Dawn T

I hear you. NOT a fan of those myself. Don't care for any of those glow/glo-fish. I LOVE zebra danios, but they became hard to get here for a long while (haven't looked for them recently). Leopard danios were available, but their color pattern never appealed to me. That's actually how I ended up with the giant danios, which of course, turned out to be a very good thing since that convict's favorite pastime was murdering other fish. My previous convict cichlid had been a great community member, so I wasn't prepared for him to be so violent. I think that first one gave me a false sense of security. That one was a female, where the serial killer was a male. I'm not sure if that's related or not, but I'll probably never have one again unless I have a large tank with someone bigger than them or FASTER like those giant danios.

I agree with above. I've got ramshorns in all of my tanks. They WILL eat holes in leaves with weak points. Also, if there's algae on the plants, in removing the algae, they can sometimes scrape too much and damage the leaf, leaving holes. Plecos can do the same thing. Oh, but I have had them demolish thin, less hardy leafed plants. I've got Pogostemon stellatus 'octopus' in both of my 29g tanks, plus a tank in our church office. The snails have done a number on one of my tanks while leaving the plant alone in the other tank (higher light, so healthier plant no doubt), and completely ate the church office 'octopus' down to nubs and are eating holes in the Anubias nana (had an algae bloom on it until I adjusted the light). The church tank also contains Crypt wendtii, and the snails haven't touched those at all.

Kept the convict busy, too, trying to catch one occasionally. Since there was a school of them and they stayed in the top part of the tank, while he spent most of his time in the lower portion, it worked. They outlived him. LOL

Had that issue in our previous town. They OVERchlorinated the water so badly a couple of times a year, I couldn't hardly stand to take hot showers because of the fumes. I OVER treated with dechlorinator during those times, or left the water sit for at least 24 hours if I could before using it. Thankfully haven't had that issue where we live now, but I still pay attention for it. @TonyRs5It truly is bizarre that only the Leporinus were affected by whatever. I don't remember reading anything about special sensitivities for that species over others, but it's been a while since I looked into them (a friend bought some a long while back). I hope you find answers though!

Giant danios work work with even aggressive Paradise Fish individuals. That's the one species (aside from a pleco) I was able to successfully keep with a serial killer convict cichlid, since he couldn't catch them. LOL

I agree with many of the above about 29g MINIMUM for a single angel, as far as long-term confinement/display tank type of setup. I kept my angels (had 4 at that time) in a 55g when they were young and moved them into a 125g when they got bigger. Those fins got HIGH, and those girls and boys grew FAST. A 10g is fine temporarily for a very small, young angel, or for one who needs to be quarantine for a bit, but for an adult long-term? Definitely wouldn't be a good idea. They need room for those beautiful fins as well as room to swim. Oh, and my 55g and 125g tanks were communities, so the angels weren't in there alone. Just thought I'd note that. LOL

I researched this recently and found it varies depending on the type of epoxy used. I'd stick with the fish-safe epoxy sold for ponds.

Simple answer, well, two really: 1 - I don't want wild-caught fish (if I was involved in conservation breeding, it'd be different, but I'm not interested in doing that); AND 2 - I don't want to deal with any possible licensing issues or risk breaking the law by having something that may be illegal to possess where I live.

I do like @Bev C and keep my notes for each tank in a notebook. Spiralbound multi-subject in my case. I found, if I have to enter data on the computer, it never gets done, but old school handwritten gets it done. For each tank, I keep track of: 1 - species of fish; 2 - species of plants, both submerged AND emergent; 3 - lighting schedule, which gets updated if I make any changes to it (usually only happens when I'm trying to dial in a new tank); 4 - I do weekly water testing as part of my routine maintenance. If things like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are 0, I don't make a note. If they're anything else, I make a note of the one that's above 0 and what it is. My pH, GH, and KH stay pretty consistent. If they change, I make a note of that. 5 - top offs get noted with a simple "TO" next to the date; 6 - plants trimmed or thinned, both whether it was a trim or thinning and which species; 7 - filter maintenance, which filter and what kind of maintenance was done (since I've switched to sponge filters for most tanks, those notes are simpler now); 8 - fertilization notes Oh, and 9 - any illnesses or deaths are noted, though thankfully those are rare

Switched to a sponge filter for this tank, instead of running an air stone (on an AC nano USB air pump) and an internal filter (only coarse sponge media) for water circulation. While putting the sponge filter into place, it got caught on something behind the log decoration I shoved it behind. I leaned down to see what it was caught on and saw a long Anubias nana rhizome poking out. I couldn't shove it back up, so I decided to pull it forward and just trim it off. It kept coming! By the time it stopped coming and I met resistance, it was over a foot long! I gave it a quick yank toward the base of it and it popped free. After I pulled it out, I looked at the rest of the tank. The Anubias in there didn't look like I'd touched it! This part was behind the decoration, hiding. I had NO idea it was back there! It wasn't there a year ago when I redid this tank. For now, I dropped it into a 5g almost bare tank that I've been using as a QT. It covers the entire length of that tank, plus a bit more. I told my mom I need a bigger tank just for handling plant overflow. LOL

I use a medium sponge on the AC nano USB pump, and a large sponge on an AC nano USB pump - both in 29g tanks. Both are doing a great job. The pumps have NO problem with the depth of the tank.

Added some Hygrophila difformis and Cryptocoryne parva 'mini' for a bit more texture and to fill things in a bit more. Also, added some Salvinia minima for floaters. The potted Bolbitis in the back left corner is temporary. I wanted to try Bolbitis, since I've never had it before, and I just dropped it in there to see how it does before I make a decision about where I want it placed more permanently. Not sure if it'll stay in this tank or go into one of my others.

The USB Nano Pump.

I haven't any trouble with any of mine being noisy. In fact, I never hear any of them. I have 3 in use right now. A 1.5g jarrarium (airstone only), a 5g tank (sponge filter), and a 29g tank (sponge filter) Only one of them stopped working without warning a couple of weeks or so after I got it. I contacted Candy. She suggested I smack it. I did that, it went right back to work. It's done that a couple of times. A good smack got it working right again. After the 3rd time, I decided it might be an issue with how I'm using it, versus a problem with the pump (since my other pumps don't ever quit). I adjusted the gang valve (used to bleed off extra air so the flow isn't too hard in my 1.5g jarrarium) to put more back-pressure on the pump, and it hasn't stopped since.

My biggest water change mistake was in the very early days of fishkeeping for me. I did constant, severe water changes (to get rid of that cloudiness that pops up early on) and kept disrupting the nitrogen cycle desperately trying to establish itself. Thankfully, another hobbyist heard me talking to pet store staff (who advised even MORE water changes) and told me to leave it alone. He explained the basics of the nitrogen cycle. I chose to listen to him. End of problem within very short order, of course.

Took a few days, but the driftwood finally sank. Timing was perfect as my energy is finally, slowly coming back after an attack of health issues. Took 2 days, but I got the tank planted and operational. Once I had it all set up, I squeezed a sponge out of the filter of an established tank into this tank. Of course, that make it look nice and pretty. LOL Took about 24 hours for it to totally clear up. The good side of doing it this way? All the debris floating around in there gave me a chance to truly evaluate the directional flow of the filter output, efficiency of the inputs, and if there were any dead spots that could be problematic later. I adjusted the filter output angle and direction until the flow suited me. Here's a photo showing the filter output. Shows the modifications I made to it. Here's the final result after the tank completely cleared and the filter output was fully adjusted. Attached to both pieces of driftwood, I used Anubias nana 'petite'. Planted in the substrate are pearl weed (left), val (rear left), Bacopa caroliniana (rear center-to-right), and dwarf sag (foreground center and right). The bacopa hasn't quite relaxed and settled yet. It was free-floating in another tank temporarily, so it's completely warped. It'll straighten out, though, so I'm not worried. Of course, I had to use emergent plants, too, because... well, it's me. LOL For now, there's Syngonium, pothos, and 2 varieties of wandering Jew trimmings. I also have an aglaonema (red variety) that will go in once it roots. It'll add a splash of color above the water line.

Did an overhaul on the aquaponics setup on top of this tank. I've been meaning to do it, but with everything going on in my life, it's been shelved. Finally got it done today. Here's how everything looked before I got started: I removed all of the stuff on top, including the plants and box. I also removed the piece of black PVC that goes across the front of the box (blends in in this photo). What I decided to do was eliminate the PLUMBING, so the emergent plants are no longer reliant on electricity to keep their roots moist. I removed the plumbing. Of course, that means the plants needed to go directly into the tank. The pump I was using to push water up into the box remains in the tank. I just changed its orientation so it now just pushes water around the tank along the back wall, which creates a nice circular flow in the tank. It's still attached to the sponge filter I was using on the original setup. I moved plants AND a good portion of the media from the box (which I know contains good bacteria galore!) into shower caddy baskets that are now hanging on the rim and inside the back of the tank. I still need to add one more basket in the right side of the tank, but it's working well. The tank is still murky from all the gunk I stirred up with such a dramatic overhaul. This tank has mulm all along the bottom, which has been exacerbated by this overhaul (dumped quite a bit of mulm into the tank in the process of removing the box and placing the baskets). The pleco and cories in there will do a nice job of stirring a lot of that up and getting it into the filter, so I'm not concerned about it. The emergent plants currently in the tank are Syngonium (arrowhead vine), Syngonium pixie (a dwarf variety of arrowhead vine that's only staying in here until I do another terrarium), Pothos, Wandering Jew, Bolivian Dwarf Wandering Jew, and Parlor Palm. Needless to say, with this extreme of a makeover on what was essentially the tank's filter, I'll be monitoring water parameters for at least a few days to make sure I don't have any issues with the nitrate cycle.

Major delay in planting due to an unexpected health issue. Grrr. In the meantime, I put a couple gallons of water into the tank, enough to cover the larger piece of mopani. Might as well give it a chance to water-log while the tank awaits plants. Overnight, tannins went crazy, of course. I expected this since neither piece of mopani has ever been used. The left end of the centerpiece is superglued to a couple of lava rocks, but the right side isn't anchored. Needless to say, it floated. At least I'll know it's pretty well waterlogged when that end rests on the substrate, so mindless indicator. LOL I see my doctor tomorrow, so hopefully she'll figure out what's going on and help me correct it. I WANT to get back to my normal activities, including planting this little tank! Need brain function for that! Right now, I have mud for brains.

BTW, I compared the glass used for this tank with my Marineland Portrait rimless 5g aquarium. Definitely not as thick, for either the tank nor the lid. Found that interesting since they're in the roughly same price bracket. So, not only does Marineland package their nano tanks better to avoid breakage, I think the thicker glass probably helps avoid breakage in shipping.

Since I used a different powerhead, I had parts left over from their original filter plumbing design. I used it to modify the output, bringing it more to the surface. We'll see how that goes. I haven't been able to figure out why they have the output so low in the tank. Weird to have it mid-water instead of near the surface. Mine's now near what will be the surface. Shouldn't be any stagnant spots now, plus I don't have to worry about plants blocking the flow from the output.

Getting this tank has been interesting, since I had it shipped. It arrived with a shattered LID. I called to see if I could get a replacement lid, and they said they don't have "parts", so they sent me an entire new unit. Told me to either throw away or donate the first tank, rather than ship it back. Throw away a perfectly good tank? I don't think so! Who in their right mind would do that?!? Today, the replacement arrived. Suspicious rattling in the box. Oh, no.... Thankfully, the lid was fully intact. The tank, however, has a broken corner in the back panel. So between the 2 shipments, I have an intact TOTAL unit. Go figure, and REALLY glad I kept the original tank. For now, I've put the damaged tank into storage. Maybe find a use for it down the road. Not sure I can replace that back panel, but who knows. Here's the damage it has: This particular tank kit has an internal sump type of filtration, which I do like. There are water intake slits both high up on the back panel AND low down, so I had to be creative with the substrate and lava rock to keep the lower ones from getting blocked. I changed out the powerhead first thing. The one that came with it, I know through experience WILL clog with baby snails CONSTANTLY since it has tiny slits that intake water. Baby snails fill those slits in no time. The powerhead I changed to doesn't have that issue, though it did require some creative plumbing, since what comes with the tank wasn't quite the right size for the powerhead. I got that taken care of though. Other than the powerhead, I only made one other change - swapped the carbon/filter cartridge for a better material. The other elements of the filter should work nicely as they are. The cartridge in the center of the above shot holds small bioballs, so I'm using that. The sponge filter on the left side is in a triangular compartment in both sides of the filter. Water comes in both sides. Color me thrilled, too, that there's room around the lid for me include emergent plants! I'm not sure which ones I'm going to use yet. I have a bunch in the house to choose from. The white is what I replaced the carbon cartridge with. I made it wider than the compartment so it lodges in there nicely. The tank still isn't on its permanent base, but I got the extra mat cut. This tank came with a thin mat already attached to the bottom, but I like a thicker mat, so I added to it. I've got the substrate and hardscape in place. Red lava rock, mopani driftwood, and silica sand. I've superglued the mopani in place. What will actually be under the tank (instead of the wire shelf) is currently drying. I spray painted it black to waterproof it, so the tank is sitting temporarily on a wire shelf. No water will go into it until it's on a solid surface. I have a few plants to choose from but haven't decided which of them I'll use. Anubias nana 'petite' will definitely go in there, attached to the mopani. I have a gorgeous one that will look nice in there, I think. Other possibilities are: dwarf Sag, Valisneria, Bacopa caroliniana, pearl weed (which stays small and doesn't grow like crazy in my tanks), Crypt wendtii (green & bronze), and Hygrophila siamensis 53B. I definitely will NOT be using Pogostemon stellatus 'octopus' in there. I have a hard time keeping up with that in a 29g tank. Don't even want to think about managing it in a 6.8! LOL For filter seeding, I have an HOB that needs sponges squeezed out and been putting that off until this tank is set up. I'll squeeze those out well directly into the tank once it's complete to get the nitrate cycle going strong. Fish - I'm going to put 2 gold honey gouramis in there that I just pulled from my 29g today (those Endler girls were beating them up). Those are temporarily being housed in the 5g ember tetra tank along with the other 2 honey gouramis. They definitely won't be staying in there long-term, but I had to rescue them from those Endler's (those girls really are jerks!). They're still really small, so they're fine in that 5g for now. That tank is extremely stable and stays right at 0 ppm for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Thinking MAYBE a school of chili rasboras for this tank, but still thinking on it. I've never had them before, and they seem like a pretty little, peaceful fish. Any other suggestions? My conditions are: 1 - MUST be compatible with my water - stays right around 7.2-7.4 pH, 300 ppm GH, and 180 ppm KH in my tanks. I don't want to end up having to chase pH and such for fish with special needs; 2 - NO fish that require live or frozen food. I don't have access to frozen food where I live, and I don't have any means right now to hatch brine shrimp (no place to set up a hatchery) or otherwise raise live foods; 3 - Must be peaceful and compatible with honey gouramis, so no fish that need a species tank. I'll post more photos as soon as I add the plants. Will be a few days most likely.

I've honestly never had that problem. The Top Fin HOBs, on the other hand, constantly rattled on me. Drove me crazy. I had used ACs years back but ended up with TF brand HOBs when I got back into the hobby after a long break. Didn't take me long to get rid of the TFs and buy some ACs. If not for the priming issue after a power outage, I'd consider them perfect. 😁

Yep. The surface skimmer on the Tidal 35 is so slow, my cherry shrimp go right past it without a bit of struggle. They and my smaller fish swim past it regularly. I've even seen the occasional shrimp grazing almost on top of it without any issue. Definitely not a threat to them. I keep the water level high enough that the agitation keeps the surface scum from forming though, so it wasn't been an issue in that regard. The constant maintenance it needs compared to my Aquaclear is driving me batty though.

A few months ago, I switched from an Aquaclear HOB to a Tidal 35, to give it a trial run. I really liked the idea of the powerhead being in the tank, so less issue with the filter restarting properly after a power outage. Unfortunately, I'm NOT happy with it. Not only is the filter compartment funky shaped, which makes it a bugger and a half to cut filter sponges to the right shape and size, it requires floss (which I never had to use in my Aquaclear) to remove floating particulate from the water. Overall, it's ended up requiring a lot more maintenance than my Aquaclear ever did. At this point, I'm giving serious thought to going back to the Aquaclear. We have few enough power outages, I'd rather deal with THAT issue than the constant need for maintenance I'm having with the Tidal. BTW, on the surface skimmer - I haven't found that to be an issue at all. That feature is not very powerful. I've watched shrimp swim right up to and past it without any difficulty. They don't get sucked in. The spaces in the skimmer aren't big enough for even small fish to get sucked in either. Tiny fry might, but my cherries and male Endler's truly have no problem. I've even seen pygmy cories swim right past it without issue.

I use a spiralbound notebook - the kind with multiple subject dividers - to keep track of all the stuff I do. Water changes (on the rare occasion they're needed), water parameter test results, top offs, stocking changes, plant trimming or addition/subtractions, etc. I even make notes in there if I change any hardware (lighting, filtration, etc). Oh, and light schedules are noted for each, since each tank has a different light schedule, due to differences in location (different ambient light and degrees of ambient light).