ErinV

Thank you @Colu, @Kiddsgames, @Guppysnail. Do they affect humans? Was literally up to my armpits in the tank today.

I am a little grossed out. I have never seen these in my tanks before. Saw several while rearranging some plants and doing a water change. Hopefully some of you wiser Nerms can help me out. P.S. Sorry for back ground noise. Was watching a movie and doing water change.

Can't wait to see pictures!

I just read your whole journal. I love it! Some of the stuff is way over my Nerm level but it is all useful information. I LOVE your scapes and the vibrant plant colours. One day, maybe I can get there. Congratulations on 2 years cancer free. Looking forward to following your journal.

Seasoning is in full swing. Numbers are on the high side right now. I know that I need to do a bit of a water change but need to figure out how to do so without sucking up the fry. They are getting bigger and go crazy for the for the fry food. Snails are happy and making babies and plants are happy. Going to monitor or the next few days and figure out next steps.

Thank you @Donna, @Guppysnail, @ARMYVET, @GameCzar, and @Odd Duck for all your help. I am not worried about bio load. I have a Fluval 304 on the 90g that they are in. Waiting for it to fully cycle and the fry I found in it to grow before adding fish. Snails 🐌 are the kings of the castle for now. Any suggestions of foods other than tank clean up?

Are these Nerite snails or baby ramsorn? I know that I had ramshorn hitch hikers but wondering if I had another one sneak in. Also seeing some little white dots on glass that I can not tell if they are eggs or tiny snails. Also my Ramshorns like to "wrestle".

I also agree with all of the above advice. I just finished doing a 90g reseal. Check out my journal for pictures. If I can find the YouTube video I learned from, I will try and copy link for you. I found it the most straight forward. The inside layer is your first line of defense and should be solid. As long as you don't see any air bubbles or gaps in the silicone where the two pieces of glass join, you will not have to take the actual glass apart. That is what I have learned but without seeing the tank, don't take my word on that part. Luckily I just had to do inside seals. If you are doing it, you will have to do it all though. 4 corners and bottom because new and old silicone are mortal enemies. Now that I have rambled on, you got this. It seems intimidating at first but is straight forward once you get going. Best of luck.

@Jeff, thanks, I bought the tank at an auction for a closing pet store. Stand was part of it. It is probably from the late 80s early 90s as that is how old my lfs owner dates the tank, due to the thickness off the glass and style. Shirt answer-no idea.

I am one proud fishy mama. 90g has been fully set up with plants for 24hr and there are still fry in it. Today there were 7/8 tiny little fish swimming around. It takes a while to find them and if you look away you lose them. Clear wiggly things with black eyes. I don't have fry food so I used a spoon to crush some frozen Brin shrimp. Poured it in and after staring at the tank for a while I actually saw one go after a dust size piece. I can't wait to see if they are still there tomorrow.

@Streetwise, do you mean get the front section of glass trimmed down so that it would lay flat between outside rim and the adapted middle brace?

@Guppysnail, yes I am on a budget. That is an awesome idea for the gap. Still not sure how to fully support the inside side of each section of lid so that the lids don't end up at the bottom of the tank.

It has been a productive day. The 90g is UP and RUNNING! I got an air pump that has enough power, the right size heater and a log that rocks will hold down. I actually put the piece of wood in that I had originally intended for this tank. I am very happy with it. Snails are very happy so far and going to add a few more from the 30g (which now needs to be rearranged and planted better). I also saw fish FRY! They must have been in the hornwart I moved from the 30g, which means that I believe my Rainbows have bred. Not sure if they will survive the seasoning process but I will definitely be taking a closer look in the 30g. I will give a run down of my set up and plants soon. Still need to put back drop on and figure out the lid situation. See post in general.

I have spent to last few days working on my 90g and I am at the point of adding my lid. My tank is old style so it does not have a middle cross beam. The glass would fit perfectly if it did. The tank did have these to made up cross beams so I thought awesome, all is well. Nope. The one is a tight fit and the glass slids nicely in. The other on is about 1/4 inch short so I just holding on. It only has slots on one side. Glass will sit nicely in the slots but than it means the front lid part is sitting unbalanced. It also leaves with about a 2 inch gap between the two. My light is attached there so need space at the back but would like gap closed. Soooo, looking for some fish tank MacGyver style hacks. Any suggestions that will not break the bank would be amazing. Thanks.

Well this afternoon I was on cloud nine, hubby was home and agreed to help get the 90g going. I made sure everything was ready. Cleaned the stand. Cleaned the spot where to was going. Than we proceeded to move the stand from the garage to the basement with a very sharp 90 degree bend/landing area. We than got everything in place and tween helped us lift it up. Than we started putting in substrate. I was then left to play with my composition and in my happy place. Big chunk of wood here, rock there.... Then I decided to add a couple of inches of water so I could go get plants out of my 30g. NOPE - my 30 to 40 pound piece of wood decided it wanted to float. Add more water and spent the next 2 hours battling with rocks and wood. Finialy I had enough, filled the tank all the way. Added my declorinator. Added some starter bacteria. Than went and got plants and snails and took them on a little trip. I than fed the tank some fish food and I am now writing this. Not the way I wanted to end the day but it is set up and now I can play with it until it is right. Oh and the air pump I got decided it was not strong enough for a 2 inch air stone. It is time for bed now. Going to go dream about what I want it to look like and not its current state.

Thanks everyone for the amazing advice. I boiled all my small pieces but do not have anything big enough to do the big one in. I was also under the assumption that it had previously been in a fish tank. I thought that it should than already be water logged. My bad. I am done for the night, so tomorrow we will start over. Thanks again.

How long should a 30 to 40 pound piece of wood need to soak before it sinks? I thought that with that weight I would not have to deal with the whole will not sink issue. So much for getting tank planted tonight.

Is there a certain brand you use or things I need to look for on the label @Patrick_G to make sure it is fish safe?

I am getting deeper into prep for my 90g set up (see journal) and will be working on decor over the next few days. I have lots of cool rocks I picked up at my Mother in laws Lake Erie beach and different random wood I have been collecting. I will be boiling them all to be on the safe side. They have been dry and in the garage for several months so most things should be dead already of there was anything. Soooooo....Christmas Moss, I have a bunch somewhat free floating in my 30g waiting on me to use in 90g. Question, what is the best way to attach to rock or wood? I have ge silicone 1, fishing line, food safe cotton string? How dry to I need to make the Moss? I don't want to over dry it and kill it. Thanks in advance.

Thank you so much for your help, @Streetwise I really do appreciate it.

I have an amazing pet store just around the corner. They have a bit of everything but the owner is an avid fish person and is extremely knowledgeable. Goes out of the way to help with trouble shooting and fixing things like filters and lights. He has great fish stock, supplies and even a used section that he fully tests. He's plants are hit and miss for some reason but I have found a home based fish store about 15min from me and their plants are amazing in quality and price. They also have a nice fish stock. I do my best to spread the love to these to local Mom and Pop shops.

Morning from rainy Ontario. Question about planting in a new set up. I have only been doing live plants for about a year. WHY did I wait so long!!! Anyway, back to question. When I started with plants I already had a very well established tank with lots of fish, bacteria, snails ect... Now I am wanting to season my new tanks with plants from the get go. I have seen videos where people put in substrate, few inches of water, decor and than 🪴. They play around and make it look pretty and than at the rest of their water. Is would make set up much easier as I am sort amd arms just barely reach the bottom of the tank as is, but is it the correct way? Thoughts, comments and suggestions greatly appreciated! 🙂

Thanks for the tips. I have been wo during how to do it. Looked a few times but did not realize it was within a drop down menu in settings on my phone. Question, how do I find the url for my journal? I thought I copied and pasted the right thing but it would not let me embed it. Thanks in advance.

Piece of wood is absolutely beautiful and was worked into the cost of the tank. Light was technically free as it was not tested. Stopped at my amazing local fish store on the way home to test it. They popped in a bulb and it works perfectly fine. Win for me!!! I also spent some time going over some stocking combos and I think I have it figured out. More details coming soon.....🙂