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I have an idea. If you can do a geographically accurate biotope aquarium, why can't you do a historically accurate aquarium. Sort of a historotope if I'm allowed one neologism here. At an estate sale a while back, I acquired a 1930s era aquarium with a metal frame and a slate bottom. This is not one of those stainless steel MetaFrame aquariums everyone (including me) had back in the 1960s and the 1970s. It is clearly something much older. Everything about the aquarium was in good shape when I got it, and it was watertight. Last year when I was using it to grow mosquito larva outside I forgot to bring it in when it got cold. When ice formed in the tank the expanding ice blew out one of the glass sides. So, what might the rules be for a historotope? Rules: You are only allowed to use equipment available during your chosen time period. You are only allowed to keep fishes that were available during your chosen time period. You must use historically accurate foods. You must use historically accurate plants. You must use historically accurate substrate and decorations. You must use historically accurate maintenance methods. Since I have the aquarium (once I get it repaired), my chosen time period will be the mid-1930s in the United States. My first step is to get the tank water tight again. I will post more later as this experiment progresses and your thoughts and suggestions come in.

Hi all: Thought I'd share yesterday afternoon's quick project. My Easy Green doser is based on a glass Starbucks coffee bottle, a USB nano pump, and a few parts I had lying around the house. Here's what's involved: 1. Starbucks bottle ($3): Glass is necessary for this kind of approach, because it doses the fertilizer based on air pressure. Plastic bottles flex too much! 2. Digital timer ($7): Needs only to be accurate within one minute. 3. Airline adapters ($0.25): for joining multiple lengths or air tubing. 4. Airline adjuster valve ($2): Higher quality is somewhat important here; I recommend the Ziss valve. 5. USB nano air pump ($9) 6. Airline tubing ($1): I used three lengths, about 5 feet total. Total Cost: About $22-$23 After cleaning the bottle and removing the labels, I drilled two 3/16" holes in the metal lid. I glued the two airline adapters into the lid from the bottom using 5-minute epoxy. (Silicone would have been better, but I'm impatient!) Then, I attached a short length of tubing on the inside of one of the adapters, and two longer pieces on the outside. That's pretty much all the DIY work that's involved! As air is pumped into the bottle, the build-up of air pressure forces the Easy Green out. I installed the Ziss valve on the output end of the fertilizer, and cranked it down to almost closed. I tested this with water first. 😉 Knowing the following: - 20 drops = 1mL - The digital timer can only run in as little as 1-minute increments - It will continue to drip for a few seconds after the timer turns off ...I set my digital timer to one minute and plugged in the pump. I then turned the valve all the way down so that I was getting one drop about every two seconds. That works out to about 35-40 drops (about 2mL), which is a perfect one-time dose for my 20 gallons of water. Here's the whole rig ready to go: And here it is installed in my sump: There you go! It was less than $25 in parts, and less than an hour's worth of work. Thanks for reading! Bill

After testing my aquariums for quite some time, I thought, “there had to be an easier way” reading the liquid color test results. When using liquid test kits, the colors are sometimes a bit hard to discern. A lot of it is attributed to the ambient lighting in the room. Some homes, mine included, don't have “ideal” lighting for reading these test tubes accurately. Was always dragging a lamp, flashlight or going to the nearest window to compare the color chart with my test. So, I specifically built this light producing fixture/enhancer for my aquarium testing. Wow, what a difference. The colors are now vivid, in person, and very easy to compare. The biggest benefit is that the light 'shines through' the tubes and really gives a true color representation. Also, for some of the 'timed' tests, I.E. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, it's interesting to watch the colors change accordingly. Basically, the parts for the unit are simple & inexpensive. Three AA batteries & holder, LED's, resistors, switch, wires, enclosure, etc. If you are into electronics, like I am, most of these spare parts are probably nearby. Am sure there are many ways of constructing the same unit. Most importantly, when dealing with liquids, one should always use low voltage applications for safety. This was my first attempt in building this color enhancer, so maybe the next one might even be better. That's another wonderful part about fish-keeping; experimenting with your own designs. 🧐 LIQUID TEST COLOR ENHANCER UNIT ** DIY ** 🥽 📊 📉 📈

Here is the old aquarium: I think the slate on the bottom is almost an inch thick! Late this afternoon I delivered the tank to the Imagination Station Science Center in Wilson NC. They have a restoration person on staff that specialized in restoring old windows and glass.

Hi all! I was recently watching Cory's videos on outdoor tub ponds and felt inspired! So I set up a little something on the balcony (perfect because my one bedroom apartment doesn't have a lot of space for tanks 🙃) Now I am at the point where I need to stock it, but I'm afraid! The temperatures seem so drastic! For example, I have my happy, established tank that sits at like 78/79*F all day and night. My outdoor temps right now are 85* high and low of 56*. I have been monitoring the temp today and it has risen from 58* this morning to 66* (which is less of a change than I expected- I thought it would get hotter.) It seems like such a temperature swing! How can I put fish in there?! Cory's video also said he was thinking of adding mystery snails- but it seems too cold! I am located in Northern California, and usually it is a bit hotter right now. Should I avoid the livebearers I was planning on and go with cloud minnows? But what if it heats up? Am I too late in the season to start? Oh my. Such uncertainty with outdoor ponds! Lol Advice appreciated, especially if you've had any experience with outdoor ponds. Pond is a 20gal tub with sponge filter and airstone, hornwort, a dying something or other plant, and rotala.

Forget these for fish, I want this for humans! Dave, let's you and I make these, get FDA approval, become Billionaires, buy Fluval and Universal Rocks, and put @Cory in charge of both companies!

I would like to see a test strip to accurately diagnose the top 5, most common, aquarium fish diseases.

That is a great question! Aquarium keeping in the 1930s seems pretty similar to what we do now, with pretty similar results. I won't do anything that isn't good for the fish. I might have to work harder though if I am trying to find live foods for example. And it's possible I won't have to work as hard as there will be fewer gadgets to maintain. From my initial reading of the literature, 1930s aquariums do not seem like they were worse for the fish/plants than now, just managed differently, certainly fewer fish per gallon than we tend to keep now. The living conditions of many economically important animals generally haven't improved since the 1930s. Ask yourself, if you were a chicken or a pig or a cow, for the short time you were alive on the Earth, would you have preferred to have been on a 1930s farm or in a 2020 Industrial production facility? I know it is not that good of an analogy but the point I would like to make is that while many, many things have improved in the last 100 years, some things are remarkably similar, and few things were possibly better a 100 years ago. I am prepared to end the experiment if I have to make compromises that would cause the fish to suffer, but let's find out together what it was like to keep a planted tropical fish tank in the early years of the Great Depression. And this vintage magazine just came in the mail today. Here is the cover for the August 1934 issue of Home and Gardens magazine. I think this will give me something to shoot for as I set up the tank.

*Update* I just realized the parents actually managed to protect the eggs until they hatched and became wrigglers. I used a turkey baster to suck the fry and move them to a separate container. Understandably the parents were not happy and attacked the me relentlessly. I then put some acriflavine in the container to help prevent fugus and took out some infertile eggs. Unfortunately, most of the infertile eggs were covered in wrigglers, so I didn't find a way to remove just those eggs. I can't remember the last time I saw methylene blue (which would be the ideal medication for this case) for sale where I live, so I can't use it. Not sure if it will work, but if you want I can keep you updated

My grandfather has a 30-gallon tank in his home office that's been set up for about 3 years. He has only ever kept neon tetras in it. Started with a dozen ot two, but within the last few months, all but one had died. On top of having just a single, solitary fish in a 30 gallon aquarium, there was also just 2 pieces of decoration, and AND, for the last eleven months, it has not even had a light!!! It had :: -2 decorarions -1neon tetra -a filter -heater And so just literally NOTHING going on. So on Tuesday when I was over, and sitting there lookin at this pitiful, but could-be-amazing tank..my mind just started SPINNING with ideas!!! And when he said he wouldn't be home the next day??? The idea gate swung wiiiide open!!! CUT TO NEXT DAY / "Day 1 of Revamping Gdads Tank" - First I tested his water - and it. Was. Almost. PERFECT! 😱 (8.2, 0, 0, 40) With all the ideas in my head, I had basically ended up bringing like everything you'd need to have for a tank...and then some! Haha I had a light bar I was no longer using (though it's a few inches longer than his tank, but IMO it's MUCH better than having no light at all!) So I brought that... Then, since at the beginning of the year I fully converted and planted my tank, I had like 4 big bins of "spare decore". So I picked my fave ones and packed them up to take. Took a few of my own live plants over with me too (just some small - medium sized water wisteria). Then, at the insistence of my all 3 of my kids, I also took and added 3 juvenile platys and an endler (more fishies to come/be added in the coming weeks). Here's the killer part that I discovered while decorating this tank. In the three years that he has had this tank up and running with fish, not once have you ever clean vacuumed the substrate! It was terrible! So that made my decision two yet again come back again the next day. On to the next day / "Day 2 of Ravamping G-Dads Tank" ... I - -gravel vac'd -took the filter and just swished it in some tank water ~ I will worry about CLEAN cleaning it later on -added a few more decorations -added a few more live plants -and added a second filter with cycled media from my own tank. SO HERE IT IS --- pics of the progression of the revamp! First pic - this is what I had started with - minus any light - started with a tank that originally had no light on it, only 2 decorations, and a single, solitary neon tetra (only one remaining out of original 2 or so dozen). So on day one - a light bar, a few pieces of decor, 2 or 3 small live plants, and 4 of my own fish. Second pic - after the first day of me foolin' with it Third pic - the second day and the end result! Fourth pic - the BEFORE before, and after / end result! I'm going to go back over on Monday, and am going to test the water. I think as long as it stays good when testing, which there's no reason it shouldn't I wouldn't think, then over the next 2 weeks, slowly start adding more neon tetras - so the lil lonesome fella that's in there has some buddies! What do ya think!?

The Fluval Plant 3.0 lights are really nice, especially for the scheduling and light-level programming available thru the FluvalSmart app. I have ten of the Plant Nanos, several of the 15"-24" models, and one 24"-34" unit. I have spent a lot of time in the app to get things right for my tanks so that I can grow plants, keep algae under control, and get to enjoy my tanks when I am around. I will post my own details in a follow-up message, but I have some general tips to share before that. 1. Firmware Updates: When you do firmware updates, it might look like a two-step process, but you just have to be patient since the bootloader is updated first, and then the firmware, so don't interrupt the process or click what looks like an extra prompt. I have not done a firmware update for a while, so be aware that the user experience might change. If you mess up, or need to do the upgrade again, swipe left on your light in the FluvalSmart app for the option to Upgrade or Remove. 2. Copying Programs: You can copy programs between lights, but not between the Plant Nano and the larger models. So I can use the same program on various Nanos, but for my 15"-24" units, I have to create a new program, which I can then share between those units. The way to do this is to "Save as" your program on one configured light, and then go into the matching target light, and choose "Export", and pick the program. I would expect the option to be labelled "Import", but it is not at the time of this post. 3. Power and Timer: These lights do not seem to have any internal batteries to maintain the time. If you have a power outage or interruption, they will assume the power-on time is 00:00 (midnight), and count from there until you access the light via the FluvalSmart app, which will sync the time. 4. Naming and Password: When editing a light, you can use the three dots to Find, Rename, Set password, and Remove password. I recommend naming your lights, especially if you get more than one. You can even sort them by name or type in the light list, so think about the names in context with your room layout. Password might be useful with too-clever kids, or in a professional environment, like a retail store. 5. Modes: For each light, you have three modes, Manual, Automatic, and Professional. Manual gives you Off, or On, with a custom light level and no scheduling. This is the perfect mode to use for photography, showing your aquariums on off-hours, or if you need to make some darkness so you can sleep in, or film other tanks in the same room. Automatic is an easy scheduling mode with presets for Tropical River, Lake Malawi, and Planted, and you can modify or create your own. It only includes seven set points, so you get a ramp up, a sustained period, a ramp down, an evening low-light period (often just a little blue), and a full night period. Professional mode gives you ten set points, which allows you do do a lot more custom lighting choices, including simulating the sky of a certain region, running a siesta (low or no-light midday period, simulating cloud and tree cover), or even dual siestas, which is what I use. I will add more on this later, once I collect my app screenshots. 6. Plant Nano Tips: The mount only fits on rimless tanks without modification. The metal L-bracket can be used backwards for more height and less reach, which is great for emergent plants and hardscape. If you have an odd size tank, you can also add felt feet and run the Plant Nanos right on a clear hood or glass. I donated a Nano to someone to figure out a 3D-printed rimmed mount, and he designed an adapter. Here is the 3D print file from @AquariumThoughts for the rimmed mount for the Plant 3.0 Nano. You will also need an m8-1.25 nut. Fluval Nano Light Rimmed Tank Adapter by AquariumThouhhououghts - Thingiverse WWW.THINGIVERSE.COM More mounting options for the long version, thanks to @SpacedCadette: https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/131-fluval-plant-30-scheduling-and-programming/?do=findComment&comment=215034 From @PlaneFishGuy: "Below is a quick cheat sheet I made for those just wanting to simply reduce the lighting intensity but keep the factory ratios in tact. I started with the factory "daylight setting" from the app when using the Fluval Plant Nano 3.0" More quotes are forthcoming. Please share your own Fluval Plant 3.0 programs. On iOS, the Overview tab shows the lighting program as a graph and a table. Our host, Aquarium Co-Op, carries these lights: Fluval Plant 3.0 LED NANO WWW.AQUARIUMCOOP.COM 3 Year Warranty Programmable App Highly Water Resistant The Fluval 3.0 is the best planted aquarium light on the market in regards to functionality to cost ratio. Not only does this perform well, but it's backed by a 3 year... Fluval Plant 3.0 LED Light WWW.AQUARIUMCOOP.COM 3 Year Warranty Programmable App Highly Water Resistant The Fluval 3.0 is the best planted aquarium light on the market in regards to functionality to cost ratio. Not only does this perform well, but it's backed by a 3 year...

Hi everyone. Matt from Memphis TN here. I have been keeping fish a little over 2 years now. Started off with my kids getting a 10 gallon glowfish tank. Then as I researched how to properly take care of the fish I found Corey and my love for fish took off. I now have 42 tanks. I keep plecos, common goldfish guppys, various nano fish and neo cardina. Also these guppys and bristle plecos breeding like crazy. The think I am most excited about is spawning my orange vensualen Corydoras. Looking forward to this forum.

I just found a baby panda cory cat that hid long enough in my 55 gallon to not get eaten. It's crazy because I remove and raise lots of eggs from that tank but it's always my Albinos. Would have loved to have found the panda eggs.

+1 same here. Once I got over the dust, worked well enough not to mess with it

Whitclouds would be perfect. You want to monitor your water temp not your air Temps. Water changes temp much slower. You could do Japanese trapdoor snails instead of mystery snails for cold water. You don't want to arrate your tote if you are having large temp swings. I have 4 300g Ibc totes and no filtration or arration. Only plants and fish and I don't feed much.

Vinegar eels

Ebay for $12. Seems like a pretty good value. The stories inside the magazine are mind bending. A whole, whole lot has changed socially since the 1930s for the better. But those fish! Healthy angels, beautiful red swordtails, and what a nice little school of zebra danios with vallisneria growing in the background! I looked up the artist for that cover art in the above post. His name Arthur C. Bade. After Better Homes and Gardens, he was a staff artist for Science and Mechnics. I blame him for me thinking I would have a flying car by now!

This is great! Keep the updates coming.

Some Home Depots sell it but its regional. We buy it local at a sand blasting company. It's by far my favorite substrate. Super clean right out of the bag, never have to rinse it.

Sorry about thinking ths in a negative way, but is this ethical? Would you do the same with any other aspect of life in 1930? Medicine? Health care? Child care? Am I correct in assuming that aquariums in 1930 were a worse place for fish/plants than they are today?

Likewise except I used a bag of ceramic rings.

I figure BB need surface area and oxygen so when hot rodding I like to use bio balls and add an air stone to bubble under them maxing oxygen and increasing flow. Sort of like a pseudo ziss filter.

The results are in (from 66 years ago). And the answer is: Betta, Betta! (Who Cares about Guppies)

Pretty fish by the way.

I have never tried to move them off of glass. The eggs are very sticky and I suspect damage is likely if you try and detach them. But, there is hope! If it were me, I would lean a narrow strip of glass (like from a 10 gallon aquarium top) or plastic in the corner where they always breed. Then wait for them to lay eggs on your new insert. That way you can move the eggs to a hatch out tank. Hatching the eggs and raising the babies separately from the parents is a little tricky as the eggs are prone to fungusing, but it is what a lot of pro angelfish breeders do. There is lots of documentation out there on how to do this.

It will very likely be just fine to put them out in those temps. And even if it's a little outside their natural range Cory has often said fish can handle one water parameter being off if the rest are good. What kind of live bearers?

I think if these are still your current temperatures, it may be a bit cold for mystery snails. White clouds are pretty adaptable. I don't know what your highs are in the summertime, but mine reach over 100 degrees sometimes for weeks at a time, and my minnows have handled the hot summer months fine, just stopped breeding temporarily. It has been storming and has gotten cool out again for the last week and I have seen tiny fry in the tub again. I have never tried Guppies or Platies in high 50s to low 60s but it seems a bit cold for them. Minnows would love those temperatures though.

Thank you!! 🙂

Hey everybody! My name's Mark and I'm a fishkeeper down here in Texas. I've only been in the hobby for about a year now after getting into it to help manage PTSD symptoms from military service! I've enjoyed pretty much every second of it(even the hard and frustrating times)it's been so rewarding and great for my mental health! I currently have 6 tanks, all freshwater planted community or Betta tanks! I've got a 29 which was my first tank, a 20 long, three 10-gallon tanks, and a 5.5 gallon. My favorite fish that I have is a Bolivian Ram named Jamie Finn, which is a fantastic(if I do say so myself) pun on the Dallas Stars Captain Jamie Benn. Looking forward to getting to know some people and learning more as a fishkeeper as I continue on in this great hobby! Hope everyone is safe and well in these crazy times! Mark P.S. Here's a picture of my female Apistogramma Macmasteri with her breeding colors on :)

You're welcome! The 2nd one kind of looks like a bigger version of my clown..🤔 I'm not home but will send a photo of it when I can. Not sure if it will help or not.☺

It's a mix of Lapis luster sand made by cemex and crushed coral.

They usually live 3-5 yrs. It seems at least in my experience that the 3 spot are more aggressive. The dwarf got lodged between a rock. I did get a glass top and new lights about that time. Thank you for the input.

Thanks Bill, Duke, Dave, etc. I love seeing folks test and share ideas!

@Randy, that might be one of my new favorite fish!

And yes! He loved it, as well!!! 💖💖💖🤗🤗🤗

Mollies! They're hardy, colorful and easy to breed.

Agreed. It would be a difficult choice, but at this point I'd end up choosing guppies. Maybe it'll change as I get more advanced.

What a great question! I am fascinated with Stiphodon gobies. They are really interesting but there isn’t a lot of information on them. I have five dwarf gobies and one larger one, I love the way they swim and when they all hang out together.

Guppies. I like other fish, I really do, but nothing seems so happy as a guppy, and they fill almost all the roles in a tank.

I think I would pick Bettas and go overboard with Betta racks, I kind of want to do that anyway. If I can get away with saying the general gourami family of fish then even better. I haven't gotten enough of them in about a decade now and I don't think I could ever get tired of them.

it would be one of 2 for me. if i had room oscars without doubt and in a smaller space bettas with preference to the oscars. i just find those two to be the most personable of the species ive owned. never in 20 years have i not owned a bristlenose of some sort so it would be hard not to have them but if it was 1 and one only they just dont interact with me enough to make the cut.

I'm tempted to say Zebra Danios. They were my first fish and I was completely smitten with them. But I'm actually going to go with Cleithracara maronii (Keyhole Cichlids). I had a pair in my very first tank, a 29 gallon, with danios and a handful of corydoras. They kept trying to breed but I think I think we kept spooking them. We were in a small apartment at the time so we were constantly walking by the tank. I'd love to have a big enough tank to keep a group of them. I think that's why I keep mulling over adding some Laetacara curviceps (Dwarf flag cichlid) to the 40 gallon once the tank has matured. They're in the same tribe but stay a little smaller. I'm not sure if they would be happy just as a pair in a 40 gallon or if I could keep a group or if I would have to stick to just a single specimen. Then again, I'm happy watching my the tank with just the black neon tetras and the panda corydoras so maybe I should just leave well enough alone. Wait! How could I have an aquarium without corydoras? But then you HAVE to have something in the upper levels, right? How do you just pick one?

Discus, because they are super social amongst themselves. Discus politics are byzantine, oh the double dealing, the back stabbing. I never get tired of watching the ever shifting pecking order of a group of a dozen discus.

The issue with your theory is that even if one bacteria "works" faster than the other, their population will increase (or decrease) depending on the amount of food available. There are a few possible causes to your issue, I will state the two that I believe are most likely and how to counter them. Theory 1: This, I believe is the more likely case, is incomplete nitrification. This means that the ammonia has been rising and converting into nitrite by the ammonia oxidizing bacteria. For some reason, the nitrite oxidizing bacteria are stressed, this could be as a result of very acidic water, low temp, or maybe a rough filter cleaning. The result? Nitrite oxidizing bacteria reproducing slower, and metabolizing slower. The solution, assuming nothing has changed drastically in the tank recently, water change and check your nitrites, the bacteria will eventually catch up assuming all is in order. Theory 2: Nitrate respiration or incomplete denitrification. Since you have a soil substrate with a cap, I assume you aren't disturbing the substrate. If incomplete denitrification is the cause, it means that the nitrates are being converted into nitrites and then not into their final form of N2 gas. If Nitrate respiration is the cause, it is also a result of different bacteria transforming nitrate into nitrite (a different chemical process than denitrification). The more likely scenario out of the two is Nitrate respiration. Seeing as I'm unsure on how to improve conditions for denitrification your best bet in this case is to reduce nitrates. Less nitrates means less food for the bacteria to turn into nitrite. More info on these topics can be found in Diana Walstad's book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, specifically page 63.

I agree, it's definitely all about balance, the question is what kind of balance. Since I'll be using an aquasoil I'm not worried about the root feeders. As a result I'm considering having a relatively low nutrient load in the water column. I believe, that in theory, this should starve out the algae as the anubias and root feeders will use up the little nutrients in the water but the high tech root feeders should have enough nutrients in the substrate.

No, no, no on tracking prices for stuff! I have agreed with my wife to only spend $150 a month on aquarium stuff and at this point I think I have spent every months budget out to November.

I wish there was an underwater remote controlled submarine 4k camera that would swim in my aquarium and stream the results back to my phone. I could watch fish breed and check on fry from anywhere. And if I were in a boring meeting, I could get out my phone and watch my fish instead.

And I accidentally hit Submit Reply early. I'm so good at this. ANYWAYS. And then there's the 40, which is always in a state of limia bonanza. Every week I change about a third of the water, remove duckweed and trim plants. Pooka always comes up to say hi. And she checks my hand often to see if I have anything for her, often swimming in the way as I pull off old leaves from the amazon swords. Here's my method: a good ol' bucket on wheels and a hose. I run the hose out the back door to remove water, and then use a pond pump to move clean water from the bucket into the tank. Doesn't take too much time. I also do a lil gravel vac with the end of the hose, just to get excess mulm out. I don't run pristine tanks, but I do like to tidy just a bit; at least the spots you can see. That's it for now. Got the 75 to work on.

Here’s my fish journal. I like the pen & paper aspect of it, and found a cool place for the awesome stickers! Diary-like journal in the front, parameters in the back.

Dual siestas have a few reasons, but the human one is, that adding darkness and low-light periods can stretch your viewing time without creating problems. Perhaps you are working from home these days... These are the schedules that I use for my low-tech, organic-soil tanks. Updated for new firmware which shows all colors. Plant 3.0 Nano in short configuration, for 2.5 to 10 gallon tanks: Plant 3.0 Nano in tall configuration, for 2.5 to 10 gallon tanks: Plant 3.0 15-24" on the rim, for 15-20 gallon tanks: