Griznatch

The bioload might have something to do with it.. all that extra poop 🙂 Congratulations on the flower!!!

I've been thinking of trying the same thing. looking forward to your updates! I know some local farmers use solar for their electric fences, so I'm hoping it'll work for a pump or maybe heater even...

Could try some repashy at night after lights out, most fish love it. Live bearers are voracious eaters. I had Mollies as a kid, and I remember them eating so much they could hardly move. I'm guessing platies are the same. I know my female guppies will take food from my angelfish, had to move them out of the tank.

Looking real nice! Still doing the big water changes?

Welcome to the forum! A lot of changes in the hobby, more access to information as well as a much bigger selection of flora and fauna.

Forgot to add, my female dwarf gouramis love duckweed. They've kept it under control pretty well in my wife's 55 gallon tank. The males I had really didn't seem to care about it.

ahh duckweed... I have a love/hate relationship with it. It is a really good plant for shade and eating excess nutrients. I make fish food out of it, and also feed it to my goldfish in the pond outside. It sticks to everything, each time I put my arm in my 75 for maintenance or to move something, I get a half a pound of it stuck in my arm hairs lol. I have pretty much eliminated it in the tanks I didn't want it in, by doing what Fish Folk and laritheloud did.

Welcome to the forum! I've been rooting for your little puffer, hope he gets better!

Heh, it happens, especially if you are of the leave it alone philosophy and your tank is balanced properly. If you don't have any extra tanks cycling to house fry or babies, I think it really kicks in the reproduction instincts 🙂

wow, very cool! No limit to the different options as a decoration either, and probably perfectly safe since I dont think lego plastic leeches?

I've had success with a small water feature pump and also a power head with sponge filter attached. The power head was too much movement though.

I'm rooting for you and the little guy! I love those little puffers and will probably get one (or 3) next year, after I get tired of my guppy breeding experiments.

OMG, this was an awesome post! You should seriously take up writing. Thanks for the laughs, and I'm really glad this brought you closer to upper management 🙂 Tank looks awesome btw!

Welcome to the forum. I really like the fact that we can have small ecosystems on our desk or in our house somewhere. The benefits for learning and just the calming effect of an aquarium can't be overstated!

Wow, he's a stealthy one! Looks nice and healthy too.

Hello and welcome to the forum! Wow, yeah a lot has changed since the 80s, I feel your pain. Good news is there's lots of very good people on here, and Cory has some really good videos and blog posts. Try not to let the overwhelming amount of information bog you down.

I've built a few ten gallon stands besides the cinder block method. I used 2x4s for the legs. Like most people, I feel overkill on sturdiness makes me feel better than taking a chance. It's basic frame at top, legs screwed inside the frame bottom shelf to the desired height. I use 1x4s for everything but the legs, trim and the top. I got lazy and used the Lowes pine shelving for the top and bottom . I just rip and cut it to the size I need. It stains nice and is supported by 2x4 braces underneath. I follow it up with lacquer to seal everything. My first one I just used a medium stain and no lacquer.. no stain protection, lesson learned... The little arm sticking out on the right side was an afterthought when I realized the door hand on the closet to the left was precariously close to the tank when opened. I'll see if I can find any build pictures. I've made 4 or 5 of these type stands and tables, so I quit photo-journaling them after about the second one. The plans now consist of the length, width, and depth.Then how high I want the bottom shelf to be. This all resides on a 2x2 inch sticky note somewhere in my shop... Lumber costs have become so prohibitive lately I probably won't make any more unless it gets more affordable.. There's some pretty good, detailed easy to make build plans available for free on the web. I'm pretty sure there more than a few people here that some good, simple, step by step builds.

I've never tried it, but the fancy aquascapers usually have the tank drilled and use glass or clear pipes coming up from the bottom of the tank. all the filtration and equipment then sits under the stand.

Welcome to the forum! If you can try and post some pictures of you pond.

Coming along very nice. The feeling of accomplishmentnt when you're done will be well worth it! Don't beat yourself up for the issues with the legs. First you are going to find it very hard to find good straight pine at any big store like home depot or lowes. They just don't have it, it's way overpriced, and greener than heck. So no matter how careful you are with your cuts and clamping, it's still probably going to warp, twist or bend. The good news is if you build another one, you now really know what to look for. I've got my tables and stands perfectly flat in the shop and put them in the house only to find the floor is built like a marble lol... I used to build cabinets for a living a looong time ago and I still get disgusted when I buy lumber of any sort. Keep the updates coming, I love seeing these projects.

Bummer, sorry about your fish! I think a few of my otos have done the same. I suspect the cats ate the evidence...

Found some tree frog tadpoles in the irrigation ditch out front... gonna grow them out for the garden in back yard.. so, no daphnia culture in the ten gallon for a few weeks 🙂

For sure. Under the 75 I use those cloth cubby/totes to store all my supplies. The green ones look good with the rest of the plants in the room. The other reason for this type of stand is cost savings. The cost of lumber currently is astronomical. That little wooden stand next to the 55 (with the ten gallon on it) is the last one I'm going to build. Unless lumber costs go down by about half....

Probably just male dwarf gourami aggression. I took the 2 back to my LFS because if it.

Beat me to it.. I'm hoping it's not this, pretty grim if so...