cmo1922

Thanks for all the ideas! I love the idea of always having a sponge filter in there for back up. I will for sure do at least one no matter if I do HOB or canister. I think my biggest question with the cannister is maintenance compared to HOB as you guys are noting. HOBs are obviously very accessible and simple for maintenance, though I do typically maintain once monthly (not sure if that is a lot or a little compared with a canister). What should I expect for maintenance, say if I went with a fluval 307 for a 50g? @Beach Cruiser I would love to hear what Media you use to keep maintenance simple/less frequent. Thanks!

I'm finally planning for the larger aquarium that I have wanted to set up for a while. It will be approximately 50 gallon (waterbox 3620 with the black stand) soft water aquarium with south American cichlids (likely Bolivian rams), a couple schools of tetras (perhaps lemon and rummy nose), some corys (thinking either sterbai or laser), and one small pleco (probably a clown but maybe something fancier like a long finned BN if I can find one). Substrate will be my standard, 50/50 stratum/eco complete capped with play sand. Lighting will be low to medium (fluval 3.0). Will have lots of driftwood and clay pots, and easy plants like swords, epiphytes, and crypts. There will never be CO2 (can't handle that growth!). What I can't decide on is how to filter it. I don't want an UGF - plant growth wasn't great for me, and since I want a sand cap for the rams and corys, I don't think that will work out too well. I'm thinking of either 2 medium sponge filters at each back corner+ 1 HOB in the middle (aquaclear), or a canister. I've never had a canister filter before. Thoughts on the sponges + HOB vs the canister filter? I would like something lower maintenance/easy to service. But seeing as I'm going all out with the waterbox and stand set up, with all that space underneath for a canister, I was thinking this could be my best opportunity to use one! May look sleeker too (though I anticipate the plant growth will make the sponge filters barely noticable if I went that route). Also, recommendations for a canister filter model? I like all things fluval but wasn't sure about their canister. Everyone seems to love the Oase on YouTube, but is that just Oase paying them to love it?! Thank you for your time!

I also agree with @clownbaby. When I kept very small nanos like ember tetra, emerald rasboras, and pygmy cory, they would eat frozen blood worms no problem. They would tear them apart and eat the smaller pieces. I've never really been concerned with feeding foods that are too big. But maybe I've just been lucky! I don't feed a lot of freeze dried foods but when I do, I do soak them for a few minutes first. This is mostly to get them to sink so the bottom feeders get a chance at them. I also do it just in case the expansion from soaking up the water causes issues after ingestion. I don't know if this is actually a problem but I figured it doesn't hurt!

Big water change followed by feeding some blood worms today! So it's a good day to be a cory cat! The ram also loving it. The ram is doing very well solo in this set up, so far. He tends to stay towards the bottom and kind of follows the corys around (I think he is interested in any critters/potential food they kick up from the sand). The ram and gouramis completely ignore each other. As for the shrimp, I don't see too many around this tank now. I think they are hiding more due to the ram, and some have probably been eaten. Plant growth has gotten crazy in here and it is hard for me to keep up with trimming and pulling out the val as it takes over. I think the soft water could be contributing, as that is the only change since the move. As for the new shrimp tank, there are lots of berried females. I'm keeping the tank unheated so it is sitting around 66F. I don't know if that will negatively affect the shrimp (from what I've read they should be just fine), but the shrimp seem active and well for now. As for the snails, the ramshorns have a lot of shell erosion. PH is sitting around 6.4-6.8 depending on time of day, and kH is about 1. I'm going to need to start adding alkaline buffer or some baking soda. Thanks for reading!

There is nothing ugly about these tanks! The one with the loach stuck to the front is my favorite. I'm a big fan of terra cotta pots in aquascaping.

Acclimation scared me at first! As long as my temperatures are pretty equal, I just plop and drop now! Things that scare me now: I have experienced a catastrophic, rapid 40 gallon breeder leak, so I'm always checking out my silicone and for water around the tank base like a mad woman!

I use 1 aquaclear 50 on my 20 gallon long. I put it in the middle of the back wall of the tank. I think it works great, and does not cause too much flow at all. You can also adjust the flow a little if you want to reduce it. From my research and experience, it's good to size at least up one for what ever the filter says it's rated, as long as the flow does not appear too strong for the aquarium and the fish. A gentle sway of plant leaves is perfect. I personally would feel that using an aquaclear 20 alone would be too little biofiltration for a 20 gal long, one aquaclear 30 or 50 would be better. I think @MWilk has great advice too!

Thank you so much! Yes I'm very happy the tank made it otherwise. I was expecting much worse! I haven't named the ram yet, but it's going to be something to do with his appetite! He has grown so much in the last few weeks. Granted, he has been fattening up on a solid diet of blood worms, brine shrimp, vibra bites and fluval bug bite bottom feeder (my new favorite food - all my fish and shrimp go crazy for it)!

Continuing with the tank updates! Anna the mystery snails did end up passing a couple weekends ago. I got her as a nickel sized snail last fall, so I think it was just her time. She was huge, about golf ball sized, at her death. My daughter was pretty bummed about Anna's demise, so I went to buy some new snails at the LFS. And, to my excitement, I found some Bolivian rams, my dream fish. I had tried to find them last year when I set up my 29 gallon, but they had been sold out from my preferred source every time I checked. These rams were in great shape and very friendly. As I just have the 20 g long and the 6 gallon (for now...;) ), I only bought one (which I believe to be a male). I did a short quarantine in the 6 g (which really sped up the algae growth for my shrimp and snails, as you can imagine!) and into the 20 g he went, last weekend. This fish is everything I hoped for - derpy/adorable looking, completely friendly to the other fish (Cories and honeys), picks at the shrimp a little but not a crazed murderer like an apisto or betta, and is super friendly to me and my kids when we come to the tank to feed or observe. Gonna start a school once I have the bigger tank, but he seems perfectly content with his current roommates for now!

Lots of aquarium changes and updates. We recently moved up north, and I had to give away my 29 gallon and 10 gallon aquariums to a friend. I was sad to do it, but glad I could provide a friend an easy way to get back into the hobby! As for the 20 gallon, I couldn't part with it and decided to take a chance and transport the whole thing still set up in the back of the car. I dropped the water level to 1/3, left all inhabitants inside, and put in in the back of the car for the journey. It was probably a very risky decision and a nail bitter all the way from FL to the Northeast every time we hit a bump (which was a lot). The journey took 2.5 days. By the time we arrived all ember tetra had perished. I think they died of shock (I have noticed this species will pass out when stressed - I'm guessing all the bumps and changes were just too much for them). Surprisingly, the corys, the honey gouramis, shrimp and snails survived. Once we arrived at the new house, I set up the tank in the garage to monitor for leaks. After about a week of no signs of leaking, I was pretty confident the tank was ready to go into the basement (also...OMG I have a basement now for my future aquarium room!!! My husband is "thrilled"). Here is the tank, no changes except the lack of ember tetra 😞 The water here is SOFT. I got a TDS meter which read 40. Coming from FL, well, that's shocking, and I was quite worried about my snails and shrimp. On the plus side, I'm hoping this will allow me to keep some fun plants like epiphytes, which I have always had trouble with in hard water, and also allow me to start my dream tank (55-75 gal soft water Amazon aquarium). I'm now remineralizing with equilibrium to about 200 TDS and plan to add tiny bit of baking soda once my wonder shells run out. I can already see erosion on my ramshorns... trying to keep the kH 1-2 if I can manage and keep the inverts happy. Speaking of epiphytes, the Petco here has a amazing assortment of ferns, anubias, buce, ect attached to various hardscape. As I can't have just one tank, I set up my old 6 g waterbox with the hope of eventually starting a crystal shrimp aquarium with tons of epiphytes. I still am intimidated by crystals, so I just moved some cherries over from the 20 gallon to maintain a colony of, for now. Here is the little tank, which has been set up for about 6 weeks.

Thanks everyone! In a few years I plan to start my dream tank (large planted angelfish and fancy pleco tank), and knowing me, I'll have multiple tanks! So I will def do the individual salts then to save money! For now, I'll probably do the equilibrium since I just have the 20g and 6g to dose and I'm wanting to keep things simple. I may do a little alkaline buffer for the 20g. I recall having trouble with my neocardina and nerites when I lived in an area with extremely soft water before if I didn't dose the buffer. The wonder shells just seem too unpredictable if you have very soft water. And not cheap!

Hello! It's been awhile since I've been on the forum! A couple weeks ago, I made a big move where I had to give away my 29g and 10g to a friend. I kept my 20g long (transporting the whole thing intact with about 5 gallons of water in it, in our car all the way from FL to the Northeast...I know that's a terrible idea but so far no leaks about 1.5 weeks later). Lost every single ember tetra (I'm sure they died of shock) but all 7 of my corys, my honey gouramis, and my shrimp and mystery snails seem to be doing great. Anyways, I've moved from an area with moderately hard water (gH of 13-15, kH of 5) to a location with very soft water (I'm getting 0 ppm reading for both gH and kH on the Tetra test strips, and I'm seeing absolutely no hard water stains anywhere in this house). I keep neocardina and all sorts of snails so I need to get to at least gH of 4, and I want some buffering capacity too. What is the most economical way to remineralize using a commercial aquarium product? I just want to buy something easy with clear instructions. I bought some wonder shells...3 smalls dissolved completely in less than a week 🙂 I will likely do water changes twice monthly. On another note, since I've been given the gift of seemingly RO quality water, I'm going to try my luck with crystal cardina shrimp using the tap water. I've set up a 6 gal tank with Stratum, some low light plants and mosses, and a seasoned sponge filter. I plan to remineralize to about 5 with a gH+ only product. I'm going to wait at least a month to let everything season before adding shrimp, ghost feeding and adding occasional Stability along the way. Any other tips or things I'm missing? Thank you for your time!

When you say horrible, do you mean like dead fish? That is what mine smells like after I do the regeneration process for whatever reason, doesn't matter what dechlorinator I use after. I haven't had an issue when I put them back in my filter when they smell like that.

Not too much to share. In the 10 gallon, a few emerald dwarf rasbora babies here and there but nothing I can see surviving. In the 20 gal, the 3 platy and 2 corydoras kids are all still doing well and growing. Is it possible to overfeed babies? Sometimes the platy baby bellies look like they are going to explode! They are swimming at lower depths of the tank now, foraging for food. I'm also surprised how brave they are. I saw one win a fight with an ember tetra twice his size for some flake! And sometimes the gouramis will chase them from food and they just come right back for more! In the 29 gal, just some weird stuff going on with my adult platies which I've been posting about in diseases. Also someone dropped some babies this week which Chubs promptly ate. I've still got one more treatment of praziquantal next week. The treatment must have helped with something going on, as I'm not noticing any flashing now at least. But I'm still seeing some weird behaviors, with some fish hanging around the surface. Finally, a good pic of my daughter's mystery snail Anna showing her teeth! She is huge now, about the size of a ping pong ball. Thanks for reading!

Double checked parameters as well, pH 7.8 temp 76 F, ammonia/nutrients 0, nitrate looks 10-20 ppm. @Coluthoughts? Thank you!