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dublicious

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Everything posted by dublicious

  1. dublicious
    Yep, that one is rated for up to 300 gallons 🙂 Stock tanks and heaters for them come in lots of sizes. Just trying to help. If something else works better, that's what matters.
  2. dublicious
    I've seen someone somewhere on the internets say they use a stock tank heater (like for keeping water from freezing for horses/cows) for their medaka tub. I haven't had the opportunity to try it, but I just setup a 110 gal stock tank here in southeastern PA I'm going to put medaka in, and may try this over the winter.
  3. dublicious
    Can't really reason with bacteria 😄
  4. dublicious
    If you skip an ammonia dose and let it sit at 0 for a day, does nitrite go down? I wonder if you just happen to be testing it just as the bacteria are nearing end of eating it up. A long shot probably, but weird cycling situation is weird 😄
  5. dublicious
    I don't really do "organization" 😄 Tucked behind something is as good as it gets.
  6. dublicious
    That sounds ridiculous (in a good way) and I wanna see it! 😄
  7. dublicious
    I've had 2 in a 9gal fluval flex for probably almost 6 months now... After reading the post linked below, I was convinced to move them up to a larger tank and get some friends. I just picked up 6 more, who are the first in the 20L, where they'll quarantine (and maybe grow out some) before I add the 2 I have. According to their stocking recommendations, at ~75L in 20gal, I could have 7.5 puffers, though I've rounded up to 8, in the interest of the last puffer 😄 One of the 2 in the 9 gal is definitely the dominant one, often chasing the other to cover. I think square footprint is not as conducive to line of sight obstruction as the 20L will be. In the 20L I saw all 6 shoaling together, moving single file through a hole in the driftwood. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen in an aquarium! There's definitely some light protection of some areas when I put in bbs, but when they're just on the prowl for snails or derping about, they seem to get along fine. Pea Puffer Care Sheet WWW.PUFFERFISHENTHUSIASTSWORLDWIDE.COM The pea puffer is by far the most commonly kept species of pufferfish, owing to their full grown size of just 2.5cm (0.98 inches). They are very popular among beginner keepers and demand for them has only continued to...
  8. dublicious
    "Pioneer" might be a bit of an overstatement 😆 finding balance has been a challenge. I've seen big water changes early on be suggested. I didn't do that and seem to be paying for it. Probably going to try a reset. Good luck though! Will be interesting to see how it turns out
  9. dublicious
    Awesome, good luck! My 29 was quickly overwhelmed by two litters from one impregnated female. Fry grew quick and were bombproof. Some people seem to have luck with guppies managing their own population, so if you're lucky this will be the case! it usually seems to require keeping the adults hungry, but I think among new people overfeeding is more common than underfeeding. That was most likely a factor for me, as I noticed little predation. I was used to feeding Oscars in my first stint, so that may not be as much of an issue with more experience 😄
  10. dublicious
    Welcome! It sure is! In December I returned to the hobby after a >10yr long hiatus. I'm already up to 4 tanks (29,10,9,5) setup, a tub outside, a 55, 10, 20L in planning and I just bid on two 75s! 😬 My warning on the guppies: for your first 10g, stick with a few males. They breed like crazy. A few males is a good way to get you into the routine of maintenance with a brand new tank without all of a sudden having 50 fry on your hands! Have you planted the 10 gal? What are your plans for the other tanks?! Good luck!
  11. dublicious
    Na, no easy green. Various colors are 50-70%, except blue which is 0, for about 10 hrs/day. It's Jungle Val. If there are varieties of that species, I have no idea which it is. I also previously bought "italian val" which didn't grow very tall, and according to some folks I've shown pictures it actually looks more like some sagittaria variety. So far batting 0/2 on val 😄 . Picture attached. The green is not as vibrant as the camera seems to be making it. Yea, that's why I was hoping this would make me feel better about my previous "val" not getting very tall. Also hoping I'm just delayed.
  12. dublicious
    My mentality is usually "better safe than sorry", especially when it's as easy as throwing plants in a different tank for a brief observation period. I don't do it for long (week or two) because I don't think fish pathogens would often survive long without a host, and even if they did you can't really look at plants for symptoms of fish diseases. You'd also get a sense of what hitchhikers you might get. I don't always worry about snails, but it's good to know what you're putting in your tank in either way.
  13. dublicious
    I got some jungle val in May. When it arrived the leaves looked a little sad, mostly pale w/ some browning. With no growth in the 29 after a few weeks I figured maybe pruning some of the sad leaves would stimulate newer, healthy growth, but left many of the leaves on as there were none that looked great and I didn't want to just cut it all off and kill the plant. Here we are nearly mid August with still no new growth. They're under a fluval 3.0 in a 29 gal. I dose easy green per the bottle, put root tabs under them, and until last weekend the tank was heavily stocked w/ guppies. I feel like lighting and nutrients should be sufficient to see at least some new growth, but there's been virtually none for almost 4 months. I was under the impression that these were plants that will grow under most conditions. Any advice is appreciated!
  14. dublicious
    I've noticed this too. And every irregular poop is "internal parasites", pay no mind that it's a pregnant female about to give birth! 😄
  15. dublicious
    I've read that guppy fry benefit from good lighting while developing. Without sufficient light spinal development issues are apparently more likely. I see you have plants, so it can't be that bad, but I think I saw something like 10hrs? Maybe 12?
  16. dublicious
    As Cory suggested it was something I haven't done yet and wanted to try a dirted tank, so I set one up to give it a whirl. When I have a hobby I need to try things. Whether it's the "best" or "right" way, it doesn't really matter. An exception in fishkeeping is I wouldn't experiment in a way where I'm knowingly compromising the health of the fish. Right now we're going through an algae phase. There are no fish yet, just some bladder snails, a couple neos and a amano in a 5 gal to try to get that initial algae bloom under control. Will probably put a betta in there in the end once I'm confident it has stabilized sufficiently. I read Walstad describe a tank where she put a 1.5" layer of gravel over a 1.5" layer of soil. I went for 1" of each as this was a 5 gal tank. I think I wound up a bit heavy on the capping, but I figure better safe than sorry to avoid a muddy mess. However, with a decent organic potting soil I don't see mud being a huge issue, as it's not usually a homogeneous hunk of fine dirt, but rather a bunch of different constituent ingredients to decompose over time to release nutrients.
  17. dublicious
    In my aquaclear I took out carbon and added a bag of lava rock as additional bio media I can easily move to a new tank. I used that in my fluval flex when I set it up, and put it where the carbon bag was so both tanks now have spare bio media if I need to put it in a new filter somewhere.
  18. dublicious
    Curious why not? The cost is generally higher, but these are things that should last and material requirements kinda make that make sense. I think the lack of frame could be interpreted to make them less durable, but they should be built to compensate, right? You can't just rely on the frame to hold it on an economical stand, so I can see that being a reason as well. I don't have a strong opinion either way, and also currently only have rimmed tanks except for a fluval flex. Did I just list all your reasons? 😄
  19. dublicious
    I'm bad at schedules, so the only things I do on specific days is water changes 🤣 I try to feed repashy or frozen foods a few times a week. Dry food is kept in the fridge and is fed on the other days. Sometimes I'll feed the frozen food in the am and do a little dry food later. I probably also overfeed!
  20. dublicious
    Also keep in mind that most water softeners work by exchanging mineral ions with sodium ions, increasing salinity. Depending on how hard your water was to begin with, this can be significant as more minerals removed means more sodium added. For some fish at some levels this may not be a big deal, as they do well with some salt in the water (think aquarium salt). Other fish are more sensitive to salinity.
  21. dublicious
    She refers only to ammonium, and doesn't say whether they take up "ammonia" as readily. However, I don't think it matters, and here's why: As you noted, pH (along with temperature, and apparently to a lesser degree other factors) determines the ratio of unionized ammonia to ionized ammonium in the water. This is why we consider ammonia "less toxic" when the pH is lower. When a plant consumes ammonium, if the ratio remains the same, it means more ammonia is ionized to make ammonium, therefore reducing the ammonia levels in the water. I'm open to the idea that I may be oversimplifying as I'm sure there's a lot of other interesting chemistry happening that we don't really measure/care about as much. I agree that the amount of plants involved will determine their contribution to nitrogen removal (whether ammonia/ammonium or nitrate). To keep referencing Walstad (her book was a recent read 😆) the reason for minimal filtration in a "Walstad" tank is that plants and beneficial bacteria are believed to be in direct competition for ammonia/ammonium. If you have a heavily planted tank with reasonable stocking, the plants would be happier consuming the ammonia directly.
  22. dublicious
    There is a 0% chance I will do any of that, but it's awesome!
  23. dublicious
    I have the hardcover. I've definitely got my money's worth, so if either is affordable I don't think you can go wrong. There aren't many photos but there are lots of supporting graphs, tables and illustrations throughout the book. Should also mention it goes into the science of plants in an aquarium in general. While she discusses dirted, low tech tanks, there's a lot of info in there that would help anyone trying to keep healthy plants in an aquarium.
  24. dublicious
    Just a small correction: In her book, Diana Walstad discusses ammonia/nitrite/nitrate preference in plants. On ammonia: "Most aquatic plants studied, when presented with a choice between ammonium and nitrates as their nitrogen source, take up ammonium exclusively. Only when ammonium is unavailable, do plants take up nitrates." On nitrite: "Although plantes definitely can use nitrite as a nitrogen source, the pertinent question for aquarium hobbyists is- Do organic plants remove the toxic nitrite in preference to the non-toxic nitrate? No definitive answer to this question in the scientific literature is currently available." So plants will consume both chemicals (clearly preferring ammonia), but we don't dose them because our fish wouldn't like that very much! In fact, ammonium sulfate is commonly used as a soil fertilizer! So they will contribute on some level to ammonia/nitrite reduction in the tank. The size (or surface area) of the plant probably determines how much beneficial bacteria they'll bring along though.
  25. dublicious
    Kinda tough to tell, but could it be detritus worms? Maybe google for some pics and see if that's what it looks like. If so, as you may have guessed, they eat detritus. May need make sure you're keeping up on gravel vacs to keep them under control if there are a lot. A small population in the tank isn't detrimental, and your fish will probably just feed on them when they're able. Tough (for me) to tell if that's what they are though...
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