DShelton
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Posts posted by DShelton
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1 hour ago, s1_ said:
I made the manifold from 3/4 pvc. Since I didn't want to massively restrict the pump I made it return back to the tank at the end of run.
With a manifold like this and bypassing the extra flow back into the tank, just about any sized pump can be used. This is exactly the same kind of design we used in the lab with our chillers. You can regulate flow out of the manifold where needed and prevent back pressure on the pump.
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I have a similar footprint tank 36" only the 38 gallon (assuming yours is a 30 gallon long) variety that is currently being setup. I have thought long and hard about stocking options for South American fishes and plants. I have been considering several of the Apistogramma species, and I have settled on Lemon tetras and C. sterbai to go with them.
I think that lemon tetra will look gorgeous with A. borelli.
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1 hour ago, TheDish said:
I'm just getting back into it after keeping salt water for a while (so I still have my RO/DI unit and all that jazz.
I approach freshwater (I would suspect I am in the minority here) from exactly this position, as a reefkeeper. I do so for a couple of reasons. When I first seriously got into fish, I was on horrible well water (so awful that we did not drink it), but I did have access to softened and RO water, and I learned fishkeeping in (and a few plants) water that was partially mixed with our well water, and a few additives. After having kept fresh and then saltwater fish like that for years (20 or more), it just felt natural to me to continue doing so.
It is second nature to me now, but I do not feel I am 'chasing the water chemistry'.
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1 hour ago, Fish Folk said:
This is a neat idea. Forgive my ignorance, but how does this actually work? How does the Excel cut that back and keep it off longer?
57 minutes ago, Will Billy said:The initial theory was algae hates liquid carbon. By coating the glass with liquid carbon it keeps the algae from staring back as quick and treats any spots in cracks and corners where its hard to get completely clean. Eventually the algae does come back, but with a slower start to repopulate i found i can go almost twice as long before i have to clean the crud off again.
The active ingredient in Seachem Excel is an algaecide (Glutaraldehyde). I have used it before to kill hair algae when the tank is almost empty during water changes, pipet with a bit of excel directly onto the hair algae.
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Was any of the equipment in the tank previously in other tanks and then allowed to completely dry out? If so there could be enough bio-matter (algae, biofilm etc) that died off in/on them that is decomposing to cause the ammonia to be generated.
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This is what the BD blasting sand looks like when wet. I have had 50# soaking in a bucket of water for a few weeks. I think I am going to use it in a new tank as a cap over “enriched Eco Complete”.
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I use Kordon NovAqua Plus (I believe it is manufactured by Fritz for Kordon) or Fritz complete.
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Tractor Supply sells a blasting media called Black Diamond Blasting Media. It is not really sand, but is a coal slag (inert in water) and they usually have a couple of grits of it. It has to be rinsed really well to get the production residue off of it, but it is a really nice black substrate.
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I think this is safe, but if not would one of the moderators please remove it.
If you listen to Randy's Podcast you should recognize this organization, and Dr. Mazeroll. They have a free speaker series that they are hosting via Zoom. Next weeks is about the electric fishes (there is a registration form at the bottom of the page to get the Zoom link). I have attended a couple of these over the last few weeks, and they have been pretty informative.
https://amazonresearchcenter.dm.networkforgood.com/emails/1171962 (I did take my referral ID out of the URL, so any strangeness you see on the page is due to that).
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I just bought pair of these little fellas (one might be a female) and three oto's that had been in the same take in a local mom & pop for several months. They are in a 10 gallon and more often than not they are always together, and not aggressive towards each other, and they completely ignore the oto's.
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You can add a few drops to your pellets,and I seem to remember hearing @Corysay that he soaked some of the pelleted food.
Another thing I have also done is to make a "dough ball" (for lack of anything else to call it) out of flake and VitaChem. In the palm of my hand add a few drops of VitaChem at a time to some flake, and then working them together to make a ball of food dough. Then drop the dough ball in the tank. This works well in heavily stocked tanks, as it will disperse through water column, and sink slowly. All levels of the tank will get some, especially the bottom dwellers.
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Thanks,
They were the source that I found as well. Thanks for the information on your experience with them.
Cheers,
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@Frost I am toying with the idea of ordering some B. channoides (I have not seen them in any of my LFS). If I may ask, where did you acquire yours?
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I am a long time user (30+ years) of Marineland filtration products, specifically the BioWheels (I have 2 or 3 of the 330s from 20+ years ago), and their canisters. I have always found the HOBs to be up to the task for filtration, plus they are symmetrical.
The way that I have always used mine, is sans filter cartridges, with coarse sponges for each side (I cut up sponges from an Eheim canister), and an intake sponge in the intake (I used a sponge off an old tetra sponge filter https://imgur.com/gwea9L0). I generally leave the BioWheels in them, as they do work, and would generally leave one of the filter baskets in the HOB to use for purigen/Phosban or some different biological media like SubstratPro or Matrix.
In this method of operation the intake sponge is what keeps the guts of the filter clean and extends the amount of maintenance you have to do inside the HOB. I cleaned my intake sponges every month or so (so 4 - 5 water changes) and would only have to clean the inside sponges once the flow out of the filter was reduced after cleaning the intake sponge was not enough. At that point clean (i.e. rinse in dechlorinated water) the sponge(s) out of one side of the filter, and then next cleaning, clean the other side.
I would likely not buy a new BioWheel, but that is no indictment of their capabilities (I am just not buying a new HOB anyime soon). They are neither the best nor the worst of the HOBs on the market, but IF you already own it, they are serviceable.
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Please post a photo. Does the stain go all way to the top edge of where the sand was and is the bottom of the tank black?
We can detect H2S in very low concentrations like 50 - 100 ppb. You would have known if you had H2S as you could have smelled it.Thinking about the chemistry, there is a pretty small chance you had enough sulfur (unless you were dosing it sulfate for some reason) to produce H2S in enough quantities to detect, let alone possibly stain the glass. Your sand bed would have to be extremely deep, say 8 or more inches to possibly create anaerobic conditions suitable for the sulfate reducing bacteria to thrive.
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5 gallons or less
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All of the snakeheads. I remember them in a tank at university when I was there. I would really like to have some of the dwarf species, some of them are very nice looking.
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The AP100 will run two sponge filters without an issue. I have one running two large COOP sponge filters in 100gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. Depending on the air requirements of your 3rd device, I suspect the AP100 will run all three of your devices without issue. The AP100 (depending on head pressure) will produce 3l/min * 2. If you put valves on each of the lines, you can control the air going to each of your devices, and the AP100 should provide enough air for your requirements.
Ignore the tank capacity information, but the l/minute and the PSI should be spot on.
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I have really enjoyed the binge on the podcast after discovering it a month or so ago. I could listen to Dean talk for hours upon end.
I read in the thread earlier that someone suggested Stephan Tanner from Swiss Tropicals. I think he would be an interesting guest.
Other suggestions:
Charles@GoliadFarms. He is such a wealth of knowledge.
Taylor from Simply Betta - her fish bathroom was amazing
Dr Charles Novak - some interesting science-
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I went to undergraduate at a small university in SW Texas down by Big Bend National Park. I worked in the labs of a couple of different professors. One of which was a vertebrate biologist. I had the privilege of field work on several of the mosquitofishes (G. gagei and G. alvarezi, and G. nobilis). Those fishes and the herps (colubrids and crotalids) are pretty special to me. The mosquitofish are (and were then) endangered and not available to the trade, but G. affinis and G. holbrooki are still good choices.
The het melanistic G. holbrooki look like this (image from seller on Aquabid):
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For livestock (Just the US)
Gambusia holbrooki (eastern mosquitofish) - I saw some of these on aquabid that are b&w spotted (possibly het melanistic)
Elassoma okefenokee - Okefenokee Pygmy Sunfish
Palaemonetes paludosus - American Ghost/Glass Shrimp
ScudsIncluding Mexico as well, any of the Goodeids:
Ameca splendens
or
Limia perugia
For plants the sky is the limit:
Ceratophyllum echinatum
Ludwigia
Bacopa caroliniana
Cabomba caroliniana
Echinodorus barteri,
Echinodorus cordifolius
Echinodorus tenellus
Sagittaria kurziana
Vallisneria americana
Nymphoides aquatica-
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- There is a post on the forums here where someone posts a link to a commercial site to buy those specific containers. I will dig around and see if my "SearchFU" is good enough to find it.
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Roots possibly, but definitely plant matter. If you watch some of the Goliad Farms videos, Charles mentions specifically that the scuds eat the leaves of the hornwort that they float in their vats.
Tank lids that open up like Deans Fishroom.
in General Discussion
Posted
Dean built the lids in his fishroom I believe. There are a few videos on YT about making lids similar to those, but I have never seen a lid that opens that way for sale commercially.