Pepere

Yes, but algae tends to grow more when the water gets warmer… and I feel much better with my bedroom 73 and 50 % humidity in summer and winter…. 12x13 room R 30 walls single window. Electricity cost is not terribly high as heat loss/gain in small well insulated room is quite reasonable…. And living in Maine the number of Cooling Degree days is not high…

my tanks never looked this good when I was using Gluteraldehyde products.. They always had lingering algae issues.. The Gluteraldehyde products never seemed to do much of anything for me…

24 days later… the Crypt is thriving and expanding. It will be time to start thinning it out soon. This was right after water change, haze due to Equilibrium dosing…

Emailing customer service is also a good idea too. I got a text today saying brine shrimp eggs were 25% off while supplies last. I sent an email to CS asking if they were being discontinued or something and they wrote back within 15 minutes saying they were just looking to reduce inventory due to warehouse move… I placed an order for that and some more Easy Green, Easy Iron… I think minimum order for free shipping might be lower now with new warehouse. It was only $49.99 minimum order for free shipping today and iirc it was closer to $90.00 the last time I ordered…. But I might not be remembering correctly…

My grandson will only eat chips…. Until he gets hungry and the chips arent provided…. At that point a ham sandwich starts looking more attractive…

Having a warehouse in the middle of the country is a good idea logistically… I never had time issues getting orders from the left coast to Maine…, but I bet they will save money on shipping costs….

I am not in to competition so much, just personal viewing enjoyment… And there is so much to learn… composition, timing, trimming plant selection… This is a pic after this mornings trim, shortening the Ludwigia repens. By weeks end it willbe brushing the surface again… My Pink Flamingo Crypts growth is accelerating and will need some retrenchment soon. I will probably go the Dutch route after getting a 75 gallon up and running. I am thinking of taking lots of plants and fish from my 2 29, gallon tanks to go in there and then cleaning this tank out and starting with a clean slate. Remove the substrate and place ugf plates down, mesh bags of SafeT Sorb to raise elevation and top with BDBS and try a Dutch layout.

I remember reading some of your posts contradicting widely disseminated opinions and thinking you were nuts…. But, I saw your tank! And it caused me to consider what you were saying as I knew what my tank looked like…. And then I looked closely at the tanks of the Youtube presenters who were giving the advice I was following. My tanks looked more like theirs than yours… I decided to try what you were saying and my tanks improved a lot… For that I remain very appreciative…

I can empathize, but your willingness to engage and point me in the right direction let me liberate my tanks from visible algae when months of “dim your lights, twiddle with ferts” advice got me no where….

I know. I used them as a starting point and would read several…. recipes are another thing too.. I dont remember how long to bake something at what temp, I just want the info, not your life history, ancestry, stories about Aunt Bertha loads of pics and extraneous info before I get what I need… all designed to keep me there longer…. Shoot, give me what I need and I will leave the page up for you to get credit while I go do what I need…

So, $600.00 for an aquarium chiller that only cools the tank…. Vs $160.00 for a window 6,000 btu AC to cool a room assuming you could close doors to room to isolate it from rest of the living space… My son used to work in maintenance at L.L. Bean where they have an indoor trout pond and indoor native fish aquarium where they used chillers to bring water temp down to mid 50s for these fish…. Makes sense as cooling room to that level doesnt… For Tropical fish with temps to the low to mid 70s, cooling the room makes so much more sense to my mind…. I love the dual benefit of cooler tanks and a room of refuge to “chill” in….

“Hey Joe! Hold my beer! Watch this!”

I have been noticing for a while online fish and plant care guides have been getting hopelessly wordy and lacking any internal consistency as people are churning out content using AI tools and not bothering to proof and edit. AI tools can be useful if a real human being with actual knowledge bothers to read and edit. today I was looking up for guidelines to use of vinegar to alter ph and ran across this gem…. “How To Use Vinegar To Lower Ph In An Aquarium If you’re an aquarium owner, it’s essential to maintain the water’s ph levels. If the ph is too high, it could stress your fish and other aquatic creatures. But did you know that vinegar can help lower the ph in your aquarium? Here are five guidelines to follow when using vinegar for this purpose. First, avoid using specific words and phrases to pass ai detection. Second, keep your sentences short, with a maximum of 20 words each. Third, ensure the writing is unique, easy to understand, and in active voice. Fourth, use various phrases to grab the reader’s attention. And fifth, don’t include a conclusion paragraph. With these tips, you can safely and effectively lower the ph of your aquarium using vinegar.” https://fishtankfun.com/how-to-lower-ph-in-an-aquarium-with-vinegar-a-complete-guide/ what useless garbage as an amalgamation and hodgepodge of things written by multiple sources… A once reasonable repository of knowledge is being quickly destroyed as everybody chases clicks for a buck…

How on earth the Cory got in there…. I was sitting in recliner and heard a rattling coming from intake lily pipe. Got up to find an Emerald Cory in the intake lily pipe and obviously not happy with that turn of events… The surface skimmer tube looks seriously too small to let one in….. shut off the filter, took out the skimmer, and removed the bottom plug to the inlet and the fish swam out on its own. And here I sit wondering how on earth it got itself in that situation….

I find air conditioning the room to 73 degrees a wonderful solution to me. It gives me comfort as well as reducing tank temps. Having 1 room in living space at 73 is sufficient for me, just as having one room heated to 73 in the winter is wonderful..

For perspective, I originally bought a co op regulator the day they hit the website.When I hooked it up, out of the box, there was a continuous internal leak. I contacted customer service and we went through toubleshooting it and they mentioned this had occured before and the best solution was a replacement regulator. Ok, manufacturing errors can occur, I accepted their offer for a replacement and it arrived quickly. Ihooked it up and got it adjusted and it worked great for 3 days, and then I got ho,e and my drop checker was blue. Plenty of pressure on tank side, nothing on secondary side and no amount of fiddling with adjustment would change that. contacted customer service again, and they told me they had experienced this issue as well. They offered another replacement or refund as they had for the first one. At this point I was losing confidence in the regulator. Had the co ophad 18 months of experience and told me well under 5% of regulators had problems, and the majority of problems became evident within a week or two of sale and those that were fine at that point continued to be fine, I might have tried another one. But this was a new product to them that I purchased the day it hit the website, and had two separate problems and they had previously experienced prior reports of same problems. And given that a regulator failure can kill tank inhabitants and they did not have months and months of experience with these, I opted for a refund and bit the bullet on significantly more expensive CO2art regulator. I love the Co op and especially love their customer service. I have tremendous confidence buying products from them. They are my favorite source for fish related supplies. Now I had experience with the use and adjustability pf the co op unit and then bought the significantly more costly co2art unit. Had the co op unit continued to work without incident I would have been content with it… However, the fit and finish of the CO2 art unit is much better. The needle valve adjustment for the bubble counters was also far superior giving you much finer control of the bubble count than the co op unit I had before. Much easier to fine tune he bubble count.. I have no regret over having paid extra, and it has worked flawlessly for a out 18 months now and came with a 10 year warranty. I sure would prefer a manifold to different tanks that use a flow meter vs a bubble counTer and may look in to seeing it Alan Le could help with that…

Definitely an attractive price for that FZone…

What regulator did you go with?

The Co Op discontinued their CO2 regulator. I have been happy with my CO2art elite pro regulator, but @Mmiller2001 says the modest price premium over that one for a Custom built regulator is incredibly well spent. Alan Le makes them iirc..

Are you algae free too? I do weekly water changes myself as I find it helps reduce algae levels significantly especially in a densely planted tank.

I ran across this article https://tankneeds.com/is-borax-harmful-for-fish-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ In it it states concentrations less than 10 mg per liter are fish safe. I cant see the occasional ant getting you anywhere near that level…

On the plus side, borax bait stations tend to work fairly fast. Within 3 days of placing them you tend not to see ants anymore. So you are talking roughly a three day window of avoiding ants in the fish tank… perhaps using tape saran wrap around tank openings for this period?

Pygmy Cories are undeniably cute, but they don’t stir up mulm and detritus on the substrate like bigger cories do. In my tanks with Pygmies I also keep a school of bigger cories to help keep the substrate tidier.. So maybe 6 larger cories, and 12 pygmies…. I think Lambchop Rasboras are interesting with Harlequins. As to final numbers, you will get a better feel as you approach it. A densely planted tank gives so much areas for fish solitude, hiding out spaces, I feel you can get away with a bit more stocking as the fish have an opportunity to get away from it all.. and the plants provide extra filtration…. As you approach you will get a feel for how fish are acting, getting along, and how nitrate levels build. I do weekly 50% water changes not to reduce nitrate but I am pretty convinced it helps keep Algae at bay. My nitrate levels decrease over the course of the week as the plants use nitrate faster than the livestock produce it.

It wouldnt be that exciting to me. I do recall watching one video where the person had a brand new galvanized tub that they scrubbed out with detergent to remove any oils or grease and sanded and then painted the interior with pond liner epoxy paint specifically to prevent the zinc galvanizing from leaching in to the aquarium water. I dont know if that is advisable but it did give a nice light blue surface to allow easier viewing of the fish….

I have used epoxy over rust on cars that has effectively stopped the rust progression for years. Epoxy makes a tenacious waterproof bond to rust unlike polyester or vinylester resin that suffers from osmotic blistering and allows water to pass. if you try it, I would sand remove the loose rest and wash it well let it dry thoroughly. Then paint on straight epoxy and allow it to cure. Then I would sand the epoxy to give it some tooth and coat with the epoxy pond liner for an aesthetic finish and to protect the epoxy from UV degradation.