Ruud

Being from Europe I am amazed how cheap aquariums are in US... those dollar a gallon sales are amazing. Here a used tank of 20G still sets you back at least 50 to 60 euro. I just bought a new 18 gallon 75 euro - cheapest I could find new!

Being an expat in Spain I have struggled with the same. I stumbled on an add one day in the local Craigslist for a WhatsApp group for pleco breeders and I joined. That gave me access to a network of people raffling and selling/trading fish, plants etc. Also Facebook would be a good one to check and see if there is anything in your area. Perhaps not a formal club but a more informal group of people and enthusiasts.

Quick question guys, I am trying to cycle a new Aquaclear 70 HOB by using it in a cycled tank with a cycled Fluval cannister. How quickly would bacterias settle in the new HOB so I can use it in a new uncycled tank safely? I always see people toss existing filter material in new tanks so thinking this is also a good way to speed up cycling. Thanks! Ruud

(insert Game of Thrones meme here) So this is my second winter in this house that has limited central heating. Last winter I woke up to temperatures as low as 13 degrees C ( 55F) in the house some mornings. Needless to say my tanks were suffering and I had to put in additional heaters on the spot to keep the water up to temperature. This year I have 2 tanks with L numbers that run into 80F so I am worried. Both tanks have 300W heaters even though they are around 20G each only. Both tanks have double side Poly carbonate lids to keep as much as heat in. I am thinking of wrapping the back side and sides with some sort of insulation material like Foam boards or the reflective matting stuff. What would be my best option to keep the heat in? Anybody any experience here? Thanks Ruud

they weren't shy at all in my tank and they spawned within months. Lovely fish but due to their lack of color somehow not such a popular fish. But I love them still and I am sure one day I have them again.

Key hole (?) Ciclids... I had them in my first tank, very underrated fish but lovely nonetheless!

I have done loads! Changed water in the planted tank, the 136B tank and topped up the Cube and the future to be Sterbai breeding tank. I got insulation material for the garage door, polystyrene panels so in future I can get a small fish room running in the garage. I got a sheet of double walled polycarbonate (or whatever its called) to make tops for the aquariums and hopefully keep more heat in during the winter as it gets cold here. I also setup an Aquaclear 70 HOB for the L134 tank and ordered another one for the L136 tank

I have a 15x7 foot wooden garage door I would like to insulate, I can get my hands cheaply on some 1.6 inch (4cm) 'lightweight extruded polystyrene foam board' (translated from Spanish). I think this does make sense right, this material? It doesn't have a reflective side, not sure that matters much. It seems its mainly being used for isolating roof. It seems similar material as @Pepere is referring to in the quoted post that he used as inital vapor barrier against his concrete walls (which is something I need to do as well before even thinking of moving my tanks to the garage)

These are Hypancistrus so they take meaty food

Thats a good one @nabokovfan87 @Odd Duck . Right now I am feeding half a tablet more or less and take out the remains the following day and that stays on the bottom right now, but think if I would put in frozen brine shrimp or something... It would just disappear so turning of the filter might be an idea.

Hey Cory! Just to see if I understand you well.. you use flexible black hosing right? I am just thinking using the good old Eheim 16/22 or perhaps a cheaper alternative in the same size and use standard piping for inlets and outlets (again like Eheim used to have or something equivalent). My concern is mostly to get rid of the ribbed tubing but also the crapy plastic stuff you hang on to the rim of the aquarium which feels like it will break anytime you try to clean the tubing.

That would be approx 16/22 then indeed! I need to try this out.... I don't care about the so called benefits of ribbed tubing, they are a pain!

So I have updated the title so this will become my Journal for all tanks. Currently I have: * The 100L planted tank - currently housing 8 lemon tetra's, 2 survivors Cardinal tetra's and a Juvenile Angel I adopted. Fluval 107 cannister and Hygger 999 light * 90L (45x45x45cm)Cube tank - which I will tear apart and do something else with. Currently housing a L213, 6 Sterbai Cory's, 2 dwarf Oto's and a leftover balloon Molly - Fluval 207 filter and pair of cheap Nicrew slim lights *80L (60x35x38cm) bare bottom - currently housing 2x juvenile L136B and expecting 2 more next week - Fluval 207 and Hygger 999 lighting at the lowest setting *68L (60x30x38) - currently empty but most likely will become the Sterbai tank, or I will house L134 here * 50L emergency tank - empty I am expecting a group of 5x Juvenile L134 place's - around 3cm each in size - by end of next week so doing setups and moving around fish these days. I still haven't decided whether I will house them in the Cube (bare bottom with wood and caves) or in the 68L bare bottom. This is the L136B tank, as said currently I have 2 juvenile L136B here and expecting another pair to be shipped to me next week. Absolutely gorgeous fish. My only concern right now is around feeding. They are so small I am afraid I overfeed. But with the strong flow of the cannister (Fluval 207 with spray bar), food easily blows away so also concerned they won't eat enough and since you never see them eating.... Interested to hear from fellow L number keepers / breeders.

Very nice @Guppysnail, Borelli's are on my ' need to have some one day ' list ! Really cool fish!

As title says.... I am getting tired and annoyed of crap flying out of the outlet after cleaning both pump and tubes - even when I spent 20 minutes cleaning hoses which is not a fun job to do (and I run 3 different Fluval 07's) . Did anyone replace the tubing with standard un-ribbed hosing? I am looking online and it seems 16/22 tubing might work? Anyone any real experience here? Eyeballing it, it seems the grey connector that you screw down on the filter head is more or less 22mm. Thanks Ruud

Thanks Nabokov, will take that into account. I have put some extra root tabs in now, and will be propagating the stem plants maybe later today. Also I am wondering if plants matter if they are close to each other... notice the red stem plant is quite close to the Fern like plant on its right (Im sorry I don't know their names). Also it looks like my 207 Fluval is a bit on the strong side for this 96L tank (25gallon) as the food for my lemon tetras just blows away. I am thinking of swapping it for the 107 I have running my cube which will become my L134 raising/breeding tank (I have a group of 5 coming in next week, at 3cm each) as they will enjoy the flow. Also I will probably rename this journal so I can start including as well my other tanks, I am going to rebuild the cube, I have the L 136B tank, gonna have a sterbai only tank when I split up the Cube etc.

I have two walls in my garage that from the outside are fully covered by the ground of my garden (my garage is under the house) and it seems that moist or humidity from the ground (when it rains etc) is coming through the walls. So its not water seeping in, just humidity. I probably need to look as well what I can do in the garden so the water doesn't accumulate there too much (not sure what I can do) but I also want to isolate the garage for better heat isolation of the house and in future setup a fish room. Happy to speak further over PM to not derail this thread. Thanks Tolstoy! Ps your fish room looks amazing!!

So the roots of the sword are exposed for like half a cm maybe? I can just see the top basically of the roots. I use root sticks by easy life, and the substrate is Aquagro plant and shrimp soil by Ocean Free. Perhaps I should plug a few more root tabs down the sword. Liquid fertilizer I am using is Premium nutrition by Tropica and/or Plant fit by Hobby - both european brands I think. Actually I ran out of the Hobby stuff and need to buy again. Oh and I also dose liquid carbon every now and then when I think about it. Cheers Nabokovfan, you have been so helpful and I am very grateful!

Oh wow, this thread is very informative, already learned lots! Might need to take a look at this sooner than later! Don't want to hijack this thread, at all, but any recommendation how to fight moist coming into the wall from outside? From the walls facing the underground part of my garden ...

Following this topic as I am planning to do the same next year with my garage - two walls 'underground' and with these I have some humidity issues plus very cold. Would love to convert a part as a small fish room with a rack so interesting to see how this works out!

They arrived this morning, they are around 3.5 - 4cm and arrived with a heat patch and seem all okay and happy. Got them acclimated by dripping some tank water into their travel bag and now are hidden behind the heater. Will give them half a Carni wafer in the afternoon, keep an eye on water parameters and see what happens. Needles to say .... I am absolutely in love with how they look and they will only color up better as they grow.

Thanks Nabokov! The tank isn't that tall, its 80cm wide and 40cm high. So you suggestion would be to cut the red stemplant left to the wood, and the one to the right as well and put the cutoff pieces directly into the substrate? Not sure the one on the right will survive to be honest, I had to throw away some stems that were rotted away. I might get the Anubias out and put it into my pleco tank and put the Java fern in that corner and maybe find another fast growing stem plant for that space. The Sword isn't doing that well somehow - the roots are exposed as they should be so not sure what's going on there. Will lower the light a bit indeed. So what should I do with fertilizer, now I put in a little bit of fertilizer every other day - guess I should continue with that as long as the algae don't get any worse? Cheers my friend, your advice is very helpful for me!

These 2 will be arriving tomorrow morning via local courier from Valencia. The pair of L136B I won at a raffle - about 1 - 1.5 inch or 3cm in size only. I got an 80 L bare tank setup specifically for them, and expecting another 2 to arrive by end of month.

@nabokovfan87 I could use some input from you here.... Most plants are picking up on growth, however there are a few that turn brownish leaves. Also I see minor brown algae appear on the glass and on the wood. By now my group of 8 lemon tetra's are enjoying this as a home. What should I do? Up the light or less light? Up fertilizer or hold back?

I have the Hygger HG999 on two tanks and with that model you can program a siesta. There is a program that allows you programming light intensity for 8 different time intervals.