nabokovfan87

Here is Dean's video. Expand that out, one cave in each corner would be best.

Definitely way too big for the tank. If you want to see a side by side I can show ya. The blacks are probably 3x larger than pandas. There is a new one that is very similar to panda, but has a bit nicer look. Let me try to find it.... Corydoras Duplicareus (or Adolfoi, but they get bigger) or CW049 Corydoras Bicolor. Yeah, that's the big thing. Even if selling through this forum is a great way to do so, it would be nice to also have a local shop that was interested in them. Is that an option for you? If yes, there are certain species that would be eye catching, like those mentioned above, which would be a bit more up front, but would be slightly more desired when it comes time for sale.

What filters, how were they setup? In my 75 I ran 2, so I think you may just need a slight tweak to the setup. Whether you add a sponge or not, I did want to mention that having the HoB on hand to polish water or run carbon when you need it is a good idea. So try to keep that in a fish tote or something. I have a link in my signature about my own journey and frustration with my filter. I can promise you that I can help get things on the right track and we all can offer some advice here to make things work for you, the way you want them to, and make the hobby a little easier. I will add a thread below, but please feel free to DM or to post below your specific issues with photos so we can try to help fix the issues you're having. I do apologize on behalf of the HoB companies for your issues, unfortunately this is somewhat normal and is a major barrier to entry for some hobbyists. I've seen it happen before, so I am really curious about what's going on and what issues you're having. Given that load and stocking I would think you'd want 4 of those in a tank that size. I can't say it would be perfect because in terms of circulation you're asking a lot for that little filter to handle. Biologically it might be fine, but mechanically, you'd be having issues with dirty sand. For a tank that size I would lean towards having a pumphead with spraybar or a canister filter with a spraybar as the "go to". Something like the ACO sponge filter with the pumphead might be a great way to have enough circulation and to give yourself a similar style of filtration. I can't say it would be easy to clean, but that is just something to note as an option. I would run at least 3 of the large ACO sponges, preferably 2 of them with powerheads if you go that route. Again, i would recommend a spraybar or duckbill output on your pumphead to improve circulation. That would give you a slightly better experience with the stocking and circulation.

Watch to the end of this video, I highly recommend a little gift like this. In terms of what would be on my list.... Let's say.... the tank has wood, some anubias, and some hardscape. 1. Toothbrush 2. Thermometer and heater (fluval one is really nice, sticks to the glass and gives you two readings) 3. Towel 4. Bucket 5. Siphon 6. Dechlorinator 7. Good food (something like repashy is a good one because most people would never go out of their way to get it, but has to make sense for the stocking) 8. Test strips 9. Filter mods 10. Aquarium salt, airpump, airstone, tubing, suction cup 11. QT Trio meds + Kanaplex 12. A list of videos to check out and a link to the forums if they have any issues or want to start a journal! 13. Support, guidance, and help with whatever need be. Forgot one.... Easy green.

A little bit of a follow up on things. BLUE SPONGE TESTING: I have been running this filter without the fine foam in for a little while now, I can verify above, but let's just call it close to a month at this point. I did have to remove one of the sponges, but this is simply put not due to the amount of sponges, but just a demonstration of why fine foam does matter. On the course sponge I did see improved circulation, but not enough to justify that it's "fixed the bypass" at all. Ultimately it gave me slightly longer until the bypass happened, but it did still happen and did so a lot quicker than I view as acceptable. I will have to raise the height on the basket, remove media, or something to lower the water level. Overall this should be 90-95% of what the final version of my recommendations will be, but there is still a slight quirk or two to try to figure out. This is what I would call normal behavior and is why I will make a recommendation on a future post about how often to clean out the pump. Here is why..... Front of the HoB housing, seems fine. Does not get cleaned regularly, let's take a closer look. Spillway looks fine, there are hard water deposits on the sides, entirely normal. Does not get cleaned often, but I would say I try to make an effort to keep this clean. This is what the pump looked like and you can see a lot of the organics from the tank in the pump housing. My clown pleco hangs out right here and this is very likely a result of her eating a bit of the wood and it getting pushed up the pump. This could also be due to overfeeding. All things to monitor for your own specific situation. As we follow the path of the water, this is the output flow of the pump, bypass here is common due to pooling in this section. This is NOT GOOD when it comes to the form of bypass. If you see stuff here, you have a very clogged tidal. This is a better shot and you can see this all over the sponge, the media, the basket, and the housing. Ultimately, I would equate this type of issue to a filter uptaking sand. I would then go ahead and recommend that if you see this, you do need to try to figure out why. In my case, it's from the black algae or from the wood itself. If you have a tidal, and you do not mod the skimmer, all of this stuff often clogs the skimmer and leads to needing to disassemble the chute (more on that later) and then go ahead and clean everything out. I went ahead and reset things, clean slate, deep clean on everything. I put back in 2 course (blue) sponges and will continue another batch of tests and keep an eye on things. Carbon removed and back to just running the normal media. As a sidenote, I did end up cutting open a bag of aquaclear carbon to put into a seachem bag (the one I had was for a 110, wouldn't fit in here). I really don't like the size and quality of the carbon they use. I'd recommend finding something else. I hear marineland has good carbon, but I will be opting to try to find something I can use when need be. I just wanted to mention it, because I was really surprised at this when I cut the bag open. If anyone has other carbon they can photo and post here I'd appreciate it. I may end up making a thread so we can compare and contrast, discuss pro and cons.

Just because of the stuff they have going on in their facility please try to QT these ones if you can. Essentially they are moving facilities and may have some lag / issues from setups. Just wanted to share that and offer the caution. It's really unfortunate and I feel for @FLFishChik and what their experiences were. I do feel really good about ordering fish online given what I have available locally. Starting out it wouldn't have been something I considered, but ultimately will be the norm I think for a lot of hobbyists if that information is more readily available, especially on how to handle shipments. I started with 5-7 corydoras, I then had 3. Over time I ended up with ~30. I don't know what it is about corydoras and longer acclimation times for me, but I always seem to lose a few over time, or did, when first starting out. Black corydoras I purchased from 2 sources, both on aquabid and lost half. It really sucks, but information on how to keep them wasn't available and I'm sure I didn't help with some of my issues trying to figure out how to keep them. I have it dialed in, they are doing a heck of a lot better. The point simply, sorry for the longer post, is just that I think it's unfortunate and somewhat normal to lose 1-2 fish. So that "I started with X" sentiment definitely hits home and it's become a lot harder for me locally to buy fish because I seriously do not trust the fish when I see the tanks with my eyes. I do prefer to get them from tank raised situations, have real conversations, and have a proven group. Barring that, the places mentioned above are all great spots to go have a look and see what you can get.

Just purchased clear tubing for this reason for my setup. It's definitely normal, keep an eye on it.

The bottom scratcher is slightly chunky, but will work. Just leaves a bit more of a mess than the others because of ingredients. If you can, soilent green is probably my favorite because of the recipe and it's literally powderized the smallest out of all the ones I have. Second in line was the community blend. Spawn and grow is also useful as well for this situation. Feed them 3-4x a day, keep it clean, should be fine. (if using a container to raise them) Not necessary. Could introduce pests. You give them cover, something to graze on like moss, powder food and you're good. You can make anything into powder food with a pepper grinder, a ziploc bag and some patience, or mortar and pestle. I stick to a mostly spirulina diet via flakes or powders and feed in something with protein every 2-3 days. Doesn't have to be that complex, feeding say... omni for 2-3 meals and then protein on the 4th would be fine as well.

I got mine from the big box store, probably a lot easier and always in stock. I gently rinsed mine, a bit controversial there but it was fine and easy to do. Still going to have some fines from it, but it's just like anything else... some dust, but not really a big deal.

I mean, yeah... and I do have some! I need like a micro/nano level one for the sake of fitting. I can lay it on top of the plants for some, but the fish would move those or get scratched. It's a puzzle.... 😞 To give you an idea, the trimmings are about the diameter of angel hair pasta or slightly bigger. Not quite in a state where I can tie them. They are about 1/2" up to 1" long, which means the actual stem itself where I've removed the leaves is about 1/4-1/2" in section. Some have none and those pop very easily. I've had one floating in the panda tank, not enough light, not enough stem, It's been there for months and hasn't really grown at all. The majority of that is due to being a very different environment. and setup.

I'll use the broad term of "organics" but that could be botanicals, plants, food, etc. Organics in the water use up your KH. This in turn drops PH. This has to do with how KH works and impacts the water ions themselves. This is delved into in the ACO blog article here. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh So the way I view and interact with that issue is that I try to dose in just enough KH buffer to keep the tank stable. I want to raise KH, but not PH. Because of my attempt to raise KH my PH does rise, but is generally stable. In my tank I go from 40 up to 60 ppm KH. If I get anything above 60 I'm happy because it just means I can feed heavy or even feel like the tank itself isn't going to crash. PH might go from 7.2 down to 6.5, but that's a little better to me than going from 6.8 down to 6.2. To expand on your question though, blackwater adds onto what organics do. Similar, almost identically so, to the way tea works and can benefit your health. Dissolving these particles into the water can be additive for certain ions we want to ingest. Humic acid is a result of the wood and the botanicals "steeping." That added acid of course acidifies the water in turn and can lower PH. The more you add, you do further that process. You can definitely overdo it and cause some PH burn on species. That being said, I think we all know someone with wood in a tank and things are perfectly fine. Maybe a tinge to the water, but it's not excessive and still falls into that chasm of "blackwater"... Just cleaned and clarified via water changes. Doubling down on the acid production by having low KH, organics bonding with KH ions, dropping your PH, and having the above affect from the botanicals releasing acidic ions can lead to some issues, but there are ways to do it right, or to just keep species that prefer that environment.

Slightly more than level 2. Slightly less than level 3. Just one scoop instead of doing 10+ for a tank. I think from when I had looked it up initially: https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/24976-nermweek-re-written-directions-competition/?do=findComment&comment=228766

From yesterday morning.... Just checking on things. I am trying to figure out this food, definitely overfeeding right now and it sinks really quickly. The fish enjoy it, much moreso than literally the same food in wafer form. Interesting result there. First tank is Riddick in his QT, then the pandas, then the black corydoras. I'll amend this a bit later tonight with water test results and go ahead and do my normal maintenance when I can this afternoon. Fish have definitely been feisty, just meaning that they have tossed a lot of plants I tried to replant. I am leaning towards leaving them floating so they can root out a little bit, but my hope is that I can continue to replant and get them to stay in the substrate. I did try to give the trimmings a bit of a stock, but this is unfortunate just the issue I have been having with this substrate and trying to work with it. Works fine, just not when I have to mess with it. When I check on everything today I don't see 20+ floating clippings. 😂

1. Yes. Speaking from experience, yes! Adding plants may make things worse. You need to have a situation where the plants are thriving, not simply in the water. 2. Yes. 3. Yes, it absolutely does. Flow seems to spread and attract this algae in my experience. Make sure you don't have dead spots. Make sure that your have enough surface agitation or CO2 being dosed into the aquarium. You want to try to remove things, but you also need to keep in mind how spores spread and flow enhances that spread. 4. They can only do so much. You have to find out what is out of whack. Something is out of balance, so determine what is going on and proceed that way. Cut the lights, dose lean, and make sure you're getting enough CO2.

Sounds foolish, but I need a lifetime supply of some susswassertang please. I wish it was more readily available.

One of my favorite things is a barb pond.... Shallow tank, whatever, just a lot of swimming space and some barbs.

I would think it's a wound of some kind. Salt is a good option to start with, but I would also have bacterial meds to follow things up with on hand if you need it. I would lean towards moving the fish, as in something that is a wound isn't contagious where you need to treat the fish. Second to that, inspect your tank where the ram was for reasons for this issue. Whether it is hardscape or something where the fish would accidentally eat something that isn't food and caused an issue. My dose for salt is 1/2 cup per 10G. For your situation you'd be doing 1/4 cup per 5g.

drip acclimate the fish into a tub, then add them to a new tank when it makes sense to do so. 1. Drain water into a bucket or tub from the tank. 2. Set up an airstone or sponge into the bucket and cover the container so fish can't jump and feel more secure. 3. Set up the new tank, disassemble the old one. 4. When you're ok to do so. even if it's day 1, drip acclimate the bucket to the new parameters the same way you would shrimp. Slowly over 1-4 hours 5. Move the fish to the new tank that they have been acclimated to. 6. Change water if need be, add salt and other things if need be. Be lean with food so that you don't contaminate the water with food and waste easily.

At most you'd be feeding shrimp 3x a week. At best 2x a week. Shrimp should be feeding off the things in the tank, not what you're feeding into the tank. Things like feeding would be useful when the colony size is too big and when you're basically in a situation where the tank isn't providing the aufwuchs you need day to day. Repashy soilent green is what I recommend as well as a few of their other recipes.

I don't think you realize HOW AWESOME a 55g with tiger barbs can be. Clearly, a 75g or 90g is better, but a 55g with a nice bit of tigers is a fantastic tank! That being said... 55g vs. 100g tiger tank, YES PLEASE give me a 100g tiger tank 🙂 .

I really, really wouldn't. Using temperature over bleach for this just doesn't make sense. Nothing survives bleach. As long as your application is sufficient to treat whatever you need to via dip or other methods, bleach will work. https://www.cdc.gov/hygiene/cleaning/disinfecting-bleach.html Depending on the dishwasher in question you could create hot spots, one part could be very hot while the other isn't. Then you'd have to check the temps dishwashers get to in order to sanitize compared to what the materials would hold. I have seen some pretty crazy things ran through a dishwasher, but there is legitimately no need when you can add some bleach and dip it for a certain amount of minutes to do exactly what you need to. All you need to do is take care to rinse things effectively, then you're safe. Most people don't want to use the harshness of bleach and just add vinegar to the tank to sanitize....

It's crazy right! Yeah pathogens, bacteria, etc. that can't handle saltwater parameters have issues.... some fish like Mollys I think they grow them on salt and then sell them fresh to avoid diseases as some farms. I had a few fish that had split dorsals and one that was split in 4 places. (black cory fry) I didn't add salt, but did some bit water changes and ran carbon. By the time I had the nets 2 days later and the QT tank, all of them looked healed up.... thankfully. Sometimes water just has stuff that happens for a variety of reasons and it's amazing how well some things heal (or linger). It's good to see the recovery and to see him so improved in such a short time.

It might be an opportunity. He has his email or maybe in future things occur where it makes sense. He is also on this forum. 🙂 I have emailed him a few times and he's genuinely a nice person and very easy to talk fish with. Maybe that is encouragement enough next time considering you both have a joy of nice plants in the tank! Very interesting... Something OnlyGenus would be able to explain to me in detail as to why, but that's crazy interesting. I do believe this happens with other plants based on like power. I thought at first it was one plant with a handful of other ones that got mixed in randomly. Sometimes you plant X and Y and expect one to grow larger, but the other takes a hold. (ok, well us beginners do! 😂 )

So basically, ignoring blackwater, you control your PH by dosing in KH additives (not equilibrium). This is very similar to my water with the exception, normally, of GH. My PH starts at 6.5-6.8 with a max of 7. My KH starts at 40. Once you add fish your KH will drop, resulting in your PH dropping. So if you start at say.... 6.8... after a handful of fish add some bioload, even with great filtration your KH and PH drop down. Plants also use up KH resulting in that dropping further. An active substrate could get you down to the 5.0-6.0 range which is good for stuff like Caridina shrimp or species that tolerate extremely acidic water. Some fish might only go down as far as 6.5. So there are things like PH burn you could see if you stock that incorrectly and you add in some active substrate on top of it. These are all just things to mull over and consider.