[Leeches]

are they leaches are planaria?

Planaria aren't a big deal.

Edit: there's no scale in that photo, but planaria are quite small usually under 1cm.

[Cannot raise nitrates]

Make sure your shaking the heck out of the nitrate test bottles.  I think its bottle 2 that REQUIRES 30s of shaking.  I shake them both good but you can check the instructions to make sure which one needs the shaking.

Also, just to make sure your kit works:  add some nitrate to a glass of water and test that. 

 

 

[Questions about molting and schooling]

It's quite common for people to use them interchangeably as well so you can't expect that they're being "technically correct" when they use it.

[Can I add tums into my tank for calcium?]

Has anyone noticed what this does to kh or ph?

My kh is sorta low, 3degrees, but my ph is pretty high  7.8 so i don't really want to raise it any more.  but I'd like to give my shirmp a bit more carbonate.

[Alum treatment test on Marimo moss balls]

I too was too afraid to do that since they are technically algae.  Since they look so good though I just put them on my window sil (north facing!) for a month to see if any critters came out. 

Thanks for doing this!

[manual anti snail measures]

so I'm getting some vallisnaria form coop today.  I read around and it seems like none of the conventional snail killing dip methods work with them as vallisnaria seems quite sensitive to "chemicals".  This includes alum, h2o2, and bleach (other methods I've looked at aren't that good with snails). 

But, since I'm only really concerned about snails, which are macroscopic, I figure I can pull them and their eggs off by hand.  Have people had good luck just looking closely and picking off snails and eggs?  I know quarantine is another option but I'm too impatient.

 

Also yes I've heard all the pro-snail arguments.  I am still not pro-snail.

[Can you use too many root tabs??]

My understanding is 20-40 nitrates is a good number for most plants so I don't think it would be nitrogen deficiency.  Root tabs are black magic to me so I'll let someone else address that.

[bbs vs wingless fruit fly]

I hear bbs are are really healthy but I just discovered wingless fruit flys are a thing and they seem easy to keep/culture but I don't hear about them.  Are they not as good for fish?  For me, I'd rather keep them vs make bbs unless there are downsides

[Equilibrium vs wonder shell]

38 minutes ago, StephenP2003 said:

I did say the latter (Equilibrium) has potassium.

Weird!  I could have sworn that you wrote equilibrium first.  i checked twice.  Maybe I should go to bed 😛

[Equilibrium vs wonder shell]

3 hours ago, StephenP2003 said:

 

Another difference between wondershell and Equilibrium is potassium, which is in the latter but not the former I don't think.

I think that's backwards.  Equilibrium has potassium I know for sure, and a tiny bit of iron.  It raises GH and adds some plant focused minerals too.  I only use a small amount to get my GH from 3 to 6 and it mostly dissolves but there's always a tiny bit of dust left at the bottom of my pitcher, which is brown/redish I assume its the iron not dissolving well but who knows. 

[Alum bath for vallisneria?]

On 10/19/2020 at 1:42 PM, Kat_Rigel said:

STAHP! 

I do not recommend dipping the val in alum. I did this with some very healthy corkscrew val and I melted it all away. 😕 The roots were intact but its been a few weeks and I'm not seeing any new leaves poking out of the substrate.

If you give it a try, just do a small amount first,  maybe even just one plant, and give that a try before risking the entire batch... like me...

Sorry to necro this thread but,

@Kat_Rigeldid your Vallisneria ever come back?  Do you recall how much alum you used and for how long?  I'm thinking about how to treat my val coming in for snails and other pests.  @Irene also used alum in her first dip video and had some melting but it pulled through (as of the end of that video). 

Has anyone else done an alum dip with val?  Maybe a 2-day dip is gentler?  I think I heard 4hours is enough too?  I'd love to get some feedback with more experienced plant dippers 🙂

 

[Stocking Wait Periods]

I used TSS too and never saw nitrite.  I think the nitrite consuming bacteria ramp up faster than the ammonia eating ones.  YMMV of course.

[otos and plant "compatiblity"]

I guess what I meant by question 2 is more about the plant.  I've only seen photos of dwarf sagittaria so I don't know the scale of it.  Is it actually wide enough for them to lay on?

[Do the USB Nano air pumps need a check valve?]

1 hour ago, Emika_B said:

Kevinpleong - I’d add a check valve regardless of pump placement.  If the airline should get pulled off of the pump the valve will prevent possible siphoning out of the tank and all over your floor.

i didn't think about that event.  i guess that means its better to put the check valve closer to the airstone then the pump so it doesn't get pulled off after the check valve.

[New fish for the week of 2/1-2/7]

@Robert

I'm thinking of making the trek up there Sunday.

Are the fish on this list new to the store or new for sale (ie out of quarantine and ready to be sold.)  Also how much for the cardinal tetras?  Since they are wild will the hate my ph7.8 water?

[otos and plant "compatiblity"]

I'm setting up my new tank's scape and thinking about plants.

I'm thinking of making one section be a Dwarf Sagittaria "forest" (tank is 12" deep) and then having a big rock on the otherside surrounded by monte carlo.  I have two questions:

1) will the monte carlo prevent the oto's from doing what they like to do on the rocks?  or will they tear up the monte carlo?

2) I heard otos like to hang out on leaves.  Is dwarf sagittaria wide enough for them to cling on and hang out or should I consider something else?

[Power Outages??]

1 minute ago, Odd Alan said:

Re-thinking the idea(more coffee) I'll probably go for a 500-700 dollar propane generator and a power outage/alarm for my iPad.

unless you want to spend BIG BUX this seems the most reasonable to me.  start-er-up in the back yard, drag cord through window, bob's your uncle.

[DIY water change/garden watering system]

Pumping distance isn't too bad if you're willing to lay the tubing.   Also make sure you can't back siphon into your tanks.  That could be a wet diaster

[Advice please?]

5 minutes ago, Melissa Ann said:

@CT - yet not dangerous, correct?  

I think it is dangerous but probably okay if you're not huffing it all day.  OSHA has a page about it.

 

Some say it'll kill fish if you disturb the sand.  Others say it'll just burp up and smell bad but not poison your fish.  Probably both true depending on how much gas is in there and how much time it gets to disolve.

 

Edit: To expand, It doesn't mix with your water when trapped in sand.  But if the sand is disturbed it can mix with your water.   I have no clue what a lethal fish dose is though.

[Advice please?]

Legend has it that beneith the top half inch of sand there be anaerobes that make hydrogen sulfide gas.  That's probably the smell.

[Adjustable aquarium heater-newbie question]

 

40 minutes ago, Tetra Guy said:

The best most reliable heating has been a pair of inexpensive preset Fluval heaters coupled to an Inkbird thermostat. Thermostat is set for 77. Heaters  preset for 78. Redundancy and excess capacity provides some safety and consistency. 

 

This.  A heater+thermostat as one piece is a difficult thing to get right especially for cheap and especially when encased in something not very thermally conductive like glass.  It becomes a pretty trivial problem when you can move the temperature sensor away from the heater some.  The cheap non-digital heaters also use a bimetal thermostat which have a lot of hysteresis, but work great for a backup shutoff incase something goes wrong (for example your temperature sensor falls out of the water). 

 

 

[Encouraging java fern plantlets]

So I read that if you see black spots on your java fern leaf you can cut it off and lay it face up and you'll get plantlets faster that way.

Mine don't have black spots yet but I have some ugly leaves that I was going to prune anyway.  If I cut them off can I do the same thing?  or will they just die and rot?

[Power Outages??]

Nitrifying bacteria live in a lot of places and from what I've read they don't need a lot of o2 to do their job.  I'm sure whatever gas exchange you have at the surface of the filter is enough to keep them alive.  Life, especially microbes, is a lot more robust than people give credit. 

As for backup power I guess it depends on how long you want to go.  Unless you want to go for a really long time an air stone and the bacteria in your tank will almost surely get you through.  Heaters are pretty power hungry though (relative to what you can store in a smallish battery).  If you're planning on heating you'll need a bigger battery and those computer UPSs that run on lead acids have misleading battery capacity and need replacement every 3-5 years.  IMO its better to get a small honda generator (which are very quiet) and power your fish and a few essentials like your fridge and a couple lamps for exended power outages (days/weeks).

[College 10 Gallon]

In case you haven't thought about it, another option might be to setup an auto feeder over the breaks and maybe grow duckweed to take care of some of the nitrogen for the two weeks.

[Fertilizer for emersed propagation]

I think it would be fun to try and grow some extra java fern and anubias nana petite emersed in a tub.

What should I use as a fertilizer?  Is dilute miracle gro sufficient or do i need micro nutrients in the water too.  Can I use something like easy green and supplement the nitrogen and phosphate the fish would normally make with miracle gro? (I have miracle gro laying around if you couldn't guess)

What concentration of fertilizer should I aim for?