YYC Carrie

I think the shrimp use the KH for their shells. Them and snails. someone with more experience please correct me if I'm wront.

yeah, I'm a weirdo truthfully. Snails you say??? the more the merrier! Algae on the glass/substrate/decorations/plants.... everything else? Well that's just more biological filtration cleaning up what the bacterial colonies leave/produce. I do like a nice crystal clear tank, but I don't mind the algae either TBH.

I have a similar issue with keeping snails in my 90 gallon. The 55 community tank stays teaming with snails so every once in a while I throw and apple slice or some cucumber in there and get a whole whack of them on the fruit, then toss the whole kit n kaboodle into my 90. It's stocked with convict cichlids, snow white parrots fish and some synodontis cats. Every time I clean the tank, I see dozens of empty snail shells. I wish I could keep them alive in there though, snails do a good job of cleaning the glass :/.

truthfully, it looks identical. I may try a couple of them. We will see how the dual sponges do. I have thought about an undergravel honestly. I was put off them by my original experinces with having one "back in the day". I tossed that whole set up, but with more age (patience), and experience now in the hobby (limited admittedly, but getting there haha), perhaps I will give it a go and get better results. I currently have an empty 30 looking for some inhabitants and stuff, I'll likely try my hand with it in that tank once I get the 90 sorted out. One thing at a time and all that Jazz lol.

agreed about the sponges being the simplest/easiest. as far as other filter maintenance goes, I am 5'4 and unable to use step stools due to being unsteady on my feet. The top of my 90 gallon is at my eye level, making it very difficult to even reach in to place anything in the tank, but to also try to reach around and get the HOB off etc - it's a nightmare lol. I am working on work arounds and alternative ways of doing things, I will eventually get it dialed in and able to do it properly 😉 I am also unable to lift heavy things and, atm, am dependent on my housemates to do all the heavy lifting. I got a python water changer and have used it a couple of times now, this seems to be very helpful.

rinse the filter cartridge into some tank water and feed them some live bloodworms... bonus for the fish - fresh food, bonus for you - less you have spend on frozen ones LOL

This forum is the gift that just keeps giving. I finally have a legitimate reason to start up my redworm composting bins again lmao!

I looked up the Hydro Pro V, how does it work? Is it like a canister filter? I'm not sure about canisters tbh. As far as the aquaclear's go, I was a fan of them at first just because of the way they work with sponges and other media that you don't need to shell out for cartridges on a monthly basis, but I'm NOT a fan of needing to prime them every time they get unplugged (my cats are bad bad bad girls), or I unplug it for maintenance. bleh. LOL I know I sound a bit whiney sometimes. The Hygger dual sponge I have in my 55 is "rated" for up to a 50 gallon I believe, I plan to add another on on the other end of the tank one day. As far as using them in the 90, my thought was to use 4 of them. One on either end and 2 spaced out along the back wall. I have a MASSIVE red lava rock formation thingy in it that would hide most of the 2 on the back and if I put a couple of tall plants at the bases of the two on the end, I believe the plant would hide most of those two as well. Plus, if I paint the back and sides of the tank black, the filter's should kind of "blend in", especially if I use the black air lines? This is all my thought process. Thank you for the encouragement!! I am hoping that the sponge filters, or at least some sort of combination of them will work. I really like the idea of using the plant roots as a filter as well, but I am MILES away from understanding exactly how to set THAT up. lol I checked out April's Aquarium store and she does ship! She also sells and ships some nice looking locally bred fish too! She's been bookmarked and I will be ordering from her in the future. There are several Aquarium Co-op items I am wanting to get so thank you for pointing that out!! Amazon does not appear to sell Co-op brand items anymore, at least not the items I want. I know there are a few things that used to be available on Amazon, but Amazon appears to have replaced them. The internal filter I bought appears to be just such a set up - which doesn't seem to be pumping properly all of a sudden. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09NBN4V2V?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details <<-- this is the one I bought. I liked it.. but seems to not be working at all anymore. Less than a month in 😕

@nabokovfan87I'm not really worried about the sand being a bit dirty since I do mean to add leaf litter etc. Although I think you're right about the powerhead. As far as the AOC sponges, unfortunately, I am in Canada and have not yet found a vendor for Co-op items - I live for the day I do lol. When I get home from work tonight, if it's not too late, I'll post some pics of everything even though I'm kind of embarrassed to post pics of this setup lol. It's ROUGH looking lmao.

Hey fam, Here's my problem. I have a 90 gallon I am working on getting filtered properly and I thought I had it dialed in - I so did not. Not at all. There are two filters on it, one is a modified HOB with filter floss instead of the cartridges, and some terrestrial plants with the roots in that. There is also a submersible filter on the other end of the tank. I am not happy with the HOB, at all, and I don't like the internal filter because it just is so... difficult for me.. to clean. I struggle with mobility problems and cleaning these filters is proving to be a monumental task. I have loved the ideal of the sponge filter's and I believe this will be effective for most of my tanks - I have one like this: https://www.amazon.ca/Aquarium-Replaceable-Biochemical-Filtered-Gallon（M）/dp/B07VV89SJY/ref=sr_1_5?crid=24AOKAQDI4L89&keywords=hygger%2Bsponge%2Bfilter%2Baquarium%2Blarge&qid=1675058485&s=pet-supplies&sprefix=hygger%2Bsponge%2Bfilter%2Baquarium%2Blarg%2Cpets%2C175&sr=1-5&th=1 in my 55 gallon and I like it a lot, I need to get something for a bit more water movement at the other end for this seems to be working for that tank. The question here is, would running 2 or even three of these in the 90 gallon be enough filtration for a fairly heavily stocked 90 gallon. Currently in that tank is a 4-5 inch sand layer, a few floating plants - mostly duckweed, a breeding trio of convicts with some of their offspring, 10 platinum parrots (young still), 6 Sydontis cats, and snails. I plan to rehome most of the convicts, I am hoping the parrot's and the Sydontis cats will cohabitate for a while, though I think I may have underestimated the size the platinum parrot's would grow too. I was told they would only get to about 4.5-5 inches and would be smaller than their blood parrot relatives. I have one of the hygger sponge filter's posted above, but I also found https://www.amazon.ca/Aquarium-Equipment-Suction-Double-Biochemical/dp/B07ZS9QQM3/ref=sr_1_24?crid=1OCRI93FHRR9X&keywords=powkoo&qid=1675058147&s=pet-supplies&sprefix=powkoo%2Cpets%2C123&sr=1-24&th=1 I am about to give up on the 90 tbh, rehome all the fish in it and pack it away till I'm grown up enough to handle it. I feel defeated by this tank. I'm tired of the filter's getting all clogged up. I've got an HOB running on my 30 gallon also - I hate it too. anyway, thanks for letting me rant, ask rambling questions, and pick all y'all's brains. 😉

Thank you everyone! So one lonely little puffer then, gives me a chance to really go all out on nice hardscape and some interesting plants.

Good morning all, As you know, I have 2 empty 5 gal's and 2 empty 10 gal's. Having never kept one, I think love pea puffers. I thought about getting like 5 in a 30 gal, planted ofc, but what about a nano tank instead. I would like oppinions of keeping maybe 5 chili rasbora in a 5 gal with a single pea... thoughts? TIA

I like my rabbit hole hobbies, problem is, I find it WAY to easy to over do, over spend, etc and so forth. 😕 ADHD FOR THE WIN!!!

This made me chuckle. also, love it!! this is a really solid idea in my mind. I think QR codes for a lot of items, not just fish/plants, is a great idea.

me too, although I'd probably get in trouble for just, like, never leaving hahaha oh heavens, please no!! Those Ronald McDonalds benches all weirded me out as a kid. Let's not make Cory the stuff of nightmares, I'd like to continue enjoying the content and learning lol.

@Tommy Vercetti gee thanks, now I HAVE to get the 3d printer I've been eyeing for making DnD miniatures. hahahaha

homemade things? I like homemade if it means it's cheap and comparably effective...... and I think the scooping out to rinse the gravel to clean it was likely why I hated the UGF so much. I was under the impression that you had to get all that icky stuff out of it/off of it. I think.... I know I would do it much differently now. and yes, I did like the air lift tubes and watching them bubble away LOL agreed! watching the youtube vids comparing sponge filters that are powered by the air pumps vs. HOB's I had almost decided to get rid of the HOB's all together. Then I saw the video about maximizing the HOB by replacing the cartridges by adding a rinseable sponge and some bio balls or coral or whatever you need to amend your water hardness and dissolved solids. I no longer use the cartridges, I use sponges, floss, various "bio ball" type media's in little mesh bags... I like that a lot better. Recently, I have also started adding house plants in them, though I'm not sure how much I like that, we shall see. I like sand though because I want to eventually get some loaches, species/type undetermined right now, but if you did the UGF with sand, maybe you could put a fine mesh screen on top to stop the sand getting into it? So for example, what about a layer of gravel, then the mesh/screen, then capped with sand... I am sure I am missing something that prohibit it being a reality but what does everyone think?

A lot of great tips! I have tried some of them, but not gonna lie, I'm not the most patient person in the world when it comes to things like this LOL... hhmm, aquarium keeping as a road to self growth?? who'd-a-thunk it. 😉 Seriously though, thank you for taking the time to type all this out, I will definitely keep working at it, thank you for the encouragement. 🙂 Joy, yes, that's the word 😉 lmao~! then again, I'm that customer who goes "I need x number of females and y number of females cause that's what I read is best for keeping in groups of these", also, I am the customer that says I want *THAT* one. TBF though, I do try to curb that tendency, however, the only way to do that successfully for me is to show the employee the tank I want fish from, and which type if there are multiple species, tell them how many I want and go to a different set of tanks while they catch the fish. This is likely also problematic but I do the best I can to be as NOT annoying as I can LOL. Good luck!!! let me know how it goes!

Thank you for the info. I have considered trying the UG thing again in a 30 that I plan to not use rooted plants in. I seem to remember that cleaning it was a hassle? Maybe I'm wrong. It was a long time ago for me to remember truthfully lol

The ug filter was part of why I tossed the tank when I had my first 10 gallon circa 1996. I HATED that thing. I don't remember exactly what the issue with it was for me, but I never felt it was doing much of anything.

I've watched and rewatched this video. I have succeeded in having the stars align for me one time allowing successful netting of a fish. Usually it's complicated by either a piece of decor or, more frequently, the support beam plastic piece in the middle

Thank you!! I might be able to catch some of these convicts out. Does eating the bread hurt them or make them sick?

LMAO... This whole thread made my day!!

I started watching the co-op vids when I got my 55gallon. Love them and recommend them to anyone I meet wanting to REALLY learn. A bonus benefit is how Cory is always talking about how to get the most bang for your buck. This just made me laugh because I legit don't understand why people freak out over algae. Water = algae.... Algae is a plant.... Bahahahahaha..... I had an acquaintance go perch jerking in Louisiana. He caught a sun perch. (beautiful fish, truly), and didn't want to clean it right away. He kept that perch for EVER and would often joke about how someday he'd be broke, out of groceries, and have himself a good old fish fry. O.o

Yes, I believe this is what's going to keep me going in it. I have tried, as I mentioned in my intro post, a few times. This time though, I am still enjoying it with more than a couple of months in. I won't lie though, it's tough to find a group or forum that doesn't just slam you for even asking a question. I like how Cory has created this community and works hard to disseminate consistent, ACCURATE, solid, helpful advice and knowledge.