DaveSamsell

Planted & cycling another 5 gallon tank with Aquarium Co-Op plants. Plants used: - Java Fern - Moneywort - Watersprite - Marimo Moss Balls - Dwarf Sagitaria - Banana Plants - Anubius Barteri

@Lynze, After some thought, I wasn't totally satisfied 😌 with the location of my Mystery Snail eggs in the aquarium, so I moved them. Took a few minutes to build a DIY incubator\hatchery, complete with regulated heat & internal supplied humidity. Kind of fun checking on the progress of the eggs, daily. 🐌🐌🐌

Am new to breeding Mystery Snails. Does anyone have a preference on leaving the egg "clutch" inside the aquarium, or is it better to remove it & build an incubator? The humidity level should be fine where the eggs are, but was wondering what the best method might be, from your personal experiences.

@Streetwise For me, I can have fun equally with a 5 gallon or a 55 gallon aquarium at my home. I understand your folks wanting something bigger in size though. You think the stand can handle the weight of an aquarium? Not sure of the construction material & quality of build, etc. In some of my aquarium set-ups, I am using older, solid walnut furniture, covered with a thin covering to protect the wood's finish from, water, etc. BTW, I think even a 29 high might fit well on the stand, if it can handle the weight. 🤔 Also, you should have seen my first digital pictures, they looked like old instant Polaroid photography 😅.

@StreetwiseIt won't be long here either in the mountains of Pennsylvania, in seeing some frost in the next couple of weeks or so. Time goes by so fast it seems. It feels like just yesterday was the 4th of July, lol.

I consider "mulm" to be a food source for snails 🐌🐌🐌. Really like them in my aquariums. I find snails to be incredibly useful & interesting creatures. Mulm has many benefits, IMO. "Mulm" is also a word that sounds similar, when spelled\spoken backwards. 😊

@StephenP2003 , I have a schedule that personally works for me. In my heavily planted aquariums, I dose Easy Green after a water change, to actually bump up my nitrates a bit. Then, I switch to Easy Iron, combined with Seachem Trace on one day, then alternating with Seachem Flourish (Comprehensive, Potassium & Phosphorus) combined on the next day. I have medium light & dose twice the " recommended " dosage, several times per week. All I can say is that it works for me as I feel the Seachem products are a bit diluted. Have been doing this schedule for awhile now and still am waiting to actually grow some algae. Is it the best way I ask myself, maybe\maybe not, but it has been working, so haven't changed the schedule. Sometimes, when my plants are really growing, I'll dose even a bit more at times. I look at it as feeding fish. The more fish the more food is needed. Same thing with fertilizing plants, IMO. There are probably other products & methods to get me there, but have been too lazy to try them, lol.

@StephenP2003, Was wondering if you did any more Phosphate testing? Also, what are your Nitrate levels generally? Am new myself to the API Phosphate test and found it to be very accurate, with my particular purchased kit, from the Co-Op. My expiration dates on the bottles are a couple of years from now and the kit worked great; but a good expiration date on bottles is obviously "not an absolute guarantee" that the chemicals are indeed unexpired or not having another particular issue, for whatever reason. What I found interesting is that you did get a big difference in testing result when you used 'distilled water' . As a comparison: I have 0 level of Phosphate in my well/ground water and each of my aquariums did test slightly differently. I purposely dose some of my planted tanks with extra Phosphorus, since some of my plants where experiencing symptoms of a Phosphate deficiency; and the dosing did help. It was like some leaves had random brown, soggy patches on them; so a difference in my plant symptoms, compared to yours . The aquariums with the symptoms had Phosphate readings of less than one half (<1/2 ppm) , originally. The aquariums are fed, relatively lightly, so maybe not enough Phosphate was getting into the tanks, perhaps. Am also learning about how plants can absorb Phosphate and store it, from the water, which is interesting in itself. One of my heavily planted aquariums, Phosphorus levels always reads low, even though it's dosed well enough. Might be the plants taking out the nutrient that quickly, which I found to be a little strange. The level of Phosphate I try to maintain is about 1 ppm and the plants are doing better, for me anyway. Hope some of my experiences help. Again, am learning about all of this as well. 😊

@Speakeasy, Thanks for posting that online calculator example. Yeah, a 51 ohm resistor, from what I have seen in the past, is what multiple air pumps were using, from several suppliers. The value of the component was clarified, only after using a digital multi-meter in the video, which was my point. Anyway, I suppose this type of video, is a 'learn as you go' style and not necessarily a previously rehearsed outcome, etc. Which is good as well. Some of the air-pumps I have utilize resistors that are comprised of 5 color bands, some have 4 bands; in which a different calculator would be required. On another note, am working on a device that uses wind power to generate low voltage electricity. Ultimately, being converted and stored for use. All the best.

@Speakeasy, The power system you presented looks interesting. Thanks for sharing that. However, the attached video does contain, IMO, some unintentional misinformation regarding electronics components theory, I.E. incorrectly reading resistor color code bands & their specific representation. Also, power source voltage readings for loaded & unloaded motor conditions & providing source voltages out of the motors "rated" range . Additionally, removing factory installed components, just to improve efficiency, may not be in the long-term best interest of the motor and\or power source, for many reasons.

I have about 70 Marimo balls, combined in several aquariums. Some are growing quite large. Really enjoy watching my Mystery Snails go over them like a vacuum that cleans a soft carpet. Plus, the snails help me roll them around so every side gets some light. Really like the healthy, dark green appearance they exhibit. Nice contrast in color if placed by other, differently colored plants.

In one of my aquariums, I noticed the bubble air-flow has been decreasing over the past few days, but didn't give it much thought. Well, just now, it stopped completely. I thought it might be the USB nano air pump or power supply. Wrong on both counts. The problem was with the check valve. Wasn't sure if it was from the back pressure or what, but the check valve component halves were loose & with a little pull they came apart. Simple fix, just screwed the halves back together and back in business. They were tight, when I originally put the check valve into service several months ago. Will keep an eye on it for a while.

@Kat_Rigel Am glad things are working out for you. We all struggle with this hobby, from time to time, that's what makes the 'positives' that much more rewarding and enjoyable. Thanks for the update....

@Streetwise, I have some internal filters in my smaller aquariums. They do an 'okay' job for what they are. Actually, I like the fact that if they do leak, there's no place for the water to go, but back into the tank; so there's that. You can 'hot-rod' almost any filter out there, so there's that, too. I have noticed many different ones on the market today. Many look interesting, but hard to beat my Aquaclear's. it's good to try different products for various applications though.

@RovingGinger, Yeah, that's a little different. Looks good though. "Sure would look nice with a co-op logo on it..." Who knows, maybe your product suggestion might "rub off" onto the folks at the Co-Op for consideration. Now that was a bad joke, but clean. 🤪

@RovingGinger Did the aquarium come with that 75 watt bulb? I see many folks putting larger, than what the socket is rated, wattage bulbs everywhere and accidentally melting things or even starting fires. I personally run an Aqueon 50 watt heater in my 5 gallon without any problems. It seems to regulate the temp without an issue. Of course, you can go smaller. I believe what is recommended for heaters is 5 watts per gallon, etc.

@RovingGinger The smaller aquariums do fluctuate more, but even 10 degrees is not the worst I've seen, given your stated temp range. A 75 watt incandescent (old style)? Do you have good water flow in the tank? Are the fish being affected? If it was me, and was going to do it, I would switch out the current light to an LED and add a small heater. At least you may have better luck with temp regulation that way. Just my $0.02

The products by Fritz are really good and their exterior aquarium glass & acrylic cleaner doesn't disappoint. The type and size of cleaning cloth, to my preference that I like to use, is eye glass cleaning microfiber cloth. I have a scratch-prone, acrylic aquarium and that size cloth and texture is very nice. These cloths clean all my tanks, both acrylic & glass easily and don't soak up or waste any extra product. These microfiber cloths are made by many manufactures, inexpensive and can be easily found online. They are reusable and washable, as well. I found them to be much superior to just an ordinary paper towel or a cotton rag.

@pedrofisk, The aquarium chiller worked well on a 10 gallon tank, rather quickly. It dropped the tank temperature 9 degrees Far. in several hours. I would imagine results would be variable, dependent on the angle of air flow, etc. Evaporation was mild to moderate and the humidity did rise about 6 percent in the 'average sized room', where the tank is located.

One of my aquariums has been running a bit hot in temperature and wanted to try an experiment anyway. Was curious how much the temperature would actually drop, by using a low voltage fan. Salvaged a computer power supply fan and wired it up for portable (12 volt battery) or fixed (wall transformer) operation. Will use removable Velcro to adhere the fan to the tank's top rim. Now, to try it out and see how well it performs. 12 volt / 300mA box fan with installed alligator leads In-line safety fuse installed

Bill, That's a good idea. Maybe @Cory will take your suggestion under advisement for future product revisions.

@Pete, I purposely cut my power cord and soldered in a rotary thumb-wheel switch for an easy, on/off feature.

@TheDukeAnumber1, Yeah, isolating components, then measuring their "unpowered" resistance value is the most accurate, safest approach, in this situation.. I was tinkering around this morning and slipped off the green rubber boot on one of my pumps. The resistor color code on mine was: Green, Brown, Black & Gold Green=5, Brown=1, Black=0, and the Gold "tolerance" value represents 5 % tolerance value rating of the resistor component resistance itself. So, 51 ohms @ +\- 5% tolerance. The part # on my motor was 11670N - 180514 The resistance reading just across the motor alone was 33.4 Ohms So, the two resistances "in parrallel" with each other measured 20.18 Ohms, which was close to your original measurement with everything connected together. Note: These are D.C.resistance values, not to be confused with A.C. Ohmic impedance values, I.E. Audio speakers or other A.C. driven devices. Since it's a basic D.C. motor, it simplifies things. There are multiple reasons for the resistor including to protect the motor a bit if the power is often applied & removed. It also changes the total circuit current (Amperage) consumption.

@TheDukeAnumber1, Very interesting post. From my vantage point I cannot discern the exact color code on the resistor. Have a question though: Did you unsolder one leg of the resistor & then check the resistance of the component? Otherwise, you may be reading a parallel resistance with the motor and not the true value of the resistor itself. Also, is one lead of the resistor 'tack soldered' to the motor housing? Again, hard to tell from this viewing vantage point.