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My son loves to draw and I came home to this today. Here's his free hand of Murphy @Cory

Mine would be to pass useful experience to a novice fish keeper. It would help them understand that what they thought was some pandemic killing all of the fish in their tank was really the result of water quality issues not a specific pathogen. It is why experienced fish keepers rarely deal with disease or use medications. It is not because experienced fish keeper's fish don't have the same parasites, fungus, and bacteria everyone else has. It is just that without the added stress of water quality issues, these problem never manifest themselves. But one more thing, somehow when my knowledge is passed to the novice fish keeper, none of my silly biases, prejudices, arrogance and outdated thinking were also passed.🙂

Back in the Stone Age when I started in the hobby the filter of choice was the DynaFlo. The inflow (which just hung in the tank)worked by siphon. Whenever the larger fish got a little frisky they’d move the intake enough to break the siphon and with that no filtration. Ah the good old days.

Just thought this was something interesting to share. I keep mystery snails and had one that damaged it's shell from crawling out of the tank. I repaired it and he was actually doing quite well for quite a while. It died recently and I was very curious to see how the shell had repaired under the patch. The other snails in the tank cleaned out the shell fairly quickly (or at least before I found it.) I thought it was really cool to see how the shell repaired itself. (See pics.) One could argue he would have survived without a patch, but... eh, I felt it was borderline. I use plastic grocery bag and Instant Ocean Hold Fast Aquarium Bond Stick. It's a pain in the butt to do it but I like to give the snails the best shot at recovery. My experience has been that they live longer with the patch, but their lifespan is generally shorter than an average snail.

1 month 9 days since last water change, I was trying out an increased feeding schedule but water quality kept declining and things appeared to be on the verge of crashing so I did a more significant water change and will be stepping back feeding and testing a new schedule on this tank. During & after

I am still inclined to think azalea wood is aquarium safe, but interestingly as a beekeeper, I can tell you that some species of azalea (and for us locally in mountain laurels) are the source of the toxic 'mad honey' as they contain the toxin grayanotoxin. Grayanotoxin Poisoning: ‘Mad Honey Disease’ and Beyond WWW.NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV Many plants of the Ericaceae family, Rhododendron, Pieris, Agarista and Kalmia, contain diterpene grayanotoxins. Consumption of grayanotoxin... But what is important is that in azaleas grayanotoxin occurs in nectar, which is a long way from occurring in dangerous amounts in dried wood, so despite toxicity of the nectar, and to a lesser extent the leaves and flowers, I would still be inclined to run a test with azalea wood.

Not fish, but today I had to escort this fella out of my home.

I have crazy good luck with Instant Ocean and tap water. No baking soda, no additives, no buffers. The marine salt brings all that with it, and the chlorine and chloramines in my tap water helps prevent bacterial infections. I'm getting 95% hatch rates from Aquarium Co-Op eggs, so long as the room temperature is warm. I MUST use a light, or the hatch rate drops significantly.

I would like to be able to teleport an existing tank to a new location, so I never have to worry about moving again.

Permanent residents of the nearby park having a good time:

@WeehawkenFish Looks great! Sounds like you're on the right track, and you've got some plants that are doing well for ya. I also struggle with val. I have found that it takes val months, literally 3+ months, to adapt to my water or lights or psychic vibrations.. whatever it is. Val will sit and do nothing but slowly melt on me for months when I get new stock, then it takes off. The catch is one it starts growing (like it finally adjusted to my water), it goes crazy. I trade it in by the bagful now to my LFS for food, but it took over a year for it to start going. I think you're on the right track and I don't want to throw you off, because what works for me may not for you, and everyone develops their own ways of doing things. But, taken with a grain of salt, if that were my tank here is what I'd do: Manually scrub and scrape off as much algae as you can, then do a water change. Try to gentle rub it off plants & scrub the glass. The immediately do a water change, while all the algae you just scrubbed off is floating around making the tank look cloudy. I usually do 50%, but if 30% works for you do that. You're trying to get as much algae out of the tank as possible. Light on for 6 hours for the next two weeks. Then, slowly work up to 8 hours by adding 1/2 hour per week over 4 weeks. This is to slow algae growth. If you notice algae when you go back to 8 hours, dial it back. I run lights for 7 - 8 hours on most of my tanks. Check nitrates regularly (1-2x per week, or before dosing ferts), and try to keep the easy green dosed so that your nitrates say around 20ppm. Lack of nutrients can cause plants to stop growing, which allows algae to take over. If your stocking will allow it, buy some amano shrimp or oto cats. Amano shrimp are wonderful algae eaters. Check out this experiment tropica did, showing a tank with amanos vs a tank without. Algae control - Tropica Aquarium Plants TROPICA.COM The right aquarium - The right plants - The right fish Crypts can take a while to get going, as it sound like you know. They also don't like being moved, sometimes. Maybe your lucens will bounce back soon. That is one of the more difficult crypts. 10 hours a day is probably the biggest contributing factor to your algae growth. I bet you're going to see loads of success by cutting back the light for a little while.

Plants are like crack to me. I can't impulse buy a fish because I want to make sure I have a good setup prepared for it + a backup plan. I can impulse buy a plant almost any day and I can yeet it into a tank. In other news, I've narrowed down possible livestock to 1 of my Amanos from another tank, pygmy corydoras, and assorted Neocaridinas.

Plants have been added and bacteria are blooming! I'm not using a corral for the floaters at the moment. My rigid hornwort (previously planted) was uprooted and is floating with the duckweed, perhaps in the future I can use it to make an organic corral? Sußwassertang is wedged between the ohko stones and I've also placed a portion in my CRS tank. I'm AMAZED by the texture here. This is my first time having the plant and I already want to grow a wall of it on craft mesh. The soft hornwort is growing where the rigid hornwort once was. I like that it's a much fluffier texture and I hope the future betta enjoys laying on it.

Noticed the Easy Planters for a while in coop videos. Ordered some as soon I saw they were on the website and got them in my guppy tank today. I like how easy they are and the way they look.

I use bottom scratcher, grub pie, and community one. I make a huge batch with a mixture of a couple different mixed together to feed different fish at once

@Bill Smith this template has been with me since the beginning of the fish room, lol. I but the top of the board against the bottom of the frame.

That would work, that is how my 1930s aquarium (which was likely built earlier than the 1930s) is built.

I was worried getting the alert on my email. Not seeing the picture, I thought I was going to see a legless intruder.

Picked up some new plants from a local hobbyist today! Sußwassertang for the ohko stone, soft hornwort to mix with the rigid hornwort (weighed down by rocks), and giant duckweed. I traded some Amazon frogbit and green rotala stems for the lot.

Careful, they can't be trusted. Mine were having a meeting the other night, planning a coup I'm sure.

I once removed the brace from a 30-gallon tall tank (24" x 12" x 24"). REALLY bad move. The front glass was literally bowing outward from the water pressure! Removing the brace WILL add to the water pressure on your front and back glass. The taller the tank, the greater the risk. Highly recommended not to do it. 🙂

I have found that a Maracyn treatment does indeed kill some of my beneficial bacteria immediately. This has happened enough times that I can say that it's a consistent issue for me. The white cloudiness of a bacterial bloom comes the next day, and I have an ammonia and nitrite spike for the next two weeks. Why some people and not others? My theory is that some of us have different nitrifying bacteria than others. Gram-positive vs. gram-negative and all that. I know that Aquarium Co-Op testing hasn't seen this as a concern, but my water is very different than theirs. I live in Southern California, and my hardness and pH are always very, very high. Maybe it produces a different breed of nitrifying bacteria as a result? Would love to see if someone has figured this out.

I know you want a single air solution, but I'm tellin' ya, three USB nano pumps from AC are going to be quieter! Yes, each one is powerful enough to drive a 40 breeder. Bill

First I am sorry for your loss, never easy losing a fish. If I can give encouragement though it is to not let this shake you to much but learn from it and try again. On the basis of your fish being treated for internal parasites that would not come from stress after moving them, not sure if there were other signs of that. With your 5 gallon tank, try looking at it as a new starting point and a new thing to learn in the hobby. I would recommend doing a water change on it, gravel vac, glass clean down to just get it set up. If you do not have live plants in the tank this can be the new learning for live plants. Starting with something simple like an anubias or small crypt plant. Stocking wise, betta fish are great for that size tank but if you wanted to try something new white cloud minnows, neon green tetras, rosy loaches or even a pea puffer. Hope to see you continue in the hobby and update us all on your success here on the forum. You got this!

Wow! That’s awesome! I really want to do a guppy set up like that some day. Densely planted with lots of guppies. I visited a fish store in Tokyo last year and I remember seeing this guppy and shrimp tank. Been wanting to do something similar since then☺️

I was half heartedly trying. I noticed the male cozying up to the females so I thought I’d try the cooler water change and fattening them up with bloodworms but I never saw eggs so I figured it didn’t work. Honestly the best part is knowing that the tank is healthy enough to support spawning! Your baby Sterbai are so cute!

Very interesting. Did not know about the spider wood - azalea relationship. You could always sink the small piece in a bucket with a airstone. Could be a fist step anyhow.

Unlimited free time to enjoy. Not sure that's a power, but it feels like one to me!

I am planning on doing this is my next tank..the one that has been sitting outside waiting to be cleaned for weeks lol. I have endlers that are breeding like crazy and they need room, plus a predator! I love tanks that mimic an ecosystem as much as possible. I love her book, although some of it is hard to do once you have already been fish keeping and have tanks up and running. I have a tank running with partial methods of hers and it takes a lot less work! But it definitely is a struggle getting plants to grow after you already have fish to take care of and that is the main focus. I am focusing on plants first the next time.

I had never heard of that artist until I started researching the golden age of fishkeeping. His name was Arthur Bade. His work spanned from fine art to science fiction.

Test strip touch. Like an ability to sense all parameters of the water with any contact.

I found a similar thing, but I wasn't trying. A couple weeks ago I was moving some rocks around and found two baby Sterba's Corydora! Absolutely an awsome surprise!

@Jessica.thank you so much for your help. Below is my full tank, it's a 29 gallon. It's been through a couple transformations but I'll try not to bore you with all the details. The only plants I can say I've had great success with is the water sprite (back left, just trimmed down and spread them out so they can grow along the wall). And the floating pennywort in the top right (that stuff grows so fast I'm always cutting it). The anacharis also does well on the front left, I've recently cut it down to create more stems. The crypt next to it (in front of the wood) is new, so it's currently melting. And in the far right there is crypt lucens that has been there for months and simply doesn't do anything. When I planted the tiger lotus I also planted the dwarf hair grass around it, which has turned brown but otherwise hasn't moved. Then there are the swords in the back corner with one piece of Val in front of it (don't get me started on val, everyone has it on their list of easiest plants to grow and this is my third time trying. I've since started dosing easy carbon cuz I gave up on it, but I guarantee if I pull it up it will have great roots). The ludwigia was added just a month ago with the lotus and also appears to be doing quite well. I dose Easy Green, Easy Carbon, and now Easy Iron every week in the recommended amount, during a 30% water change. The temp is at 76, I have moderately hard water and about a 7.3 PH. I just got this Fluval 3.0 this week. Up until now I was using a Finnex Planted 24/7. I have put the fluval on an 8 hours/day schedule, but it had been on a 10 hour/day schedule up until now. I recently bought a 20 gallon from craigslist to have in case I can get these Apistos to spawn (love them, they look like they're pairing up). I am excited to start a new tank, but really want to find a better substrate. The Flourite kicks up so much debris when moving plants, and it leaves a film on everything. I also have haven't had success with anything that sends out runners. I scrape algae from the glass but let it grow on the back and right wall cuz it's starting to look nice.

Went and picked up a 15 gallon aquarium today to use as a quarantine tank. It came with some accessories, like a filters, air pump and heater... but check out the vintage of these things! Dynaflo Power filter 150 Penn Plax XP 440 Air pump Penn Plax Therma flow All seems to be circa 1979-1980. All of it seems to be in working order as well. I must say, not a bad snag for 20 bucks. Prefect I think for a quarantine tank as well. It also came with what appears to be a "betta tank" though, if I use it. It will be to temporarily house fry. There also appears to be what might be some form of "sponge" filter. I am going to pick upnsome lava rock soon, so I think I'll also get some batting and fill this with those too use in a set up at some point.

A molly I bought from a LFS had fry then died while in quarantine with the med trio (literally day 1) and the fry survived and are thriving. There were only 3 babies when I found them. Two have made it this far!

I let my banana plants float. They sit on the bottom first, but then they grow enough enough leaves that they float. They keep growing, so I am not too concerned. I agree with above about plants with rhizomes, I had to learn that one the hard way!! Killed a few healthy plants that I had been growing by moving them and planting them. Now I tie them to driftwood, or sit them into a pot in the tank where they won't float, but aren't buried.

Maybe instant-diagnosis. Like "this rainbow fish has xyz strain of this gram negative bacterial infection" or "this crypt needs 50% more iron" or "this guppy wants food" or "this guppy also wants food."

Just wanted to say thank you for bringing that gorgeous magazine cover to my attention! Thanks to the magic of the internet I was able to order a very nice copy myself and planning on framing it for display.

Greg sage has a great series on YouTube about breeding Odessa barbs. @Cory Also has a fish room video tour of Greg’s operation that’s an awesome watch. With that being said that’s probably where I would start. I know it’s not the same fish.But I promise you’ll pick up tips and tricks that you’ll use in your Project with the 5 banded barb. Greg has a ton of great content related to breeding fish.

You might be a nerm if the highlight of your morning was finally capturing on video that Daphnia green bowel movement that you had been patiently filming for so long trying to capture the moment. Exclaims to wife 'Honey, honey! I got the Daphnia poo! I got the Daphnia poo! Come look!"

Until lunch time . . .

My order from Green Leaf and Amazon came in today. Very impressed with the packaging from Green leaf. All of the items were packed in a bag of their own. you can see the bag under the items. Tubing is tubing. The suction cups are just that. I like the color. I'm hoping they blend in with the back of the tank better than the clear ones. This image shows how well the drop checker is packed inside the box. This image shows the drop checker itself. The overall height is a little over an inch. This is the power strip I decided to try. I know the Coop sells a similar product. I wanted one thing to connect to to manage my tank. I didn't want to jump around to set things up or manage things. I'll let folks know if it's an okay piece of gear or 'not great'. Considering there is a lag between when you turn on you CO2 tank solenoid and when the flow starts, I want to open this valve at least 1/2hr before the light comes on so there is CO2 flowing. I'll do the same thing when the lights shut off. Yes I know the Fluval is has it's own timer, but I'm also looking forward to the convenience of one point of management especially when it comes to tank maintenance. I can switch off the filter, heater and CO2 and one other thing from one point in theory. Ugg, I've got parts stacking up! I've gotta get to work!

Thanks for starting this @DaveSamsell. I’ve been thinking about this since I first heard STT. I think the formula should result in a number that approaches but never achieve the nirvana of perfect STT, or 1. Thinking about establishing the biological filter number of days since the nitrogen cycle last completed divided by total time since the cycle started. But that is a small part of it. So seasoned time over total time. you also need to factor in livestock additions, like if you add several African ciclids to an established tank. It takes a while for everyone to sort things out. In this case we would want ((1-% change)*total time) over total time or moved all your aquatic plants. Since the plants go through a period of shock, and do not consume the nitrogen products in the water. So total time less 2 weeks over total time. or if you rearrange the hardscape. New substrate different caves etc. I have not worked this one out relative to time, so we can use the same for plant life for argument sake. what if you do all these things? We would have filter, livestock, hardscape, and plants changes. Simply multiply each factor and Bobs your uncle. If I set up a new tank 30 days ago, and the cycle complete in two weeks 14/30, STT is .5. After 90 days, 75/90 or .8333. You relocate, and everything is changed? You get the picture long post from my iPad. Please forgive the errors

This happy little daphnia has a lot of movie star potential in her... 😊

One of my favorite metrics is the bladder snail delta. I want a stable quantity of bladder snails (in a tank without snail-eaters).

Yepper. Maybe toss it in your first aid kit @Savanna! Wait what century is this?

Purchased a comfy chair to enjoy my tank. Anticipate many hours of relaxing and watching my fish.

I love organic soil tanks. If you want to do shrimp with more than one fish in a small tank, Ember Tetras can do well with shrimp. This is my 7.5 cube.