Grubhead

I saw there’s a new newsletter. Always great to see more pictures! Is there somewhere to see the weekly fish list still? Being 1.5-2 hours drive away, I usually start watching the fish lists to make sure I have a good chance of getting the fish I’m looking for. Thanks!

Looks like Aubrey hasn't been on since January. Hope to see some updates though if the fishbowl is still going. I happened to find a fishbowl today at an estate sale! It's not as cool looking, but I'm excited to try it out. What is the plant growing out on the back left side and how is it attached? May have to take a trip down to Aquarium Coop. 🙂

That looks amazing! Did you document any of the design process? Might be cool to share. What fish have you added?

Yeah, looks like it's like hyacinth where it will die off and it's easier to just buy it each year for pond season rather than trying to grow it indoors. I'll have to try it next year! 🙂

It’s something I hope to try next year outdoors. Does it overwinter? Does it grow well indoors?

Here are some pics of the new top. Not sure if my plants will die off or come back next year with so much pruning but the grass and cattails were pretty much stomped flat from the raccoons and I had to prune to fit the other plants through the new lid. My thought was that the rear half would stay in place with the plants…but we’ll see how it goes. I used the “No Dig Multi-Purpose Fence 4-ft H x 3-ft W Black Steel Flat-top Garden Fence Panel” from Lowe’s and one rod used to connect the panels, cutting one panel in half, filing and painting the ends with black enamel spray, flipping one end around to connect both with the rod, then zip tied the rod in place. Works really well so far! Might add some plexiglass and plastic if it might help with icing over and keeping leaves out this fall.

Was searching for some indoor pond ideas and came across these Tetra tubs sold in Japan. They have different sizes too. I wish stuff like this was available locally! I like how the overflow channel connects to the bottom. Not sure it's very effective, but would be nice to not have to drill holes in custom containers. Might make for a neat indoor mini pond. Make a frame around it, leave the overflow somewhere where you can let it run into a watering can, and then water plants! lol I saw similar small aquariums where you just pour in water and it drains out the back, but they always looked cheaply made and smaller in size. I love the idea of just adding some fresh water to do water changes. Maybe Aquarium Coop can make something similar someday for outdoor tubbing and indoor mini ponds! https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-Watering-Goldfish-Shatter-Resistant-Lightweight/dp/B0BW8LNLMC?ref_=ast_sto_dp

That's awesome you have a fishbowl! I was looking to find something similar and they are expensive! Happened to see your post when doing a search for something else. I'll have to try the floating candle holders!

I ended up having to prune back plants and put a screen on top after a few raccoon parties. The last one they really had fun, trampled all plants, knocked them over, un-potted some, ate sponges, took off the outlet sponge, etc. I’ll try to add a picture later. Found a fence panel that I cut in half so it opens half way. It kept them out once so far (they still ate some sponge mops).

Yeah, I think I’d have to heat the garage or water and give them some light. At least they are readily available each year and grow quickly. 🙂

Thanks! I had the water hyacinth bloom earlier too, which was neat. I do wish it would overwinter. I think the giant sensitive plant may die off too, but maybe I'll bring some indoors to see if it survives. It's neat because it closes up when touched and when the sun goes down. I hadn't heard of the water plantain! Looks like an interesting one to grow! I may try to get some mosaic plant next year.

Thanks! I find it much easier to grow plants when I don't have to water them. 😉 Some easy green helps too and the sunlight is much better than aquarium lights. I had to learn a bit more about pond plants this year. Last year I found out that Venus fly traps are native in the U.S. and that they will come back after dying off here in the Pacific Northwest. I had pitcher plants, some grasses, a lily, and water clover come back this year in the small pond. In the larger pond I should be able to sink down some of the new plants and have them come back too.

Added a 100 gallon pond this summer with some new Ricefish fry and cherry shrimp. They are growing fast and look happy. The smaller ponds have white clouds and gold white clouds.

Some specific strains of Ricefish! Yay! Me too. I wonder what happened to Dean's ricefish breeding, or if he is selling them elsewhere. Had expected some to come in this year so I could get them going in outdoor ponds. Surely Aquarium Coop will sell them easily. Are they harder to raise or something?

The last couple times I drove down for Ricefish they seem to have been from AquaHuna instead of Deans fish room. 😞 I must have missed the white platinum ones for this year. Those ones from Dean were amazing!

I love that it is upside down, but not dead, thankfully. lol You made my day.

With gas prices climbing it will be hard to justify driving all the way down to Aquarium Coop in hopes that a fish will be in stock. Would be nice if you provided a recommendation for your home state customers to purchase quality fish online if they can't make the drive and there are no good local options. Thanks Cory!

Thank you Brandon! I’ll keep checking the stock list for the platinum white and medaka orange. I’ve been doing my best not to mix. Hopefully Dean has some more to bring in for the summer ponds.

How is the stock of ricefish looking? I have no where to buy them locally and it's about 1.5 hours to drive down, but I know Dean's fish are amazing. It's always worth the drive. :) Thanks!

@xXInkedPhoenixXI don't use wifi timers...too many wifi devices can cause issues and I don't trust many smaller built in wifi products made in China to be secure. I was tempted to try the wifi outlets from Aquarium Coop, but will probably stick with a manual timer for now. I do like the Bluetooth lights I have. Maybe there's a bluetooth timer...

I'll try a timer. Does it remember the color and white settings when turning back on using a timer? I've been spoiled with some of the new lights with an app on my phone where I can schedule the lighting. It has really helped maximize lighting without growing algae. I can also set it to get brighter when I know I'll be looking at the aquariums (in the morning and evening) without having it too bright all day.

I like the flex with the curved front, but there are some things it suffers from that many of these all in one setups have in common. We have the 15. - Flow is way too high and no way to adjust on the pump. We also got the mods listed above. I drilled extra holes in the spray bar and may try also adding a sponge filter on it to diffuse the flow some. It's still way too much for a betta, so we moved the betta. - The light has a cheap remote. I wish it just had a switch to turn it on. If anyone knows of an aftermarket light mod, let me know. 🙂 - The back chamber has some extra plastic that makes adding sponges on the left side odd. There's plenty of space though! 🙂 - The intake screens have too large of gaps. We used the modded ones, but I wish I could easily put sponges somehow. It's a cool tank and works for us. Because of the high flow and size, I ended up being able to swap it and let the betta use a smaller aquarium. The ricefish seem to like it a lot and play in the water flow it seems...

Awesome! I love how you go above and beyond Cory. I'll go order some more since I just used the last one and leave a review. I think my shrimp are doing amazing in part from these Wonder Shells. Our Bellingham water supply is soft and I have ADA Aquasoil in with the shrimp. Added some crushed coral to the filter as well. The Coop Cherry Shrimp have been pumping out a lot of shrimplets!

From what I understand, they can do wonders! Joking aside...the ingredients are listed for the brand mentioned above. We're not supposed to link to other competitor websites or we could list the ingredients here. Not sure if those are the exact ones Aquarium Coop sells. Irene mentions using them to harden water. You can find this video and more reading material on the product page: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/wonder-shell?variant=17781862404 There are other topics in these forums for Wonder Shell and it might be a long process to read about what all these ingredients do individually, but then also in combination with other things. If your water is hard already, the shells might not dissolve very fast, but I don't think it would hurt anything either. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong) I've used them in the past, and more recently. I think they are fine for adding some minerals and likely help shrimp, snails, and fish when the source of water doesn't contain some of the minerals the Wonder Shell adds. Do you already know your water parameters? The new test strips are useful to track your water parameters easily: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/aquarium-co-op-multi-test-strips?_pos=2&_psq=test strips&_ss=e&_v=1.0 @CoryDo you know the brand of Wonder Shell Aquarium Coop sells and can the ingredients be added to the product page? The Wonder Shells do have many ingredients and possible effects. Thanks!

Thanks for all the feedback! We did end up using a piece of plexiglass and will use a towel for water changes and maintenance. It is small enough that we can move it if water does get underneath. There are only a couple inches around the sides, so it will probably happen at some point and I'll have to move it to dry underneath. I really like the ideas provided and will have to try some of that contact foam. It seems similar to what is on the bottom of these all-in-one aquariums. Thanks everyone! 🙂 I'll try to get a picture to share.