RetroFeesh

@Tony s So it’s been running stable for 2 years?

Oh, I forgot to mention that the tank has a reasonable amount of flow being a turtle tank. I’ve got it dialed down slow enough to keep my Florida Flag fish happy, but wasn’t sure how they take to higher flow than the tidal 35 they have now.

I have some breeding Platies in a 20 gallon long with a TON of babies. I’ve thought about moving them to the 40 gallon breeder with my musk turtle for more room and built in population control. The tank stays between 65 - 70 degrees. Would that be too cold for the Platies?

So, the crushed coral will reach pH's that high in the container?

So, I'm setting up a shrimp breeding/grow out tank in a 20G Long and doing no substrate, but planting a few plants in plastic containers. I need to add some crushed coral since my water has no buffer out of the tap. Would there be any issue with killing two birds with one stone and placing the crushed coral in the tubs and plant into it?

Sounds like with everything else just let it take care of itself until the tank shows me it needs help?

So, I have two Planted tanks with neocaridina shrimp. Both have seemed very healthy for the past 2 months I've had them shrimp added, but recently had 1 death. The thing that's bugging me is everywhere I look to get a good idea of proper water parameters gives numbers all over the place. No one can tell me a proper calcium level. My TDS stays above 250 just to keep any Calcium in the water. My GH usually stays above 10 drops as well since I use wonder shells for calcium. I guess what I'm trying to figure out is how much calcium do I actually need to keep in the water and how do I keep it without turning the water into liquid rock. Tap Water: PH 7.2 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 KH PPM 17.9 GH PPM 17.9 Calcium PPM 0 Phosphate 0 TDS 23 Tank 1: 6 Gallon Betta, 5 cherry, and 4-5 recent baby shrimp. PH 7.6 Ammonia 0 Nitrate 0 Nitrate 5 KH PPM 35.8 GH PPM 107.4 Calcium PPM 40 Phosphate 1 TDS 278 Tank 2: 20 Gallon, 9 Neon tetras, Betta, 13 shrimp, (One recent unknown death), 2 otto's. PH 7.8 Ammonia 0 Nitrate 0 Nitrate 50 KH PPM 53.7 GH PPM 125.3 Calcium PPM 60 Phosphate 0.5 TDS 292

Yeah, everything I read before hand recommended them together, but I was not prepared for how smol these little guys are lol. qt trio is done and waiting on the two week Paracyn follow up so I’ll have an update when they finally go in.

So, my plan was to add 10 chili rasborras with my 9 neon tetras, female betta (rescue and can’t swim very well), and shrimp in a 20 tall decently planted tank. I got them today and they are way smaller than I was expecting. They look like little fry maybe just over half an inch. Are these neons gonna make dinner out of these guys after qt? I’ve had all the neons and bettas in there for 4 months with no signs of aggression.

What do you have in your tank out of curiosity.

Just curious, is 375gph in 20 long too much for Oto's?

I may look into the 407 a little bit. My poor turtle just get blown around if he losses any traction being a bad swimmer and all.

I lied, this is what I have…. Polar Aurora Free Media 265GPH / 370GPH / 525GPH External Aquarium Filter with Builtin Pump Kit Canister (370GPH) https://a.co/d/cGmNVYr

Hmm.. don’t think I can close the he valves any unfortunately.

If you’re talking about the part where the hoses can separate from canister without having to drain then yes I do. Please do enlighten me on what you’ve read.

So I'm thinking about converting my current 20 gallon long with a musk turtle from canister filter to air driven/power head. My current filter is one of those sun sun filters that does something 300gph and it has no adjustability what so ever. I already have the large sponge filter from the store and thought about pairing it with the power head to keep current in the tank. For some extra biological filtering I would add the Ziss filter on the other end. Is it actually possible to ditch the canister for turtles?

It was sad, they were chasing them around trying to stomp on them. Kids are mean.

Everything started when my wife brought home two wild hatchling river cooters that we’re being abused by some elementary school kids where she worked. After I looked after them for a week I took them to a safe place to release back in their home waters. With the help of friend working with a group doing Appalachian aquatic conversation efforts I was given a juvenile striped neck musk turtle. I named it Charlie. It’s friend was another gift of 6 fiery black shiners. Unfortunately 5 died over the course of a few weeks. My suspicion was not enough oxygen before I was preached the need for air stones. About 2 months ago I set up a tank for pea puffers for the wife to get her excited about the hobby. This is Dobby! They had a friend another puffer named Creature, but he didn’t make it through deworming. Good news is I got two more in quarantine named Fred and George! lastly is a shoal of Neon Tetra’s with some cherry shrimp.

Two more found dead 😔 The four left do look pretty good so far. Water parameters: 75 degrees, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate, 7.2 ph, 2 kh, 2 gh.

Update: No new deaths today, but one is lazily sticking to the bottom. I was actually about to take it out thinking it was dead but it moved away from the net. The same day I also bought some Neon tetras for another tank that only had shrimp and started the trio with them too. One of them was found dead when I got home from work. That tank has been up for a month and defiantly cycled. Not liking this pattern.

Honestly, this is the only LFS with in 100 miles that sell Oto’s which sucks for my local community. It makes me want to research into trying to breed them myself.

Yeah, it felt like he was hunting for excuses to not give me more or refund. I get that store owners probably have a lot of hassle from people killing fish out of ignorance, but a fish should last more than 24 hours even in crappy conditions if they’re not already in bad shape IMO.

I know right? Can't believe that one little piece of wood is making it look so good. Didn't realize aquarium salt is so cheap so ordered a bag.

Added second sponge and temperature was reading 75 on my temp gun vs just between 77 and 76 on the basic hang on thermometer in the tank.

kk working on that now. Also there is a decent sized piece of wood in there that they seem to like.