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I love these sponges. They work great and easily rinse clean. I make sure to add a few to every order. I found its easy using mandoline slicer to trim the sponge down into thin sheets. Perfect to use under a magnet cleaner. Depending on the strength of your magnet, slice the sponge thinner or thicker. When cutting apply even light pressure with the palm of your hand, go slow, and be careful . Most slicers come with an attachment to hold things while slicing, that may work too.

PLANTS AND LIGHTS! What did I find? Illumination... Time to light up the ponds. After much thinking and searching, I settled on this set of Jebao lights I found on Amazon for $53. They're a little expensive and fairly cheaply made, but I'm still really glad I did: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IM80AWK (non-affiliate link) The lights are separated by a 3-foot cord (wish it was 4 feet). The light itself can be separated from its weighted stand, although I ultimately chose to use the stands. As it turns out those stands are weighted by a big chunk of metal embedded in resin. This means they can be mounted or hung with magnets! I picked up some extra-strength magnetic hooks from Amazon as well: The hooks are attached to their bases with a swivel, and they held to the back of the lights' bases just fine. All I had to do was hook them on the rim of the planters at whatever height I wanted and angle them accordingly: I then secured the cords between the lights with some of that metal foil tape which holds so well. The cords were a little too short to disappear completely... ...but you have to look for them. All ponds, wired up for light! And when it got dark last night, I turned them on! Closeup of pond #1. The duckweed re-casts the white light as green: Less so with the guppy grass in #4: Here's a closeup of the Hawaiian blue Moscow guppies in #4: Pond #6 has a large Daphnia magna culture I picked up from AquaBid, and fed with green water from another bucket that gets all-day sunlight: The daphnia really flock to the light! The next things to do are to grow out the greenery more, try to get some better pictures, and put the light on a timer. 🙂 Thanks for looking! Bill

There are a few things that I'm not able to figure out yet, as I'm not familiar with forums. How to upload a video How to view the forum file uploads And some things I finally figured out, but it took me a while 😉 How to leave a "like", "laugh" etc How to quote someone's comment How to upload a file Just thought something like this might be helpful and if it already exists, could it be pinned to the top of one of the subject groups? Thanks, Alesha

I like to do experiments, modifications and build things, in general. Having said that, I would like to share one with you. *** Note: All information presented herein is for informational use only. For safety reasons, do not imitate. *** Some of my aquariums have a fairly strong water flow that can make feeding time, for the fish, a bit difficult. My foods for the fish are often times, of fine particles, and it doesn't take much water movement to make a mess. Many filtration systems don't have adjustable flow outputs. So I was thinking, how about adjusting the power input? By using a variable transformer, I can limit the amount of voltage fed to each aquarium filter. It comes in handy during maintenance, feeding, etc. The filter simply plugs into the the transforming unit. The water can be slowed down to a trickle and then turned back up, when I wish, or simply left at a lower rate of flow. It is a lot easier than unplugging each filter individually and hoping they don't lose water prime. In the United States, 120 (volts alternating current) VAC is the common household voltage. Plus or minus a few volts of course (dependent on many factors, of which I won't get into right now). You can see, by turning the variable dial, the input voltage is decreasing, thereby, slowing the water flow. And, a bit lower....

Well...... maybe steer your son(s) towards livebearers. Always swimming about, would work good in you tapwater, easy to breed and watch grow, and will kind of self regulate the population. Oh, I got my first four guppies when I was 7 years old. . .

Just wondering why there is a limit on reacting to posts and what is the limit? I like to leave a reaction if I have read someones post just so they now I was there and I read it.

I appreciate that you're going into this venture with a lean, build-as-we-go strategy rather than a massive all-features-at-launch-let's-add-more-to-the-list! approach. From what I have seen, the latter results in meltdown and wasted functionality and the former lets you achieve natural growth with maybe more iteration but less overall wasted effort (I work in digital marketing/web dev so I get to see a lot of ambitious disasters). Probably similar to aquariums. And oddly, very hard to sell as an approach.

+1 vote for the "How To" or "DIY" category. I would love to browse people's projects to learn new things!

I do this all the time in my fry tanks and the fry trays. Many times it’s like angels and cories, or rams and plecos, guppies an cories, etc. For me I tend not to mix like guppies and angels because one May out-compete the other. Where as guppies and cories can compliment each other.

You can use a soda lid, thread the airline thru the straw slot and let it float on the top. The bubbles pop underneath and don't splash. The top of a pringles can works well too, just have to make your own slot.

THE "ELECTRICAL BOX" I use that term loosely. My idea here is to protect all the connections from the weather as much as possible by tucking them into a small makeshift box, and then daisy-chaining the boxes from one planter to the next, hiding them as well as possible while protecting them from the elements. After some testing, I settled on these "Tupperware"-style boxes from the dollar store. They were three for a buck. I then did some testing and fitting with some electrical parts that I had, ordered a couple more, and when I had my plan, I used a soldering iron to melt some holes in the box: two big ones in front for the cords to exit the box, and about five smaller ones in the back that will act as "air holes" to prevent condensation. I also cut through the plastic from the rim downward to each of the two bigger holes: To help hide it, I next spray painted the box on the inside with flat black paint. Painting it on the inside helps ensure that I won't scuff off streaks of paint if the box slides around on a rough surface. After that, I gathered my parts (these are non-affiliate links): 1. 200 watt heater ($14): This size seemed overkill, until I remembered that I would want the heater to occasionally compensate for an ambient temperature as low as 40-45 degrees. The cost was about $3 more than the 100-watt, so why not? 2. USB nano pump ($9): This will power my hot-rodded Jehmco round box filter. 3. USB adapter ($4.50): I selected this one because the ports are on the SIDE of the block, not the top. That's uncommon and a space-saver. 4. Cube tap ($2.50): For fitting several plugs in a tight space. 5. 8 foot polarized power cords ($5): Actually I only need one per planter, but each of the cords are shared between two planters: the inlet AND outlet of each cord goes into a box. These are not rated for outdoor use, but all connections will be in the box, and I have some plans to protect the cords themselves. I chose this kind of braided cord for its color, price, and the fact that it was a flat plug (space saver). Grounded three-prong cords are not necessary. (I will be dealing with lighting as a separate part of this project.) Next, I laid out everything and plugged in all the components. Then I took everything out to my garage and placed it all in the black box, with two cords sharing each of the larger holes. The smaller holes will be facing downward in the finished project, and will allow air exchange to prevent condensation. I lightly superglued the lid on. I may have to destroy the box to get inside it, but that's why I source parts at the dollar store! I'm going to try for some sort of drip-looping. But in case I can't do it across the board, I decided to silicone the cords as they pass through the holes, preventing water from seeping in at this point. Electrical box complete! Tomorrow, I hope to work on mounting it to the first planter. Lots of hot glue in my evening! Thanks for reading, Bill

I keep many small aquariums in my apartment, mostly Walstad-style, with organic soil from a local composting spot. I enjoy running really stable ecosystems. These photos don't show much of the fish and shrimp. I also keep some outdoor tubs here in Vermont. Cheers, Jason

Sloppyscaping: instead of separating micro culture plants and painstakingly gridding them out in ADA soil, you grab handfuls of guppy grass, slap a rock on the bottom part, anchor some in pool sand, and call the hair moss intentional. It will not win awards, but your husband won’t divorce you for spending more money on Anubias than you do on food. And it leads to some cute moments like this one: This is just meant to be sort of a picture journal of experiments and failures in aquarium keeping. New to the hobby so if you see me try something that will result in complete disaster please do intervene! the Sloppyscape, A Gupster’s Paradise. I am not sure how many mutts are in here but there are also Corydoras julii, MTS and ramshorn snails, and pond snails that feed other fish. 40g with a canister filter, trying to figure out what else could go into it. I am playing with the idea of trying to do some kind of Pandaria themed tank with panda guppies, and potentially panda corys? I have a variety of 5-20 gallon tanks I could use, but am not sure where to start with stones or plants. I have a 12 gallon rimless nano with an integrated back sump that I would like to use, but I’m not yet sure how intense the flow on the pump is or if it can be adjusted.

Just wanted to share how I “upgraded” my sponge filter. I love Cory’s sponge filters and wish I would have discovered them sooner. I also like the ability of the finer sponge to help clear the water even if it’s only and little and for a short time. This is in my daughters 10 gal betta tank.

New fish for the week of 8/17-8/23 Some nice bettas in this week! Frogs, Inverts, Snails African Dwarf Frog Amano Shrimp Cherry Shrimp Orange Shrimp Red Rili Shrimp Green Jade Shrimp Blue Velvet Shrimp Bamboo Shrimp Nertie Snail (Red Spot and Zebra) Mystery Snail (Black and Gold) Bettas (All Betta Splendens Are Male Unless Noted) Veiltail Crowntail Halfmoon Plakat Super Red (Nice and red, looks amazing when flared up!) Plakat Red Snow Dragon (Stunning!!) Plakat Blue Black Plakat Alien Steel Blue Plakat Alien Blue Betta Mahachaiensis (Unsexed and from Dean) Gouramis And Other Anabantiformes Sunset Honey Gourami Goldfish Black Moor Assorted Fantails Cichlids Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Nigerian Red" Pairs Apistogramma Borellii "Opal" Golden Dwarf Cichlid German Blue Ram Small Philippine Blue Angels (From Dean) Corydoras And Other Catfish Panda Cory Salt and Pepper Cory (Paleatus Corydoras) Brochis Cory (Nice Big Green Cory) Corydoras Agassizii Pygmy Cory (Wild) False Julii Cory Sterbai Cory Similis Cory Malayan Yellow Pygmy Cat (Really cool catfish, schools mid water column!) Plecos Common Otocinclus L128 Blue Phantom L134 Leopard Frog (Been a long time since we had this in shop!) Loaches Reticulated Hillstream Loach Tetras Cardinal Tetra (Wild) Congo Tetras Male Ember Tetra Neon Tetra Black Phantom Tetra Rasboras Neon Green Rasbora Brigittae Rasbora (aka Chili Rasbora) Rasbora Het (aka Harlequin Rasbora) Barbs And Other Cyprinids Cherry Barb Panda Log Sucker (Wild) Livebearers Albino Snakeskin Guppy Pairs (Nice yellow with a bit of blue) Assorted Fancy Female Guppies Assorted Fancy Male Guppies (Sunset, Blue Variegated, Cobra Green, Eclipse, Leopard Tuxedo, Neon Metallic Blue) Assorted Male Endlers Blue Tuxedo Platy Rainbow Fish Neon Dwarf Rainbow Ornate Rainbow Ricefish Orange Medaka Rice Fish (From Dean) Oddballs Zig Zag Eel Hairy Puffer

Just wanted to share a few photos of my favourites. I’ve got about 25 or 26 (honestly I’ve lost count). Due to time I don’t bother with the traditional keeping practices, but my way works well at least for pet quality fish. I generally let them live their lives in big above ground ‘ponds’ during the summer so they can eat bugs and algae (and twice daily feedings). The ponds have cattails and pickerel rush which handles most the ammonia though I also run several sponge filters as well. definitely wish more people were keeping these, but they can be more difficult to source than the side view ranchu.

Well. I think its safe to say no hobby has taken my life by storm more than Aquarium keeping. I started a couple months ago and have 3 tanks already and I just got these beautiful babys today. Ill be updated my adventures here for the foreseeable future.

Hey everyone, I delivered some Orange Japanese Medaka Rice Fish and some unsexed Betta mahachaiensis to Aquarium Co-op yesterday. Not a huge quantity of either so get them while you can. If you do miss out, more will be coming at some point.

You could maybe sprout them by suspending the bottom above or just in the water (seems like this should work for geraniums), but there are a limited number of houseplants that will live long-term partially suspended in water. Pothos, sweet potato vine, transcandentia, and some philodendrons are all able to grow new roots in water and survive to some extent long term. For these take a long cutting and strip the bottom 4+ inches of leaves. Most of your roots will sprout from those joints. With pothos I have seen it grow fully submerged, it just develops slightly different leaves. Some other plants will grow with their bottoms in water to root. Spider plant, some dracaenas like lucky bamboo, and maybe a few others will grow long term this way. I find spider plant usually doesn’t grow large and healthy this way. Many more plants can be grown hydroponically or started as cuttings in water, but this can be more difficult. I’ve had luck with a lot, and with some like succulents, suspending above water will trigger root growth. However, plants have three types of roots - aerial, terrestrial, and water - and if you grow water roots to then plant in soil, they will have to grow new terrestrial roots and may not survive the transition. Some mosses and other terrestrial plants are fully able to be grown submerged. I had luck with moss from my yard and I believe @Danielhad a lot of luck with some wild plants.

Thank you, Lizzie. I did all of that right, except the very last step. I tried adding it by using the "other media", then the "insert image from url". Now I know to just add it in the editor. These posts are super helpful. Thank you for your time! Alesha

Please be selective when quoting. If you feel that a quote is necessary, you can edit the quoted text to just contain the specific part to which you are replying.

Ah...I didn't know you could resize a pic! Good info to know. Thanks, Lizzie! 😁

Ah, chemistry flashbacks!! My least favourite subject, but in aquariums, suddenly it's fun

I just gave this advice to someone on Facebook and I apologize if I already mentioned this on another thread. 🙂 I think we talked about themed tanks in your greeting thread. But one of my favorite exercises right now is to build a tank around a central fish. For example, when I was planning my 40 gallon, I was sure at that time that I wanted Keyhole Cichlids. So the tank was planned around them. Is there anything that you've always wanted to try? I keep seeing shell dweller tanks and they look fascinating. I'd have to pimp my water for any sort of African cichlid I think. I'm also deeply in love with the idea of an Amazon Puffer but that may be because I keep seeing Murphy in the store. It's hard not to fall for all things puffer when you see him. Is there a particular behavior you want to see? Big schools and shoals are lots of fun. Now that I think of it, there's a new Aquarium Co-op blog post with 20 gallon tank theme suggestions. That might be helpful too. Have fun planning! I think that's almost as much fun as having the fish. Also, regarding your comment, "I really don't have anywhere else to share this stuff with people who will understand, so I apologize in advance for overly enthusiastic newbness." Good lord, don't apologize. I think everyone here is geeking out in some way or another. You're not alone! 😛

So i had been quietly testing to get my nitrates up putting increasingly copious amounts of ez green (up to 72 pumps) every day to try and get my nitrates up. It would always stay at 0. I gave up, and just went to 8 pumps a day and toned down the lights to fluctuate between 50% power for 6 hours and 10% for 4 hours to lessen nitrate consumption and just hoped the fine algae would stop covering my leaves of plants. Today i noticed my seachem filter nob pop up, which if you don't have one, is a thing they have where if the water filter flow starts to slow down it causes a little peg to be pushed up on top as a signal that you may want to service it. Like the lights on my dashboard, i usually ignore it. But it's been about 4 or so months since i wrung out the sponges so decided to service it today and do a large water change. I was wrung out the prefilter sponge into a bucket, wrung out the coarse sponge in the filter basket, shook off all the bio media in the dirty tank water, and squeezed my fine filter sponge. I stared at the fine filter sponge and realized it wasn't just a fine filter sponge, because my LFS only had coarse sponges and NITRATE ABSORBING sponges. I never got it for its ability to absorb nitrates, i just wanted a finer sponge as part of having a diverse set of non-chemical filtration assuming that "nitrate absorbing" was just a buzz word to get people to buy it. I just assumed it was gonna suck at its job of absorbing nitrates and just be a fine filter sponge. I feel like if my life in aquairum keeping were a book, it would be called "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Over corrections"

They're basically the same. The USB air pump is a small hobby motor that spins a 3-sided diaphragm pump. Different mainly in that the USB pump doesn't change the direction of motion, it's rotary motor to rotary diaphragm; while the normal pumps change from rotary motor to vertical diaphragm to power their pumps. Some pumps may also use a magnet to pull the diaphragm in one of the directions and a spring to push in the other. But the one-way valves and diaphragms are all the same. Linear air pumps are a whole different beast, that's why they're so quiet. Think two syringes connected by one-way valves, going in opposite directions; while one is emptying, the other is filling. Constant air pressure and very, very quiet.

Welcome! It sure is! In December I returned to the hobby after a >10yr long hiatus. I'm already up to 4 tanks (29,10,9,5) setup, a tub outside, a 55, 10, 20L in planning and I just bid on two 75s! 😬 My warning on the guppies: for your first 10g, stick with a few males. They breed like crazy. A few males is a good way to get you into the routine of maintenance with a brand new tank without all of a sudden having 50 fry on your hands! Have you planted the 10 gal? What are your plans for the other tanks?! Good luck!

I would browse Aquarium Co-op see what you like. Your light will be good for everything they sell. If you like Java Fern or Anubias consider looking for a nice piece of driftwood to mount them on.

I have really good luck spot treating with Easy Carbon. I turn off my filters while I spot treat everywhere I see it and then start things back up again. I don't worry too much about how much EC I'm adding to the tank, I try and clear it out with a water change a few days later. Between an SAE and some Amano, the now pink BBA gets cleared out. That said, I totally agree with @MickS77, nutrient control really helps to keep it down. That said, I am going to nuke a tank this weekend that I can't seem to get a handle on. Boil/peroxide everything and start the cycle over.

I'm sorry for the loss, Pete. ☹️ Hopefully someone can give you an idea of what the problem was, so you'll know what to watch for.

If you end up with shellies, I would get the Aragonite sand. It not only helps raise the PH, but also keeps it from crashing or spiking. If you order online for store pick up, Petco has 10lbs for $5. Its cheaper than regular sand and gravel right now, I stocked up. As for what to do with the extras if they breed, they are super easy to rehome. I prefer to sell them to my local fish store because he buys as many as I can bring. But, I get WAY less that way. Maybe 1/4th of what I would get from Craigslist or Offerup. Either way, they don't last long and make decent money. I actually have a little list of people waiting for me to offer more.

Nah, I think I've only posted 4-5 here so far. I also have a few I haven't posted, because I have lame photos...but I'll see what I can dig up. Can't stop the signal!

This was one of those "uh-oh" things: we tried to grow a pineapple, but it died. So, my hubby pitched it to the back corner of the yard. A year later...Ta-Da!!! Our cute little pineapple was growing. We enjoyed watching the progress of it, and the EATING of it a few weeks ago. You will never taste a sweeter pineapple than the ones that grow in your own back yard! 🙂

The deeper the tank the more the bubbles will spread at the surface so you will need a larger lid. Best way to tell what size lid is to look at the pattern in the tanks surface and size accordingly.

Hi Stephen, I also live in southeast Louisiana and have personally experienced returning home from a week long evacuation and realizing I had made gumbo in my fish tank. So terrible! I don’t have the $$ for a giant generator, but I was able to snag a smaller one from Home Depot last year. It can only run a few things at once- but definitely enough for my tanks. When my power went out back in July, I was able to just run a chord out of a tiny gap in my window to the generator and my fish all survived. I also have a tiny window a/c that I was able to also connect to the generator to keep the tanks (and myself) under 85 degrees during the day. That’s not really a fix if you were to evacuate, but if you’re staying home during the power outage, this has worked for me.

My club just did this. It was my first auction and a great experience. A little limited functionality wise but smooth and fairly intuitive. https://aquarium.mn/auction I am not sure what they used but am sure they would respond to a query.

I am super new to the hobby but i was/am having the same issue. Just added 3 rainbows and 3 platys last weekend from Aquarium Coop. I plan to just keep adding fish until i get some nitrates or my kid says stop.

Cattapa leaves are commonly called India almond leaves, you probably already have the right ones if you have almond leaves for aquariums.

I have a 75g with a sevrum,4 red head tapajos,3 pearl gourami,2 hoplo catfish,1 siamese algae eater,3 denison barbs and a yellow acara.

Mine was a comet goldfish named Sam. It was the only fish left when my mom decided to break down her pond. I went out and got the biggest tank I could find for him. I had stopped keeping fish for a couple of years and he got me back into it. I was hoping he would get my son interested in fish, and he did... for a short time. Now he isn't interested in any other fish, because they aren't Sam. He was 13 years old when he passed.

Well I apparently don't have my notifications enabled because just now, a month later, have I stumbled upon this response! You must be a fellow Fishlorian- nice to see the crossover!

This is Nebula, my first Betta: I made another trip to the LFS. I picked up six Pygmy Corydoras for the 16 gallon, five Blue Neocaridina for Nebula’s tank, and twelve Bloodfin Tetras as the new community fish for my 20 gallon.

I HAVE FISH! And I have the crappy photos to prove it. I have very specific species in mind, so I decided to stock these nano-ponds strictly with mail order choices (lousy LFS options in North San Diego County). I made my selections based on these criteria, 1. A variety of color themes 2. A variety of small fish types to fit the small size of the nano-ponds 3. Not prohibitively difficult to breed 4. Fish I've never kept or rarely kept Love opinions/observations on the choices, because they're pretty new to me. I started sprinkling in some greenery as well, but I have more coming. So sorry for the poor quality of the photos; I will try to get better ones soon! Nano Pond #1 (RED): These are 12 cherry barbs, with a water hyacinth and some duckweed for cover. There's also a dwarf lily bulb in there. Nano Pond #2 (YELLOW): These are 12 leopard danios, also with a water hyacinth and a few stems of moneywort. And a dwarf lily bulb inside. More greenery to be added! Nano Pond #3 (GREEN): These are 12 green kubotai rasboras, also with a water hyacinth and the beginnings of some errant water lettuce that appeared out of nowhere. Dwarf lily bulb as well. Again, more greenery coming next week! Nano Pond #4 (BLUE): These are three MFF trios (plus one extra, total 13) Hawaiian blue Moscow guppies. The females are nice and robust! This pond also has a water hyacinth, a dwarf lily bulb, and some moneywort stems. Hope those moneywort spreads and starts growing upward! Nano Pond #5 (RAINBOW) These are 10 very young clown killies. Also with a water hyacinth (no lily) in here, with more greens coming next week. I wonder if I'll need to think about lowering my water level much to allow for jumping...maybe duckweed or water lettuce in here as well? What do you think? Nano Pond #6 (LIVE FOOD) I have a large culture of daphnia magna arriving tomorrow, so I hope to keep it alive in here with a large supply of green water I've already prepared. Greenery coming next week: Guppy Grass, Subwassertang, Water Lettuce, and Salvinia! Which of these would you suggest for the clown killies to mitigate jumping? Anyway, let's see how this goes. I will try to get some better pictures in direct sunlight soon, and I'll be feeding them twice a day, with Aquarium Co-Op Easy Fry Food in the morning, and live/frozen baby brine shrimp or small daphnia in the evening. Any thoughts, concerns, advice, please feel free. Most of these fish are new to me! Thanks for looking! Bill

Yay, the banana plants finally came in! They look so cool in a big pile like that. Thanks for all your hard work in hunting them down for us.

Recorded some unboxing footage a few months back, never did anything with it. This thread got me thinking about it again, so I made an attempt to edit it together and add a voice over:

All wired up! No really, it is! Can't tell? Good!

I am starting to make basic choices on the 1930s Historically Accurate Planted Aquarium. Light will mostly come from a window with supplemental light from a 1930s era standing lamp The aquarium will be supported on a board across a 1930s Singer sewing machine wrought iron base So the placement will look something like this: No plans to run CO2

I haven't had much luck with hydrogen peroxide on BBA, despite a) dosing the entire tank with the most popular recipes listed online, b) directly spraying leaves outside of water and letting it sit for 5 minutes, and c) buying fresh bottles to ensure their potency. But many people swear by it, so maybe something in my tap water is interfering with it? However, one time I spot-treated my heater using Easy Carbon / Excel while the top of the heater was out of water during a water change, and all of the BBA disappeared! I'm not sure how safe that is for plant leaves, so I may experiment with a fast-growing stem plant next week. Let us know what ends up working for you!