[Simple DIY Fry Catcher Bottle (not a breeding trap!)]

This is the exact trap I always used as a kid to trap Shrimp in the river for bait when fishing xD never thought to make one for catching fry in my aquarium haha ❤️ 

[Is there a Maximum amount of water changes one should do on an auto water change system? 🤔💧🐟]

Hello everyone, 

So i've essentially got an infinite amount of H2O at my disposal now that i've automated all my water changes using carbon block water filters and overflows. I'm wondering wether there's a limit for how much you can change the water before it will affect the bacteria or fish? 

Is 200% a week overkill when you're heavily feeding and the water being changed "gradually throughout the week" is pretreated, heated and oxygenated etc?

I want to be able to over feed bucket loads of brine shrimp and not worry about clouding or ammonia spikes by doing 20-30% water changes on a drip system throughout the day. In an ideal world i'd have a drip system to feed live brine shrimp every 2 hours as-well but that's a problem for some other high-tech automation Nerm to work out 😅  

I've successfully drilled all 20 of my Grow Out and Conditioning Tanks with 1/4 inch holes for attaching quick connect pipes and irrigation tube for draining water.

Now drilling a few more for auto water top-offs and extra drainage on bigger tanks "it's painfully slow but doesn't really need to be much wider pipe with a drip system".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything seems to be going smooth so far, for now i'm manually topping off the tanks every other day and they drain themselves to about an inch or two from the rim of the tank. 🤞🏻😅



I've also discovered adding a length of tube to an elbow or T-Fitting will bell siphon the tank to as low as you want and then you can fill to just under the outlet hole until you're ready to do another water change, top it off and let it siphon back down again! 😄

I use tap water filtered with carbon then catalytic carbon blocks (which filters out the chlorine + chloramines that I've discovered Melbourne Water has a small amount of in Australia)

Now the plan is to set up a water pump on a solenoid to automatically fill the tanks each day through the inlet hole with a couple gallons of treated water from a big water drum hidden upstairs in the pantry haha (and auto dosing a dash of prime into the drum every other day to combat the excess ammonia that is generated when you filter out chloramines with carbon) Or perhaps I could be using Purigen or some other ammonia sucking resin for that 🤔 

The third hole is going to be plugged or just extra drainage for now, but at some point I might use it for mixing RO water into specific tanks with fish that like super soft water or to trick Corydoras into breeding i've heard haha 🤣 

Perhaps it can be my Brine Shrimp Dispensing Inlet when someone invents a live Brine Shrimp Generator hahaha 

[Bulk bought some Cattappa / Almond Leaves online 🍁 🧐]

Was worried about the quality but they turned up pretty decent, no mould and all intact, 150 for $10 is not bad 😁 although over a month to ship with AliExpress from Thailand was quite a stretch, I’ll have enough tannins to breed beta for 10 years 😂

[The Dumbo Ear Guppies are a fan of these DIY Spirulina Veggie Cubes I made 🐠🥦]

On 11/20/2021 at 12:02 PM, PineSong said:

As my kids would say, those guppies are going ham on that spirulina!

 

@Arty Mars,I like that fry saver on the bottom of your tank, and the glass divider. Where do you get those?

A bit of Garlic & leftover brine shrimp mixed in helps encourages them to eat their veggies 🥦 If only kids were that easy haha!

Yeah it's an undergravel substrate panel, and the glass dividers are second hand Window Louvers and glass panels from old doors. I bought a lot of my tanks from an ex-hobbyist who moved interstate, I mentioned I build my own tanks but buying them second hand is a lot less work, he had a huge stack of 2 foot by 6 inch glass windows he gave me that i've been cutting to size for betta boxes and dividers haha.

He threw in all his old breeding gear as-well. There was an entire box full of about 30 undergravel panels and I finally found a good use for them haha. There was also a box of medicine and old products, most of the use by dates were from 2001 so I think they had been sitting in his garage for like 20 years, back when undergravel filters were the stock standard practice haha. 

[The Dumbo Ear Guppies are a fan of these DIY Spirulina Veggie Cubes I made 🐠🥦]

On 11/20/2021 at 2:57 AM, Patrick_G said:

Nice looking breeding setup!

I heard Cory or Dean mention something about putting an airlift near a mound of pebbles so when the fry hide in the pebbles they get sucked into another tank or a fry catcher. I made something similar with an undergravel panel (and no gravel) so fry just get sucked down through the holes in the undergravel and up the airlift into their own section of the tank haha. I divided the tank with glass panels that only go go up about 2/3rds, so they do get the entire tank to share most of the month, but every 25-30 days I can just lower the water line and seperate the females into their own divided section each so they can give birth in peace away from the males 😅

On 11/21/2021 at 3:17 AM, Minanora said:

They are veracious! Mine love to steal my plecos repashy.

The grate you have on the bottom looks like a plastic storm drain grate. Is it?

@Minanora Yeah it's one of those platforms that go underneath substrate for undergravels 😄

[The Dumbo Ear Guppies are a fan of these DIY Spirulina Veggie Cubes I made 🐠🥦]

[Heating Multiple Tanks with Waterproof Heat Cables?]

On 11/5/2021 at 11:45 AM, Zenzo said:

"I would think that if you could engineer these to sit underneath your aquariums on a shelf (like in a shallow channel), it would safer than trying to bury them under gravel."

I've also seen some Betta Breeders who made 6 inch shallow trays of water on shelving for this exact reason, they could then sit dozens of betta tanks in the tray and heat them simultaneously without concern of mixing water between tanks to prevent disease etc.

"I don't know how effective these would be vs just having aquarium heaters turned down to a comparable temp, or heating the room a few degrees."

I agree but with how much it will cost to buy and replace 35+ heaters in my fishroom over time i'm willing to gamble on some alternative methods first haha xD I think if i could find reliable cheap thermostats on Aliexpress etc It might just work 😄

 

[Heating Multiple Tanks with Waterproof Heat Cables?]

On 11/5/2021 at 2:12 PM, s1_ said:

"Interesting ideas. If putting under the tanks I would worry about the pressure of the tank rims creating hot spots on heating elements/wire." 
My thoughts exactly I also worry about the temperature itself getting so hot it damages the glass bottom over time or affects the silicone edges. 

 "Inside a tank is possible but using and hiding a long cord vs a heating element or traditional heater seems like more of a hassle." 

Yeah I already use matten filters at the back of my tanks so hiding a few coils behind the sponge in the back of the tank was where i was thinking the cables could be hidden from view xD

 

On 11/5/2021 at 1:05 PM, RadMax8 said:

"The theory being that warm water rises, so you create a current from bottom to top and back again, thus taking nutrients to the roots of plants easier."

Yes that's another thing i'm very interested in! I've seen videos from people with larger community tanks that implement a "Reverse Under Gravel System" where they pump a small flow of water underneath a really thick gravel substrate which constantly aerates the gravel and prevent's muck building up, I imagine current from heating would have a similar effect 😄

 

[Heating Multiple Tanks with Waterproof Heat Cables?]

Hello Fish Fam! 
I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of using these self regulating heat cables submerged in fish tanks under gravel, in sumps or inline pipes etc.  They're often used in Reptile Enclosures, preventing frozen pipes, melting snow on rooftops and regulating soil temperature in gardens etc? I'm from Australia so never seen these before as we don't often have problems with snow or, just cold weather in general 🤣

I was thinking it could be possible to wire up lengths of these cables with thermostats for multiple fish tanks to increase the temperature slightly, most of them actually regulate their own temperate somewhat passively, as the temperature changes the electrical resistance adjusts to either shut them off or allow more or less heat to be created; however it's usually in the extreme ranges of 60°-120°C / 140°-250°F.

Not sure if these temperature cables exist in lower temperature sensitivities or safer DC 12Volt currents. Not even sure how *waterproof* they really are etc

So many variables to think about so thought it would be interesting to know if any other hobbyists have seen these used before in submerged applications. 

[I’m not convinced my Corydoras are “Bottom Dwellers” 😂]

My Panda and Venezuelan Cories are absolute lunatics that spend %75 of the day ZOOMING around the tank 🐠💨 These two have decided airstones = bubble baths 😂 I didn’t expect Corydoras to be such active and entertaining catfish, they certainly haven’t been hiding in the bottom of my tank that’s for sure 🥰  

[I screwed up and got the herpes (duckweed)]

On 9/17/2021 at 9:23 PM, ARMYVET said:

I will sell you some and Ill do it cheaper....How about $15 a pound ....I have a few tons....where do you want it sent?😂

ONLY $15 A POUND! If you can fill up a shipping container let me know and we'll be in business haha

 

[Trying My Luck With Home-Made Frozen Fish Food! Are These Herbs Safe For Fish?]

Hello DIY'ers, 
I've been inspired by a few tutorials on youtube for making your own frozen fish food cubes 🐠 🧊
 
The mixture I blended up today included
🥬  Green Beans, Broccoli, Peas, Spinach & Zucchini. 
🥕 White Cauliflower, orange carrots and a little sweet potato as a thickener.
🍤  Plus I threw in any leftover Krill flakes and Fish pellets due to expire soonish, waste not want not. 
🧄  I've also heard that many frozen foods include Garlic of some kind to help fish find the food easily.
I only had one garlic segment to finish making a small test batch.
A 100 Gram ladle full fit perfectly into snack size freezer bags! 

And added bonus was the freezer shelves had grooves that make them easily snap off into little veggie-bars.
I'm pretty impressed so far but we'll find out if the fish actually eat them soon xD



Does anyone know if it's safe to add mixed herbs to a frozen fish food to make it more aromatic?
The one i've got at home pictured below has mostly Dried Garlic, 🍅 Tomato & 🫑 Bell Pepper. 
But what i'm worried about is the Black Pepper, Onion, Oregano, Parsley, Marjoram?
Are any of those spices going to funk up my fish or tank?
I don't want to give my catfish an explosive taco-bell experience 😅

[I screwed up and got the herpes (duckweed)]

I am fascinated by people not wanting duckweed. I'm not sure what the cause is, but it's really hard to find in Australia and maybe it doesn't thrive as much as it seems to in USA, but a handful of Duckweed cost's about $20 here and it never seems to go wild like it does everywhere else haha, i wish i could get duckweed to take over my tanks lol

[Blackworms vs Bloodworms]

Also a bonus with the Blackworms, You can cut them in half and the colony will almost double in size within a month if you maintain the temperature, feed them well and keep them well oxygenated, don't be afraid to run a knife through them every couple days to boost your blackworm farm haha