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Sykes

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Everything posted by Sykes

  1. Sykes
    I have tons BN plecos as well and don't *usually* have any problems with them uprooting plants. The one time it's an issue is when the plant is relatively new and hasn't established good roots yet, which it sounds like is the spot you're in. You might try weighing them down with plant weights until they have a chance to get established. I've found this to be helpful for stem plants in particular. Disclaimer: I also use sand in all my tanks, so that may be contributing to them staying secure compared to the gravel.
  2. Sykes
    That part I'm not sure... maybe a moderator can help you out?
  3. Sykes

    10w heater

    Sykes replied to Robin's topic in General Discussion

    I read this and immediately thought 'of course, why wouldn't there be', then went to Amazon and couldn't find any =/ If you're using a light, that may be able to double as a heat source. It's 'adjustable' in that you can choose how close you want it sitting to the hatchery. 🙂
  4. Sykes
    From the guidelines: No selling or giving away aquarium related supplies or animals.
  5. Sykes
    What are the dimensions? Long tanks lend themselves to different types of fish than highs. From your pictures, the oscar is almost certainly too big. Discus you *might* could do 1 in a 35, but I'd really rather see them in at least a 55, if not a 75+ (and in a school). The fish in your first image I'm not as familiar with. I'm guessing some sort of african cichlid? I know there's a wide variety there, but some can get quite big. I'd recommend looking for something that maxes out at about 6 inches or less. IMO, a school of small fish can also work really well as a centerpiece in place of a large fish.
  6. Sykes
    Yup, I think you answered your own question. Sponge on sides only (i.e. covering intake) and using a coarser sponge would be my only 2 ideas. I've never used that type of filter, but I could see how it wouldn't take much to clog something where water has to come in from the side and then turn mid-sponge to go out through the top. Your sponge doesn't look particularly fine though, so maybe test just changing the positioning first? I would not use floss in that. Since there's not a separate reservoir for the filter media vs the impeller, I'd be concerned about the floss wrapping around the impeller and jamming it. On a related note, sometimes free still isn't worth it. Sponge filters are cheap, and you'll likely want the air anyway. Plus if that thing pulls more power to try to compensate for being clogged, then you're paying for it in your electric bill.
  7. Sykes
    I haven't used the one ACO sells before, but the package says to apply to a dry surface, and (ironically) not recommended for bonding parts that are subject to immersion in water. I have used the similar product by seachem though, and it works on wet driftwood, and says it can be used directly underwater. I believe they're both cyanoacrylates, so it may be that they both work similarly well and the ACO one is just under-advertised or overly-cautious. Given how it seems like Cory approaches product review before selling it I'd guess he's probably tested and confirmed it works fine attaching to wet driftwood, but that's 100% a guess.
  8. Sykes
    For a 'display tank', 125 g because it's about the biggest you can get before the prices start getting crazy. If I could only have 1 tank, it'd probably be a 125. But for adding to a fish room, I'm really starting to like 10s turned on their side. Pretty efficient use of shelf space, and offers tons of species only tank options.
  9. Sykes
    Not sure if it's the same for everybody, but they sent me code 89823 for 20% off entire purchase through 9/20. Combined with the DPG sale, made tanks roughly half off.
  10. Sykes
    Am I the only one that doesn't like Tidal filters? I admit the self priming is nice, but that's about my only pro. I didn't find it to be as quiet as most people seem to (I had the 75). The basket is very awkwardly shaped so custom media needs a lot of custom sizing. The maintenance alert thingy is more gimmicky than useful. My biggest complaint though is that there's no way to turn off the surface skimmer. WHY?! 2 different dials for adjusting flow, and yet neither allow you to turn off the surface skimmer. You can turn off the underwater intake to get 100% flow through the skimmer, but not vice versa. I tried blocking the skimmer intake entirely (perhaps a little too well) while having the underwater intake wide open, and that made the motor sound like it was going to explode. On the other hand, I have 2 AC 110s and hardly a complaint. Pair with a pre-filter sponge and they're a dream. I do find that they usually self prime as well. Only real con for me is that they're a bit pricey (though that's true for the tidals as well), which is why I'm using primarily sponge filters now.
  11. Sykes
    Not sure what your goals are with this fish room, but I think your better route might be to take the 9 'up' months to get your tanks cycled and seasoned, heavily planted, and understocked so you can (hopefully) avoid water changes for 3 months. Will likely still have to bring in some water to replace what's removed by evaporation and cleaning filters, but a lot less than you would otherwise. In theory a filtration system like your describing should be possible (this is essentially what municipal water utilities have to do), but I suspect it'd end up costing more than buying RO from your LFS for every water change.
  12. Sykes

    PH

    Sykes replied to RandyH's topic in General Discussion

    Some more info would be helpful here, not only to answer your question but to make sure you don't get wild swings like this in the future. What was the KH of your tank water before the change (if you know that) and what is it now? Are you measuring your tap water immediately out of the tap, or after it's sat for 24 hours? What's your tap pH and KH after 24 hours? Had you added anything to your tank water/filter to lower the pH?
  13. Sykes
    Assuming your picture is your planned final setup (no plants, no lid, lower water level I assume to prevent jumping), probably 8. But if I were setting up a 20 long for silver tip tetras it'd be filled to the top, have a lid, be stocked with plants, and with that setup I'd probably plan on adding 12-15. Also, for reference:
  14. Sykes
    Looks like water sprite to me, which are very easy to grow. No special needs that I've seen. Substrate or floating should both work fine. Most just a matter of preference, and if anything else in the tank would benefit from or be hindered by it floating.
  15. Sykes
    Also accidentally stumbled upon this earlier today and ordered a 40 Br ($54), and 4x 10 g. Some great deals on other sizes as well (20 and 29 also dpg, I think ~$75 for a 55 g). Runs through Sept 30, and I'm still somewhat in disbelief that I got free (local) delivery on fish tanks. Thought for sure those would be an exception. Fingers crossed for no surprises when these arrive tomorrow.
  16. Sykes
    According to the googly woogly, you can get a replacement remote for <$20. That seems like a far better option than abandoning a perfectly good light.
  17. Sykes
    Put 2 heaters in my 125 g as an 'insurance policy' to make sure I never totally lost heat, but then stopped thinking about it from that point forward. Fast forward several months and I noticed my fish were acting very lethargic. Eventually figured out that my tank that was previously set around 76-78 had dropped to I think 63 F. Amazingly I don't think I lost any fish to it, but I have no idea how long they were sitting in there doing nothing. The replacement heaters have digital temperature displays, a light to show when they're on, and I now actually check the temp on occasion instead of being an overconfident dumb dumb. Another one of mine is more just ignorance. I'd never heard of pre-filter sponges at the time and my BN plecos had babies. I kept getting confused when I'd see a pleco hanging on the water outlet for my HOB, then later saw one inside the intake tube. While rescuing that one, I found a whole mess of them living inside my filter.
  18. Sykes
    Personally I think swaps are better suited for local events than an online forum like this. As someone that doesn't typically ship much, I could probably add a plant to my next ACO order for cheaper than I could figure out how to ship one to somebody. I also wouldn't want to take business from ACO.
  19. Sykes
    I'd look for something to prop it up off the floor a bit more. If it's literally just a sheet of wood sitting on the floor, that's going to make water changes hard, and I'd also worry about issues caused by spilled water that you're not able to clean up and have no air flow to help dry up.
  20. Sykes
    It's been a few years, but when I was newer to the hobby I bought a marineland kit and it was missing a piece. I contacted the company and they shipped out a replacement. Not sure how long it's been since you first contacted them, but it may just be that they have slower response times right now because of the pandemic.
  21. Sykes
    What color of cloudiness? My first thoughts would be bacteria bloom or algae bloom. A little unusual for a tank that's been established for 2 years, but definitely possible. Have you changed anything about your routine recently? This might also be a good resource for you (first 14-15 minutes):
  22. Sykes
    Reading through the replies here, I'm starting to think this is another case of everybody's thoughts are different because everybody's tap water is different. I've tested my unconditioned tap water and it has little to no chlorine to begin with (0.2 to 0.4 mg/L according to the local water quality report, but always reads 0 on my test strips), so I feel safe simply treating the tank. If my tests started showing higher chlorine levels (say above 0.5 mg/L), then taking the extra time to pretreat the tap water before adding to the tank would be more worthwhile.
  23. Sykes
    Also agree that a single betta should be fine for a fish-in cycle as long as you keep an eye on the levels, but if you do continue with a fishless cycle switching to flakes instead of pellets might help. They break down in the water quicker.
  24. Sykes
    Easy, mystery snail! Oh, you mean the fish... Kind of resembles a bumblee cichlid, but not really sure. My advice would be the same either way though: keep doing what you're doing. If they're doing well currently (and if you think they may be getting ready to breed, they're probably doing well), making a change could end up doing more harm than good, even if it's getting their environment closer to whatever's theoretically considered ideal.
  25. Sykes
    Sounds like it could work then. Personally I'd wait for the 60 before adding the guppies, but that'd mostly be to keep the maintenance requirements down. If you're willing to keep up with the extra maintenance and your LFS is willing to take the babies, I'd say go for it! We all know how hard it can be to wait when you want a new fish. Definitely guilty of multiple-tank syndrome here. Speaking of which, I'd recommend keeping the 20 g when you upgrade. It could be a good breeding tank, or could house that next 'gotta have it' fish.
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