mynameisnobody

@MattyM if it rattles, I’d email customer service and they’d get you a new one. I had the old one and that’s what happened. These new ones are much better. But even with the other benefits it has, it’s still much much much better than the nano pump.

@MattyM The regular ACO pump is just as quiet if not quieter and will be easily able to be used on any sized aquarium. Plus the battery backup if you ever have a power outage. If needed for travel you don’t need to plug it in. I’m not saying you should buy one, but next time you’re about to drop some money on a nano pump, do yourself a favor and get the regular pump, it’s a night and day difference.

Your tank will be fine. I think your biggest dilemma is figuring out why the filter went down in the first place.

@Lennie I never understood the problem people have with hybrids or man made fish. If I don’t like it, I don’t keep it. I’ve kept Flowerhorns for quite a while and I know you either love them or hate them, but it would never prevent me from keeping what I enjoy. Matter of fact, my current is my favorite fish in the house by far. Truth is, I share the same level of frustration that you do, but mine is with bettas. I don’t like them at all, but would never tell someone not to keep them. Seems silly.

For every video of a tank exploding, there are literally hundreds of videos of people keeping fish in large aquariums with no issues. Everything is a risk, but as @madmark285 stated, even smaller tanks can lead to water ending up on your floor. Personally, I have 1 40breeder which might be sold today and nothing smaller than 75 gallon aquariums and I’ve had no issues. If you have the room, the difference in maintenance is dramatically easier with larger aquariums.

Float to temp and toss them into a quarantine tank. Keep an eye on them and enjoy.

@Shadow generally speaking. What size aquariums and which fish specifically do you have in mind?

@Shadow I only keep cichlids with very few other species and I agree 100%.

@Lennie That’s interesting. I have nothing smaller than a 40 gallon and have never had an ammonia spike from a sponge squeeze. It does muck up the water for a few days, but once it clears up, everything is perfect. Water parameters have never spiked.

@Lennie No I mean what was the size of the tank that you squeezed your sponge into that caused an ammonia spike?

@Lennie my guess is it’s a smallish tank? What size was it?

@KittenFishMom No I would bleach the whole thing down, but sponges would get tossed.

@Lennie I would check the expiration date on those strips. They may have been compromised in some fashion.

Let it rest, it needs time and it’ll reset for you. If you have another seeded filter, you can give a squeeze inside that aquarium. If not, patience is key.

Since you can change the setting to have a stronger or weaker air output on the current air pumps, it might make sense to get rid of the nano pumps. Especially if the manufacturer won’t modify anything.

Personally, anything with leeches or leech eggs, I’d toss away. Anything without leeches, I’d clean. It’s not worth the risk.

Yes it definitely would. I thought you meant you needed a way to cull your fish. Problem with a fish that will eat guppies and platies in its current setup is that any fish that will do that will still decimate the current fish you have.

Short body flowerhorn for a 40 or normal sized flowerhorn for a 75. My current FH is highly aggressive, but one I had years ago would attach sand. He was super entertaining.

@Shadow Imperial is about an hour from my house and they are pretty amazing, but Dans is the greatest place to order fish online. You definitely could not go wrong if you order anything from him. This is the only place I’d order from for mail delivery.

20-30 Geophagus Altifrons or Sveni or Winemilleri would look amazing in something that large. Bigger doesn’t always mean badder, it’s just bigger mouths can swallow smaller fish. If keeping 10-20 corydoras in 1 aquarium brings out different sorts of behavior, imagine the behaviors you’d get with larger fish. Toss about 100 Melanotaenia Trifasciata Goyder River and you’ve got one hell of a setup.

Barkeepers Friend (powder form) will get it out with no issues. It’s plant based so is perfectly fine to use and I haven’t seen anything it can’t remove.

This is usually how it goes with me, no matter what. Once scape is complete and tank is full, the more you stare at it, the more changes come to you based on what your eye prefers. This is why I spend basically no time in scape prep. Toss it together and move stuff around as time goes by. I’ve perfected the art of never getting it right the first time around, ever. The inhabitants will jostle stuff around, algae will grow where you didn’t plan or didn’t want it to, and that moss will grow and cover a ton of stuff if left to do so. Don’t forget there are competition style scapes and then there are practical hobbyist scapes, there’s a huge difference. As for the stones, larger stones make a bigger impact if you will, but if you can’t buy em then don’t even bother thinking about it. Just work with what you got.

1- Val 2- tiger Lotus 3- anubias 4- pothos 5- dwarf sag

1- all Rainbowfish, minus blue eyes 2- all Geophagus 3- Wakin Goldfish 4- Flowerhorn 5- High Fin Platies, high quality. I’d rather pay more money for the quality than what you find in most stores or online shops.

@nabokovfan87 It’s smart business to sell PSO because it’ll make a beginner feel like they can grow anything. With that said, I agree Erectus would be awesome, but probably can’t be bought in the volume they would need to make it viable or even profitable. I ripped it out 2 days ago and no crash or even change in water parameters. There are a ton of other plants in there but they were just covered up with the PSO.