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@Cory and @Brandy pretty much nailed it. Seems to be dead plant material, little single celled animals, and even baby cherry shrimp!

Hey all, so last time I posted a solar set up for the usb nano pump, it was for one pump. A sort of plug and play set up you didn't have to think about but is expensive, considering it was only powering one pump. Then I saw this video: And realized you can cut the power consumption of AqCoop usb nano pump to 3/16 of a watt. Knowing that for about $100 you can build a small solar system to power 4 of the AqCoop nano pumps. Provided you take advantage of the hack in the video. I mathed it out and and a 20 watt panel with a 12Ah battery will power 4 usb nano pumps for most people living in the USA. I'm a project manager for a small solar installation company for people who are in need of credentials. In the picture I used parts I happened to have laying around the shop. That being said I made a shopping list should you want to build one for yourself. None of the following links are affiliated Panel and charge controller kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07RZBVTGR/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?smid=AETKFZLJFO5AR&psc= Battery: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00K53FG5Q/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 Honestly thats all you need to get started running two pumps because the charge controller that comes with the solar panel has 2 usb outputs. If you want to run more than 2 pumps; Extra usb outputs: "updated to a dual usb output" https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07FLZ6Q5L/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?smid=A2N5NE5XPDEZYK&psc=1 Optional battery leads: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07M5M8ZCG/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?smid=A35S5P187G2BY3&psc=1 I say optional because you can just use the gator clips as I have, but if you want a more solid cleaner connection and you don't have the tools or parts to make your own leads, then here's an option. I also use this tub to contain the system but you can use any tub really, this is just what I had laying around. https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-7-Gal-Tough-Storage-Bin-in-Black-206152/305185634 Putting the system together is pretty straightforward once you get the parts in your hand but I can make a video for the form should anybody want me to. Key thing to remember connect your battery to the charge controller BEFORE you connect your solar panel. Also if you have any questions on how to size a system, let's say you want it to run 10 pumps or you want to build a system to run a liner piston pump feel free to ask.

I happened across this and thought of this thread. Very different approach as he uses modern technology throughout the restoration, but the aquarium itself is just plain gorgeous. Why doesn't Aqueon make them like that now? I can only imagine how expensive this kind is, new or used, but man.

Fingers crossed, I have been told the repairs on the 1930s Historically Accurate Planted Aquarium will be complete tomorrow.

Well my days of vacuum cleaning are officially over.

I have always assumed mulm was some sort of combination of living and dead bacteria. I was always happy to see it because I assumed the mulm is processing fish waste from something more toxic to something less toxic. But that is a least 2 assumptions so far. I haven't googled this yet so I am throwing the question out to the forum. What is mulm?

I have a 10x eyepiece and the turret has 4x, 10x and 40x so in the video I start at 40x then go to 100x and finally 400x. I liked the view from 100x the most.

No. If you have high water movement on the surface they will be unhappy. An alternative is to put the roots of a clipping of a terrestrial plant in the top of your tank--pothos, spider plant, peace lily and tradescantia all work well. You can wire a little clip over the rim to support them or stuff them in the top of a filter compartment if your tank has one. Or if your tank has a lid, in the back there you could just cut a notch in the plastic.

I have 5 or 6 (it’s really, really hard to tell...) in a 6 gallon with some blue velvet shrimp, sponge filtered. I haven’t noticed any aggression, between them or towards the shrimp, but only one is approaching full size so far, most are about half an inch or shorter. They definitely like the plants. I have heard they need a decent lid and only a small gap between lid and water to have humid air for the adults to breath. Right now I don’t really see them go to the top to breath but I have it set up like that. I am moving them to a 20g as soon as it’s a bit more “aged” and planted and a lid is procured. Really charming little vanishing fairy fish that are surprisingly unfussy is my verdict so far. Floo the Flowerhorn on YouTube has that fairly well known series with them and an unfiltered tank.

Do you have a favorite area to place the Aquarium Co-Op Stickers? 👀

Waterfall Jungle Tank Build Hey all! Towards the end of last year I was browsing etsy and came across this handmade resin medusa statue (that I unfortunately did not take photos of). She was handpainted so I coated her with a few layers of white krylon fusion spray paint. The resin the artist used was aquarium safe (always message and ask!). I really wanted to make an overgrown, jungle-esque, tank with the statue as the centerpiece. Eventually I want it to be covered in moss and look ancient. I built the tank and stand and have had the plants growing in but I am actually going to tear it down this weekend and redo the scape and planting. I accidentally piled the substrate up way to high and I am not a fan of the look. I wanted to create this journal to show how I built this and to say what did and did not work. The Stand The stand was pretty straight-foward but I did want it to have a natural and minimalistic look from the beginning. I purchased an 8 foot butcher block from the hardware store and used that to make the entire stand including the legs (I wanted them to match in appearance). Wood was stained, I didn't take progress photos since I did not think I was going to share this build with anyone. I also assume most people have built basic stands before. I did want to have a bottom shelf which was built into the stand. dog tax final stand. It actually ended up not being as stable as I thought it would be when the tank was on the tank so I did make one change. I used some basic 2x4s to create a skirt that the bottom shelf sits on and removed the two ledges. They did not provide as much structural support as I thought they would. I did want to keep the top skirt-free for the aesthetical look, I find the bottom skirt is perfect for this stand. The Aquarium The tank is a low iron 25g cube from Seapora.I bought it from my lfs but this is an online listing for it: http://www.reefsolution.com/catalog/aquarium-canopy-stand-aquariums-cube-25gal-crystal-series-cube-aquarium-p-10124.html?osCsid=9fd7b31b3b0bfc84b0d4cc1d0bbbbb22 My initial plan was to have a waterfall on top of the tank. The issue is that every other build I saw used a paludarium style tank where the back glass was taller then the front glass to support the waterfall. I did not want to have it sitting inside of the tank so I decided to build a support wall for it to sit on. I ended up using a little under 3" of footprint at the back of the tank to create the support as well as a compartment to hide the filtration and heater. I used corrugated plastic since it is easy to cut and is rather durable. https://www.michaels.com/plastic-corrugated-board-by-creatology/M10567770.html. FYI! Silicone does not adhere to this very well at all. It wasn't an issue for the compartments and support but it did become an issue when building the waterfall. Sanding it down helped the silicone stick to it much better. Now it looks pretty ugly in the back, I wasn't too worried since I knew that the back would be hidden from view. I layered the pieces in a "T" repeatedly to provide good support for the waterfall sitting on top, it also kept the back panel from bowing in. I used fiberglass window screen on the openings I cut out for water flow to the back. This is to keep critters and anything else from being able to go back there. I made three large cut outs so there is plenty of flow. Here you can see the holding box that the waterfall is built around as well as the "steps" for it. Lots of silicone to waterproof it. I ended up splitting the back compartment into three sections: the left was a planter, the center was open for the filter, pump, and heater, and the right was all support for the waterfall. A top view as I was still building up the support. I cut a window into the planter (similar to the back panel) and used the screen to allow water to flow into the planter. I did not take any photos but I ended up adding 2 more planters that do not receive direct water flow from the tank, they are siliconed to the back of the tank so I can add more terrestrial plants around the waterfall. I bought quite a bit of black slate and black lava rock to use for this build, I like the look of these rocks personally and thought they fit the overall aesthetic well. You can see the little holder for the waterfall where the water is pumped into. All of the tubing is hidden by rocks which are glued or siliconed into place. I used black all purpose pond foam at first but the cure time was too slow, it did create a good base for the rocks to be glued on though. I unfortunately did not take many photos during this process but it was lots of rock layering on the sides. I bought a bag of small black lava rock that I glued to the back panel to hide the ugliness and to create my own diy background. This is the finished tank with the background built. You can see how high the substrate is and why I want to lower it. It takes away more area for the fish to swim in and really is not necessary. I knew I wanted this to be high tech with co2 and good lighting and I went back and forth on the light to use. I was initially going to go with a Kessil but the fact that you need to pay $100 just to control the light is insane and unacceptable. I did want a pendant style light hanging from the ceiling, not a strip/bar light. I also wanted it to give a beam/center light appearance in the tank to create depth, shadows, and a more dramatic look. I ended up going with an AI Prime which I am very happy with. For the substrate I used fluval stratum, only because I like the natural look of it and I had 50lbs of it sitting in storage. Otherwise I personally prefer to use a mix of fluorite and stratum as my substrate. The final shot In the left hand planter I currently have pothos, basil, golden creeping jenny, and arrowhead growing. I also have some red mangrove in the tank as well, you can see the stems sticking out. It has been doing surprisingly well in all of my tanks and is sending out air roots. You cant really see all of the plants from this angle though. I ended up sticking some pothos into the tank on the righthand side to add more greenery. I haven't planted the two back planters but those will be planted once I redo the tank. I'm thinking a nice fern in one and another bushy plant in the other (would love any suggests from you all). I also added some sheet moss to the rocks, you can see some of the white silicone that I want to cover with more moss. Changes I want to make: I am not overly happy with the waterfall itself, I plan to add more rocks and silicone to redirect the water flow a little since it doesn't flow as evenly as I hoped. Lower substrate depth Fix the crooked statue, I thought I wanted her to be slanted to look ancient/apocalyptic in a way but I'd rather have her sit straight Rearrange the scape and plants. I planted some val in there that I really regret, I forget how fast it spreads and I do not want a vallisenaria tank so I will pull that. Otherwise I want to add some red or pink plants (pink flamingo? if it's ever in stock) and rearrange some of the existing plants. I installed a little fog/mist machine but I did not make the holding box deep enough so it only works if the waterfall cap (that has rocks on it to cover the holding box) is tilted off or taken off entirely. I want to mess around and get this working properly I'll keep this thread updated with any changes I make, hopefully I can get this looking how I want it to be soon.

I have recently been experiencing some highs and lows of fishkeeping, and I want to document my efforts at breeding Ginga Rubra guppies. I bought them online cheap, and now I see them selling for quite a bit online! More importantly, I love these little buggers! The first part of the roller coaster was finding that my community tank was really thriving- massive cherry shrimp colony, the guppies had bred without much effort from me, and everyone was happy. I decided to get a little fancy and feed better foods, start really taking care of the plants, etc. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake that I am still recovering from. Apparently liquid CO2 kills things (I plead ignorance,) and feeding different food for the guppies left my inverts suffering. My corys started acting hungry and my bamboo shrimp weren't filtering. Nearly the entire cherry colony was wiped out- nearly! Now we get to the good. Turns out some cherry shrimp hitchhikers had made it into my quarantine tank on the hornwort, and bred too! Now I am afraid to put the new, fresh out of quarantine fish in the community tank because the guppies are breeding. What if I mess it up?! But thats the fun of it, right? I decided to "back up" my guppy colony by placing a handful of fry in a few other established tanks and an outdoor tub. A few magenta mystery snails are into the tub too. Is it a little late in the season for tubbing? Sure, but whats the worst that can happen? It's hot here in Northern California and I think we've got a lot more time. You never know until you try! I will use this thread to document my success or failures with my efforts at breeding and trying new things. Current tanks: 60 gal Community tank: ginga rubra guppies (lots of fry!), Beckford's pencilfish, bronze corydoras (aeneus), assassin snails, cherry shrimp (population recovering), 2 bamboo shrimp (also recovering), orange fin "kyathit" danios (recently added after 4wks quarantine) 10gal Magenta mystery snail tank: very overstocked, need to sell some before adding guppy fry Shrimp quarantine tank 5gal: blue dream neo shrimp, 3 tiny mystery snails, 5 guppy fry Fish quarantine tank approx 5gal: recently vacated and filled with 5 guppy fry 29gal outdoor tub: 10 guppy fry, 3 mystery snails, lots of hornwort. Currently has sponge filter and airstone disk. This is the one I am most interested in following, and I plan to add cherry shrimp to see how they do, but only once my population recovers.

If you do it, you have to post pictures!

And to add to that, you still need to feed them once the algae is gone. Lots of "algae eaters" end up starving.

I would add that in reference to algae eaters you need to have lots of visible algae before you add them. It is surprising how many people will "preemptively" buy algae eaters for a brand new tank and then NOT feed them.

I'm in Minnesota and I have heard of people keeping white clouds outside all year. We get days above 100 in the summer and the winters can go below -50 it seems like for them if you can keep the water from freezing solid and keep oxygen in the water when it's hot and out of the sun white clouds are at least ok. For most tropical stuff you are looking to keep the temps between 65-85 but for some of the natives we have in the US they can go from 33-95 so the trick is knowing what you need and when you need it. Rainbow shiners are good tub fish give them a nice planted tub with lots of air flow and try to keep the water temp between 50-75 and they will be happy.In the winter keep the water from freezing over best you can and keep air to it. In the summer keep it out of the sun and up your air if it's really hot. I have 2 tubs next to each other on me deck a 40 Gallon that gets Full sun for 8 hours and it has turtles that gets up to 85 in the day and drops to the mid 60s at night. the other tub I have is a 110 gallon It gets half sun for 8 hours and it stays at about 73 both day and night it will climb to 75 in the day and drop to 70 at just before sun up at its lowest. Both are touching each other on the deck it is only a matter of two feet and volume. The bigger you go the more stable it will be. The first is Not my photo The second is

Most species of danios would work fine. Florida flag fish may do really well for you as long as it doesn't get to hot. Fish like Mollys guppies and sword tails would work. Pygmy sunfish would be cool but you would never see them from the top down. Rice fish are cool. If the water stays warm enough you could have rainbow fish like pseudomugil species they come in different colors and are cool. That's a few that I could think of that might work for you but you will have to make sure it doesn't get to hot or to cold.

For a dry start on moss what I usually do after painting it on is place it into a container, mist the driftwood until it's damp (not sopping wet or else you will grow mold), and cover it tightly in cling wrap. This keeps the environment humid and also maximizes the CO2 that the moss has access to. Some people will dry start entire tanks using moss and plants that can grow emersed and then flood it later, but it's also possible to dry start moss on aquarium decor and do the method in its own container for about a month or so (the amount of time depends on the species, this is how long it has taken me with willow moss).

There are some products that will treat algae. Fritz has a treatment for string algae and it may work for hair algae, but isn't invert safe. I know some people will treat their plants with cupramine to prevent pests from entering their display tank, possibly you could use an algae treatment on your purchased plants? If you want to go a more natural route I'd suggest having organisms known for eating hair algae in your setups. Amano shrimp are great for this purpose and are large enough that most fish won't bother them.

I went to the Fish Room in Cary yesterday and saw a good selection of freshwater fish there, thanks for the tip. And I sold them my remaining stock of angelfish, so overall it was a very good trip!

One of our fish we rarely see, Blue Seam Pleco. Don't make any sudden movements or he's outta here.

I scrolled down and the first thought I have was... THAT LOOKS LIKE THE FISH IN MY AQUARIUM! Who knew, I'm being historical! Side note: I wasn't sure if zebra danios would be safe with my koi angels. At this point I have some swordtails and a school of cories. Angels are arriving Thursday!!!

Excellent work professor!

Given how critical having backup during a power outage is, the $100 cost of this system is an extreme value. This is an example of this forum at its best.

Sounds like a lack of calcium. Add in some wondershells of some crushed coral and maybe even feed them some tums.

Glad you asked, turns out there are baby cherry shrimp in the mulm (see video that follows).

It would be interesting to see mulm under a microscope 🔍

I have always considered it to be underwater compost. In my tanks with wood, it is largely wood that has passed thru a snail. Like compost, it contains bacteria, and micro fauna. It is dead plants, fish poop, food bits...bacteria, algae, seed shrimp, detritus worms, etc...depending on how much and how long you leave it there. If, like me, you aren't into gravel vacs, it becomes soil/fertilizer for plants. As an experiment I left a bunch under some wood in the shrimp tank. it disappeared in a short time, like a month? Great plants there now!

I used to do water chemistry testing for large industrial complexes and had many times run across differences in test results that didn't make sense. Look into age of reageants as a start. Some test kits may sit on shelves for extended periods of time so even though they are "new" to you they may be quite old. I have had this happen on a few ocassions. if you can cross-check with another or a fish friends testing reageants against your own results. I have also bought reliable testing kits only to have bad reageants in the kits. Don't rule anything out when it comes to quality controls with some companies. Good Luck, hope you get to the bottom of this. 👍

They will take up nitrates as they GROW. So depending on light, you will start to see effects in a week, I think. Roots are better at this than leaves I suspect, so that is why floaters and terrestrial plants work so well. Also, those plants have unlimited CO2 from the air. The limiting factor will be light. Most of the ones I listed handle low light really well though. The bigger the plant, the more nitrates it will consume.

A friend just offered me a rimless 5g. I have wanted to put one on a bookshelf for a while, no filter! cool! thanks for this, I am totally doing a walsted on the bookshelf now! I actually have several bookshelves come to think of it...

I wanted to mention that if youre trying to lower nitrates i highly recommend you add some floating plants like some water lettuce/frogbit. Ive added both of those recently and once they were established my nitrates have stayed significantly lower. They seem to consume nitrates more voraciously than my other aquatic plants.

Here is my take on Foo

So, while Bill is right about needing to treat the whole tank, a 100g would be a huge pain with ich-x. One alternative if you have the option, would be to move the affected fish to smaller hospital tanks, take all the fish out of the 100g, treat in the smaller tank, and turn the heat up to about 85 (speeds the process but not necessary) on the big one and leave it empty of fish for a week (or two if the heat is lower and you are paranoid like me). Keep feeding the tank as if the fish are there to maintain the cycle, and the parasites will try to find fish and die off. I have had success with this method, though in my case my fishless tank had shrimp and snails in it. The parasite cannot live without its host.

I think @TheDukeAnumber1 had it right with suggesting Wonder Shells. At $3.99 it is very inexpensive and has the advantage of a long track record of being safe to use in your aquarium. And yet another @TheDukeAnumber1 suggestion related to snail shells was to use argonite as a substrate.

Looking forward to seeing what you pick. Ive got some leopard longfin danios in my whiskey barrel pond right now. Those could work for you too and the long fins look great from the top.

PEA PUFFER. Coolest 5 gallon ever

Please excuse the mulm. These are the only photos i had. Heres my 10g corner desk tank. Im very limited on space so i squeezed a tank into the only spot i had.

I've gone Aquarium Co op crazy. Lol. Waiting for the new stickers. Gotta find a spot for the extras.

Thanks to everyone for the fish! These have all been helpful, and I've been researching these fish, going to almost ever site I can. This has been my best forum experience I've had, with 4 posts in an hour! Thank you so much for all of your help.

Are you shooting for calcium in the water or in food? Either way Crab Cuisine and or wonder shells may help. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/fish-food/products/hikari-crab-cuisine https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/wonder-shell

On Wednesday (8/26) I was excited to find some cory eggs on the glass! I removed the eggs with a credit card VERY CAREFULLY (it was a pain haha) and placed them in a small Tupperware container with 3 drops of methylene blue to prevent fungus. I also placed an airstone, per the instructions I had found online. Happily, they hatched today! The fry are very, VERY small, as is expected. I can see their egg sacs too. I will start up a brine shrimp hatch tonight or tomorrow with hopes of keeping the little guys growing. Not sure where to have them grow out yet, as I have guppy fry big enough to eat them in one tank and the snail tank water parameters are a little off. Third tank is quarantining new corys (ironically, I got them the day before these ones bred.) For now they will stay in the egg hatching tupperware, but a breeding box in the main tank is also an option. With only 3 adult corys in the community tank, I'm surprised they bred. I got more corys so they can feel more comfortable in a school. If I am successful with the fry, the school will grow more! As of this morning, I saw about 5 fry, but I am optimistic more will hatch.

I ordered this book and it finally arrived. It really is an awesome read, partially because the author is a very personable writer which I don’t see as much of in other guides I have. Some of the things you read about (alcohol blow-torching “gum shellac” to create basically a drilled tank) are amazing. Plastic might be convenient but how can you not want your very own mason jar and wood fish carrying case? Imagine strolling to the Petco counter with one of these bad boys.

I'm thinking they should be replaced with Mbu statues!

I was about to use a piece of rigid airline tubing to siphon away some guppy poop in the 1930s aquarium when I stopped and thought, I need to look up when PVC came in to general use. Turns it out it had been invented by the 1930s but they weren't making rigid airline tubing out of it. I am being to realize that the tough part of this project isn't the big box of water, it is all the little things like 'no plastic'. So plan B. 'Rubber tubing' tied to a stick:

It is going to take a least one more day. I just got a picture from the restorer. She broke a panel today 😒