KaitieG

I've had this same issue with my 110 and know exactly what you're talking about. At first it didn't happen for me and then got worse and worse over time. More mulm and gunk shooting out of the filter after I would turn it on from cleaning it. Super frustrating when I'd just changed the water and cleaned the tank. I'd rinse the sponges and other media and the media basket, so it wasn't coming from there. I figured it out last week. The answer is that yes, you have to clean out the reservoir on the filter itself. Not necessarily every time you rinse the media, but periodically. There is a shocking amount of mulm and gunk that builds up in the housing of the filter itself. At least I was shocked! It's a pain to take the whole filter off the tank, and I think the turkey baster idea would accomplish a lot of the same thing so long as you do it pretty regularly. A turkey baster wouldn't have handled mine! It could at least extend the time between the unhooking the whole filter thing. But cleaning the filter box itself out didn't turn out to be that bad of a job once I knew to do it.

I think you can keep one solo. I got 3 for my 95 gallon, knowing there could be issues but hoping it was a big enough tank to manage it. 2 Females and 1 male. Hoped they'd make a trio, but no luck. Two paired up and then bullied the third one, not letting her out of one corner of the aquarium. Moved her into her own community tank and the pair is in the 95 gallon. All three do fine...going on 3 years now. They are definitely territorial when they lay eggs, but then they eat them themselves, so go figure.

I had the Habrosus in a 20 gal but looks like they can go smaller than that and that a 10 would be ok. They're the same size as pygmies.

I had Corydoras Habrosus with my WCCM and they were super fun, if you're looking for a bottom dweller to add to the mix.

I've successfully kept amano and cherry shrimp in my super hard water that runs 1/2 through a softener. 1/2 because the hot water, like yours, is all softened to try to avoid ruining our water heater. We don't soften the cold water that goes to our kitchen sink, and I usually fill from there. That said, I didn't ever add EXTRA salt, so can't speak to that one. Just that I haven't had an issue with the partially softened water thing. I did have trouble getting shrimp started a couple of times. Had the best luck when I found a local hobbyist on Craigslist. Did learn that you cannot put an angelfish with them if you want ANY to survive for more than 1 day...with moss, a shrimp cave, wood, rocks, all the hiding places. Angelfish was a lot deadlier than the water softener. 😒

I make mine in a bowl and cut it into chunks or into a little cup and then cover with plastic wrap and scoop it out with a spoon to feed.

All of my ammonia test strips are pre-light greenish yellow before they ever come out of the bottle. They aren't a nice fresh yellow, even before I use them. I have been figuring that if they don't change, I'm still pretty good. It's yellow-er than the lowest ammonia reading color on the bottle label, but they're also greener than the yellow 0 ammonia on the back of the bottle. But overall, I'd say having it read at 0 is good 🙂

I've had success in two of my 5 tanks, ever. I was successful with dwarf water lettuce to the point that it took over the whole top of a 95 gallon and my 10 gallon, but then I cleared out about half of it, and the rest just slowly died over the next couple months after that. I also had duckweed take over the 95 at one point. Cleaned out most of it and the rest died off. I don't get it. Frogbit, red root floaters, water spangles, etc. have all died.

Sounds like maybe YOU would also benefit from an RO system...you and your fish. In which case, go for it!! Here are my experiences with the hard water thing: I have extremely hard water. PH 8.0-8.2, off the charts GH and KH on the test strips. I've had REALLY good luck with most fish from local breeders...even found a guy who breeds angelfish in rock hard water, and those have done great. But I've also had good luck with **most** of the softer water species I've tried. Please note, these are only my PERSONAL experiences... FISH Guppies have done well, I have had between 50 and 300 at any given time...but ones I started with didn't live very long once they moved here (despite being from a very reputable breeder). All of the offspring have done very, very well. I think they adapt over a generation or two. Molllies and Swordtails have done fairly well. Not as well as guppies. Could just be me. Habrosus Corys and various Aneus Corys have done extremely well (breed and occasionally survive even in my community tanks!) Bristlenose Plecos have done great (same as Corys...breeding and healthy) Bettas seem to live a year or two in my water. Neons did fine and I didn't loose any until I did a major tank overhaul and move, and then I had some disease issues pop up. White clouds did well. Ember tetras have done well. Glass Catfish are too new to have a longevity report, but no issues with acclimating, and they're really marginal. Snails do great. Angelfish from local hard water breeder...awesome! Neocardina shrimp did great when I got them from a local person. PLANTS Valisinaria 10/10 Anubias 10/10 Java Fern 5/10 Pogostemmon Stelatus Octopus (8/10) Crypts (8/10) Red Flame Sword (10/10) Dwarf Sag (10/10) Floating Plants...I have the HARDEST time with these. Either overrun or all gone. All this to say, I think it's a good idea to try to work with what you have unless you have a very specific fish that is known to be touchy and needs very specific conditions. My local fish stores use RO water too, mostly because they have it and they also do salt water. They say they have few issues with people transitioning fish into the almost all hardwater setups around here.

I purchased several giant sailfin mollies from an LFS a week ago. They're in QT right now with guppies and corydoras. Have treated with ParaCleanse. I've never had issues with fungus/ich before, so usually just watch for those before treating in QT but always do parasites with livebearers. The white male molly started periodically swimming vertically last night and I see that there are some raised white dots along fins and body. Also now has fluffy looking growth near/in mouth with a red spot in mouth. He is eating when I feed (sparingly), but definitely not looking great. Hard to get a picture that's even halfway decent with the white on white. Everybody else in the tank looks good so far. Parameters are stable, and I have extremely hard water (like the color is off the charts on the coop strips hard), so I was hoping I'd avoid some of the issues with mollies transitioning from brackish water. Thoughts/suggestions?

My first fish died...didn't do much (any) research beforehand and listened to the pet store. Whoops! Then I felt SO bad...started to research and research and research. Now we have 5 tanks, healthy fish, and it's turned into a great hobby. Don't beat yourself up! This is a great place to start learning!

My fish in my 95 gallon are noticeably more active in the lower levels of the tank since adding a large airstone. No detrimental effects on plants.

I can also attest to the ability of glass covers to keep cats out of fish tanks. I've gone to glass on all of mine. On my 95 gallon, I wanted to put my HOB filter on the SIDE of the aquarium instead of in back, so I had a piece of glass cut for that side to give room. HOB filters work just fine with the glass tops with the plastic to use for cutouts so long as you actually hang them on the back. It's a lot more convenient to feed and clean with the commercial hinged lids than with the solid piece of glass, but they definitely both keep out cats.

I've kept several bettas with guppies without problems. First time I tried it was to manage the population explosion like @KittenFishMom. For me, they got along fine with the guppies, but they didn't eat many (if any) fry so it wasn't an effective population management tool. As always YMMV.

I would also recommend white clouds. They're cheap, hardy, don't need a heater, and I personally really like the looks of the gold ones. Also can't go wrong with a group of smaller corys. I agree with size recommendation of 20 gal or larger both for easier maintainence and for flexibility in the future. Plants like anubias are easy and beautiful, and throwing in a stem of pothos to grow out of the tank really helps with nitrates. I think either sand or gravel is fine but wouldn't do white sand. Too hard to keep looking good. A couple mystery or nerite snails would be a good addition too.

I also have well water, but it's pretty good. For the others I know around here with well water that has iron issues (there are definitely issues with that in areas of our state), the filtration system is the only thing I know of to deal with it. The ACO test strips or tetra test strips have been pretty accurate and good for me in the past, along with the master test kit. Strips are just a lot faster for overall water quality.

Thrift store? Walmart? Dollar store? Grocery store? Top Secret Mission into your mom's sock drawer? Otherwise, if you know anyone with a fabric stash, chiffon or finer netted varieties of lace work pretty decent too. I had trouble with really fine mesh (like nylons) getting clogged up with debris, so I currently have a piece of old lace curtain over my Big Tank Syphon. Not sure if I'd be totally confident of it not sucking up tiny fry or shrimplets though. Hence the yogurt container for the "little guys" tanks. 🙂

I use a plastic yogurt container and scoop water into a larger pail so I can double check it before I dump it outside on my shrimp tanks. It's cheap and effective.

I used the medium blasting sand like that and it has worked great in my 95 gallon for two years.

The angels eat ALL the guppy fry but very rarely go after adults. The guppies do nip on each other sometimes.

That might be doable with the 20 gallon, but I don't think I'm going to do it in the 95 😁

The thing I don't particularly like about my MTS is that they are SHARP. They tend to get into my sponge filters/intakes and then I have to be really careful squeezing and cleaning them out so I don't stab myself. I didn't introduce them on purpose, and I know they can be beneficial in sand substrate, which I have in my big tank, but I wouldn't have them if I had a choice. But I don't so I live with it.

Not gonna lie, getting the sticker in my order was one of the things I most looked forward to with Coop purchases. I get the shipping cost issues--rates have gone nuts, but it still makes me kind of sad.

Welcome! I'm from South Central Wisconsin, northwest of Madison. Nice to have another cheesehead around!

I'm a little unclear about your corydora question--are you loooking at 3 pygmy corys and 3 Kulhli loaches? Or are you looking at 3 each of the tiny varieties of corys (3 pygmy, 3 habrosus, 3 hastatus, etc.)? In a 12 gallon with those dimensions, I think you'd be good anywhere in the range of a total combined population of 10-15 pygmy corys and Kuhlis. They do have very small bioloads in general. Both fish tend to like somewhat larger groups, so I'd probably look at getting at least 6 of each.