nabokovfan87

😂 I am sorry if that photo causes a hint of fear response. I understand it, but they are definitely one of the most misunterstood animals in the world. There is a documentary that you've reminded me of, and I would love for you to check it out! It's on disney plus and other places "Playing with Sharks" and it's about the woman who worked on and was pretty critical to the success of Jaws. She didn't view it as a realistic movie in any capacity, others have this innate fear because of how good the movie is. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/movies/valerie-taylor-jaws-shark.html This better? I was trying to find the one he had of an Oceanic Whitetip but it's so difficult to find some of his work. I highly recommend checking his stuff out on Instagram if you like Photography. I don't have one, but that's about the only place he posts stuff. I had to 😩 when I got to the end of the article. Their study showed at 133 db the sharks had a very strong response against the noise. At 135+ they suffered hearing damage. So they decided to design the enclosure for 133 db. Not something with buffer like 110, 120, etc. Just weird to me. Anyways, yeah, it's an interesting topic but I wanted to share it because I know so many people (and myself) struggle with breeding and some species don't have high spawn rates. It might make a difference in efforts, it might not, but it's something cool to note. I have noticed fish behavior being... unhappy when I have the TV next to a tank or music on in the room. They tend to hide and tend to show some negative signs. I do as a result of that turn things down or go to other rooms to listen.

It happens over time. Instead of having an issue of "I want to let it sit for months" I have tried to have the mindset of checking the filter every week and bi-weekly. There are times where I can let the filter run longer, but I don't think that's recommended. I have the media in there to do it's thing and hold the strong bacteria, but I use the foams purely for mechanical filtration. When you approach it this way, you can do something like have a ziss bubble bio in there so that you never have any issues with "strong bacteria" being present in the tank. Even if your filter does have an issue, the ecosystem is there to sustain it long term. In my 75G I was running 2 HoBs, 2 Ziss bubble bios. I would clean one filter one week, one the next week. Sometimes I did both. But.... to your question. The very very coarse foam blocks major gunk. The water goes through the sponge and then the medium pad does a lot of work. I try to clean the filter when the medium sponge is saying it's time to do so. This is a sponge that is similar to or slightly higher PPI than the aquaclear sponges (for reference). I would like to find a better source for "pond foams" but finding those foams with dimples isn't easy. Swisstropicals has foam, but none that's dimpled. The Fine foam acts as a any other fine pad would, it polishes the water. It might not make the water crystal clear as I've seen some tanks, but I can say without hesitation that it does an amazing job and my tanks are clear of fine particles when I use the finer foams. If I run 1 coarse, 2 mediums, 1 fine, it seems to be a good way to extend the life and prefect a lot of clogging. Again, I'd like to find some better foams. The ones I have are just under 1" thick and with the dimples the actual "thickness" of the foam on the low spots can get too thin. If I had a 1.5 or 2" foam with dimples, it would be an amazing product to use in HoBs and filter mod projects.

@mountaintoppufferkeeper Have you ever seen anything like this?

Have you seen the method using VHB tape and a side piece on the rim? Might be easier, I can sketch something out. I saw it on a YT video. I do not know how to mount the nano, but it was a "nifty" method for mounting the 3.0 bar lights at height. (no idea why, but it's possible) I would suggest using a wider piece, stop yourself from accidentally knocking the light easily.

Because I am essentially on hold for a few days with the project I wanted to take a moment and specifically discuss one of the reasons why I have ended up going through this exercise. Pondguru. Needless to say I really enjoy his content and I look at his methodology and advice for filtration. I might not have the filter, but I do enjoy watching him talk through them. I highly recommend learning about filtration from him and specifically his videos on building his massive pond filters (and updates). Years ago, he worked on the Tidal 110 and later on he came back and did a newer update with the Tidal 55/75. I tried this in my 35, 55, and 75 and I had a few issues. The first issue is just the bypass in general and how much it ensures the water doesn't interact with the media. He does explain that it's a pretty strong pump. In terms of his intake path he missed the middle intake that is around the pump housing. It's not really a big issue, but it's just something to keep in mind when we discuss the flow path. The other disclaimer here is that he typically doesn't run the filters. He doesn't want to ship them back slightly wet. The second major issue is something we've been discussing above, the weight of the media and crushing the sponge. Once all of these changes are done, it might not be an issue, but that is something to keep in mind. My experiences with his method: I really liked the idea of adding sponge into the chute before the water hits the rest of the sponge. I tried bumpy foam as well as the seachem foam in mine. In one of the filters it worked for approximately 12-24 hours before the pump simply rejected having the foam in that position. This forced water to shoot at the lid. The other attempt I had with this foam in the chute cavity, it rejected the foam immediately and just started splashing water all over. I did later find out you can remove the cover above the chute. I ensure the plastic cover was fully installed, the basket was installed again, I tried drilling holes and I tried giving the chute some "room" by cutting the foam in half. Meaning, I tried to fill the chute partially with foam to catch some muck, but allow the water to pass without restriction if it wanted to. This helped, but again after a 24 hour period I had to remove the foam to stop splashing. The fact that he cut his own sponges, they actually fit well, and they have the dimples, solves a lot of issues for a lot of people. I highly recommend that at the very least and his use of these foams has been the single best successful mod for these HoBs. Water height issues I'm showing off, it's something that he obviously can't see because it's not running. Especially the issues with the window cutouts. The media he uses is very compact and does cover the "window cutout" but I can guarantee you that the water is going directly through that are without really going through the sponges. Same thing with the intake filter. In my estimation, at best you're getting 10-15% of your input from the bottom of the intake pipe itself. The majority of the flow comes from the middle section (pump cover) and the skimmer openings. Because of this, having the intake there is nice, but it really doesn't do much in terms of the mechanical filtration benefits. In fairness, he setup this filter with the assumption that it works as designed. So I can't fault him too much for not cutting out holes in the basket or anything like that. I bring him up because he has specifically stated a few times in his videos that what he tries to do is provide a setup to start the conversation on how to setup the filters. It's a good way to view it. He points people to the comments where someone else can post an experience or provide feedback. He also has said many times that if there's "something better" he's all ears. One day maybe he'll see this, but the fact that he is encouraging to have a conversation and to discuss the setup of the filter has been a huge motivation for me to take the time to do something like this. If it ever makes it way to him, awesome, but I can guarantee you that no one should buy a product and "have to" modify it to such a degree to get it to function as designed. I'll toss a few photos below to show what's going on with the filter currently. Something I wanted to highlight for the tank itself right now is just showing where things tend to get stuck on the intakes, telling me where the flow mostly comes from. Usually there is a little piece of Anubias nana petite floating around the tank and it's either caught in the skimmer or in the pump housing grates. I couldn't even find it tonight. The poor little thing must've gotten sucked into the skimmer or something.

My assumption is, the better your filters function (no matter what is inside) the more bacteria you can hold in the media as well as stronger bacteria that works harder to process the waste. There is a carrying capacity and media will eventually not be able to support any more bacteria. I don't think you have that as the core issue, but it's definitely not helping to have the bypass stuff to maximize those "strong colonies" so to speak.

I spy an Aqueon! I don't even know what happened to mine, but I enjoyed it. This was how I set mine up. And I will encourage having some ceramic and some sponge. Worst case you can easily move the ceramic to a new tank if need be. I would stack a "tall sponge" and then next to that I would have a smaller sponge followed by a bag a ceramic media. The logic for me was that I wanted to avoid the red arrow bypassing the HoB media and going right into the tank. I would specifically have the sponge sticking out of the water slightly. If you put your finger or use a light or something there is a small baffle that controls the opening in the back of the HoB container. Depending on how the HoB you're using now is working, I would just verify that the water does make it way all the way to the right side and then flows down. You can add a fine pad to discourage bypass on the left side (red arrow) as well. Your other HoB is essentially the same thing, but opposite direction. From what you're showing there is clear bypass on the right HoB filter. On the left one it *might be* there, but it's difficult to say without video. Also, side note, whenever you feel good about the setup, please be sure to post details and experience in the "Show off your filter mods" thread.

Agreed. Very sorry for your loss.

Yeah, it could be weakened due to the damage received. I still see the redness on the tail, some fins are freyed or torn. It could just be a matter of time to recover, but I think it's critical to get the fish to a calm situation where it is very low stress compared to the flow issues in the 55G you've been having. Whether you do anything now or not, I'd start running the tub right away. Add a few pieces of media from your small canister filter or something so it can seed bacteria in the sponge. Next, you can monitor the fish or continue treatment. If I was in the situation I would treat Ich-X, Maracyn, API Salt.

Whatever your light is at right now, turn it down by half. You have to continually manually remove it, and then give your plants a chance to out compete.

Yep, as Colu said, right away. Whenever you're running meds its almost always recommended to also add an airstone.

It's definitely not as difficult as it seems. The big thing for me that I didn't do was pre-mix the saltwater and have it on hand for use.

@Goldie BlueHonestly. I think you need to get the API or Fritz branded meds. Erythromycin / General Cure (and ich-X) as well as the current med trio as your two options. I don't think the med you have works effectively. You've been treating for a while and it's still not showing enough improvement. If you decide to continue to treat, offer food every other day a small amount to make sure he's getting some energy. Salt will help with electrolytes and such as well. You have General cure in there but only dose it initially. Ich-X you change 30% of water before you re-dose per the directions on the bottle. The main thing is to specifically follow the directions on erythromycin as your guide for treatment and how often you would re-dose Ich-X and/or Erythromycin. Get a tub, 10-20G sterilite or black from the hardware store. you can use your sponge in it and there is plenty of water for him to sustain with good parameters and not need to worry about flow. you're basically going to run 1 sponge and one additional airstone in the tub for the fish. Can you please verify what meds you have available, if you have a sponge, salt, airstone, etc. The big question is going to be if you can get a tub, Ich-x, and Erythromycin in the very least. @IreneDo you have any advice here?

Yeah.... as I was very young and in awe of sharks and everything they could do. Mythical creatures to me in a sense, but I totally agree! Glad to be of help 🙂

I would change 50% water and run carbon. Should be ok, but it's to remove the trace elements of whatever from the PCB and what not.

I found this.... Very good breakdown of modifying it to use something besides the cartridge.

Nicely done. Peat moss is basically the way I've seen it done. RO water as well.

Good to know. Essentially, every time you fill the tank that is where the stress is at. The brace is there to take the load. Think of it like a piece of putty or something and it's stretched ever so slightly / loaded in the front to back direction. Any small imperfection in the brace itself, over time, will appear. Some tanks have stronger braces than others. They do sell metal ones, but I don't know how much I'd rely on it. If you were going to reinforce a tank, you'd very likely want to remove the top trim (difficult, but possible) and then add your stronger brace. Custom Aquariums might have some videos or resources for this, they do a lot of work and provide information for glass tanks. I would also point you towards OFR and some of their tanks have been heavily repaired as a result of the size of their tanks.

In general I'm asking because of health issues with extended family, diabetes, inflammation, and ketosis type of diets as a recommendation they've been given. We often talk about quality proteins and feeding our fish and animals high quality foods. I'm on the side of having to cook and trying to understand the "right things" to cook. Fishkeeping is a very similar thing, I want to try to provide good food and it's an interesting topic to discuss and learn about. You bring up an interesting point I hadn't considered, what we feed the things we are trying to eat (or feed) and the conditions and how that matters so much to the quality and end result of the products. Very interesting. I cannot wait to have a rack, a few things to work on and side projects like this. Even having green water around would be a nice step I'd like to get towards in the very near future. I would love to see a tour of somewhere when someone is breeding amanos on a scale. I know what's involved but they do have to maintain things like green water, rotifers, and very specific conditions to successfully raise up the zoeys. Interesting as always, thanks for talking through it.

Check level on each corner of the tank itself and front to back (not just left to right). Ultimately, ideally you want that bubble in the middle of the level. If you lift up one end of the level, you can see how much angle you need to get the tank itself "more level". I would think you have an issue where front to back there might be a twist and during different points of the tank being used it gets leaned on or something set there? Honestly, I'd call the manufacturer and share details with them. The brace shouldn't tear apart like that and they might do something to help you. If they don't, no big deal. For the meantime, lower the water level as well. 50% or lower is best.

^^ White clouds. Danios also. I would also think a lot of barbs and rasboras as well.

I don't know if it's the right choice for the situation, maybe @Colu can comment or someone else. It might be worth adding an airstone in addition to everything else going on to gently increase oxygenation.

Is it a tan color? It might be this:

This might help. Aquapros has a video as well, and it shows off the "difference" between different types of ceramic or other media and how they function in your filtration systems. Pondguru also has a build he did for his pond filter, very interesting stuff to watch. 100%. Find a "quality" of foam you like and then have some on hand for whenever you need some. HoBs stuffed with "good foam" is highly underrated at how good of a job it can do. Especially if you do find a good progression of foam PPI from course, medium, to fine. I use fine foam and don't even need to use filter floss or anything.