AllFishNoBrakes

April’s Aquariums? I’ve heard Cory talk about them pretty extensively in the livestreams. He has made it very clear that for Canada that’s where you can go to get their products, and he has also made it very clear that any company/store they partner with must uphold the Coop’s values. I know for a fact that they follow this because the one partner store I visited (only one in my area) gave me an absolutely terrible experience, and when I emailed the Coop about it they took swift action and ensured that nobody else had a similar experience. Email them and I’m sure they’ll get you taken care of.

While I’m not an aquascaper and don’t use active soils, I don’t really see a need for carbon. If something was in the tank and I wanted it out, then I would absolutely use it. Outside of that though, I don’t really see a use. Any idea what the “extra organics” are? I would assume it’s extra nutrients from the active soil, but again, that’s just my thought and not from my personal experience.

Probably from the meds. Test ammonia and nitrite and as long as those are good follow the instructions for what you’re treating for.

Same. I’m thankful she does as well. I just have no problem being like “yup, you got it” when it comes to her. Definitely not the same for myself lol.

How often do you think about buying something before you actually buy it? For me personally, as I’ve gotten older (I’m in my early 30’s) I’ve found it takes longer and longer for me to actually pull the trigger on buying something. I contemplate, and wonder, and look around, and try to find the best deal. Then, I have to force my girlfriend to convince me to spend money on myself lol. For her though, I don’t really care. She needs something? Let’s go get it! For myself, she has to convince me to buy it. I’m thinking about getting a Fluval 107 for the 29 gallon blackwater tank. That tank has never had the clearest of water, thanks to the Cory’s, a medium sponge filter, and a Tetra Whisper 10. However, the plants always hid it pretty well. Now, with very little plants, with the addition of tannins, additional botanicals constantly breaking down on the bottom, and the Cory’s I’m really not digging the cloudy water. I want it to be dark from tannins, not dark and cloudy. One of the LFS constantly has in their newsletter that their price is below MAP (so call the store!). If memory serves me correctly, it’s either $79.99 or $89.99. Seems hard to beat. Probably gonna pick that bad boy up on Thursday. I’ve never had a canister, so that alone sounds fun. I’m planning to do a 107 with a pre filter sponge, remove the carbon it comes with, and either a few layers of poly fil or some other additional media. I really think the finer polishing pad that comes with the filter will already do a nice job (especially with a pre filter sponge, and all the sponge already in the canister), but an empty tray seems like a missed opportunity. But then, additional media doesn’t really seem necessary and is just an unneeded additional cost. I’m heavily leaning towards poly fil, but I also don’t wanna service the thing all the time. Decisions, decisions 🤔. If you have experience with the 07 series let me know what you do!

It can feel overwhelming, but basically you need a tank, a heater (maybe, depending on what you plan to keep), a filter, a lid, and a light. Outside of that you want substrate, decor, plants, and livestock. As far as the tank goes though, just the above list.

Watch for the yolk sac to disappear, and then feed. No need to feed if they still have their yolk sac. I breed a fair amount of Angels. Hit me up if you have any questions!

I know for sure that the “EL” code is what is described above by @nabokovfan87 I believe that the Coop has updated that for V2 of the heater, in that a yellow light will now flash instead of the display flashing “EL”. Probably describes the manual being updated for V2 as well.

What do you intend to feed the shrimp? As long as they’re getting food it should be alright. I really think a stable environment for them is the most crucial. Then to ensure they have food on top of things to graze on

I tend to disagree, at least a little bit. Shrimp, in my experience, do better with a more seasoned tank. Meaning, you WANT some algae and diatoms and other things for them to graze on. Not saying your tank needs to be covered in algae with green water, but a barely cycled tank isn’t necessarily the environment for shrimp to thrive in. That being said, it’s also not impossible. Make sure they’re getting food and have a stable environment and you should be just fine 🙂

I kept mine with shrimp and snails in a 20 long. Started as a shrimp only tank, and after a couple years I wanted to add something new. Colony of 6, they’ve bred and kept the colony going. Now, that tank is a blackwater tank with Chili Rasboras, Green Neon Tetras, shrimp, and snails. They continue to do well in that tank. I also split the colony when I turned that tank into a blackwater tank. I sold 15 to the LFS, and what was left got split. The other half are in my grow out tank with Angels, Cory’s, Platy’s and snails. They do well for me in all those scenarios. Mostly, they squabble between themselves and nobody else really.

Sorry, meant “they will be by themselves” as in no other fish. I’m not going to say it’s impossible for inverts to infect fish, but what I will say is that in my 3 years with 14 tanks I’ve never seen it happen. I’m more concerned about new fish coming in sick or developing illnesses and spreading them to my healthy ecosystems. My Betta (by himself except for some snails) wasn’t quarantined with meds as he’s isolated by himself. If I ever see issues I have quarantine tanks I could move him to in order to medicate.

If I didn’t have access to meds, I wouldn’t immediately quarantine with salt. I would isolate and observe, and use salt if I needed to (meaning I saw something like ich or some other disease). The Betta and the amanos should be fine with the salt. I’d be hesitant about the Nerite, though. Also, I’ve never quarantined inverts (shrimp and snails), and if you’re only going to have the 1 fish, then it’s essentially already quarantined as it will always be by itself.

@TheSwissAquarist I’m not sure what the chemical composition of those crystals are. I’m definitely not a chemist lol. It’s not dry ice as it would burn me if I touched it if it was. All I really know is that when the canister is out of gas, and I dump it out, there’s always this thin layer of crystals on the bottom that I need to get out of there. I’ve tried a couple different ways to divide tanks. I know here in the states they have some commercials options, but I didn’t like all the suction cups and the gaps that were left around the divider. Also gotta think about how small the fry are going to be, so any gaps or holes need to be smaller than the fry. The first time I used craft mesh, zip ties, super glue, silicone, and other craft supplies. That worked alright, but if the craft mesh got knocked out of the holder it was a nightmare to get back in. After that I used dense foam (still using it today) and it has worked pretty well. Every once in a while I have to reposition it slightly, but it works. Also creates a massive space for additional bacteria to live so that’s a plus.

What’s good everyone? Not gonna bore you with the water change details this time. Busted those out per usual. Boiled a nice chunk of botanicals and threw 80% of them in the 29 gallon. I’m ready to darken that bad boy up. Also threw a little poly fill in the small HOB to clear up the water a bit. I want dark water, but clear dark water. Took some photos as I was water changing today: C02 crystals from the bottom of the diy canister. Always fun. The most pregnant Platy I’ve ever seen. I don’t think it’s Dropsy as it’s just the belly, and no pineconing of the scales. That belly is HUGE! Looks like I now have 2 Amazon Swords producing more Amazon Swords. I’m running out of room for all these Swords!

My chili’s like to play in the current from the sponge filter, too. That being said, they don’t only stay over there. They’re constantly schooling around the tank. I have them in a super dark blackwater tank. I just let them play in the bubbles when they want to and do their thing 🤷‍♂️

Agreed.

I personally don’t believe that carbon is the answer to your questions. You are absolutely correct that carbon will suck up your nutrients/fertilizer. It doesn’t make sense to me to add things to your tank to just have them sucked up by carbon. Also, adding carbon could potentially fix the problem, but then you’ll never really know what the problem was and how to prevent it in the future. Me personally, I would rather understand where the problem came from so I can avoid it in the future, instead of running carbon all the time and not learning. I have 14 tanks and don’t run any chemical filtration in any of them. Most of them are crystal clear. Take these tanks for example. Both of these tanks have never run any type of chemical filtration for the 3 years they have been running. Is there some detritus/mulm in the water column from time-to-time? For sure. Have I ever pulled water from them in a white bucket and seen any type of green tint? Nope. If you add Catappa Leaves, you will probably see some tint to the water. 1 leaf probably won’t do a ton, but if you add several you’ll probably see something. I run 2 blackwater tanks and they look like this: This tank has had tannins since March of this year. While the lights make it look hazy in pictures, in person it’s very clear, just super dark. At this point the water almost looks red under the light. When I do a water change, the water looks like this in a white bucket: This tank has only had tannins for a couple of weeks, and this tank has Cory’s. I’m slowly adding tannins to this tank as it’s a 29 and therefore pretty tall, but I’ll probably always run into clarity issues thanks to the Cory’s constantly kicking up stuff off the bottom. When I pull water in a white bucket, it looks like this: I’ve had green water twice, and both times in the same tank. It’s a 6 gallon cube, dirt substrate with a gravel cap, no fertilizer, no filter setup. The first time it happened I don’t have an exact answer as to why it happened. The second time, was because I added a few drops of fertilizer to try to help the red root floaters. I did that once per week over a couple of weeks, upset the balance in that tank, and ended up with a little green water. Both times I’ve had it, I got rid of it by doing a few extra water changes over several weeks, giving it time, and letting the system re-balance. Here’s what that tank looks like right now: You said that you haven’t done a water change in about a month since you filled the tank. I would suggest doing water changes more frequently, especially as your system gets balanced. Balance takes time and consistency, and it sounds like the tank is pretty new. Personally, I would do some extra water changes to get rid of the green water, especially since you only have plants and pest snails. My way isn’t always the right way, but it has worked for me. Just my two cents and what I’ve done to get rid of green water when I’ve had it.

100% agreed with @MN-AQUARIST

If it is dead, you’ll know by the smell test for sure.

I let them do their thing, pull eggs, and hatch them in a tumbler. I’ve never intentionally done a water change, or cool water change in conjunction with a storefront, but I’ve definitely done my normal weekly maintenance that happened to have a storm on the same day and woke up to eggs the following day. Coincidence? Idk. I just let them do their thing and pull eggs if I want to hatch some.

That’s an excellent question, and one that’s hard to answer! It definitely switches around, and I like all of my tanks. Right now, I’d say either the 20 gallon long blackwater, or the 29 gallon Pea Puffer tank. So hard to pick between the two as they’re just so different from each other!

Isshin seems to be a happy boy 🖤 This tank is super hard to take pictures of, hence why it’s rarely seen, but I couldn’t resist him up front showing off his bubble nest.

Agreed. The shipping email will get you where you need to go. I’ve hit up that email for totally unrelated things and found the help I was looking for

3 years ago I meticulously tested every tank, every week, and logged all kinds of notes. Now, I couldn’t even tell you the last time I tested my tanks lolol