nabokovfan87

Awesome Surprise fish I've kept (not in order): Bolivian rams, white clouds, clown plecos, Red-Tailed Black Shark, Amano Shrimp Clarification: I expected some of these fish to be ones I enjoyed, but what I didn't expect was the personalities and the uniqueness on all of these species. They all were and have been so enjoyable for me to keep. It surprised me how personable a ram or RTBS can be. I was in awe of how the white clouds were visually and I really enjoyed learning about them while I did keep them. Amanos are just fun for me and enjoyable. They always are doing something interesting and they bring the constant enjoyment when I sit and watch them do their thing. But the most fun / enjoyable fish I've kept... it's always going to be any corydoras. They are just pure happiness in a tank when they are doing well. Most disappointing: Rasboras. They just didn't do well for me and I really didn't understand enough of what was going on at the time. I might try them again one day, but it's the type of thing where small fish like that can so easily get bloat and get constipation issues leading to bigger issues. I tried so hard to give them the right foods and I never sorted out what was the solution to the issue.

awesome. Sounds like it's definitely not the filter.

Update: here is the spot treated after 24 hours. I did tread the spots on the wood, that stump looking piece, I treated all over there. It got some of the algae, but not all. More to come on the next one.

This was the view of the problem spot treated on sunday. Finally. A decent sign I'm doing something right for once. Photo looks pretty much like little aliens if you zoom in.

It could be a sign of stagnant water or some sort of reaction with decor. I've seen it moreso on tanks with a filter that isn't working quite right. I would just inspect the pump and then go ahead and clean the impeller and pre-filter sponge and hopefully everything is ok. As far as the hob.... if you have ONLY a cartridge in there, this is likely also causing some of that. It's a film / biofilm and is usually the bacteria and stuff trying to find a place to colonize. Adding sponge or ceramic media in the HoB might help if that's the case too. If you have plastic decorations or something like that... it could be a weird reaction and I would try to isolate that out. If it happens again, turn off the filtration, use a brush / toothbrush to get some of that stuff off the surfaces and then just siphon it out prior to turning back on the flow to the tank.

You could try moving it slightly towards the center of the tank so it's not right up against the wall. I lean towards it being the flow compared to the tank size. If the GPH of the pump is pretty high (more than 10x) the tank, it might be an issue for those fish in that setting. I had it happen with barbs and the seachem tidal. They would sleep and get sucked against the skimmer grate.

😂 That's awesome. Happy 1 year of fun!

Live view of the panda horde being released to their new adventure 😂

I dig this one! I have a randomly awesome net that I use. Seachem just released a new line of nets that come in a variety of sizes with pretty fine mesh too. oh yes! If you don't have a gravel spade (aquascaping tool) then that's a critical one for anyone with sand in the tank.

It definitely won't spike ammonia to add bacteria if you add a bacteria booster. The ammonia feeds the bacteria and allows them to thrive. You could have a dead fish, overfeeding, or the substrate leeching ammonia and that is causing issues. High nitrates usually leads to a smell as well as other bad water parameters. You could also be getting ammonia from the tap showing up due to chloramines in the water. So check your tap water, make sure you have an airstone if need be, and then go ahead and add your bacteria in there to get it cycled. Substrate holds a lot of muck. You likely got a lot of waste and food from the substrate and then that got released in the move. Just make sure you clean it well, like it's a new bag and you clean it until the water is clear.... then you're safer to reuse. It happens, you live and learn. Sorry about your losses.

Can you show a picture of the filter setup? Ultimately it might be a flow issue and the fish was sleeping.

Hey everyone, I had mentioned elsewhere that I got this for myself a bit ago as something I wanted to have a central location for some tools I used on my aquarium. It's been about a month now and let's just say I've gotten myself a lot more accustomed to having a place for things and things in their place. I wanted to show this off, poll the group, and hopefully this thread can help out a new hobbyist and provide a good gift idea if you know someone who is a hobbyist and might need something like this! I know in his recent video Pecktec had mentioned how when he does a new aquarium setup for someone he includes a care package and I blame him for the inspiration for the following question! You're setting up a new tank for someone and you are filling out a cup of items for them to use with the aquarium, what do you include in yours and what would you want to provide for an aquarist starting out in the hobby? In mine: Note: This was put in place so I wasn't using a specimen container for this task! -Aquascaping tools -Pipette -Turkey Baster (think of it for food / small siphon) -Actual Scissors (so I don't use plant ones) -Some kind of superglue for plants is always right there -Measure / shot glass (great for meds but also defrosting frozen food) -Clip/clamp for hoses that isn't going to be scary strong to use -toothbrush -some kind of paintbrush -1/8 tsp measuring spoon (1/4 works well too) for dosing buffers or meds -measuring scoops with long handles -Cup is made of stainless steel (or ceramic would work) as to minimize issues with water if it does get wet -scraper / blade holder (mine is not in the cup, but usually next to it My recommendation: -Scissors -Brush -Toothbrush -Clip -Plant Scissors -Plant Tweezers (straight) -Plant Tweezers (L-Shape) -Pipette for meds -Measuring Spoon for meds (I keep a 1/2 cup measuring cup in the stand as well) -Flashlight (near this, potentially in the cup) -Superglue (near or potentially in the cup) -Bonus Awesome item: Wet erase marker for writing on the tank

Checking the big box store website and saw this. It looks relatively new.... Might have the grain size you're looking for. CaribSea Super Natural Snowy River Aquarium Gravel I'm finally on the computer so I can dig a bit deeper. The original substrate mentioned looks like it's up to 2.0mm in size at the largest. The others mentioned (Jungle and Crystal river) max out at 1.0 and 1.5mm respectively. It really is just down to what you want in terms of coloration. The one above, I would imagine is about 4-5x larger than the sands and is more of a blend of small and medium size gravel.

One thing to keep in mind is that the water weight would stretch the materials. I would take a look at some of pondguru's very old videos when he was building ponds and just double check construction against how your liner is installed. One thing to note is that you could be dealing with a small hole and as the pond fills, the liner is stretched and then that opens up the hole. Maybe this will work.... but fill the pond with a dye substance that is fish safe like methylene blue / Ich-X and then let that sit for 24 hours. Take apart the pond carefully and inspect the underlay for anything that has been stained. This would give you an idea of where to inspect on the pond liner and/or ground to alleviate any issues. Secondary to that..... set the liner up on concrete in some capacity and do a leak test. If it doesn't leak above ground, then you isolate the variable to being the ground itself and you can further inspect things like the ground being level, overflowing in a spot, etc. I know there's a few hundred "how to build a pond" videos on youtube, this is just one source I know of that seems pretty decent for building a pond and has a lot of videos and tutorials.

Could be a type of algae or bacteria building up. If you get a Q-Tip and get a sample and then examine it outside of the tank.... If it looks like snot, probably bacteria If it looks like dirt or coffee or something it's likely a form of brown algae. You'll see that stuff pretty commonly on lift tubes for sponges. Certain types of fish might try to go in and graze on it too.

Looks about right, and very likely does work for the hobby use!

Definitely a good idea if the people, time, support, and so forth were available to make it happen. I feel like it's a wonderful concept and so I will add Mr. @Randy to the tag, but let's see what the ACO thinks 🙂. Just off the top of my head: -A segment featuring an international article / story of some kind. Similar to what you saw with the recent aquarium video below: -A brief shoutout / note on this month's club speaker as well as the next speaker for the club. -A tip / trick from someone like Robert, Zenzo, Irene, Dean, Lizzie, Corvus, Bob, etc. regarding something that you might not know, but really should. -High quality photos of nice tanks -A Before--->After section where you highlight one user or one creator and a journey in a single tank in some way. The hobbyist can discuss what choices they made, struggles, insights, tips, and generally have a segment to show what could be with persistence. -A beginner's segment where you show basic and fundamental knowledge everyone should have. -A "201" type of segment where you delve a bit deeper into this month's basic topic, potentially some tangentially related research studies or articles could be mentioned for "further study" -Some sort of letter or paragraph from someone at ACO as the opener / feature for the month -A "brought to you by YOU" section where the readers are directed to the forums and where one popular thread from last month is mentioned with a gentle nudge on how great it can be to have a forum where people want to help one another (not that blunt, but you get the idea) -A "fishroom notes" where it could just literally be a photo of the fish farm or cory's pond or something.... a little blurb about anything that might be happening or just what was going on when the photo was taken. This could also be a way to highlight a relevant ACO project like a "secret project" but without really pointing anything out and just say something like *testing in progress* or something a bit more clear where you have a photo on how the store upgrade is looking. -AT LEAST ONE photo of a tank in the shop per month, highlight a fish, plant, hardscape, or product. -Maybe a recipe from Dean? All that being said, I don't want to sign anyone up for anything and I totally understand the ACO staff has a lot of work on their hands and it's a very busy team. I like the idea though, especially if something like quality photography, writing, and research can be put together to help people. I would not target this as a "give this away free at the shop" type of magazine, but like a monthly or quarterly style book.

Same one I have. It leaks very annoyingly and the bulb pops off all the time. I found an OXO one for the actual kitchen that is slightly more user friendly, but.... Dean had mentioned one with a "no drip" mechanism that he said he'd never get one without it. Just a heads up for anyone shopping. I haven't found it yet, but his was black with an o ring type of thing on the tip.

I totally wanted to order about 50 amanos yesterday. I miss the crazy feeds with them going bananas. 25 is the most I've had and I think I'm down to about 8-12 right now with a few right on edge of lifespan. I was doing the math in my head on cost.... Very tempting. I was also told nerites won't touch the stuff I have, so the snails don't get to join this fight.

I would look up directions for camping and sanitizing water and follow that. Depending on temperature it varies. Mopani would do better with the lower temp method and longer time. Because I boiled my last piece too high and it had some sap in it.... That pot is now fish only. Just be careful what you use and opt on something you don't mind getting ruined slightly.

Congratulations to the winners! I appreciate the extra effort and production value with the video. Hopefully everything is getting better for you. I had similar stuff happen and thankfully the leaks are fixed and there's less flooding now. There still the occasional drip during a WC. 😂 @Torrey

I don't know if you've seen it but for gravel I think ADA has theirs and it's a really cool pattern. It might catch your eye. See the image below. The one I am using now is crystal river. It's not the same coloration but might have the particle size you're looking for. (It's a pure white large size sand)

That's awesome to know. I do know there were a few. I think bamboo sharks are ridiculously awesome and a good size and fit for a tank. 🙂 Definitely will check it out. There's a ton of shark species and I had heard about some freshwater ones, but completely slipped the name. Update. Max size is pretty big (80 inches) and they are severely endangered.

Heaters added. Temps dropped into the 30's last night and expected to be as cold for the rest of the week if not colder. Tonight is the same temp, then Tuesday night it is expected to drop another 5-10 and then it's officially "winter" for a few months. I checked the temp on the tank and it was 68.5. I set the heaters to 72 for today, I might set them at 71 for the foreseeable future. CO2 system, regulator issue, is still purplexing me. I'll go into details in a future post. I had messaged Mmiller previously to go through the setup, but I do think the regulator itself needs to be replaced. Right now at the solenoid, the bubbles per second is extremely high, but at the actual diffuser it is very low. I don't know if the CO2 line itself could be causing the drop? Stuff to dig into. CO2 Art has great support and I very much enjoy their products. I wish they had an arrow on the dial for the working pressure adjustment, but their support did help me to get the tank back up and running. I apologize for the multitude of posts the past few weeks. There's a lot going on with the tank and it is a busy time trying to figure things out.

A bamboo shark that is freshwater