KittenFishMom

@PepereI've had canisters with my 120 gallon in the garage. I am 5'2" and retired. Moving the canisters that I had was hard when they were full of gross water. That was in the garage. I would hate to clean up after a canister spill in this old cottage with poorly sealed pine wood floors. With a sump, I could lift out a layer of dirty filler media in the front and insert one at the back. Then clean the filter media and dry it before the next change, not so much heavy careful lifting. If I was bigger and stronger, I would consider canisters. Oh, I forgot to mention that my husband has set up a huge fountain on our dock using a pool pump and lots of plumbing fittings and hoses. He also built a ram pump in our gorge that pumped water up about 200 feet from the stream bed using a water fall as the power source. We probably have most of the fittings on storage already. @nabokovfan87 the kits on eBay require you to have a tank. I would be interested in none eBay sources as well.

I only have room for a 10 gallon tank (possible 2 10s) under the stand for my 55 gallon tank. I am finding lots of nice panels from a few eBay sellers that would fit across a 10 gallon tank. I don't want to drill the 55 tank, so I need to figure out a siphon/overflow to take water out, and a return mechanism that won't flood the floor if the power goes out. and automatic restart for the siphon if the power goes out and comes back would be great. I know I've seen bits and pieces on CARE about it. I would love to get advise and get pointed to threads and YouTube videos that show how this can be done DYI and done well. If the first 10 gallon works, I would copy it for a second one. Or maybe lift the added tank up so it could flow into the original tank. Please let me know your thoughts. I am also considering an Eshops siphon/overflow if that would be significantly better than a DYI. All thoughts, pros and cons welcome.

@nabokovfan87 I'm tired and can't think. What is BBA?

@Colu Do you know what this is? I am stumped.

If you feed bbs, I would guess hydra. Pretty harmless as I remember.

I now have a QT tank with 9 striped kuhli loaches in it. I am waiting on medicating until I see something. The problem is I seldom see the kuhli loaches, unless they are having frenzied zoomies and I can't see any detail at all. I gave them IALs and java moss and some hard décor they can hide in. I feed them different foods, but nothing draws them out of hiding. When they decide to do zoomies, (which I have yet to figure out their timing on those) I can't even count to figure out how many are zooming. I admit, I bought them from a chain store, because that is all we have here. I don't know if kuhli loaches are usually wild caught or tank raised. I'm still super cleaning my big tank, so they can QT for awhile more. Between the dark water from the IALs and the sub standard lighting. It really is hard to tell exactly ow they are doing. Anyone have any thoughts on this QT?

I got a bulk box of Abalone shell from northern California sea shores. How should I treat them before I put them in my freshwater tanks? I was just going to soak them in fresh water overnight. Is there anything else I should do to them?

@Jackson The first betta, with the long fins, found the jar in a few hours. The crown tail took longer. The crowntail also comes out to chase the neon tetras if they swim under the jar. The long fin doesn't bother about the corys in his tank, so he spend more time up there. I like the air traffic control idea. They are directing the mosquitoes to land on each of us. My husband says "Mosquito 747 clear for landing on recliner Bravo, Mosquito 49 cleared for landing on sofa Delta"

@Jackson you lower the empty jar into the tank with the ring around the neck in place. the turn it over, capturing some air then hang it on the hanger. the Esty site have a video.

@Jackson My jars are not smooth enough to get a clear photo. This if from the Esty page:

It is hard to lose someone you loved and cared for someone who depended on you. With time the pain becomes less and the love and memories become more.

@nabokovfan87 I refresh the air when I do a water change or I decide there is too much duckweed in the jar (making O2) and empty the jar and refill it.

To @Torrey and all the other betta lovers out there in the C.A.R.E. world. We all know bettas like to be Top Fish and love high humidity air. When I saw the inverted Aquarium Mason jar holders on Esty I knew an air pocket in the top of the jar would have 100% humidity. I now have 2 set up and the bettas love hanging out up there, out of the water current and with saturated humid air at the tip of their nose. They also get a great view of me approaching the tank and drive down and out to see if I am about to feed them. They love it up in the top of the jars. I need to find some smoother jars so I can see them better. The jars with the measure marks and artwork in the glass make the bettas look all wobbly, but they seem to enjoy the view, regardless of the ripples in the glass. I'll add photos when I get smoother jars.

@Biotope Biologist The huge box just arrived. It is chalked full. I'll mesmerized looking at the beauty of the shells. Now I have to figure out how much I need to do to clean them for the tanks. They may have ocean salt on or in them.

I'm trying to clean my ACO heater that was in the tank with the leeches. It have a lot of ramshorn snails in it. I have been scrubbing it with a nail brush and running water through it from different angles and shaking it to try to get the shells out. There are still shells in that that rattle when I shaking it. I would love any advice on how to get the shells out before I soak it in peroxide. I don't want to void the warranty, but I am worried that the shells might contain leech eggs. I wrote to customer service at ACO, but they didn't have any experience with this problem. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

@Biotope Biologist I'm getting it for the hillstream loaches and for the looks. These are raw shell found in N CA. I'll soak them to get the sea salt off. I'm buying a bulk box big enough to "make an 8 foot dry stream bed" accent for a flower garden. If they dissolve a bit and don't keep their luster,I can swap them out to fresh ones.

Sometimes you just have to grab the shark by the fins ! I ordered a box of abalone shells. Bulk price, wish me luck !

I had leeches in my 55 gallon tank. I am breaking it down to get rid of the leeches. have taken everything out of the tank, except 4 stubborn fish that I am working on. The water is down to 1/5 full. I am only keeping one of the HOB filters. I will get rid of the substrate in the garden. I was planning on scrubbing the tank with salt and vinegar and soaking the HOB in peroxide. I RR-ed all the plants. I may do the RR treatment a second time to be extra sure. Any other advice so the leeches don't appear after the build.

@Torrey what are the black trays? Where do I get them? I have a UGF that covers the bottom of my tank, after cutting off a corner, So if I put something down, it will be sitting directly on the UGF tray. When I read this earlier, it made sense, but now that I am about to start my build, I am confused about where the black trays come from, or what they look like, other than black.

I am rebuilding 2 tanks. I was thinking of putting raw gemstones in as accents. I came across some nice Red Abalone Shell that looks very nice in the photos taken in air. Has anyone ever used it in a tank. Is it better or worse underwater? Will it dissolve and lose its luster? Any other gemstones that people have had good or bad luck with? A day dreaming aquascaper wants to know! Thanks, KittenFishMom

I'm using a jet lifter instead. @Tommy Vercetti built one to fit my tube. Not only does it move a lot of water, it added a lot of oxygen that the pump could not. I'm very happy. 8-)

@Tommy Vercetti Are you a goldfish person?

@CJs Aquatics From what I understand, they are very rare.

I caught a mirror carp in my minnow trap today. I have only ever seen one other one, which I caught with a pole in the same place years ago. It keeps the same scale pattern all it's life. This one has so few scale, I wonder if it will make it in the wild. If this belongs in off topic, let me know and I will move it. Here are both sides of the little guy/gal:

@Gwallace Do you gravel vac the substrate? I was envisioning putting eco complete where I wanted plants, the cover everywhere with gravel. If eco-complete is OK for the UGF, then I could put down a layer all over and then a layer of gravel all over, if it doesn't need vacuuming.