anewbie
-
Posts
2,681 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1 -
Feedback
0%
Content Type
Forums
Downloads
Store
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Profiles
Posts posted by anewbie
-
-
Well you will need the 30 inch unit which is modest strength (but stronger than the plant 3.0); they, AI, say the light has 2 feet coverage but there will be drop off - they don't have a hanging solution but it has two screw holes - I think they take m8 screws and you could connect wires or string to them to hang it. I'd start with one and then decide if you need a 2nd; my aquarium (29) is 12 wide and i don't see an issue with coverage but i haven't formally measure the drop off. If you put the light on a aquarium and have a lid the position of hte light will probably depend on where the hinge of the lid falls so you might not be able to center it. The wrgb2 - pro is a lot stronger but twice as much - but the coverage is going to be so so on the edge - i have a non pro wrgb2 on my 40b and the center par is quite strong but the drop off on the sides is pretty bad - but of course if you hang it you will get better coverage. A bit depends on what type of plants you are growing - for low tech it doesn't matter all of these lights are plenty strong - if you inject co2 and have a lot of 'high par' plants at 21 inch deep you might want to consider the wrgb-2 pro - don't get me wrong i think ai blade is great light and love the colour balance but if you want 150 par at 21 inch you will need a bit more umph. Of course you can do two blade. Neither the wrgb-2 nor the blade are water proof though the blade is a bit better in that department - i think ip68. wrgb-2 has a reputation of being unreliable - mostly with the blue-tooth module require to control it or reset it when the power fails/daylight savings et all. I have one that is pretty darn flaky but hasn't actually failed yet but the light is only 1.5 years old (the one that was on the other 29). In that regards I will say so far the blade and plant 3.0 just work but i haven't had the blade very long (and the ap sucks compared to plant3.0, wrgb2, and onf - i've not tried twinstar, kessel or ghl).
So that is another negative of the blade - bad ap but it is easy enough to do something straight forward like set a ramp up; max intensity and duration - if you want a more complex schedule it is a bit more difficult. There is a 2nd ap that will work with it but i haven't tried it to see how it differs.
-
On 3/12/2023 at 11:27 AM, jwcarlson said:
I hate rock wool, I cannot fathom how we have arrived at this as a packaging option for plants. There's got to be something better!
I buy most of my plants from ACO, but had good luck with some Etsy sellers buying cuttings or trimmings.
I actually like the ones with little foam wrappings and weights around them.
Yea i agree foam is the best bet; usually they use it with cuttings; but a lot of hobbist who sell plants won't include rockwool; i have a list of folks who i 'trust' and buy from them a few times a year when they have stuff for sale. I found it to be a huge mistake to allow rock wool in the tank; long term it is a disaster; and i also found it a pia to remove from the roots (though I think some folks recommend you just cut the roots).
-
1
-
-
I purchased one for my 29 to test (which previously had a plant 3.0 - here are some pictures); if you look at the substrate you will see the fluval is a bit yellow and the blade is more neutral (this of course can change based on light setting so it might be possible to make the 3.0 more neutral); the blade is quite a bit stronger on max - i estimate par 100 at 15 inches (which is one inch off the substrate in the 29) and around 520 at the very top. The blade only has a 1 year warranty and is not ip67 (don't let it fall in the aquarium; which has happen at least once with my fluval); the fluval has 3 year warranty.
The blade is new product and no history on longevity the fluval 3.0 has a reputation of being pretty much problem free. I dislike the bright green led on the blade and how it sits on the aquarium but it is definitely an overall nicer light in terms of quality of the output and ease of obtaining neutral light.
One odd thing about the blade is they do not have a suitable model for 36 inch aquarium (40B) but they do have a lot of interesting sizes for larger aquariums. I would definitely recommend the blade over the wrgb2 which has a bluish cast (the pro adds white led but it is extremely expensive relatively speaking).
plant 3.0:
blade:
-
A bit depends if they were fully mature when you got them or if they were still maturing. You could try swapping the two females of the two failed pairs but i'd give it a bit more time.
-
1
-
-
On 3/12/2023 at 7:42 AM, Mmiller2001 said:
Your tank is too pretty not to edit, how do these look?
Original
You raise an interesting issue with pictures; how to make them match what the eye sees. Almost impossible since the eye has such wonderful dynamic range relative to the pixel monster we now use (film did a much better job in that department but not many of the younger generation know what film is much less how to find it). I wonder when they have these contest like the dutch thingy if they would judge tanks different in person than via images ? Do they do anything to control the editing of images ?
-
On 3/8/2023 at 3:08 PM, mynameisnobody said:
Today I received a plant order from another company. The coop didn’t have these particulars currently in stock so I took the shot. I ordered 4 potted anubias nana. I received 4 nana with the roots wrapped in rock wool, no pot(s) in the whole package. It doesn’t seem like a major catastrophe until I have loose rock wool all over the aquarium. Why advertise something as potted when it’s truly not. Anyways, never again, from now on, all plant orders also go to the coop only. Live and learn.
I really don't understand this post; the anubia i order from aquarium-coop are also in rock wool; i suspect most vendors are getting the anubia from the same source. I hate plants in rock wool. I used to have one store i used who grew their own and these did not have rock wool - unfortunately since the pandemic things haven't been the same. When they say pot - they are just these green thing plastic things stuff with rock wool. I prefer my plants to be unpotted in the aquarium and so i have to spend hours - well not literally hours - removing the rock wool from teh last set of anubia i ordered from aquarium-coop. Are you saying that you plant the plants in their green plastic pot with rockwool when you receive them that way ?
-
On 3/10/2023 at 1:40 PM, Fish Folk said:
I like feeding live outdoor foods to live outdoor fish in tubs, mini ponds, etc. But there are risks to your fishroom that are hard to recover from when too much outdoors / wild stuff takes over in your in-house tanks.
I recommended choosing live foods you can propagate _indoors_ without too much trouble. Daphnia are excellent. But you need to start a few cultures, and really figure out the best way to propagate them. I have tried… unsuccessfully… a few times. Now, many aquarists like keeping Daphnia outside, and feeding them through the season. Risks are there, but Daphnia seems less problematic than others.
I feed _some_ mosquito larvae to native fish species. But anything not hunted down and devoured becomes mosquitoes indoors 😬
Live blackworms are great if you can propagate them. But they can be more work than they’re worth.
White worms and Grindal worms are great. But there’s daily work involved. And it can be gross.
I’m meeting with a sage live foods guy next week. I’ll try to learn more, and share.
Please post what you learn in a sep thread. I'd like to raise some not too hard food for frys and adults. I currently hatch bbs but that is a pia given the short life of nutrient. Vaguely i've heard vinegar eels are a good route but don't know factually if that is true. I've heard negative stuff on daphnia esp if they go too far...
-
1
-
-
I did a healthy check on my female D50 (picture below) since i hadn't seen her for a few days; it appears she has a little nest in the back where no one can see her.... so what did i do today - i disturbed my fish trying to find her.
(this is pre nesting; when nesting they turn bright yellow and she was very yellow and quite angry at me):
And this is the proud father - though what exactly he is proud of i have no clue but for a wild fish he is incredibly friendly and a bit demanding:
-
3
-
3
-
-
On 3/9/2023 at 11:31 AM, Mmiller2001 said:
It's awesome 😊. Have to hire some people to move it up on to the stand. So a couple of weeks yet.
One complaint already was the miss labeled display dimensions. Website said 22 inch width, turns out only 18.2. but no worries, I can work with it.
Having read the posts after this one; it is an interesting design; having the filtration built in (not an uncommon design); when i was looking at my 550 one suggestion was to put a large matten filter on the back (which is basically what you have if you can force the water to pass through a sponge); i didn't want to waste the space (so i'm putting a sump under the aquarium); but i did want to put corner mattern filters on the smaller tanks 4ftx4ftx18); but the vendor wouldn't guarantee the aquarium if i did that (they have a life time warranty though the actual value is questionable - as it is in these things). Anyway having the filter behind isn't a bad thing if the water flow is quiet (which is another question to be asked once you get it setup); but of course it takes space.
With regards to mag thingy - i don't use them for fear of scratching glass but i am curious is this new aquarium glass ?
-
1
-
-
The safest thing is to just not use them.
-
On 3/8/2023 at 11:14 AM, FishyGirl said:
OK, thank you! Could most fish cut themselves on decor like this?
Depends on the fish; some species are easier spooked than others; also some are more likely to get stuck in small holes than others ( I can't tell if your decoration has small holes on the back side or under side).
My festums are incredibly easy to spook and yes they would probably injure themselves; the angels can be spooked but it takes a lot more effort to get them to flee in terror - but i will tell you if an angel did flee in terror yes it could badly injure itself; a 75 just isn't that large and they can move extremely fast.
Silver dollars (not a species you mentioned) are known to be extremely timid and will frequently badly injure themselves fleeing into the side of the aquarium much less a piece of sharp landscape.
As for holes - i've had a swordtail get badly injured fitting between a piece of zuc and plant weight because a small gap was left (i use plant weights to weigh them down); a person on another forum spent 3 days trying to get their betta out of a hole it got trapped in the side of a ornament; kuhli loaches have been known to get trapped in ornaments that holes in the bottom by digging under them and then not being able to figure out how to get back out.
--
Just me but i limit my aquariums to non-sharp rocks; wood and plants - lots and lots of plants and i NEVER wear a jacket in the room with my aquarium as my fishes don't recognize me in a jacket and flee in terror.
-
Honestly given the price point for discus and their more specialize care they are not a good species for someone who has not been keeping fishes for a few years; I'm a total newbie but i have learned a few things the past 5 years (I've been keeping fishes longer than 5 years but quite a few of those years was pre-internet) that I didn't know such as cold water from the faucet is not healthy for warm blooded fishes and bi-weekly 50% water changes are really helpful for fishes that require very clean water and a host of other things that you might not be aware of if you are new in this hobby. Also I would check the kh/gh/tds of your tap water (unless you are setting up a dedicated ro system) before deciding what species you want. Some people have ultra soft water (good for sa species) and others have ultra hard water (good for ca, lake african species and most live bearers); yes you can put a a soft water fish in hard water and it won't die right away (most of the time); but it isn't all that healthy for long term life expectancy (again this becomes species specific); and keeping hard water fishes in soft water can be just as harsh on the fish. Like wise for temp; you can keep discus at 80 but (esp if young) won't handle it well and in a few weeks or month they might die; conversely you can keep danio at 88; but after a while they aren't going to be doing so well.
anyways good luck - let us know how it turns out.
-
On 3/7/2023 at 6:43 PM, memorywrangler said:
Huh! That's cool. I paid ~$3/each for 5.
Thanks for feeding tips.
Yea i figured you got them cheap so thought i would add that tidbit; they are basically interesting coloured bn; more interesting than some of the other colouring. They do require a bit of protein and mine love catfish or shrimp pellets (i've mostly feed them catfish pellets from omega-one); the only thing i dislike about them is like most bn they can get a bit snappy when it comes to sharing - i once had an epic fight between a bn pleco and upside down catfish (and it was the bn's fault being a greedy little bugger).
-
That is a Ancistirus Wabenmuster; and they can easily run $40+; having said that i make an effort to not feed mine anything special - cept twice a week i do put in some zucchini which they love. Sadly they aren't really into sharing these days which is a bit of a problem (I have some other pleco like fishes in the aquarium). hikari algae wafers work i guess (I have them); but they really love that zucchini which i plucked in there well washed but otherwise raw (I slice it down the middle so they can eat the meat; they don't love the skin but the l204 comes back at night and eats the skin. Oh one other thing i occasionally feed them is sweet potato; which has the advantage that it can be left in the aquarium more than 24 hours without causing issues - they seem to like that also - could never get them to eat carrots or lettuce. I got mine around 1 inch they are now around 2 1/2 inch after nearly 6 months.
-
On 3/7/2023 at 8:20 AM, gardenman said:
The floor moving when you walk on it is a bad omen.
The floors that you walk on generally are not part of the support system; old wood floors that are poorly installed will frequently develop some wiggle due to expansion/contraction of wood over time; but it has zero effect on actual weight the structure can support.
Generally speaking if a floor can't support a 29; it won't be able to support the football team you invite over friday to party with.
The only catch is what will happen when you invite the football team over to look at the aquarium; then you might get into trouble. Once you go larger than 29 things can begin to get more serious. A 40 can be over 450lbs and a 120 is well over 1000 lbs; but a 29 is still in the rein of the er excessively chubby person taking a forever nap in the rocking chair.
Having said this before you buy an aquarium; check your home owners policy; an aquarium that breaks and dumps water on a wood floor can easily cause $20,000 in damage.
-
Another thing to consider is that adult discus are very expensive and young discus need very warm temps (85-87 recommended by most); and very clean water. An aquarium that is heavily stocked is not likely to have very clean water. I'm mixed on keeping loaches with cichild; i currently have 10 clown loaches and 10 zebra loaches with my angelfishes in a 120; the loaches definitely keep my angels up at night which isn't the best thing in the world for them. The aquarium itself is a bit crowded but in another month they will be move to a 550 and I'm hopeful the additional room will make it easier for the angels to find a quiet spot for the night.
btw honey gouramis you want will definitely suffer at discus temperatures.
-
You could do ro water; but with an aquarium that is 13 gallons another alternative would be rain water. You might need to make it harder (as you would ro water); depending on the fishes you keep. Be aware that if you do use rain water and you have tar roof on your home (some homes have slate and similar that won't harm the water); you will not want to collect roof water but rather have a pail that collect rain directly. Also if you live in a neighborhood with managed lawns you probably want to avoid run off as it can contain pesticide and similar.
-
1
-
-
On 3/6/2023 at 11:21 AM, The endler guy said:
It’s genetic modification so their babies will have it passed down
Ok. I stand corrected; the clear is probably recessive gene.
-
1
-
-
The colouring on glowfish is not natural so if they did spawn i would not expect the frys to have pink in them. Also looking at your adult anglefish your light does not look neutral which i think might add to some of the confusion.
[I've already been corrected three times; when you reach this message before reading the rest of the thread; you don't need to correct me again.]
-
On 3/5/2023 at 7:12 PM, Mmiller2001 said:
Not sure what slop you mean?
Not slop but SLOPE; the substrate is higher on left and lower on the front so if you put a marble there it will roll down hill ! You know i took another look at the picture and I think it was an optical imagination due to the shadow on the left side and it is more even than i thought. Oh well I think i'll go take a nap.
-
embers don't really school in the same sense that rummy do; they just sort of sit still all day; also mine kind of scatter around - a bit like cardinals or neons. They are not very active. cdp are similar i guess 'cept they are less likely to hang together (ember will gather if they feel threatened) and are a little more active. kubotai rasbora are very pretty fishes that hang near the top and constantly in motion - a bit like rummy but not quite as tightly grouped (i guess your betta won't love them) but they are smaller and like cooler water than rummy. guppies are always an option 'cept some betta will go after the tails and they can be a bit active. I'm not a fan of platy and kind of prefer swordtails (which are very closely related) but to be honest i think either swordtails or platty will change the 'attitude' of the aquarium and both can get fairly large. I think i would stick with smaller tetra or rasbora unless you have a strong desire for a live bearer species. There is a fundamental clash in that live bearers prefer hard(er) water and all the other species mentioned prefer soft water.
cherry barbs are not a bad suggestion; they are not schooling and tend to scatter - generally speaking not so active but attractive red. also your water condition is fairly decent for them - maybe a little on the hard side but better suited than the other stockings.
I'm a fan of serape tetra but they can be quite lively at times; other times fairly quiet. They are larger than embers by quite a bit but smaller than platties.
You did specify your kh in degree and i presume your gh is 300 ppm which is around gh 16 degree (depending on your location) which is rather hard so there is that aspect to consider - i.e, if your gh is 300ppm then livebearers will dance in joy and everyone else will grit their teeth in tolerance.
-
On 3/5/2023 at 11:09 AM, Furbs said:
I went through 5 10g tanks before getting one the glass to glass seals didn’t have bubbles or large gaps. In this process I realized the 10g I bought a month ago also doesn’t have perfect seal there… I guess I know why these tanks are so cheap now lol.
yea for a 5 or 10 i don't think it is that big of an issue; but i did have an aqueon 29 that sprung a leak in the bottom seal behind the plastic frame; that was annoying. Of course the issue wasn't really visible when i purchase it - i will say that in general the last 5 years or so i've been less than impress with aqueon silicon job; not only sloppy but frequently it seems to have a lot of gaps. I only have one marine land (120) and it seems to be a much better job but i don't know if that is because it is a 120 or because it is a marine land.
-
1
-
-
On 3/5/2023 at 9:49 AM, Mmiller2001 said:
I'm now convinced my problems are all related to low turnover and flow distribution. Luckily, this should all be solved when the new tank arrives, and I received notice the tank should be delivered next week. We are super excited! Fingers crossed it's undamaged during shipping.
I don't think I'm going to pull my hair out trying to solve the flow issue and just focus on propagating the plants I have. I'm going to need more for sure. Probably double.
Excuse the mess the tank is in.
I do have one question; why the slope? Is there something about your setup that takes advantage of the slope or ??
-
On 3/2/2023 at 10:24 PM, Ninjoma said:
Added some rock formations to give my rank some depth and finally got German blue rams for the first time.
One thing to keep in mind is that gbr like 82 which might be a bit warm depending on the plants and other stocking; the angels won't mind it.
Should have listened to Cory…
in General Discussion
Posted
Generally speaking i'm less concern about crypts than anubia since they grow much faster - anubia can be hyper sensitive. To be honest the last set of anubia i order from co-op sept 5 2022 - the actual plants under the rock wool was actually two small anubia (you couldn't see it was two plants until you removed the rock wool); i don't hold this against coop since their oem is probably sending it that way; and i had similar issue with another store i won't mentioned but i also won't use that other store again for other reasons again not relevant to this thread. I think the point i was making is as far as i can tell is these stores are using the same oem not checking the actual plants they are selling and we (consumer) are getting the same product. As I mentioned there is one store i know of that was growing their own plants prior to the pandemic but they've been a mess since the pandemic (I'm hopeful they will recover) and of course i've had good luck with hobbists who best of all don't use rock wool at all (of course there was one clown who wrapped his plants in news paper instead of paper towel and if you ever dealt with paper mache you know how that turned out. Hint if you send someone plants use paper towel it works a lot better than newspaper.