Dacotua
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Posts posted by Dacotua
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Power of the light, the Sterilizer has more watts compared to a CLarifier
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I have canister filters on all my tanks, so I run the Fluval Clarifier UVC. I have it run for 6 hours a day to keep my water clear.
I do have a Green Killing Machine setup if I need it. I only use the Green Killing Machine if I have a disease or some sort of infection running thru a tank. Clarifiers will keep your water clear, while the Sterilizer should only be used if you have a problem in your tank. At least thats my opinion and experience.
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Adding snails are great in a snail tank, they really help the shrimp out.
However, my 5 gallon shrimp tank has ramshorns snails which I wanted, and I also put 3 assassin snails in the tank. The ramshorns will breed like crazy and I use the assassin snails to keep the at bay. So far I see around 10ish ramshorns in the tank, and a bunch of empty shells, so I know the Assassin snails are doing their job.
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I had two of these USB Nano pumps in the past. Both pumps failed. After the 2nd one, I elected going back to a normal pump and havent had an issue.
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Doesn't matter.
The bottom basket of a 307 and 407 are the same. You clog it, the filter will slow down.
You should be cleaning your canister filter monthly, however I've let mine go 6 months at a time in the past before cleaning it. If you over feed, you need to clean the filters more often.
Your beneficial bacteria should match the amount you feed in time anyway. (Natural Ponds do not have filters, the Beneficial Bacteria matches the bio load of the system. Your tank will do the same thing)
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If you put only bio media (no sponges) in a filter, it will flow more. Sponges will restrict your flow and the more clogged they get, the more they restrict it.
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On 4/20/2024 at 2:42 PM, Airborne 82nd said:
My tank is a 75 gallon with two fish 1 Oscar 1 Pleco both about 2 to 3 inches no plants. Now I am using one Seachem tidal 75 I have another one but think I would rather go to a canister instead of two HOB. Trying to decide what size. I've been looking at fluvals 407,fx2 and fx4. What would you choose? Price does not matter Flow wise I think the fx6 would be overkill for a 75 gal. 407=383gph empty fx2=475gph empty fx4=700gph empty. Some say to cut theses numbers in half once full and running a couple of weeks. I would love to hear thoughts on these. How many times would you want to turn this tank over when the fish grow out. They will get a 125 or 150 with fx6 when I sell my rental house. Probably use the 75 as a QT half full.
Honestly, you don't need a HUGE canister filter for an aquarium.
I'll give you this example, a Fluval 107 canister filter can hold all the media yoru Seachem Tidal 75 contained. It would absolutely work just fine in your aquarium. Don't believe me? There are people with a large sponge filter in a 75 gallon tank and it does fine.
Filter companies want to sell you more and more filtration (funny the cost goes up per larger models).
Depending on YOUR STAND, I would probably put a Fluval 307 or perhaps a 407 in your tank. *I* prefer the 307's over the 407's simply because the 307 isn't as tall and fits inside my stand just fine. On a 307, the bottom basket has the bio-sponge with Filter floss on top, the next two baskets are full of bio-rings.
I've run 307s from 40gallon tanks all the way to 80 gallon tanks. They work fine on them. -
On 4/20/2024 at 1:24 PM, TJ _isme said:
How do I make snails into fish food?
Like I said, if you want them all dead, buy some NO-Planaria and medicate your tank. It will kill every snail in the tank. Wait two weeks, then do it again. (To make sure you get them as snail eggs will hatch and a new colony will appear).
Myself, I just accept the snails. I did put a few Assassin Snails in the tank to keep the snail population under control (I have a sand substrate so the Assassin snails bury themselves during the day and come out at night).
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On 4/18/2024 at 9:34 PM, TJ _isme said:
Thanks, do you know of any fish that will gobble up the snails?
Goldfish or Loaches love snails. HOWEVER these both require a larger tank.
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You can always add a few assassin snails to the tank to keep their population under control.
But if you are the type of person that NEVER wants a snail in their tank....Buy the following and medicate your tank with it. It won't kill shrimp, but does a number on snails.
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On 4/16/2024 at 12:47 PM, NikkiRae said:
My husband got me a used 125 gallon aquarium with built in overflow/sump system. He got it for $50 which is insane because the sump alone is worth more than that. When he was hauling it in, he chiped the top corner. Is this going to make it inoperable? I am worried because the weight of the water going into this thing is going to be insane. It is not cracked through just chipped.
I would trash that tank. I would absolutely not use it.
Years ago I had a chip on the edge of a 60 or 70 gallon tank (Don't remember). That tank held water for a year or so, until one winter night at about 1am. I heard a crash and the sound of water running. I got up to see a crack going from the "chip" all the way down to the bottom of the tank. The pressure of the water pushed the water out of the tank and all over the floor. Unless you want something like this to happen to you, then I wouldn't use it.
My guess in my case, it was heat and cool cycles on the glass, even tiny heat cycles (water changes and temps in the house). Over time a small crack formed and then one night, the pressure of the tank spread it across the tank all the way to the bottom.
Consider it the same as your windshield on your car. Get a stone chip in the window, don't get it fixed. Eventually moisture will get into it or the wind blowing against it will cause it to spread.
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On 2/17/2022 at 1:16 AM, Scapexghost said:
I need to create a tight fitting lid for a 29 gallon tank w/ an african butterfly fish in it. Im not a fan of the glass lids sould b/c the black hinge is right in the middle where the light is. I a also not a fan of the little plasic peases they come with feel like a cop-out and aren't very pleasing to look at. Glass won't work w/o the right tools(which i don't have) andacrylic bows over time(is this an issue on smaller tanks like 29s?). Lexan/polycarbonate is what i've seen recommended but it's a little expensive. Are there any other options to consider b4 i pick up some lexan?
I HATE that black hinge on a lot of glass lids. I simply removed it. When I want to open the top, I just remove the front portion. I cut lexan/plexiglass strip for the "Backstrip". I pushed the glass all the way forward, then measured the rear. I cut a piece of plexiglass to fit this area.
If you are worried about it sagging, you can simply superglue a small piece of plexiglass in the middle so it overhangs and catches the glass. The rear should be fully supported by the tank (if you have a framed tank).
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Which one did you buy
Green Machine one? Theres a pin hole in the main body, you'll be able to see a small pin sized light coming out of it.
Today, I run a inline UV system that connects to the output tube of my cannister
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Just a word of advice.
Many many many people will say throw a established sponge filter into a tank and its instant cycled. My experience with this, this is not the case. It will speed up your cycle, but will not instant cycle your tank.
I ended up putting a sponge filter into a new tank (The sponge filter was from an established tank of more than 3 years.). I added drops of ammonia to the tank, Ammonia would go to 0 fairly quickly but Nitrite was thru the roof and I barely had any Nitrate. It took the tank over two weeks to cycle.
When I decided to make my shrimp tank, I tried again using an established sponge filter. After two weeks of having high nitrite, I decided to throw in a bunch of floating plants and start dosing ferts. After a week of doing this, the tank cycled. Frog Bit works works wonders in zapping all the Nitrite in a tank. Not sure if the tank cycled officially or the frog bit simple removed the toxins from the tank. Didn't matter to me, I put my shrimp colony in it and its been running ever since.
What I'm saying is be very careful when you start cycling your tank.
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Cut the tubes. (The green tubes)
See pic. (Nano filter in my 5g shrimp tank)
Another option is take the Nano Filter apart, Toss one basket, cut the black sponge in half, now you have a 1/2 sized nano.
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Did you do a large water change before you added all your fish? Whenever I do a fish-less cycle, I do a 80% water change before I add my fish.
Sometimes there can be things in the water you can't test for.
Sometimes fish just die when you add them to a new environment. Stress can kill a fish quicker than anything.
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If you want a natural way of keeping them in check, put 1 or 2 assassin snails in the tank
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C1CWYWC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
I recommend HiTauing Aquarium Heaters. You can adjust them by the controller thats not in the tank. They are fairly inexpensive and comes in various wattages.
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On 3/27/2024 at 6:03 PM, johnnyxxl said:
The lexan will warp and absorb water with time.
Maybe, but I have had a lid made of it now going on 4-1/2 years.
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Female in the first picture
Makes have more squared fins and don't look "Circular".
Females fins seamlessly morph into the their head. On a male, this is not the case.
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Dead snail. I have assassin snails in every one of my tanks. I use them to keep the pest snails in check.
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On 3/26/2024 at 4:43 PM, knee said:
Finally done setting up my 60 breeder and now I have an empty 20 long which I’ve decided to house shrimp instead of pea puffers. I will keep the tank unheated but I do have a bunch of extra ACO heaters incase I need it. I have an unheated 5g that doesn’t go below 60F even during the winter so I’m assuming a 20g will be better at keeping the temp stable.
What fish can I keep in this tank that won’t harm the shrimp? I’ve already planned on adding heterandria Formosa but I want to see if there’s other fish I can add. I do prefer to keep the fish small and maybe the same size as the heterandria but I’m open to other suggestions as long as they will not harm the shrimp. This tank will focus on the shrimp instead of fish.
My other question is about polycarbonate sheets to be used as aquarium lids. My 60 breeder doesn’t have a lid and I want to use the twin wall polycarbonate as lids. To the people that use them what do you use to cut the sheets? Does it block a lot of light? What’s your overall feedback regarding them?
I use a straight edge and a box cutter to cut the poly carbon sheets. You cut them similar to glass. You take your straight edge, place it on the sheet where you want to cut. Run the box cutter down the sheet, scratching the surface all the way down. Run the box cutter 4-8 times down the sheet in the same spot. Next grab the sheet flex it across the scratches you just made. If you scratched it deep enough, it will snap along it and your done. If it doesn't snap, place your straight edge along the line and proceed to use your box cutter and cut along the line again 4-8 times. Then try to flex it at the scratch mark. It will snap eventually.
I use single thickness lexan for my lids when I need them. They are light and crystal clear.
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Here is a Hillstream and a Cory sitting peacefully, just hanging out.
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I personally would put Assassin Snails in the tank even after you remove 80% of the snails. Consider the Assassin Snails as natures way to balance the snails. (I put them in my tanks, I still have snails, but I don't have huge outbreaks of them as I did in the past.)
To combat Algae, may people put algae eating livestock in their tanks. To help out with Water Quality in the tanks, many of us put live plants in the tank. To help clean the tank, many of us buy a "clean up" crew. So putting Assassin Snails in the tank will help you out with excess snail populations.
A good think about having Assassin Snails in the tank, they will eat excessive snails and leave their shells. Those shells will help with calcium in your tank, you won't have to keep adding cuttlebone or any other calcium products for your snails/shrimp.
Malaysian trumpets snails -- help!!!
in General Discussion
Posted
Buy NO-Planaria (Can get it off amazon). Does your tank, it will kill every snail in your tank. Since you don't have any fish, you can double the recommend dosage.