OnlyGenusCaps

🤣 (sorry, because you are an admin I can't just hit a reaction button) I know you are. That wasn't a random pick - it was a premonition. 😀

Okay, so I failed a little bit there it seems. My apologies. That curve is not specific to BB. It is a generic curve, likely developed for something like E. coli that lives in the human body often. I honestly don't know if the curve has a lower temperature peak for BB or bacterial species that live freely in the environment. Maybe @Biotope Biologist or @modified lung have insights on that. Any idea about peak offsets by temperature, guys? This is sort of where any input I can offer ends. Those two are way, way more likely than I to have specific knowledge related to this.

True fact, sir! I take the certainty there with a good salt lick of salt. In terms of sponge in a HOB, would it work with rings? Most likely. Lava rock? Sure. Would it be technically less efficient? Seems probable. Will it matter in a typical tank? Doubt it. I get the feeling Dave is trying so hard to teach people what is "best" or most efficient, that he can forget that under most conditions, it doesn't need to be "the best", it just needs to work. I still think his heart is in the right spot.

So, not an aquarium pump, but I have set up loads of remote weather stations in deserts in Arizona and Sonora that ran off solar. I fully agree with @Biotope Biologist's suggestion of using lead acid battery. If you get a panel to charge it, and run a DC water pump off the rig, it should avoid having to mess around with inverters, etc. Ours held up to some pretty extreme heat (as you might imagine). Really this is just a "second 🙋‍♂️" for BB's suggestion.

@gardenman from this forum has a shout out on that site too: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/8-7-7-bottom-of-the-tank-matten/ Here is the OG thread: I think the article says that "One MUST replace these cartridges with foam or pot scrubbers per the directions below." Although, he does go on to make a case that pot scrubbers are better in a HOB. Dave is an opinionated guy, for sure. But his site loaded with a ton of useful, and factual, information. Wish he'd use references a lot more, but I think he's pretty solid in how he wants approach that. Regardless, IMO when misinformation is bandied about in this hobby, it's still a good spot to point folks towards.

So, I know everyone wants to keep this site positive, and I do as well. But would like to politely disagree about the utility of this video. As someone who got their doctorate studying, among other things, photosynthesis, I would not recommend this video as a quality source of information to understand how plants use light. I think this video has come up on this forum before, and I very much believe it is going to cause more problems for those trying to learn about their plants than it will help with. That's my 2¢.

Sure if you are lucky enough to live in San Francisco and the weather is equitable year round. Next tell us about your beautiful outdoor African cichlid pond when you move to Hawai'i. 🤣 Daphnia raising expert you say... That might be enough to get my off my rear to join...

So, I heard a talk by Dr. Tim (of the eponymous products for aquariums), who has a wealth of data on cycling BB under differing conditions in aquaria. I recall a great deal about the differences in pH and salinity, but either I am not recalling much about temperature, or he said little about it. Checking his site for information might be worth your time. As a more general rule, bacteria are thermally little more than the responses of their enzymatic reactions (I'm not throwing shade at bacteria here - they have the most amazing enzymatic reactions!). What this is likely to mean for cycling a tank is that warmer water should result in more rapid cycling, to a point. In general, the kinetics of enzyme reactions follow a basic curve where increasing temperature increases activity, up to a threshold, after which the activity drops off rather sharply. I suspect you are not in the later danger zone with your temperatures, and therefore should expect a faster cycle. That would be my take constructed from general assumptions about bacterial biology. Mind you, I have no specific data I am drawing upon or pointing to here. Still, I hope this might help a bit.

And @Tanked, I am also a big fan of Nordic fiddle music. Christian Borlaug is good. I think my favorite fiddle player right now is Harald Haugaard. Here is is as a young player with guitarist Morten Høirup, but it is Harald's fiddle that is the star here. Hope you like it:

Sometimes it is just one of those days. And when it is, Weird Al understands:

What a great, and I think important topic, @Cinnebuns! Especially when one gets involved in clubs or forums like this, there is a natural tendency to encourage others - which leads to some, in their new found excitement, taking on more than they might have wanted to. I can get like this all on my own, but I've seen this happen to others often. The one thing about MAS that can sometimes trouble me is the not too subtle pushing of folks to expand their hobby. This thread really hit home for me as well as someone who recently underwent a pretty serious hobby transition. I was heavily involved in the exotic plant community, specializing in carnivorous plants. I had 3 grow rooms in my basement, each with different climate control systems to mimic conditions on different parts of the planet to best match the conditions different plants prefer. For various reasons, it all started to feel like work. At some point, I decided I needed to scale back. I stepped ways from my board appointments, and scaled back my plant keeping dramatically. I'm now down to just a few. As I expand my fish and frog keeping, I am trying to be far more cognizant of my relationship with this as a hobby. I'm not sure I am succeeding, and I didn't when I was first seriously expanding this hobby - which is why I still have a 300 gallon custom acrylic aquarium that is not set up a year later. The cost of error seems so high... That said, over the years I have come to realize that projects, and more broadly striving to accomplish/achieve more is something I genuinely enjoy. I suppose what I need to be better about is think about what the maintenance, which always seems burdensome, is like once the project is done. Speaking of... I can't recommend an AWC enough. For me it takes what feels like the most burdensome aspect of keeping aquatic environments out of the equation. I certainly wouldn't have as many or as large of tanks as I do were it not for AWC systems. My one tank not on one, is a 42 and I have been trying to figure out how I can get that hooked up to one. For me, AWC is a game changer in my ability to enjoy this hobby. Full stop.

I imagine 🥳 & 😥 are in order. With ankle biters running around my house, the associated quiet that comes with your new situation sounds pleasant though. The tissues tearing in that one shot - Ouch! That's no way to live. 🤪

Most of my tanks are rocks and few to no plants. I like SW tanks, but not the work, so I scape many of mine to give a SW look to them. It's nice to hear someone else is thinking along those lines too! Not sure why more folks don't do this. If you have any questions about my experience, feel free to ask.

Thanks! It's working great. I really should do an update. I love copying @Fish Folk's great ideas! He does all the work and I get ll the benefit. 🤪

I actually prefer "father" and in a British accent. Can we go with "pater" and be all Latin about it?!

What an amazing thread! Thanks for putting all of this up here... Daddy? 🤨

Congrats, sir! I wish I was moving... 😕 I'm stoked for you though! I love the PNW. Half my family is all from there. I mean, I'd even take Bend, but I digress. It was great catching up with your setup, and I'm looking forward to the updates post move too! Good luck.

Full disclosure, this is brand new to me. That said, I would be wary of this unless you have sterilized the dirt first (oven baking at 250 for an hour or similar). I would be concerned for two possibilities. The first is that if the soil came from an aquatic, or near aquatic environment, it might introduce pathogens to your tank. I've made that mistake once with devastating results, and I will never do it again. The other, probably far less concerning prospect, is the introduction of algal spores. I'm not entirely sure what the change is risk is here, but this is my thought process. Our tanks are largely "disturbed" systems, like when you turn over new ground. The algal species we most often get are the "weedy" species of algae, i.e, those that can easily colonize new habitat. They are the dandelions of the FW algal world. But there are many, many other species of algae, some that are less able to spread and colonize our tanks. They may well have spores in the soil as part of their particular life history strategy, and otherwise not easily make it to our tanks. How many of these will grow in a tank, I don't know. Nor do I know how many would become a problem in a tank. But I would be cautious about introducing them nonetheless. All that said, sterilizing the soil would remove my concerns, and I'll be curious how it works out for you if you proceed. Good luck, and thanks for introducing new ideas to us!

Last summer @StevesFishTanks posted what I think is the ultimate DIY battery backup for a linear piston air pump, which I'll link to below. I suspect he might have some useful insights for your situation.

Thanks for the reply, @Seattle_Aquarist! I looked back and realized I misread your earlier post, in that you said you don't have "flowers" on your Salvinia. In that photo it just looks like glare from a magenta LED bulb in the fixture. If you are curious, here is a photo of Salvinia natans covered in sporangia. They are pretty cool looking in my estimation! S. minima only rarely produces sporangia. It's one of the species that is suspected of being of hybrid origin. When they do produce them, the spores are non-viable so they are dependent on spreading via fragmentation. Which they are quite good at.

So, wile I concur with the high light assessment of the color of the fronds. Strictly speaking, as a fern Salvinia doesn't produce flowers. They produce sporangia that release spores. This group produces two types, mega- and micro-, but I don't think of either as looking much like flowers. I am curious, do you have a photo of the structures you are thinking of?

The only real big update for now is that last week my dart frogs arrived! I know. I know. They are not in an aquarium. Thank you for your indulgence though. Here are a few shots of the little guys:

After totally stealing the shelf idea from, I believe, @Kara C (correct me if I am wrong), I have finally got my tub set up. A little trickle of water come from the rocks, which makes a nice sound when I am hanging out on the deck. There is just a dwarf lotus in there for now, barely getting started for the season. I still need to track down the fish I want (tubbing fish seem to be in low supply currently, but living in Minnesota I am accustomed to everyone getting to all of the spring purchases before it's even close to spring here. I should probably also grab some hornwort or something as well.

Good question! For now, I'm going to stick with the pagodas in there, but I don't know if interspecific hybrids are possible in that genus. I guess I need to get the pagoda snails to breed first. That'll be job one. Thanks for the tips on the rabbit snails! I still haven't figured out food they are really excited about. Maybe canned green beans next? Oddly, I have never lost a pagoda snail from transition into my tanks. I don't think. Might be remembering incorrectly. But at the very least, I didn't lose any this round. I will say they are super sensitive though! Any least little ammonia or nitrite spike and they curl up in their shells and don't move until it has passed. They are definitely my most sensitive snail. I'm just glad the ones I have seem to be doing well for now.

Let's just say, mistakes were made... So, I got tired to the murder and mayhem happening among the Julies in this tank. Pulling out juvenile fish that had been murdered by their parents the day before was becoming disheartening to say the least. I had to get the young out of there... And probably the Cyps too. The Julies were raising young in the tank no problem. But the Cyps were making babies and then they deposited them in the rocks, where they became Julie snacks. The Cyps needed another tank. None of the traps were working on the Julie young, and they Cyps didn't seem like traps were going to work for them, so I was left with no other choice but to drain the tank and disrupt the rockwork I had arranged so carefully. It was a move made out of desperation. I was able to catch the young Julies, or at least enough of them, fairly easily. That was a bit surprising. The Cyps however, were not so easy. They are fast, will jump a foot out of the water, and much to my surprise, they will wedge themselves deep into the rockwork. I hadn't expected this from a species that is so adapted to the open water. I am certain their desperation to get into the holes in these rough rocks left them worse off. One female, I simply couldn't find for a while. Not until I started checking each of the rock holes. She had wedged herself so far into the one of the rocks I don't think she could get out. I had to, as carefully as I could, extract her myself. See if you can see her tail sticking out right before I was able to get her: That wasn't even the worst to come from this intervention. I got all of the new captives down to the Blue Grass tank in the Subsclarium, where I was hoping the 75 gallons available would allow for the relatively few fish to have enough space. Oh no. But more on that in that journal later. As for the lively and fun P-Salt tank, it seemed boring and lifeless. As it turns out, the Cyps really were excellent dithers for the Julies. Without them, most of the Julies hide in the rocks, usually leaving one lone sentinel male viable. The death has stopped,m but tank just looks empty now. It is true that the cloud of babies are now much for visible. But all I can think about is how I am going to catch these out some day... And as you can see, the rocks don't look as nice as they did. My task here at this point is to figure out another dither fish for this tank, and to work feverishly on trying to build a better m̶o̶u̶s̶e̶ Julie trap.