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Bill Smith

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Everything posted by Bill Smith

  1. Bill Smith
    I think if you want six hours, you should consider turning that computer off. One PC power supply is like 10 tanks, probably.
  2. Bill Smith
    Ah yes, that's a good one. I think there's a core philosophy difference here. Some people regard fish as pets, many regard them as art/decor. If the latter, the "expendable" mentality rears its ugly head pretty easily. But it's no less real a perspective on fishkeeping.
  3. Bill Smith
    Oooh, taking bets? My testing suggests maybe an hour or two?
  4. Bill Smith
    Old ones too. 🙂 I overstock almost all of my tanks, but I also have the plants and maintenance schedule to support it. So is it still technically "overstocked" at that point?
  5. Bill Smith
    This right here is the single biggest thing I have learned from Aquarium Co-Op. It's helped me chill out.
  6. Bill Smith
    I use Trello. It's massively helpful and very easy for me to keep track of tank events:
  7. Bill Smith
    Hi all: I was reading a post this morning about someone lamenting that they couldn't get AC products shipped to them outside the U.S., and so I hit Google, wondering if there were forwarding services out there for individual consumers, who could re-mail them outside the country. Turns out there are. Now, I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here, and I am not interested in promoting any particular service (just helping the community get some crucial products), but as an example, I found a service called "USA2Me" (Google it) that does exactly this. It gives you a U.S.-based mailing address, and then allows you to forward a package to yourself outside the country. Of course none of these services are cheap, but I imagine it could be worth your while if your order is big enough! And of course there's no way AC could possibly guarantee any such orders, so that's a risk you would have to take. Anyone tried anything like this? Maybe too cost-prohibitive or risky? Bill
  8. Bill Smith
    I highly recommend a system with the smallest barrier for use. I use Trello because I need spend no more than 1-2 minutes per day for all 12 of my tanks and 7 of my ponds. Any system we choose that takes extra effort and brainpower to maintain will not get used as much. Just like when Cory says that the fish food they actually eat is the best one to use, the same applies here: the system you'll actually use daily is the best one. 🙂
  9. Bill Smith
    Edited the title. Realized people might think I'm looking for a breeding trap! No, I'm looking for a CATCHING trap!
  10. Bill Smith
    No, I never vary the amount of salt in the water, regardless of the volume of eggs. Salinity is salinity, regardless of how many critters are living in it! As for checking hatch completion, I simply turn off my air, put the light on top, and wait 5 minutes. If I see a thick layer of hatched eggshells floating on top and nearly none settled in the bottom, I know I'm done.
  11. Bill Smith
    Wanted to ask this for awhile: What is your go-to standard measurement for a drilled drain hole, from the top edge of a tank? Looks like about two inches? Or do you just eyeball it and let the adjustment of the inlet elbow do all that work for you?
  12. Bill Smith
    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. 🙂
  13. Bill Smith
    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.
  14. Bill Smith
    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.
  15. Bill Smith
    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
  16. Bill Smith
    I have constant explosions of neolamprologus multifasciatus shell dweller fry, so much so that the multies are constantly threatening to overload their tank! I have recently decided to grow out the fry in another tank, but they are so darn hard to catch! They don't really go hide in the shells at fry size, but they hide under everything, and they're too strong to be siphoned out; I have to completely destroy a heavily planted tank to get them out! So I thought I might try a trap. Has anyone got a favorite trap for wily fry? They are not extra-small when I'm ready to pull them out, maybe just under 1/4" in total length. Lots of DIY and other options online, but I thought I'd ask this group. Thanks! Bill
  17. Bill Smith
    So today I cleaned all the box filters in my nano-ponds, after about two months of neglect, and here are the conclusions I've come to: 1. Blue & white floss on the top was the wrong approach, as it catches everything first and prevents the lower pieces of foam to be as effective. An extra layer of coarse foam is a much better idea. 2. Cleaning takes 3-4 minutes. I simply disconnect the airline tube, pull the box out and drop it into a bucket of tank water. I squeeze out each of the foam discs, and reload the box. 3. The inlet vents have to be scrubbed with a toothbrush. 4. Probably double the work of cleaning a sponge filter, but FAR LESS MESSY. No detritus pollutes the tank. 5. A thin layer of extra-fine floss as the bottom layer would serve to help polish the water, but in a pond, I don't care so much. 6. The duckbill elbow outlets on top really are essential; they get some real current going. All in all, I still like these better than a sponge filter, at least for ponds. In a tank, I really care about appearances, so I always use HOB filters. Where the sponge filter shines above all others, for me, is that there is nothing better for seeding bacteria into other tanks. Bill
  18. Bill Smith
    They do divebomb me when I start clearing out duckweed. Which is expected: that's their landing pads!
  19. Bill Smith
    One thing I did decide to do differently: The top layer of floss was replaced with more layers of very coarse foam. It makes more sense since the floss is so fine.
  20. Bill Smith
    Working well, not really clogged. I'm behind in my maintenance due to the interest of bees in my ponds! Will follow-up in the next day or so with any additional thoughts and what I discover in the layers of foam. Bill
  21. Bill Smith
    I use high-strength stick-on velcro, and I stick the feeder to the lid, so that I can angle it at the hole correctly.
  22. Bill Smith
    Congrats you guys! That's how it's done!
  23. Bill Smith
    I don't think so. Algae eaters don't eat free floating algae cells, that I know of. I have not found UV sterilizers to inhibit traditional algae growth at all.
  24. Bill Smith
    Believe it or not, there is a Green Killing Machine that clips on to the output of hang-on-back filters: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LLLMTCO I bought one to play with, don't even know if it works, but it's a fascinating idea.
  25. Bill Smith
    I like the Green Killing Machine. I like that it's separate from other filtering elements, and easy to just drop in the sump. 9 watts for 55 gallons is probably fine, and in my opinion you'll get more efficiency if you run the water through it nice and slow. The slower the flow, the more "hang-time" for micro-organisms to be exposed to the light. I also like that it has two plugs: one for the light and one for the pump. Downside is that it's pretty ugly in a tank if you can't hide it. Inline canister filter versions like the Turbo Twist are better if you want to conceal them.
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