Jump to content
Watch our video on the rules of this forum.

AdamTill

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    292

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Feedback

    0%

 Content Type 

Everything posted by AdamTill

  1. AdamTill
    Because it’s a wound and not disease, treating in another tank would be an option. That said, you don’t HAVE to treat if nothing goes badly. We had lots of fish get injuries that healed with no issue. Saltwater on an open wound doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me.
  2. AdamTill
    Pretty sure the plants won’t be okay at that level. Here’s a guide Aquarium Salt: When and How to Use It Properly WWW.AQUARIUMCOOP.COM Should aquarium salt be used in freshwater tanks? Some people recommend dosing it all the time to provide fish with essential electrolytes while others say it’s mostly used for treating diseases... Also, this is why decor and goldfish isn’t a great idea
  3. AdamTill
    Filter squeezing s might help, but water itself is not a meaningful source of filter bacteria. It just carries waste for the most part, which is why keeping it isn’t all that useful
  4. AdamTill
    Very responsible to keep only the properly formed ones, nice job
  5. AdamTill
    In a nutshell, yep
  6. AdamTill
    I qualify on a technicality because I have British citizenship, but living in Canada I can’t help sorry.
  7. AdamTill
    Just get one of those $15 infrared temp guns, easy peasy. I only have one 29 gal going right now, and I do weekly 50% changes. I have a 20 gallon trash can, and I fill it with 15 gals from 3x5 gal buckets of cold. I have a big steel cooking pot I keep for fish water and botanicals, and I fill that with cold and pop it on the stove. For all changes I’m aiming for 76F, but in summer I can get that with 90% of a boiling pot and in winter it takes the whole pot plus 2 kettles because the groundwater is so cold (still city water). I mix in place, dechlor, and pump into the tank with an electric pump. I use another pump and another line to drain. All gets stored in the can when not in use.
  8. AdamTill
    That’s what I was suspecting too.
  9. AdamTill
    Aww, they grow up so quickly! Flushed out the babies doing maintenance today and got a picture of the most photogenic one again. Also decided to add a couple of little flow pumps to the tank to get a bit more circulation going on. Otos love flow and you’ll see them more if you have it, but intakes have to be protected well or you’ll chew them up.I just have a piece of sponge protecting them right now held on by a zip tie, which is ghetto but effective. Soon I’ll make up a little acrylic housing or something similar with a sponge “cartridge” to make cleaning easier. Going to run the upper tank pump continuously and the midwater pump during the day.
  10. AdamTill
    0KH and GH would be, yes, and likely would mess with your filter. If you still have 2KH at the end of a period before you change water you’re fine though. You can add more, and you’ll likely get a slightly higher pH, but again I wouldn’t be worried about that either.
  11. AdamTill
    Generally pH and KH are strongly coupled, so raising one without the other will be difficult. GH can be raised without adding carbonates, so can be done at the same pH. Why would a slightly higher pH be a problem?
  12. AdamTill
    It’s actually more likely that the large pores will collect debris and create nitrate. The whole full cycle concept is not impossible, but difficult to setup in an average aquarium
  13. AdamTill
    You still need a regulator, though in theory it doesn’t have to be as high quality. That said, I would personally see it as a waste of money to buy a low quality regulator and then a nicer one later.
  14. AdamTill
    Not different to a normal tank from that perspective. I personally think fishless cycling is a waste of time, but that’s just me and I don’t mind monitoring and changing water. So personally I’d use a light fish load
  15. AdamTill
    We decided a few years ago to get rid of all our random mugs, and only have ones from Salty Sea Dogs. I can legitimately say they make my day better every single day. Who wouldn’t want to be casually sipping out of a puffer or shark mug during a business meeting? Underwater Friends - Salty Sea Dog Designs SALTYSEADOGDESIGNS.COM
  16. AdamTill
    Same as normal, it’ll just sit in the tee. I’m not going to bury or cover it because then as you point out it would be harder to clean
  17. AdamTill
    Well, my first ammonia test came back bright green as anticipated, so I’ll be doing a bunch of water changes until it stops leaching so badly
  18. AdamTill
    Yup, that’s the plan
  19. AdamTill
    Thanks! I think a combination of no predators and another easier to spawn species as a trigger was what helped most. I’ve kept otos in species tanks before, but they’d never bred. Most of the spawning reports I’d seen showed the otos spawning after something else did (hormone trigger?), and this seemed to be the case here. I definitely haven’t seen anyone else use water this hard though (ph 8+). One web guide even says anything above 6.5 means they’ll never breed. I think I started with 17 otos and about 10 habrosus. No clue what the current numbers are
  20. AdamTill
    You make up or buy a reference or calibration solution https://www.amazon.com/HORIBA-3200053536-Nitrate-Standard-Solution/dp/B00DD5ATB4
  21. AdamTill
    Could do top offs with RO though, the salt folks do that to keep salinity
  22. AdamTill
    In a nutshell, yes. What was the recommended dosing?
  23. AdamTill
    Got the tank flooded today, and have already learned and relearned some lessons. The “stand” might give people a giggle in that it’s actually an old 75 gallon stand that I converted to our cat’s litter box a year ago. It’s still plenty strong enough for a little 29 gal, and this should only be for a week or so. I made the mistake of leaving it out one night dry and our most mischievous cat clearly went for a look. She messed up the substrate a bit, but at least didn’t use it as a new litter box as they’ve been known to do (lost my bag of sterile seed starting soil last year to a cat with a full bladder). I also forgot that dry peat is exceptionally buoyant, and so when I flooded this one some of the peat bubbled up. I would normally have wetted it first, and I kept the cap thin because I have to move the tank at some point, but not a problem I can’t solve later. So at any rate I’ll run it this way for a week or so and see if I get any ammonia leaching. I was pleasantly surprised at the flow created by the undergravel outlet pipe, so that in concert with a little electric pump should be plenty to make sure there are no dead spots in the tank later.
  24. AdamTill
    It’s usually a case of too many nutrients with no water changes as opposed to too few, actually. A lot of fertilizer systems are designed for large water changes to avoid nutrient buildup. Likewise, a lot of tanks are stocked too heavily to avoid needing them. Both are because of excessive nutrient buildup over time. Some systems have options to minimize changes being needed (Walstad, PPS etc). They make it more critical to have a balanced tank, but it’s possible. I still personally like large water changes to avoid building up alleopathic chems and fish hormones etc, but I can see where some people might prefer a less labour intensive approach. Dirted tanks with very mild water column ferts and moderate to light stocking would be a good option.
  25. AdamTill
    Aquarist Podcast had an episode on breeding tetras with good tips. They can take baby brine earlier than most people think apparently, esp the San Fran variety
×
×
  • Create New...