KittenFishMom

@nabokovfan87 2-6 weeks. That feels like a little kid waiting for Christmas. I really wants to see the fish swimming in the tank. But I have waited a long time, a little more is OK. The sealant will be in place on the bowls 48 hours tonight at 10pm on the east coast. then I can wash the tank and start adding substrate. The RO doesn't arrive until Tuesday, so I will be using well water to plant the plants and fill the tank a few inches. Once the guppies leave, I can move the adult corys from a tall hex to a regular 10 and then they can swim around more. Being bottom fish, they don't have much room in a tall tank.

@Fish Folk I think it will be interesting to light the fish and plants from underneath. As fish swim near and over the the ponds, their bellies will be illuminated, while their backs are not. The opposite of the way we usually see them. The underside of the plant leaves will be lighted. I think it will be interesting to see how it looks and how the fish react to this "antigravity" lighting. I could even drop a few sinking wafers into a pond to see how they feed in upside down lighting. Adding bbs after dark will be interesting too. I got the idea from moonlight on the lake lighting the underside of our tree by the shore. It is a rather magical effect.

@Fish Folk I would only have the lights on a short time after "lights out", while I was enjoying it. Then I would turn it off for the night. I have one dim LED light that changes colors. I will try different colors and brightnesses. If keeping the portals clean becomes too much bother, I might add marbles*, or just add substrate and plants. *(round marbles with an air stone on a clear air hose for maximum water flow)

The build has begun. I have access holes in the stand under the glass bottom of the aquarium and used sealant under 3 clear glass "ponds" to surround with substrate and plants for lighting from below after dark. My original thought was moon light bouncing off a pond in the dark. I have 2 low bowls and a tall vase, so it is getting a bit more random. I guess I should take some photos and start a journal. I think it will be interesting to see what all settles into the empty items during the day and how often I clean out them out just before dark. I can always fill them a cut to size UGF/air stone and marbles if the moon light doesn't work out. Then again, I can fill them part way and plant them. Well, time will tell. My big question at this point is: How carefully should I plan to plant the plants, given that I have a small army of small peppered corys and 2 large ones, 2 Yoyo loaches and 8 Kuhli loach to play in the sand? When I replaced the gravel with sand in the yoyo loach tank, I often found plants floating above the sand, tethered by a few roots. I think with this combination of fish is going to result in frequently have plants that need to go back into the substrate. I have been toying with the idea of making plastic canvas circles to protect the plants, but it seems like the tank is the only place for the fish to play, and if they feel the need to hunt scuds under plants, why should they bump the bridge of their nose of a hard piece of plastic? My other big question is: Once the build is done and all the bottom fish (I bought to clean up after the guppies) are settled in, what other livestock would be good to add? I have a few adult neon tetras, and want to make their school bigger. I have 2 smallish male bettas, but am not sure I want one in the big tank. The Kuhli loach that were never in a tank with guppies are out swimming day and night in their tanks. I never see the ones with the guppies unless I sneak in with a flashlight at 3 am. I want to avoid fish that will pick on the loaches, but I would like some fish higher in the tank. Would shrimp survive or get eaten? Would frogs make sense? I don't want anything that will outgrow this tank. Rehoming guppies was hard enough. Trying to rehome something that needs a really big tank is not something I want to think about.

I am recovering from a guppy population explosion. I think I finally found homes for the last of the adult males. I put a male betta in each of my female guppy tanks and removed every plant but one short sprig of water sprite, anything that floated, including every single leaf of duckweed. They didn't stop, but it slowed them down alot. I put substrate on the IAL to keep them from floating. It doesn't matter what it is. if a fry can hide near it, it needs to come out. I hated the way the tank looked, but I had hundreds of guppies by the time my mother past. Hardscape + Plants + Guppies = overpopulation. P.S. The friend that took the last of the females Saturday called me tonight thrilled to see new born fry. I hope we stay friends.

@Streetwise Most of the plants I have from the lake are in a form like hornwort and will drop leaves here and there if a fish sneezes. I plan on slowly replacing them with non-shedding plants as the other plants get bigger. Given the amount of mess they make, I am apt to need to do a bit of tidying up as the tank comes up to speed.

OH, I am not a glass cleaner. I have loads of snails. I move extras to the yoyo loach tank often for snacking. I have flagfish on the way and am working on a scud colony. I may try shrimp, if the loaches are not apt to eat them. I have seen the adult corys dig in their sand up to their eyes, so I think I will need a scud colony to supply the tank. I want to start a daphnia colony soon to help if I get bacteria blooms, as well as for feeding. Remember, I hire the fish in the lake to control my seaweed around my dock. I like having nature do the work, so I can enjoy nature. If I could only find something that ate the cat fur that the cats shed all over the place. I have a mug that says "Cat hair is not only a fashion accessory, it is also a condiment."

@Streetwise Thanks for the warning. I know not to gravel vac. I might hoover a bit here and there, but nothing at or under the surface.

I order some plants, water sprite, dwarf lilly, java grass, and pennyworth. They arrived in great shape today (Wednesday), but my substrate does not arrive until Friday. My RO system is arriving next Tuesday. What is the best way to care for these plant while I wait for the other items to finish the build? My well water has a pH of 8.4, and a KH of 286.4. There is some ammonia in the well water. I also have gallon jugs of spring water. I could use or mix with well water. Will they need a heater? Thanks

@Streetwise The sand is one recommended by "Girl Talks Fish" in this video: She says it is bigger and denser than average sand. It arrives Friday.

Just got a phone call from the friend who took the last of the females. She is seeing tiny newborn guppies for the first time. She and the grandkids are so excited!

I have 1 person who wants 3 or 4 male, another who wants 10 males, and a 3rd who will take up to 30 males. I'm not exactly sure how many are in the tank, but I hope it is 45 or less. I will miss their wonderful fins but I know guppies don't live long, and I think they will be happier in their new homes, building families of their own. I have the holes under my 55 gallon tank cut, and hope to seal the glass "ponds" in place tonight. LET THE BUILD BEGIN !

I hope to seal my glass "ponds" inplace and then 48+hours later, start adding soil cap with sand. and start planting and hardscaping. @Streetwise, @Pepere, @Jawjagrrl, @Patrick_G and all you other Nerms who use soil in you tanks: How long should I soak my organic potting soil before I put it in the tank? My tank is 48 inch left to right and 13.5 front to back. How deep should the soil be? How deep should the sand cap be? I wanted to slope the substrate surface low in front high in back. but in my other sand tank, the loach keep digging and flattening my slope. So I might let them win and skip the slope to begin with. What do you think? Thanks so much for your help.

The guppies are enjoying their new home. They keep sending my photo. Their new human came and got more live plants and some floating fake plants.

@nabokovfan87 Thanks for all the info. I will call the town tomorrow to find out what the options are on the lake shore for the RO waste water. It won't soak into the ground when the ground is frozen.

We have decided to invest in an RO or an RO/DI water system (are they the same thing?). >>What we have: Well water, low pressure (less than 40 psi) , no calcium, too much magnesium KH 286.4, very high pH around 8.4, questionable biofilm forming in our toilet tank, a dissolved gas the dissipates quickly, black stuff our paper filter filters out that might be powder shale or something else, A UV filter that doesn't work well when the water gets cloudy because the paper filter is full, very little floor space. Note: We have a holding tank, not a septic system, so we will need to find a way to deal with the waste water other than having it run down the drain. Something that produces less waste water would be easier on our well. >>What we want: Water we can remineralize for roughly a total of 100 gallons worth of fish tanks(55 + ( 4*10)). Same safe water for drinking and brushing our teeth. Maybe rinsing out my hair after a shower. >> What we think we need: A booster pump and would probably a portable system we could run from the garden hose outside in nice weather and from the sink or laundry room faucet in cold weather. We made add a more paper filters (if the 3rd starts to look dark, replace the 1st with 2nd, the 2nd with 3rd and the 3rd with new) Please help us figure out what would meet our needs. They come with different numbers of filters

I am happy to say that the last of the female guppies will go to their new home tomorrow, Saturday Nov 19. I want to thank the CARE forum for helping me get through this last year. I could not have made it without your help. The caring and help that everyone show to each other is amazing! I have learned so much about a hobby I never guessed I would be involved in. I was catching scuds at sunset in the stream. The water was 38f. I never would have guessed I would be doing things like this for fish. Next on the agenda is an RO/DI system. Thank you all for all your help and support !

@Colu is that 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt to 3 gallons of water? I have 2 HOB waterfall filters, a sponge filter and and air stone in that tank. No ammonia for weeks in that tank. plus driftwood and IALs. I agree. How do you treat the symptoms when there aren't any. It might be the pH. I had tried to keep it lower with seachem acid buffer, but adding once everyday day or 2 seems like it was making the pH swing up and down too much. I think, like me, this last year has really worn the fish down. I will get my strength back, but I know that some of the fish may not. Thank you so much for all your help and support. I no longer panic when I notice a problem. I say "What would Colu ask?" and "What would Colu recommend for first aide to calm the fish and make in comfortable while we wait for advice?".

water parms nitrate = 20 ppm nitrite = 0 CACO3 = 0 ppm alkalinity off high end of scale carbonate off high pH 8.4 Temp felt normal, I can get a reading. checking it after the water chance and was 78f. I found a dead neon yesterday and did a water change. half spring, half aged well water containing zero ammonia. Just now I saw tetra on its side on the bottom. I put it in a mug with the heatered well water which is aging with a sponge filter. I added half a finger print of first bites fry food because I have been cutting back on overfeeding. I added 2 csmall cryistals of aquarium salt to help with electrolytes. The fish swam a bit and went to the bottom. I took it out and I looked at all 4 sides with a magnifying glass. The fish was breathing, but not flipping around much at all. I could find no sign of anything amiss. The gill area was not red, mouth and belly and vent looked fine. It is now resting on its belly in the water, not on it's side. It is also out of the bright aquarium light. I have had the neons about 1 year. They have been through a lot in the last year while I was caring for Mom. I have been slowly transitioning from sprint water to well water. (Planning on getting RODI water system soon. Had to deal with hot water heat leaking and being replaced this week. ) There is IAL in the tanks, added a new one with the water change. other fish are 1 male betta, 2 corys, 3 kuhli loaches and 8 or so neons from the batch I got a year ago. Any thoughts or advice?

@Odd Duck I have set up a scud colony like your copy of @Torrey's I used duckweed and hornwort for the plants. The spout keeps clogging and the water does not seem to be moving around well. The bottom of my dispenser is domed, so I have ordered some ceramic rights to see if that helps hold the UGF in place, while allowing water to move. How often do you have to break it down and clean it? I am practicing with lake scuds before I spend money on clean scuds.

My dear patient non-fishy spouse was playing with an AI art app and had it draw a kitten fish for me: Here is the result: I love the furry belly https://hotpot.ai/art-generator

@TheSwissAquarist mine add a lot of personality to the tank. I love watching them putter around the tank. Imy young corys are still small, and my camera skills are smaller, but I will try to get some photos. the hifins look like they are pretending to be sharks and the long fins look like they have cricket bat on they fins.

They eat any fish food on the bottom and stir things up out of the substrate into the water for the filters to ca they poke around objects looking for scuds, and knock the "dust" out of the corners and into the water.

@TheSwissAquarist That makes sense. You see that happening in dog breeds so often !

@TheSwissAquarist The top 2 are what I am seeing in my tank. regular cory https://aquahuna.com/products/paleatus-cory?_pos=1&_sid=ae675ec15&_ss=r hifin cory https://aquahuna.com/products/hifin-paleatus-cory?_pos=12&_sid=ae675ec15&_ss=r&variant=16179603374123 another hifin cory https://aquahuna.com/products/albino-hifin-cory?_pos=7&_sid=ae675ec15&_ss=r