nabokovfan87

Looks like a Ryu to me! Very nice looking fish 🙂 I can help but say chin up and that I wish this little dude does well for you! I hope you have better success. I thought CA / TX had pretty similar water, but the local fish, already has a better shot at doing well for you. *fingers crossed* LOL lovely name.

I wonder.... If you could take the drip ends of a drip system and use that to create what you're looking for. Take the spraybar / air hose bus type of setup that a lot of people use (PVC with holes and taps) and then on each end of that you have a dripper. You can flow control each drip to make the patterns slightly alternate as well to create a more natural version. Honestly.... likely with a microcontroller and some switches and something like a dosing pump it could also be done in some capacity. Interesting, depending what you can mod together. https://www.amazon.com/Rain-Bird-SW20-30PS-Irrigation-Watering/dp/B0049C5G18/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=drip+irrigation+emitters&qid=1662691565&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=drip%2Clawngarden%2C222&sr=1-4 Something like this could also provide some insight on setup.

I'm the same way. I generally only see it when I do WCs at this point and it's a different shade than the bucket.

Mine has been in water for ~4-5 years and still releases tannins. It isn't as much as when new, but... it's always going to color the water as a tannin source. parameters at this point?

Definitely interesting.... You're getting it out of the tap, which isn't a great situation for controlling it longer term. Which generally implies you're going to have some algae issues unless you have a massive amount of plant bioload to take it in. Water changes would essentially act as dosing the tank with potassium. I would run an off-gas test to see what happens to the tap water after 24 hours. (aerate it with an airstone, retest for everything you can) Likely is that color from the mopani. Is it a tea color or bright green? Yellow or beige or brown or sand colored would be the wood / tannins starting up.

It should be ok. Just something to look into and understand in terms of long term health. I don't know what the actual issue is with it. I asked when someone on the forum had mentioned the topic, but I didn't get a response regarding any details. Could be an oxygenation thing, could be a shell interaction. It's hard to know without doing a deep dive and understanding what is really happening with that liquid.

I'm guessing this stuff is little balls / tufts of BBA? Essentially, algae comes in and it hardens, the shrimp won't and can't get to it as a food source or surface to graze on. Then it grows, and then they clean what grows on the longer strands. Different types of shrimp will let algae take hold, others wont, even amanos with heavy feeding will ignore it. Keep the algae down, let the plants grow, that helps the water quality, which helps the shrimp and gives them more cover and places to hide into. Not sure. Might be a molt. Keep an eye on it, report back 🙂

Definitely a female. The shape of the tail and the way they walk around and use their tail is the biggest indicator for me. (Females tend to have their tail upwards, males don't). Hard to explain, but hopefully that makes sense when you spend time getting used to them!

One big thing missing here.... What on earth are your parameters out of the tap? Look into carib sea crystal river. Torpedo or crystal river would be generally a "larger size" sand compared to their other offerings.

Light off, water changes, black out the tank, and then don't feed anything for 3-4 days as a start. Green water is "usually" handled with a UV add on, but I think you can manage it with water changes instead and light control. I would be doing 50% WCs minimum and at least that every 24-48 hours until you get nutrients in balance. Once you do, it's likely just down to blacking out the tank and then letting the algae become omnivore food. I've never experienced green water but general cloudiness does happen based on food. Take the advice above with a grain of salt as a result, but I just mean to say that I hope others can chime in and clarify their own methods. 9 times out of 10 I think people are trying to get green water and can't keep it alive!!! Glad you're ok. It's tough. Please take time to recover and do what need be, but especially taking care of yourself and those around you as a focus!!! That's awesome 😍 I have specifically heard that it shouldn't be used with shrimp. I don't know why, liquid carbon I use lightly. Excel is a different animal I believe and those warnings and reports I haven't understood because I literally never can find it locally.

The only one I've ever seen reports of issues is the ACs and the majority of reasons for that being the shaft issue (shaft wears oddly and stops impeller from spinning easily) I would expect most everything to start as long as it's still got water in the filter box. Approaching things as a blank canvas, in terms of media, is honestly the biggest thing so many of these HoBs need for hobbyists to do well with them. The Tidal has it's quirks, but as for it being a box to put things in, one of the nicer versions. If I had a difinitive way to fix bypass (almost there, but not likely) then I would be able to recommend it a bit easier. Honestly, as long as the pump works and you're happy, run what you have. Just get some silicone grease and you should be set.

Cleaning / lubricating the impeller is probably all it needs. The new stuff is probably more efficient. As far as features, the biggest one's for me being: A. How does it handle media, can it hold sponge or is it something where you can modify it to hold better quality media. B. How easily can I control the flow, does it work well when I try to control it! (bonus: C. Where on earth is the pump located)

For sure! Super interesting. One day you'll have to share the story 🙂 I don't really remember the old equipment and the older style tanks apart from "yeah I had one". What I do remember..... "Ok, let's clean the tank" *takes everything out of the tank and takes it to the sink* *Empty tank with all the water* *gravel into strainer* (Clean everything) *Add everything back to the tank, add chemicals, add the fish* "ok, see..... it's so clean now" I've learned a lot now about what we didn't do right growing up with that tank, but.... even having one really was something where I knew I'd appreciate it and was one of the big factors for getting one the past 5 or however many years it's been.

Take a good sturdy brush and try to scrub off all of the bark / external layer as best you can. Rinse everything really well and then report back on if you have any more floaties.

Pump, yes. Everything else.... It's really difficult to say. The long and short version of answering this is that I am on the fence and unsure. For the price, considering a similarly priced HoB is missing a ton of the features of this one, the reliability and customer service, I really enjoy my filter for that reason alone. I had an issue with the 75, couldn't figure out how to get it setup, and they had a pump to me with nothing more than a few emails back and forth. Verify warranty period, everything was fine. The impeller / Pump itself is pone of the single best you can purchase. The amount of media it *CAN HOLD* is pretty awesome. That does not mean it actually can hold that much media and function properly. Phase 1 tweaks and changes are a must in my book. If you're comfortable with those, yes. If you have fish that can get damaged by the filter, either seal it, or look elsewhere. AC Filter - I've had too many issues and impeller / pump failures, especially the 110. Lid Rattle, shaft wear issues. Seachem - Bypass issue is real, and it's very difficult to solve it thoroughly Aqueon - I had no issues, it's slightly difficult to mod, pump has reports of long term failures (clip attachment fails) Tetra - Difficult to mod due to available space, pump is external, missing some of the "nice" features of the tidal Marineland Penguin Pro - Super nice filter! It is the most comparable to the tidal, but.... the intake is super weird. If I had to choose what I would get, 75G for instance, it would be between the fluval 407, 2x Tidal 75s, or the Marineland Penguin Pro.

Honestly..... setback aside, absolutely beautiful tank. I really enjoy the layout work you have going on.

I am pretty certain this is the same size / tank we had growing up. Probably the same time, but I have no clue what the hood looked like. I remember the wood grain and the size / shape, a few fish, but not much else. I remember the decoration we had, marineland filter, all that fun stuff, but I totally couldn't tell you anything more then saying, "yep, it was like that!" Cool to see something similar. I don't think we have any photos of the old setup. That's awesome. Photo is awesome too, super crisp and well lit. I like it! I need a plant in my room. I have one in the living room by the front door and it's going off thanks to all the fish water and Easy Green.

I found the video of it! Added it to the Seachem Tidal Experiments:tm: thread 😂 I doubt it's safe long term. Zenzo has a video when he was making his mudskipper tanks on some water safe foams (Islands and fully submerged) and the methods to do so. I would say... Cork wood is probably the "best" thing to use for something like that. Suction cups + airline is the best way I've seen it with stuff available. As well as the acrylic (or etsy) rings that people have around.

Add more hot, very very very hot water. Essentially, the mug cooled down the water, likely enough to cause it to seize up on you. Repashy really needs boiling water to activate well and to be mixed very well. Using a whisk or something that will scrape the edges and do a very good job of mixing in a brief amount of time is worth the added dishes. You can microwave it from what Cory has said on a few videos to liquify it. I have not done this, but I will try to get a video or something for you. You can also just add more hot water. Pre-heat the container if it's a thick material so that it doesn't drop the temp as much. You can just hold the mug over the hot water in something to add it and potentially that is enough to get the food to start to liquify. I'll see what I can dig up, but my guess.... that's all that happened. Boiling wasn't quite hot enough and it's a finicky process, but just hotter water and more stirring and you're good. I use a 1:3 ratio with mine. You might have more success with 1:2.5 ratio or a 1:4 depending on what fish are eating the repashy in question. If you're doing 1:2 it's going to be very hard to stir it well enough, but is possible. If you're familiar with chocolate melting, try that first. Bain marie I think it's called. Same thing in the microwave.... slowly warm it up, stir, then add more heat.

I'm going through the same thing and I just got my phosphate test kit! Test your tank, then test your tap. Water changes should make those values as similar as you can. If added organics, phosphate is the cause, then water changes would be the reason to use those to try to "catch up" and clean out the organics from the water column. In my case, 0 from the tap and 1.0-1.5 from the tank. With dosing, you'd want to be ~0.5 from what I researched. There's a ton of smart minds in the plant world here that can better address the level for where you'd want that to be optimally though.

Very much so. Just be careful if you see algae, it could be giving you high phosphates from the organic matter breaking down.

Part 2 of this one: Take your biggest knife you can, use the back of it (not the sharp end) like a hammer and that will help to break up the repashy into chunks. I had mine slightly too thick and nearly broke my finger trying to break it apart. Works well!

It's debatable, but yes. It's a type of sand that may or may not have a lot of algae potential because of the high silicates, which just means food for them. I was actually looking it up for the tank and found out that it's designed to be very sharp, tumbles inside of the pool filter itself and that is what cuts in the debris. I found stuff like this for comparison when we had the whole zeolite vs. pool filter sand thread: http://sandgrains.com/Sand-Grains-Gallery.html Play sand, I don't like. Pool sand, I think you can get away with it. Many people have used both and had no issues, but... that's just my view on it. My only advice for PFS would just be to literally tumble it if you can, especially dry. Something similar to lava rocks where they do that to break sharp, fine edges off. Especially when it's pebble size or smaller, that's just the norm. PFS is likely not tumbled as much as the "expensive" aquarium products. I have also seen some very small options for finer PFS, just make sure you get the largest size you can (typically #20) https://www.riverpoolsandspas.com/blog/pool-sand-filter-cost-maintenance-benefits

First, welcome to the forums! If you haven't, be sure to check this out: To answer the question, yes you can disrupt the biological filter when you are cleaning too much. Specifically it can happen based on how and what you're cleaning. Let's take a step back.... A. When you cleaned equipment, hang-on-back, sponges, etc. Did you take them off the tank and to the sink and set them anywhere that may have had some contamination? B. When you cleaned any media, did you use tank water for everything? (looks like above, you said yes, so that's awesome) C. When you had the items out of the tank, did ceramic media or any of the media have a chance to dry out, or did it stay wet? The mulm you mentioned when moving wood and stuff around in the tank, it's very normal to remove that. It's not the main source of bacteria in your tank. Especially if you have a pleco, you'd usually expect to see a lot of that type of floating debris in the tanks.

Right, the only different is that TeeJay has to remove the existing tank items to do it 😞 But yes, slowly adding it like that is 10000000% the way to go! Getting it as low as possible is the best way to limit "dust" and fines. I use my hands a lot to agitate the grains and to get all of those fines into the WC, dump them out. I've seen a lot of videos / youtubers that literally just dump the sand in a bucket, run a hose into it, and run water "until clear" which doesn't really work for how sand is composed. That's where I don't know how many people really use the agitation (i.e. rice) method to clean substrate. Couldn't even tell you where I learned it from, probably Cory, but that's what I've always been directed to do when cleaning anything like that. I'm so impatient and waiting for his tank to have some sand!!!!! 😂