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Alesha

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  1. Alesha
    I've run out of emoji reactions for the day, but could *not* let this go without a comment: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 And way to observe the nature in your tank daily! (Otherwise you'd have missed it.)
  2. Alesha
    Mine look just like this too. In fact, when I added a sponge into my 55-gallon to pre-seed it with bacteria, it also got pre-seeded with Assassin snail eggs. They were just all over it. But they have since hatched into their new aquarium. I really don't worry about it too much. I figure if they feel the squeeze of the sponge they will move away from that area before they get too big to avoid it. In other words they will choose the path of least resistance that won't squeeze the life out of them. I think they'll be ok. That being said, I did one time have to remove a baby guppy whose head was stuck in the filter. I don't think that was an issue of his eating and growing too fat and then he couldn't get out. I figure he was probably running from another (bigger) guppy and took a wrong turn and couldn't extract himself. It's only happened the once though.
  3. Alesha
    {shuuuuuuudder}😧😖🥺 (Not really...I've always loved dragonflies. But since I've met their larvae face-to-face, they give me the heebie-jeebies.😏🙄😬)
  4. Alesha
    This is wonderful...and yeah, you captured the Steampunk look perfectly! Thanks for sharing your process & the finished product. Hmmm... maybe you should issue a "Name the Thing that Does a Thing" challenge. 😁
  5. Alesha
    Oh yes, the sponge and all plants came from other tanks. Even the hornwort was floating in another tank. 😉 Great way to get that bacteria going!
  6. Alesha
    Welcome to you. We're glad to have you on the forum! I went through Rochester as a member of a college singing group in the mid-80s. It was summer and I remember just how beautiful everything was. It was only my 3rd time leaving my home state of Florida so everything was fascinating! Our hosts drove us by the Kodak facilities and I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. 😉 I don't do much traveling these days, so it's nice to occasionally have a nostalgic moment to remember. Thanks for that! 😃👍
  7. Alesha
    I love a themed tank! Very nice. Welcome to the forum!
  8. Alesha
    Welcome to the forum. We are glad to have you here!
  9. Alesha
    I wanted to do a follow up. I scooped out the finer-grit blasting sand & replaced it with the 20/40 grit. It was a very fast process & started settling so much faster than the smaller size did. Here it was this morning, before the new fish arrived. I am quite pleased with the number of water wisteria stalks I got from that tiny little potted sprig that I first put in the Q-tank! I plan to put up more pics later after this weird film clears off the glass. I think it's a combo of sand dust & growing bio film. So I hate to disrupt it just yet. The parameters of the water weren't the greatest this morning: Ammonia: 1.0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 15 pH: 7.4 KH: 100 GH: 200 Temp: 72* I did a 25% water change with water from my cycled 55-gallon & treated it with Fritz conditioner. I plan to check them again this evening- after adding the new fish AND their water, as per Aqua Huna's instructions. Thanks for all your help, advice & encouragement on this one! Alesha
  10. Alesha
    @Andy's Fish Den, I'm south of Orlando, by a little bit. 😉 And yep, we do get frost here. It seems to go in cycles. Some years it will be cold for a couple of weeks (by cold, I mean not getting out of the 60s and in the 30s at night), and other years, it will only get that cold once or twice before spring. I'm sure it would be trackable...and I'm sure somebody's got that cycle out there on the interwebz, lol! We just never know...and dress in layers. The last one being our summer t-shirt! 🙂 @teenage fish - I'm sure your summer tubbing season will be awesome! And you don't have to worry about frying the fish in 100* weather like we do here. 😉 @H.K.Luterman - thankfully, guppies are resilient! I've not been a fishkeeper long enough to care for the high-maintenance fish yet! @James Black - Brrrrrr....I canNOT EVEN imagine that kind of cold!!!!! The farthest north I've ever lived was Virgina. @s1_ - good job! This cold spell kinda caught us off-guard. But with the little heaters in the tanks, they did really well. We'll keep an eye on them to make sure they continue to do well. And our plants...we didn't do anything for them. But if they'd called for frost or below freezing, we would've had a LOT to do last night. Can't let my blueberry plants freeze! This is the year they're supposed to have fruit!!!
  11. Alesha
    My app said 39* this morning, but we always run a little colder than the app. Doug checked the thermometer outside the backdoor & it said 36*! The guppies out on the front porch were happy to be fed & huddling around the heater & in the rays of sunlight hitting the tanks. If we get any colder than that this winter, we'll keep a light on over night and cover them with something to hold in the heat. Doug said the thermometer said 60* in the 40 gallon tub today. It should warm up quickly though. Our high is supposed to be around 61*.
  12. Alesha
    What an excellent post! This is the way to give all the details so someone like @Cory can come along and diagnose the problem. I would wait to see what some of the others say. My gut says that if 1 fish has additional issues, the others could too. So if you treat one, treat the others as well. However, I'm not experienced enough to know which meds to suggest. So hang in there...I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will give you some advice.
  13. Alesha
    I have a little one growing out with the same issue. I always assumed that it was yolk sac that didn't absorb properly. I expect that the guppy probably won't live as long as the others, but right now, it is eating and thriving. So I just let it be. It has no other skin or fin issues.
  14. Alesha
    Thanks, @Daniel. (...and I was trying to be so c-h-i-l-l with this tank, too! 😎)
  15. Alesha
    Well...I really didn't want black substrate. But since I couldn't find what I *did* want locally, and to ship it from Amazon was entirely too expensive, AND I read that black substrate really makes the Sparkling Gourami look gorgeous, it's what I eventually decided on. Granted...the girly tank I was planning in my head would probably have meant insane upkeep to keep the pink gravel clean, sooo...it's probably all for the best. 😉 And yes, I want the plants to grow in beautifully for my little gourami to enjoy! As for your last advice...I've gotten myself into a little pickle. The fish arrive tomorrow. So there it is...a rookie mistake...we bought more fish than would fit in our quarantine tank. So I planned to put the Sparklers into their own tank that I'd been planning for a while. I just hadn't gotten that substrate issue resolved. And it's taken too long to get something in there and I'm stuck. I'll be doing fish-in cycling of this tank. It was beautifully clouded on Sunday, but with all the substrate disturbance, I don't know. I'll be testing it today, to see where we are. I've already got plants in there, so maybe things are going well? I don't know yet. And I need to decide on the substrate today, or the fish are going to end up in a tote in conditioned-but-not-cycled water until I do. Not my most shining moment as a fish keeper. 🙄😕
  16. Alesha
    The rising sun did not bring me clarity this morning...in more ways than one! 🙄 My husband is picking up a bag of the larger-sized blasting sand. My dilemma is as follows: Remove all the finer sand and replace with the 20/40 grit? Or just remove a portion of the finer grit and cap it with the larger? Either way is going to make a cloudy mess, and I'm also losing valuable biofilm with each grain that comes out of the tank. I don't have a power head. I do have the small pump that originally came with this tank, but I've not been able to find it to see if I can duplicate @Aubrey's clever hack. Any suggestions gratefully accepted, especially if you've dealt with this before, or if you have a really strong opinion. I am a waffling, irritated, exasperated tank owner this morning. P.S. This is the fourth purchase of substrate for this tank. The first one, after I purchased it, had "not for aquariums" in the finer print. 😫 The second was cancelled by Walmart because their stock ran out. The third was the finer grit slag, and now this fourth purchase of the medium grit slag. I really am running out of options here for the look and substrate that I want. 😕🥴😣🙄😬
  17. Alesha
    Oh my word! So cool! And that little spring action... so incredible! Thanks for sharing.
  18. Alesha
    Your anubias-only tank looks very nice! I have a lot of moneywort & water wisteria, but no anubias. Looks like I need to broaden my plant base. 😊👍
  19. Alesha
    Another thing to consider is how heavily stocked your tank is. For example, if you have tons of guppies, eating like little piggies & pooping everywhere, you have to vacc. 😁 But it won't bother your plants to do deep gravel vacuuming around them, as long as you don't push the wand right up against them & then push down with it. The edges of the tube could cut or dislodge the roots. Keep a good distance around each plant, only cleaning the top of the gravel right next to them, & you should be fine to deep clean in other areas. I hope that helps!
  20. Alesha
    It's very fine. I think I should've gone with the other size. If it ever clears, I'll stick with it. If it doesn't, I'll have to go back to the drawing board.
  21. Alesha
    Yeah...I wasn't very careful. 😆 This was too fine to wash. I tried, but...couldn't be done. And I'm trying not to stop the cycle that has started in the tank. Just wanted to add the substrate. So...I don't think a water change is a good idea. I'll just wait it out. Thanks!
  22. Alesha
    Any estimates on how long it will take to clear? Overnight? Or just an hour or so? Trying to decide whether to put my tools away, or just wait a while. Thank you!
  23. Alesha
    So, like I've already shared, we purchased some new fish over this weekend. We'd been researching them for a while, and alllllllmost "settled" for some that were on sale, but not really what we wanted. But we stuck to our first choices and finally found them. My husband Doug loves fish, too and without him I probably wouldn't be able to have fish. He does all the heavy lifting and water changes that I'm unable to do. And just when I think he's tired of all the tanks and guppies and re-scaping and pythons, as we're discussing how we're going to house all the new fish, he says - verrrrry sheepishly, "I hadn't told you this. I wasn't going to tell you. But I should probably tell you now...I picked up a 10-gallon at the Dollar-a-Gallon sale." 😂🤣😂🤣😂
  24. Alesha
    Your tanks look great! So sweet to hear that your toddler loves the fish too, and kudos for teaching him their names. Children's little minds absorb so much more than we can imagine. We're glad to have you here. Welcome!
  25. Alesha
    When you're ready for the "how to", just let me know. I can predict with nearly perfect accuracy where the BBA will appear in my tank! I'm willing to let you in on all my beard-y secrets. 😂😂😂
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