HelplessNewbie

Noise was also a factor for us in our 3 bedroom tanks. In my son's bedroom, we use a nano water pump (Sicce Syncra Nano, very quiet) with an ACO sponge filter, as well as an air pump driven ACO sponge filter. The air pump itself is entombed in a glass vase/jar and sound is cut down by a lot (no buzzing or ticking noise). I posted about them somewhere. Let me know if you want me to link to it, and I will get to it later.

Here is an updated plan for my plants. If all goes well, I am hoping for more dense plantings. I got a variety with the expectation that not all plants will take.

I learned from this forum: 1) try dipping the end in hot water for a number of seconds, to loosen enough to slip up the nipple 2) when redoing the connection using the same hose, cut off the enough of the worn end 3) can secure with zip tie or coated wire 4) if I oriented the check valve wrong or didn't make a bleed valve, the hose can pop off more easily 5) sand nipples before reconnecting for better grip Hope this helps!

Here is a side view... ...and a view from the top with the pipe pulled away.

I posted here that I made a diy sponge filter out of extra stuff I had on hand: Later, I will post more detailed photos, if I can, and report on testing the filter with dye.

Thank you! The wait is killing us. We are trying to distract ourselves with small projects. Yesterday, we figured we could use a short but squat sponge filter for our nano sized quarantine tubs. Rather than buy another ACO sponge filter, I decided we should use spare materials already on hand. DIY SPONGE FILTER: 1 net pot (I have plenty from ACO plant purchases) as the hollow core of the filter, oriented upside down 1 airstone and airline hose fished through the bottom-now-top 2 pcs black large pore foam (leftover from another project) wrapped around the net pot, kept in place with 3 zip ties 1 bottom lid from a store betta cup (that had bar across the breathing hole) zip tied vertically through the core and attached to the bottom-now-top of net pot, and the zip tie end left uncut as makeshift lift handle when lifting the filter out of water 3 rocks for weight, inserted in bottom 1 bulkhead through-pipe to funnel air bubbles and provide some venturi lift at the top Here is the result: We intend to test later on, in a clear container with dye to see if water is actually going through the filter.

I just got my first one! I wonder if we can feed it grindal worms, if I rinse them in distilled water?

My pygmy cory have lived for 5 months so far in a community tank with endlers, ricefish and amano shrimp. I feed crushed Bug Bites or Xtreme Nano Pellets, alternating with frozen or live daphnia or minced brine shrimp, or with live grindal worms. Good luck!

Seven fry (turned out to all be ricefish) survived and have been moved in! Here is one of them:

Feb 27, 2024: initial setup, filling and draining Mar 2, 2024: during first week of dark start

My family has been in the hobby only 9 months as of March 2024. Now venturing into larger tank size, like this ~65g tank. Here is yet another attempt to chronicle our adventures in learning! Our ~65g (48 x 13.5 x 23 inches): - start date: Feb 27, 2024. Bought the tank used 4 months prior. Hubby resealed it with GE Silicone 1 Clear all-purpose sealant. One 10.1 oz tube was all that it took. He let it cure for 2 days, then leak tested 4 days or so. It has stains (that we tried and failed to remove) and scratches, but we are ok with it. - cycling via dark start method (no fish nor plants, covered for 4 weeks while ghost and/or ammonia-feeding everyday) - 1/3 on right: wood cellulose capped with coarse sand-Black Diamond blasting sand mix, plan is to fertilize with diy liquid fertilizer and diy root tabs - 2/3 on left: crushed coral and alkaline preloaded/pretreated calcined clay (Safe-T-Sorb) over under gravel filter (UGF) - Fish: 11 serpae tetra, 17 kubotai rasbora, 5 cw097 cory, 7 cherry barb, 1 mystery fish, 8 amano shrimp, 1 mystery snail, 3 otocinclus, 4 Bolivian ram - Plants: anubias barteri, vallisneris spiralis, ludwigia cuba, ludwigia dirt red, pogo octopus, bolbitis, amazon sword, sword (unknown reddish sp), crypt lutea, java fern, hornwort, susswassertang, lobelia cardinalis, hygrophilia (unknown sp), altlandsberg sword, marble queen sword, anacharis - Planning: - Filtration: UGF spanning left 2/3 of tank floor, with back 3rd built up to a hill through 2 inch thick large pore black foam. There are 3 uplift pipes. There will be 2 fitted with Sicce Syncra nano minipumps, and 1 air pump. But, right now it is 2 air pumps and 1 minipump - Heating: temperature controlled Fluval stick heater ACO heater. Planning to be generally unheated. The stick is there only in case of extreme cold. - diseases encountered: tbd - Lid: plan is to diy 2 piece tank lid made from greenhouse polycarbonate panel (thanks again Cory!), since it has worked so well for our other tanks - Lighting: 2 long Hygger submersible cob led lights. This will be a low light tank. Plan is to mount them close to the upper rim at the front, aimed down. - home automated light control, leak detection and mitigation

The barbs died in quarantine. It was during a water quality issue that affected many tanks. But, I have serpae tetra now. These guys are fun to watch. Very active.

It took some time to get started but hubby helped me with setting up the tank today! Waiting 4 weeks before putting in plants and fish.

The 7 that survived turned out to be ricefish!

I use steamer racks and small bags of substrate.

Oh! I think I can implement this. Now to set up a moss pile or similar... I have hornwort, so might just make a thicket of it in a corner.

That looks like a neat product, but I don't see how it keeps the other fish from eating the food intended for the pygmy cory. Are you suggesting that I place the tube against the plate strategically, so that only the cory can squeeze into the tube?

I managed to keep my starter kit of grindal worms going and have started feeding the worms to my community 20g that has pygmy cory, ricefish, endlers and 1 amano shrimp. I use a feeder tube to blast the worms closer to the substrate. However, the other fish are quick on the draw, so the cory miss out. By the time they come out, all the worms are eaten. Any tips on feeding the worms to the cory, other than spreading a huge amount throughout the tank? I already tried distracting the others with other food, but they have figured me out. Also, how much and how often should they have the grindal in my fish' diet?

If we are successful at raising our unexpected ricefish and pygmy fry, I would like to add them back to this tank. I find these two types of fish fascinating! We counted 12 today... Encircled in green are what we think is an example of the white ricefish fry, and encircled in purple, a representative of the pygmy cory fry.

We found a few more fry, for a total of 12 so far. Some are black (pygmy cory), some are white (ricefish). I thing we have representatives from both species! These are our first egg-laid fry!!!

A few of the ricefish... ...and one new otocinclus

Will do!

I don't know if this one of 3 is a ricefish or pygmy cory fry. Both types, plus 1 female platy, were in the quarantine tank. I discovered the babies after moving all the adults out.

Added 6 platinum white medaka ricefish and 1 blue coral platy. Added more hornwort.

tank, especially plants still recovering... new plants in transition: madagascar lace, creeping jenny, red flame swords, pogostemon octopus, taiwan lily (might not make it), hornwort melting/melted: java fern, windelov fern, val, dwarf sag, 1 tiny strand suswassertang