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Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm fairly new. I've had a 29g planted tank with 5 corys and a few dozen cherry shrimp for a little less than a year now. One of the corys has some white fungus on their dorsal fin and on a few small areas on its sides. It's been there about two weeks and doesn't seem to be bothering it any. Should I be worried? ce gars fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 00:39
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ce gars posted:Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm fairly new. I've had a 29g planted tank with 5 corys and a few dozen cherry shrimp for a little less than a year now. yeah that is not a good thing. How are your water parameters? Fungal infection most likely.
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Jan 4, 2022 02:49
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Enos Cabell posted:The long stuff is jungle vallisneria, and grows about two feet a week or more in my 75g. Shoots out tons of runners too! I trim the heck out of it, down to about an inch or so below the water line, and it doesn't slow down one bit. Holy crap 2 feet a week? mines probably 4 or 5 feet in length now which is way excessive for the size of the tank but now Im curious how your plants are growing so quick. I was happy with the progress I was making, this is probably my one thousands tank but its my first attempt to a potted plant, working my way up to maybe one day trying to tackle my fathers old nemesis, a small reef tank that man struggled with for years back in the 90s haha. The Flourish Excel has helped a lot, but Im no where near that speed of growing. I dont want to OD on flourish and kill all the fish tho, what else could we be doing different? my tank is hit a pretty nice balance, it can go weeks without a real water change just topping it off as it loses some to evaporation, the fish are healthy, as long as I dump a cap or two of flourish in the algae stays in check and the plants grow. My parameters are usually fine on nitrates and trites, but the water is naturally very hard with high alkalinity as well. everything seems to tolerate it, and Im not super wild about the idea of having to buy gallons of water every week from the store if I can avoid it... but other than water and using cheapo LED shop lights instead of expensive full spectrum aquarium grow lights, not sure what I could be doing. Tanks got 6 angel fish, another 6-8 mollys and guppys and a blue crayfish as well as anywhere from 10 to seemingly thousands of snails depending on how lazy I get with the floushish doses, but its using a huge over kill bucket filter I had from when I had an adult oscar in the tank and needed massive filtration so it does fine, Im not sure if its considered over stocked or not.. I mean ~15 fish seems like a ton but all of them put together have less mass than the one oscar so who knows.
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Jan 4, 2022 03:46
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Cowslips Warren posted:How are your water parameters? Just dipped in a test strip and got pH: 7.5 GH: 20 KH: 0 Nitrate 40 Nitrite 0 Temp is kept at a steady 75 That GH is way too high, yeah? ce gars fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 04:02
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ce gars posted:Just dipped in a test strip and got I never mess with ph or GH or general water hardness myself. Only once or twice have I used reverse osmosis water in a single tank for very special soft water fish, and then after a few weeks got rid of them because it's just not worth the effort without a set RO unit system. I would not worry too much about GH. Ammonia results? You will probably have to medicate, but since Cories are scale as fish, you'll want to be careful with that. Stay away from stuff like melafix or Pima fix because they're not going to help at all, to call them snake oil is insulting snakes.
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Jan 4, 2022 04:16
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Hi posted:Holy crap 2 feet a week? Jungle val loves root tabs, so if you haven't maybe try planting a couple. Seachem and API's root tabs are both great. 1 tab every 6 inches has worked well for me, supplementing with more tabs where plants are more dense and less where they're not. IME their growth has ebbed/ flowed, some weeks they grow like weeds and some weeks it looks like nothing at all. There are also more fertilizer options available that compliment Excel that would help with growth. I don't use Excel, but have been pleased with the all-in-one low-tech fertilizer from NilocG. Check out AqAdvisor to determine if you're over/under stocked. It's based on your filtration and aquarium size, and will also provide water change recommendations.
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Jan 4, 2022 04:40
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I'm running a pretty high tech setup on this 75g. I've got pressurized co2 with a pH controller, 2 Fluval Plant 3.0 lights, and I use root tabs and Thrive fertilizer from NilocG. Everything is growing pretty drat well for me, and jungle val is definitely the fastest growing. I try to trim every week with my water changes, and it's easily 1-2' every dang time.
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Jan 4, 2022 04:58
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Cowslips Warren posted:Ammonia results? Ammonia is at zero, thankfully. Cowslips Warren posted:You will probably have to medicate, but since Cories are scale as fish, you'll want to be careful with that. Stay away from stuff like melafix or Pima fix because they're not going to help at all, to call them snake oil is insulting snakes. Funny you should mention that because I was just about to order some melafix and pimafix. Thanks for the help! ce gars fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 04:59
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ce gars posted:Ammonia is at zero, thankfully. I don't have the boxes with me, but check out kanaplex, metroplex, etc. One of them is bound to work, but check and make sure they safe for scaleless fish! I think they are (almost all my tanks have them) but double check.
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Jan 4, 2022 14:15
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ce gars posted:Ammonia is at zero, thankfully. Which country? Hikari Ich-X is inexpensive and will kill fungus pretty well. Warbadger fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 19:24
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I just ordered some Ich X, but it looks like it can be dangerous to the shrimp and three snails I have in my main tank. I'll set up a hospital tank for the little guy as soon as it's here.
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Jan 5, 2022 03:17
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Anyone have any experience with "Walstad" dirted tanks? I'm having trouble with ammonia in my 10gal. I'm cheating by using a HOB filter with sponge as the filter medium (no carbon). I've got the bottom about 70% planted with frogbit and duckweed floating and a pothos in the corner out of the tank. It's stocked with a mystery snail, and five white cloud minnows. Second day after planting and stocking the ammonia was 1 PPM. On my third day I had around 4 PPM ammonia so I did a 50% water change and the next day the ammonia dropped to between .25-.5 PPM. The next day the ammonia was the same, somewhere between .25 and .5 so I did another 50% change. Today, it's still in the same range .25-.5 PPM. I'm thinking I had a spike due to stocking and that the water changes helped but I'm still stuck in that .25-.5 range. I've been dosing with Prime and Stability to try and supercharge the cycle but I doubt it's going to fix anything. Should I keep up the water changes or just wait for it to cycle naturally and do a water change every 2-3 days instead (or if at all)? I've never done a "fish-in" cycle so it's frustrating.
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Jan 5, 2022 03:23
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i bought some mangroves
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Jan 5, 2022 04:31
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ce gars posted:I just ordered some Ich X, but it looks like it can be dangerous to the shrimp and three snails I have in my main tank. I'll set up a hospital tank for the little guy as soon as it's here. I've used it a few times on my main tank with a bunch of amano + red cherry shrimp, 2 nerite snails, plus a handful of red crystal shrimp and bamboo shrimp in there. Everything did fine.
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Jan 5, 2022 13:51
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funny way to spell posted:Anyone have any experience with "Walstad" dirted tanks? I'm having trouble with ammonia in my 10gal. The Prime should keep things safe(ish) while you wait for the cycle to happen. It binds your ammonia so it's less toxic to the fish while still being available to the bacteria. Call Your Grandma fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 14:07
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Call Your Grandma posted:The Prime should keep things safe(ish) while you wait for the cycle to happen. It binds your ammonia so it's less toxic to the fish while still being available to the bacteria. I'm no chemist, but those claims always seemed wild to me. I found this article which I felt was a pretty good read: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/5-5-3-2-prime-and-safe/ I'm willing to be convinced either way, but it sure sounds like marketing speak. funny way to spell posted:Anyone have any experience with "Walstad" dirted tanks? I'm having trouble with ammonia in my 10gal. I cant recall if that article mentions it, but it's likely that when you're getting high ammonia readings on strips/drops it's not entirely NH3. You're getting the combo of NH3 and NH4, so the amount of ammonia which is toxic for the fish is some amount lower than your reading. I'd only be doing water changes as the tank hits .5-1ppm, but doing them more frequently won't hurt. I've had pretty good luck eating up the excess ammonia from aqua soil by just throwing handfuls of seasoned plants in for a few days. A clump of hornwort, and all the bacteria stuck to it, will eat that stuff up within a day. I've basically stopped bothering with long cycles these days and just toss in bunches of plants from seasoned tanks and stocking slowly. Been pretty happy with the results.
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Jan 5, 2022 18:29
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Schwack posted:I'm no chemist, but those claims always seemed wild to me. I found this article which I felt was a pretty good read: My tank is heavily planted. I tested again this morning and had a reading of 1 PPM. I’m thinking the spikes are coming from the soil breaking down. (Just using sifted top soil capped with an inch of gravel)
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Jan 5, 2022 20:03
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funny way to spell posted:My tank is heavily planted. I tested again this morning and had a reading of 1 PPM. I’m thinking the spikes are coming from the soil breaking down. (Just using sifted top soil capped with an inch of gravel) Yeah, I think it's a similar deal when using aqua soil like Stratum or Amazonia. Typically, I use inert substrates, but my sister gifted me a few bags of Stratum and I saw some similar ammonia spikes. Fortunately, I hadn't stocked the tank yet and just kept throwing seasoned plants into the tank, floaters and otherwise, until things settled down after a day or two.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:50
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If you drop the ph a little the ammonia finds an extra hydrogen and becomes ammonium. It’s a little less dangerous that way, but it still has to be processed in some way.
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Jan 5, 2022 23:07
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Warbadger posted:I've used it a few times on my main tank with a bunch of amano + red cherry shrimp, 2 nerite snails, plus a handful of red crystal shrimp and bamboo shrimp in there. Everything did fine. Good to know! I'd love to keep the cory in his tank and avoid stressing him out too bad with moving.
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Jan 6, 2022 06:01
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Postin' a pic of my tank
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Jan 6, 2022 18:37
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Entorwellian posted:Postin' a pic of my tank Looks great to me! Very cohesive.
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Jan 6, 2022 18:53
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If I'm running a 29-gallon tank and want to use sponge filters, would it be better to use two smaller sponge filters designed for a 20-gallon tank or one bigger filter designed for a 40? I'm just getting the tank set up right now and I've got a HOB, and I absolutely hate it - it's loud, it immediately sucked a bunch of my plants into the intake, and the outflow is so strong it excavated a huge hole in my substrate, uprooting more plants. I've only had this thing up and running for a few hours and I can already tell it's got to go. Mister Bates fucked around with this message at 08:26 on Jan 7, 2022 |
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Jan 7, 2022 08:16
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Mister Bates posted:If I'm running a 29-gallon tank and want to use sponge filters, would it be better to use two smaller sponge filters designed for a 20-gallon tank or one bigger filter designed for a 40? My preference is two smaller sponge filters over a single large one. The only thing I don't like about sponge filters is the splash they create on the lid/out the top of the tank. I've got such insanely hard water I'm constantly scrubbing deposits off my lids and I hate it. Otherwise they're my favorite filtration method. You might like the Aquaclear HOB's. They've at least got an adjustable flow. The waterfall on your current filter must be insane to be digging out substrate on a 29 gallon.
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Jan 7, 2022 09:31
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I run a sponge pre-filter on all my HOBs, I think that would help reduce the flow, but some HOBs don't have a deflector at the return and just dump water straight down. I bought a cheap one that used the same size sunsun pump as one I burned out in my cats' drinking water fountain hoping I could use it as a replacement part, but the threaded bit was rotated by 90 degrees so it didn't line up quite right. That HOB dumps water straight down and absolutely digs holes in the tank I put it on. I've tried clipping a bit of craft mesh to the front as a deflector and it kind of helps. Just bad design of the HOB though, copying the concept without attention to detail, and the flow isn't adjustable either.
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Jan 7, 2022 13:47
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I do sponges on all my tanks (but they aren't display tanks), and two is better than one, just in case one gets blocked, you still have air flow.
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Jan 7, 2022 14:01
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I have two Nymphoides aquatica I put near the front of my little tank that were just hanging around putting in roots for the last two or three weeks, and then I woke up one morning and the leaves on one of them had tripled in size over night, and within two days the other one started doing it. I haven't generally seen the leaves so huge in photos, at least not submerged. Fifteen days ago:  And last night:  (Also added a thin layer of coarse sand between the pictures which seems to make the corys happy) My assumption is that this is just a thing they do and they're going to start heading toward the surface, but should I be reducing available light or anything to encourage them to go up or will they do it on their own? Schwack posted:You might like the Aquaclear HOB's. They've at least got an adjustable flow. The waterfall on your current filter must be insane to be digging out substrate on a 29 gallon. I have an Aquaclear 50 on a ~13 gallon and it doesn't drop water that hard even with the adjustable flow all the way open, for reference. I have a sponge on the intake but it doesn't seem to have a massive impact on flow. Cowslips Warren posted:I do sponges on all my tanks (but they aren't display tanks), and two is better than one, just in case one gets blocked, you still have air flow. Wallet fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Jan 7, 2022 |
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Jan 7, 2022 18:53
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Wallet posted:I have an Aquaclear 50 on a ~13 gallon and it doesn't drop water that hard even with the adjustable flow all the way open, for reference. I have a sponge on the intake but it doesn't seem to have a massive impact on flow. Yeah, a waterfall strong enough to displace substrate in a 18 inch tall tank would need to be pretty strong. I've got an HOB on my 29, mostly because it was free, and I'd need to drop the water level significantly to get that much force out of the thing. As far as filtering fine particulate with sponge filters, I don't bother. Sponges will pick up some of that crud, but there's a good chance you'll have some teeny bits floating about. In my experience that's the trade off for their price and volume. Lots of folks will run a sponge + other filtration method in order to keep their water sparkling clear. I stopped fussing over that so much, but if it's important I'd probably look into a HOB/internal/canister you can stuff with filter floss.
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Jan 7, 2022 19:04
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Wallet posted:I have two Nymphoides aquatica I put near the front of my little tank that were just hanging around putting in roots for the last two or three weeks, and then I woke up one morning and the leaves on one of them had tripled in size over night, and within two days the other one started doing it. I haven't generally seen the leaves so huge in photos, at least not submerged. Not a dumb question at all. I do water changes frequently and lots of cleaning of the sand, and most of my plants are floating so I don't actually have a very rich substrate for most plants.
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Jan 7, 2022 22:20
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Schwack posted:My preference is two smaller sponge filters over a single large one. The only thing I don't like about sponge filters is the splash they create on the lid/out the top of the tank. I've got such insanely hard water I'm constantly scrubbing deposits off my lids and I hate it. Otherwise they're my favorite filtration method. this is an Aqueon Quietflow 50, a slightly-used one I got from someone who had it lying around. They said it should work fine with a 29-gallon but had never used it in one before. It does not have adjustable flow, and is definitely too much for a 29. Honestly, this waterfall seems like it would still be pretty intense in a 55 gallon? They're not that much taller, and the hole it dug in my substrate before I put an improvised baffle over the waterfall to break it up is at least an inch and a half deep. It does indeed work, it's keeping the tank clean, but I'm kind of nervous about putting livestock in this tank even with a prefilter sponge over it, and even with a baffle over it the waterfall still effectively turns a big patch of the tank into a plant-free zone.
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Jan 7, 2022 23:40
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Mister Bates posted:this is an Aqueon Quietflow 50, a slightly-used one I got from someone who had it lying around. They said it should work fine with a 29-gallon but had never used it in one before. It does not have adjustable flow, and is definitely too much for a 29. Honestly, this waterfall seems like it would still be pretty intense in a 55 gallon? They're not that much taller, and the hole it dug in my substrate before I put an improvised baffle over the waterfall to break it up is at least an inch and a half deep. If you're willing to drop $20, there are a lot of sellers on Etsy that will make 3D printed baffles for the major filters. They'll also make custom baffles if you provide measurements. I have an AquaClear 20 on my 9gal Betta tank and have been using filter sponge on top of a home-3D printed baffle AND a pre-filter sponge but even with that it was still to much for the Betta. I just yesterday got the baffle I ordered, I am very pleased with how much quieter it is and the Betta seems a lot more comfortable.
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Jan 7, 2022 23:52
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candystarlight posted:If you're willing to drop $20, there are a lot of sellers on Etsy that will make 3D printed baffles for the major filters. They'll also make custom baffles if you provide measurements. I didn't even think about this. I briefly tried making one myself out of acrylic but it didn't go so well. Just ordered one to hopefully direct the outflow from mine a little better.
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Jan 8, 2022 00:19
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Schwack posted:As far as filtering fine particulate with sponge filters, I don't bother. Sponges will pick up some of that crud, but there's a good chance you'll have some teeny bits floating about. In my experience that's the trade off for their price and volume. Lots of folks will run a sponge + other filtration method in order to keep their water sparkling clear. I stopped fussing over that so much, but if it's important I'd probably look into a HOB/internal/canister you can stuff with filter floss. I have a pretty big sponge filter in the corner of my 29g, but you're right there's still those small bits floating around. I have the HOB that the tank came with, but only run it when I need to run the water through a UV light I keep in there.
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Jan 8, 2022 00:20
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Wallet posted:I didn't even think about this. I briefly tried making one myself out of acrylic but it didn't go so well. Just ordered one to hopefully direct the outflow from mine a little better. While you wait for it to arrive, you can try making one out of a water bottle! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hse7F3pvHqI They're not pretty but it worked fine for my betta while I found a more permanent solution. ce gars fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Jan 8, 2022 |
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Jan 8, 2022 00:23
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ce gars posted:While you wait for that one to arrive, you can try making one out of a water bottle! Luckily the fish don't seem to care about the amount of flow and they swim right through the spot the outflow drops even though they're still tiny, I just want to redirect it somewhat to improve circulation because of where I had to put the filter.
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Jan 8, 2022 00:32
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So, my dad put a dab of Dawn soap to get a tube to get it in to the filter. I'm going to put it in a bucket with just prime'd water. Should I use two of co-op aquariums or one BIG one? I am thinking two small ones to cover the area. I have a low fish count now.  Edit: The dawn did help get the tubes to get in, but I don't want to use it in fear of soap death. I have a small, large and medium ones that I've been trying to make work. Aerofallosov fucked around with this message at 10:12 on Jan 9, 2022 |
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Jan 9, 2022 10:09
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Aerofallosov posted:So, my dad put a dab of Dawn soap to get a tube to get it in to the filter. I'm going to put it in a bucket with just prime'd water. Should I use two of co-op aquariums or one BIG one? I am thinking two small ones to cover the area. I have a low fish count now. Even the Coops owner has said that he prefers 2 smalls over their larger filters. They're easier to conceal. I have one of the mediums in a 40 breeder and wish I had gone with two smalls. They can also be stacked vertically if you want a smaller, but taller, filter.
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Jan 9, 2022 21:02
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How soon after shipping should nerites become active again? I got 10 from AquaticArts on Friday and they haven't moved at all since. Just seemed kind of odd.
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Jan 9, 2022 22:16
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Pick one up and smell it. They should be pretty mobile.
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Jan 10, 2022 01:54
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Cowslips Warren posted:Pick one up and smell it. They should be pretty mobile. Yeah, they definitely don't smell bad, but I wasn't sure how long that took to happen after death. It also seems unlikely that the ENTIRE shipment would be dead too, but I guess not impossible.
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Jan 10, 2022 02:29
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