AllFishNoBrakes

I have a couple pieces of advice and my only intent is to be helpful. 1) Pick a filter and stick with it. It will be the main source of your biological filtration. I agree with @Fish Folk that you may just need to pour water in the back or get the impeller going again to get that HOB functioning. I unplug my HOB’s when doing water changes and always have to prime them when the water fills back up. If the Aquaclear is going to be your long term filter, you may want to run that in conjunction with the one you have going already. If any bacteria is in your current filter it will only help seed your Aquaclear. 2) I personally wouldn’t continuously dose Prime just because. I totally understand using it to help with your fish in cycle, but right now you don’t have fish so dosing Prime isn’t really doing anything to help you. 3) Beneficial Bacteria lives on every surface in your tank. The glass, the substrate, the wood, etc. If it’s underwater it will grow and hold beneficial bacteria. 4) Do you plan on running an air stone? Air stones are extremely beneficial with basically no drawbacks. Especially when your filter stops working that air stone will keep oxygen in the water high (good for your inhabitants including your beneficial bacteria!) and continue to circulate your water around your aquarium. Best of luck with your fish in cycle! That’s exactly how I started in this hobby. You have lots of people around you here to help you through what can be a stressful process. Give us a shout if we can help and keep us updated!

Nothing crazy to announce. Just enjoying the tanks and took this shot the other night and wanted to share This tank always has a green tint in pictures from all the Dwarf Water Lettuce. All good though, I love me some water lettuce

@BettaFishCO Just a heads up, the buy/swap/trade portion of the forum opens up once you make 50 posts. May seem far away right now, but as you interact on the forum you’ll get there in no time

My 10 gallon tank grows Java Moss like crazy, and when I chop it down and throw it in other tanks it just dies off. Similarly, 2 of my tanks grow PSO like a weed, but it struggles hard in others. Java Ferns simply do not do well in my water, in any tank I’ve tried them in. Which is a shame because I think they look great. Gotta love this hobby!

When I was new to the hobby I too did not follow the exact instructions on the nitrate test. Thought I was at 0 for the longest time. Learned that lesson the hard way, as well.

I really enjoy the DIY canisters/kits that I shared the link to. It’s a nice way to try it out that’s not bottom of the barrel, or top dollar either. Treat yourself for Christmas with one and holler if you have any questions!

I run sponge filters in all my tanks. C02 enthusiasts will you tell you that’s bad and you shouldn’t do it because you’re wasting/gassing off c02, but I believe the amount “wasted” to be extremely minimal. I will always run air in any tank. In the most recent ACO video of Cory in the fish room he sets up c02 with a sponge filter and talks about it.

@EnderRen You have just a 10 gallon tank, right? A Python is way overkill for a 10 gallon. I use my Python on anything 20 gallon high and up. For my smaller tanks I’ve built things like this for water changes.

So annoying to wind that thing back up, lol. And that last little bit of accumulated water that spits out from wrapping it up 🙄

@nabokovfan87Possible she poked herself on the piece of Spiderwood. Other than that the tank is pretty barren. Small piece of dragon stone to create a hide for them, coconut hut, pleco cave, and a sponge filter. Last night she was happily munching on the algae in the hospital tank. Spot looked maybe a little better. Definitely not worse. She’ll chill in that bit of salt and we’ll see what happens.

@itsfoxtail These are Panda Angelfish. Here’s mom and dad.

@itsfoxtail I wish I could take credit for the idea. I’m pretty sure I heard the Nerm King @Cory mention that method on a livestream.

I’ve bred my Albino Cory’s and Julii Cory’s. I haven’t done Habrosus but I figure they would be similar. I simply grow them out, feed well (I do flake, pellets, and bloodworms), do regular water changes, and watch for eggs. Once I see eggs I hatch them in a tumbler. Once hatched I raise them up! I’ve never watched the weather and tried to do cold water changes when a rainstorm is approaching or anything like that. My recent spawn of Julii’s are in my journal if you wanna take a look. When I started with my CPD’s my intention was to breed them. However, the tank is too small to hold the Tupperware of Java Moss I’d want to actually try to breed them. I tried a small cup of Java moss when the tank was young, but quickly gave in and realized if I wanted to breed them it would need to be in a different tank. If I was to try again, I’d use a 10 gallon or 20 Long with Java Moss filled shallow Tupperware. Grow them out, feed well, water change regularly, and once I saw spawning behavior I would check the Tupperware for eggs. Once I had confirmed eggs I would move that Java Moss container to a different tank, or move the adults to a different tank. A divided 20 long means you can “move the adults to a different tank” by moving them over the divider. Doing that, you could have Java Moss containers on each side and once you move them over the divider they can start laying the next batch of eggs. Hatch the eggs, and then feed up the fry. I would hope they would take Sera Micron or First Bites until they could take baby brine shrimp. If they didn’t take that I would either use boiled egg yolk or would start a vinegar eel culture. Probably doesn’t mean much that I haven’t personally done the CPD’s, but that’s how I would attempt it if I was giving it a serious go this time around.

I think it’s definitely in your best interest to cycle your quarantine tank and then keep it cycled. I have (3) 10 gallon quarantine/hospital/grow out tanks and keep them cycled at all times. I’m not sure how a filter intake sponge would replace a filter? I run small sponge filters in all 3 of the tanks mentioned above

In the most recent ACO video of Cory in the fish room he was talking about the specimen container and how they opted for “ultra clear plastic” for both excellent visibility and to make it indestructible. However, like with anything else, scratches and things like that can eventually take over if not cared for properly to not allow it to happen.

I have 1 dirted tank that’s about a year old. Here’s what I did. I used organic miracle grow, and filtered out all the large particles, sticks, etc using a mesh screen over a bucket. Once I had enough to cover the bottom of the tank, I laid the dirt down, maybe a 1/2” thick at most. Then, 2” of gravel of that. I then filled and emptied the tank probably 5 times. Any particles that floated out got netted out, then I drained the water, filled back up, netted out particles, drained, filled, etc. Once I was happy with the amount of particles that were gone I put the tank in its home, filled again, planted, and I was off and running. Like @Zenzo said, planting can kick up more debris. I basically have a Pearl Weed jungle that covers 3/4 of the tank as it has grown in and put out runners over the year. I opted for fast growing plants and gave it time to grow out vs. try to plant new plants and kicking up more dirt/particles. Hope this helps!

Fish-in cycles are totally possible. Takes a lot of testing and water changing, but it’s totally possible. I did it with my first tank, not really knowing what I was doing, and didn’t lose a single fish. Considering you have the Fritz zyme 7 you should be fine. I would personally put that in your tank now, as stated by others above, to get the bacteria going. Test everyday, and change water as necessary. Prime can also be your friend to bind up any ammonia for 24 hours.

Second day free swimming and first time eating baby brine shrimp. So many little orange bellies

My ADF eats frozen bloodworms and whatever else it snatches up. He’s in a tank with Pygmy Cory’s and a ton of Ramshorn snails. I think he’s the reason the shrimp in the tank no longer exist, but it’s all good as they were culls. He leaves the Cory’s alone

Got her moved over to a 10 gallon quarantine/hospital tank with 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt and 3 Cattapa Leaves. Injury/cyst looked maybe even a little better than yesterday, which makes me hopeful this tiny amount of salt and benefits of the CL will help clear this up. We’ll see how it goes!

@Patrick_G Nice! My best advice would be to start with a group that you obviously like, but go above the “assorted” group. I get at least double, if not more, for my Panda’s than I do my “assorted Marbled”.

For sure! You’d notice the missing Angels and then once you found them you’d find the eggs! Angels have been super fun for me and they’re super easy to move. Dean has said, “you can pay for your whole fish room with a couple/few pairs of Angels” and I tend to agree. They don’t take a ton of work, grow quickly, and sell quickly. Win win win.

Right now I have 2 pairs. The Marbled pair is in a 55 gallon community tank. They like to spawn on the Amazon Sword leaves, but I let them pick a side of the tank, and then try to tempt them with the slate. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Best case scenario they use the slate and I just pull that out. Worst case they use the Amazon Sword and the plant loses a single leaf. My Panda pair is in 1/3 of a 55 gallon tank that I separated using dense aquarium foam. The only option I give them is a slate and they used it first time no problem. Me personally, I would get a group of Angels for the 75, raise them up, let them pair off naturally, and then you could move the breeding pair if you’d like. The breeding behavior is cool to see in a community as the parents heavily guard their territory, their eggs, and then their fry. If you’ve never seen it it’s pretty dope! I’ve seen it probably 10 times at this point and it’s always fun, although a tad aggressive. Also, if I can’t see the eggs right away I always know they’re there as the male chases off any fish that comes even remotely close, and the female stays with the spawn and continuously fans the eggs with her pectoral fins. Once you know what it is that they’re doing it’s easy to find the eggs, even when my 55 was completely overgrown with swords

Each batch of c02 I make (200 grams citric acid, 200 grams baking soda, 300 ml water) lasts 4-6 weeks. Probably closer to 6 at 1 bubble per second. 5 lb tanks last longer (as they’re much bigger) cost me $12-15 to exchange, but it’s more cost up front. I had to buy the tank itself (~$100-120), then I had to buy the regulator, and the diffusers, and the c02 line, etc. Much more additional cost up front for sure. The other really annoying part to me was I bought a shiny new 5 lb tank, but my local welding supply doesn’t fill on site. I could either A) wait 7-10 days for them to send it to be filled and then come back or B) exchange on the spot for a tank that was already filled and sitting there. I chose to exchange and handed them my shiny brand new tank as I didn’t want to wait 7-10 days every time I needed a fill. If I was you, I’d get the Amazon kit (2 liter kit is $80 and lasts me 4-6 weeks per batch made) that has everything you need minus the citric acid and baking soda and try it out. If you love it, you could do a bigger system (5 lb tank) for your 125. Makes the most sense to me at least.

The baking soda and citric acid mix metal canisters are a good intermediate place to start. It’s not the yeast and sugar method with empty soda bottles and no solenoid (so it’s always on), and it’s not a full 5 lb tank. I started with a system off Amazon for ~$120 if I remember correctly, and then had to buy the citric acid and baking soda. I run this exact system on my 20 high: https://www.amazon.com/ZRDR-Generator-Pressure-Automatic-Aquarium/dp/B0B76HP53B/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=306QPKGXW9OEW&keywords=diy%2Bco2%2Bkit%2Bfor%2Baquarium%2Bplants&qid=1671308932&sprefix=diy%2Bco2%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyRk1JWkc5VDhLRzRVJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDM4NDAyMUFKSEhTSkwwNDRCWSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODQ2ODc0MUozNU9YMDdMRjg4NyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1 I shared the link to the bigger 4 liter system, but I run the 2 liter system. A fresh batch of c02 lasts me 4-6 weeks at 1 bubble per second and the system on 10 hours per day. With this kit you’ll just need to buy the citric acid and baking soda and you’re off and running. This ad will also have tons of other options to look at. When looking/comparing make sure whatever you get comes with the solenoid and power cord! A digital pH meter or simply testing pH with liquid or strip tests will tell you. I basically saw no pH swing in either 29 gallon tank at 1 bubble per second with a drop checker.