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I figured this might happen a few days ago. Went up to change the ice bag in my tank a few minutes ago, all my neon tetras were dead at the surface of the water, as well as two corydoras. Temperature was up to 38C, despite having just added more ice not more than 20 minutes before. I should have realised this would happen when I got it, but I completely forgot how outrageous the temperatures in my dorm get during heat waves. The remaining three corydoras are completely inactive, only moving when I actually nudge them, my seven danio zebras seem okay, albeit swimming solely in the upper quarter of the tank and facing the spray bar, which is spraying onto ice, and the two juvenile aymonieri are alternating between running all around the tank in a panic and lying on top of one another in the most shaded place they can find. This won't end well. I'm changing ice bags as soon as they can freeze, but the temperature is just staying constant. Considering it's still about two-three hours away from what is likely to be the peak of today's high temperatures, and considering this isn't going to be the hottest day of this summer, I'm expecting to end up with an empty tank. I really should have thought this through properly from the start.
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Jun 21, 2013 10:24
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 02:43 |
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Check the Swap & Shop section of The Planted Tank. There are a number of members there from Bay area who routinely sell on the forum. I haven't forgotten about the bowl pics, I just don't have anything other than the initial pics. I set everything up, moistened the hell out of the dirt and planted a few cuttings then put a saran wrap top on it while misting it daily to get things started. I am adding plants gradually and capping with black play sand hoping to have this ready to flood in the next week or so.
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Jun 21, 2013 11:49
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Red Mike posted:I figured this might happen a few days ago. Went up to change the ice bag in my tank a few minutes ago, all my neon tetras were dead at the surface of the water, as well as two corydoras. Temperature was up to 38C, despite having just added more ice not more than 20 minutes before. I should have realised this would happen when I got it, but I completely forgot how outrageous the temperatures in my dorm get during heat waves. In this case I would have recommended buying a chiller either a stand alone unit or the fans that mount on the tank, they can drop temps by 5-8 degrees.
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Jun 21, 2013 11:52
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demonR6 posted:In this case I would have recommended buying a chiller either a stand alone unit or the fans that mount on the tank, they can drop temps by 5-8 degrees. I considered this a few days ago, actually. Looked up prices at local/national fish stores, could only find two. One costs about as much as I've spent in total on the tank so far, including other equipment, the other double that. I'm not even sure it's worth it to try and home-brew something together. The other fish, besides the corydoras who continue to be completely inactive unless pressed, seemed to have calmed down a bit. Zebras swimming all around the tank, and the aymonieri are back to eating off of every surface and clinging to the front glass panel. Hopefully I won't have another incident soon..
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Jun 21, 2013 12:05
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How hot does your dorm get that your tank water was 100 degrees F? That has to violate some kind of something if you're forced to live in that. 
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Jun 21, 2013 13:05
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Check eBay, they have these twin fans that hang on the back of your tank and just above the water line blowing air on the water. I would link them but I am at work. They are not too expensive and it was a trick I was using in my other home to cool the water down as it got brutal hot in my room too. I had two in service, one on each end blowing and it kept things stable. They were fairly quiet too. Are you in the states? You can check your local Craigslist ads too, I have seen them in the Orlando locals when people are getting out of saltwater selling off all their gear.Me in Reverse posted:How hot does your dorm get that your tank water was 100 degrees F? Amen to that, I would invest in a portable room A/C.. demonR6 fucked around with this message at 13:11 on Jun 21, 2013 |
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Jun 21, 2013 13:08
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Me in Reverse posted:How hot does your dorm get that your tank water was 100 degrees F? I could see that happening if enough direct sunlight was hitting the room and tank.
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Jun 21, 2013 13:47
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Me in Reverse posted:How hot does your dorm get that your tank water was 100 degrees F? Peaked at 40C yesterday, around the same today. It's not that bad, to be honest, as long as we keep the door open to get a draft going. It used to be better when we were allowed to tin foil our windows for some measure of insulation, but that's now forbidden, causing 45C and more temperatures in the middle of summer. This is only really the start of summer. I've got an "air cooler", but it's just a bit more effective than a fan. A portable AC unit would be useful, but it's also expensive as all hell. This budget problem is the reason I said I should have thought it through from the start. I just assumed ice bags would be enough to keep the temperature low. Also, I'll check eBay and the like, but more often than not shipping is going to raise prices immensely. (I live in Eastern Europe, specifically Romania.) The national eBay equivalent we have here doesn't really have many aquarium equipment, besides the occasional canister filter and bags of substrate/ferts. Basically, pro-tip for any student aquarists: if you know your dorm is going to boil over during the summer and you don't have anywhere to take your fish, or any way of cooling the tank, better to not jump in and wait until you have the means to ensure your fish don't get cooked. I'll keep doing the best I can for the next few days, and am already talking to an acquaintance to see whether I could move the tank to their AC-cooled apartment. e: ^ direct sunlight is hitting the windows and the curtains, which are yellowish-orange and thus don't help much. We're not allowed dark curtains, for some silly reason, and aren't allowed to block out the windows otherwise at all. These windows make up the top 60% of the outwards-facing wall, in a 5m x 3m concrete box. The tank, however, is covered in dark fabric on the sides. The top is off to help evaporation, so it does get some amount of light into it, however. Red Mike fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Jun 21, 2013 |
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Jun 21, 2013 13:48
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Here is a though, since you can't put tin foil on the windows, buy the thermal black out window curtains that keep the heat out.
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Jun 21, 2013 13:55
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Hi there, I'm a cat person but I'm looking to buy an aquarium filter to build a water fountain for my cats. A few weeks ago I gave them a broken decorative fountain I found at goodwill and they like it. But the intake to the mini water pump collected cat hair and dirt, and after I rubbed it off, the pump died. I may have pushed some of the debris in deeper. On the inside, most pet fountains are aquarium water pumps and filters. The cheaper cat fountains only contain a water pump, no filter, but the more expensive ones do. I figure that compatible filters will be cheaper and easier to find if it's a standard aquarium filter. I'd like to get a Tetra 2-10 gallon power filter from Walmart. Or would it be good enough to get a cheap mini water pump and wrap it in a coffee filter?
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Jun 21, 2013 19:54
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I have never heard of folks using a fish filter in lieu of a legit cat fountain but.. I can't really see why not atm. The back of that filter attaches by suction cups and theres a slight hook on top too, the actual bowl needs to reach the suction cups at least. The cartridges it uses already has a carbon thing to clear the water.
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Jun 21, 2013 20:00
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I would be interested in what you come up with. I have cats as well and a small pump laying around that I could repurpose.
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Jun 21, 2013 20:03
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Aquarium filters are the same with the official water fountains - don't ever let the pump run out of water or while dry. Make sure the pump is submerged/has enough water at all times.
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Jun 21, 2013 20:06
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Huh it looks like it could be pretty easy. http://www.instructables.com/id/Filtered-Pet-Watering-Bowl/
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Jun 21, 2013 20:24
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My girlfriend is trying to start a shrimp bowl, nothing super fancy. It's about a foot and circular. What do you guys use as plants in your shrimp bowls? I'd love to see.
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Jun 21, 2013 22:24
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Go for low light, easy to maintain plants for bowls. For lighting buy a desk lamp and a compact fluorescent bulb 5000-6000K preferably and set it on a timer for 6-8 hours unless you can place it somewhere that it will get natural light part day then you can turn down the amount of time. In the OP there is a section on plants with a link to some that you can use also a link to The Planted Tank forum where they have a very comprehensive list of plants and their requirements.
demonR6 fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Jun 22, 2013 |
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Jun 22, 2013 00:34
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I checked out the aquarium shop in Tokyo I found, and it's siiiiick. They really know their poo poo, so I'm excited to get started with my puffs after my trip next month. I should go back and take some photos of the planted tanks they have for you guys because they are stunning. I was lucky enough to watch one of their professional designers doing a public planting demonstration when I went! Oh, and totoro themed tanks. I'm really on the fence about one thing though - should I stick to artificial plants, or try my hand at maintaining some real ones?  The real ones are so pretty (especially the moss). I read the information in the OP and on several of the forums linked, but wasn't able to find much about mixing real plants with artificial ones. I'm mostly worried about getting plants that would require me to introduce other fish to the tank other than snails and maybe some small shrimp, but to be honest, shrimp creep me out. I've heard that puffers will likely go after other fish in the tank, as well. Any thoughts?
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Jun 22, 2013 01:03
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Queen Gnome posted:I checked out the aquarium shop in Tokyo I found, and it's siiiiick. They really know their poo poo, so I'm excited to get started with my puffs after my trip next month. I should go back and take some photos of the planted tanks they have for you guys because they are stunning. I was lucky enough to watch one of their professional designers doing a public planting demonstration when I went! Oh, and totoro themed tanks. Puffers love snails. They do. It's their favorite food! And shrimp overall for the same reason, but if you end up with larger amanos, or even prawns, your puffers might become the snacks. Why not do fake plants and some easy live moss or anubias? Or just do a really kickass false marine tank, where you have little coral setups and fake seaweed plants? I've always wanted to do a false marine tank.
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Jun 22, 2013 01:33
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Cowslips Warren posted:Puffers love snails. They do. It's their favorite food! And shrimp overall for the same reason, but if you end up with larger amanos, or even prawns, your puffers might become the snacks. I really like the idea of some moss and seaweed mixed with a false display! And I can get some kick rear end false stuff in Japan from what I've seen. Maybe I'll go with a 5 or 10 gal tank with 3 puffs and some easy plants plus false ones. Will the puffers keep the snails under control well enough? I can't wait until payday to get started! Queen Gnome fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Jun 22, 2013 |
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Jun 22, 2013 01:49
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Some images of my 55 gallon.  Going to be replacing the fake plants with more live ones soon, but overall I'm pretty happy with it right now. The smaller piece of mopani wood on the left has a cave that goes all the way through with a slight bend. You can see it in the picture of my pleco. German Blue Ram:  Flame Gourami, a Julii Cory, and a male Rosy Barb:  My tiny (like 1 inch) Siamese Algae Eater:  Bristlenose Pleco! Thought he was dead for the first week or two after I got him because I didn't see him again. Sure enough, he popped back up. Was only an inch when I got him and now he is like 2.5":  Three of my Julii Corys:  Rainbow Shark:  Two of my three Guppies:  The two long-finned Rosy Barbs I have: 
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Jun 22, 2013 01:58
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 this is my shrimp "bowl". Basically a deep blue 1 g for bettas. Really thin layer of fluorite because its all I had at the time and then I jammed in everything I could. a small piece of manzanita, a rock, and a piece of cuttlebone. and then anacharis, watersprite, java fern, some moss, floaters, maybe najas grass, and I dont even know what. I probably have about 40-50 shrimp in there (mix of rcs, sakuras, babaulti, rili mixes, wild type neo) since I had someone recently gift me about 30 peewee things. Other living things are worms, ostracods, and mts, and ramshorn and pond snails..I have a blue ramshorn in there  Seems to be doing okay.. 50 adult shrimp sound very very overstocked, but theyre babies now and i hardly feed. And theyre doing okay I think. no water changes yet. I hardly see shrimp in there since its such a tangled mess (plants are really only for water quality, not trying any scaping) and its grown quite a bit since I tossed plants in. Pulled out a lot of anacharis recently to give away so that left side is a bit more empty.
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Jun 22, 2013 03:51
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Looks like things are going well in there.
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Jun 22, 2013 15:00
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I give up with my snail infestation. I tried lettuce traps, I got a pair of assassins, I borrowed a yoyo loach, I quarantined my assassins in my other tank and dosed with Snail Zap twice. And the bastards still keep coming back. If it wasn't for the fact that they killed two beautiful albino bristleoses I wouldn't mind but I feel the need to avenge their deaths. Also the fact that they've ruined about 40 dollars worth of plants and make my tank look disgusting - I'm going to keep dosing with snail zap until the bottle runs out and siphoning the gravel as often as I dare without doing ridiculous water changes. The killer part is that I dosed with Snail Zap last Friday, waited 3 days for no more snails on the glass, did the water change and just before I put the carbon in the filter saw a little bugger sliding around. So I dosed again. Waited 4 days, did the water change, waited 12 hours to make sure no more snails appeared. Put the carbon in and 10 minutes later there were 5 assholes on the glass. Luckily the fish don't mind - my betta likes to knock them off the glass and chase them down. Fortunately he doesn't try to eat them.
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Jun 22, 2013 18:12
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So my betta has been growing in the weeks since I got him from the breeder, and he's turning murderous. I was told in the last thread he would be fine with otos - well in his 5G he had 3 of them as tankmates, but only 1 is left after him attacking them (at least, I think, I caught him nibbling on a body). So what would do well as a tankmate for this murder machine that will keep the tank clear of algae? I am eventually going to be live planting. Maybe I should just liveplant today, and get a snail?
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Jun 22, 2013 19:16
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So I got all of my plants for my container pond, only to realize the black plastic packing crate (for the emergent pots to sit on) is too large to fit. I also bought a pair of iron "organizer racks" from Homegoods that are covered in a coating of "platinum finish". They feel plastic-ey but are iron - is that ok to put in there or will the iron in there leech into the water? I didnt want to get bricks because I wanted to not loss the water volume - should I just get bricks and not risk it?
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Jun 22, 2013 20:08
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@ booshi - some bettas cannot have tank mates, of any kind.. even snails. @ cheese you have no idea what our overseas friends sprayed on that rack you have and with a 99% probability that it will foul your water with some harmful chemical I would not risk it. If not bricks can you find large enough river stones? Our local Lowe's has some pretty big river stones or maybe even create a small pile of them placed in strategic locations?
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Jun 22, 2013 21:13
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demonR6 posted:@ booshi - some bettas cannot have tank mates, of any kind.. even snails. Yeah, I figured this murderous guy is one of those. The last oto is with my neighbor now, and my betta is all alone. I'm going to check out some local stores and see what kind of plants they have and plan how I want to plant the tank with what I have available to me. I've been reading some info about aquascaping, and while I wouldn't do something crazy, I was thinking of doing something pretty nice and simple. Some mosses, a few taller plants, and some rocks that have a good "mountain" vibe. Plus, my walls in this room are blue, which would make a good "sky" backdrop. This is also my first betta that I have gotten when it was younger. He has been changing colors a lot and is very friendly when either myself or the cat come up to the tank (he swims up and shows his fins, but he's not full on flaring or anything). He is him on 6/6:  Here he is today on 6/22:  I hope his red starts to show more. I love the white band around the outside of his fins. His pectoral fins are getting really big too!
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Jun 22, 2013 21:51
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My Max started off translucent with orange and hints of blue then over the years the orange took over almost completely covering him. Now that he is older the blue took over leaving him with an orange helmet. Sadly I think his time with us is almost coming to an end and his health is getting worse so I may not have him much longer. My other bettas also go through color changes but Max has been the most dramatic.
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Jun 22, 2013 21:55
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demonR6 posted:@ booshi - some bettas cannot have tank mates, of any kind.. even snails. Alright thanks bud. I'm going to get a pair of small cinder blocks and put one of those 12"x12" cinder block paver stones as a platform.
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Jun 22, 2013 23:58
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Be careful about bricks and cinder blocks - they could jack up the pH of the water. I had an incident where I used bricks to support a 12"x12" flooring tile to make a sunning platform for an aquatic turtle and all the feeder fish instantaneously died. The turtle started squinting his eyes underwater as well and wouldn't come out of his shell until I put the old river rocks back.
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Jun 23, 2013 00:24
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So this is my 55G setup, and I'm kinda bored with the aquascaping. Because the top is closed off with 2 openings I can't fit any good sized pieces of driftwood in it. Originally I was trying to achieve some kind of dutch style aquascape but none of the plants ever grew successfully enough. I recently upgraded the lighting to a ray II LED setup. Does anyone have suggestions for a rescape that is a bit more eye catching? I need to keep the rock on the left hand size somewhere because of the ottos and rope fish want to hide, but other than that i'm open to suggestions. http://imgur.com/HDiM82k
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Jun 23, 2013 00:48
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cov-hog posted:Be careful about bricks and cinder blocks - they could jack up the pH of the water. I had an incident where I used bricks to support a 12"x12" flooring tile to make a sunning platform for an aquatic turtle and all the feeder fish instantaneously died. The turtle started squinting his eyes underwater as well and wouldn't come out of his shell until I put the old river rocks back. Oh poo poo, never thought of that. Right now its just plants but I'll grab a PH kit at the store tomorrow.
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Jun 23, 2013 01:46
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Trilineatus posted:So this is my 55G setup, and I'm kinda bored with the aquascaping. Because the top is closed off with 2 openings I can't fit any good sized pieces of driftwood in it. Originally I was trying to achieve some kind of dutch style aquascape but none of the plants ever grew successfully enough. I recently upgraded the lighting to a ray II LED setup. Does anyone have suggestions for a rescape that is a bit more eye catching? I need to keep the rock on the left hand size somewhere because of the ottos and rope fish want to hide, but other than that i'm open to suggestions. Maybe look for some long, relatively narrow pieces of wood and orient them vertically? You could try to create the effect of a tree's roots protruding past a riverbank and down into the water, can be a really neat effect if it's done reasonably well. Don't be afraid to build a big "piece of driftwood" out of several smaller pieces. A little silicone or superglue and a few strategically placed zipties can go a long way. Also, probably the best advice I can give is add color. Some favorites: Crypt Wendtii 'bronze' is one of my favorite plants because it can take pretty much any light condition, works well in the foreground since it stays relatively short, and has a unique color that can add interest. It's also easy as balls to find in shops or online. The ozelot sword is also nice, marbled red and green leaves, not terribly demanding light-wise, good in the middle ground (grows ~12" tall), doesn't grow too huge. Anubias coffefolia, a darker shade of green than most, with neat ruffled leaves, grows slow but pretty much indestructible. With somewhat higher light levels, alternanthera reineckii, aka scarlet hygro, is easy to grow and can be absolutely stunning, from a deep red to pink on the undersides of the leaves and stems. Wisteria and Watersprite both have interesting leaf shapes while being relatively easy to grow. Bolbitis heudelotii, aka African water fern, is a mid-to high light plant with amazing dark-green leaves, grows similarly to a java fern. Corkscrew vals are another easy one that can add some interest, with it's nifty twists and ability to curtain the rear wall of a tank (note: if you have ultra-soft water, you'll have problems with vals, they need some calcium to grow well. I can't grow them at all in the water I've got right now.). Mix up shades and shapes; put a light green stem next to a dark green stem, fluffy plant next to a broad-leaved plant like giant hygro, stick a swordplant in front of the 'seam' between two groups of stems, etc. Really the biggest problem with dutch-style scaping is the sheer density of plants. You've really got to have good light, co2, and regular fertilization to have a 'good' dutch style tank, and of course when you finally get all that done and balanced and growing good you wind up pruning the drat thing weekly. They're a ton of work. e: here's a quick mspaint chop-up of your picture with some suggestions:  sadly, 55's are a bitch to scape, because the 12" front-to-back depth doesn't give you a lot of room to work from tall background plants to short foreground plants, but with a little determination and some good planning you can make anything work
kaosAG fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Jun 23, 2013 |
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Jun 23, 2013 02:57
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Just to add to that, try approach the whole tank as a picture composition. Right now it's doing okay, but not very structured. If you're just shuffling plants around, you could have a descending order going from tall to short, or a valley with the tall plants on the outside, coming down to the shorter plants with a wide open gravel area.
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Jun 23, 2013 03:05
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I think snails are really cool. does anyone keep tanks full of out of control snail populations for fun? Is there an equally invasive aquarium plant species that the snails would like to hang out with?
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Jun 23, 2013 04:31
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Equally invasive.. salvina minima.
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Jun 23, 2013 04:37
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booshi posted:
He's pretty! And that "white band" is probably new fin growth, since they look more substantial in that second pic. It might stay white or it might change.
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Jun 23, 2013 04:42
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wow that was an AWESOME post, thanks for some of the suggestions. To elaborate a bit on the setup, I have the ray II as i mentioned and i'm currently pumping in CO2, might need to up the amount though as i don't have a drop checker. I've tried to create a backdrop of plants in the past and every time i move plants to the rear of the tank they start growing horizontally or vertically or get overcome with algae of the black variety from touching the back of the tank. Also, I need to leave some of the top left rear tank empty as that is where the over flow is, but some vals that i trim should be ok. I'll look into getting a piece of driftwood in, at some point in the next two months i'll be moving and will have the tank drained long enough to put that in, apply silcone and let it dry. Also do you think the single ray II is enough light for the height of this tank if you're familar with it at all?
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Jun 23, 2013 04:50
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Drop checkers are cheap, I suggest getting one. Also you can find the solution for sale from some reputable members on the planted tank forum in the swap & shop section as well. Before you start cranking up the C02 I think you should really consider that. Great for your plants, your fish on the other hand may not appreciate it. Driftwood, manzanita.. TPT as well, lots of people sell it there and for a 55 I would say Plantbrain is hands down the best source for it. I have a friend using the Ray II in his 55 and has a forest of Cambomba across the back of his tank that is amazing.
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Jun 23, 2013 06:11
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My cherry shrimp are my drop checkers. They start acting like they're about to drop dead, it's time to turn down the co2 a bit. They really dont handle co2 well.
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Jun 23, 2013 06:14
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