Karen B.

I have a new aquarium - 30 gallons (36’’ x 12’’ x 16’’) I can’t for the life of me get it perfectly leveled. Here is the setup. The stand is an industrial one, each shelf can support 2000+ lbs. the top shelf was a tiny bit too short so I bought a pine plank, cut it and placed it on top of the other. I wrapped them both in water protective plastic/leather drawer film. Problem # 1 : the stupid shape of the leg. In a L shape, rather narrow. I feel it would go through most soft padding I use. And putting it straight on the hardwood floor would damage it. Here is the solution my landlord said to use. But I am a bit skeptical as the legs already started denting a bit of the caoutchouc. Here are the two products The stand legs are all firmly sitting on the floor. The stand do not move from left to right but does wiggle front to back (the legs aren’t moving, I think it’s because of the hight of the stand that it wobble if I shake it. But not to the point of tipping over. I have been trying to level it, hoping it would someone self level with the caoutchouc padding but… not really. Here are the closest I have been able to get : Front/back And the sides : Overall there is a gap of less then 5 millimeters from one side to the other Should I keep trying to get better result and hit perfectly at the center? Should I use something else for the leg? A piece of wood maybe? Or metal covered so it doesn’t rust? or is this fine snd I am over stressing/analyzing and being parano? Thank you everyone! Hoping to hear your opinion and advice and sorta hoping @Cory answers too!

Why was your dentist testing if you were a bacteria? 🤪😝

No, no particular reason. It just seemed to be less eh… scary?… to use then bleach and such since my tank is new so am not trying to kill any bacterias, just want to be safe. How does it work with hydrogen peroxide? I pour a bit on a paper towel and just scrub the glass then rince the aquarium? Must I let it dry off completely? What if there is a bit left behind, is it toxic to fish?

Greetings I am looking for a way to clean/disinfect my brand new tank either with salt or vinegar. It wasn’t in a box or wrapped and was sitting on a shelf on my big chain pet store. It was too high for people to reach inside of it but as I am paranoid and the fact that everyone uses hand sanitizer nowaday, in case anything got in the tank (like when transporting it), I just want to be extra cautious. So, if anyone has a solution (with measures please, not just « a bunch of »), I would greatly appreciate it. Also, must I let the aquarium dry off completely or just rincing very well is ok? Thank you!

Thank you so very much for your detailed answer and taking the time to break my post step by step like that, I truly appreciate it! I did forget to mention I am upgrading from a 20 high to a 30 gallons (36 x 12 x 16). I have the new substrate already, it’s been rinced thoroughly about 2 weeks ago and is sitting in ziploc bags. I will rince it one more time because it’s not been aerated and been in the same stale water before mixing it with the old substrate. I am sorry, I am french and I think I didn’t explain correctly - I dont want to use hand sanitizer to disinfect my tank. I will use salted water. I was just saying that even if the aquarium is new, people are using so much hand sanitizer that I wouldn’t feel safe not disinfecting it first. But I will go with salt - bleach scares me a bit. One of my main problem is that my new tank is going where my 20 gallons currently is. And there is no way I can move it or push the stand without taking it all apart. And I didnt want to wait 48 hours but I wrote to the manufacturer of the new substrate I am mixing it to ask why I should wait (if it was a cycle thing or something) but they said no, the particles could harm the fish. Which is a bit weird - I mean, I rinced the thing like there was no tomorrow AND well… corydoras and other fish actually sift through substrate… particules don’t bother them… That’s really confusing from the manufacturer. Otherwise, your advices and tips will be very usefull. Thank you again so very much. And good luck with your own upgrades! Karen

Greetings! I am transferring my 20 gallons to a 30 gallons. I am keeping everything the same but will just need to add some substrate to fill the new space. I currently have Flourite black sand but will add stoney river black sand (will mix them together) I suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome so I can’t do the whole transfer in a day. Plus, the manufacturer of the stoney river black sand recommend to wait 48 hours before adding new fish to let the filter pick up all the fine particles. I would like to disassemble my current tank today (friday). I will put the old substrate in a bucket, give it one light rince with aquarium water then add more aquarium water and mix in the new substrate. How long will my BB survive in the substrate if it’s immerge in aquarium water? Should I had an air stone if it’s going to be for less then 48 hours? My plan is : Day 1 (friday) 1 - remove plants from aquarium. Put them in a shallow bucket with aquarium water. 2 - Fill a 5 gallons bucket with aquarium water. Temporarily put fish in it (3 honey gourami, 15 chili rasboras and 6 cory) 3 - fill another 5 gallons bucket with aquarium water. Put HOB filter and sponge filter in it. 4 - Put substrate and some aquarium water in a 5 gallons bucket. Light rince. Pour some more aquarium water and mix in the new substrate. 5 - Save whatever is left of aquarium water in one last becket. 6 - Move 20 gallons in a temporary position 7 - Pour 5 gallons bucket with HOB filter and sponge filter in the 20 gallons. 8 - Pour the other 5 gallons buckets with the fish. 9 - Fill a little bit with dechlorinated water + some decor/plants so fish don’t get too stressed. Question : My male honey gourami chase my females a lot. Is it ok to keep him in the ziss breeding box inside the tank for 48 hours (it has holes so the water flows)? I am just concerned about keeping him in such a confined space for 2 days. Of course I will put floating plants so he can hide in the roots, etc. Day 2 (saturday) 1 - Put new aquarium in place 2 - wash it with salted water even if it’s new just to make sure it’s clean (it wasn’t in a box at the big pet store and was sitting in a shelves. With all the use of hand sanitizer I prefer to play it safe.). Rince with dechlorinated water. 3 - Add substrate, a new HOB filter but with some seeded media inside (half seeded media, half new) and the seeded sponge filter of the 20 gallons. 4 - Fill it slowly with part dirty aquarium water that was with the substrate, part clean aquarium water left in the bucket and some clean dechlorinated water. 5 - wait a couple of hours for everything to settle down then start scaping it. 48 hours later - add back fish with some of the water they were in in the 20 gallons. What do you all think of this process? Am I missing an important step or should I do some things differently? I will be testing my water perimeters like crazy. Feed lightly for a week. Maybe use fritz complete 7 in the new tank?

Do your research is one of the first advice given to any aquarists. I understand the purpose and it’s great to avoid impulse buy or end up with incompatible fish. Doing research is actually part of my job, so that’s a task I take seriously and go through thoroughly… maybe too much? Because 75% of the time, after reading on the subject and asking around, I end up more confused then anything. Obviously there are some facts that are unanimously agreed upon by most people. But it doesn’t seem to be the case of most things and it’s one part of the hobby that stresses me out so much. I want my fish to be happy and thriving, yet I don’t speak fish nor am I a good observer in ~any~ sphere of my life. The latest (and very frustrating) exemple is : I have a 20 gallons high, heavily planted (on the picture it’s a 10 gallons but I will move everything to my 20 high and add more plants + 2 apistogramma cave) I would like to house a pair of apistogramma and some dither fish (I had a lot in mind, but settled with cpd… maybe 10-12?) So I asked on this forum, on many facebook groups, a breeder, on an apistogramma forum and even directly to the aquarium coop customer service email team. I did not get a single similar answer. It ranged from « yes no problem », « ok but only apistogramma and no other fish » to « no a 20 high isn’t enough swimming space for apisto ». … How am I then supposed to make any sense of these conflictual information and take a decision? How do you guys proceed? I would really like to hear @Cory on the subject… and also what he thinks about a 20 gallons high with a pair of apisto and 10-12 cpd? Thank you all and have a nice day!

Greetings I am kinda overly paranoid and stressed about everything. Tonight I did a 50% wc on my betta tank and filled it back up. Went on to do other things in my evening. Eventually I came back to wipe some water off the filter top. Doing so, the tip of my finger touched the water flow. Few moment later, I grabbed a bottle of water with a lot of condensation on it. When I put it back down, I rubbed my hands to dry them and noticed some soap residue forming - I would guess I didn’t thoroughly rinced my hands last time I washed them. So now of course I worry about my betta. So I did another 50% wc. There is no soap bubbles visible, no residue on top of the water… Should I worry or everything should be fine?

Greetings! I have betta and, as we know, they do not like strong flow. So I use a little square of filter floss that goes from inside the filter all the way to the aquarium water. It slows the flow really well. But I was wondering if it can be bad or dangerous for the fish? Can they pick on it and choke? 🤔

Greetings! I was wondering if it’s a good idea to use Zoo Med shrimp nano banquet food block in my shrimp only aquarium if I have to leave for a week? There’s about 10-12 shrimps in my 5 gallons (planted, heated, filtered). I also put a block of calcium as well.

Yeah, some kind of plastic smell. but now I feel dumb because I boiled them… not sure if I should throw them away. Some corners turned a slight yellow tint and they did get a bit misshapen because they were in a rounded pan Maybe @Cory knows? 😅

Greetings! I use aquaclear filter insert sponge in my filter. My problem is, each time I buy a new box, I find that they smell slightly. It’s nothing overwhelming but no matter how much I rince them, the smell stays and I am always anxious to poison my fish. I remember writing to the company about it, and they said the sponges shouldn’t smell anything. I sourced mine from so many different place now - I can’t believe 6 different places all having the same kind of smell is not normal. Am I the only one that noticed? I rinced them, I am currently boiling them and will let them soak 24 hours in aquarium water… Do you think they will be safe?

Never actually looked into these! Thank you for the suggestion

I have cory and Chili Rasboras already in another tank with my 3 honey gourami 🥰 I love them!

That is SO me!!!!! They will photobomb each other! 😆🥰

You are absolutely right! I think my clown killifish are nroken tho. They utilise the ENTIRE tank. Only the babies stay on top until they feel more confident.

Haha, I get it now. My mom is taurus, my dad is cancer and my sister aries… Poor libra me!!! 😅😅😅 12 tetras sounds awesome, the more the merrier I agree. You don’t think it will overcrowd the tank with the pair of apisto? 🤔 It’s only 20 gallons.

Thanks! Do you have a rough idea of the quantity?

Hatchet fish freaks me out for some reason 😅 And it’s only a 20g high, not 30. But I was thinking a school of 8 emperor tetra maybe? What does that mean « You totally made me rabbit-hole on the zodiac just now… »? (Sorry, I am french). I looked at the Glowlight pygmy barb but am more attracted by emperor tetra… do you think it could work?

Greetings! I bought a new tank (30 gallons). It was on a shelf, high enough that nobody could put their hand inside, but still was sitting in the open, not in a box. Plus, here in Canada we have to use alcohol gel every time we enter a store so when people moved it to the car, maybe they touched the inside, might have left residue, etc. The tank is too heavy for me to bring in the bathtub or outside. So how do you clean your tank before setting them up? It won’t be cycling for more then 2 days either as I am just moving my 20 g into the 30 and keeping everything so the cycle should hold. Thank you!

Greetings group! I am a libra so any kind of decision is like a chore 😬 I seek your help! I upgraded my community tank from a 20g high to a 30g. I know, not much of an upgrade but I live in a first floor apartment 😅 I just couldn’t deal with my honey gourami chasing each other all the time. So in turn I can play musical aquarium and upgrade a few other aquariums. I now have this aquarium (currently a 10, but will be transfered in the 20 high, with the same scape) Initially, I wanted pea puffers… but I am starting to second guess myself. I already feel sometimes a bit overwhelmed and feeding them seems tricky. I did start a 5 gallons bucket to cultivate snails, but that too adds to the charge. The store I wanted to buy them from because they are captive bred have really skinny ones. And another store could order some, but they can’t tell me if they are captive bred or wild caught and I have never seen any at their store so I don’t know their conditions. And I hate agression. I would aim for 1m and 3-5 females but still… I have a hard time enjoying my aquarium when there is agression (I hate when my honey gourami chase each other…) so would that create an issue? So if we go down my bucket list of fish, we can forget Discus, blood parrot, rams and green tiger barbs. We are left with… : A pair of Betta Imbellis. Because they are absolutely stunning fish. Easy to take care of, not fussy with food. But I already have 3 betta splendens… A pair of apistogramma cacatuoides. I love these, beautiful color, I love how they swim. Always wanted them. But I read they only eat frozen food. I have tons, that is not the problem, it’s just that feeding fish is (curiously enough) my least favorite thing. And I feed my fish twice a day, so while I work I can set auto feeders for the others, but I could only feed the apisto once a day? Then to find what fish I would keep with them… I love Candycane tetra but I am not sure if they would be a good mix? Otherwise, I just can’t think of any fish that would give me the « wow » factor. I don’t want green/neon/cardinal tetra. I already own Chili rasboras and Clown killifish. So… Opinions, advices, suggestions? 🤓

You know when you make genuine mistakes, it’s hard to swallow, but at least you didn’t know. It wasn’t on purpose. But when you make mistakes out of « neglect », then it’s really really upsetting. I had 12 babies cory that hatched, 11 died. I was adviced by @Fish Folk to make a floating container so there would be flow, no amonia build up due to my overfeeding, etc… Did I want to do it? Of course! Did I do it immediately? Nope… I prefered to concentrate my energy and very little motivation (I am sick with an auto immune disease and with chronic fatigue syndrome) on my new project of upgrading my community tank from 20 to 30 gallons. Wrong priorities. I clean his container every other day but use a pipette every day to do partial WC. He was ok at 6, dead at 11. 100% my fault. I am surprised at how sensitive they are vs water quality as at the same time I have shrimplet and Clown killies fry and they are all doing ok. But today was a very steep lesson. I was at my LFS, showed them dead fish in their tank, raised concern about a very sick betta… while at my own home, I am not better. This week, I lost 5 shrimps after a WC. I just can’t keep shrimps it seems. It’s also hard to admit but with 7 aquariums, I am a bit overwhelmed, especially with my disease getting worst and worst. But I love all my fish and can’t see myself parting with any. And I am like a kid. Can’t just appreciate what I have. I need a new project always. Like now upgrading my 20 gallons to a 30g. So I can use the 20 for pea puffers… but puffers aren’t easy. The more I read about them, the more I start to second guess myself. After all, we buy fish to give them great homes, not have them suffer. The more I write, the more I think I will pick another project then pea puffers… I love them, but I don’t like agression, I feel overwhelmed already, imagine feeding live food all the time, have to say I have been neglecting my 5 gallons bucket of pest snails too… and I can’t enjoy an agressive tank, I end up panicking and anxious… I also don’t know how people go without WC. On my community tank, the sand is clean thanks to my corydoras. But on my betta tanks and clown killifish, I always feel I have to vacuum all the mulm. Which end up on weekly almost 50% WC (which is probably why my shrimps die…). this post is going no where, but it feels good to talk with people that maybe understand what I am going through…

Thanks. I did find them in not that great of a shape. It’s sad. They did tell me that they fed them blood worm and such but looking at their sunken bellies… 😟 Sadly I live in Canada and AH do not ship here. 😟

Greetings! I will be buying pea puffers soon to stock my 20 gallons. I would ideally like to have 1 male and 3-5 females. To reach that ratio, how many would you buy that could comfortably live together through quarantine and until I can sex them in my said 20 gallons? Second question, there isn’t that many place around here that sell pea puffers. Here is about the only place. I wss told they were captive bread but… I find that their belly look so sunken. What do you think? This used to be a good quality place for fish but seems to be declining lately so I wonder… I find more and more dead fish when I visit, I know they have a problem with employees leaving, etc, etc.

Amen to that!!! I am not a « try and see what happens » kind of person. I need precise formula which well… ain’t happening in our hobby.