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nabokovfan87

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Everything posted by nabokovfan87

  1. nabokovfan87
    It's definitely important for shrimp to have water changes regularly. There is a lot of conflicting information on this topic and I don't want to skew your results with my opinions. I would encourage you to check out the video above and watch many more of his videos. it's a great resource. There are plenty of people here that can guide you through the process. The safest way is going to be to prep water in such a way that you match the tank as best you can. Keep in mind that the tank is going to be slowly building up in KH/GH due to evaporation. Plants and shrimp will also use up minerals so there is some loss there as well. Having a good maintenance system as shown in the video keeps things stable, which does give you what shrimp need.... Stability. Best of luck.
  2. nabokovfan87
    The entire thing depends on perspective among other things. I use the ziss bubble bio for the sake of strong bacteria. Over time I viewed them as nothing more then a very complicated water polishing tool for fines. Sponge filters, especially the ACO ones would be in a tank, again, in lieu of just an air stone. Are there fish and species that could use 3+ air drops in that size tank? Sure. Many river species want good oxygenation, cooler temps, and something like shrimp would enjoy that setup. When it comes to the tidal you're talking a pure surface skimmer and not really something that pulls from the substrate as effectively as other HoBs. They do have good circulation from simply the pump itself. I do have the link in my signature on how to mod those and it works pretty well to fully maximize the circulation and polishing side of the filtration. So.... The perspective question is centered around what is in the tank and what you want to do to care for them. The second aspect is how you view the filtration and it's purpose. Is it there to provide biological or mechanical? Is it there as a backup for a QT tank? In my 75G I ran 2 seachem tidal 75s and 2-3 ziss bubble bio filters. I didn't run sponges because I preferred to keep the substrate clear for bottom dwelling fish. Check out my tidal thread. You definitely can. They won't mind the added flow one bit.
  3. nabokovfan87
    Depending on setup, I know you'd mentioned having issues with location. Maybe a Bolivian Ram would be a good place to "start"? They are hardy, they are very fun and will enjoy interacting with you. The tank setup is pretty perfect as is and any changes would only benefit the fish. A few water changes, test and get some feedback on maintenance, set up (or verify) filtration, cycle the tank, and then you're ready for fish. We've all been there when it comes to the struggle to get things going. We all started somewhere. Hoping for the best for you, keep doing the right things, you'll get there! 🙂
  4. nabokovfan87
    I mean.... This is pretty adorable!
  5. nabokovfan87
    I'm sure they mean raw in the sense of "actual ingredients you know of" and there is food standards like using a sous vide or something to cook the product. I've never used food products like that, definitely an interesting question.
  6. nabokovfan87
    That's terrible. I'm sure AH would've done the right thing, but not their fault at all. Really sucks to see fish and everything go through those issues. Very tragic and is what makes shipping fish so intimidating for everyone.
  7. nabokovfan87
    For me. Wood just lasts longer and doesn't deteriorate nearly as quickly. Getting them to live leads to everything. It's a puzzle for sure and @Chick-In-Of-TheSea had a similar experience where the deaths weren't really explained. I tend to point/nudge/push people to watch others who have that decade of videos because something might click and then everything starts to get rolling. In the case above one of our thoughts was that the issue was not having enough aufwuchs. Again, I'm leaning towards that being something. Shrimp should be grazing almost constantly. If they aren't then It's pretty obvious when you drop food and they just don't seem to be active. Mark says that is a sign of bacteria issues, or can be. For me... It's so difficult to put into words but I really plan to try to help a bit more clearly when it comes to shrimp care. If temp is too high, I add a lot of air. Even cooler, I add a lot of air. When things are stale or stagnant I will feed them food that the fish+shrimp will consume so things don't sit. That waste leads to WCs and fresh, oxygenated water. As long as it's cycled, clean, and water parameters are good, then that leads to success for me. I have a lot of time with amanos, neos I don't have any, need to. But I have done enough research to hopefully.... Like I said just nudge towards solid advice!
  8. nabokovfan87
    @Odd Duck Pretty much any moss I do trim. It encourages branching and growth. Depending on how you want it to look would be up to you. If you want longer strands and more movement, wait to trim. I trimmed mine completely back and it's already 4-5x the length two weeks later. Fissidens is a bit slower to grow then the one I have, but just weigh that in to your choice as well if you're up against a deadline or need a certain amount of propagation.
  9. nabokovfan87
    Did you ever locate it or get refunded? This was from the last time it happened and someone had a similar experience.
  10. nabokovfan87
    If the filtration is good you'd only see a nitrite or nitrate jump and maybe some cloudiness.
  11. nabokovfan87
    It should take a little bit of time. It took me about 10-14 days for the initial jump and then water changes and other things can cause it to drop and steadily climb back up. If the reading you see is 60-70, that's stable and good. Should give you some piece of mind. I run similar water and that's kept PH stable for me. If you want to see it rise a bit more, you can add another lb of CC.
  12. nabokovfan87
    If you can, try to setup a large trash can or other container to condition and off gas water. Nitrates in test results could be an indication of something else bonding with those elements and triggering those results. Someone who has ammonia readings could have chloramines in the water, for instance. If your tap water is clean, then perform a good water change to get things down. Sometimes that can result in things not going down but staying constant. If you're seeing a rise then you have something leeching from somewhere. Waste in the water can show a nitrate spike. Maybe a healthy siphon is due. Meaning, remove the hardscape that makes sense to, check for bodies, and then go ahead and try to siphon the gravel well so you don't see waste in the uplift tube of the siphon. This could take a bit of effort if it hasn't been done in a while, but it is indicative of a healthy tank. Hopefully you're able to sort things out. Best of luck! They can get themselves stuck, unfortunately it is common. They also bury themselves in substrate. Use your hand to check everything and lights in holes in rocks and such. Hopefully you'll be able to find em.
  13. nabokovfan87
    The luminescent aspect of the pattern on the tail is fun. Imagine that on some Odessa or tiger barbs! It's a fun little fish I think. Not green or a crazy vibrant color, but much like Bolivian rams I do think that some species have really nice subtle detail that can be admired. Even if it's yellow. 🙂
  14. nabokovfan87
    Honestly my choice is barbs. I dig green neons because it's green, but I generally prefer the behavior of barbs. If you want me to pick between the two, id say cardinals. My first choice would be silvertip tetras just because I've never kept them and the behavior seems fun. I guess my reason for that is because I'm so concerned about how fragile some tetras (or rasbora) have been and I know deep down it's unfair because I only have ever had big box stores with poor care available.
  15. nabokovfan87
    It was a..... Difficult day today. I woke up and I was motivated. I checked on the fry in QT and went ahead and did a water change. I am still trying to pace out and determine water changes for that tank. I try to space things so that I have a schedule, but so that I have a method for the sake of trying to keep up with and be able to record data. I have one tank on Sunday, one on Wednesday. I have opted to perform water changes one day, dose in things on the next as well. Anyways, I woke up motivated and I sat and watched the fish. I made coffee, tossed in food wafers and just watched. I saw the clown pleco pop out and get some food and the mass off corydoras go and do their thing. It was good to see them all excited for food. It's a new one, but they responded well to it, finally. I tried to find a notebook to record some test results. I'm not sure where I put them, but I found something for the time being. Life things happened and I was just unmotivated and frustrated. All that I could think about was that earlier moment in the morning and how thankful that I was to have those few minutes watching the fish and feeling positive and happy. I thought about fishkeeping and how those little breaths away from stress can be useful to get through hard days. It's hard to explain that feeling when you hear a new hobbyist is dejected. It's difficult to ensure them that eventually they will find balance and will find out how serene maintenance can be. Test results for the tank were good. Phosphate was back down, PH and everything seemed fine. Everything seems to be doing good in the tanks and I can't ask for more. I'm excited for the next adventure.
  16. nabokovfan87
    Yep! For whatever reason I feel like the square grid of LEDs on the mount is a lot more useful than a strip of LEDs that sits on the rim directly.
  17. nabokovfan87
    Oh they know. It's "comedic" I would imagine. Very subtle humor. That one is pretty blatant. 😂 Shadenfreude... Enough said.
  18. nabokovfan87
    Looked a little better today. I did another WC this morning. Riddick is very bloated though. Big meal of worms is what I am hoping all it is. I have been holding food, focusing on clean water as a result. I can confirm the fish is not blind, so this points everything towards bacterial at this point. The fish could be "healed" now but there is some distinct whiteness in the iris still present. Although it is very light, it is something where I do want to run a dose of kanaplex through the tank. The fish responded to shadow, which is how I have felt that blindness isn't the cause for the initial issue. I'll keep monitoring for now. Thanks everyone. Edit: Dosed in meds on 2-9.
  19. nabokovfan87
    I would start by adding some wood to the tank. It's a great surface for shrimp and it's something where they will get a lot of good bacteria from the surface. Adding more rocks is also beneficial for similar reasons. Often people lose shrimp because of over feeding. Everything else seems ok. I would eye nitrates, feed the shrimp only 2-3x a week. The rest of the time you're going to be only feeding the fish. You should see the shrimp active, excited for food. If you don't it could be a sign of nutrient, bacterial, environmental, or "other" as a cause for the deaths. I would highly recommend Mark's Shrimp Tanks videos if you've never seen them. Really easy to see his methods and how he cares for his species. How did you acclimate them to your tank? This alone causes the issue you're seeing as well.
  20. nabokovfan87
    One of these days when you chop a ton of plants... We'll have to figure out how to get some to me. 🙂 Beautiful tank. Seriously. Do you have room to add something?
  21. nabokovfan87
    Not sure why I blocked this out, my apologies. I would second this option. Paint is a hassle and permanent to the tank. Using a secondary sheet or one meant for acrylic is the way I would do it! This is why I stopped painting tanks with acrylic paint. Spraypaint might not wear off, but I would have a really nice paintjob and then go to clean the HoB and have circles all over the back. This is 100% why I love the tidals using a rubber grommet on theirs, but even that pulled paint off if I wasn't careful.
  22. nabokovfan87
    They have some pretty "affordable" nano tanks at the big box store that are oft on sale. They do have square vases too! I am trying to understand them and get some plants to grow. Would be nice if I can use something as a staging for plants! @AlexL Welcome. How do you enjoy that light on that size tank? Results speak for themselves, I think it looks great. I have always been tempted to get one (or three).
  23. nabokovfan87
    Don't do what I did that one time and leave the grid on the inside. If it doesn't stick, wet it down a lot, then re-apply and hopefully it clings. Might be a static issue, but I can't see why it wouldn't work. Clean the acrylic well, apply, should work!
  24. nabokovfan87
    Very cool shape to it. I dig the look. Wish I had some! I had a similar thing happen then one day I had 4 back in the shoal. Hopefully you're able to find more. Removing everything probably means that isn't going to happen, but here's hoping. Otos can be elusive. This is one of my favorite things. Really fun when pets do this.
  25. nabokovfan87
    I had a similar issue. I'd recommend a spraybar output and/or a lower GPH pump. I have one that is about 1/3 the flow running on my 29G and it's "fine". I do have one that is sightly more powerful, but it is too large to fit a spraybard the way I have it mounted. In terms of the ACO (and others) pumpheads you're usually looking at 268 GPH which is crazy strong for some applications. I would focus on the height of the tank, maybe even stack two sponges tall (That's what Dean does for his) and then add that spray bar across the length of the tank. If you do run into issues with it being too powerful, find a smaller pump or one that you can adjust. I can't speak to using ball valves to change the flow, seems logical and like it should be fine. Some pumps I don't think they would be happy with that and so you usually have a design where they limit the output not the input. Not sure how the physics work, but my advice is to do that research in terms of making sure you aren't choking out the pump. Maybe even email someone like aquatop or Sicce and ask their engineers where to place the control valve.
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