AllFishNoBrakes

I recommend a Python. Best investment possible, especially with big tanks like that.

Sorry to hear you’re going through it! What are you treating with? I’d probably be throwing salt at it and seeing what happens.

@nabokovfan87 entirely possible! That’s really my only guess as to how it happens. FWIW: I’ll take these air collars over the Ziss air stones all day. Even having to clean them once a month is better than having to do it every week. Good to see you around, my dude. Hope you’re doing alright!

Every tank I’ve ever had (I have 14 of them) goes through a diatom phase. It’s completely normal, and will go away over time. You can gravel vac it, scrape it, certain fish with eat it, shrimp and snails will eat it. It’s completely normal, and is just showing that your tank is coming to life.

I prefer Fritz Complete because it’s cheaper than Prime. But, they all basically do the same thing

A sponge vs. a canister, the sponge has way less mechanical filtration abilities. However, over time, the pores of the sponge become smaller and smaller as they fill with detritus, which means it will collect smaller and smaller particles and polish your water more. I cleaned a sponge today that hadn’t been cleaned in months. It was almost hard to the touch it has collected so much detritus. I was shocked, but it made sense. Can you stuff that internal filter with Poly Fill? That could become your “water polisher” and the sponges can do what sponges do.

The best answer I can give is, maybe? The only pvc cutter I know of is meant to cut round pvc pipes

Agreed that the population eventually levels out. I have probably 50-60 endlers in a 10 gallon. Sounds crazy, but it’s also an aquaponics tank and is well balanced. Started with 1 male endler and a lone female guppy I had. Threw them in there to see what would happen. Population boomed, but has leveled off and been the same over the past year or so. Like you, I also have all the sizes in there. Pretty interesting to watch.

Anything that would also like the same temperature water. Keep in mind that any fish will eat shrimplets. My advice would be to let your shrimp colony get WELL established before you add any fish. Also, with shrimp in general, you want the tank to be well seasoned with algae and biofilms and other things for them to graze on all day long before you stock the shrimp. Sounds like the tank is probably already there, but still good advice. -All of my shrimp tanks have been unheated. No issues there from my experience. If you’re able to, find shrimp that were born and raised in your local water. You will have waaaaay more success if you have a well established and seasoned tank and you can source locally bred shrimp. When I was setting up a ton of tanks I bought a sheet and made as many lids as possible out of it. I think I was able to make 8 lids from a single 4’x7’ sheet. Cut to size, cut again lengthwise to make a hinge, and then I just taped mine back together with clear tape. They’ve held up well over the past 4 years. I cut mine with a pair of tin snips (I used to work construction, so I happened to have the tool). Scissors should work fine but might be a bit of a pain. A table saw would be excellent if you have one. Don’t overthink it; they’re just plastic. They actually allow a TON of light through. Probably the thing that allows the most light besides not having a lid at all. Once you think about them being primarily used for greenhouses it makes a lot of sense. Cory has said that with a par meter he’s tested that they actually allow more light to pass through them over glass or acrylic. Again, they’re used primarily for greenhouses, so it makes sense. I think that the polycarbonate lids are a great option if you have a lot of tanks. However, every tank I’ve set up once I ran out of the sheet has a glass lid. If the glass lid is in your budget I would personally just do that. If you wanna play around, or enjoy DIY’ing things, then making your own lids is a relatively inexpensive way to tinker.

The first time I saw a baby Pygmy that I didn’t hatch on my own I was stoked! Also completely shocked that such a tiny fry could survive on its own without me doing anything different to the tank. Nature finds a way! Congrats!

If you’re concerned about raising gH just get some plain aquarium salt. It’s readily available, cheap, and then you don’t have to mess with RO/calculations/a bunch of testing/etc.

I wouldn’t stress about it. I’ve had my 14 tanks for 4 years and have tested pH maybe 3 times, and I just bought a gH/kH test kit about a month ago just to confirm what I already knew. My advice would be to get the biggest group you can afford if you want them to shoal and be mid water. If your group is too small they will just hide all the time.

ACO salt is essentially marine salt. Salt, plus other trace minerals and elements. For treatment, I would use plain aquarium salt.

Sounds like the snail is no more. Could’ve been a welcomed snack (after passing) for the other inhabitants.

Soak the other food in the bloodworms prior to putting the other food in the tank.

Test often and water change as necessary. Since you tank is already cycled, you have an advantage. Test often and water change as you need to. No real way to escape that as far as I’m aware

I’ve never used them so I can’t speak on them. Gravel and root tabs when necessary for me. And my single dirted tank.

1” of soil in a 10 gallon tank is A LOT, in my opinion. Just like everything else, it breaks down and releases nutrients for plants. Assuming you don’t have any other ammonia sources, the soil is probably the cause as it’s breaking down. I have a dirted tank, but I did like 1/4” of soil.

This afternoon I went and swapped one of the two 5 lb CO2 tanks for a fresh one. We’ll get that hooked up tomorrow with maintenance and be back in business. Speaking of CO2, I turned up the gas on the Pea Puffer tank just a tad. I got the biggest color change I’ve ever gotten out of a drop checker. Definitely green. Keep in mind this is after like 9 hours of CO2. It’s not like the lights turned on and we were already there and just maxing out all day.

@knee I’ve had my Pea Puffers for 2 or 3 years and I enjoy them. I don’t do the most and have a bunch of live cultures. Mine get bloodworms and snails. Bloodworms are easy for me as I can use 1 cube per day and split it across 5 or 6 tanks. I have Ramshorns in most of my tanks, and they end up becoming Pea Puffer snacks so it works out well for me. In my experience they’ve been pretty easy, they’re super interactive, and it’s just fun to have a tiny Puffer. DM me if you have more questions or wanna chat about em!

The entire med trio (Maracyn, Paracleanse, and Ich-X) are all shrimp and snail safe.

Really switchin’ it up this week and tuning in on a Monday! I’m off work this week, so I spent the last couple of hours giving the tanks some extra love. Pulled all the air collars and ran them through the vinegar/hot water/air push with a syringe and an air line to get them cleaned up. I’m surprised at how these “clog” up for me despite my super soft water. Pictures at the end. Swapped an air pump on my girlfriend’s shrimp tank to quiet down the living room rack a bit. I love the battery back up of the ACO pumps, but they are a little noisy. Also spot treated some hydrogen peroxide in the Pea Puffer tank, and got the front glass cleaned up on a couple tanks. Did a water change on the cube as I still have some green water going on because, well, why wouldn’t I at this point? lol. Turning down the light, adding the Salvinia, and an extra water change should help out. I’ll do another water change tomorrow with the rest of the tanks and take it from there. Tomorrow I’m going to water change everything and squeeze out all the sponges. Again, just trying to take advantage of not having to work and do some extra stuff. Should be a real good reset on everything before we go to the mountains for a couple of days. I wouldn’t stress squeezing all the filters anyways, but with a 3 day fast for the fish I’m extra not worried about it. Some pics from this week: Second Panda Angel pair had their second spawn. Disregard the BBA. Sprayed that down with hydrogen peroxide before I put the slate back in the tank after disposing of the eggs. Gunked up air collars. Again, I’m pretty surprised these get as clogged up as they do with my super soft water. Curious to see how we go moving forward now that they’re cleaned out again and have more air running through them. Cheers, homies. I hope you have a great week! I know I will being away from work and getting some much needed R&R

Fritz salt is just salt. Marine salt, or the ACO brine shrimp salt has salt as well as other additional minerals. Personally, I wouldn’t use straight salt. I don’t think you’re going to get the benefits you’re looking for from only salt.

Same. I’ve had mine for 2 or 3 years and have never had to trim their beaks.

To the best of my knowledge, Pea Puffers don’t have teeth that continuously grow, and therefore need them constantly ground down. That’s one of the advantages to Pea Puffers over other puffers. Seems like an illness to me. Tagging @Colu as they are the resident disease and treatment expert.