xXInkedPhoenixX

@Tony s haha right? Yep. It works. You can also drain the tank and use it the "regular way"

Personally I think there is nothing in your tank that will harm your fish. The white on the dry parts of your tank are likely from water deposits and are NOT harmful. Not easy to get off. In that case only a razor blade or maybe magic eraser (again unscented ONLY) will get it off. It might be ugly but it will be fine.

Yep. Just not enough to keep that particular scene alive, unfortunately.

He's also fast, bones up, not totally welded:

@lefty o yeah you know he and I have had several discussions about Model As, those were his first love and he's planning on building a show car with one- he laments that these cars are no longer popular in the hobby- those who are/were into them are an aging population and the younger car generations are adopting newer cars. If they are into older cars it's usually muscle cars (which neither he nor I are against).

A) NOTHING wrong with a GloFish IMO, they are a "gateway drug" for kids especially, and sometimes foster a lifelong love of aquariums (and fish). They are not injected or treated cruelly. They are born the way they are and are a result of science that was actually looking to create a fish that could detect polution in wild waterways, NOT for the pet trade specifically, despite what some may say. B) Most would say Cory are GREAT bottom dwellers but don't get only 1. They are more comfortable and fun in a group of at least 6. Going with smaller species of Cory like a Bumblebee make people more comfortable in getting a larger number. C) 77 is just fine. 75 would be too.

Yea as @Tony s says most would say use old water and that's a safe bet. But I can say from experience I've never had an issue with cleaning filters, hang on backs or sponge filters, with water from the tap (I make sure there's not much on the item and a few drops aren't going to hurt when you're using water conditioner, as evidenced by the fact that people fill tanks with hoses). If you want to be extra cautious you can do exactly as @Tony s says!

You can clean the filter in the sink, just make sure you don't put any significant amount of that water in the tank, empty the filter- doesn't even need to be dry. As long as you're using water conditioner it won't hurt the tank. NO soap. Just water and your hand is fine.

@Tony s, I would just use a sponge filter. The video I linked above shows girl talks fish doing it.

It's just algae. You can wipe it off with a magic eraser (UNSCENTED PLAIN!!), an aquarium scraper or Magfloat. You can also get it off with a clean credit or gift card using it as a scraper. That doesn't get rid of it, just gets it off the glass.

@Tony s good point I'd forgotten about the true size, that's also something to consider, but if you do remove the back wall you claim most of that real estate back if you want to go through that trouble.

I understand your panic, but I don't see anything in the pictures that would be of any concern. Just looks like a normal aging tank. The white is mineral deposits from your water. The plant appears to have algae, that you can clean off, or not, either way it will be fine and will not harm your tank or fish.

Yes you can add plants! Your Betta will love you for it. You will probably still get some diatoms, a single Nerite snail (which won't reproduce) will help you with that!

@Arcticgypsy Funnily in the end I added a small sponge filter to mine with a battery backed air pump in case of power outages and due to the unrelability of the enclosed system. So it would be good for you to do. If you just really like the tank I can't blame you it is a good looking one- but you're losing a lot of real estate with that back area- some people have cut that area out....including in this video: But it is an expensive tank so do you want to do that or not is the decision!

Personally I prefer easy grow plants like Anubias and Java Ferns. If you're using Easy Green, just dose the tank as recommended- they really don't need much and typcially do very well without extra.

Hi @Lys, welcome to the forum. Very sorry about your Kuhlis, that's very sad. Being as how you got them 3 days ago, it wouldn't be unusual for them to have already been sick or exposed to something. I see you don't have an ammonia reading and primary reason for red gills is ammonia burn. Do you not have a way to test for this? They could have gotten that from either where you got them from (were they shipped or did you buy them at the store?) or in your QT conditions (potentially from food left in the tank, you can use a turkey baster when your siphon isn't working to clean a lot of this up). Sometimes fish will get a secondary bacterial infection from ammonia burn which can be treated with antibiotic, some are so damaged they never recover. Clean water, water conditioner (if it has aloe some say this helps) are the best remedies unless you also need to treat with antibiotics. BUT primary thing to do is get rid of any ammonia sources and test for it if you can. I personally do not use aquarium salts for ammonia burn unless I'm using it as the only option for bacterial infection.

Hi @yakteriyaki, welcome to the forum. This can be from the medication AND/OR from excess ammonia. When medicating I typically keep an eye on ammonia levels as usually you're restricted from changing water and medications can mess with parameters, or crash a cycle. I don't think Maracyn is supposed to do the latter but it's always a good rule to assume something like that can happen. Here is a good article from the Aquarium Co-op on this: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/bubbles-in-fish-tank-water?_pos=2&_sid=cdd60e90d&_ss=r

Hi @Dacotua! This happens sometimes and small tanks can be tricky- some people in the hobby say they are the hardest to balance but I've had the opposite experience. However, I'm wondering, why when you have good starter material (your sponge filter from another tank) why would you add ammonia? I'm thinking maybe this threw you off balance and now the tank is compensating. All of the small tanks I've started (I work with 20 gallon and under) all I do is add a sponge filter from another tank and away I go.

@JS Fish 1324 a very nice looking small tank! You should make a journal out of this thread to show progress in the future!

@DaveO you and me both

@DaveO oh yes, he definitely can. He's also built the furniture in the living room. I've seen the sketches for his plan for this stand. So far it will include metal, wood and decorative glass....

@DaveO yes, he's an impressive man. I have nothing but admiration for his skills. I don't deserve him. 🥰 But will keep him nonetheless!

I had a Flex9. I would say the Flex line is "OK". PROS: Mine had no issues with cracks or leaks the whole time I owned it- but they are thin glass. There was someone here that did have a crack and made it into a frog tank. My mind is drawing a blank as to who that was..... They are pretty (though I will tell you taking pics of them is near impossible due to the curved glass). They are perfect for Hillstreams because it would be near impossible for them to excape. There are plenty of aftermarket (3D printed options on sites like Etsy) that take care of some of the Flex's flaws. The light is "ok" for low light plants and won't scare the fish, plenty of remote control options. CONS: The light will not be great for high light, harder to modify this. I did not like the enclosed system- I had to modify/hotrod mine and if your Fluval pump breaks they are IMO to expensive to replace so I bought an aftermarket one (that is adjustible flow- the Flex line wasn't for the 9) So basically you have to do a lot of jimmy-rigging if you are particular. Mine ended up having so many issues with staying clean I wanted rid of it and sold it to somebody who was going to shrimp tank it. I've sworn off enclosed system tanks. The vents to the back of the tank are too big for something like a shrimp tank (but there are aftermarket mods for that) I had a few fish chronically jump the back wall and weirdly a Nerite escape as well.

Well @Matt B, to be fair the article did say that it wasn't necessarily a death sentence. Just harder for the poor thing to get out of it's jacket . Glad to see your experience has told us it doesn't happen all the time!

@lefty o the red primer? Yes I can't remember if that's his or a customer's car. So many projects! :-) He always gets them done though, magic really.