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Ken Dyer

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Everything posted by Ken Dyer

  1. Ken Dyer
    So... Added the first row of 3 10's (unfortunately PetCo only had 3) and put in an order for more sponge filters and never clog air stones as a birthday present to me 😉 Will likely do a second row of 3 10's on the second shelf and then a "portrait mode" 20 long on top that I will pretend is aquascaped by jamming some wood and rocks in along with the plants and put some kribs or apistos in it to enjoy. pictures to be added once I get it a bit more setup.
  2. Ken Dyer
    I am a rebel and mix a small amount of crushed coral into my eco complete together as I like having shrimp in my tanks and "feel like" the added calcium is helpful. No cap 🙂
  3. Ken Dyer
    I typically run eco complete and a medium sponge in my 20s. The eco complete cause that is what I like and can get locally. 😉
  4. Ken Dyer
    Yeah Java moss was about the only thing I had on hand other than Susswassertang that would sink and not get too pouty when redecorated by the multies. I imagine you will see a little tussling over the best shells but eventually mine start setting up shop under a sponge filter or next to a rock. So likely you won't have to worry about a "tornado of multi death" if they get a tad crowded. 😄
  5. Ken Dyer
    Like a gas multies will expand to fill any container. I love my 40 breeder of multies but that was where I drew the line at expanding their tank. Some of the things that have helped smooth out the bickering over prime spots: Larger shells as a line of sight block. Java moss, they aren't crazy about it but can't uproot it. used as a line of site block. "spare" male endlers from the ender tank as a dither. These tend to hover at the surface near the frog bit. Overall they don't bicker too much and for a cichlid their squabbles rarely seem overly severe to me. No clue if it is my additions or they are just humoring me until they can talk me into taking over the 75G across the fishroom that I know they have their little eyes on...
  6. Ken Dyer
    Sounds like a lot of work to me, but would be similar to an auto water change system so don't see any harm in it 😉 I think the easy answer is test your water before and after the water changes to make sure you are accomplishing what you are after with the daily changes. If small daily water changes give you the results you are after then sounds like that style may work for you. I know I just don't have the gumption to do daily small water changes, but we all settle into what works best for us over time.
  7. Ken Dyer
    That can certainly happen as snails are happy to clean up your tank and have little respect for what were previously their tank mates.
  8. Ken Dyer
    The nitrates can definitely come from the fertilizer and if you have a plant substrate they frequently leach from that as well (or driftwood as it slowly breaks down). Nothing that time, plants, and a few water changes won't sort out for you 🙂
  9. Ken Dyer
    Ah, then just clean water and good food should get it right as rain in no time 🙂
  10. Ken Dyer
    Cory's surfacing for air every so often is a normal behavior, though if it was happening frequently I would assume it is stress or the need for an air stone. I just use regular tap water so can't help you much with how you are blending water to give any feedback on that. How big of an aquarium do you have? That sounds like a gob of filtration. Even my largest tank (120G) runs only 2 large sponge filters and a Fluval 406 (mostly for circulation) so it certainly doesn't sound like a lack of filtration on your end.
  11. Ken Dyer
    I am way less fancy than @Daniel. I just turn the dial on my old school light timer until the lights turn on when I want them on in the morning and let the normal schedule resume from there. So I would say yes I adjust my lights for daylight savings time as I would prefer the lights are on when I am in the fishroom and not when I am asleep or at work 😄
  12. Ken Dyer
    Rainbows are eternally hungry from my experience so glass surfing is not abnormal from what I have seen. Though I haven't seen them injure themselves with it so sounds like you may be facing a more extreme version that what I am used to. Is it being chased? How long is the tank (and what type and size is the rainbow)? And to assist with healing I like additional small (~10-20%) water changes and a little aquarium or marine salt. Sorry to hear your new fishy friend is causing stress, I know I had to stop keeping discus as the stress they caused me just wasn't worth how beautiful they were so it may be we just all have a species that isn't meant to be for us until things change up? 🙂
  13. Ken Dyer
    I have never had neons be fin nippers (but have definitely heard they can be). For my kerri tetras I noticed they nip and aggress much less if they are in larger numbers. Perhaps quarantining another batch of neons to up their numbers would calm them down? And if nothing else, more neons never sounds like a bad idea to me 😄
  14. Ken Dyer
    Sounds like a great excuse to add another tank 😉
  15. Ken Dyer
    Hi @Mmiller2001do you have a picture of the corys? Fighting disease can be very stressful as there are so many illnesses our fishy friends can come down with. It sounds like you have done the de-wormer rounds (both paracleanse and PraziPro are de-wormers) and the Ph & hardness seems fine. What temperature are you running the tank out? Other than the red gills are you seeing anything else abnormal? When I am fighting an unknown illness I tend to lower the lights and do multiple small (~10%) water changes every few days. But not knowing what may be bothering your fish I would say that if the water changes are leading to flashing you may want to test your source water as flashing is typically a general sign of skin irritation (so smaller water changes may help if the source water is irritating them). Just my thoughts and wishing you and your corys the best.
  16. Ken Dyer
    Foggy water can be a few things, usually the easiest way to tell if it is a green water bloom is to put some into a white cup and see if it has a green tint to it. Adding a second light may have caused a green water bloom, but if the cup of water looks white it may be a bacterial bloom. These can happen anytime the bacterial colony surges. There are a lot of things that can cause to a bacterial bloom, and though I personally haven't seen a Ph drop cause one it certainly would not surprise me it it did. Instead of something like PH Up I tend to prefer "slow and steady/always on" for buffering PH. For me that is crushed coral in the tank mixed into the substrate. Some folks will put crushed coral in either a HOB or canister filter as a Ph buffer, but I like the look of it (and use sponge filters) so I don't have any first hand experience using it in a filter. Hope that helps, and as always take any and all internet advice with a grain of salt. We all learn what works for us and that may not suit your style of fish keeping or your local water. Cheers! Ken
  17. Ken Dyer
    My camo'd up assassin snail out for an early morning hunt. I pull him and trim his algae every few weeks.
  18. Ken Dyer
    Such beautiful fish!
  19. Ken Dyer
    I have never seen this behavior in female guppies (have definitely seen the males harass the females, that seems like their normal mode). I think the breeder box idea is a good one and likely what I would do in your situation. Usually enough plant cover gives everyone a chance to get away from an aggressor but sounds like you have found Bonnie of the guppy world (of Bonny & Clyde). Best of luck to you and your guppies and hope Bonnie learns to relax a bit while in time out 😉
  20. Ken Dyer
    Welcome to the forums @James Black!
  21. Ken Dyer
    Wow, that is beautiful! I love the way the walls turned out. So happy for you!
  22. Ken Dyer
    Older, but maybe no wiser 😉 I highly doubt my advice is any better than the next persons. I know what works in my fishroom, but that may not work at all for the next person. I think that is half the reason I find the hobby so fascinating is you can keep on learning as long as you are willing to. The journey, not the destination as they say. As long as you aren't adding them to a "fresh tank" I don't think there is a wrong answer, but I have definitely had shrimp suffer when I was impatient and added them to a tank too soon. So now I tend to err on the side of adding them later.
  23. Ken Dyer
    The plecos and pencil fish shouldn't harass the shrimp so the order is probably less critical. I do find that the longer the aquarium has been up and running the better my shrimp do. So if you are wanting to add things in an order adding the shrimp last would likely be optimal as it would give the tank time to build up the algae/biofilm that the shrimp like to graze on all day long. If you have fish (or plan to add fish) that can harass the shrimp (betta, gouramis, cichlids, etc.) Then I tend to add the shrimp first so they can get the lay of the land and build up their numbers before the shrimplets get on the menu. You will lose some shrimp with these kinds of pairings but if the plants are dense enough it can work out but the shrimp may never really thrive depending on how much they are pestered. PS: Love your stock list, cherry shrimp and pencil fish are some of my favorites to put together! (Though sort of like cookies, my very favorites are the ones in front of me) 🙂
  24. Ken Dyer
    a school of one of: Golden or normal White Clouds Celestial Pearl Danios Brigitae Rasboras For the bottom maybe Cherry Shrimp Hillstream Loach or Ottocinclus And it looks like the Coop youtube has multiple videos full of ideas: https://www.youtube.com/c/Aquariumcoop/search?query=10 gallon
  25. Ken Dyer
    Kuhlis love being in groups so they'd love 6+ but they are very very shy so plan on rarely seeing them to set your expectations. As for the neons I'd do 10-20. Both are a light bio load so your budget may give out before you put a strain on the capacity of the filtration 😄
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