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tk_yt

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Everything posted by tk_yt

  1. Thanks everyone. I kept up whatever was being done before, and I don’t know exactly how many there are, but I have for sure more than 10 of the baby fish that are happily swimming in the tank. So I at least doubled if not tripled the number of corydora I now have 🙂 I just did a water change and cleared out my filter so the flow is restored, and they all started to swim all over the place (I’m hoping it’s because they like the flow). I just now am seeing just how many there are, and it’s really quite something to see. I’m looking forward to seeing them growing big and healthy!
  2. So I bought some bronze corydora from Aquarium Coop a few months ago. Then today as I’m watching for thr fish, I see several baby corydora! I never even knew thry were born, so I never fed any fry food… and it looks like they are growing nicely, but what should I feed them? I have been giving the Hikari sinking pellets so far… with occasional blood worms and brine shrimp. Any other suggestions?
  3. Just a quick update to this reactor. After building it up (and re-tightened the thread using teflon tape, to prevent leaks, very important step I forgot lol), I ran the reactor for about a day. My observations: The good: The flow seemed to be unimpacted with the reactor, as expected since I didn't have anything inside I was getting perfect CO2 numbers based on my drop checker, it's a nice lime green by the time my lights turn on The not so good: There is a little bit of extra waterfall sound in the reactor itself, I don't think the reactor was fully filled up near the top Without any CO2 in there, I was actually getting a lot of regular air bubbles in the tank This was made even more obvious because I have the Poppy lily pipe With CO2 added, there were way more bubbles than when I was using the inline diffuser, so it didn't seem to fully dissolve the CO2, as intended End result: I ended up switching back to my original inline diffuser for now, just to get it back to the way it was. The reactor was fine in pushing out the CO2 bubbles, but it was not really effective at dissolving CO2, which was the whole reason for building it the first place. What's next: There is another design which allows the water to go down in a pipe inside another pipe, and then the water exits from the top of the outer pipe. Corvus did a video for that design in this video. I actually thought about doing this design first but I wanted to make use of the 1 1/2 PVC pipes I already had. I might not do it as extensively as he did, but I am curious if it would work better than the version I tried out. It was simply a lot of fun building something with PVC for the first time, so I didn't mind that it didn't work out for me 🙂 Again, the goal really was to remove all CO2 bubbles from inside my tank. Thanks for reading!
  4. My tank isn't big, it's a 40 gallon breeder. I never actually started with using an in-tank diffuser, because what I had heard was that it's more efficient with an inline. I appreciate your feedback though, and it's interesting to hear that you're back to using an in-tank diffuser. It honestly would be simpler to just run a CO2 line into it. I'll probably give this DIY project a shot anyway and see how it works out, and then decide whether it's something I'll keep using.
  5. I wanted to share my personal experience with my first DIY project using PVC pipes. I searched online quite a bit and decided to give it a shot myself. It turned out to be quite simple, so I wanted to share it here in case anyone else would like to give it a try. Parts: 1-1/2" PVC pipe, cut to about 12 inches long (1) 1-1/2" to 3/4" PVC bushing. Get the one that has threads on the inside (3) 1-1/2" PVC DWV pipe (it's a U-shaped pipe) (1) 1-1/2" Sani Tee Pipe (1) 5/8" hose barb x 3/4" MIP nylon adapter (2) I got the hose barb with 5/8" barb for my 16/22 mm hose 1/4" x 1/2" MIP push-to-connect adapter for the CO2 tubing (1) 3/4" to 1/2" PVC bushing. Get the one that has threads on the inside. The CO2 connector goes to that How I got it free-standing: I ended up needing to build a stand as well, because the reactor itself won't stand upright. I found a little part of my old computer desk, that had a metal plate and a connected short metal tube (it was meant to hold a small table top that swivels out). I was able to fit another PVC pipe right onto it and got it to fit snugly by putting a rubber band on the metal tube before putting the pvc pipe on. Then I cut open a few more 1-1/2" PVC pipes and screwed them into the stand, which clamps perfectly onto the reactor! I used bolts and tightened it with nuts on the inside, so that it would be more stable and not have a risk of pulling out eventually. I was really happy to see that I could re-use the PVC pipes to act as a clamp, it made my job so much easier. Reasons for creating this PVC CO2 reactor: I am currently using an FZone CO2 inline diffuser, which ends up sending lots of micro-bubbles into the tank. When I had lights that did not have as high intensity, I didn't notice it much. However, when I switched to using a higher intensity light, it became very noticeable, and I don't really want to have that 7-up effect I thought it would be really cool to try and building something using PVC! It's super fun 🙂 How it works: The idea of the design is that water will be flowing from the top of the reactor, downwards and then out from the bottom The CO2 line injects the CO2 from the top as well, and as the CO2 gets pushed down, it will try to rise up and keep getting flushed down, until it dissolves into the water The idea then is that any water that is able to flow out, should only contain dissolved CO2 I decided not to have any bio balls in there, because I won't be able to get in there and clean the media when it eventually gets dirty As of writing this thread, I have not yet connected it to my filter. I am waiting on my new filter that will be more powerful (Oase Biomaster 300), so the flow won't be restricted too much. Once I have it connected, I will update this thread with more information!
  6. Hello @JohnT! I should have replied to this thread after all the feedback that I received here. So actually in the end, I went with a canister filter. What happened was, I purchased the Tidal 55 from amazon, and then kept thinking about whether or not I'd get enough filtration and water flow in the tank, so then I also purchased an Oase Filtosmart 200 canister filter at the same time. When they both arrived, I took a look at both filters, and decided that I liked the additional space I get from the canister filter (and the fact I could hide the canister under the tank), so I never actually ended up installing the Tidal 55. Sorry I couldn't really give you a review of my experience of it since I didn't use it. I do enjoy the canister filter that I am using very much. It's very easy to remove the hoses and runs really quiet. I ended up putting in a ton of seachem matrix for the bio filter, and also coarse sponge layered with fine sponge and Seachem Purigen, and the water is really nice and clear. P.S., just because I found no information about this anywhere on the net. I have a betta fish so I was initially concerned about too much flow from a canister filter. I ended up getting a Glass lily pipe (shape of the pipe is named "Poppy"), and that worked amazing. My betta was stressed with the common lily pipe, and when I changed it to Poppy, she swims very happily in the tank without any issues.
  7. Thank you all for the feedback! I decided to go for the Tidal 55 after thinking it through some more. At the same time I bought additional Seachem Matrix and also Purigen. Waiting for it to arrive, and then will pick up some intake sponge as well as some additional pads from coop.
  8. Hello! I am looking to add a HOB filter to my tank, it's a 40 gallon breeder that is planted. It's got 2 sponge filters on either corner already, but I wanted some additional filtration, and was looking at HOB filters. I was about to get the AquaClear filter, when I came across the Seachem Tidal filters, which has the filter in front that can be submerged. I actually prefer that so wanted to research more about it. However, in all my searches, I did not find answers to these questions: 1. For a 40 gallon tank, would a tidal 110 be better since I'll be able to put more media in it, or should I go with the default recommended size of using the Tidal 55? 2. I see that the tidal filter has the skimmer intake, which I will not be able to add a sponge to like I can with the bottom intake. Would the slits be too big in the tidal 110 that a neon tetra could be sucked in? I have 10 neons in there right now and am worried about them getting sucked in Thanks!
  9. Thanks everyone for helping me identify the snails and also for the suggestions! I'm taking note of the overfeeding, and will stop looking for the little shells hiding somewhere in the tank. Sounds like no harm for the tank, so I'm ok with it.
  10. I have my new aquarium set up about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and everything was purchased from Aquarium Coop, including plants, spiderwood, fish, substrate, and most recently the pleco caves Yesterday my son noticed some bulbs on the tips of the branches of the spiderwood in my tank, and today when we took a closer look, they turned out to be shells of snails! So I used a tweezer and took out more than 10 of them... And now am wondering how they got in the tank in the first place. But more importantly, what do I do now to get rid of them? I'm sure that now I saw the snails on the branches, it's safe to assume that there are way more in the tank at this point. I don't even know what type of snails these are, and whether they will be harmful for the tank. Currently I have 1 bristlenose pleco, 10 neon tetras and 1 betta (the betta was the original fish we had before setting up the aquarium, and it was in a tine 3 gallon tank that was bare bottom with no decors, chances of the snail from the betta is very low I think). Any ideas or suggestions are much appreicated!
  11. Well, after heading over to Aquarium Coop again and picking up a couple of the pleco caves (thought it would be good to give him some hiding place besides just behind the heater), I decided to try the algae wafers again after seeing him on the spiderwood. I dropped the wafer really close to him and went about my business, and when I returned, was very relieved to see that he has found the algae wafer and was finally eating it! So at least I'm less worried now, and thanks again for all the responses! (The picture is not as great because I had to take it from afar and zoom in, I was worried about scaring him off)
  12. Thanks for all the replies and suggestions! So far I've tried: Blanched zucchini (ignored) Quartered cucumber (sliced along the length then halfed), served raw on a fork (ignored) Community Plus Repashy (my neon tetras loved them, I think ignored by the pleco) Algae wafers (ignored) But I'm going to keep trying! I also got the Morning Wood Repashy that I will be trying out tonight, and I plan on picking up a pleco cave from aquarium coop, and might even try a trick that Cory showed on one of his youtube videos, where he dipped the cave in repashy and put it in the tank. I do see quite a bit of poop in the area that he likes to hide (right now he hides behind the Fluval E thermometer a lot), and when he's on the glass I can see that his tummy looks full. So I'm not worried about him starving, just want to make sure he's getting the right amount of nutrients. As soon as I find the right food that he likes, I'll for sure provide an update here!
  13. I have not actually, hearing about repashy for the first time 🙂 I'm going to be doing more research on it, and will try them out too!
  14. Yeah I have the slices frozen now so I'll offer it daily and see if he'll eventually notice it. I'll also be using cucumber and carrots and see what works! 🙂
  15. Hello, I recently purchased a bristlenose pleco from aquarium coop, and have him in a relatively new 40 gallon planted aquarium. The aquarium has spiderwood in it, and I always find him either on the spiderwood, or on the glass, and generally seems content. He even polished off the white film that had started developing on the air tube the night I got him. The issue is, I have been trying to feed him the algae wafers that I purchased along with the pleco, to no success at all. Then I put in a slice of blanched zucchini in the tank last night, and this morning it looks untouched. I also have gotten some cucumber that I will try tonight, but I'm not sure if there is a better way to entice the pleco to eat. I see him grazing throughout the day, but am worried whether he is getting enough nutrients. Additional info: He was introduced at the same time with 10 neon tetras, and there is currently 1 betta in the tank as well. *edit* Here is a picture of the pleco, with the algae wafer next to him that he just ignores
  16. As I looked around some more, running 2 sumps seem possible, and it might even be an option to connect the two tanks with 2 connections (to allow for flow in the case one clogs. This would require drilling into the tank so I need to research it a bit more, but that seems like a potential solution as well, to get me the volume I ultimately want for the 40 gallon. The downsides I can think of are: - Drilling a hold in the tank always comes with risks - Added potential for leaks between the tanks Benefits: - Added volume - Can actually fit under my tank inside the stand Thoughts?
  17. That's a pretty good idea, I will look into using a 10 gallon instead of 20 gallon for the sump. Thanks! I guess technically that means I could set up 2 separate sumps as well using the smaller tanks, sounds like it could work, just that there's not going to be a lot of space in each.
  18. Hello, Background: I am starting a freshwater aquarium and decided on using a 40 gallon breeder tank. I had a hard time searching for the right aquarium stand and eventually decided to purchase the Aquatic Fundamentals 50/65 gallon stand, which has the same dimensions of that fits the 40 gallon breeder perfectly, and am just waiting for it to be delivered. However, I did more research after ordering the stand, and realized that I was really drawn to the idea of using a sump as well. I was thinking it would be good to use a 20 gallon tank for the sump, but then realized that the tank would not fit through the door of the stand. The stand is 38 inches across, but the door is only 12 inches in the middle, with the boards on either side of the door immovable. There is some space in the back, but it's not big enough to fit in the aquarium either. So I'm left with 2 options: 1. Build the stand with the 20 gallon tank already inside, so I don't need to worry about fitting it in. I am contemplating this option but the 12 in opening would probably make it difficult to work with the sump inside, thought this is just theoretical as I don't have an experience with working with a sump yet and don't know how hard it would be with a narrow opening. 2. Get a different stand before I set up the aquarium. I don't have tools to do any DIY projects, so I'm hoping that there is a stand out there that works with a sump without me making it myself. I have not had much luck looking online, perhaps I'm not looking at the right place? I'd love to hear any suggestions/recommendations or if anyone has any experiences similar to my own, and how you were able to resolve the issue? Thanks!
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