Jump to content
Watch our video on the rules of this forum.

Isaac M

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    770

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    7

  • Feedback

    0%

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Isaac M

  1. Isaac M
    Also, another thing I wanted to throw out there to the forum that I am not sure has been said before. I took down 2 aquariums in the past week and let me tell you, the Aquarium Co-op coarse filter pad really worked wonders for removing dust algae off of the glass. I just cut the filter pad into a small rectangle to scrub the glass with and it left the glass spotless.
  2. Isaac M
    @Streetwise Yeah I think I will try to keep the filter as low as possible(I think 9” or something like that is the most you can submerge it) just in case to account for evaporation. Yes, I kept the styrofoam blocks from the packaging. I also have Tunze circulation pumps that have similar magnets, they are very heavy duty haha
  3. Isaac M
    @Streetwise thanks for the heads up! I do not have an auto top-off just yet but I will be adding ro/di water daily. My tank will be covered pretty tightly as well.
  4. Isaac M
    @Streetwise I completely understand, I am having trouble getting into some of my aquariums nowadays, the nice thing about organic soil aquariums is you do not need to get in there very often! Duckweed is a different story though 😂
  5. Isaac M
    @Streetwise unfortunately I will be using the filter in the reef tank so it will be in a marine setting, not freshwater. Just looking at it however, I do not see why it would not work well in a freshwater aquarium, especially one where a specific flow pattern is wanted. I especially like that it has “surface skimmer” and area to put a heater or probe just like the one you posted about. If I was using it for freshwater, I would simply add some bio rings and coarse filter sponge to it.
  6. Isaac M
    @Streetwise wow I love the footprint of the 2.5s, I envision an organic soil aquarium with large amazon swords growing leaves out of the water and driftwood sticking out the top. But maybe that is just my mts creeping up 😂 anyways, I love the tanks! I love the way the crypts are sticking out of the surface.
  7. Isaac M
    Another day, another spawn of corydora eggs that I somehow find through all the leaves. Apparently these corydoras love to lay their eggs on dwarf aquarium lilly leaves. About 15 of the 20 or so eggs I found were on the lilly leaves. Anyways, the fry that have already been born have been doing great ever since I added gravel to the breeder box which is sort of odd in my opinion, I wonder why that made such a difference with not getting bloated stomachs. The platy and amano shrimp have been making quick work of the biofilm on the driftwood in the 55 gallon. And finally, the last order for setting up the 40 gallon reef has arrived. The most important part of the order is the internal filter and nitrifying bacteria additive. The polishing cloths are amazing though as well! Haha
  8. Isaac M
    @Guppysnail haha thank you but I am not that good, all I make are low maintenance jungles really 😂
  9. Isaac M
    @laritheloud thank you! I have never boiled a piece of driftwood in my life, I usually use stones to weight it down. The 55 gallon is 3 pieces of driftwood that I placed together and they are so large that they actually hold tight against the glass. As for uprooted stem plants, you can also use plant weights, the metal bendable kind to hold them down. I believe Aquarium Co-op sells them as well. The 55 gallon I posted here is low light with only anubias and bolbitis in it. The rest of the plants sit with only the roots in the water and foliage above the water line. It sounds similar to your goal.
  10. Isaac M
    @Trish 😂 thank you, I have to give credit to my grandparents for that!
  11. Isaac M
    A few more pictures of the 40 gallon riparium, I love the jungle look! Haha 10 Gallon Neon Tetra aquarium is still doing well. Cannot remember the last time I did a water change but nitrates are 10ppm max and I do not get any algae growth other then biofilm on front pane. The bamboo is also looking a little taller. The aquacultured live rock is still doing well, the display tank will be getting set up this weekend so the live rock will get glued in place in the display. I am looking forward to this very much, it is almost 9 years since I last had a saltwater aquarium!
  12. Isaac M
    Thank you @James Black! I appreciate you taking the time to read my posts and commenting! I will definitely keep it up haha
  13. Isaac M
    Another update, the newly set up 55 gallon is doing well and the driftwood is going through the expected biofilm stage. The platies and amano shrimp have been doing a great job of keeping it down a bit. I was able to place the platies and amano shrimp right away as I cycled both the sponge filters before rescaping the aquarium. The plants and riparium planters have been in my established aquariums for years as well. The next picture is more for me and my record keeping but I added a similar shelf system as shown before to both the doors of my 55 gallon stand as well. They house my water change/ cleaning supplies, testing kits and food most frequently fed. Quick update on the 40 gallon riparium, it is looking like a jungle and the sterbai fry have been growing larger by the day. The sterbai corys are still spawning every few days. I will also attach a picture here of the quarantine/ baby brine shrimp hatching station/ storage area below the aquarium for my reference.
  14. Isaac M
    @ARMYVET yes the pea puffer will be going into that aquarium haha
  15. Isaac M
    @Koi that is a very good point 😂
  16. Isaac M
    @ARMYVET thank you very much! Yes I am aware of the mangroves, correct me if I am wrong but if we are thing of the same thing, they are in shallow saltwater or brackish water? I know there are freshwater mangroves as well though. The look I was going for was tree roots in water where the soil had been eroded away which is why it looks so much like it haha I will admit, most of my inspiration comes from nature. For example, my girlfriend who was not too much into aquariums wanted me to scape a 5 gallon for her that involved a tree because she liked the look of other aquariums that I had shown her online. So I took some inspiration from “The Lone Cypress” in Pebble Beach, CA and came up with this for her: 5 Gallon(At its peak in my opinion): The Lone Cypress:
  17. Isaac M
    @laritheloud I am a little late to the party here but what I do is start with a vision for a general layout and then adjust as needed with the materials I am able to find. Given that you have an artistic background, I think you are very well aware of the difficulty of starting a drawing or painting on a clean canvas or piece of paper. The good thing with aquariums is that you can piece it together and then redo it as much as you want, it is very easy to erase haha so it is very important to just get started, sometimes a new vision will come to you once you already have some of the materials. Also, I think it is important to have some sort of vision of what you want as with art, drawings and paintings at the start look nothing like they will at the end. You have to have the vision to pull you through to the end with direction and confidence as @ARMYVET mentioned. But in the end, you have to make sure that you enjoy your aquarium. You can use the rule of thirds if you like to but do not feel like you must follow these rules. See them more as helpful guidelines or suggestions, the “rule” should be to put together a masterpiece that YOU will enjoy. Sometimes seeing the aquariums of others will help you distinguish styles that you like or do not like. Here are two of my aquariums, a new 55 gallon and a established 40 gallon where the aquascape has changed over time with the plant growth. 55 Gallon: 40 Breeder:
  18. Isaac M
    @Steve A ok I see, yeah that is a good idea, I have always just kept sponge (mostly coarse but sometimes fine if I want to keep the water a little more clear but they will clog up faster) and some bio media in my filters. In this case, even purigen could help remove some of the organics. But I would stick to the water changes and cleaning the filters one at a time for now. The plants will help long-term with keeping your aquarium stable and healthy. I think you are on the right track to success. Let us know if you have any other questions!
  19. Isaac M
    @Steve A thank you, that is all very helpful information. I would do 15 gallon water changes twice a week until you reach your goal of below 40 ppm nitrates, maybe around 30 or so. For the plants, the nitrogen I was talking about is in the form of ammonia and nitrates that the plants consume. That is a great selection of fast growing plants that you chose, I think they will help you for sure! For the filters, I assume you are meaning the video where Cory removes the sponges they come with and customizes them by adding coarse foam and such? Or do you mean you are taking out those filters that hang on the aquarium and switching them out for sponge filters? As far as trying to keep the bacteria alive for future use, I have never really heard of anyone doing that. Bacteria in most of our aquariums are aerobic and therefore need oxygen to survive, vacuum sealing them would likely cause them to use up all the oxygen and then die. Your new sponges will eventually be full of bacteria as well so if you need some for another tank, just take it from the new sponges.
  20. Isaac M
    Hello @Steve A, it sounds like you may have had old tank syndrome. Do you know what your tap water nitrate level and gh is? Also, just going based off of your nitrate readings you are giving, I am going to assume you are using the api test kit. The 40 ppm and 80 ppm nitrate chart color is very similar so it may be that it has gone down and it is some color inbetween but is very difficult to differentiate. It is also a lot faster to get down from 160 to 80 than from 80 to 40 if the same amount of water is being changed. If you could give us a picture of the aquarium and the size, it would be very helpful. I would continue doing water changes at the rate you are going, if it is old tank syndrome, you want to get the levels back down gradually, not all at once or as fast as possible. As far as your plant question goes, yes, plants would eat at your nitrates and ammonia. However, it could have a nutrient deficiency if the nitrogen is high but it is limited in something else like carbon dioxide, potassium, phosphorous, etc. I would try to use a floating plant or riparian type plant like pothos (roots in the water but leaves outside of water) to remove the nitrogen as they will grow the quickest given they have access to the atmospheres carbon dioxide. If you want to clean your filters, you can just clean one of them while keeping the other one dirty. That will help clean out some of the sludge but still keep your system going more stable than cleaning both at once. I hope that helps!
  21. Isaac M
    Hello @ErinV, not sure how long it will take for the wood to sink on its own but you could always try tying the piece of wood to some of those stones you have there underneath the wood. It will hold it down and over time it will become water logged, which at that point it will be more dense than the water and sink. That is one serious piece of driftwood though! Haha
  22. Isaac M
    @Georgiapeach88 thank you! I really like the feeder, it has allowed me to feed my fish twice a day which is something I have always wanted to do but never had the time to do (except for in 2020 because I could work from home haha). I even stopped feeding for the spawning corydoras manually for some time and they kept on spawning with the food from the feeder only. I do have to use tape on it though to limit the amount of food that comes out at once and make sure the plant growth does not get in the way.
  23. Isaac M
    Awesome @Trish! Let me know if you have any questions and how it goes! @Streetwise is a great person to follow for more examples of organic soil aquariums as well!
  24. Isaac M
    @Trish your aquarium looks beautiful! Honestly, if this tank is working so well for you, I would not change a thing. However, I did notice a pot in there for what may be a hygrophila species? If you want to give organic soil a try without a ton of work (and can also be easily removed), you could always test it by only adding in a pot of it capped with gravel and one of those crypts planted in it.
  25. Isaac M
    @Seahorse I apologize, I do not see those posts. Anyways, since @tonyjuliano already nailed it as you said, I will let him continue to help you to not be another voice in the conversation haha it is always a better idea to learn from one person than from many as you already know haha good luck with your aquarium, I wish you the best!
×
×
  • Create New...