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Matt_

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Everything posted by Matt_

  1. Matt_
    I built all of my own stands out of dimensional lumber, plywood, and deck screws using similar designs. The key is purchasing straight lumber that is not warped, twisted, or split from an indoor lumberyard (not as easy as it sounds in my location) and then storing it flat on the floor inside until you are ready to assemble your stand. The easiest way to make sure that the wood is straight is to check on the lumber yard concrete floor. I recommend making a plan that includes your actual tank sizes and allows for lighting/filtration and maintenance with the number of cuts and lengths (i.e. 6ea 13", 6ea 10", 6ea 30", and 4 ea 60"- the yard does not have time to take off your design, also don't go on these dimensions, measure the actual tanks you are going to use and plan ahead) and see if you can either pay the lumber yard or find someone to make the cuts. You can make these cuts yourself with a hand saw, but that is going to be a lot of work (30+ cuts for this stand design depending on the material lengths you are using) before factoring in the balcony. After that you are going to need 2-1/2" torx head deck screws (bit comes in the box, self-tapping) and an electric drill. You could assemble the stand inside once all the cuts are made and vacuum up the mess. If you are using 12" wide tanks on carpet or in a high seismic zone I also recommend also attaching the stand to the wall behind it.
  2. Matt_
    I would rely on Dean's Angelfish care advise: Freshwater Angelfish Care - 50 years of Experience! - YouTube He discusses tank size at about 4:00, but I recommend watching to the whole video and discussing proposed stocking with your LFS before you select angels. I think that the key will be having a backup plan if aggression gets too high (Dean has a large number of tanks so he can move problem fish to another tank).
  3. Matt_
    They are adults at about 10-12 mo. (total) and grow more slowly after that. It is also telling that the tank mates for my angels were 3 adult Australian Rainbows and a Pictus Cat at the time of the photo (please don't judge the stocking - this was pre-Internet for me and I did not have reliable info on Pictus Cats at the time I got one - never again 😬). I kept the angels for years and have seen enough of their behavior to know that they are going to systematically hunt anything that looks/acts like food to them in a 40b. With less than 6 they may also have hierarchical or territorial disputes at adulthood that may become a problem to the point where you loose a fish (not enough to spread out territorial aggression and nowhere to run for a fish that gets singled out).
  4. Matt_
    I looked at your bio and those fish/tanks look amazing! Hatchet fish would be really cool in this tank if you are going with a tight fitting lid. I kept two marbled angels in a 40 breeder in the 90s, but I would personally would not repeat that again with a 17" tall tank (more like 14" with the water level and substrate). Here is a photo of that tank with the angles in the bottom right corner (best available photo): I think that angels are going to get relatively tall/large compared to the rest of your scape and claim a large area of it. They get really mean when breeding and you will want to make sure that the other fish you select will not fit in their mouth fully grown. You could always start with angels and upgrade the tank when they reach full size if needed but I highly recommend having a backup plan especially if this is your only tank. If you are going the angel route, my recommendation is to decide how many/what type angels and then plan around that, add everything else to the tank first and the angels last, and have a solid backup plan if they do not work - which fish stay and which fish go. I am finding that I love seeing the fry and small fish in my tanks so I would not keep angels again without a huge tank - they will hunt down and eat anything that fits into their mouth in a tank the size of a 40 breeder.
  5. Matt_
    I love the scape especially the sandy beach in the front right corner! Tetras, Corys, and Otocinclus would make great choices. Pencilfish are also a nice top level swimmer that do not make a huge bio load if you are going to have a lid on your tank. A German Blue Ram may be a good choice if you are going with a higher temp. A group of 6 or more Sterbai or Panda Corys would really stand out against that dark substrate, but then Corys and Plecos are my favorites and may not interest you.
  6. Matt_
    Thanks for the answers. The plecos jump right on the Hikari wafers. @Coluare those those the new nature or old formula Sera Wood Chips? My Clown Loach and Corys used to love the old Sera Vipachips Tropical Crisps, but the new Nature formula Sera Vipachips Staple Food does not get eaten as quickly. I could hear the Clown Loach clicking away happily every day with the old formula.
  7. Matt_
    Is there a secret to feeding Xtreme Sinking Wafers? I have had no luck getting my Bristlenose plecos to eat these. I have the parents and over a hundred growouts in a tank together, and the Xtreme Sinking Wafers are the last food eaten in the tank. The plecos love French cut green beans, zucchini, Hikari Algae Wafers, and any leftovers from the other fish. I am going to move on to another sinking food or go back to Hikari if I cannot get the plecos to eat these more readily.
  8. Matt_
    No wander your fabrication is absolute perfection! It all makes sense with the mini mill. 🤣 I cant wait to see it lit up if you do end up going that route.
  9. Matt_
    Awesome fabrication; you are taking this concept to next level! What did you use to countersink the test tube opening? Did you use a router to make the test card groove?
  10. Matt_
    I tried to get my clown loach to eat the bladder snails in my 10 gal QT tank and no luck. So far none of my fish including my bettas eat them either. I have quit trying to get rid of them at this point, but I know they eat French cut green beans. You could always trying making a snail trap with veggies out of a used bottle if your fish do not eat them.
  11. Matt_
    Here is my original 10 Gal tank shown on 1993. I had a Red Tailed Black Shark, Clown Loach, Dojo Loach, Dwarf Gourami at this point. Here is the 40 Gal from 1998 with Australian Rainbows and Angelfish:
  12. Matt_
    Hello from northern Virginia! I have recently returned to the hobby after over a 20 year absence. I kept fish throughout the 90s after dreaming of keeping an entire aquatic ecosystem in an aquarium. I never was able to realize that dream and stopped keeping fish when I left for school. I looking into reef keeping in the 2000s, but did decided not to set up a reef due to the time investment needed. After finding the Co-op's videos and other resources I became convinced that I could realize my original dream to have a complete ecosystem in an aquarium. I returned to the hobby last October by purchasing an entire system from someone getting out of the hobby and have grown from there. Since then I have had my first successes keeping aquatic plants and then breeding fish thanks to the Coop, LFSs, and many others. I only have a couple of tanks setup in a combined kitchen and office. This is the current setup in an L with a 65 gal tank on the top left, a 38 gal tank on the bottom right, and a 10 gal QT tank out of the picture. The 65 gallon display tank setup March 2020: I really enjoy the jungle tank look with microhabitats all over this tank. It is almost dark under the dense cover despite running a Fluval 3.0 at 100% and Nicrew lights. Fish: mainly breeding colony (B) Guppies, Tetras, breeding colony (B) Corys, and breeding Plecos Plants: Marimo Moss Balls, Java Moss, Java Fern, Amazon Sword, Lilly or Green Tiger Lotus sp., Red Dwarf Aquarium Lilly, Jungle Vallisneria, Broad Leaf Sag, Crypt Red Wendtii, Elodea, Golden Lloydiella, and Water Sprite The 38 gallon display/children's tank setup October 2020: This tank is setup at my knee height so that the children can feed the fish and look down on the tank without getting on a chair or ladder. The goal is to recreate an approachable full ecosystem in this tank. Fish: breeding colony (A) Guppies, breeding colony (A) Paleatus Corys, and Pleco growouts Plants: Marimo Moss Balls, Java Moss, Java Fern, Jungle Vallisneria, Broad Leaf Sag, Crypt Red Wendtii, Elodea, Golden Lloydiella, Water Sprite, Scarlet Temple, and Green Myrio Inverts: Mystery Snails, Rabbit Snails, Bladder Snails, and Cherry Shrimp (test run) I am convinced that this is an amazing time to be an aquarium hobbyist with all of the available information and one of the best times to keep live plants now that LED lights have high output and durability. I look forward to continuing the journey - along with setting up another tank to lower the stocking levels these two 🤣. -Matt
  13. Matt_
    This is great, I love it! I was going for functionality all the way for the rack that I built, and I definitely considered going with deck screws instead of the dowels.
  14. Matt_
    I can't wait to see how this turns out!
  15. Matt_
    I assumed that the part of the Potomac River they are pumping from is hitting the turnover temperature numerous times since it has been so warm this year in addition to all of the runoff every time it rains somewhere in the watershed. The trees are not drinking any more so the ground stays more saturated after every rain as well.
  16. Matt_
    I am really flattered that you think my design is better to what you have in the picture! You have a really amazing setup already!
  17. Matt_
    I am in Northern VA or NOVA for short. I am getting my city water from the Potomac River (I cannot wait until the city starts using one of the abandoned quarries as water storage 😱). I have only been keeping fish in this area since last December and I forgot how bad it gets in the winter.
  18. Matt_
    This made water testing so much easier for me I can now more quickly gather nuggets of information like what today's untreated city water looks like. This answers the question of why was yesterday's water change raised the ammonia level in my QT tank. Today's untreated city water: 7.4 pH, 1.0 ppm Ammonia, 0.0 ppm Nitrite, 5.0 ppm Nitrate after running the tap for a few minutes 😞
  19. Matt_
    A couple of notes on the build in case you want to try it or something similar. The PVC trim is 5" wide and 3/4" thick - still thinking about the final length. I used a 1/2" spade bit stopping about half way (when the bottom of the spade bit contacted the concrete garage floor) and reamed out (slightly enlarged) the hole for a loose fit. This created a shelf for the test tubes and an air hole in the bottom so that they do not get stuck in the opening. The dowel for the drying pegs is 3/16" dia. cut using a hacksaw on a scrap block and set about half way in the block using a 13/64" drill bit for a snug fit.
  20. Matt_
    Wow! Those are some really cool test racks. The LED concept is amazing and the Lego drying rack is just out of this world (I have boys that just love playing with Legos)! I had seen a similar tray to the one that @StephenP2003 modified and had the same thought - you can just cut the middles out of the back holders and keep the reagent bottles in the holder, but I was too cheap and I do not trust myself with the reagent bottles over a fish tank with or without a holder. I really like the way that the API Master Test Kit rotated the reagent bottles in the container so that you can read them without using much space, so I may try to make something similar at some point.
  21. Matt_
    Not that much, but this is a relatively small 2.5" pleco. The larger adult L066 plecos go for much more at the LFS.
  22. Matt_
    I made a DIY aquarium test tube stand and drying rack today because I am tired of spilling my tests, breaking test tubes, and not getting my equipment to dry. The main focus of the build was to reuse as many materials on hand as possible to keep costs low (less than a $1 at this point). I used a leftover piece of PVC trim for a base, a wooden dowel for the stand, and metal closet organizer rubber end caps as the tips. I am planning to paint the dowels white and glue everything in place after I work out the kinks using it few more times. My impressions from the first few uses is that it is great and makes it so much easier to test the water. In use - its water change time: I am curious if anyone else on the forum has built something like this and has any additional tips. Also, reagent storage tips would be helpful as well. I have more bottles than something like the API master test kit bin can accept and would like to keep everything together. Thanks.
  23. Matt_
    Agreed its a bummer but I still would rather have the current result. On the plus side, with the early announcements I was able to budget and plan the black Friday order a week early on Sunday, ship Monday, and have it delivered across the country on Wednesday and then install some of the parts Wednesday after work - really amazing stuff.
  24. Matt_
    It would really help for the wigglers and I would say preferably for the eggs. I need to add one to mine for the wigglers, but I do not have a tee on hand. In my first hatch of these fish I put the eggs in a used betta cup with an airstone, changed the water daily, and waited two weeks. Nothing hatched after two weeks and I was so bummed out that I turned everything off but left the eggs in the cup because I was so busy at the time. A week later I went to clean out the cup and it was full of wigglers, so you never know what will happen!
  25. Matt_
    I am going to be amazed if it works based on the last livestream. I would rather have a good price everyday and great service after the sale than have the prices raised only to be lowered back to normal pricing during a sale. My impression is that the coop does not carry extra SKUs to keep the pricing low so they don't have excess inventory to clear either.
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