xXInkedPhoenixX

We're onto the tall = hard to maintain. We both have very long arms but if I can avoid being up to my armpits it would be nice but I would sacrifice a little discomfort for a beautiful tank. So honestly it's not completely out of the question but we are aware this can be a problem so it is high on the consideration list for sure. Agreed. I think with this Peninsula design we're doing a peninsula scape inside the tank from high/wide to low/narrow. My plan is to use only easy grow plants, Java Ferns, Anubias and for the few plants that will need planting build the scape around a planting area that can be built up with substrate in the middle. Think: Plants in pots that are hidden by scape but the "pot" will be natural hardscape attached to each other. We may use Val or Amazon Swords because they get large for the "potting" area. I only want to do small fish. Nothing bigger than a Bolivian or Bristlenose Pleco. Hope you're planning on starting a journal on these large aquariums! We're going "custom" in the sense that they are made to order but it appears they make them in "standard" sizes. We were looking at the 180-200 gallon range. Because it's a Peninsula tank he wants it as a divider between rooms and we are well aware of the weight involved with a tank this large so he's planning on engineering/shoring up under the floor and building a super sturdy stand (Overheard him saying "I'm not taking their crappy particle board stand in my house!"). He builds custom cars for a living and is also good with wood so I'm not too worried here. Neither are we, we both want low iron glass Also something we've thought of. He has some available electrical above the where the tank would sit already. I personally was considering pendant lighting, LEDs of some kind that will support plant life. Research on that will happen. There are "standard" lights for some of these tanks but they all seem to be set up for Reef tanks and not Freshwater so, it seems that there are inevitable modifications. This is a link Intrepid Partner found for Waterbox's Penninsula Tank in which they set up a freshwater tank (with fake plants, no thank you) but they wanted to apparently prove it can be done (it is also similar to what we want to do as far as where the hardscape and REAL plants would be): I will look into that brand thanks. Yes the Red Sea and Waterbox Peninsulas are definitely nice tanks they seem very similar other than the Waterbox has American plumbing sizes which is a consideration.

Yes easily done with a regular HOB, just lower the waterline and let it do its thing.

This is where my nephew's tank and my experience has been different- just surface doesn't really work, what worked was when it's pouring/falling, it hits the floaters and they get dunked and dunked and dunked until they die. Takes some time but it seems to work for us.

I imagine with a combination of manual removal and maybe lowering the tank waterline with an HOB that has good flow this could help.

Have anything that can give you some good surface aggitation? My nephew's tank has a waterfall effect tank (it's small 5 gallons) he CANNOT keep Duckweed (or any other floater) alive (and he wants to). I have also found decent surface aggitation kills most floaters.

Yes, I'm leaning towards this is Columnaris and what I would treat the tank for. This is a notoriously hard/stubborn disease to treat and the symptoms are at times perplexing as it can be an internal and external disease. Possibly by the time you've seen the lesions it's advanced. It seems to be living in your tank looking for its next compromised victim which is why I'd probably bomb the whole tank with Columnaris meds. That's just me, maybe there are others with insight who will post.

Hmm, I'm wondering if it's Columnaris. @Colu? Look like that to you?

So Intrepid Partner is extremely enthusiastic about my fishkeeping hobby, to the point where he wants to buy me a HUGE Peninsula tank (where he would build the cabinet and lighting rigs). This is super exciting to me but also very intimidating as I've never had a large tank - only 20 gallon and below. It is a dream to have nothing but Nano fish in this tank, all peaceful no aggressives. Large schools of Harlequins, Silver Tip Tetras, Rummy Noses, Neons, some smaller Plecos, Cory and of course Otos. Intrepid Partner would like to see more Bolivians and maybe German Rams (though I know they can be a little moody). He's talking 150 to 200 gallons (I see a lot of 125s here). 😱 This isn't happening RIGHT NOW but could happen in the nextt 6-8 months maybe longer as it's in the zygote stages. I'm not really aware of anyone on this forum with this large of a tank but I'm sure there has to be one! If that's you please tell me about your tank, your experiences, regrets, positives etc. Anyone with opinions on large tanks in general. Experience with BRANDS also a bonus. So far we've looked into Red Sea and Waterbox brand aquariums, please add to our list if you are aware of others or if you have experience with either brand let me know. We're leaning towards Waterbox due to the US standard plumbing sizes. We would prefer low iron glass which both of those brands offer. I'm also interested in resources/links to learn how to maintain these large sump systems, this is part of the intimidation factor for me. Please help me out! Thanks in advance! 🙃

Yes this is what I "know" too. That the free floating bacteria isn't nitrogen cycle related and can result in spikes in ammonia. They usually say to leave it alone and it clears up but also know that UV filters kill the free floating bacteria as well as some other potentially detrimental things. I have the Flex9, so I'm good with what I have since what you found says original equipment is 61GPH and my aftermarket pump is 80GPH. I don't think stocking needs to be taken down. It used to be much more heavily stocked with 4 male guppies, 5 male endlers, 5 Ember Tetras Hillstream and Nerite then eventually Serket the Betta- and it didn't have a problem then. Now it's only 4 male endlers, Hillstream, Nerite and Betta. Same amount of plants other than some Bacopa that was pulled due to lack of space. This morning it was clear again. So clearly the tank is messing with me.

I don't either, not sure they list it. I have an adjustable 80 GPH pump on it and it's fully open. I feel like it's the same flow as the original pump but it is a little smaller than the original so it might be less. The original pump took a crap on me not long after I got the tank. I've had 2 of these 80gph pumps and just switched the one out recently to see if it made a difference. I do have to say it did fine for a long time before recently. So I'm willing to try the filter media swap to see if it makes a difference. I did see what Irene did to her tank. What a faff taking the dividing wall out and scraping off the waterline stuff. Nope. I'll just buy a new tank and sell this one on the used market! LOL! I haven't had any issues with Nitrite or Ammonia though I've anticipated them. I keep testing and it's just foggy water. I thought it might be particles so I've used Fritz Clarify, Seachem Clarity, neither of them worked to clear it. Seachem Pristine seems to work to knock out the particles best prior to the reset (lots of small spot vacuuming) but ultimately didn't clear the water either. The UV, that cleared it up quick and it was CRYSTAL clear so that leads me to believe definitely bacteria related. It's just a tad foggy now with the UV off. I'm likely going to turn it on again and look into the filter media thing for now.

Beautiful! Welcome to the forum Maria!

@nabokovfan87 actually the rear of the tank was fully modified when I took it out of the box. I use course sponge and have media bags with ceramic rings but also Seachem Matrix. It used to do ok it wasn't until recently it started to do this. So with the reset it all got cleaned l, got a new pump for better flow and it still isn't cooperative. I would just scrap the tank and get another Aquatop but the lid doesn't fit tight and I'd be concerned about Kirby the HIllstream. However I could move him to the Parent tank with the Otos and go ahead with that move. Still thinking about that. If I don't scrap the tank I'll look into lava rock. That might be a thing.

@Lennie, I've used Ocean Nutrition and my Bettas have loved it. I say variety is good but I think in your case getting at least one specific food is beneficial. Then throw in the other foods as you have been. Mine are by themselves or in community tanks, they get different flakes, fry or nano foods, frozen and freeze dried foods and I have 2 or 3 different Betta pellets on hand typically. I rotate all my foods for all my fish.

Oh he has one. You just can't see it because it's black and against the back wall. He likes the moss shelf better and uses the tunnel more for a swim thru.

Tank maintenance day. Have been using Aquarium Co-op Test strips and trying to be a little more hands off with my tanks. As long as they test ok and there's no immediate visual need I just leave them be. We'll see how long that lasts. The Angry Man tank as per usual is just fine. Punk and the 20 some odd fishy tankmates are all doing well. I just love my Harlequins. All 10 have been with me since the beginning of this new iteration into the hobby when 2020 hit. They are so pretty. Punk of course makes sure everyone stays in line ...or at least just off the bottom: The Flex since it's recent redo got another bacterial bloom and I'm not sure why it keeps happening. I'm starting to blame it on the "all in one" tank design despite having an extra sponge in the main chamber. I went and ordered myself an Aquatop brand Nano UV filter pump and it cleared it up really nicely in a day! I think it might be a little cloudy again though it tests well otherwise. I'll have to start the filter up again. I've had a loss this last week, NEL (Never Ending Light) an all silver male Endler (that's what they were sold to me as anyway) passed away unexpectedly, no signs of illness or injury. This surprised me for 2 reasons: 1) NEL was the biggest of the 5 Endlers and was the most mellow/carefree and seemingly problem free. Nobody harassed them, in fact one of the Endlers, Flare, used to follow NEL around constantly as a partner. 2) Drogon, one of the Endlers in the tank I've been keeping an eye on. He used to be the most energetic/obnoxious but he's slowed down a lot, lost some of his tail and color. Nobody is harrassing him to the point of bodily harm right now as far as I know but I'd expected him to go first. Anyway things are changing there, the dynamics are all messed up since Flare doesn't have anyone to follow and Phoenix and Torchlight don't have Drogon to follow around. I'm debating about what to do from here but the Endlers are aging, they are probably around 2? We'll see! Here was NEL, S.I.P. little buddy! Here was Drogon before: Here is Drogon today: Looks ok as far as no illness or injury. I think he's just old. Otherwise, besides the social dynamics being thrown off Serket the GloBetta still is doing well, Kirby the Hillstream as well and the other Endlers look healthy just less active than they used to be. Here is one of the others: Moving on to the Dragon tank, floating Dwarf Water Lettuce doing great! The small piece of AR in front right corner also growing, slowly, but I'll take it! Koianu Reefs ruling the Accidental Tank. Soon I think his Otocinclus baby roommates will be moving out. I think I'll post an ad for them in the next couple of weeks in hopes of going to a new keeper and breeding! The Medieval Tank developing very nicely. After changing out the lights and using some ACO Liquid Carbon (along with Reverse Respiration done on a couple of the most affected plants), the hair algae seems to be coming under control. Adding the 5 Platinum Guppies was just what the keeper needed in this tank. Much more action and fun watching this little world and they are much easier to see than the Ember Tetras. Lone White Guppy who has the most transluscent tail of them all (I took a good look at him before adding the others and now I can tell them apart) seems to hold off from the group most of the time but he is active and eating- seemingly just doesn't know what to do about the crazy group of guppies in the tank! Valere seems just a little annoyed by them all. If you looked at the above picture in the right corner of the tank you see a Subwassertang shelf, this is where Valere sleeps but also where he gets away from some of the action. He is either there or on the boulder side of the tank most of the time. Here he is right now, taking a break on the shelf: Last but not least a special announcement. I've gotten back into Mystery snails and purchased 3 of them this past week. A Blue, Magenta or Purple and a Gold. Intrepid Partner and others always mention how they think of the Parent Tank, where all the Otos are, as an empty tank since the Otos hide during the day. So I thought I'd add to the action and snail population. They've joined the Otos and 3 Nerites in the Parent Tank. As of yet unnamed the Gold snail was rather large but the only large one in the LFS, the employee hesitated and asked if that one was ok, considering most people would probably pick the small ones I told them that was ok, the other 2 are similar in size. Here they where when I put them in the tank the day I got them (lights were off). The two smaller ones found the food bowl quickly. The larger one took a very long time to move about the tank when the others were almost moving instantly so I was a little worried for a while but today, a couple of days later they're moving about the tank: I'm hoping some of the knowledge I've gained this time around and having watched our members like @Guppysnail and @Chick-In-Of-TheSea having fun with theirs it's time to try again!

You would probably not see the fish

Haha! I get it. I believe it means that's 1 more day than what they might recommend on the box? But I think @Colu is around to confirm if needed.

I presume @Colu means every time you redose it would be the appropriate dosage according to how many gallons you are treating.

If you also wanted to be SUPER EXTRA cautious I would treat the crypts with reverse respiration to kill of any potential infection before they go back in the tank, just to be very safe. With enough water changes in a plastic container your snails shouldn't contaminate anything theoretically. https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/24465-reverse-respiration/ If all you have are Nerites you can also probably put some salt in the container for a while to kill bacteria/virus and it won't be harmful to them as nerites come from brackish water. I would just use a low dose.

@Jmcloonan per Jungle Clear it is invertebrate safe HOWEVER per Seachem Kanaplex is not as safe, they warn that it can be stressful to snails and plants. I would remove your snails, put them in a small plastic container with some food (something from the tank that might have biofilm and any precious plants you think could suffer). In my experience my plants like java, anubias, and some others did just fine through treatment.

While Columnaris is not out of the question- my best guess at this time just for the picture is it could ALSO be body rot which can turn to secondary bacterial and fungal infections or may have been caused by the primary infection (columnaris). Is it Columnaris? I'm leaning towards yes and if I were in your shoes would treat the tank for it because it's notoriously hard to treat compared with other diseases and seems to be the most stubborn to get rid of. IME when one of my tanks had it fish were mysteriously dying with little to no symptoms but when I bombed the tank for an extended perios of time with the meds to treat the Columnaris I finally stopped losing fish. Now I would also check your water parameters regularly during treatment and do water changes and use Prime or Fritz prior to redosing meds. Most medications aren't really going to effect the plants unless you're using salt or heat to treat an illness. This is when a separate hospital tank can be helpful. I could be wrong so I'm tagging @Colu

I'm very sorry you lost him. Betta fish are not easy fish.

We like denial around here too 😆

Interesting to learn something new every day. I do see it's because of the heat potentially causing thermal glass breakage. With blinds mostly closed to the west (where the sun typically would be) or a south facing window with frosted vinyl already (where the sun isn't typically) - I would probably do it BUT if you are AT ALL in doubt, I'd do one of two things, TAPE the vinyl to the glass so it's not full contact but will still have a nice solid color and it will be waterproof OR go with posterboard.

Heat also depletes oxygen, adding an airstone would help. Them huddling at the top tells me they were probably looking for air. It can also be a water parameter issue and I suspect it could be both. Heat can raise bacteria levels and lots of fish waste can speed that process up in grow out tanks.