KittenFishMom

@Guppysnail Thanks for helping on this. I am planning to ship guppies to SD on Monday. I need to find out if it will be OK now that whatever these things that have been in the tanks.

@TOtrees When I enlarged my husbands photos I said. "Boy they look a lot like ticks." Is there anyone on the forum that is up on these things? @Guppysnail or @Colu or @Streetwise

I normally only collect in spring and fall when the mosquitoes are not around. I hate bug spray and I can't think straight while being swamming on a dock. I thought you fed the daphnia to your fish, but you said you fish did not eat them. Maybe you meant the did not eat these round ones. Maybe my guys are getting a heavy "coat" for overwintering in the mud on the shore? @TOtrees My husband took a bunch more photos. I will added his photos

@TOtrees These photos are really great. Something odd is your daphnia are oblong and darker at one end. My daphnia are dark gray spheres. Maybe they are not daphnia? They are still in the fish tanks, even several days after a day of fasting the tanks. The water quality is better on all 4 tanks. The guppies swim right by my "daphnia" but go nuts for betta beads that they can not get in their mouths. They swim around like they are playing a strange version of soccer. Stealing the betta beads from each other. So it isn't that my daphnia are too big. My Daphnia swim around and are attacked to light if it is dark. I wonder what they are? My wonderful husband is taking more with his camera. My daphnia from my cell phone:

@Pepere Maybe something like a fermentation bubbler airlock, with a long pipe on top and bigger chambers? I'm sure I have seen something like that in chem labs. I just have to remember what it is called.

@Pepere How about this: Am I getting closer? https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=144137&catid=788

Oh, any long clear plastic tube you could seal with you finger or thumb should work. Maybe a chunk of syphon hose taped to something stiff. Your finger would hold the air in the tube while you place it over the detritus, when you release your finger,the air would rush out and the water and whatever would rush in. Then replace your finger to seal the tube and lift it out of the tank. Hardware stores sell all sizes of flexible plastic tubing. Heat it in tap hot water and hold it straight until it cools, then tape to a a stiff wire. Maybe an unbent wire coat hanger, the you could use the hook to hang it to dry. It you cut of the narrow tip of a long pipette style dropper and squeeze the bulb before putting it in the water, so you get small things by releasing the squeezed bulb. I think a turkey baster would work too. I'll do some googling and see what I find now that I understand how it is used. Note: When I want to syphon my boat. I fill the syphon tube with lake water, the cover both ends with my thumbs. I slowly lower one into the water in the boat, and the other a little lower and release my thumbs. very fast easy way to start a syphon. You can fill a hose at the sink, cover ends and put one in a fish tank and the other in the bucket and uncover the ends. Never need to suck on a syphon hose and getting a mouth full of yucky water again.

On dip tubes, I found these: I wonder if a glass turkey baster might work, or a turkey baster bulb on a long glass tube? https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw="dip+tubes"&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=aquarium+"dip+tubes"&_osacat=0 https://books.google.com/books?id=A3YIsIxOsyYC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=Aquarium+"dip+tubes"+"boys+life"&source=bl&ots=ZauQKhBveb&sig=ACfU3U0czT7Wil47GkBFqJHTYege94cSVQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_7uCYqe_6AhU-GFkFHbI6DCoQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=snippet&q= "dip tube" &f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=YtMPqRbrR5kC&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=Aquarium+"dip+tubes"+"boys+life"&source=bl&ots=uvkUppGSEH&sig=ACfU3U28ktewScJ1SWwk9EiSRtUwRaqO5w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_7uCYqe_6AhU-GFkFHbI6DCoQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q="dip tubes" &f=false http://hiq.linde-gas.com/en/glossary/d/dip_tube/index.html

I would love to see air pumps with build in check valves.

I have to get some sleep. Have a great day.

just buy the corydoras some skis and they will be too busy skiing to mess to the hardscape.

@Scapexghost OK, give the fish water away, to get the people who wouldn't go in the store normally to go in the store. It is easy to burn plants with strong fertilizer, fish water is very safe and easy to use. No need to measure or mix or count drops. you just water the plants with it and they grow like crazy. It is pretty fool proof and a lot of people like that.

i think the Swiss style aquariums are very heavily planted, with fewer fish and hardscape. Just a note, Your American English is very good. I thought you lied here. I don't know much about snow capped mountains, but Swiss chocolate is wonderful ! Maybe you could make a volcano with an uplift tube carrying white sand to the top. Sort of like a sand waterfall.

Oh, I get it now. I thought you were doing Swiss style tanks in the USA. It's 1:00am here in Central New York state, USA

What time zone are you in?

@TheSwissAquarist I was thinking that the bottled fish water could be advertised/ marketed to folks that don't have an aquarium, but do have plants. It would get them to venture into the fish store for the water for their plants, and get them hooked on aquarium plants and fish. P.S. Do you ever sleep? You seem to be on the forum day and night. It is great to see a high school student interested in something other than video games.

@totrees I think I struck it rich. I have just noticed I have a 40 gallon tote that is full of green water from this summer. It has had a stick in it so the squirrels and chipmunks can escape. The frogs have been hanging out there all summer. A lot of the time there has been a layer of duckweed on it. I scooped out a container of the water tonight and added some daphnia. the water was so cloudy, I could hardly see the daphnia so I added half well water. the daphnia are extremely active. Does anyone know the ratio of green water to non-green water is good for daphnia? We have a lot of empty bottles and will gather the green water before it freezes. Probably put it in the basement at home with some grow lights.

@Streetwise The last week I have been "rescuing" the heavy foxtail seaweed I find still green and healthy in the lake. We always called it foxtail, but it is probably really something else. I have been packing it in with the loaches and corys, and added a lot of daphnia and a bunch of scuds. Wow have they cleaned up the plants. I may move them out to a bucket and gather some more. I want to start the 55 with a lot of plants. Last February I order a large amount of plants, but used most of it to save my fish while I was away. I'm feeling superstitious about order a lot of plants ahead of time this time round. As for wood, I have a huge pile that has been sunning itself all summer. We are at the south end of a lake that has a prevailing north with blow all the drift wood to our end of the lake. It will be hard to pick out just a few pieces. I also have the rooted stumps of 2 large boxwood bushes. I am going to soak them off the dock all summer to get toxins out and test a sample, then use them in a build next fall. Boxwood is super dense. Reading through all this, it looks like I will do bagged on one side and unbagged on the other and keep everyone posted. I plan to start a journal once I get everything ready to begin. I'm going to put a trapdoor/ porthole under the side of the tank with the pond so I can adjust and replace the light.

@Streetwise How much soil and how much capping sand or gravel do you use? I was going to put a slope , low front, high back. but I am leaning towards level with the tank only be 13 inches across. I am afraid my slope might slide into my pond. I'm using sand because of the corys and loaches.

@Flumpweesel If I completely seal the edge that touches the glass, no water should get between the pie plate and the tank glass and get iffy. American pie plates are round, low, with sloped edges. I would put the bottom of the pie plate against the glass of the tank.

Not sure this belongs in this thread, but it could be some experiments for a fish store. Bottled used fish tank water for houseplants. It could draw a bunch of non-fishy people into the store, and they could get hooked on planted indoor or patio ponds. I don't know what fish stores do with what is cleaned out of their sumps, but I am sure plants would love it, and it would be eco friendly, maybe even organic? The stores has the product, just needs bottles and labels, or to reduce overhead, have people fill they containers from a clearly labeled tap. Maybe sell by weight or volume or give it away, to get them in the store. Signs up front, tap in the back of the store. Small floating planters for forcing spring flower bulbs on top of fish tanks. (Maybe an option for the top of an HOB with a wick to the water?) You could make something like they have for hydroponics, but not so deep. You could even sell "pre chilled bulbs" that have to be chilled a certain number of days before they will bloom. You could also sell floating rings in different sizes for plant cuttings like Pothos or Swedish ivy or my favorite nitrogen hog, whole turnips. (turnip roots are so pretty)

I want to create a "moon light" pond in my 55 gallon tanks build. I will put a light under the glass, and have it shine up through a cleared area in the bottom on the tank. I will be able to turn the light on and off as I wish, or set it on a timer. I was thinking that sticking the bottom of a glass pie plate/pan to the bottom of the tank would help keep substrate and such from drifting into the "pond" area. I could ever glue a small planted island off center for fun. I would surround the"pond" with small stocks to cover the sloping walls of the pie plate, and soften the perfectly poundness of the pond. I think anything I glue inside the pie plate could be permanent, but I would like to be able to remove the pie plate itself for a future build if I don't like it where it is. It would be good to be about to seal all around the plate to keep stuff from getting between the plate and the glass. And someday in the future have the option to dissolve the seal and remove the plate from the tank, say if I want to do another build, or sell the tank. I think it could be so cool to watch fish swim over the pond in the dark, and see the surrounding plants lit from underneath. So, I am looking for a reversible sealant or glue that could last year and won't hurt the fish. I look forward to your responses !!!!

I was going to do straight Walstad in my 55 tank, but I am thinking it might be a good idea to add an HOB. I have read that people sometimes bag their soil in netting before covering it with the capping substrate. I think this is to keep the soil in place if they move a plant, but it might have been for another reason. I want to know what sort of mesh people use. I was thinking of knee high nylon stockings, but I don't think it would let my pull plant roots out easily. I have some wide laundry bag mesh, but I think the roots might grow into the multi strand that make up the netting. All advice is welcome. Thanks KittenFishMom

Yes, I have an overstocked tank of fearless, strong, colorful, male guppies. The cats jump on the lid and drink from the HOB filter. Each fish looks a bit different. Depending on what you think. you might want identical fish, in case you want to change the number of fish, or ones dies. Or you my want unique fish so he can follow different ones to see how they interact. I'm in Central NY. You can see some photos in my post for free guppies in the swap thread. I can pay shipping too. Fritz Turbo Start 700 might be helpful in starting or restarting the cycle once you move the tank. I have been giving my over started tanks a some with water changes and it seems to help. If the places does not allow tanks, I bet you can find live feeds of tanks, or bird feeders from schools or museums. Or maybe a live feed from a zoo would have interesting active animals with sound and few thing to go wrong.

Thank you so much! Now my daphnia want to come live at your fish room !