MattyM
-
Posts
544 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Feedback
0%
Content Type
Forums
Downloads
Store
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Profiles
Posts posted by MattyM
-
-
Great to hear he's doing better! If you're not already doing it, some calcium in his diet might help too - I feed my snails some Crab Cuisine to be sure they are getting enough, and also have cuttlebone in my tanks to raise the calcium a bit (and snails sometimes snack on it too).
-
It kinda depends on your hardscape as well. If you have a lot of brown driftwood, then maybe you don't want a similar color substrate. My driftwood actually has some black streaks in it, as do my rocks - so I went with black sand. It highlights the hardscape and makes the green plants really pop. My cory cats also have some black in their coloring (mostly pandas) and the black substrate really makes their black "more black" - if that makes sense. I added some small, smooth, black "scatter rocks" around, and it really ties the room together.
-
3
-
-
Cheers @Yoshi - if you go to my posts I have some detailed pics of the setup from scratch.
-
1
-
-
Hard to tell but it's either pond or bladder snail - you have to check the "ears" aka feelers. This should help:
-
A second for seachem flourite black sand, it's more expensive than blasting sand and yes, needs a lot of rinsing. But between this, various kinds of gravel, and eco-complete, it's by far my favorite. It really makes the cory cats show off any black they have. It's never shown poop, whether in a 20 or 100g. But that could be b/c of the trumpet snails and cories churning it up so it either gets buried or sucked up by the filter. By far my least favorite substrate is eco-complete. I know some people love it, but for me that is what shows all the crap - and it's hard to plant in, and if you disturb the bed crap just floats up everywhere, and it eventually gets mushy - but maybe that's just me. Sand it all I'll use going forward, and I never have to vacuum it 🤷♂️
-
2
-
-
Boiling the wood will help remove the film - just make sure to use a pot you don't really care about. I have a cheapo enamel pot for this. The film may still come back but less so, and shrimp/snails eat it right up.
-
My LFS doesn't like to carry them anymore - too over bred. I was lucky enough to buy some from him a couple years ago and they are still doing fine.
-
1
-
-
I wonder if the increased bioload led to increased nutrients from waste, and the staghorn gladly took up the extra load - just a theory, but for me I can get a bit of staghorn when I overdose ferts.
I've had my battles with staghorn, fortunately in my experience it's a pretty weak algae. An idea would be to decrease lighting time and/or intensity - not sure what your light is, but if possible drop the blues down to 2-3%. Remove as much as you can by hand/toothbrush, and dose with something like Excel - which takes care of staghorn rather quickly, esp if spot dosed (when things are more under control). Once it's dead your cleanup crew will be able to help out. More quick growing plants would help too. Good luck u got this 👍
-
1
-
-
Ramshorns are pretty prolific too and are good cleaners in my experience. In my tanks they out compete the bladders.
-
2
-
-
Is this new java fern? I noticed with mine, some of it melted when I first got it, but then produced new shoots that did just fine.
-
2
-
-
Such a sudden death makes me wonder if it could be an acclimation problem? Like are you drip acclimating? I think amano shrimp are the hardiest of shrimps, so I'm not sure moving to another kind would help at all.
-
1
-
-
On 3/11/2024 at 2:02 PM, Galabar said:
Did this happen to anyone else?
I just noticed mine were not as bright as they usually are in the morning. A quick phone sync sorted out the issue. Can confirm mine went off at night.
-
On 3/11/2024 at 2:46 PM, flyingcow said:
Is there information on this being toxic to fish?
Right here, on the good ol' AC site:
TL;DR - nope, pothos are fine, even the stems and leaves. Many of my new shoots are in the water for weeks before I either trim or pull them above the lid, never had any problems.
And yes, with pothos I need to fertilize more often, and trim the roots here and there.
-
3
-
-
On 3/11/2024 at 1:20 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:
I can tell you for certain that it’s not the lid
Have to agree - I've only ever had lidded tanks and never had any issues or unpleasant odors, even on my small 9g tank with just a sponge.
-
1
-
-
In my 100g I set the heaters to around 80F and the inkbird to 76.5F with a 1 degree variance, as this is what the heaters themselves seem to use. 80F is warm but won't kill the fish and I'll get an alert on my phone if things go outside that range, or if the heaters have been on for too long (you can set the amount of time in the app). And I always have an extra heater on hand. This way I get the full benefits of using an inkbird.
-
Not sure what kind of light you have, but you can also try lowering the intensity, and cutting the blues down to 2-3% - if possible.
As a quick fix, you can take something like Excel/Easy Carbon and use a pipette/syringe and spray it right on the algae (just be careful not to over dose the tank, start off with a minimal amount). Shrimp and snails more more likely to eat it when it's dead/dying. I get a little bit of this stuff in my tank every once in awhile, always on the same spot of driftwood (jagged end piece), and manual removal along with a quick blast of Excel once a day for a day or two works.
-
4
-
-
Maybe put a test strip in the bottled water and see if there's any chlorine - that's mostly what the concern is.
-
2
-
-
Are you sure the tank is cycled? How long before the fish die, and what does a test strip show then? Any live plants? What's the temp? Do the fish act or look any differently before they die? Eating and what not? What are you feeding and how much? Got any pictures?
Sorry for the all the questions but these these are the kind of details we need to provide any help.
-
I get eggs about every week, and keep hoping that a few will make it, but I haven't noticed any cory fry yet. If I didn't already have 9 cories in my tank I'd probably try taking the eggs out.
-
For a (mostly) top dwelling schooling fish, have you had a look at Golden White Cloud Minnows? I wouldn't want to overstock your 20L though, which might lead to skittishness if there's not enough room.
-
On 3/7/2024 at 8:40 AM, johnnyxxl said:
But the biofilm can feed the tank.
Yup, my spider wood just had an amazing amount that now gives the tank a more reasonable amount of biofilm to feed on, even months later.
-
@Mattlikesfish36 just to expand a little, I think this particular tank's low maint has to do with a few key things:
- Sanded substrate, 3-4" deep - I am using seachem flourite sand here, black. Don't know how much that matters, but I've used it before and liked it, a lot. Based on my experience, a gravel substrate needs actual cleaning. I hardly ever see detritus on my sand, just in a lower flow corner in the back.
- MTS snails - love em or hate em, they churn the sand - a very good thing in my opinion. I actually never see them much.
- Good flow - helps the filters catch stuff, disperses CO2, oxygen, and nutrients well.
- Good filtration - this tank has a canister at each end - 1 outflows across the back of the tank, the other has a spray-bar pointing towards the other filter. This creates a nice circular flow. I have the spray-bar angled slightly upward, producing a nice ripple effect. I don't care if it off gases CO2; it looks cool, prevents surface gunk, and promotes gas exchange.
- Cory cats - kick stuff up and into the water column, where the filters eventually get it.
- And of course, a ton of plants.
Word of caution: If you use inline CO2 diffusers, that will be more maint - I like how efficient they are and how well they disperse CO2, but they need cleaning, as do the hoses. But the hoses could go longer w/o cleaning if there wasn't an inline diffuser, if that makes sense. I've gotten pretty quick at it, but it's still work every so often.
This is all based on my experience and experimentation ✌️
-
1
-
I have a cheap enamel pot, 4 gallons or so, that I use to boil wood. For larger pieces I just boil whatever will fit for 5-10 minutes, and flip as needed - even if I have to hold it while it's boiling, it helps. It will also help with any biofilm and tannins it might be leeching.
Those are some really nice pieces btw!
-
1
-
1
-
-
The pine-coning makes me think it's dropsy, if you Google dropsy does that seem likely?
What is your favorite or "go-to" plant, and why?
in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers
Posted
Val and anubias - just can't go wrong. For a smaller tank I'd sub drawf sag for val.