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Eric R

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Everything posted by Eric R

  1. Eric R
    You shouldn't have to worry about a ph drop unless you have water with very low kh/gh. What's your ph/kh/gh? Also, fwiw, Scott Feldman at Tannin Aquatics said that even using RO water, he's had a tough time getting his ph lower than 6, and seems to suggest that tank ph crashes from tannins are very unlikely to happen. Still, it's not good for fish to have ph/kh/gh swings, though I think that kh/gh swings are possibly actually worse than ph swings (people that run co2 systems usually have swings a full ph unit over a 24-hour period). Scott's website, tannin aquatics, also sells some high quality tannin-related products, if you're interested in it. Personally, I just collect maple and oak leaves and tree limbs from my yard.
  2. Eric R
    Check out this guy's tank at 3:42 - he intentionally grows BBA to feed to his cichlid fry! It actually looks good I think.
  3. Eric R
    Red Sea XXL750s are made of 3/4" high clarity glass. They are rimless though, I'm not sure what difference that makes. To be clear, I'm not talking about supporting the exact middle of the tank, just the outside frame. Very nice stand btw! I would be careful applying anything from a tank that's designed to be elevated to one that's likely designed not to be elevated. There may be something to be learned by looking at how the tank is designed so that it can be elevated, and how the bottom of the tank is supported.
  4. Eric R
    Nice brackish community tank! I have 5 little mangroves in full freshwater at the moment, that will probably need to be replanted and slowly acclimated up to full saltwater (~35ppm) once I have my aquascape done and my dry rock cured and cycled. I'll document my progress.
  5. Eric R
    Ah, I didn't understand that from the initial post.
  6. Eric R
    Beams do flex though, and I think it's more likely a failure will occur due to flexing at a seam causing a leak than from a glass panel breaking. I've personally never tried supporting an aquarium only by the corners, so I'm not personally suggesting that either. Will a failure take years to show up if it ever happens? Probably. We don't know how old this aquarium is or what shape the seams are in already though either.
  7. Eric R
    Also, I just noticed that the black bottom rim is missing on about 1/4 of the aquarium in the original post. That's probably an issue that should be addressed as well.
  8. Eric R
    Alright, so my bookshelf analogy wasn't the best. I still don't believe that the plywood adds *a lot* of structural support, unless it too is properly supported. There's an important difference as to whether the plywood is supported at the edges or whether it overhangs, and by how much. I'm sure there's a point at which overhang is too much for a given thickness and quality of plywood, and I don't personally know what it is. An inch or two is likely fine, I doubt that 6 inches is. Is 3 inches okay? I would be interested if someone could provide that information. It would also be useful to know the allowable deflection for an aquarium with a given volume and thickness of glass. Also @Koi, I wasn't trying to shame you, and not interested in arguing either. Sorry if it came off that way.
  9. Eric R
    I haven't worked much with marine grade plywood. I have seen 3/4" plywood shelving (not mdf) visibly sag, though this is after 20+ years of use. 2x4s properly secured **should** work, but they would need to have their longer side placed vertically, not flat, and they would need to be secured properly, and checked for cupping/twisting, etc. If I were going to do it, I'd make a rectangle out of 2x4s and screw plywood to the top and bottom of the rectangle and screw that into the table top unit. I wouldn't do this however, as it wouldn't look very nice, and as you said, it wouldn't be the most stable. I was going to suggest it in my earlier comment but then removed it, as I wouldn't recommend something like that unless someone was experienced enough to know what they were doing. Also, your 40 breeder on 2x4s on the floor is a different situation, as I'm assuming that they are supported their entire length by being in contact directly with the floor.
  10. Eric R
    You probably know more about the application of these formulas than I do. However I am curious whether the plastic frame and glass plane construction is really the same as a solid beam. Does this formula apply in the same way? Red Sea had a handful of documented tank failures a couple years back on their XXL750 series because a small gap formed between the tank and the stand in the middle due to lack of a center support.
  11. Eric R
    If you want to put your tank here, you can build a stand fairly cheaply out of just 2x4s. Most big box hardware stores will even cut lumber to specified lengths if you don't have access to a saw. All you need would be a drill. Just be sure to support the edges and corners properly, wood screws aren't designed for much shear strength.
  12. Eric R
    It's possible the plywood would still flex enough over time to stress the tank seams (have you seen bookshelves sag over time?). I personally wouldn't risk it or recommend it to others.
  13. Eric R
    I've never been able to get a pair myself, females are almost never wild collected because they are drab, and unfortunately they don't seem to be offered often by breeders. I've read that you can separate the female/subdominant male and see if it colors up. I've also read that if there is any blue or iridescence, especially on the pelvic fins, they are most likely males.
  14. Eric R
    What's your budget? Are you interested in using a sump? Do you know how much weight the spot you want to put it can support? If you want to stay on the affordable side, I'd say go with a 120. If you have the budget, and a sump is appealing to you, I'd look at reef tank setups or consider getting a custom tank built. You could easily get something 5'x2'x21" or something.
  15. Eric R
    What's your gh and kh, and what were you hoping to get them to? What fish/plants/inverts are you wanting to keep?
  16. Eric R
    Dunno about you, but I spend $40 on the heater and then another $30 on a controller, because I don't believe that you can 100% trust any heater these days. Also to the OP, sometimes two heaters on a tank can be good. If one fails, your tank won't end up completely unheated. And as @Daniel said, if they fail on, they won't be able to cook your tank. Or better, you could run two heaters with a temperature controller with two probes and two set points.
  17. Eric R
    Yes.
  18. Eric R
    They have a spreadsheet as well as a phone number that you can call: https://www.acrylite.co/technical-support/calculators.html
  19. Eric R
    There's a German wholesaler that seems to have them available: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/paedocypris-the-smallest-fish-in-the-world/
  20. Eric R
    I agre with @Ben_RF, 5 or 10 gallons. Shrimp tend to be sensitive to water parameter changes, so having something at least that large helps to keep things more stable. Plants help as well, and you should test your water to know the hardness, unless you have an idea of how much calcium is in it already. If you're on a municipal water supply, you should be able to get a water report that tells you what's in your water and at what levels.
  21. Eric R
    I'm not sure that "aging" your water before testing for phosphate will make a difference. It shouldn't change the dissolved phosphate levels. It would change the ph, as gasses equalize between the water and the air in the room, and certain chemicals in the water that can will off gas, like chlorine. However, I'm not a chemist, so I could be wrong!
  22. Eric R
    Well, the folks that sell aquarium filters often sell cartridges that have low surface area and are designed to be replaced, instead of sponges (aquaclear is one of the exceptions that comes to mind), even though this is the exact opposite of what we want to do. So one reason could be just to sell more things. Ceramic media is porous, so theoretically it should make good media for bacteria to colonize, or at least as good as a sponge. I do use it in my filters. I believe the design behind the rings is that they are less likely to fill with aquarium gunk than a sponge will. However, I think you'd be 100% fine with just a combination of coarse filter sponge and filter floss. Many experienced aquarists with dozens and dozens of tanks run just sponge filters in their fish rooms with lots of success. I have run sponge filters without issue myself, though I don't prefer seeing the sponge in my display tanks, or the noise of the pump.
  23. Eric R
    I think you're overthinking it (which I do all the time!). The rings just provide surface area for bacteria, which the sponge does as well (as do all surfaces in your tank). Whatever way you put the rings in should work fine, the water in the filter will all turn over, it shouldn't have dead zones.
  24. Eric R
    There's shouldn't be an advantage to fish in cycling, the bacteria don't care what your ammonia source is as long as it's sufficient enough to feed them. Basically it just gets fish in your tank sooner. Some people use a raw shrimp instead of fish food as an ammonia source, though I've never personally done it. Ammonia chloride works well, as you can measure a precise dose of ammonia for your tank.
  25. Eric R
    People new to testing frequently get false nitrate results, be sure to really shake the heck out of the bottle and the vial. You can try testing levels an hour or two after ghost feeding the tank to see if you have detectable ammonia levels, and then again 24 hours later to see if it's been processed by bacteria.
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