Jorgey

Hi @Steve317. I'm running an FX6 on a 75 gallon as well. I didn't care for the intake strainer on the FX6. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but I have shrimp and occasionally fry in the tank and was worried that they all would get sucked up through wide slots in the strainer. So, what I did was slide the telescoping part of the intake tube as far up inside of the main tube as possible and then used a Large Pre Filter Sponge from the coop. It has worked really well and I've have ran this way for 3 years. To the best of my knowledge, there has not been anything sucked in and it is far enough from the substrate that I'm not sucking any of that up either. The FX6 is really meant for a larger tank that what we are running it on, hence the long intake tube. It would be nice if they provided a short intake tube as an optional part that you could purchase, but with a slight mod, it really does a great job and, at least in my case, very little maintenance. Good luck!

Dry: Xtreme Krill Flakes and Xtreme Spirulina Flakes (I like mix them, 2 parts krill/1 part spirulina) Also like Sera CVG-Mix and various bug bites for treats. Live: Baby Brine Shrimp Frozen: Brine Shrimp and Bloodworms

Last time I was in Petco, I was talking with the manager and asked this question. She said that they had discontinued the dollar per gallon sales. She was not sure if they would start doing it again after the supply chains open up more, but kind of thought due to the raising prices of everything that it was likely not to ever happen again. Last month (January 2022) they had most of their tanks on sale for 30% - 40% off. That may be as good as it gets now. 😞

I don't think that you would have any issues with keeping Corys directly on a fluorite substrate. I am currently running fluorite in 4 aquariums and getting ready to order another 150lbs of it for a new 135 that I am getting ready to set up. With each tank I set up, I find that I rinse less and less. But, yes, I would do at least some minimal rinsing. Only recently I started rinsing in the bag. It gets rid of a lot of the "dust" that accumulates from the breakdown of the fluorite from bagging and shipping processes. It does however keep in most of the courser sand which I really like in my planted tanks with fluorite and I have found that most of the finer particles that people in the negative reviews of fluorite refer to as "mud" mostly sticks to the inside of the bag when I dump it in the aquarium. Best of luck with setting up your new tank.

Hi @Dancing Matt Thanks for the info and the link to the other thread. I appreciate it.

I purchased my first nano air pump shortly after they came available back in April 2019. I have used that one off and on for some special projects and never had an issue with that one yet. I just ordered and received a couple more about a month ago and now this has me concerned. I hope that this is not what happened, but it would not be the fist time that I have seen a Chinese manufacturer start off making a quality product, only change out parts and plastic at a later time to inferior quality parts, (without the customers knowledge) to save a few pennies. I used to travel to China a lot for work and the counterfeiting and manufacturer fraud to its customers is a huge problem.

@a tired fish keeper That has been one of my concerns as well. I'm not so worried about any discoloration as the line is not seen in most cases (and its black), but how stiff or brittle that the PCV might get could potentially be a problem. I guess time will tell on that one.

Thanks @KBOzzie59 for the info, that is good to know.

Hi All, I have used black silicon airline tubing forever and have really liked it. I am getting ready to reconfigure some things as well as add some additional tanks and will need to get a lot more airlines setup. I would love to hear some opinions from those that have used both silicon airline tubing as as well the PVC tubing that the Coop sells and how they compare with each other, likes, dislike about both, etc.. Like I said, I love the black silicon, but the price of the PVC tubing is highly attractive as it is less that half price. So what do you all think?

I love black backgrounds, but I hate taped on and don't like painting my tanks either. I use this blackout window film. I comes in various sizes and goes on easy and if your careful there will not be any bubbles, etc and it looks great. It also is easy to remove if you decide you want to do something else with the background.

Most of the time I use a small shrimp net for scooping up tons of the duckweed (if there is lots). Then use my Python without the gravel vac, just the hose only, and carefully skim the surface and suck up any stragglers that I can find in the corners and elsewhere. Does not get rid of it 100%, but hardly anything shows up if I keep an eye on it and do it regularly.

Changed water in 3 tanks, trimmed back some plants in my 75 gallon, and unboxed my 4th Aquarium Co-op package in the last 4 weeks. I'm getting ready for a new build and this one had 9 new plants in it. I was excited to receive my new plants in one of the new cool shipping liners. But, then my excitement faded. I went to pull it out and noticed that the liner was not done up. no big deal. Got all of the plants out and placed them in a holding tank then went back to the liner. It was not done up because the plastic zipper was broken. 😞 No way to get it to stay closed. Oh well, the plants look to be in good condition and I guess I'll just have to order more so I can get another insolated bag that isn't broken. 🙂

Thanks @Guppy Guy, I'll take a look at bulk reef supply and see what I can find. This was/is a reef tank, but I am going to be using for a fresh water, planted aquarium. Thanks!

HI All, I’ve always kept glass aquariums but over the weekend found a great deal (hopefully) on a 135-gallon acrylic aquarium. It’s pretty dusty as the guy selling it was remodeling his basement and there is sawdust and drywall dust all over it, inside and out. So, it needs good cleaning and to polished up a little. After getting it home, I’ve started checking everything a little closer to see what I need to do to get it all ready and discovered some micro cracks in what appears to be the bottom seam between the bottom panel and right sidewall at the back. You can see in the image above where it is circled in yellow. Bottom View Side View Any advise on the best way to repair this? I assume that it should be repaired before it gets worse, right? I don’t want to end up with 135 gallons of water on the floor and dead fish. I’ve seen people take extremely small needles and inject glue into little cracks in acrylic, but not sure if it will work in this case or if something else needs to be done. Any advise on how to take care of this would be appreciated. Also, looking for the best place to get great high quality bulkhead fittings and parts. This is my first drilled tank as well, so not too familiar with those parts or where to get them. I plan on building a sump out of a 55-gallon aquarium and hoping that it will all turn out great and last a long time. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, Jorgey

Hi All, Long time lurker on the forum, but finally decided to join. 😀 I've been keeping aquariums off and on from about 1985. Different sizes, multiple tanks, and various fish. I had (what I think) was a beautiful tank years ago with some incredible gourami's and a couple of enormous blood parrot fish. My wife and I went on a vacation and had my neighbor check in on things every day while we were away. On the last day of vacation, only hours from getting on the plane, I received a call saying that all of my fish were dead. I really am still not sure what exactly happened to kill all of my fish, but I was devastated and gave up fish keeping for almost 15 years. (Except for a few little aquariums for my son.) Then, like a super hero, in comes @Cory at Aquarium Co-op. I came across Cory on youtube at least 5 years ago and although it took me almost two years of watching his videos, he was instrumental at getting me back into the bobby. His knowledge and passion was contagious. Now I am back to multiple tanks and spending WAY TO MUCH money at Aquarium Co-op. 🤣 But it is all worth it. A few years ago when placing a few of my first orders, I was highly impressed and felt privileged to get answers to my questions directly from Cory. Thanks @Cory for all that you do. You are a rockstar in the fish world.