nabokovfan87

Is there a possibility of adding some crushed coral to your filtration?

What is the issue you're having and needing glue? King of DIY uses the one you mentioned. Check the ingredients list and you should be able to find something that either is exactly that under a different name or just the brand mentioned.

this is the first thing that came to mind. Amanos are almost always "too big" for the rams and the rams will stick to their area and the shrimp will learn that. The only issue is going to be temps and keeping the bolivian ram happy but beyond that it is my favorite centerpiece fish that has such amazing coloration. I cannot wait to have one again.

There's always something! Take a day, pour some tea, and see if your plants are pearling or not. Review settings, just sit and take in the tank and think about what you really want out of it. Enjoy that labor and just enjoy the fish. See how they are acting, their behaviors. Learn them moreso than before. It's such a cool part of the hobby to be at the point you're at and enjoying it. 🙂

Definitely could be what was going on, but it looked like a ram that was hiding more than anything. That's the body language I got and video of course would help (or just more photos). Rams are generally really good about eating and not over eating. They like to hunt in their zone and sift around in the substrate. Having a food that drops in their zone would be a good way to handle it. Drop a pinch of food for the normal feeding, then a smaller sinking type of food (vibra bites, sinking pellets, etc.) would be something that the rams enjoy and they can eat easily.

Good to hear. In the picture shown (perhaps you can show more of both rams and where they like to hang out) is there any way to add a piece of mopani or something like that above the ram as an arch to give him a bit of a hide? Another great option might be some terra cotta pots from the store (home depot had some flat side walled ones I really liked) and you can just have it on it's side in the tank. The coloration indicator for me when I had my rams was the strength of the yellow on their belly and the blue lines on their fins. Here is a good example of what you "should see" if the ram is doing ok.

I will second this.... yes please. Jimmy did have a video on a method to make this happen (quilting mesh siliconed or suction cupped to the back wall. I have always wanted to get that going and very, very, very, very soon will be something I push towards. found it:

I would not worry too heavily about the PH being slightly lower than 7. Generally most fish will adjust unless they are extremely sensitive to PH. There are also species that thrive in the 6.4-6.8 range compared to 7+. In my water, the PH is always about 6.4 and I've never had any issues. I do however have a lot more KH/GH than you're experiencing. That being said, I totally understand the wish to add some security and buffer water so that over time things adjust accordingly and you're less likely to have a major crash. I don't think there's much to it. you have two options, add it to the tank (like substrate) or add it to the canister as a chemical additive (after all of your filtration / media). It will release slowly over time. You can simply add it to the canister and you should be fine to go. Second to that, I would take a container for water (if you have one, if you don't, don't worry about it) so that you can treat this like saltwater and add some buffer to it while you're waiting to do a water change. You add some water for your water change, along with the crushed coral in the canister filter, I would imagine that from that point on.... you'll have enough "buffered" water in the tank to adequately handle the 10-15% swap when you do a normal water change.

That sucks. I got my yarn from walmart. I had to look for the one that was specifically 100% nylon. Are you going to re-treat the whole tank again or run them through QT separately?

is there any way to control this? Wifi plug or just an old school timer? It's the only way to start to solve this issue. You should not need to at all. You would use chemical fertilizers (easy green) for the plants to feed them nutrients, but without normal lighting the plants aren't going to get into a growing schedule and it can lead to some major issues. In terms of "keeping it clean" I would recommend adding some amano shrimp.

Add 4-8 amano shrimp and you'll never regret it.

Before I added "more" amanos After adding Amanos (3-4 days later, sorry about the dirty glass) This is on my smaller tank (not the one above) grows Anubias and so the lighting is much lower %. Hopefully this helps

Does the tank have any amanos? Turn the blue down to 1% (all it does is grow algae) you can also turn UP warm white, and slightly turn down cold white (5% or so). I would recommend checking this one out if you need any tips or advice. Let me show you what mine is at for comparison. You're running a really long exposure time which isn't an issue if you control it in the tank with algae eaters or amanos.

This is going to be the big thing. I would slant towards having a glass top if you can find one from the vendor who made your tank or have one made for your tank. It's totally worth it if you can find one. this one *might* work. Aqueon is good about releasing dimension sheets. https://www.petswarehouse.com/aqueon-versa-top-36-gallon-bow-front-29-3-wide/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpuvzzpfy9gIVXwytBh3sLgS_EAQYASABEgKtI_D_BwE

depending on what the manufacturer of the tank is, you should be able to look up "critical dimensions" for that vendor and have their list for every tank they produce.

I had mine with similar behavior. When I was trying to find out what it was, I was looking into this exact thing. I also have a clown that does the exact same thing and literally never has any patterning at all. 9/10 it's going to be just pleco camoflauge (they do that it seems) and it could just be from stress. Keep an eye on behavior, but you should be totally fine. When the fish settles in or gets more comfortable it should be a lot more reliable to notice. If it is a disease you're looking towards bacterial (from rubbing on something) or fungal just based on what you're seeing. Considering the pleco is hanging out on the white rock...... I would lean towards camo https://www.google.com/search?q=bristlenose+pleco+camouflage&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjmiYn_lPL2AhUeADQIHSICC1QQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=bristlenose+pleco+camouflage&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECAAQGDoFCAAQgARQsRRYiChgpyloAHAAeACAAWGIAbEHkgECMTOYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=6JFGYub1H56A0PEPooSsoAU&bih=698&biw=1525&client=firefox-b-1-d

If you can, take a video of both fish. If you have two males it could be a territory issue. Having hides for both on opposing sides of the tank may resolve that issue (flat base, 3 walls, generally) I would dose some salt right away just because you're seeing some issues with oxygenation. Try to hand feed some blood worms or something and see how the behavior is. When my ram started acting this way it was temperature related. Try slightly increasing it (if you can) just a degree to see if you notice any improvement. (probably best to do this before you add anything so you can ensure one variable changes at a time) The lack of coloration is what looks concerning to me.

I would love to see some of the stuff you have going on. (maybe a tour with the coop?) Congratulations and awesome work and perseverance. Best of luck catching up with Dean!

Sounds like a perfect plan. Best of luck with it!

You can also just Dremel out a hole for the light if you really needed to. They do also have glass bowfront lids which you may or may not get lucky finding one to fit.

There is a variety of "plastic adhesive" that would work and should bond the plastics to one another. That being said..... I worry about the chemicals added to the tank and long term viability given how wet that atmosphere is going to be. There might be some heat dissipation requirements to make sure the light doesn't melt the plastic. I would just use silicone on each end of the light. Easy to remove it if you need be and that light won't go anywhere, also gives you the ability to have an air gap if need be. (apply a dot of silicone and let it dry, similar to a bump on, and then put the light on place and use the silicone as needed to attach the light like it's hot glue)

When I had mentioned earlier I had 3 cories and ended up with 20+ that tank was a 55G with about 20+ green tiger barbs and panda Corys. The Corys are bottom dwellers and absolutely don't get bossed or harassed by the tiger barbs. Tiger barbs are generally calm except when food is involved. They swim around, very active, and are at a different level of the tank. I wouldn't he concerned in any way stocking Corys with Tigers. The only concern with the tiger barbs is going to be the tetras. Either the TB could eat small/thin tetra or the tetra has a similar body shape as the TB and that might cause some feistyness. Having salt on hand and having some bacterial meds would be helpful if that does happen.

It doesn't have to be extremely thick. 1/8"-1/4" is sufficient and the standard used depending on the density of the material. Someone told me somewhere to just get a yoga mat and cut that by hand, that's what I did for my tank. It should do the trick. A lot of tanks without rims will come with that mat already. To give you an idea of the thickness needed. So it's about.... .012", you should be fine with that difference in flatness especially with that size of a tank.

You can add a clown type pleco if you wish. It's a pretty beautiful fish and is something that would not eat the same types of food as your bristlenose. My clowns like their caves, they have different hours, they definitely want some wood in the tank and that will absolutely lead to some mulm being added to the tank. I don't know if that's "active enough" for what you're trying to do. Plecos, and especially one per tank, are generally stated because of the amount of waste they produce compared to other species. Yours will definitely help with algae on the glass, but other varieties would add to that waste and I don't know if you want to have that added mess. another one to check out might be a panda garra I started with 3. I have about 20+. Don't worry, you'll get some more just having them in the tank and being happy. I don't think the oto will thrive. They are absolutely a beautiful fish, but with the snails and pleco it's likely to be out competed. Tigerbarbs are pretty fun and amazing and a 55G is a great tank size to have. Here is a video to check out to see them in all their glory. That being said they will kind of "bully" other fish depending there is in their swimming space. they will generally occupy the mid or top of the tank depending on the scape and layout of the tank. What kind of tetras do you have? What is it your specifically trying to achieve by adding more fish to the tank? This is kind of what I was thinking too. Great choice with the pygmy cory. If it's a generally peaceful tank, something like white clouds or fish with that type of a personality would do really well and add some life to the tank.

basically a 75G in terms of depth, or anything bigger. I also wish someone would make a 12" tall lowboy that is 2-4 ft square (I'm sure the corys would love that). Right now they are 10" tall and it's just not great.