Littlefish
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Posts posted by Littlefish
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I can't seem to add video on this site, but here are 2 pics of the primordial soup swimming in my nsw after a 50% water change. I've never seen so many creatures, from single dots slowly moving to what looks like speedy gonzales versions of brine shrimp that can easily swim against the filter output nozzle stream. Must be a part of the tide/moon/winter cycle that causes a number of fish or organisms to spawn. The water was harvested at sunrise and temp. acclimated in the house for 24+ hs in buckets with no circulation.
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For a little clarification, most beneficial bacteria in cycled tanks is on surfaces (glass, sand, rock, wood, plants, as well as filter media), and only a negligible amount in the water. Plenty of bb exist on surfaces to do 100% water changes.
For an example, in salt water with live rock, ppl can remove all sand and water when changing sand bed (I've done it), refill with water and fish, and there is no restart of the cycle.
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Having had 75g fw that grew a hard green algae on the glass that plastic scrappers couldn't remove, I thought I'd share this scrapper I made for saltwater coraline algae removal, which I used a few times a year on the fw glass.
It is a 3/8" dowel with a thin curf cut made halfway through at an angle. A coping saw or a multitool blade makes a cut that a straight razor fits firmly into without being so tight it is dangerous to push on or take off.
Works great! No scratches on a 4 y.o. Nuvo 10g. Do not use this on acrylic.
Here is the angle
Snow!
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It seems Uronema and a few other diseases unique to sw (?) might be missed by this trio, not 100% sure.
Are you familiar with humblefish's qt protocol if you are on reef forums?
I order from Dr Reef. 2 or 3 quarantined fish for nano tanks are affordable.
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Here is the latest score from South Lido. We 3 siblings put my 30 + y.o. canoe in to explore mangrove tunnels before the guides/tourists arrive at 9. 50 ft from shore found a nice stream of water between my feet coming from the back. I cut the back end square in my late teens and have patched it several times as I let it get borrowed and it gets drug through shell and gravel. A 10 y.o. patch had failed, so we loaded back up and went to the beach.
Threw this orange tunicate looking thing in the water then changed my mind and wanted to try it in the tank but it never washed back up.
Found my best critter yet, a red decorator crab. He has an orange sponge and twig of macro algae on his back. $50 + online when available.
He was on his back and barely moving when I saw him, and lost a leg when I put him in the bucket. Not sure if it was the cold water, being beaten against the shore/shells, or if he got stepped on (lots of tourists). By the time I got home he seemed recovered and had burrowed in the red macro. There was pbly a 10-15° difference between tank and Gulf water, but I put the macro in there and he seems ok. Will give him a chance he didn't have on the beach anyways.
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My son and I watched the sunrise at Venice Beach day after Christmas. Drove down for the sharks teeth but found the winds had covered them up and deposited thousands of sponges, sea fans, and tunicates torn loose over the holiday.
He made an Xmas tree out of them and a piece of driftwood.
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I got mine from KP aquatics, no aiptasia where they have their tract. Also odd duck is right, you could re-seed dead rock with just 20% live rock.
There are journals on nano-reef and r2r of tanks run with 0 filtration, high flow, and just live rock that show how easy it can be. Check out WVreefer's 12g and 75g tanks.
My lil Nuvo 10 runs with just pillow floss and 30% natural sw changes bi-weekly, no dosing.
Looking forward to following. Also, personal opinion, many different colored frags looks Disny World unnatural. 3 good corals types filling a tank looks awesome and natural.
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Cory mentioned in one podcast what they expect to lose as a % of incoming fish, and yours doesn't seem too far out of line. Imagine all humans living to 90 from birth 😁
Carry on!
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That sounds about what I experience as normal losses in a large tank. Tetras in my area just seem to have a lot of deaths, where angels, snails, guppies, etc all live.
The snail deaths seem odd to me, never have snails die except from old age or predation.
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This post is mine from an almost defunct forum before I ran into this one. The reason for posting it is I noticed a blackworm thread (blackworm tower) today and saw a number of differences in how these things are kept.
The differences I see are I had mine in maybe 1" of water, and no water movement.
The results look like I had fewer worms, and less maintenance? I did have die-off in one drawer one time trying to go two weeks between rodi drinking water w/c. Lasted two years until I took down my fw tanks due to babies (human) and time constraints.
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Three story blackworm condo. Tried different food and large/ small containers. Tried 2 weeks/1 week between water changes. Also ran different airstones for about 6 mo until I just couldn't stand the noise and pitched them.
With no airstone they need weekly water changes or things go bad. As long as I vigorously stir the safe-t-sorb at water change to break up the worms I get as many as with the airstone, just can't skip a weekly w/c. There is no sexual activity I've seen sign of in terms of baby worms, so breaking up the bodies is important for multiplication.
The stirring also suspends detritus and it is rinsed out by overflowing the tray in one corner at the rodi drinking water tap into the kitchen sink. The blackworms ball up and clump to each other and are not lost. This is also how I harvest them with a turkey baster.
Food is 1 broken up algae tab per shelf per week. The substrate is pbly 2 pebbles thick.
This gives me enough worms for a turkey baster squirt in two aquariums once/wk. I also fed 2 worms/wk to a (sw) clownfish before ending the fw tanks and the condos. It seemed to encourage spawning, and alleviate boredom.
The red blobs are clumps of worms, they ball up during water changes.
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Another advantage of dc (lots in sw products) is variable speeds.
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On 10/26/2023 at 5:12 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
Is the 29G empty or? I would move that reef to that tank if available. 🙂
The 7g and 3G I would maybe do plants or shrimp and the 10 I would just use for QT.
But!!!!! Reef tank, so I have to ask if you've seen Chasing Coral.
I have watched some of Chasing Coral but my wife is from the PH, so when we snorkel Palawan it's just acres of acro. It makes watching it on a screen hard to appreciate.
This 10g Nuvo has rock glued to the back wall and the mini sump in the back, so it will remain the reef tank.
We'll be staying in a t.t. for at least a year, and pbly be snowbirds 1 or 2 mo./yr as a native FL man's revenge. Not sure how the hobby will work out like that. I could def take the 10g along, not sure about more than 1 tank though. That may have to wait for another stage of life. Hope deferred! Got a temp diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis, hope it's due to Covid as that one is not progressive. Puts things into perspective. May not even be fibrosis. Got the cardiac health of a 21yo according to the cardiologist this week, so pulmonary workup is next.
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How are the pygmys doing? Do they need a heater, being native species?
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We are planning on moving to upstate s.c. next year, and I have an empty 200g, 29g, 7g, 3g, and a running 10g reef tank. Outside is a filterless, no-maintenance 75g algae/endler tank w a cory still zooming around 2 ys after I took down my fw tank.
I live vicariously through co-op videos and media, and have way too much on my plate for the next year, but it's so tempting...
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I think you just want to show that tank! That looks really good.
Endler males shrivel to almost nothing when they jump, so if they were males I'd guess they're in the bird's nest fern.
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Beautiful fish, best wishes.
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I have the 307, and share the frustration with the inlet and outlets on a 75g. I used a heat gun to remold mine and made cuts in some strategic places.
Also replaced the ribbed tubing with 5/8 clear for better co2 inline connection.
Used the coop prefilter and it made a difference in terms of dirt in the filter, but really messed with the asthetics of the tank.
Taking it apart and having to lube and redo the O ring (which will go on wonky at least one time) as well as lift all the parts out seems like useless work when compared with a hob. Really, they are the same thing when you think about it, just differently sized, and hob are so easy. In-line co2 would be the main difference, being easier with a canister as far as I know. I only use pillow floss and the factory sponge in any filter.
I'm ready on my next tank to keep it all in-tank and just use a powerhead (or 2) to a spray bar with the coop prefilter and stock accordingly. No leaks or disconnect drips on wood floor!
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I plan on going with a tiny internal filter/powerhead in a nano for the same reason, love messing in the tank, hate messing with filtration.
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On 9/21/2023 at 5:44 PM, HelplessNewbie said:
Awesome! This goes into my idea box. Why can't the filter manufacturers just use magnets, instead of suction cups?
In S.W. magnets are a major source of metals contamination and tank decline. They have to be encased in epoxy, and the water STILL absorbs through, just a matter of when.
I have no idea if that would matter in fw?
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On 9/10/2023 at 9:25 AM, mynameisnobody said:
I’ve had bouts of this and once we had our baby and work schedules became a bit too much, I decided that I could limit the amount of aquariums by setting a “no smaller than 75 gallon” rule. Larger aquariums are way easier to care for, maintain, and stock. I sold off or gave away anything smaller.
I have found the opposite! Any algae out break is so much easier for me to control in a nano tank. I miss the angels and big fish, though...
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Buceplant has an article on "pond tanks" which sound like it may be what you're talking about?
There are also tanks using wabi kusa method to achieve "bank" height without using soil.
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On 8/25/2023 at 7:12 PM, Galabar said:
I tried a plug-in GFCI on one of my tanks (with a KASA power strip) and it was tripped when I checked it this morning. For now, I might just use it when I plan to place my hand/arm in the water. 🙂
I really like that idea, and that's why the O.G. reef aquarists won't use them. Really easy to lose 10k in reef tanks with tripped outlets, and at the same time I agree w Pepere about cardiac arhythmias or arrest (former acls rn). Also, my wife was an electrical engineer and was very concerned if I got a little zap at work before we had kids. Something about effecting male fertility or virility she learned in school that I didn't 😁.
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I kept amano with 4 angels with no problems from them.
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On 8/25/2023 at 12:42 PM, Pepere said:
Combined with a GFCI, a grounding plug allows the GFCI to trip without your arm in the tank, and “you” completing the path to ground…
It sounds like the tripping and the resultant tank loss is why they don't use gfci. With rubber boots they can just feel a tickle if there is current, and then track it down.
Do you have a comment on sw vs fw and electricity? I pick my electricians brains occasionally. It's my knowledge weak point but is interesting.
On 8/25/2023 at 12:42 PM, Pepere said:Ferrite chokes can be had for cheap at amazon. Try putting one of these over your power cord. It can stop the GFCI from nuisance tripping….
Thanks for the tip, some trades get pretty frustrated with the new arc-fault gfci not running their tools, so I'll try this out.
There are very long threads on reef sites about this topic with electricians and engineers on both sides that descend into snark and insults and have to get cleaned up. Good example here of the comparatively nice coop culture.
"Enjoy nature daily"
in General Discussion
Posted
Seashell/feather hunting in P.J.'s