gjcarew
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Posts posted by gjcarew
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Tank is looking wonderful. How are you liking the lower macros? I imagine they are close to 0 by the end of the week, it can really bring out some great color in plants. Cool to see that working in a tank without active substrate.
I can't tell what that left side plant is-- some kind of persicaria? -
Setting up a tank with live sphagnum seems like a successful way of doing it. I was listening to Rosario Lacorte on The Aquarist podcast and he mentioned that's how he breeds emperor (maybe it was ember?) tetras. He has a thick Jersey accent so it was a little tough to tell. The gist was that the fry can survive in the moss layer where they won't be predated on. This is the episode: https://aquariumcoop.libsyn.com/ep-86-rosario-lacorte-on-fish-food-peat-moss-and-breeding-tetras
The talk about breeding tetras came in the last 15 minutes, I believe. Shouts out to @Randyfor the podcast btw, I'm loving it!
I also found some anecdotes saying the same thing from The Krib.
https://www.thekrib.com/Fish/tetras.html
Randy Carey wrote a book on breeding egg scatterers, and gave a talk at GSAS where he said the highest success rate was with building a false bottom on your tank for eggs to fall through, but that it is also a lot more effort. That's how Greg Sage breeds his Odessa barbs.
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Cleaning glass lily pipes. I've broken them before, it's stressful every single time.
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On 9/18/2021 at 12:12 PM, Mmiller2001 said:
Permanently suspending the use of Excel. I see no reason to continue with it. It causes more problems by hiding the root cause.
Wise. The cause of algae has never been "not enough glutaraldehyde"
On 9/18/2021 at 1:22 PM, Mmiller2001 said:I agree, larger groups, less species seems like a path I'm going to take.
I think it looks much better. Allows you to "shape" groups as well when there is more room for them.
This is my 22-gallon when it was more Dutch-style, with only 9 different plant types. It's a 3-foot tank and towards the end I was thinking of paring it down to even fewer species.
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Constant anxiety
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On 8/20/2021 at 10:59 AM, KentFishFanUK said:
Probably, I have no experience of actual gardening clubs but just enjoying gardening as* a hobby seems to be pretty well shared between men and women here - though can't say the same about generations, it's definitely not a popular hobby amongst young people.
Fishkeeping however seems to be an even spread of ages.
All anecdotal obviously, and even then limited to my area.
As to ethnicities, unfortunately my area is not very diverse to begin with and obviously that's reflected in the hobby. I imagine it would be very different in London (which is only like 60-90 mins drive away but still)
Not sure if it's the same in the UK but gardening is an old person's hobby mainly because young people can't afford houses with gardens. I've been renting my whole life and doing guerilla gardening around apartment buildings just to scratch the itch. We have finally managed buy a house and I can't wait to "dig in"!
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Crazy camouflage on that shrimp!
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I use Hikari First Bites until they can take BBS
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Man, I find this so much more interesting than a standard coral tank.
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On 8/12/2021 at 12:10 PM, Griznatch said:
Awesome pictures! I think I've seen some of these on the other forum?
Most likely, yes! I have a journal on The Planted Tank where I track progress, mostly on my 22-gallon long high tech tank. It's like 12 pages long at this point so it's kinda nice having a more condensed version here.
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Just adding a couple more photos. I don't really want to start a journal but it's nice to have a place to keep track of stuff I've worked on.
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Pool filter sand should be just fine. @Seattle_Aquarist has a great planted tank using just root tabs and pool filter sand, with a little water column fertilization.
I'm skeptical about the concept of "root feeders." This article suggests that aquatic plants with long roots are not necessarily "root feeders" but rather need long roots to stay anchored in faster-flowing water.
I hate to parrot advice I don't have personal experience with, but the only downside I've heard about sand is that nutrients from root tabs can leach into the water column since sand does not have any cation exchange capacity. I'm going to sound like a shill here but Aquarium Co-op's root tabs contain clay-based soil, and would probably be a good option for a sand/inert substrate tanks since it boosts the substrate CEC while providing nutrients.
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On 8/8/2021 at 2:19 PM, Patrick_G said:
It looks really good.
I’ve noticed the same yellow tone with my Nicrews. I might be able to swing one Chihiros WRGB 2 as a replacement for the two Nicrews.
Which nicrew is that?
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On 8/6/2021 at 4:14 AM, Jimmy said:
People are going to get frustrated with me.
No frustration, everyone's excited to see your fish room! A lot of opinions here of course but nobody is going to be mad if you don't follow someone's advice.
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On 8/4/2021 at 3:29 PM, Jimmy said:
I plan on having the outlets in the ceiling and only running a linear piston air pump so the lines will run down from the ceiling also. I’m doing all the wiring but honestly I haven’t looked into gcfi and don’t have any knowledge as to the difficulty comparatively to a normal outlet. I’m putting some thought into where the outlets will go to be the most considerate of safety. My wall with a work bench will have outlets on the wall high up and additionally the heater will be on that wall.
If I have careful planning it’s it a necessity for gcfi?Let's say you have to run an extension cord to a wet vac or fan after spilling water. If you don't have a GFCI outlet and the extension cord falls into a tank that you're working in, it could kill you.
GFCI outlets are incredibly cheap for a life-saving device, barely more than a regular outlet. If you are planning carefully, a GFCI outlet is a no-brainer. You can run power strips off them as well. If you wire it correctly, you should only need one for the entire room.
National Electric Code requires GFCI outlets to be used in garages regardless of whether they are fish rooms. When it comes time to sell your house, you'll likely have to do it anyways.
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On 8/3/2021 at 1:37 PM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:
The system was ridiculously loud one of the two bell siphon was going every 10 minutes, the stock tank was not covered as much as I would have preferred to limit evaporation and a little bit of splash, the grow beds were adding too much to the humidity of the house, the temperature of the water was actually too cold for optimal growth of edible crops. Moving 200lbs lava rock down stairs was really not an enjoyable experience for me and the fish were not a great fit for the system long term.
Oof. I tried this in a basement apartment because I wanted to be able to grow herbs (I like cooking). I thought about a bell siphon but ended up just doing deepwater culture. Some things I learned:
1. Herbs need sunlight or at least a LOT of artificial light to grow well.
2. The conditions that are best for keeping fish are not always the conditions that are best for growing plants
3. Gardening and fishkeeping are fun. Separately. Just plant stuff outside, or get a P-patch lot. It's more satisfying and effective.
Ironically I stopped following that last bit of advice -- in my current apartment I have a 20 gallon patio pond with ricefish. I used the Blumat automatic watering system to run a syphon from the ricefish pond to my patio plants (herbs, tomatoes, peppers). They are automatically watered with pond water, and every week I do a water change from my indoor tanks and refill the pond. It typically drains 5-7 gallons per week. I think it's so much easier than my previous setup because the systems are separate-- I can fertilize the plants separately and don't have to worry about hurting the fish.
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I would do this one to code. When you're mixing water and all the electronics that go in to a fish room, I would want it fireproof, so Gypsum board serves a valuable purpose there. I'd also go with GFCI outlets, everything on drip loops, etc.
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On 8/1/2021 at 12:16 PM, CT_ said:
I'm currently following the dosing directions on the Excel bottle but it's not doing much to my staghorn unless I spot treat with an entire dose (1ml/10gallon ).
Excel is WAY more effective as a spot treatment than a whole-tank treatment, that's the only way I use it. You can safely do twice the recommended dose. You might be able to do more but that's what I've had success with.
You can also dose hydrogen peroxide at the same time as Excel if you have a lot to spot treat, at the same rate. I use a small 5 mL syringe I got from the drug store for this so I can make sure I'm not overdosing.
Try not to spray livestock or mosses directly with hydrogen peroxide as it is a strong reducer.
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On 8/2/2021 at 1:26 PM, Jeff said:
Fair enough. However in my case, this wasn't the issue.
Did the phosguard help?
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Saying phosphates are bad because they cause algae is like saying light is bad because it causes algae. Phosphorous is one of the "macronutrients," which are the three elements most necessary for plant growth. Phosphates can be dosed at high levels without issue, but if the conditions are ideal for algae growth excess phosphates can accelerate the growth of algae.
If you are feeding a lot, sure, you will probably be able to measure phosphate in the water column. But that's just a proxy for how dirty your water is. There may be a whole cocktail of organic pollutants from overfeeding, but if all you can measure is phosphate, you are going to blame the phosphate. Rather than Phosguard, more frequent or larger water changes are more likely to have a beneficial effect on your algae problem.
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Just found this video where someone tests the Chihiros vs. LEDstar. Looks like it is more powerful!
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For reasonably sized cichlids, the Apistogramma macmasteri "Red Neck" is a pretty stunning variety.
For schooling fish I like the look of the "Royal aripuana blue" emperor tetras. Very unique blue/purple color.
If you want an oddball, the Amazon Leaf fish is one of the cooler ones I've seen. Looks just like a leaf! They are definitely a little harder to care for though.
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On 7/18/2021 at 8:13 AM, Dee00 said:
Found this lights named Ledstar AQ WRGB, and I've listed some details below. What do you all think?
There are 2 series C and J series.
Both are has water proofing (IP68), CREE 5050 for While LED and Epistar 5050 for RGB LED
LEDSTAR AQ C SERIES WRGB
Built in controls for brightness and timer
And LEDSTAR AQ J SERIES RGB+W
Control via App and Bluetooth 5.0
Do you think these are good? If so, which should I go with or do you reckon the specs are close enough that it does not matter too much?
J-series is probably what you want to go for. I've never used these lights and I can't find much information on them. I am a little skeptical that they could produce 4x the par of the Chihiros with the same number of LED's and drawing the same amount of power. But that is a great price!
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I have not. Currently have a ONF Flat Nano and a Hiro Aquatics wabi kusa stand for my nano projects.
On 7/16/2021 at 7:31 AM, Dee00 said:Unfortunately, I couldn't find the SBReef Freshwater version.
My lights would be mounted on the rim of the tank. I don't think I would go for T5 as I am more familiar with LED lights. So in your opinion a Chihiros WRGB has more worth value for money compared to a Fluval 3.0 for a 3 feet tall aquarium?
Do you reckon if I get Chihiros WRGB 2 if I would need 1 or 2 of it?
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/83-45-sbox-freshwater-pro-timer.html
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Crushed coral
in Edmonds Washington Retail Store Forum
Posted
If you're local the Fish Store in Lake City Way sells bulk crushed coral. You can buy by the pound