jkh772

Thanks! Yes I found a place in the shade and near an outlet so was going to use an air stone or spare sponge filter. Now I’m excited to give it a shot!

Greeting fish friends, I’m thinking about setting up an outside mini pond. Been watching some videos but I’m worried about the heat. Outside weather in the summer is 90+ consistently. Winters can dip into the 40s but usually 60s-70s during the day. Any recommendations for stocking or other things? I was thinking of starting small ~ 30G and for guppy grow out/breeding. Would appreciate any recommendations! Thx

Great idea. thanks!

Greetings! I have question about mods for the ACO nano or small sponge filter w/ uplift tube kit. I have the medium with uplift tube for my 20g tall and I love it. I was looking to upgrade my small sponge filter in my 5 g, but I see from the diagram the minimum height is 10in. my 5G is barely 10 in so the tube would protrude from the top and if sitting on gravel I'm not sure if I can close the lid. Are there any mods to make the tube even shorter than the diagram? Looking at the spec online, looks like the small (10in) is actually shorter than the nano (11in). Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the comments. i have some updates and some of my own testing. I first got the Tetra 150. It is WAY quieter than the tetra whisper 60. It had enough flow for my 2 large sponge filters in my 55g and one medium sponge filter in my 20g tall. So that easily replaced one of my whisper 60s. Second, I got they Hygger 10W and it is also really quiet (maybe even more) than the Tetra 150 and with more flow (was about $10 more expensive and about double the size). The one hygger 10W easily replaces both of the old whisper 60s and it is way quieter and easily runs all my tanks listed above with some extra flow to spare. I will keep the tetra 150 as a backup (or give to one of the kids for their tanks). I feel this is really a perfect step up for my tanks, perhaps if i expand more i may try one of the small piston pumps as the next step. The whisper 60s are still very inexpensive so I am holding on to them for backup or if ever get around to some expansion tanks somewhere out of the way where I won't mind the noise so much. Thanks again for the recommendations! My tanks are so much quieter!

@Fish FolkThanks for the info and the links! those were very helpful. The female has started eating again so either I was overly optimistic the first few days or she ate her eggs.

Greetings! I have a group of white-tailed Acei- I have had 2 spontaneous spawns in my community cichlid tank (3 1st brood, 8 2nd brood). I can't determine what I did to induce them to mate/spawn, I only realized they spawned after I saw the babies. Last spawn was 6 mo ago. The community has gotten a bit crowded and I'm afraid they aren't breeding because of the density. I am trying to get them to intentionally spawn in a separate tank. I put (what I think?) are the male and female in a separate tank. I saw some "dancing" behavior between them on the first 2 days in the separate tank, and since then the female has been hiding in the corner ever since for the last week. I removed the male and now I see her swim out some but most of the time she still is hiding behind the driftwood. Is there a way to confirm if she is holding eggs? I saw her open her mouth (like a yawn) a couple times which made we worried she isn't holding, but most of the time she is hiding with her mouth closed and I don't see her come out for food. Thanks!

thanks everyone for comments! @jwcarlsoncan you list which piston pump and what power you got?

Greetings forum! I am curious in people's advice for a quieter air pump setup. 4 tanks: - 55g (2 large sponge filters) - 20g x2 (one large sponge filter each) - 5g (one small sponge filter) - I also grow baby brine shrimp so I split off a line for the hatchery a couple days/week. - I also tinker with things (testing a DIY moving bed filter) so another line (or 2!) I currently am running 2 tetra tetra whisper (60) pumps under my wood fish tank stand but there is a low pitch hum which is pretty loud and I find annoying. One pump is pretty old so only one of the 2 outlets work. The newer whisper has 2 working outlets. I like to run the filters pretty strong for more bubbles, I have enough pressure for my current set up but I'd like to reduce the background noise. I purchased an ACO air pump- it is quiet but doesn't quite move as much air as I'd like- I'm holding onto it as a backup pump because of the internal battery but I'm not using it for my regular setup. I was looking into a linear piston pump but I'm afraid it is overkill and not sure if it will be any quieter than my current set up. Open to ideas! Thanks!

Thanks @nabokovfan87 those are some helpful tips. I do not have a feeding dish. I've seen some in videos but i'm not very familiar with them or the feeding tube. Thes shrimp see active eating on the glass and the plants. I have amazon frogbit and the roots are pretty long- I see the shrimp hiding/eating in the roots a lot. I've purchased some shrimp food (fluval shrimp granules) but they are very messy and i didn't see the shrimp eating it before (with my first batch of shrimp). I've also tried some algae wafers but the shrimp also didn't seem interested. I was thinking they are still acclimating to the tank and I was going to try them again later.

Quick update: good news is no further losses after the first 48 hrs that i can see, and I see them swimming and eating the biofilm on the plants/tank. Next time I may try a slower drip. thx everyone for the input!

Thanks @Beardedbillygoat1975and @Chad those are good tips and also very encouraging. I'm still new to shrimp. For fish I'm not used to losing any. The tank is going on month 5 and has been very stable w/ parameters. - GH is 300+ (very hard from the tap) - kH is 40-80. I have some crushed coral I added a month ago since it was low. kH out of the tap is very high. The rest of the group on day 3 so far look very healthy- swimming around and eating off the glass and the plants so I am hopeful I have enough for the colony to start. Thanks!

Greetings- I am new to trying to raise shrimp- This is my second attempt to start a colony, but I'm still seeing a bit of die off so want to get some advice: Tank: several-month seasoned 10g, planted and a couple of small/adolescent guppies. gravel substrate, chalia wood and indian almond leaf in for a few weeks. Plenty of algae. Very hard water, pH mid 7s, undetectable ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. 1st attempt: 12 cherry red shrimp from LFS. Did not drip acclimate- lost most pretty quick but amazingly 2 survived and are doing well going on 2 months- they look nice and healthy! 2nd attempt: 20 cherry shrimp from aqua huna. Arrived within 48hr of order (not too hot/cold out during transit). Let box open for a few hours at room temperature. Drip acclimated over 2 hours. I noticed by the end of the 2 hours many of them were moving very slowly, or doing alot of backward jumping. Moved them to the tank--> I've already lost 4 in the first 24 hrs. The rest seem to be swimming and eating ok. - Is it common to lose so many when they come in the mail? They looked pretty good out of the box. -Any other tips for acclimation to improve survival? Drip over longer period? I got very nervous when i saw how poorly they were moving in the acclimating bucket. I tried to follow all the tips I could find online..... Thanks! Any help much appreciated!

I also found some differences in the ACO test strips and API liquid test kit- but in hindsight the color change for nitrites/nitrates can sometimes be very subtle. The test strips are just so easy to use so I still use them on a more frequent basis, and if there is even a subtle change in color will do the API master kit. This helped me very recently with one of my tanks that had the pH drop. I was using API master kit just for nitrite/nitrates but wasn't doing the pH to save time. The test strips were helpful to catch the pH drop which I nearly missed. One thing I also noted is sometimes my city water fluctuates so if you are getting readings that don't make sense be sure to check your tap water parameters.

I have another root tab question- I got a pack of ACO root tabs and placed 6 tabs in my 20G tall. I have gravel substrate; 4 young pogostemon stellatus octopus and 1 thriving water wisteria (and a ton of amazon frogbit). I noticed about 2 weeks later, I now have a big ammonia/nitrite spike, noticed it first with test strip and confirmed with my API master kit. Never had a problem with ammonia/nitrites before. Fortunately, fish look ok. - I was wondering if the spike could be related to using the root tabs? I saw a tip in one of the youtube videos to poke a small hole and squeeze out the air in the root tab capsule underwater before placing in substrate so they don't float. I did see a little bit of material come out during that process so not sure if they also contributed. - Should I dig out the root tabs or could that make things worse? Thanks!