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My serpae tetras are the most ferocious feeders. Most of the near misses involve these guys. The larger black neons will come out and join the frenzy, the smaller ones wait in the val for the food to drift to them on the current.

I can’t believe I’ve been in for almost a year now. I was going to put together a pea puffer tank, which was sidelined it because I got involved in building cigar box guitars. I’ve been a player for 45+ years and liked wood-shop back in high school. An old college friend came up with the idea. We pitched in a few hundred each and set up a small workshop in his basement. We’ve been pretty good about not buying too much stuff…it’s always the stuff, isn’t it… Anyway— My max would be three. Getting my tank to where it is now took 9 months. It’s different with each of us; I don’t feel a sense of urgency about more tanks. I still want pea puffers but I also like bettas and, so…small apartment… My aquarium is fun. I like watching ‘em when I’m here alone in the evenings before work. One 55 is a nice big tank, but not too big. The time investment is small. I’d still like to do another tank but I’m taking my time to choose. My small apartment isn’t overrun with fish stuff…always stuff…

I run a Fluval 406 on the 55. I decided to err on the side of over-filtration. I usually close the valve about half way to keep the current mellow. It's a nice filter, although it's my only experience with canisters; I only have the one tank. It's quiet and powerful. If I turn the flow all the way on it'll suck up all the stuff from gravel vac-ing and algae scraping as well as give the fish a workout—like spinning class for tetras.

WHO'SAGOODBOY?

I seem to remember being advised to not clean the canister for at least six months after you set it up. I have a 406 on my 55 and have had a large sponge on one of the airstones for the last six weeks or so. While the 406 isn't a huge filter, it's pretty big on a 55. If you clean the canister too often, you may be disturbing the nitrifying bacteria. Ditto with tank surfaces. I have foam on the bottom tray, Matrix on the next two, and rings on top. I know the pond guy and the aquarium science guy dump on Matrix, but my water seems fine, my fish are all active, eating well, and happy. I had a polishing layer on top of the foam and opened the filter to check it after 2 months. The polishing layer seemed to be dis-integrating but Not much funk at all. I took out the polishing layer and left the media alone. Over the first few months I was having problems, serpae tetras dying...cyano, which I zapped with UL bg slime remover... As I put in more plants, left the filter alone, and went longer between water changes, the tank began to establish itself. Right now I'm 2 to 3 weeks between gravel vac/water change, usually about 30 - 40%. I'll be sticking to this schedule. Ammonia runs 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20 - 40, pH 7.2ish, temp 76F. The water's not as crystal clear as some I see on the inter-tubes, but it's pretty good. The test to see if I've actually learned anything will be the next tank.

My first assumption would be soap if I'd used it. I could be mistaken but you didn't mention that you used soap You could suck out all the water and refill, see if the bubbles lessen, but I'd likely just take it down, re-rinse everything, and put it back together because I'd likely want to get rid of whatever's bubblin'.

I don't think anything is killing this hobby. I think I represent the common aquarium hobbyist, one tank, 55 full o' tetras, looking to set up maybe one or two more over time, going slowly...having thoughts about pea puffers. I really love fish keeping — it's in my life, just not the main thing in my life. My expenditures are limited by available funds. A friend of mine and I built cigar box guitars this last week. It worked well — I'm no spaz in that area, pretty good with chisels and hand woodworking tools. Even better, I know how guitars work. I'd like to improve my building. I have ideas for improvements. I have some tools and need some specific tools which will come to around $200 - 300. They're quite cheap to build after the tools, though. I would have to put my pea puffer tank on hold. I can choose both, but I can really afford to do either one. ...and the cigar box guitars win...maybe pea puffers later...and I love my tank o' tetras. If my biggest problem right now is to choose between two excellent pursuits, I want more problems ;)

I've had the above sponge filter in this tank for about a month now, which I'm planning to put into a 20L for pea puffers. I think I'll ghost feed it to give the bacteria some munchies. I think I'll take a handful or two of gravel from my tank along with some small trumpet snails that'll surely be in there...let it go for a few days, testing for ammonia/nitrite. Hopefully I'll arrive at a time when I've got both ammonia and nitrite so I can keep all the little guys in the sponge I'm moving happy and well fed. I'm in no hurry, I haven't yet put in glow light tetras or gotten the tank and heater for the puffers but likely this week or next as they're on sale @ lfs for $31. I like how clear the water is. I suppose I'll put in another sponge, maybe a little smaller, after I move this one. I like the clarity of the water @ 1 week since the last water change, around 40%. ...just after the light came on this noon. I also think it's time to think about a reasonably big pump and a manifold to service, maybe four or five tanks with, hopefully less than $100. I guess I'll build one of those Cory/Dean PVCDIYSOCKITOME manifolds.

ULBGSsR worked for me as well. I got it from lfs. I only had to treat the tank once so I've got about five treatments left. Since I have so much gravel and stone in the 55 I treated for 45 gal. I don't know enough to recommend it over Erythromycin. The spooky part is that they don't tell us what's in it.

That gourami is gorgeous!

I like all my tetras. Chances are any fish I choose to keep is going to be one of my favorites.

I like the rams but I absolutely love this pic...the long flowy val and them, hovering above the glass full o' stones. They really pop against the warm green. Maybe my val will jungle up like yours. I do have a lot of runners with little plants all over the place, they're just not growing very fast.

Just make sure your reflective surfaces are white. Color will reflect and confuse your perception.

I'm near sighted with an astigmatism but my color vision is pretty good. I studied art in college. From my beginning in fish keeping last year, I noticed that the colors in the little tubes could be difficult to read. I've developed a way that enables me to, I think, get the most accurate reading possible for me. I understand that color perception is variable among us — that we all see color differently to a degree, which was always my complaint about the swatches to compare, their being process colors, to the color in the tube which I'll call real color. I use two LED desk lamps. I aim one at the side wall, which is white. The other I aim at the top of my desk. This gives me a balance of direct and reflected light. I place a sheet of white paper on the desk and put the booklet, swatch page up, on the paper. The lenses in my glasses aren't tinted. When the test is ready to compare I hold the tube above the paper and pick up the book, being careful to cast no shadows that land under the tube. I want to see the white background, shadow free, through the tube, for what I deem to be the purest, most distortion free color possible for comparison. Comparing to the swatches, I switch between blurring my vision a bit and focusing, trying to decide which is the closest swatch for a given test in both chroma (color) and value (light to dark). I know I've seen this issue discussed before, but I thought to post it for anyone who either hasn't seen it or is still having trouble.

I know the best pizza is a thin NY style pie cooked on the floor of an oven. The sauce isn't too sweet. In the end, it comes out slightly well done, with caramelized onions and anchovies on top.