dmurray407

I just want to say that I just picked up my stuff from my first Minnesota Aquarium Society auction. I really had fun with this. Kind of like eBay for fish. The bidding was fun, everyone was nice and I really enjoyed the entire process. I got some shrimp and plants. I picked my stuff up today and could not believe how well organized everything was. There were even a few freebies (food samples) in the bag. I highly recommend trying this out if you haven't done it. You have to be a member, but it's very reasonable to join. I think the next auction will be at the end of January or so (I couldn't find an exact date)

I've been working hard on my aquariums for the last 6 months or so and now it's getting cold out. I live in Minnesota-it gets really cold here-well below zero. What do you all do if there is a power outage during the winter months? I'm getting some battery pumps, but what about heaters? I don't want to run a gas generator in my house-what other options do I have? I have a fireplace in the room where my aquariums live, but haven't used it in a couple of years....(my dog is afraid of it😏) but I do have a wood source if I need to use it. Just curious how other folks prepare...

I think you would be safe to get them. I check my water almost daily with the strips and try to do the API once a week "just to make sure" and I've found the results to be very close. I agree-that's one reason I like the strips. With the API test, the shade of orange is a little too subjective for me-how much reddish tone is too much?!

Frustrating! I got some about a month ago and have had absolutely no problems with them. Did you reach out to customer support?

There have never been any fish in the water with the sponge filter and heater running-do I still need to change it out? Thank you! I tend to over think things......

I want to make sure I do this right 🙂 Hopefully on Saturday I'll be getting a few new fish (finally!). I have a 10 gallon quarantine tank (a plastic tub with a sponge filter and heater) all set up and I have my medication trio meds ready to go. So, here's the plan: I bring the new fish home on Saturday, slowly acclimate them to the quarantine tank water using a drip thingy then net them and put them into the quarantine tank. I'm going to give them a day to get acclimated (can I give them a little food at this point?) Then on Monday AM, I'll put the meds in-5 ml Ich-X, 1 tab Maracyn and 1 tab Paraclense. I let them "marinate" (as Cory says in his video) in this mix for 7 days. I can feed them a tiny bit on day 3 or 4. On day 7, I do a 30% water change. They stay in the quarantine tank and then after 3 weeks, I redose with Paraclense (1 tab) again. Then, finally after 4 weeks, I can introduce them into one of my other tanks (I haven't decided which one yet) . I'm hoping to get some Platies and some Pygmy Corydoras. Questions: My quarantine tub has been running for a couple of months, but is not really cycled since it's just a bare tub of water. Can I add Stability daily to keep the water parameters in a good range after I add the new fish? I could put a sponge filter from another tank in there, but hate to take it from where it's at. My other question is, my main tank (60 gal) has never really been treated. A few years (maybe 4?) ago I had Ich in it but other than treating that I haven't put any meds in it for anything. Technically, should I treat that tank before putting new fish in there? Would you do it? Everything seems very healthy. There are just a few fish in it and they are all at least 4-5 years old-2 rainbowfish, a plecostomous, 4 tetras and 2 rasboras. I also have 3 Nerite snails in there. Next time, I will have a seasoned sponge filter to put in the quarantine tank-I should have done it but just didn't. If it's really important, I can swap out the one from my other tank (10 gal, cycled but fishless-there's also a good canister filter in that tank as well so it should be OK without the sponge filter. The water tests out perfectly every time I check and I give the bacteria a little pinch of fish food daily). Thank you for reading this if you made it this far-any suggestions are very appreciated. (Do I sound paranoid? The last new fish I got created the Ich outbreak...)

I love it! Just curious, why do you have that black mat under your light? Is that shelf liner? Congratulations! You can do this!!!!

My Python is a game changer. I have a 60 gal tank in an old house with weird faucets. It took carrying a lot of buckets of water over the years to figure this out-I go from my tank through a vent to my basement sink and it works like a dream (there is no way to connect to either the kitchen or bathroom faucets on the main floor). Changing my water and cleaning my aquarium used to be an all day job-now I can get it done in 2 hrs.

My Python has 2 shut off valves-one where the hose connects to the tube/hook and one about midway (mine is 50ft)

That's what I am afraid of.....maybe I'll try after the holiday rush just to see how it goes. Unless it's -20 out:(

I've done it. My husband was a big ice fisherman as well. You put a tent or little shack out in the middle of the frozen lake and as the ice shifts around you can hear it cracking around you. It's so thick by that time that it's still safe (think Grumpy Old Men). You just get in your car and drive out to your little house. Depending on the lake, someone usually plows roads out to the good fishing areas.

I grew up in coastal California where 27 degrees above zero is really cold. I though it only got this cold in Antartica. Our lakes freeze solid enough that you can safely drive a car across them.

This is the problem-my nighttime temps (and a lot of my daytime temps) will be well below 35 degrees from now until spring. It's kind of like living in your freezer for 4 months. In fact, during the cold months my mother in law used to (safely) keep frozen food on her apartment balcony when her freezer was full 🙂 We are having an unusually warm spell this week, but on Sunday it's supposed to go down to 18 degrees with a high of 35 which is pretty normal.

Can they do heat packs? I know the shipping is always super fast, but I didn’t think they would ship if it was less than 50 degrees-I’ll check that out-I love and trust the plants I get from them.

I have purchased all of my aquarium plants so far from Aquarium Coop. My Minnesota weather is starting to really cool down so I'm looking for local sources so I don't need to have living things shipped to me which can be risky. There is a local aquarium auction so I'm bidding on some plants. These will come from local fish people and I'm sure all of them have perfect aquariums, but-how should I treat these plants (if I win the auction) so I don't introduce bad things to my tank?

Sounds like an interesting presentation-thanks! OK, I joined up. I want to bid on some stuff, but am wondering about the pick up on Saturday-is it crazy or is it pretty organized?

With my luck I'd get busted .....

Welcome! This is a great group!!

The alum bath will take care of any snails that come with the plants? That's one of my fears, that I will buy plants and some weird snail infestation will come along with them.

I did break down and turned my heat up to 68 this afternoon:)

I just have a little round "betta bowl" heater that seems to do the trick. It's similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-BettaTherm-Submersible-Heater/dp/B003Z0FZ4I/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1ND2TKQWQEEZP&keywords=betta+bowl+heater+1+gallon&qid=1637078227&sprefix=betta+bowl%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-5 I've had it forever and it just keeps working. Heating prices are supposed to be through the roof this winter so I've been trying to be good and keep my thermostat down to 63-65 but it's killing me. Every once in a while I have to crank it up to 70:)

I have my isolation tub all set up-I was planning to just have new fish in it for the medication period and then transfer them to the 10 gal tank for a couple of weeks until I'm sure they are healthy then on to the 60 gallon tank. (I'm paranoid-had a bad experience). The 10 gal is all set up and cycled. I live in Minnesota, so I have heaters in all the tanks-I keep my house around 65, which is killing me 🙂 I think I might just turn the 10 gal into a "regular aquarium" and keep the shrimp and some friendly fish in it. (The reason I'm waiting on the new fish is because all the LFS's are about 50-60 miles away. There was one closer but they had to move due to property redevelopment. They should be opening in their new location later this month. Their new location is only about 30 miles away. I want to support them so they don't go away permanently.) Good idea-I will try that. There's an Amano shrimp hanging out there now, too!

I may do this-I've been saving my quarantine tank to transition fish after I do the medication trio so it just sits there with one snail in it-I'm sure the shrimp would do OK in there. I also am thinking about a new tank in my "office" area upstairs by my desk. 2 cherry shrimp are still alive-they are hanging out on the backside of my sponge filter-I'm wondering if I just carefully pull the filter out if they will come with it. I will try either today or tomorrow. Thanks!

My tank is also 48 inches wide (it’s just 60 gallons) and I love my Fluval 3.0. It is fairly easy to program to whatever type/intensity of light you want using a phone app. There’s a thread in this forum with more information.

Me? Mine are Irian Red Rainbowfish. I have 2 and they ARE beautiful. They were only about an inch long when we got them. I love Amazon! I'll keep an eye out for them there...Thanks!