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So the DFW area has been going through a heat wave like we do every summer. It was around 99F today and felt well over 100F especially in the sun. My largest aquarium reached 79F today which is not bad. This aquarium sits at around 76.5F-78.5F throughout this time of year. I essentially thought of asking this forum how temperatures fluctuate for your personal setups. Are there any Extreme weather or temperature spikes/dips you plan for? I will leave some data below and look forward to the discussion. For me, I am certain the outside facing wall is adding heat to my large tank. The aquarium below sits along my living room wall and faces West. I keep my home reasonably cool around 73F but in the summers here I can reach 75F during the hottest parts of the day. By morning the temps are back to 76.5F. I know my Fluval 3.0 light puts a good amount of heat to the tank. Without the light the temperatures sit around 75. Contrast this with Winter, and this same setup will sit at 75.5F, although I do put a second heater in the tank starting around Mid-November as a backup. I know it doesn't look it, but this 72g has around 40 fish, they mostly like to hide when the lights start dimming. Except for the Rainbow fish, they are just constant zoomers until the lights are blacked out. Also, my shipment of plants from the Co-op arrived today. They look great, I cant wait to plant them in a few days. (I leave them in pods for a few days to see some root growth.) Some Ammannia Gracilis to mix in with the Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus behind some wood.

Just wanted to stop in and say hiya to everyone! My name is Michael and I have a small YT channel and website called Michael's Fish Room. I am just a dumb guy with a camera who breeds and sells guppies and plecos from my 60 tank fishroom. I hope to help when I can! I have a question for you guys......What is your favorite type of guppy? Thanks! Mike

Hello everyone, I've gotten some feedback for this topic over on Reddit, but I was wondering what you guys though about a few beneficial bacteria questions I had: - How long can beneficial bacteria can survive without oxygenation (like when you turn off a canister filter)? - How long can filter media be out of the water before BB starts to die off? - Are there good rules of thumb to consider when doing maintenance? (like how long can the canister be off or sponge be out of the water?) It's my first post here, so sorry if I'm not following the rules.

Two tips here: The shaft wears out and is replaceable. Lubrication can help a great deal with noise in the motor I would recommend putting silicone grease on the impeller shaft. Easiest way to do that is to shove some silicone grease into the hole in the center of the impeller and then drop it on the shaft and slide it up and down a few times. Fire it up. If it still makes noise, hunt down a replacement shaft. Another interesting tip. All Aquaclear filters, except the 110 use the same motor. The difference between them is the impeller and the number of blades on it. So, if you need a new motor, you can buy an Aquaclear 20 and swap out the motor. A new Aquaclear 20 is usually cheaper than a replacement motor.

Oooohhhh yeah sorry for beiing unclear, I also thought there was an ich outbreak in everywhere of the world lol. Thanks for the help! Noted!

Agh, a hard choice indeed! Could I just say cichlids and call that a type? Then I'd still have plenty of choices to keep. Ah but that'd be too easy, I think you mean a single species? I'm torn between swordtails or discus in that case. I love the shapes of swordtails, they've been a blast for me to breed for years, but, for a fish that could really keep and hold my interest over time? I guess it would have to be discus. I love the social interactions and sadly swordtails, though I find them beautiful don't have much of a social interaction past 'hey baby, let me show you the dance of our people. Wanna make babies? No? More dancing then?'

There is always room for a few more blackworms!

Pinky and the gang, got food?

I do wish there was a really great chart of guppy genetics, and strains. The best one I have found is here... Academia.edu | Log In WWW.ACADEMIA.EDU Academia.edu is a place to share and follow research. i would just upload it, but it's a PDF and I can't put a PDF on the forum. In any case it isn't super useful for breeding mutts because it turns out guppy genetics are pretty complicated!

With the help from some great stuff from the Co-op number nine is complete and Jean-Luc has a new home. Just a little 20 but I like it so far and he seems to like it too.

Sorry, I think that was unclear! There are other types of fish like cichlids and various rainbows that are natural strains. They can interbreed but they haven't for thousands of years because they were in different rivers or whatever. Crossing those lines can be controversial. Guppies are totally man made strains I think. Crossing those strains, imo, only becomes problematic if you are dishonest about it. If you get a mutt that looks like a blue Moscow you shouldn't sell it as a blue Moscow because it's offspring could be any random color, which could mess up someone else's project. That's really true of any mixed fish, we should just be honest about what they are.

I have hatchetfish, and had the same concern. I position my feeder so that it's dropping near the side rim of my tank and cut the slot in the lid there. I position my airstone there as well, on the assumption that fish won't want to be jumping right at the position where there is a nozzle or bubbles moving current. It's not perfect, but it minimizes jumping opportunities. Having current right there also helps with the distribution of food.

@Cory can so read your mind!

If it's just crud on the glass a razor blade then scrubbing with vinegar works really well. If your worried about sanitizing then bleach works too just rinse well and dose extra water conditioner when you fill it up. Also don't forget to check for leaks before you set it up!

White vinegar has worked pretty well for me. What I wish I had thought of when I first got used tanks was a flat razor blade. That would have saved me loads of time and works on glass.

I have used a mix of water and white vinegar with great success. I was able to really clean up a crummy old tank I got off of craigslist- I remember posting the before and after knline somewhere long ago and people were really surprised by the result. You can also use baking soda with the vinegar mix for any really tough spots. All of these are much less harmful than bleach, so there is less worry when putting fish in. However, if you need to sanitize (perhaps due to a previous ich outbreak or something,) you can use bleach. Just use lots of dechlorinator initially.

I just got the Ziss hatchery. My first two batches I had the issue of the eggs at the bottom. I drained into a plastic container, shrimp and eggs. Sucked some up with a pipette and holding it at an angle, the eggs slid down to the bottom and I dripped them out. My last batch I hung the container inside a heated tank (previously outside at room temp) and used a tsp of eggs instead of 2. I got little or no unhatched eggs at the bottom.

Welcome to the forum. I have never owned an Axolotl but they sure are cute.

No clue, haven't tried it, BUT could you post a pic of the algae? even just one from the internet. I have recently learned that "hair algae" can mean several types, what I always called "hair algae" is apparently thread or string algae, or blanket weed, or Cladophora Sp. and there are about 6 other types that also go by the same common name, but look and act very different. @Daniel and @Streetwise and I were describing and discussing different "types" that we have encountered which helped me to realize we were not talking about the same thing at all. Hopefully someone can chime in with suggestions, because I am curious about this question too! I have only heard of using this as a spot treatment for black beard algae.

Okay so here you go. . . one hole in the tank at what you want to be the large water change level. The height of the top T and 90 is what sets the water level in the tank. Using the T makes it so that no siphon can be created, You could also probably use two 90's and drill a hole in the top for a siphon break. Auto drip type water change and the water overflows and goes down the drain. Note: the ball valve must be closed for this. Large water change, open the valve and the tank will drain down to the level of the bulkhead fitting. This keeps all that extra pipe and stuff out of sight and out of the tank. No need to reach in the tank and rotate a pipe, etc. Pictures are just for the idea you would need to determine the actual lengths of pipe etc. Might need some trial and error on getting the water level set. But once you did one tank you should be able to do any others. Hope that make sense.

Easy one -- popping open that fluval fx6 canister and rinsing all the media.

Here's my other hack: I stole this idea from one of the hatcheries at Brine Shrimp Direct, and screwed some dowels into the stand so I could elevate it a bit:

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'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?