Chick-In-Of-TheSea
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Posts posted by Chick-In-Of-TheSea
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On 7/23/2022 at 9:31 PM, Guppy Guy said:
@Chick-In-Of-TheSea, the video is a good idea, but I just saw he used a soldering iron for the holes. PLEASE, NOBODY DO THAT!!!!!! Soldering irons generally operate between 350 and 400 degrees celsius (662-772 degrees fahrenheit), and that is way above the melting point of plastics. So much so that it will instantly vaporize the plastic into toxic fumes that are dangerous. I recommend drilling the holes out, or if you want to melt them, use the soldering iron on the lowest setting. usually around 250C (482F).
He says to go outside if using the soldering iron. I just poked holes with a screwdriver when I did it.
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Tetras are good hardwater fish and come in multiple varieties.
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Wait. Spoke too soon…
Really lame temporary fix:
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Critique this for me @nabokovfan87?
sound dampening sponge:
Already significantly less detritus! 😍
You can compare this one to the photos over on the Bolivian ram journal in my signature line below. Those really show the root issue well. 🫤 I assure you I was keeping up with tank maintenance!
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On 7/23/2022 at 9:52 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
For a few reasons, the filter has an issue with flow. It's *too strong* which leads to:
1. Water level a bit too high if you stuff the basket with media which leads to bypass
2. Water chooses path of least resistance, which isn't the sponge, which leads to bypass
3. The sponge has some muck on it, water goes around the basket due to restricted flow, which leads to bypass.
Sealing the cuts in the basket helps, but also encourages the water level ever so slightly higher.
Modifying the foam just means that you can control how quickly #3 happens above. Going from about 1-2 days between bypass to 3-5 days with bypass. This all depends how much "muck" is in the water and how much you feed day to day.
The dimples.... do this:
What this means is you can hold a bit more muck on that bottom edge of the foam before it just goes around and over the basket. Small thing, but for this HoB in particular it makes a pretty big difference. There's a video I just found and linked to, a guy had used rain gutter mesh to lift the foam up and allow the water to flow into the basket a lot easier. That also is a great way to improve on the system as well and something I plan to do.Thanks! I’ve seen that type of foam in stores, but never really knew its purpose or the logic behind it. It reminds me of soundproofing foam for studios, aka egg crate foam.
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On 6/11/2022 at 12:15 AM, nabokovfan87 said:
he cut his own sponges, they actually fit well, and they have the dimples, solves a lot of issues for a lot of people
What sort of issues would those types of sponges solve?
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I can’t believe you’ve been dealing with this for over a month now. 😞
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On 7/23/2022 at 7:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
The strainer moves because it's pretty light.
Put 2 binder clips on the rim of the tank, and put your strainer handle in between the binder clips.
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Snails will eat the hair algae as well as the biofilm created by the driftwood. 🐌
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Put them in a breeder box with a lid @Cinnebuns
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Thanks! Your diagrams are the best!
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On 7/23/2022 at 4:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
ou've got room in there, so it's all good. You can probably fit 2x the coarse pads, 1x the fine pad, and the ceramic all in that left cavity.
Maybe it's not visible in the photo, but the filter is packed full. No room to put the ceramic or anything else. I would have to remove some stuff to make changes.
Black coarse foam <-- ceramic <--- intake
Black coarse foam
Seeded fine foam
New fine foam
⬇️
outflow
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sponge @ waterfall to dampen sound.
Went to 2 stores today. Both out of coarse foam. 😞
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On 7/23/2022 at 4:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
Water hits the fine pad, not really going to want to flow that direction so it should stop the bypass at the top and force the water through the coarse sponge
Not sure I follow. The flow within the HOB hits the coarse sponge first, then the fine pad.
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Look at Jayne’s cute little face. 😍
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On 6/15/2022 at 3:25 PM, dasaltemelosguy said:
Bladder snails
Ramshorn snails
Multiple (black and clear) smaller snails
Limpets (snails)
Hydra (simple invertebrates)
So if I have a limpet population explosion, if I am able to pick them out, I can drop them in the seltzer?
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On 7/10/2022 at 3:36 PM, Wet Elbows said:
Many of my plant leaves were covered in brown diatoms and were suffering. No matter how many times I tried or how many water changes I did, I couldn't get rid of them. Thanks to @Guppysnail I was introduced to Reverse Respiration as an option to save my plants.
Oh no kidding? (Sorry, the thread was long and I only skimmed it. )
I’ve got a brown coating on some plants that I can certainly try it out with.
Also if it helps you guys I put these plants in seltzer 16 hr weighted with a plate and I kept it in a dark pantry. I left the container uncovered.
The plants looks healthy coming out of it and the process appears to have killed this snail. (I didn’t even know this snail was on the plants.)
I used Origin sparkling water.
(Plants on towels are before treatment and plants in tank are after treatment)
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It looks nice.
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1 month.
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I got some new plants for the tank. Water sprite and anacharis. The snails seem to be enjoying them, and the plants will will help me with parameters.
When I put the plants into the tank, I noticed something floating. A ramshorn snail, I believe. I don’t think this little guy made it.. I had done a 16 hour seltzer soak. Look at his color. A complete camouflage with the plant material. Bummer.
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Over the past few days, I noticed the snails were becoming lethargic. I have been constantly monitoring parameters and providing the nutrition they need.
Also, water changes occur twice daily to ensure ammonia stays in check, and to ensure food waste does not build up.
Despite this, the limpet population is getting crazy. You know I had to pick limpets off of most snail shells before they couple came over to adopt snails? Also I used a credit card to push a lot of the limpets down into the sand so the the tank had good aesthetic.
So last night I decided to fast them, and so I pulled out the green bean before I went to bed.
This morning, all snails were active and cruising around. I think I will continue this process. I have read that snails can overeat and get tummy aches. Some were even laying upside down sometimes which was alarming.
So, to summarize, snails before fasting:
Snails at the end of the fast. See how they are all over the tank now?
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Finally I gave all the bad looking, black spotted Java fern a haircut. Long overdue. I am keeping the trimmed pieces in the breeder box because trimmed leaves of Java fern, if left to float, will make babies. I just didn’t want it to get stuck to the filters.
I added some other plants, water sprite and what I believed was hornwort but may actually be something else according to my plant ID help thread. I will have to find out the care requirements to see if I need to put it into the substrate. For now I sunk everything with plant anchors.
Also I got a bonus plant! @Fish Folk told me it was a lily.
Also before I read the forums, I chopped all the hornwort-looking-stuff in half. Then reapplied plant anchors. Hope that was the right thing to do. Who knows? LOL
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On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
I don’t have the types of snails that burrow. I just have 2 mystery snails and 1 nerite that stay out and about.
On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:Here is how I would try to set it up in future
I already see my problem. I just jammed a whole bunch of stuff into it and didn’t leave any gaps for water flow. My logic was, if the sponge is coarse, water flows through it. I need to leave a gap.
On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
I don't think there's an issue with where you have your ceramic media, but that would also be a good place to stuff your seeded media and just let that flow into the entire cavity.Then where would I keep the ceramic media? Drop in the water flow gap at the rear?
On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:There might be added muck in that input section
There’s a bit, a layer about as thick as if you spread margarine on toast, before it melts.
On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:gaps you're mentioning could be allowing bypass and allowing the detritus you're seeing to flow right back into the tank. It's so frustrating when filters bypass like this
My own fault for using media chunks instead of cutting to size. But after cutting things to size for the AquaClear, which I initially thought I was going to keep, I didn’t have enough materials on hand anymore to cut things properly for the Penguin.
On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:Keeping sand clean definitely isn't easy, especially when it's new. Eventually you will find a balance. I would use the tip of the siphon to get stuff in the water and then try to vacuum it out. You can see the separation here where the red particles from the food are going into the sand quite a bit. Having a longer siphon (the rigid siphon inside the tank being wider in diameter and longer) and using the method Cory demonstrates of crimping the tube and stopping flow is really going to help. Because you're going into the substrate to remove the food from a little bit deeper than just the top surface, I would try to plunge it in about 1/2" deep and then see if that helps
This is my siphon.
The tank is taller than the hard plastic. I need to get a longer one. Can’t go wider because I’ve got that big piece of spider wood to work around.
I usually just angle the siphon and make a swirling motion above the sand, but more recently I’ve been going a little bit into the sand and crimping. I think I will keep doing that because it keeps the sand looking nicer and it prevents that ugly line in the front of the tank where the layers form.I knew I had a filter problem when the detritus was collecting in one area. The filter is in the back right corner and it flows forward, hangs a left, and then a big pile of detritus forms in the back left corner. (All of these directional are from viewer perspective, facing the tank.)
This photo was taken this morning.
How inefficient. The water is just flowing over top of the coarse sponge. Fortunately the filter floss is getting the final pass. But yeah, I need to go get more coarse sponge to cut to size. Think I can add some Fritz Zyme 7 directly to the HOB once I create my water flow gap and put new PROPERLY CUT coarse sponge in there? Prevent parameter swing?
As always, thanks for taking the time to break things down @nabokovfan87. Filtration is not something I really take an interest in. Rookie mistake, heh. Kind of embarrassing considering how many years I’ve been keeping aquariums. But only within the last year did I find ACO and learn some tips and move away from the default cartridges.
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On 7/22/2022 at 10:20 PM, CKetchum said:
do the Bolivian rams dig up plants? Is gravel ok?
Mine never has. I have red ludwigia planted, and she leaves it alone. She usually looks for objects that she thinks are food and picks at them.
My Red Dwarf Lily Growth Journal
in Photos, Videos & Journals
Posted
I got a bonus lily with some other plants I bought. I temporarily put it in a breeder box with some Java fern clippings until I could decide where to plant it. Now I can’t find it!