reefhugger

I was having a dreadful time with green dust algae and staghorn algae. For the staghorn I turned of the HOB filter, and squirted Seachem Flourish Excel directly on the algae with a syringe, being careful to not exceed daily dosage limits. Filter would go back on 10 minutes later. For the green dust I'd scrape it off then do a water change. Then started adding Easy Carbon every day and Easy Green weekly. These together worked beautifully. Got the aquarium plants growing nicely and starved out the algae. I had way to much algae for my snails or Hillsteam loaches to get rid of. My dwarf lilies took much longer to sprout than I expected. They were worth the wait but had me skeptical for a bit.

1. I vaguely remember having a guppy tank as a kid, back when guppies looked...well plain. Several years ago I wanted my husband to defocus on political unhappiness and onto something happier and fulfilling. I heard him mention an aquarium he had years ago and thought this might help. Didn't grab his interest but it surely did mine. So our first tank was a 55 gallon community tank with Mollies and 2 Angel fish. It's still going strong and has helped me learn a great deal. 2. A recent 75 gallon "schooling fish" tank with Rainbow fish Tetras and Corydoras. Lots of plants. I had a time with staghorn algae which Easy Carbon has really helped. It's the first tank I carefully planned. Its lovely. 3. I can't fathom why it took me so long to find this forum! I was looking for info on algae bloom. I shop regularly form Co-op so how did I miss the forum? This is now my go-to for information and friendly talk. 4. Agree with MAC 100%....timers are wonderful. Also I rigged up a hose hookup on a nearby shower to fill my tanks. And added a long length of tubing to my gravel vac that runs outdoors. Yes, its a bit slower than the ones attached to a faucet but works just fine. These make tank changes sooo much easier than lugging buckets or garbage cans. 5. Just about everything....the more I learn the more I realize I don't know. The hardest part is separating the facts from the pervasive"common knowledge" out there in fish world. 6. I had a beautiful silver Molly named Catherine I loved with all my heart. Came to find her dead one day. Still haunted by "what did I miss". 7. I do weekly changes on all four tanks. Maybe don't need to on the first tank I set up but feel the 20 and 15 gallon need them. So I've got the gear out ...might as well. 8. Is there a better? Both have advantages. The larger tanks (I think) are more forgiving because of the larger volume....I think I'd advise a beginner to go larger than smaller until they are comfortable with water parameters. The small tanks are fun as nano fish are a treat, and are fun to decorate with plants. 9. A few days ago my cat Buddy and I watched the Rainbows zipping around flashing colors and playing. Sigh. Beautiful. 10. Copying MAC again....live baby brine shrimp. Although the two Angels look at me like I've lost my mind.. "really? where's the real food?"

I looks like moss to me as well. I've had some newer tank algae issues so looked at a million pictures of algae.

I wish I could remember where I read to not use a heater inside the hatching tank. I use a incandescent bulb in a small lamp placed near the hatchery. It took a bit of experiment to get the distance correct but it works fine.

Blue snails! What a wonderful shade of blue. I also love snails, although I've so far stuck with Mystery Snails. Since they lay eggs in a bunch I figured it is easy to control the population. Good theory. In practice I haven't brought myself to remove any clusters. Oh well.

I went to a local welding shop with my regulator in hand. The owner couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. He showed and explained the entire hookup process for me as I was a bit nervous about any compressed gas. Anyway, I left with a shiny CO2 tank, knowledge on how to hook it up, and knowing to just bring it back when empty for another tank. No worries about refills. The tank itself is shiny and nice, even though it winds up out of view. I did initially purchase the regulator form the Co-op, but it leaked. The customer service being profoundly excellent refunded my money after viewing a video. I chose to purchase another elsewhere and its running flawlessly.

I hatched bbs for the first time recently as well. I have to laugh at myself for not comprehending the difference between bbs and frozen brine shrimp. Geesh. So I've started a bit down the rabbit hole of raising some of them to a larger size for some of the fish. I've learned much of the nutrition of bbs is due to the egg sac still attached which quickly declines as the critter grows. Still researching if feeding them as they grow keeps the protein content high enough. I have rainbow fish which are still small, and they swarmed the bbs. Guppies and fry, small tetras, platies and corys consumed them as well. The angel fish and mollies looked at me like I was joking.

This is such a good post for me to read through as I have the same addiction to overfeeding. Having them group at the glass screaming at me how hungry they are....it's tough to ignore. This is where my "big brain" is supposed to kick in reminding me that I am doing them harm. So I've instituted a weekly schedule mixing types of food and adding a fasting day. With any luck scraping algae off the sides will also remind me that plants alone can't fend off my foolishness . There. I've gone public with this. Good first step.

Sort of the fish equivalent of "hey...hold my beer and watch this".

Okay, I know this is a bit silly....it's "just guppies". But I Got Babies! First time fish momma and I'm so psyched about it. Tiny little specs of fish swimming about. Doing a water change yesterday was nerve wracking as it seems the wee critters were determined to get swept into fish oblivion and I had to stare fixedly at the tube to prevent that. Geesh that was a long sentence. Anyway, I'm happy.

What a splendid idea!

I live in Central Florida so was concerned about hurricane damage. Last time we had a direct hit the power was out for a week. At the time I didn't have fishes to worry about, but now I do. I stocked up on some inexpensive nano pumps and battery packs for usb devices, which are good for two smaller tanks but also put out plenty of air to run large sponge filters. I actually use those nano pumps plugged in anyway because they are so quiet. I got a power converter that uses a car type battery for the big tanks to run hobs and heaters if needed. We were so lucky this year and didn't need to use them. But I'm glad to have some of that anxiety relived.

Enjoyed this post with my morning coffee...well written if I say so myself.

JoeQ I've read to just leave green dust algae, and it will run through its life cycle and die off. Is there any merit to that?

I'm so grateful you posted it was sarcasm. My head was on the verge of exploding 😖

LOL I am an Oh no algae person. I've been keeping tanks for only a few years and still struggle with parameters and conditions. I've been having a dreadful time recently with green dust algae in three out of four tanks. I want (somehow) to have some algae for my beloved Mystery snails and Hillstream loaches but not nearly the dreadful mess I've got now. I'm going to read JoeQ's blog right now!

Not exactly pickles, but greatly loved my me are Mt. Olives Sweet Hot Peppers. I use them on sandwiches and salads. Sadly stores around here run out of them all the time. If I were a better person I'd try to find a recipe similar to them and make my own.

I'm dealing with this right now as well, and watched the video on Aquarium Co -op on dealing with ick....its been very helpful as its loaded with information.

I've got four tanks: a 55 gallon community, a 20 and 15 long for little fish, and a 70 gallon. All have live plants and I am trying CO2 on the 70. The 70 is new so I'm holding my breath as we work through the opening chapters.

I also live in an area without much in the way of lfs. I've ordered from Aquatic Arts with good success several times. I also recently purchased from Dan's Fish and was very happy. They bag each fish individually and ship overnight. Yes, the shipping cost is high, but the fish get here quickly which is important. One nice thing is Aquatic Arts sometimes has nice sales which help.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. And I will post some photos. I love getting ideas from others. Patrick_G you have some beautiful tanks!

Hi everyone. I started the aquarium addiction about 3 years ago with a 55 gallon community tank. I've learned so much about how much there is to learn. Now I've got 15 and 20 gallon nano tanks, and just set up a 70 gallon schooling fish tank ( rainbow fish and tetras). I've listened to many of Cory and Irenes's videos for guidance and ideas. (I also rely on Prime Time Aquatics) . Generally I've been hesitant to engage in social media as it seems generally negative and loaded with unreliable information. But this seems like a good forum .....so Hi!