going to have a taste of the fallen molly and might possibly get sick from it, but once the dying fish cascade begins the lowering water quality can be enough to finish off otherwise well fish. Once everything has settled down and you're ready to try again with adding new fish, try adding fewer at a time to give the filter a chance to catch up?
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Jun 15, 2019 04:34
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w00tmonger posted:Currently dealing with BBA myself. Tried hydrogen peroxide? I have but my tank is a 5g, the amount of H2O2 I'd need to treat all the BBA that way would be way too much for the water column and my shrimp. Previous to the BBA getting out of control I actually used a basting brush to apply the H2O2 above the water level when changing the water, giving it lots of time to resolve into water before topping up the tank. Eventually it just spread too much. Hoping that whatever introduced it to the tank is now gone! I'll post a pic in a sec here of the tank now.   Actually glad I got up to do that because I noticed my anubia in the center had BBA on the leaves that I missed earlier! Pulled it out and put it in a vase beside the tank for now until I can look up how to bleach it and make sure it's clean. Here's the tank without the anubia - you can really see the bright green BBA now that it's been boiled. 
VelociBacon fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Jun 15, 2019 |
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Jun 15, 2019 05:27
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Do you guys actually wash your filter socks in the dishwasher?? I would be executed if I attempted such a maneuver. Just straight murdered.
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Jun 15, 2019 05:43
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BONGHITZ posted:Do you guys actually wash your filter socks in the dishwasher?? I would be executed if I attempted such a maneuver. Just straight murdered. No, it would kill the beneficial bacteria so kinda beside the point. A good rinse is all it needs if we're talking about the same thing. If you're asking in response to my post I only washed my filter media in hot water because I just wanted to reset the tank basically.
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Jun 15, 2019 05:52
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BONGHITZ posted:Do you guys actually wash your filter socks in the dishwasher?? I would be executed if I attempted such a maneuver. Just straight murdered. Filter socks aren't really used for bacteria, it's for the mechanical filtration. I don't run them through the dishwasher, but I do a big load in the clothes washing machine every few months. Just bleach and water, no soap, and I run them twice turning them inside out between washes. I also run a load or two of like dirty towels and stuff after to clear out any residual crap before my wife touches it again.
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Jun 15, 2019 06:12
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Stoca Zola posted:If you didn't test the tank water last week when you added the fish, I'm not sure that you can blame high pH for your troubles now (it could have been like that all along). In any case, mollies can live in pretty hard/alkaline water and can adjust to living in brackish or salt. For your nitrates to be so high and nitrites to be present at all, it could just be that your filter couldn't handle the wastes produced by the new fish (and your tank could have been over crowded). 70lt isn't a big tank, what else did you have in there, and what filtration are you running? I got slack with my water testing so it had been about 3 weeks since my last test. Weekly water changes though is something I haven't slacked on. The tank had 7 neon tetra's, 3 guppy's and 4 corys in it before the mollys. Filtration is the included top filter with the kit with some added lava rock and coarse sponge and an extra internal filter both rated for around 500l/ph. Just got back from the aquarium where I got my water tested, same results as I was getting this morning so at least it's back to being stable. I'm doing some daily doses of Stability to help the bacteria with the nitrites and I'll keep testing every day for the next week or so to make sure it stays stable before I think of adding any more fish to the tank. Possibly tinker with the filter some more to add more bio media to it.
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Jun 15, 2019 06:46
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Stoca Zola posted:
Fish are acting more lethargic than I'm used to. On the theory that bacteria consume oxygen I killed the co2 and stuck an air line in the tank to oxygenate a bit. I figure it can't hurt . I'm kicking myself for messing with long established filters to make it better. I guess I underestimated how much the old media was doing. The issue isn't my water though. I use rodi water so I'm sure I'm not adding nutrients. I know it's probably not necessary, but I have the water for my be reef tank and I really don't trust the tap water here.
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Jun 15, 2019 07:05
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Fish are acting more lethargic than I'm used to. On the theory that bacteria consume oxygen I killed the co2 and stuck an air line in the tank to oxygenate a bit. I figure it can't hurt . Yeah I'm in the same boat with crap tap water. It makes sense to me to just rule out one possible problem source completely. I think you are on the money with cutting CO2 to give your fish an easier time, at least until things settle down a bit.
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Jun 15, 2019 11:14
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koi got herpes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avHTPO3Ce68
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Jun 15, 2019 18:58
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My betta has had a big white sore for the last couple of weeks. I've tried water changes and salt to treat but no real change. It hasn't really affected his behavior until the last couple of days where he's seemed to get a little timid/listless/not eating. But I think that mostly had to do with me moving him to a temporary tank while I moved his current tank as I prepare for my new 29G community tank. I imagine he just hated all the change and trauma and tonight when I opened the led he rushed out of his hiding spot to eat. So I'm hoping he's ok. Is there some kind of easy to get medicine I should/could give him?
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Jun 16, 2019 02:37
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Best store in my area had a huge 10th anniversary event today, so I made the drive up and picked up the last of the fish I plan to add to the planted rainbow 125. Snagged some yellow rainbows:  I was assured these are red laser rainbows, but they look like turquoise to me (the blue guys in back) and 6 small denison barbs:  And then 4 schwarzi cories:  They are all chilling out in a 40g QT for now, will add to the rest of the herd in the 55g QT after 6 weeks if I don't have the main tank set up by then
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Jun 16, 2019 03:21
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So I have to move houses soon, about 20 minutes down the road. What's the safest and easiest way to move a 25 and 10 gal heavily planted tanks? My initial idea was to transport 1/2 the water in sealable 5 gal buckets, with the fish inside. Drain the rest of the water from the tanks, leave the plants in the substrate and move everything that way. I'm worried about the weight of everything left in the bottom of the tanks doing damage to the glass when I pick it up to move though.
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Jun 17, 2019 11:16
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Rythe posted:So I have to move houses soon, about 20 minutes down the road. What's the safest and easiest way to move a 25 and 10 gal heavily planted tanks? I've never moved a tank with more than two or three inches in the bottom, and even that was terrifying. However small tanks like that shouldn't flex too badly. The tank bottom can hold the weight no issue (I mean they don't explode when they are full) it's anything that applies torsion to the glass or seams. Keep them very flat, keep them from sliding, take out as much water as humanly possible, move them on sheets of plywood or something when carrying them to reduce any chance of flexing.
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Jun 17, 2019 17:35
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Yes, having them sitting on a flat board is the important part in my mind. I moved my 20g sitting on top of my coffee table (with some snug but not tight luggage straps) and it worked beautifully. Pro tip, turn the coffee table upside down so there is a lip to contain the tank
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Jun 17, 2019 17:48
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