Leaderboard

I run a 110 planted tank with a sump. I would take advantage of the overflows and get a sump. I would look at 40B DIY sump kits on ebay. They seem nice. I previously had two fx4 filters on this tank. It eventually crashed because they couldn't keep up with the bioload of a planted tank, clogged up fast, and didn't provide good of flow. Also with the sump I can hide all the equipment now.

In a planted aquarium pH tends to drift down as organic acids build up over time. Water changes can bring the pH back up because this dilutes the organics acids. It doesn't sound like you are having any problem with your water chemistry. I assume your fish are healthy and you are otherwise happy with the tank. pH also varies over the course of the day, so it depends on when you measure it. As you can see from last week in one my aquariums the pH is lowest in the early morning everyday. This is because during nighttime photosynthesis runs in reverse and plants take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide with the peak build up of CO2 being in the early morning thereby lowering the pH. Once the lights are on (or the sun is up in the case of the graph below) plants begin to photosynthesize and thus begin to consume carbon dioxide and release O2 again. As you can see below, my lowest pH occurs at 8 am in the morning and the highest pH occurs at 4 pm in the afternoon just like clockwork.

@RummyKnowsMy 120 is built into a wall and there was only clearance for 1/2" tubing on one end so with the lack of clearance and that I couldn't have intake & return on opposite ends of the tank we went with an Eheim 3 Pro canister. If there was more room I definitely would have gone with a sump. I have 1 Finnex Stingray 2.0 on this tank with java fern, bacopa, water sprite, saggitatrius, dwarf waterlily, amazon sword, pogostemon, and anubias all growing well. I keep Discus in this tank but it isn't a Discus tank it's very much a community tank with Bosemani Rainbows, Cardinal, Emperor, & Rummynose Tetras, Pencilfish, Ottos, a single male Krib and a dozen Cory's and yes the Discus spawn in this tank.

It's all gone full circle, I took 91 kribensis fry to the LFS today. With one fry still to catch (It jumped out if the net into another tank.... 😂). Unfortunately they are super common around here so we didn't get any store credit but it went towards my first breeder certificate. The tank is now sitting empty awaiting apisto fry. Unless I get to excited and go fish shopping in the mean time... 😬😬

I wrote down “start brine shrimp” on my weekend to-do list hoping that would give me the forward momentum I needed... we will see.

I got my Aquarium Co-op brine shrimp eggs, and hatchery up and running today! Really excited to see if this increases my breeding colony of Emperor tetras.

This is my home office. It's a back basement room, not a lot of light. I used an earthy tone light gray/beige. I made the stands from 2x4 and stained them. BTW my work desk/computer is on the other side, that table/chair is just for garageband 🙂 ... Hearing the light water flow and bubbles makes a really nice atmosphere for the office.

I was finally able to make my first order from the Aquarium COOP today. I am excited for the things I ordered and to support Cory and the team. I dont have a LFS just big box stores where I am at so it feels good to at least support a LFS. Keep it up with all the good things you guys are doing.

As I read your reply I thought to myself, How great this forum is going to be, because we can band together to find a solution. Or at the very least, maybe I can send you some fish! Your reply was exactly what I went through. I did mix them all together to try and see if I could get anything close to the ones I like from Japan. I’m only three generations in so far, but I’m seeing some fun looking fish. Maybe @Dean’s Fishroom, @Cory, or @Randy would be able to point us in the right direction.

You can really see the progress!

@Daniel so it's probably the eastern subspecies either way very cool little snake I'm up in Minnesota so we don't have the highest diversity. Here are a few nature picks form up here cow moose up by Ely and a robin nest outside my front door

My lily put up its first pad to the surface today

@StephenP2003 I'm glad you mentioned this one. I've got some more Pearl weed coming in on Monday. The last time I attempted it, I dropped it in the wrong tank temporarily until I decided where to put it, and my Firemouth ate it, like ALL of it, and then buried any evidence that it ever existed. It's going in with my El Silverado Endlers this time.

I checked in today, and everything looks great. Are these White Cloud eggs I am seeing on the wood? I asked my dad to take some more photos:

Cleaning your filters too much would potentially have the opposite effect on your parameters, depending on the type of media you use. I only clean my HOBs when there's noticeable reduced flow/clogging.

Hello, you are correct that most hardware store air compressorS are oil free. I would assume It would use more electricity to run compared to a linear piston air pump. But yeah you could figure out the math, not to mention the inrush amp drawl to start the motor As often as it’ll probably cycle On and off. Now that all depends on tank size and air demand obviously. So they’ll be a lot of guess work trying to figure all that out. As far as draining the tank it is all a matter of how much the unit runS and the amount of water in the ambient air. Humid environments obviously cause more water to be compressed as a by product of the air compared to a dry winter. And lastly if there is water in the tank I promise you it will end up at your point of use. We install all kinds of in-line filters to remove water from compressed air lines. And depending how the system is designed you have all kinds of other costs. But could it be done yes. Honestly if you wanted to go against the grain maybe looking at a blower is a better option but those things are loud!

I've had a few fish jump over the years. Swordtails, by far the most common. I'm not sure why, they've done it when they've been in small (20long) tanks and big (75 gal) tanks. Only tanks without lids/several inch wide gaps from edge of tank and lid. They've jumped from tanks with and without floating plants. They've jumped when they were the only swordtail in the tank (an overly aggressive male) and when they've been in species only tanks with tons of swordtails. I think swordtails just jump because they can. Thankfully since keeping lids on tanks with swordtails, they haven't gotten out. Though several have sure scrambled their little brains smacking them against the lids trying. African butterfly fish - these absolutely need a tight fitting lid. They have excellent vision, an in the wild they will jump out of the water after bugs. I got to see just how precise they could be one day when mine spotted a fly that had gotten in the house and been buzzing around, and launched itself out of the tank through the small gap between the lid and the filter return pipe to go for it. Was less than a one inch opening and this is a four inch long fish. My husband and I who were sitting on the couch were both stunned. Did that really just happen? Sure enough she was angrily flopping around on the tile. I put her back in the tank and she was totally fine. We made extra covers of plastic mesh that snug fit around the pipes to make sure she couldn't do it again. Congo tetra - they're really excited feeders for a certain small pellet they get a couple times a week. I had taken the front lid piece off to put the pellets in. One of them went for the pellet so hard they launched right out of the tank before I'd had a chance to close the lid. They held one pectoral fin at their side for several days after being returned to the tank, but eventually regained used of it and were fine. Kuhli loaches - honorable mention. These aren't jumpers so much as escape artists. Is there a filter intake tube they can squeeze in? They're leaving your tank, your filter is clearly way better housing. You'll find them in your HOB or your cannister. Still alive if you're fast to notice the sudden lack of kuhlis in your tank. Dead if you don't notice and check for more than a week. I find a pre filter sponge on the intake stops them from going up that way. Although Ive also found if you've got a return from your HOB that touches the water, they'll swim up the current there to end uo in the filter. Its why I prefer sponge filters with kuhlis - nowhere for them to leave the tank to.

White is alright. I like the brightness of it.

This week I got the N class Endlers set up in one of the retro 30 gallons. Kept the bare slate bottom and added a lot of guppy grass and chunk of mopani wood from another tank. This tank below has grown into one of my favorites. It’s overgrown and fully of hair algae too, but I like the variety of plants and the hidden fish. I have sparkling gouramis and baby kribensis in there (think I got the last baby guppy out today). The kribensis will go to different tanks as they put size on, but I think this is now home for the sparklers. in another achievement I finally moved all the Yoyo loaches into the 75 with the blood parrot, convict parrot, and angelfish. Lesson learned - never put a loach in a planted tank other than its end destination.

I have an green lantern platy, 6 bumblebee platies, 2 nerite snails and a powder blue dwarf gourami. I got it 3 weeks ago and have already had 2 spawns of the bumblebee platies! It's kept me busy during online classes.

It seems to me that air compressor isn't intended to normally move larger volumes of air. Where as a linear air pump is designed to move more volume at a low psi. I also pondered this a few times, but started thinking the constant cycling of the compressor and the power draw made it inappropriate.

I've only ever used eco-complete and had great results. I'm considering a blend of different substrates in the future as @Bentley Pascoe describes in his Substrate 101 series.

Hey guys, I just want to give an update about my aquarium. When I first time joined this hobby, I was so lost of what should I be doing for keeping up my tank because the water parameters are never stable. Until I watched cory’s video and I found out about this amazing community! Everyone is so helpful and I learned a lot from the posts that all of you shared! Today, I finally achieved 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 5 Nitrates! And This is a big accomplishment for me as I tried to make everything 0 except the nitrates. I just want to give my big thanks to this community and especially cory!

Great job! It’s so rewarding when you get an ecosystem working.

No lids mostly, I am never a 100% on anything. Some lidless tanks are stocked with classic jumpers, that is swordtails. I haven't had any jump yet because I use hornwort as a pseudo lid, and I also keep the water an inch lower than normal in tanks with swordtails. Still could happen as swordtails are very athletic. I did have jungle val jump out of my big tank once. But it wasn't fatal

Will there be an option for a dark version theme in the future?

Id skip the pickling seasonings though 😉

So I have been interested in rice fish since I first heard Cory mention them saying they might be a new trend in the U.S. For the longest time I could only see them on websites with only a few varieties available and they were usually sold out. I did finally get some Daisy's blue rice, but they were not true medaka in the species latipes. Then I got some platinums and could not have been more thrilled. Recently I have seen some "red cap" and am itching to make a setup for them. Further research took me to Amazon.co.jp, and a whole new world of different varieties was opened up along with large amount of envy. Now how do I go about getting them from Japan? And is it worth it for a common hobbyist?

My family and I recently visited the aquarium here in Oklahoma. I took a few pics. Could have taken a lot more but I am a terrible photographer and normally take shaky ones. The cichlid tank was packed. I cant remember what type of fish this one was but thought he looked super cool. Some kind of Pike maybe? I dont know. Always cool seeing a large Arowana and Red-Tailed Cat. Bonus albino Red-Eared Slider.

I got these 3 fish together (quarter sized angel + 2 juvenile Bolivian rams) a few weeks ago and I'm impressed with how much the larger male has colored up. The angel (visible in video) has a pretty stubborn case of ich that showed up last week so the water is tinted a bit with Ich-X. This is my 29G quarantine tank and it has 3 Aquarium Co-Op sponge filters, an AquaClear 30, a 150W heater, and a ramshorn snail. It's a pretty weird setup but is working for this batch. My main long-term concern is that as the Bolivians have grown, it's grown evident that I have two males (small, pointed vents) and they've started sparring even with plenty of silk plants to block line of sight and I may not have enough room in my 50 hex for them to be happy.

@Mr. Ed's Aquatics well of course, don’t you get a craving for some tasty wood in the middle of the night?

Sounds like I'll have to be bringing them in soon. I know it doesn't get as cold over here as it does in most places but I'm a pretty cautious person haha.

I love both of your tanks! I am going for the wild water jungle look myself. I guess I dont mine my gardens underwater or not being a little wild and not manicured to within an inch of their lives. Nature is a little mess like me. Except weeds. Weeds are pulled with extreme prejudice.

New pico tank. Cool!

This side of the tank is starting to come together. I have some nana petite coming that I am going to tuck in the hole marked with the N, and some Micro Sword that will go in the area marked with the C. So now we just wait for the last bag of substrate and those last few plants. I went ahead and filled the tank, even though I need to put in some more eco-complete because I just got tired of waiting. It's no George Farmer, it's not even a George Lopez, but for my very first build, I'm diggin' it. I'm hoping it'll grow in nicely over the next few months. And yeah, I know... I went a little overboard with the glue on that front moss. First time using Gorilla Glue in water. I switched to a rapid fuse glue after doing the moss.

I do and have used metal racks like the gladiator units. I really like the 2ft wide pallet racks if you can find them for 20Hs, and work for 10s with wasted space in the back. The benefit with the pallet racks is you can get different width shelving to fit your needs. The shelves I use have a rating of 2500lb per shelf, so theres no sag with the tanks installed

There was an early discussion that mentioned a lot of useful and inexpensive racks

I know most of the ACO crew uses the Gladiator garage shelves but those seem out of stock right now. I use the Edsel ones from Lowes, I have 10s and 20s on it. I plan to buy another in the coming weeks.

Cory has a video on using cinder blocks and 2x4s to DIY a shelf which I've used in the past, Teds fishroom also has a video on DIY shelving out of 2x4s which I am now using. I have seen a few youtubers use the gladiator racks from homedepot but I'm not a fan of them for fish tanks, love them for random garage and house storage.

Somewhere you have some sneaky MTSes getting up to mischief while you sleep. You will never see eggs as they are live bearing (ouch).

Im assuming you are using the solid fixed shelf in the middle which likely has a higher load capacity than what is listed by Ikea. I'm not trying to dissuade you but I would certainly keep a close eye on it after setup. If it works I think a 10 gallon would look very nice on these.

ive used the submersible led tubes before, they tend to go out after a year or less, constant moisture is just not good for lights it seems. there are some very flat profile lights available nowadays that should be able to sit on top of the glass. you can also use led strips and tape them to the top of the glass where they wont get wet.

Put some charcoal in your filter the day before hand too. That was a @Cory tip from when he did aquarium maintenance - if the owner was doing work on the house, charcoal in the filter the day before can help ensure no bad fumes.

I can't say I've seen this before, so I am going off of what I have heard from others. Generally, increasing temp and adding aquarium salt will help most maladies. Since bacterial infections can cause death the quickest (when compared to fungus or parasites,) you are better off treating for that first, in my opinion. Especially since the previous guppy died soon after presenting the same symptoms. I think fin rot is a good guess, the red could be blood trying to clot. I'd like to hear from someone more experienced but I saw your post was unanswered since yesterday and diseases often require a fast response.