Jimfish98
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Posts posted by Jimfish98
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Been thinking of taking a bare bottom and doing artificial turf on the bottom before adding some stone and wood decorations to the top and to help keep it down. Has anyone tried this? If so, results? Pics?
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On 6/5/2022 at 9:04 PM, lefty o said:
what kind of natives are you looking at?
Nothing in particular, but community like. I just picked up some FL Flag Fish to add to the tank and it had me thinking. Been working on replacing my grass here in FL with wildflower and native stuff and was thinking about maybe doing something new with the tank where I just stick with the local stuff that would be in our waters already. Figure as space opens, replace stuff with natives until the whole tank is converted.
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Thinking of doing a tank of just freshwater fish native and my searches on info are just a hot mess between fishing sites, books, etc.
Any good sites for native FW fish for aquariums? Know of two sites selling that look like they are stuck in the 90's with their site, but beyond that nothing. Even just a site with photos.
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On 5/28/2022 at 7:16 PM, lefty o said:
what is the alternative water softener? is it putting something in the water?
You nailed it I think. After Nabo's response I pulled out my phosphate test kit as I have never really had to use it. I am somewhere between 5 and 10 ppm. Tested the water out of where I fill the tank, at 1ppm. Filled up the test kit from the hose before the filter, 0ppm. Large water change brought the tank to 1ppm likely and the ATO has been pumping in 1ppm to replace evaporated water, likely pushing the PPM higher and higher. Added a giant bag of GFO and will check it out in the morning. If it drops, will have to build a bypass on the water filter to turn off for filling up the ATO and doing water changes.
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On 5/28/2022 at 5:22 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
Can you post testing results of you tank as well as your tapwater?
1. Take a sample from the tank, test it.
2. Take a sample from the tap, test it.
3. Take that same sample from the tap, aerate it for 24 hours with an airstone, then re-test.My gut assumption is that you're seeing PH swings, potentially very soft water compared to what the fish are used to.
No changes in my normal testing, but it got me thinking what do I not normally test for and found the solution I think.
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Have had my tank up and running for some time and no new fish for months. System was running smooth until I got a whole house water filtration system. Goes through a sediment filter and a carbon filter, then an alternative water softener. There is no salt use in the softener. Did a water change and noticed a massive die off in tetra, about 15 in a few days. I am losing up to 5 a week now. My Danio, Barbs, Pleco, Mollies, Snails, and Goldfish all seem to be completely normal with no loss.
Are tetra that sensitive that they would die off so rapidly? Did I strip too much out of the water and need mineral replacement? At a loss figuring this one out.
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Curious as to thoughts on stocking level for a tank. The calculators just don't match the set up. I have 110g tank with 20g sump. Tank is bare bottom so no volume is consumed by plants, rock, etc. I am cycling water at about 700gph through felt rollers. I also have nearly half a cubic foot of Cermedia/Marine Pure in the sump.
I am thinking of just going with a tank full of tetra, molly, platy, danio type of small fish.
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Started using CO2 about three months ago and my dual stage regulator has already hit the fan. The repair kit and fix is absurd and the manufacture doesn't care. Just got a replacement and it's being returned as faulty out of the box. Any recommendations?
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On 9/25/2021 at 12:01 AM, Phillip said:
Thanks. We live in south Louisiana, so we’re always dealing with bad weather it seems. I had a generator that decided to crap out on me at the beginning of the storm. I’m looking in to a whole home generator which should help prevent this in the future.
FL here, know your pain. I had a generator running after Irma on the pool deck. One cord to the fridge out there. One through a window to my office for my fish tank, and then one out to the pond for the air on it, one to charge all the ryobi batteries for night time. Would stop everything to run just the koi pond for a few hours, then back to just air and running everything else. We wanted whole house but we don't have natural gas running through here unfortunately.
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If everything was off except air, you likely had a build up of nutrients from the filter not going. Carbon dose, reduce light, let the filter come back and do its job. Water change to remove any build up.
Something to consider if you are a tool person, a Ryobi inverter. They have one for their 40V that you can plug into and it will run some stuff for you even if in short bursts during outages. If you have a lot of tanks or want to think long term, they have a generator that runs on 4 of the 40V that can run a fridge and other stuff inside the home and quietly. You can use one to likely run all the tanks you have at once.
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"Experts" are a big reason why folks have a hard time getting started or staying in. The absolutes and such go way too far too often. Few examples...
Go to any reef site and ask "where do I start" and you get a dozen responses saying "BRS 52 weeks on youtube" where you are told everything you need to be successful and these same experts say the videos are accurate and you must do it. People see these $300-$1000 systems being added to control one aspect of the tank and are instantly backing out over the money. Some can afford it or a modified version and move forward being told they will succeed with this stuff. Most have issues or fail and the same experts tell them they got the wrong stuff, didn't test right, etc. It becomes an attack and a lot of the new reefers are closing tanks in a year or less.
Had a personal one about 11 years ago going to a koi site and being told my pond plans would fail. I would never succeed with the set up, never show fish, never grow anything large. Sadly it was driven by a well known koi keeper and show judge. Had I listened I would have walked away but thankfully I am too stubborn. Did it my way, found a less judging forum, and made him hand me a trophy at a koi show a few years later with a fish pushing 3ft. The supporting folks at the second one is what got me to that point.
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On 9/21/2021 at 7:41 PM, Clovis said:
Sorry SAE? Also do you think I can deal with this by stocking? No need to tear it apart or chemical treat?
Always prefer to deal with the tank taking care of itself with its occupants over chemicals. Carbon/Excel could help.
On 9/21/2021 at 7:44 PM, lefty o said:SAE's go 5"+. lot of fish for a 15.
You can always trade in for smaller at the LFS. Mine has a hard time getting larger ones in so will take the trade.
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Snails and Amano will do good in there. Pleco could easily outgrow the space in time. Maybe SAE or FW Gobies, or both.
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On 9/20/2021 at 7:41 AM, Atitagain said:
Been using my python to do water changes into my sink, problem is I pay for water and sewer. So if I can use a siphon into a bucket then send water out a window to yard I would save money. Only paying to fill not paying for water to start python or the sewer bill for draining.
From the floor (bottom of bucket) it would be about a 4’ lift to get it out the window. Would the Aquarium Co-Op Power Head be capable of this? If not any recommendations on one that will work? I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now and $20 seems like a fair price.I would not bother as it is likely not to impact your water/sewage bill at all. Most water municipalities bill sewage on an estimate of the amount of water being used going back out the drain eventually. Some have winter rates assuming 100% in and 100% out and summer rates being lower assuming landscaping, pools, washing cars, etc. Measuring water usage is easy due to pressurization but gravity flow of waste out of your house is too difficult to get accurate. I would first check in to see exactly how it is billed before taking any steps. If you are looking to greatly reduce costs, a lower flow shower head or toilets would produce greater results.
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Bacterial and stress can cause this. I would ensure good water quality and use prazi or metronidazole. I would also consider erythromycin if one of the first two don't work. I believe though if you use it in combination they impact each other. Just incase you have a parasite issues, likely not the cause of this, a quick dip would be good so its only dealing with one issue at a time. I would suggest a 10 second dip in a 8 parts water to 1 part 3% Hydrogen Peroxide mix.
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On 9/16/2021 at 8:43 PM, ChemBob said:
I haven't heard of rollers before in sumps. How do they work? To be fair, I haven't looked into sums too much, but they do intrigue me.
Water goes into a contained area and has to flow through the fleece to escape. The roller would have a water level sensor so as the fleece clogs, water level goes up and trips the sensor. When the sensor trips, the motor rotates the fleece roll exposing clean fleece. Water level drops and the cycle repeats itself. Some are large and built into the sump (Trigger system sumps come to mind). Mine is meant to drop into the filter sock holder of most sumps, comes in 4 or 7 inch sizes depending on your filter. The ones built into sumps are much larger sheets. If you DIY your sump at least this brand has something you can buy to just place in your sump and plumb to, then add the drop in roller.
Don't see it in FW much but I converted from reef and loved not cleaning socks too often. This should allow me a lot more time of not cleaning anything. In my case water will flow through the first and then to the second. There is no water sensor on the first so when water level goes up, it will actually hit the emergency overflow to the second unit. When the second unit starts to clog, it will trigger both units to rotate fresh felt. If you have two sock holes at the same level it would allow for better flow than mine, but I am not going to dump my sump to make an extra part work.
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My sump runs to a 4 inch sock, a baffle to a lower 4 inch sock, and then out to the main chamber. The first one has been running a mesh and the second a fleece roller. Didn't think two were possible until someone in another forum showed it could be done. Today I took out the first sock and replaced it with a second roller. Hopefully working in tandem with each other I can be hands off the mechanical filtration for a few months at a time.
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Orlando FL area
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You will want a tester in the tank to measure CO2 to make sure it doesn't go overboard. Honestly beyond the initial costs, a tank and regulator are not that bad. I feared it myself and just bit the bullet. At this rate the bottle will get refilled every 6 months or so for me at $20. Little money now for ease down the road and making sure fish don't get over run with CO2.
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Topped off the ATO, added supplements, cleaned the sump's surface skimmer, and hopefully changed my last filter sock. Sump has two 4 inch holders in series so one is meant for mesh and the other for felt. The felt I replaced awhile ago with a fleece roller and found someone with the same sump who runs a roller in each and got it to work. Ordered the second and will get that in there later this week. Surgery coming up soon means no lifting/stretching/etc for up to 6 weeks. All of this should get me to the point where I can just top off the ATO, add pumps of additives, and add pellets during that whole time.
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If you don't want to drill for a drip/overflow set up, you can have a source water and hook dosing pumps up to the tanks. A 2 pump system per tank where one is drawing from fresh water and dumping into the tank and the second is running the same volume from the tank to a waste line. From there you just need to have water and drains even it its just two 55g buckets sitting in the room.
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When work or life builds up, tend to still zone out to these guys...
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Marketing mostly. Any tank can be used for FW or SW, but of course some set ups lend themselves towards one end of the spectrum better than the other. What I like about those that lend themselves better towards SW is they typically are built with over flows and sumps in mind which are great for hiding filtration and adding volume to the system. I also find since there is a lot of focus on viewing in those set ups, the quality of glass is much higher.
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SAE, Amano Shrimp, Carbon (Excel was best for me), and then CO2 and Fertilizer so your plants can outcompete the BBA.
Keeping fish in a rented apartment
in General Discussion
Posted
You have to check the lease agreement for details and if it is not in there, get landlord clarity in writing. In college our apartment had a policy of no pets written into the lease but the office published an exception for fish tanks up to 10g and eventually it was written into the next year's lease for all units in the community.