OnlyGenusCaps

You can find some discussion of this topic here. I'd suggest - unlikely.

This is a great source for sure! I will say that I added some of the eggs, and the junk they come with, to a tank directly once which contained CPO. I got low hatching of the species I wanted, and all the CPO died within 6 days. It absolutely looked like I introduced a crustacean disease of some sort. I get that most people are smart enough not to do what I did. But just in case, I'd recommend folks start a culture of what they want to grow in a separate container, and be cautious about introducing it to a tank with other crustacean species.

Sure, deepen the enigma. 😉 You realize of course, this only serves to make this more intriguing to me, right? Whatever it is that has happened, that which seems to have challenged your belief that humans can act as impartial actors in the pursuit of knowledge - I'm sorry it's been such a rough year.

Okay, so this would probably take us way, way, way off topic here, but I am completely curious what you mean by this! I get the politician stuff. Sure. Sure. But what scientists?! I'm intrigued! 🤔

Thanks for all of your detailed information, @DShelton! It all makes sense, and I think dispels some of the hype. Yes, I've spoke with him about this in the past, and in response he did soften some of his language. Being correct and being convincing are so often two different things. 😁

Yup, I'm following thread. And I've seen that website too, @BIG GREEN I know there is some information on pagoda snails out there, I was hoping to find someone here who might have had experience with M. scabra. Or perhaps the related Thiara winteri (a.k.a. spiky MTS)?

That's the USGS page right? Seems some folks in Europe have them. Honestly, I am not sure I can get them in the States anyhow.

I love the little, wildly-waving pleopods on the amphipod eating the pellet. It's so happy! Reminds me of a dog wagging its tail when it get s a treat.

I'm searching for interesting snails to add to an aquarium. I like the look of pagoda snails (Brotia pagodula), but the primary information posted about them seems to be "my pagoda snail died". In my search for something potentially hardier, I have come across Mieniplotia scabra syn. Thiara scabra. They look a bit like pagoda snails, but they are more closely related to MTS (Melanoides tuberculata). Does anyone have an experience with these? Essentially I want to know: 1) How hardy are they? 2) Are they good algae cleaners? (Don't care if they eat plants as the tank they are going in doesn't have any.) 3) Do they breed like MTS? That's a fear. I'd love to hear from anyone with experience keeping this interesting little snail. Thanks!

I had 5. I added 50+ ramshorns. Within 6 months, I had no ramshorns. To keep the assassins going I had to keep a separate colony of ramshorns. The assassins had no interest in the nerites that snuck in with the ramshorns. That was a shame. I thought the pond snails had been eliminated as well, but when the assassins were removed to my great amazement the pond snails returned!

I was working in an LFS in high school. One Saturday morning it was just me and the store manager, Jeff. This dude knew his stuff! I watched him perform surgery saving a multi-thousand dollar koi. He was amazing! But I digress. So, this was a pretty quiet morning before we opened. We were going around and doing our standard checks, and I was about to start cleaning the algae off the display sides of the tanks for opening when I smelled something. Smoke. I yelled to Jeff "Hey, so you smell smoke?" He came running asking me where it was coming from. I didn't know. So, the hunt was on. We started walking around to try to find out what was happening. I came down and aisle to the salt section, and in the service walk between the salt tanks, I saw smoke! So, I yelled to Jeff "Here! Here!" Running over, Jeff headed straight toward the smoke, and just at that moment little molten, red balls of salt? sodium?, something from the deposits that had formed in the not often visited service area started flying off and meting the carpet as they hit. Jeff runs up and realizes it is a coming from a cord covered in salt. He looks at me, a high school student, and says "If I drop, call 9-1-1." He then proceeds to jump into the air while simultaneously pulling the plug for the cord from the outlet. Immediately, things visibly cool down. Still loads of smoke from the cord, and the now smoldering carpet. We proceed to put water on the carpet, and open the doors on both sides. Only after that do I notice Jeff has quite a burn on his hand. I called the owner telling them to get in, and pressured Jeff to go to a clinic. That was almost certainly my scariest moment in fish keeping.

This will probably be the last update for a little while. After this I need to do loads of water changes to try to get the water clearer. It took a day and a half with the 200 micron filter sock to get the water looking even this clear. But here is the final rockwork: I've not worried much about shaping the sand at the bottom as I figure the Julis will have their say about that anyhow. I did a quick check about the water conditions just to see where I was at. My TDS is 320ppm and my pH at 8.6. So, essentially the same as my tap water! I don't think I can dissolve loads more calcium in my water, so I think the hardscape will be pretty stable over time. The next step is to do several water changes. I took out my old trickle tower sump and then put in a new 10 gal tank sump with a different configuration. It's going to need a lid fast The humidity under the stand is way too high now that the heater is on! Then, I'll do my cycle which will involve my fearless male Endler's for the fish-in cycle (haven't ever lost one yet - they are very, very hardy and have quite a low bioload when only a few are put in). The journey begins. Thanks for looking!

Thanks. You are ever helpful, Mad. 😂 That's the story I've been told. Unfortunately, I've also been warned they spew phosphates for a while, contributing to impressive algae blooms. So it might look like some sort of live rock in no time. 😉 Actually, I do anticipate a serious algae bloom. But I have a plan for that... In the meantime, I've got to figure out how to get the water clear. That aragonite is filthy stuff! I went with the coral-less configuration and then added 50lbs. I rinsed the crud out of it, and the rinse water was clean in each batch when I put it in, but as soon as I poured it - pea soup! I've been running the water pump for hours now and there is a barely noticeable improvement. It's going through a 200 micron filter sock too. Those particles must be tiny! Plus, there are surface bubbles, and the arm I used to mix the stuff in the rise still smells like it just got back from the beach. Not that it's a bad smell, just not confidence building for putting in freshwater species. I think there is a lot of changing out water in my near future!

Thanks for the input! I'm feeling like nice as that piece of coral is, it just might not fit into this particular scape.

Good to know. I might have to pester you with questions in the future. Thanks for the input! I think of it as a canyon between, but islands works too. 😛 Thanks for the input! I like the coral piece too. If I'm honest, it was bigger than I thought it would be when I bought it online. Integrating it into the rock is a good idea. I did try that, but sadly, it doesn't really fit visually or structurally. The two just don't interlock well, and the structure becomes tippy. A more skilled scaper might have done better, but couldn't get it to look like I didn't dump a hunk of coral on a rock pile when I tried to have them integrated. The only way I could make it look decent, and not have something liable to fall over, was to have the coal "do it's own thing".

And here it is with the antler coral removed. Not sure if that makes it too crowded. Certainly it will be easier to have two Juli territories with the space in between.

I have very hard water. Very. I know this might me anathema around here, but I am tired of trying to grow plants in my water. I'm largely abandoning planted tanks. But, I am not abandoning aquaria! I've decided to rework a 42 gallon bowfront tank that I have filled with N-class Endler's and cherry shrimp. (Don't worry, they happily live down in my aquarium rack in my basement now. Their tank is just not as pretty.) I've decided I wanted to start a tank that looks like saltwater, but in fact contains freshwater fish. My plans are to stock with some Julis (as stand ins for striped blennies) and Cyps (as somewhat less colorful stand ins for Anthias sp.). I have some other plans too, but those two are anchoring my effort. Tangs should love my water and that will make things easier. Plus, it will be fun to have a tank like this I think. I've always liked salt water, but I'm not into the workload that goes into maintaining it. I'll post photos of what the tank looked like at some point, but for now, I'm curious what folks think of the rockwork. It's been a challenge this morning to get it to meet what I am aiming for: not too look too much like a pile of rocks, have caves that will fit the Julis' needs, will potentially province enough space for two Juli territories, and rearranging rocks when my entire arm is numb because the water hasn't warmed up to room temp from my well (which comes out at a balmy 5.5C). Okay that last one could be fixed with patience. So here is a shot of the tank as it is now. What do you think?

Thanks for the information! I do know Select Aquatics. I find sourcing the fish I want to often be far less challenging than finding space for them and properly housing them. Turns out my desires far outstrip my space, time, and resources. I'm sure it's just a problem I have. 😉

Thanks for sharing the vid! I like Goodeids in general and Xenotoca doadrioi are particularly nice. I wouldn't mind a little colony of Xenotoca eiseni some day.

---Warning ranting content to follow--- Because there are many colorblind folks, and for all of the variable answers, this is why we need a consumer affordable system like the new API AquaSpin! Enough with the guessing at colors. We need numbers! ---Rant over, you may safely return to your CARE forum experience---

I could not possibly add anything to the excellent reply by @egruttum but I wanted to touch upon a couple other points you raised. The solubility of the largely inert N2 gas in water is about half of that as O2, and about 100 times less than CO2 (loads of rounding error there, and it all varies by temperature as well). The main thing moving into the air is water itself, in the form of water vapor. But for a heavily stocked tank, CO2 likely exits the water also. It all depends on what is being taken up or given off in relation to the equilibrium with the atmosphere. If your plants are pearling, it is because O2 is forming bubbles and going into the air. Yes, smaller bubbles have larger impacts, and an interesting one is at the surface tension layer. You can separate out certain molecules at the surface layer because of their state of polarity, particularly amphiphilic species. This is the basis of how protein skimmers (properly called foam fractionation) work. And they do work in freshwater as well, though it's not as efficiently. But the same general principle applies. You are absolutely correct that there is a lot going on with the interface of air and water. It's a fascinating field of study in fact and controls everything form how a bubble forms that a child might delight in all the way up to how the oceans act as a sink for increasing carbon in the atmosphere. There is even a documentary about bubbles from 2015 that touches upon many of these topics, if you are interested, called "The Science of Bubbles". A worthwhile hour.

I feel like the is a relevant preface to this: I am a plant ecologist. Allelopathy is real, but people often rush to this with little or no proof. There are myriad other things that can cause similar patterns. Yes, in some cases we know it occurs. But, it is way less common than people want it to be. The simple reason being it is expensive for plants to exude compounds that can inhibit the growth of competitors, especially when it could impact their own progeny. In short, I wouldn't worry about it in general.

There's loads of ways to put a sump together - one of the big advantages in my mind. I think Cory's is a decent starting spot. It's clear he's put a great deal of thought into it. And I am sure if you have questions or decide to modify that design, folks here will be able to offer sound advice. I'm looking forward to hearing about this build as it progresses!

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I am honestly just curious - Why do you think need a canister with a sump? My take would be that with an appropriately sized and designed sump you wouldn't need supplementary filtration. But you may have other constraints, I don't know.

My vote - Tangs all day!