Tony s

maybe add a hob, temporarily? sponge filters are great in some ways. mostly biological filtration. they are mostly bad at mechanical filtration. taking stuff out of your water column. there are various techniques to improve it. but a lot of the gunk still ends up bank in the tank. where sponges excel, is using one air pump for multiple sponges. but you're looking for more mechanical filtration. the best source of that for a small tank is a hob. if you have small fry in there or shrimp, then a prefilter will be best. but that also cuts down on mechanical filtration.

we run a farm. I've been drilling into stuff since I was 6. with or without permission 🤣. most of our jobs are on site. no oil

If it's brown algae it will disappear over time. or get a few snails to eat it. when your silica levels drop, it will go away. unless you have a cheap black substrate made with ectra silica. I did. it took several months to go away. and covered everything in 1/4 inch of brown goo. I left it without fish for 3 months and kept dusting off the plants. eventually it cleared. but such a pain. so mostly patience, unless you're getting silicates from an outside source. like your water or substrate

you need to change the water whenever your ammonia is above .25 parts per million. probably by half. this is strictly to keep your fish safe. or when your nitrites get above 0. then re dose with prime and stability. you will lose some bacteria. but it should be fine. bacteria are not in the water column. they're on your plant, decor, substrate and filter media.

Yeah, I know. and really everybody gets it. but the majority with the most experience, I know they get it, but they probably do have the best advice. just from their own tanks crashing. If you can site it where the water won't do a lot of damage, you can try. hopefully some of the repair ideas work. cross all the fingers you got. losing the opportunity like this is such a gut punch.

I'd still go down the sides with the extra glass. between the lid and the bottom frame. it will help redistribute the weight away from the chip

I think you go to their website and check under their recommendations. they usually have a large faq section under each product

I honestly think that's not the case at all. I think everybody's heart just breaks for her. we all know how much it would mean to us. @NikkiRae if you can find a glass shop nearby, and after the auto window treatment. get a 3-inch wide, possibly an inch thick piece of glass running from top frame to bottom frame. and use aquarium sealing silicon and place it over the crack as a bolster. probably gives you the best shot to use it. really, good luck! I hope it works out and for that arowana, you're going to want a beefed-up lid anyway. so, glass shop could be good. They pack enough punch they can go through a regular lid

nah, they'll be fine. now if you were getting into 1/2 thick or greater, then maybe. definitely 1" and over you would need it. but I'd use a drill press for that anyway. but for small gauge, it's fine no oil. unless it's carbon steel, but that's not likely. carbon steel you'd also need specialized bits for anyway. this would be thin gauged box material. as long as it goes through straight and doesn't catch enough to snap, they'd be good. good thought process on that though. sometimes my employees don't even think about that.🤣

yeah, i was having the same problem. do you have a picture of the stand and where were you thinking of hanging the light

I had an all-male platy tank for almost a year. 20g no females. plus one male betta. there was a bit of aggression, but non-life threatening. everybody made it through the year. it was an attempt at population control. the females and fry were in the other 20g. unfortunately population control was not an option, as the females kept having fry for several months. so, after a year everybody is back int the same tank. still not much aggression. but some of the older ones have passed after 2+ years. the tank has now stabilized at around 30 platys. all sizes. all ages. I think the takeaway. yeah, you'll probably have some aggression. but not enough to cause a serious issue

You can also get them in grey pvc with snap connection. That would eliminate the visible screws. https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiNm5-my8iFAxVHZEcBHVJfDBkYABAHGgJxdQ&ae=2&gclid=CjwKCAjww_iwBhApEiwAuG6ccFjfcHdhwIABAW9Nt-uPs3MYy7ddc2YjRh0yHDp7iOcp22v5xgDzQRoCFBcQAvD_BwE&sph=&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESeuD2n-tK6SkPdc4r8yeYXQTlzy6zqRu0tXzGTPAX05cVwCHzB1V4-AMre8-7LJRCf8_3vVQSfFuzSLdbu-qk4oVI1vis55oTmprtN-b7FbcBClDltjLEb1Bw1DJ8BVIjhzzN-PuGvxl6PaYL7RO8igGQutcAEi2dMNzd&sig=AOD64_2sN4bA7lx17XfD64fdQ1G6L18IJQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjl1Zimy8iFAxWgj4kEHTTeD00Qwg8oAHoECAYQGQ&adurl= Thinking about it. The plastic screw in hanger would be easiest to do. And should be available at the home stores. Only needs one screw. A self tapping screw per hanger and you’re done

The way we hang our building conduit. We use stainless or galvanized hangers of the right diameter. Then screw it to a flat surface. https://www.grainger.com/product/CALBRITE-Conduit-Cable-Hanger-Screw-36HX23 we’re usually hanging these from interior ceilings with the hole at the top for a screw usually in livestock buildings. So we need them visible and accessible at all times. Also how we hang our wiring for grain complexes. Our conduit wouldn’t be pvc or cpvc, but liquid tight flex tubing with embedded metal for strength

Yes, you can drill through it, assuming you have metal bits and enough rpm. The real question is where you want to drill through. A too big of a hole in the wrong spot will weaken your stand. Avoid holes that are greater than half the size of you rails. Vertical holes have little bearing for strength meaning hole that way won’t reduce strength. But horizontal ones weaken the holding strength. So if going horizontal through it, place it in the center of a rail (top to bottom). as small as possible. Towards the ends would be better than center. To Get it started easier, you can get a center punch. And use it to punch in a starting point. A small divet that will hold the point steady. Otherwise, the bit has a tendency to slide or skid from where you want the hole. other hanging options. Small diameter steel cable or even medium gauge steel wire. And just hang it . They also may make a conduit hanger for the diameter of your conduit with a square beam connector of the right size. At one of the home centers. Possible from something like grainger.com also. Grainger would have a ton of other fasteners as well the last thing to think about. You’re going through a protective finish. It may rust incredibly fast after.

Very possibly, epistyles would be raised bumps on the body, inch is flat on the body. Epistyles would also be found on the eyes. Inch would not. Epistyles would also have a positive reaction to high heat. It likes it. Ich does not. First step is to figure out what you have for sure. Second step I’d get some aquarium salt in there to help probably 1 tablespoons to 3 gallons of water. Third step @Colu for med advice. So would also want parameters. And salt in . Next is meds. And your decision what you have based on appearance of spots. And pushing the temperature to the right level. Epistyles would need a temperature closer to 70 I would think epistyles, just from the large uneven spotting.

I honestly don't know. I'm not sure about the procedure on an aquatic animal. terrestrial I can do. very possibly. that's why I flagged colu

the other thing. it may have been scratched. and now has a bacterial infection called an abscess. on a land animal. id lance and disinfect it. the fish otherwise appears to be healthy. @Colu

Sorry typo. And auto correct. And was 4:30 am 🤣

It can turn clear. The reagents can deteriorate over time. Better would be to find a clean bucket, put the water in there, and test that water after it has been sitting. Leaving the top off so it can theoretically breathe. That way you would have fresh reagent after each test. I would feel much more comfortable doing it that way. You could even do multiple tests over time. If you were very concerned, you could drop an airstone in it to keep the water moving and not stagnant

He looks cute, but you’d have to take him for daily walks

The numbers are better for ph, but still a bit too soft for guppies. I’d still add the coral

Green neons. Honey gourami would be pushing. But you could. Kubotai rasboras. Red cherry shrimp. the gourami with shrimp would be great

And you could do the guppies. But harden your water first. And find a good supplier. With hardy guppies. It’s really not that hard. As long as you maintain it. But the hardness first. Then the supplier. The genetics are key. Around here, even with hard water, they’re hard to keep. In your country, not sure where you would go. Local mom and pop with success would be best.

They are. Nothing wrong with that choice. but for your water. How about some green neons. Say around 6.lots of color and relatively hardy. Around 5 panda corys. They’re cute and help clean uneaten food. And for a center piece. How about 1 male Apisto cacatoides male Just for a special one and that would be a full tank. You’d have lots of movement. The neons might hide a bit at first. They may need more to bring them out. You will love the pandas. The apistogramma should b great. I want one for myself.

Yeah, I wouldn’t. Especially if it’s not submersible. It will collect water in the switch and other unsealed areas. I tried this. It burned out. Thankfully neither I or the fish were injured. You can’t safely have an unsubmersable light in that much humidity and condensation. Better way would b to cut into the lid and place it on top. The best way would be to purchase a glass lid