meadeam

Interesting options. I could probably fit a 56g in the same space. I'll continue thinking on it.

Are there species that are well suited to column tanks? I know most fish appreciate a larger footprint instead of tank height, and aside from the added water volume, column tanks don't make a lot of sense for many species. However, I have a short wall and some unused space that would look good with a column tank visible on three sides. I had considered a peninsula, but the room isn't big enough to be fully divided by a tank. A 37 gallon column would fit in the space without being obtrusive.

As I consider taking on this project, I am now wondering if it is even neccessary. The tank currently has mesh bagged aquasoil under an inch or so of sand. I do need to replant several things, and probably add some more sand. But prior to letting it get out of control, this tank was doing exceptionally well. The main problem is I never trimmed the plants, and I let the floaters block all of the light, stunting everything below that couldn't cope with the lack of light. The anubias and java ferns are doing ok, the bacopa simply reached for the stars and emerged in places, even flowering. It's a very healthy tank in terms of water, needing very little in the way of water changes. Maybe I don't want to disturb it. It's been balanced and doing well in every way except aesthetically for a long time now. I had the urge to redo it, but maybe some careful maintenance is all it needs.

I think I already knew the answer, I just needed to confirm it. Thanks!

I've been running a medium sponge filter in the tank for over a year alongside the external canister, so I have a filter to start the temporary tank with. I'd also be floating the plants I intend to keep, so ideally they would bring some biofilter with them as well. I've actually done this method before when I started this tank now that I am remembering, and it wasn't too bad.

I have a tank that has been up now for over 2 years. I initially used bagged aquasoil capped with play sand. I've let the plants get out of hand, and although the tank is healthy, it looks bad and I'm not happy with sand in the long run. I'm afraid to make too many changes with the fish in, so I am thinking I should setup a temporary tank in a rubbermaid tote and move the fish and shrimp there while I work on the tank. Alternatively, I could vaccum out the sand over a few days and slowly replace with the smooth gravel I intend to use. Either way, i'd be pulling the plants out and re-planting. Do you think I should set up the temporary tank for the plants and fish while I redo their tank, or try to do it with the fish in? I'm not sure which is more effort, and/or better for the livestock. I suppose a third option would be to very slowly make the changes over a period of weeks or months, doing only a little at a time so the tank isn't too upset all at once. Once concern I have is releasing whatever lurks beneath the sand; I am afraid of some anaerobic nasties, or gasses that could be lurking down there.

I'm starting to make plans for a peninsula tank that has been a long time coming. I put a small room addition on my house, and the tank will be a room divider. I stared with plans for a 6' tank, but have since modified the addition plans and robbed myself of a couple feet. I've only got room for a 4' tank, I could do possibly do 5' if I am very efficient with the space, but I haven't seen many 5' tanks. In the 48" sizes, I am thinking 75g makes the most sense... 90, and 110 seem too difficult to clean, and I already hate to gravel vac. Anyway, I'm collecting ideas for how to filter, aerate, and heat the tank. I'm leaning toward a sump now because it gets most of the gear out of the tank for a nice clean look which is important in this case. I am sure there is someone around here with a sump filtered peninsula who can share pros and cons of the setup, and how they decided on whatever method of overflow and/or drilling they chose. The tank will be home to small fish, tetras and cories mostly. I want a big school of little fish rather than bigger fish.

I would definitely suspect the source unless you've had the same experience with multiple outlets/retailers.

I'm really interested in the Sicce Shark Pro. The magnetic coupling is a fantastic idea. I could use the nozzle on the Sicce to circulate water lengthwise in my 4" tank allowing me to keep all of the equipment on the wall end of the peninsula. Clever planting could hide the gear, but still be able to access it from above for removal and cleaning.

I haven't noticed a lot of mulm build up in my sand bottomed tank, but then again it is very heavily planted. The Java Fern and Java Fern Windlov and a couple moss covered rocks are probably holding a lot of buildup. The cories love sifting through the sand, and the pleco spends all of her time in a hollow log covered in moss. Something to consider though. I don't want to vaccum if I don't have to but I may not be able to avoid it in the new setup. I am thinking about sand again but using planters for my plants to avoid uprooting should I need to vaccum, and when I pull the sponges for cleaning. As long as I can get it looking decent.

Moving tanks soon, going from 36 bowfront with cannister filter w/ internal heat, and inline CO2 to most likely a 75 with a pair of sponges and a pair of AC heaters. No more CO2! It will be a peninsula, so hiding the equipment is a concern. I've learned to match maintenance with lowest level of enthusiasm for the hobby though, not the highest. My current tanks are healthy but overgrown and hard to clean. I'm shooting for a naturalistic (not a stickler for biotope, just natural looking) planted tank that isn't a nightmare to maintain. I've got water changes down to a science, but that 36bf is hard to clean and I've grown to hate canister filters. My 10gallon betta tank runs a pair of AC nano sponges and does wonderfully. I just need to come up with a planting strategy that looks good, and still allows me to easily remove the sponges for cleaning the 75 peninsula without rearranging the tank. Advice and comments appreciated!

I spent some time in the Red River Gorge over the long weekend. I'm always fascinated by this formation that can be found in many of the hundreds of caves/amphitheaters. The rock is sandstone, but whatever causes some of these formations seems to be a much harder mineral. There is another formation that almost seems like it contains iron ore, though I doubt that is what it is. I've never actually researched it, choosing instead to continue being fascinated and not knowing. I am positive this was once the bottom of an ocean. Kids for scale:

It's interesting how we all have different plants that take over. For me it's bacopa that took over seemingly overnight. I forgot I had jungle val because the bacopa out competed it so badly I have to look very closely to find any left. It beat all of the other plants to the surface of the water, then draped itself across the top stealing all of the light.

Not to mention broad spectrum UV, which is what would be required to reliably kill the most pathogens and deactivate viruses, is not safe for people. I don't know if aquarium UV products emit broad spectrum though.

I think you might be right. Mine is leggy from being surrounded and the light being far away.

I use retired bath towels and they rarely ever get washed. I hang them on a clothesline in the basement between uses.

I bought it at a chain store. It wasn't labeled, and the associate couldn't id it. It was about 1/4 as tall when I bought it. It has a pretty woody stem and is > 12" tall now with leaves mostly at the top near the light. I don't know if it grew that way to compete with the bacopa for light, or if it always does that. It doesn't look like I can propagate it by cutting the top off, as that wouldn't leave any foliage for the existing plant.

I'm a little baffled as to why the teacher thought any fish could survive long enough to validate the experiment. The science is accurate, but the implementation is botched even without the ethical question.

I don't see the fish. But many people regard fish as non-sentient, so the usual humanity doesn't apply. I've baited a hook with fish not unlike those I spend a small fortune keeping. I don't eat meat, except for fish, which I also keep as pets. Our big brains allow us to be very dichotomous.

I didn't know how short their lifespan is. This means I have a whole bunch of snails likely nearing the end. They're all from the same clutch.

Drat... I just sorted through my most heavily planted tank where I can't ever see more than a couple snails at a time and extracted 4 dead snails in various stages of being consumed by shrimp. There were 9 to start. I never had an ammonia spike, but nitrates accumulate in that tank at a very high rate, which I had attributed to the amount I feed the tank. The snails were about 1.5 years old.

I totally understand tanks being reflective of one's mental state. I had a bad bout with depression not long ago, and it played out in my tanks. I ended up taking some down and consolidating. The thing I have been repeating to myself is to enjoy the time I spend working on my tanks rather than avoiding the chores. I refined my water change routine as well so I can get it done quickly without making a mess. That helps a lot because if all else fails, I at least never miss a water change. Other things can wait if necessary.

Battery powered nano pumps for outages is a really good use case I often forget about. I only have one USB nano pump, but I have a power brick that will run it for a few days and can rotate between tanks. Sponges for the win on that one, so I probably will always run one in each tank regardless of other filters. Maybe on the tanks that can't be vacuumed easily due to plants and botanicals I'll have to consider some more mechanical filtration.

If you use them exclusively on any tanks, do you find the mechanical filtration to be acceptable? I have 3 display tanks in the living areas of my house. One has a canister with internal heater, but also consistently keeps an auxiliary sponge running. On my 20 long I've recently switched to sponges exclusively. It is a blackwater tank with lots of botanicals that break down and decompose. The detritus is then kicked up by 6 julli cories rooting through it. It actually isn't too bad, and being a blackwater tank I wonder how critical I can be of how pristine the water looks. I'm running one small and one medium sponge on a single pump going into a manifold. It creates decent flow, and the sponges do pickup some material from the water column. The fine stuff passes through them though, which I guess is good to keep from clogging. I'm considering a HOB to do some better mechanical filtration, but then I keep wondering if I do that, then why not just rely on the HOB all together. Aquarist problems I guess.

I'm in a similar boat and will be moving 5 Harlequins and 4 green cories (I may buy them a 5th if I can find a single from a reputable source) and 1 clown pleco who rarely leaves her hollow log into a planted 10 gallon. I think it will be a full house, but not too cramped since everyone occupies different areas. My harlequins are in 36 now. But with 2 dozen annoying mollie fry, and lots of tall plants they have about 10g worth of swimming space anyway. I'd like to increase the harlequins numbers, but I would definitely get a bigger tank if I do.