KaitieG

I totally get that for aquariums--doesn't work well for an entire house's water supply (at least not with as much laundry as we do around here!).

Thanks! This will be my project tomorrow--it's time for a water change anyway, so I'll mess around with it then and see what I can rig up! I have a pre-filter sponge on, but it never occurred to me to try a POST-filter sponge 🙂

I'm interested in this one too--there seem to be a lot of conflicting opinions. We also run a softener but only on the hot water in the house. I currently only have 2 smallish tanks, so I boil some cold (unsoftened) water to mix with the rest of the water in 5 gallon buckets and therefore avoid the softened water for the fish. It's still kind of a pain, and I'm not sure what my move would be if all my water was softened and I didn't want to use the unsoftened water because of something other than the calcium I have. If you have a bypass to the softener (most systems do) you could maybe run some sort of iron filter and skip the softener? Depending on the location/accessibility that may or may not be practical. I've heard a few people recommend switching to potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride, but I priced that last week and the cost difference is nuts (Sodium=$5/bag Potassium=$29/bag)--it might make sense if I was only using it for fish tanks, but I can't see buying $29/bag salt for doing laundry and dishes and showers! I'm really hoping you get a bunch of people who say "No problem! Soften away!" 🙂

In all honesty I focused a lot more on learning about keeping fish happy than keeping aquatic plants happy. The Anubias did fine so I figured things should be okay for floating plants too. That being said, I've realized my lighting really isn't good (despite the anubias) and I'm probably missing trace nutrients and/or they're tied up because I do have very high calcium hardness. I found a good sale on glass lids and actual plant lights (yeah--probably should have started there a while ago!) and will be updating to those whenever they get here. And then I looked around and found what sounds like a decent trace mineral only fertilizer--I have plenty of nitrate so I don't really want to add more of that at this point I don't think. I'll let you know what happens after I've changed those things for a few weeks! I'll have to figure out how to get my hands on a few more floating plants in the middle of winter, too, to test out the new system! The LFS doesn't sell any of them.

I think it's a little hard to say where you are in your cycle for sure. One thing about the API test kit for nitrates is that you have to really smack the bottle around on the counter and shake it until it feels like your arm is going to fall off to break up the crystals inside if you're going to get accurate results. I learned that when I was trying to start my first tank and kept waiting and waiting and waiting for nitrates to appear. Finally took a sample to the LFS and was shocked at how vigorously she shook those nitrate bottles. I'm certainly not as experienced as a lot of other people here, but I don't think you need to worry about the trace amounts of ammonia given the recent guppy experience and filter change--it sounds pretty normal to me and as long as it drops down in the next week or two and doesn't get a lot higher, you should be totally fine. A starter like @Ken Burke suggested might really help get things going/recovered, if you can get your hands on one. It won't hurt anyway! And you can dose with something like Seachem Prime while you wait for ammonia to go to zero. Your goal is not to eliminate anything that can turn into ammonia--you're just trying to build up enough bacteria to process the ammonia you're producing. So, it helps if you can do that slowly--like you saw with adding the whole group of guppies at once, if you add a lot of fish at one time it can cause an ammonia spike until the bacteria catch up, even if your tank is fully cycled.. That actually makes me think of something else--if you are dosing with something like Prime, just know that you're still going to get ammonia readings because the ammonia is still there--it's just "tied up" for 24-48 hours so that it can't hurt your fish. If it helps at all, here's how I added fish to my newly cycled 20 gal because I was really worried about causing a spike--I didn't have any blips: -Week 1: 3 White clouds -Week 3: 4 more white clouds -Week 4: 3 Cory Habrosus (they're little like pygmies) -Week 6: 3 more of the corys -About a year later--5 guppies (which quickly turned into a lot more) Not saying you need the year long gap or anything--I was just trying to decide what I wanted to do. But the basic plan that worked for me was that I only added a few fish at a time to give everything a chance to adjust. I made sure my ammonia went to 0 for at least a few days before adding anything new. It definitely gets a lot easier to add things once you have your tank established. Like, last week I donated about 3 male guppies and replaced them with 12 neons and everything's gone very smoothly there (so far). If you want guppies you might get things settled and then add a single female or just a pair or something like that--they'll grow the population automatically for you, and the handy thing is that the fry start out super tiny and the amount of bioload they produce grows right along with your biological filter!

Ours all made it through the playdoh too--I caught it relatively quickly and got some of it out while it was still in lumps. The rest took multiple rounds with the gravel vac and huge water changes but cleared up within about 3 days, and she is much better with the fish now. She was only about one at the time. I'm still not totally sure how she managed to get the playdoh in there!

This seriously made my night! I couldn't help but laugh because it's just so HAPPY! So cool!

My 10 year old likes to feed, my 7 year old likes to gravel vac, and my almost 3 year old is only allowed near the tanks with constant supervision after she put handfulls of play-doh in the 20 gallon the first week we had it because she wanted to add some decorations. Electronics can be safer and less messy 🙂

Great video! I'm a teacher too, and I loved seeing that fantastic explanation and setup of a classroom tank! What a great thing to have in a classroom! I have a co-worker who has a big tank...maybe a 250...in his office and he teaches in front of it all day! I'd love that setup, but my office is on the second story of a 100+ year old house, so it couldn't be anything big (5th year teaching middle school online--on purpose!) And small one would still mean hauling water up and down the stairs for water changes. Though, come to think of it, that might be a good incentive for some exercise!

I have a sponge and a HOB--the flow could be an issue as I usually stick the floating plant ring over the sponge filter because it's farther from the HOB, which creates quite a strong flow. I'm leaning towards trying an undergravel and sponge setup in the new tank, so I'll see how it goes with that. Good to know it's possible to use with lids. Thank you!

That is such a fun tank! I love the yellow guy in the middle of this picture! So interesting to see what you end up with! I think I'm going to start off with the guppies I have and see what their babies look like and go from there. I'd like to try a couple of the larger mollies and some platies too. Overrun means that when I got my original 5 guppies I thought they'd eat most of their fry. They didn't eat any of them. I only fed once a day and err on the side of underfeeding. I fed a few a day to an ADF we had for a little while before he went back to the LFS for someone else to adopt him and hand feed him live food--not my thing), ended up with at least 50 adults after separating sexes and only had a 20 and a 10 to put them in. And they had to share with the cories and white clouds. I don't want to end up with, say 1000 guppies in a 90 gallon either 🙂 And that's what seems like it could happen without someone to eat most of them! Maybe mine were just exceptionally considerate parents.

I think you've totally got what I am going for 🙂 The red/orange/yellow mollies and platys are my favorites, though I do like the black ones too, and I love albino corys--and pretty much all the other kinds too.

Looking these up right now! Very cool! I'm seeing a max temp for the Goodeids of about 74-75 and a min for angels at about 78. Thoughts about who could deal with hotter or colder, out or are they not a good option together?

Thanks! I think so too, and that was the way I was leaning, but wanted to get some more input too! I appreciate it! I'm wanting to add some rock to this one--haven't used it before, only driftwood in the smaller tanks. That's a great suggestion! I'm going to try floating plants ONE MORE TIME with this tank--I've killed every variety I've ever tried...even duckweed (3 times!)

Thanks! This is all so helpful! Here's what I ended up with after donating the gray females. Top pic is males...they all basically look the same. Bottom is females... I love how the females look! This maybe should go in the breeding section, but any suggestions on traits or colors that might combine well to get me started?

There are lots of questions here, but I'm really just looking for ideas. I'd love thoughts on any/all of these. I'm looking at setting up my first big tank--a 75 or 90 gallon depending on the best deal I can find. I'd like to do a mix of livebearers--guppies for sure and then thinking of adding in a few platys or mollies. We have the hard water for it, I think guppies are some of the prettiest fish out there, and I'll have a perpetual supply of fish that's always changing. I like that the platies/mollies get a somewhat larger and can add some variety, but guppies are definitely my favorites. I started out with 5 community guppies from Twin City Guppies and ended up with the 2nd generation of males all being dark blue/black delta tails and very pretty females with large yellow and black tales. I'm planning to move some of these over out of the smaller tanks, but I'd also like to end up with some more color. The females are virgin at this point and could be mixed with anything. Right now everyone's pretty but also all the same. So here are my questions: 1. Do I just get the cheap assorted guppies at my LFS this time and pick out the colors I want? Throw one each in with a female in a breeding box for an hour and see what I end up with? 2. Do I spend A LOT more money on higher end breeding pairs the colors I want when I'm not planning on trying to breed true--just wanting variety? Will they end up imparting better genetics and make better fish? Anyone have a good source suggestion for these if that's the case? I honestly don't think I'm prepared to spend $50 plus shipping for 2 fish from Twin City, and I can't pick anything out for the community selection. I could see swinging $20-$25 a pair if it would lead to better fish down the road. 3. How many guppies/platties/mollies would you recommend starting with in a 75/90 gallon tank? My thought is to start out "slowly" with livebearers--I know the population will EXPLODE after about a month--and then add a single angel to manage fry population and because I've always wanted one. I'm hoping if the tank is planted up a FEW fry will make it but not enough to overrun everything. People with lots more experience--think that will work? My LFS is an hour away and only accepts guppies for donation at this point, so there's not a big market for fry, and I'd like to keep my water changes down to about weekly--not daily! 4. Unrelated to the fish--does anyone have suggestions on substrate/plants that would look particularly good with this kind of setup?

I sure wish someone had told me about cycling aquariums and properly sized betta tanks when I bought mine! I took the advice of the pet store employee who seemed to know what she was talking about, but it wasn't good advice. I think there are a couple issues that make this pretty complex though-- 1. The information is out there, but people have to care enough to seek it out BEFORE they start. Yes, I got bad advice from the pet store who wanted to sell me a fish when I wanted to buy one, but I should have planned and researched better instead of going on a whim. I still feel bad about that fish, but it has served as great motivation to plan ahead and do better because I saw what happened because of my poor decision making. I can take responsibility for that and do better. 2. Giving advice about things people have done unintentionally is difficult--it's easy to just induce shame and resentment and embarrassment rather than the desire to improve. For example, if someone goes to the doctor and the doctor tells them to lose weight, that's the doctor's job. But if you're just some person walking around telling strangers "Wow! You really need to go on a diet!" you're not going to be helping anyone. 3. I think this has to largely come from people who are selling the fish--it's their job to help people make good decisions... but it's also their job to sell fish. I think it's pretty hard to turn down sales and tell people "You have NO IDEA what you're doing--go do some research and then come back." And it's hard for the person set on bringing home a fish for a birthday present to accept that they need to spend a month cycling their tank! Basic fish care requirements are a lot more complicated than care for a dog or cat--an they're not as popularly known. The more the info is available on great sites and you tube, though, the more people are going to start learning, and the more people there will be who can pass on the good info to friends and family who call them saying "I think I want to get a fish. You have an aquarium--where do I start?"

I know that when I was trying to cycle my first tank a couple years ago, I kept testing and testing and testing and waiting for nitrates to appear with the API test kit...nothing. After several weeks, I finally took it to my LFS, and they tested for me. Nitrates were there all right--I learned that you have to shake and shake and even bang the bottle on the counter and shake some more to get the solution to work. It seems to form crystals inside the bottle and then there's not enough of whatever reacts with the nitrate suspended in the bottle solution to work unless you break up the crystals. I have a hard time reading the colors on the chart as well--20--40--80? --depends on the light, but if you think nitrates should be there, and you're not seeing them, give banging and shaking a try 🙂 Another option would be Tetra test strips--Cory did a video comparing them to the API kit and they come out quite accurate, easier to use, and cheaper (esp. if you cut them in half lengthwise). They match for me when I do both, and I find the colors SLIGHTLY easier to read than API. You could see what they say about nitrate and get an idea if it's an issue with using the API test or if the water is actually nitrate free.

So, I love the looks of tanks without covers and would love to try that out. Here's my concern, but maybe this belongs in a different section--with very hard water, would the increased evaporation end up just perpetually making my already hard water even harder over time? As I understand it, the minerals in the water don't evaporate, so do I need to be topping off then with RO or distilled water to keep things stable (it really doesn't need any help being harder!).

I've tried different floating plants in my tanks: -Duckweed (large and regular (twice)) turns white and dies -Frogbit--melts and disappears -Salvinia--melts and disappears -Water Sprite--down to about 1/3 of what I added 6 weeks ago--turning brown and falling apart Hornwort--this one might have worked, but it dropped needles and clogged up my siphon so much that it drove me NUTS and I removed it. I've tried free-floating and having feeding rings around the HOB filter output and having rings around the floating plants--none of those have fixed the issues. I have very hard water (LFS made a guess that this might be the issue) and a cover on the tank with just the LEDs that came with the kit, not plant lights. I'm wondering if they don't get enough airflow and/or if the light is insufficient. Nitrates are always between 20 and 40. My anubias grow great--slowly, but very nice looking. Java fern is decent. I love the look of floating plants and I could use the help with nitrates. I really want to be able to grow something--any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I'd really appreciate any suggestions!

Very cool! I like your root!

I just have gravel as a substrate, and Anubias and Java fern work great for live plants b/c you can glue or tie them to a piece of driftwood or a rock and they just feed from the water. Makes it easy to disassemble the tank and move stuff around too 🙂

I'm brand new here, too, but I had the same thing happen with the first betta I brought home and put in an uncycled tank. The pet store said the same thing--"they're hardy, here's some water conditioner." And that wasn't even Prime--just a dechlorinator which I didn't need on our well water. He also always hung out trying to hide behind the filter and in the back of the tank. Prime's a big help, but my guess is it's the tank cycling that's making him uncomfortable. The testing kit can help you with figuring out water changes, too, and I've personally had pretty decent luck with kick starting a cycle with Tetra SafeStart. It's definitely not instant, but it might not hurt to give it a try to see if you can get some bacteria going in there!

Hello! I always wanted an aquarium as a kid--I finally built the one I wanted a couple years ago at 32 after being irresponsible and purchasing a betta for my son on a whim. Didn't know anything about cycling tanks, got a 2 gallon and thought it was great, then the betta wasn't looking so good after a couple days, so I started to research AFTER bringing him home (oops) and figured out everything I'd done wrong (so much for pet store advice--but I should have done my research!). I started working on getting the 20 gallon replacement set up, but he died before it was ready. So, we started over with the research FIRST this time, and we've had fun with it for the last couple years! We have very hard water (300 GH, 200 KH) that comes out of the tap at 7.4 but ends up at 8.2-8.4 once it sits in the tank a couple days. I still haven't figured that one out but must have something to do with aeration in the tank. The driftwood didn't fix it. I've found Aquarium Coops videos and blogs to be the single most helpful resource in this hobby, and this forum seems super helpful, inviting, knowledgeable, and friendly! Current tanks: 20 Gal with 6 male guppies, 5 habrosus corys (my favorites!), 6 amano shrimp, and a dozen new neons (they're an experiment to see how they handle our water--not too hopeful, but I've always wanted to give them a try!), along with a couple (wanted) nerite and ramshorn snails and dozens of (unwanted) tadpole snails that I remove a couple times a week. Planted with Java Fern and Anubias and trying a Red Sword that's doing pretty well. The Anubias are the happiest--they even flower occasionally. 10 Gal "we're overrun with guppy fry" tank designed by the kids (9, 6, and 2) with 5 female guppies, a betta, some snails, and the silicone jellyfish and rainbow gravel my kids were dying to have! Tank in the planning stages: 75 or 90 gallon as a living room showpiece (instead of a TV)--leaning towards mixed livebearers and an angel (there are some locally raised ones that are hard-water ready). But have to be sure the angel (plus something else maybe?) can manage the fry. I ended up with dozens to donate to the LFS from the 5 guppies we started with! They never ate their own fry. Not a single one!