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I'm in the northeast US. Cooking the fish is exactly what I want to avoid so a good brand someone could recommend would definitely make me feel better because if the heater kills the fish I'll never hear the end of it.
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Jan 7, 2020 15:10
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KidDynamite posted:I'm in the northeast US. Cooking the fish is exactly what I want to avoid so a good brand someone could recommend would definitely make me feel better because if the heater kills the fish I'll never hear the end of it. I use the 50w version of this heater for my 5.3g tank. It does very well and I feel good about recommending this 25w version if it'll fit in your tank. I will say though the numbers on the thermostat part where you set the temp never correspond to the water temp of the tank so it's highly important to just start out at the lowest setting and turn it up a little every day until you see the temp get to where you want it. I like on these that there is a small light so you can see if it's on. Also make sure you disconnect it when doing water changes.
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Jan 7, 2020 17:18
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Synthbuttrange posted:The best local aquarium is closing down, with the owner deciding that 20 years is enough fishy business. Any sick deals? I couldn't imagine making money off of these sardines.
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Jan 7, 2020 18:58
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I finally got and setup the 250G Canister Filter (fluval FX4) and I can tell already that the fish are much happier with the improved flow. The tank water already seems much cleaner. Like crystal clear water. I've even seen a minor reduction in algae. My shrimp colony is going wild by the way. People always say that you can't mix fish with shrimp as the fry or shrimp themselves will get eaten. But none of my fish seem to pay the shrimp any attention. The shrimp aren't even hiding, they're all over the tank. I'm thinking about getting some zebra longfin danios. HOwever it says their max temperature is 24 degrees C. My tank fluctuates between 23C and 26C depending on the season and if my lovely AC decides to work in the summer. I have seen it reach 27C on some occasions. The average temp I would say with confidence is 25C. Would this prohibit me from getting danios? Phi230 fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Jan 7, 2020 |
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Jan 7, 2020 19:06
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re: Heaters. How much money do you want to spend, because there is a whole range. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cobalt-neo-therm-submersible-heater.html https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/eheim-jager-trutemp-aquarium-heater.html or go to petco and grab the aqueon heater that isn't preset
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Jan 8, 2020 00:31
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I promised shrimp pics but they were basically hiding in the back for most of the day. 
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Jan 8, 2020 01:52
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Phi230 posted:I I gave away my danios to make room for guppies and I regret it, they're a fish I'd like to keep again.
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Jan 8, 2020 04:44
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Any salt bros running an algae turf scrubber? Planning to add one to my 120 but not sure if I should cobble one together myself or buy a premade like an Ice Cap.
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Jan 8, 2020 22:02
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I heard we are doing shrimp pictures? Also yeah I have a Santa Monica RAIN4 ATS. As you can see from the picture above is not keeping algae out of my display. I haven been able to get green hair algae to grow in it yet.
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Jan 9, 2020 01:48
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I can't even grow chaeto. I think my nutrients are too low
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Jan 9, 2020 02:30
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My tank transitioned from GHA to diatoms and cyano 
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Jan 9, 2020 04:13
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No more baby bn plecos for me, sold off the whole lot of 70ish I had left this morning. Guy asked me how to get them to breed, so I told him to just keep them in a tank where it's a pain in the rear end to get them out again. Not going to miss rescuing them from my FX6 and filter socks. Down to 1 pleco in each tank now, and it feels good! And now I've got a free 40b to move my breeding like crazy apistos into. Everybody wins!
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Jan 10, 2020 16:34
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If you're cycling a new 36 gallon tank and it reads safe after a week can you start slowly adding hardy stuff to it? I'm guessing bottom feeders could handle the water, but I'd need to specifically feed them since there's no algae or waste. Tank reads safe at all levels except water hardness, but that's not something I can easily change. I haven't had a fish tank in forever and testing water and threading an air hose to make bubbles come out of unexpected places is more fun than I ever thought it would be, but at some point I'm going to need fish and plants.
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Jan 10, 2020 20:50
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A week seems pretty quick - what happens if you add an ammonia source? How fast is the tank/filter consuming ammonia? It might read at safe levels right now but once you add a fish those wastes could build up faster than the filter can process. Having said that, it is possible to safely fish-in cycle a tank if you keep on top of monitoring, especially a very lightly stocked reasonably sized tank which I think describes your situation pretty well. I'd say don't buy a fish just for cycling, pick a fish that you would have wanted to keep in the final set up. There aren't really any fish that you don't have to feed, even with algae present it doesn't take long for an obligate algae eater to get all the goodness they can out of the algae present. What kind of hardy fish did you have in mind? Edit to add - There are no fish in the hobby that I know of that eat "waste", the only poop eating fish I can think of are the ones that follow hippos around in the rivers. You mention hardness as being an issue, are you looking at too soft or too hard? There's plenty of fish suitable for both kinds of water, and most domestically bred fish aren't that fussy. Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Jan 10, 2020 |
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Jan 10, 2020 21:14
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Stoca Zola posted:A week seems pretty quick - what happens if you add an ammonia source? How fast is the tank/filter consuming ammonia? It might read at safe levels right now but once you add a fish those wastes could build up faster than the filter can process. Having said that, it is possible to safely fish-in cycle a tank if you keep on top of monitoring, especially a very lightly stocked reasonably sized tank which I think describes your situation pretty well. I'd say don't buy a fish just for cycling, pick a fish that you would have wanted to keep in the final set up. There aren't really any fish that you don't have to feed, even with algae present it doesn't take long for an obligate algae eater to get all the goodness they can out of the algae present. What kind of hardy fish did you have in mind? Edit to add - There are no fish in the hobby that I know of that eat "waste", the only poop eating fish I can think of are the ones that follow hippos around in the rivers. Types of fish are a little tricky because this is going to be a pea puffer tank and they hate everything. There are a few aquatics that live in relative peace, so if I can find some of those (like otto catfish or large snails) I'll add them in. I don't want to put anything in there that's going to get slaughtered in another month. Some people say Tetras and Danios work, but I'd need a school of those and I don't need that on my conscience. And it's hard water with some Prime water conditioner added. I honestly don't know what will happen once stuff starts peeing in here. I do have a constant ammonia meter on the side along with daily test strips. Ammonia levels are essentially non-existent and pH is in the upper 7's/low 8's. Water temp with heater is a balmy 78 degrees. Everything looks good on paper. Too good.
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Jan 10, 2020 21:47
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Are you measuring nitrite and nitrate levels? Your tank could just be starting its cycle, converting ammonia to nitrite. But your tank also needs to convert nitrite to nitrate. You'll need to do a 90% water change regardless when the cycle is complete.
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Jan 10, 2020 22:01
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Phi230 posted:Are you measuring nitrite and nitrate levels? Nitrite levels are in the safe range. Both kinds. Probably a stupid question, but where does the tank get ammonia if there are no fish in it?
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Jan 10, 2020 22:12
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You can add pure ammonia from a bottle, or seed with like a piece of uncooked shrimp or just feed the tank with fish food and let it break down. Agree that your tank isn't ready for fish, it hasn't had anything to kick start the cycle yet.
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Jan 10, 2020 22:24
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Just spitballin' a new build... how overkill is 2x54W T5HO over a 60" x 11" x 11" tank for a high tech iwagumi shrimp setup? I'll definitely need either a dimmable ballast and/or lights fairly high off the water, right? Would have a sump and for sure CO2.
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Jan 10, 2020 22:35
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Enos Cabell posted:You can add pure ammonia from a bottle, or seed with like a piece of uncooked shrimp or just feed the tank with fish food and let it break down. Agree that your tank isn't ready for fish, it hasn't had anything to kick start the cycle yet. Ugh...okay, I'll add ammonia and not add fish and see what happens. How about plants? Would I be able to add those or are they going to encounter the same problem as fish?
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Jan 10, 2020 22:36
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Krispy Wafer posted:Ugh...okay, I'll add ammonia and not add fish and see what happens. The main problem fish experience from a cycle is gill damage from the ammonia. Basically chemical burns. Plants obviously don’t need to worry about this.
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Jan 10, 2020 23:02
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Just throw in some fish food, or pour in a big ole jug of the good stuff: Seachem Stability. Then keep on adding more for about a week. Then put in a fish. Then make sure it does not die (this last step is very important).
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Jan 10, 2020 23:49
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Krispy Wafer posted:Ugh...okay, I'll add ammonia and not add fish and see what happens. Plants need to use NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and trace elements to grow. Depending on the plant they can consume ammonia directly, or nitrite, or nitrate. They do add to the biofiltration of the tank but if you have planted heavily before cycling they might leave nothing to measure to see if your tank has cycled correctly. There are some who call this a silent cycle as the wastes are still being consumed, just not by the filter bacteria. I believe it takes significant plant presence to see these kind of results though and I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think plants are always a good idea, they're part of the natural environment for many fish and help provide comfort and cover even for fish that don't come from plant filled waters. In any case, something you could try adding is snails - ramshorn snails will help with algae and contribute a small amount of ammonia, they can help process uneaten food and snail poop is good food for bacteria - but once you get pea puffers they'll also become a food source for the fish. This means you're not as likely to have a snail population explosion and it's good for pea puffers to chew on snail shells. I don't think I'd get a large snail as a livestock/pet that you want to keep, if pea puffers are aggro they'll probably bite at its eye stalks even if it's too big for them to eat. I think your tank should cycle reasonably well, the bacteria will appreciate that higher pH and once you have ongoing biological processes in the tank it will tend towards acidity over time so it's good to have some capacity/buffering to handle that.
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Jan 11, 2020 02:52
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My goal is a pea puffer Malaysian trumpet snail ecosystem, so snails are going to be a component. I don’t think the local fancy fish store carries them though so those might be mail order. They probably carry ramshorn snails though.
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Jan 11, 2020 04:20
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quote:ONLY three more auctions before I cease operations until further notice. The LAST auction will be January 24th. rip goldfish importer man
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Jan 11, 2020 05:16
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If you're running heavy CO2 be sure to turn it off before putting in new fish even if you acclimate them really slowly. Nothing like your brand new fish gasping for air at the top of the tank. I'm glad I had another tank to move them to, and hopefully I didn't shock them too badly... Fingers crossed. I killed the CO2 and will try again tomorrow, but that scared the hell out of me.
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Jan 11, 2020 05:18
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Stoca Zola posted:if you have planted heavily before cycling they might leave nothing to measure to see if your tank has cycled correctly. There are some who call this a silent cycle as the wastes are still being consumed, just not by the filter bacteria Nothing to measure? Measure nitrate. Nitrate will only leave the water through water changes or plant activity. If ammonia is in the water one day and later tests find ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all below the detectible threshold, it must be due to plant activity.
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Jan 11, 2020 05:28
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Yes! That's what I mean. Duckweed for example eats ammonia directly. I've seen a bunch of people freaking out because their "tank won't cycle" and people telling them that their tank can't be cycled because there's no nitrate reading, but then they post a pic of a lush planted tank and it's no surprise as to where the nitrogen compounds went. Some people are super dogmatic about no nitrate, no cycle and I just don't believe that's true. If your tank is eating ammonia and you have no ammonia or nitrite readings it doesn't matter if the plants ate it or if the filter ate it. Chances are it's safe for fish.
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Jan 11, 2020 09:16
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In any case that doesnt mean you should load it up right away with all the fish it can support at maximum. Start slow and easy. monitor the levels.
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Jan 11, 2020 09:49
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Yeah. Make sure that plants can handle the volume of waste the fish will produce, not just the small amount the tank was supposed to be primed with. Bacteria can double their population in hours to take advantage of an increase in their food supply. Plants don’t grow that fast.
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Jan 11, 2020 13:06
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I meant "safe for a fish", oops. You're completely right, it's best practise to add bioload slowly and monitor to ensure the wastes are being sufficiently removed.
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Jan 11, 2020 15:19
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Are 40-50% weekly water changes too much for my 5g heavily planted tank with only 4 Amano shrimp for livestock? I've heard fluctuating CO2 can be a cause of BBA growth but I can't imagine much being generated by the shrimp and its a low tech tank. I've just got a couple very tiny BBA on my hardscape after I disturbed a lot of substrate and I'm not sure if it's from the substrate or something else. I had BBA issues about 6-8 months ago. I'm going to start dosing half the flourish dose twice a week instead of all at once because it just seems smarter, or is this not really an issue? Seachem says to dose once weekly.
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Jan 11, 2020 18:10
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So I got the 250G canister filter, how do I know when it's ready to remove my current HOB? Like how will I know bacteria have colonized the new filter? Also will I have to worry about oxygenation when I remove the HOB? There will be no bubbles or very few anyway. I'm thinking about getting a CO2 system next week. I'm kinda worried that adding a new system will hurt the fish, is that a legit concern?
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Jan 11, 2020 18:20
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It should technically be possible to get away with doing NO water changes. Just remove excess plant growth and top off with RO water. (I am too scared to try this myself)
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Jan 11, 2020 18:22
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Phi230 posted:So I got the 250G canister filter, how do I know when it's ready to remove my current HOB? Like how will I know bacteria have colonized the new filter? If you can't move all the media from the HOB to the new canister it could be weeks (like cycling all over again) before the population of bacteria is enough to remove the HOB. You can angle the canister's filter return so that it causes disturbance at the surface of the tank and that will facilitate oxygen exchange and break up any surface films etc. or if using a spray bar you can angle it so the holes point more upwards (this can squirt everywhere if you forget to move it during a water change). It is definitely legit to worry about making a drastic change to the tank, recently I heard of a guy who bought a fancy pH controlled CO2 dosing system, set it up exactly according to instructions, let it run and the very next day his whole tank was either dead or very struggling. As far as anyone can tell there may have been something wrong with his pH probe but the system kept adding CO2 overnight when the plants weren't using it. The controller didn't detect a pH drop that it considered dangerous so it just kept adding. Anyway you can avoid this by closer visual monitoring of your tank, only adding a very small amount at the start then gradually increasing. If there's a problem you can see it and reverse what your most recent change was ie maybe you had 1 bubble of CO2 per second and you upped it to 3 bubbles per second, 4 hours later fish are seen at the surface gasping - you know exactly what changed and can remedy it. It sounds like you don't have an air pump and air stone, I think it's useful to have those even if you don't usually run them in case you need to get extra movement and oxygenation in the tank either due to medication or heater malfunction/hot weather etc. Always have a plan B in case something goes wrong and to me being able to throw an extra airstone in is a good plan B for if you add CO2 and something goes wrong and too much ends up in the tank.
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Jan 12, 2020 00:28
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Jan 12, 2020 04:00
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Shrampie shramp.  
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Jan 12, 2020 06:20
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I miss havin shrimp around. not missin the dried up shrimp I'd find around the tank tho.
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Jan 12, 2020 06:25
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PETCO is doing the dollar a gallon sale right now. Picked up a 29 for my jerk festivum cichlid.
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Jan 12, 2020 19:40
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I was thinking about getting a Mexican Dwarf Crayfish. My current stocking is 1x Pearl Gourami 3x Dwarf Gourami 5x Kuhli Loaches 5x Julii Cory's 5x Glass Catfish 1x Albino Bristlenose Pleco 6x Neon Tetra Assassin snails beyond counting Cherry Shrimp beyond counting 2x Bamboo shrimp Would it be safe to add it? Seeing a lot of mixed info.
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Jan 12, 2020 21:41
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