Woowala
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Posts posted by Woowala
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Anyone happen to know what this is? Found along a coldwater stream in Massachusetts
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This is great, outstanding work. Do they only eat moving food? I imagine so, but was wondering if they might be willing to go for something like 5 micron golden pearls if mixed in with infusoria once they've learned to associate that area with food.
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On 8/11/2024 at 8:52 PM, Lou said:
Unfortunately Petco and PetSmart are about my only options where I am located. But I think I may drive to Asheville which is about 1.5 hours away to check out a place someone else had mentioned
It's definitely worth checking out if they come recommended. A good fish store is like a good mechanic. There's plenty of fish stores near me, and I don't go all that often, but when I do I drive an hour to the good one.
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I basically do the same. A small notebook for water chemistry stuff- test results, how much of x per gallon raises y by z amount, stuff like that. And a dry erase board for more general notes that I take a pic of when it gets filled before erasing.
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I haven't kept them, but they're definitely one of the fish on my list. Hopefully this will help
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I can relate, I qt anything new and isolate tanks from each other if I notice anything weird. So much time and effort goes into our tanks, not worth risking it imo.
That said, I doubt anything is going to even notice a half teaspoon of salt in 10 gallons. But it's also such a small amount that I don't think it's even worth adding in the first place.
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Nice, then you're ahead of the game already. As they say, the difference between science and just screwing around is writing stuff down. Don't get any magic bullet products, time and knowledge are your weapons here.
Wisteria will be helpful, but keep an eye out for plants that actually break the surface of the water and have access to atmospheric CO2. You don't have to run out and get some right away, but eventually. More CO2 = more growth = more nitrogen uptake = healthier water for the fish and fewer water changes for you.
Observe the plants at petco. If you see lots of algae or sick looking fish, don't buy.
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The thing with plants is they need to be growing fast in order to be useful for reducing nitrogen waste, so rhizome plants like Anubias and Java fern don't help much in that regard. This is why floaters are so great, you can almost see them growing.
It's all about nutrient export. Whatever you add to the tank stays there until you remove it, generally speaking. When you add food much of the nitrogen in the food ends up as ammonia. Cycling allows it to be converted to a less toxic form (nitrate) until you remove it through water changes. Plants build their bodies with it until you ultimately remove it by trimming the plants.
I would add nothing to this tank until it's done cycling, other than floating plants and a small amount of fish food once per day. The fish already in it can probably stand the 1ppm ammonia, but if you notice it getting much higher reduce it back down with 1 or more 50% water changes. Don't worry about kh, gh, or pH for the time being. Just track ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate until it's done cycling. Get a little notebook or dry erase board and write down any test results and other observations- fish looking sick or dying, cloudy water, etc. If you use test strips that also test for things like pH, gh, and kh when you're checking the ammonia, write that down too.
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It's probably worth the risks anyway in a small tank
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That is quite excellent (not the hurricane part). Have you had any trouble with pests? Do you filter the seawater or anything or just let it sit and allow anything that dies right away to settle out first? Do you always collect at the same time of day? I bet if you went at night when the zooplankton migrate up you might get some crazy stuff.
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It'll get less stressful with experience. kinda, haha.
You could probably find someone local who'd be happy to give you some floaters. They grow fast and most people give or throw away lots of them.
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Good advice here. I would just like to add a couple suggestions. Get some floating plants like red root floaters, salvinia, even duckweed. They'll really help with the water quality and make you more successful.
For fish, something fairly good looking and visible- serpae tetras, black skirt tetras, maybe dwarf gouramis. But above all, assuming it's a good fit for the water and tank, get whatever the kid likes so he gets hooked. One of us! One of us!
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Raise the temp? Lol I'm as stumped as you are
Maybe genetics if they're highly line bred?
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This might be obvious, but what's the temp? If it's high try dropping it.
You may have already done this too, but I'd try setting them up in small tank with a screened bottom or some way you can be absolutely sure if eggs are being produced and eaten or not produced at all.
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I didn't watch the video, but this is what I do. I'm not trying to maximize things- I like growing and hate selling, so my setup could be better, but this requires almost no work. I plant in miracle grow soil, pretty much just set them on top of the soil, and once a month or so I open them up, take a pic with my phone, and spray with a dilute fert solution (I use general hydroponics cuz that's what I have on hand and it's cheap, 1mL/L nitrogen and 1mL/L potassium). I could probably dial in the fertilizer better but I'd rather spend time on fish. I don't bother with cutting ventilation holes. If you see mold you might want to do that and/or get some springtails but you'll have to keep an eye on the humidity. I've tried them with just ferts on an inert medium like hydroton or lava rock but it was more maintenance with little growth difference. When they fill in the shoebox I chop em up and make a new box or two.
For lights I use these- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VBGMXP8?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
but I'm sure anything that's not too bright will work fine.
pics-
the moss is just some sphagnum that I grew from some dry stuff you get at home depot or wherever, just for fun.
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Yeah I'd say you're there
Looks amazing
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On 8/9/2024 at 10:13 AM, s_in_houston said:
It was you I was thinking of to be honest. 😜
Haha, I knew it
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Then yes I would think it should be fine. 54 watts over a 75 gallon shouldn't be too much, and you could always add some plastic window screening or floaters to shade it if you need to.
If anything I expect it might be pretty dim, which is just what you're going for.
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Do you have a fixture for it? It'll work assuming the fixture and the ballast in the fixture can handle the wattage, (most 4ft bulbs are 40 watts) but it's only a matter of time before it costs more to run that than it does to buy an led. That might be a long time so it might be worth it, or not. It will also produce a lot more heat, which can be good or bad depending on your situation, but you're spending money creating heat instead of light.
Generally speaking, I wouldn't bother with florescent bulbs as they're just so inefficient compared to leds.
It sucks when someone tries to do something nice like that but it's the wrong thing. Always feels so bad.
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In this case the bad news is that it's a real pain in the butt to tear apart and rebuild a tank lol. Also be careful, razor blades and sharp edges and all that. If money were no object I'd just buy a new one.
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Yes like that. That isn't too bad when it's right on the lid, but for me I hate having to move the light to get into the tank so I suspend the light, but then I have to put something up to block it.
The two part epoxy is commonly used in reef tanks (or it was around 10 years ago when I was doing them) to glue big rocks together and attach corals. As long as it's made for potable water it should be good. Cures underwater too so you can work with wet rocks. Great stuff.
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I wish I could take credit, but yes it really works great. Really fits with my desire to do as little work as possible too, haha.
Great jerseys 🙂
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I just mean I hate being blasted in the eyes with an exposed light when I look at my tanks. Like if you have a tank light well above the lid, I hate seeing that exposed light when looking at the tank. I think if it could be done so that the cave is lit up without seeing the light bulb, that would look much better. But like I said, that might just be me. If you like it, then I think it looks great. 🙂
If the silicone doesn't work out and the cave isn't structurally sound, try a 2 part epoxy like jb water weld. Not sure if they have that in Europe, but something like that made for potable water systems. Cures quickly and works great.
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definitely better with the background. I too am a big fan of a simple black background.
pet peeve of mine but I would move heaven and earth to not see that naked light bulb behind the cave. I get what you're going for though and love the scape.
Plant ID
in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers
Posted · Edited by Woowala
Yeah it was just a shot in the dark, figured someone here might know before I made a serious attempt at identifying it (if I ever do, haha). Looked superficially similar to lobelia, but I'm not too knowledgeable with plants. I didn't collect it.