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OceanTruth

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    JJs journey to mastering freshwater aquariums

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    I agree planting new plants and placing root tabs can be a test of patience at times. I’ve heard people poke little holes in those root tabs that comes in capsules so they sink immediately. It looks like you did a great job though! Usually the first time I plant up a new tank it looks terrible until I get some new growth. Lots of ugly phases for my tanks.

    I wish I had a cool tip for the separating background. Hopefully the plants start covering up the back so you don’t even notice or you find a way to get it squared away.

    “Signs that Something is Wrong in your Aquarium”

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 11/19/2022 at 1:19 PM, Anjum said:

    Live foods would be the best. I'm also trying to move towards a more complete ecosystem which includes live foods. I admit though, I'm still trying to get over the yuck factor of culturing black worms 🤮😅


    That would be AMAZING! I’m still in the learning phase and I’m hoping I have a strong stomach for some of the squirmy foods if I go down that route. 😂😂

     

    On 11/19/2022 at 2:05 PM, TeeJay said:

    If your looking to culture live foods I find grindal worms to be a pretty easy setup and way less smell and "grossness" to them 


    I will definitely research them. Thanks for the tip!

    • Like 1

    “Signs that Something is Wrong in your Aquarium”

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 11/19/2022 at 11:25 AM, Anjum said:

    Learning about the shelf life of prepared foods caused me to switch to primarily repashy & frozen foods. I also figure detritivores (snails, shrimp) could probably eat food a little past it's prime without issue. 

    The take away message I got from that video regarding testing was that while we should test, we should also observe our tanks regularly. If something is off that we don't have a test for, hopefully we'll notice & can take action. 


    I’ve only started thinking about shelf life again, because I recently received a bottle of expired food off of Amazon. The only reason I don’t feed frozen food that often is because my only local store is Petco and they don’t stock their frozen foods that well. I’m searching for online sellers currently. It will cost more, but I’d rather pay more for foods I can actually safely go through rather than throwing food in the garbage.

    I’m also learning about live food cultures. I’m hoping frozen plus live equals happy and healthy fish.

     

    On 11/19/2022 at 11:37 AM, modified lung said:

    Here's an example. I recently built a protein skimmer for my outdoor tanks and this is what it's collecting, some kind of dissolved organic compounds:


    I definitely don’t doubt what Cory was saying. I was just hoping there were other things I could easily test for that would make a difference. I’m always observing my tanks, so hopefully that’s enough for now.

    • Like 1

    “Signs that Something is Wrong in your Aquarium”

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I saw the new educational video from Aquarium Co-Op and it raised a couple of questions for me.

    Recently, I’ve actually been thinking about fish food storage and how long it will stay good for. In the video, Cory says ideally you should run through a package of food in a month. I don’t have enough tanks or fish to use any small package of food that quickly. I usually portion what I can use for a few weeks and store the rest in the freezer. However, I recently read somewhere that freezing flakes (they didn’t mention pellets) greatly reduces it’s nutritional value. I haven’t noticed any problems freezing food, but is there a better solution? Should I just throw out the remaining food every couple of months? Frozen foods last a long while in freezer. Should I switch to an all frozen food diet?

    Cory also mentions that test strips don’t test for all parameters, so even if you’re testing every week there could still be problems. I haven’t thought about that before, but again, what’s the solution? Are there other tests I should be running?

    • Like 1

    Burrowing Snails?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The only burrowing snail I have kept are Malaysian Trumpet snails. I love those little guys. I’m sure you’ve heard they (any of the “pest” snails) pretty much populate the tank to the amount you overfeed your fish. When I feed lightly it gets hard to spot them. When I feed heavy they’re all over the place. I’m pro snail so I’ve never thought of them as pests or invasive. The only snails I avoid are Nerites since I don’t like the look of the eggs they deposit.

    Assassin snails aren’t really cleaners but they do burrow in the substrate to ambush other snails.

    • Like 1

    My stem plants are melting/disintegrating.

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    On 11/9/2022 at 9:50 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

    Do have to say though, I think when you get new stems you are better off floating them in the tank until they grow roots- they are close to the light too and that helps. I've had less failure that way. 


    I definitely need to follow this advice more. Whenever I get too excited and plant right away I do get melting like in the pics from the original post.

    • Like 2

    Nitrite at 2 ppm

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 11/6/2022 at 9:34 AM, JohnNYC said:

    I just wanted to finish this thread. The 2nd GBR died the other day. I emptied the QT and rinsed the tank and equipment. I will do a bleach wash and extensive rinsing and let it all air dry. Then I'll set it up again and do a more patient fishes cycle.  


    Good luck with the reset! Sucks to hear about the rams. Never kept them before, but they’re absolutely beautiful.

    Black Beard Algae - I'm at a loss

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    I know you said you used chemicals, but was one of them Seachem Excel or some other kind of “CO2 liquid booster.” I had a BBA outbreak one time and I dosed the recommended amount for the tank directly on the BBA using a syringe or pipette. After about a week of doing that daily it started turning pale and died off. It never returned as well, luckily.

    • Like 3
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