Chick-in-of-TheSea journal

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Cut the flow down to minimum, and no more sand movement has occurred. There is waste in the front corner now, but significantly less than what was piling up in the back, and it was easy enough to remove with the turkey baster.

3 fish from the main tank are now sharing a quarantine tote, each with a different ailment. Fuzznose got a 24 hr ich-x treatment in a bucket before joining the other 2 in qt tote. Then we have bloated girl (Onyx) who has been through a couple treatments with no reduction in size, but she gets around well and has a great appetite. She currently eats brine shrimp medicated with metroplex to try to target the bacteria that Maracyn 2 did not.  She’s happy that Fuzznose (he seems cured but I was hesitant for instant reintroduction to display tank; I want to monitor) is in there, because they are both black neons and are schooling together. 

Then the neurological disorder (?) fish which I haven’t treated. I did acquire the Maracyn 2 for him but LFS was really doubtful about it. They have attempted to treat fish with this issue (I showed the owner the video) and have not had success. So, idk. Play musical quarantines again to target treat just him, or keep him comfortable? I am leaning toward just salting the tank, since that can provide benefit for everyone in there. They are at a level 1 salt at this time.

Edited June 17 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Little bit of an update on the fishroom. I still have the new head-and-taillights in qt, as some of them were eating hungrily yet losing weight. I had previously done level 2 salt for them, but still no weight gain. Now I’m starting to see nice belly rounding out with praziquantal flake.

Geppetto recovered nicely from his stuck in shrimp cave incident.

The ember tetras are doing well, but I’m unhappy with the tank and the algae situation. I like how the pothos fills the tank, and it is fun to watch them swim through it, but something has to change here for aesthetics. 

One thing I am considering is giving the Walstad jar a massive haircut and planting the moneywort into the ember tank. However, I do need to add more sand to make that happen, as it is not deep enough to plant in.

 

The 29 gallon is doing well, and I haven’t had any other issues with illness in there.

I did notice a bit of fraying on Flint’s one fin, and I think it could be a little bit of stress from the new powerhead. So I updated the schedule on the Kasa timer for it to run the powerhead for 10 minutes, twice daily. All I need is for it to push debris out from the back and toward the hob intake.

The 3 kids that were ill from this tank are together in this tote. Fuzznose had a 24 hour ich x treatment in a bucket before joining. The pristella is the shivery swimming fish that I thought could have a neurological issue, or Colu suggested maybe he ran into something. Most concerning is bloated girl, Onyx, who has had various treatments with no improvement, but she is very active and eating well. She viciously attacked brine shrimp yesterday that had fallen to the ground. She dove for it, slid into home plate on her belly, came to a screeching halt which caused her mouth to angle down to the floor, the sluuurped up the shrimp. 😂  The food is medicated with metroplex, and she loves it. A few more days on that and then I don’t know what. Metro was supposed to target bacteria that the Maracyn 2 may have missed. 

I also don’t know what to do for neurological guy, or Hank the red gill guy who lives in with his school of head-and-taillights. Hank had salt, Kanaplex, and Maracyn2. He doesn’t play nice with Onyx. He’s nippy, so when he does go through any treatments with her, he has to reside in a breeder box where he just sulks like a naughty kid who got put in the corner.

Hank:

For the tanks consolidation project, I am thinking about this metal stand. Especially appealing are the electrical outlets and surge protection built in.
 

 

Still undecided about the 40b or 55g. Every time I think of the 55g I picture a massive flood on the floor, ya know, worst case scenario thoughts. But it’s probably safer, yeah? Because it has a center brace I believe?

 

 

Edited June 20 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/15/2024 at 7:02 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

That’s a long time for ich!  Last I had it was a few years ago. I kicked up the temp to 86 and did the garlic infusion. It cured everyone but I did have a couple losses. Ich is a nasty one to deal with. I’d say maybe a week and a half was my duration of treatment and recovery.

Yeah! It was my colder temp tank and I really took time boosting the temp up. I didn't crank it to 80+ just because the fish weren't tolerant of that. It was definitely an enlightening experience. I had added fish, definitely ich, definitely was something where the lifecycle just took a lot of time to progress.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/20/2024 at 5:27 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Still undecided about the 40b or 55g.

Whichever you decide, get a stand for a 75G. I recommend the one that I have, but unfortunately it's not easy to obtain anymore.

The reason I say this is that it gives you the "space" for the table to be a table and the tank will always be supported well. 75G stands are made a bit better quality to distribute weight. I would honestly recommend a 40 (3 foot) or 60Breeder tank (4 foot).

I've been in the world of the 55G tank and it's just so tall and narrow (from to back) that it's difficult to really utilize fully. The added depth on the tank is very worthwhile. I like the height change from a 75g down to a 60 because it makes life so much easier for you and it's more panoramic in aesthetic.

If you take a 55G tank and put it on a 75G stand, the corners are supported properly and you can even skew it towards the back of the stand or front of you don't want it centered. This gives you space for things behind the tank or just a place to set something down. With the 40 on that stand, depending on construction that stand should be made in such a way with supports on the middle of the tank and you can locate it as such to be properly supported. Again, it just gives you a "table" for something like a canister filter or decorations or a place for things to go when you need to.

On 6/20/2024 at 5:27 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

For the tanks consolidation project, I am thinking about this metal stand. Especially appealing are the electrical outlets and surge protection built in.

The Petco branded ones are very good and very well made. I have a 55G one that is a bookshelf in its new life and I have the 20Long on one as well. That 40B stand is wonderful and they are reliable. The only real issue is that it's better if you have a wooden top on it and you don't have a stand for storage. Most other metal stands I've seen are made with thin materials and that would just concern me. It's definitely worth a trip to Petco and PetSmart just to see the stands and get hands on them and understand the quality as opposed to something from Amazon and a brand that you really don't know if it's reliable, certified, or properly designed for aquariums.

The one I have was branded aqueon and made by sauder.

The majority of wood stands from Petco are made by sauder.

On 6/20/2024 at 5:27 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

So I updated the schedule on the Kasa timer for it to run the powerhead for 10 minutes, twice daily. All I need is for it to push debris out from the back and toward the hob intake.

Awesome! What a great fix and elegant solution.  Much better than paying a few hundred for a fancy one in the saltwater world. 😂

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/15/2024 at 4:13 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I set up the most beautiful quarantine.

Nice and tidy. You do what you gotta do!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Walstad jar got a haircut. Ember tank before & after.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Guys, I bought hygrothingy plants. The regular and the compact (12,18). Are they easy to grow?  I don’t see a rhizome so I believe they just get planted into the substrate.

They are a little beat up. We will see what they do. They are in RR.

Also do we think this is a good deal? $600 includes stand, tank, lid, filter, heater, light (not a plant light). All Fluval. Thank heavens for a decent lid. It’s 45 gal.

3’ would fit nicely in my space.

4’ tanks I’m afraid of, lol

Edited June 28 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/28/2024 at 11:03 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

The regular and the compact (12,18). Are they easy to grow?  I don’t see a rhizome so I believe they just get planted into the substrate.

Both should be easy. Just a normal stem plant yes! The corymbosa compact is midgrount the other is background.  Beautiful plants.

On 6/28/2024 at 11:03 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Asks about mosses. 😂

On 6/28/2024 at 11:03 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

4’ tanks I’m afraid of, lol

Don't be. The biggest negative for that tank is literally just the curve and the actual lid. If something happens or you want to change a light or something to a planted one.... It's not as easy. I believe you can just swap it from an aquasky to a planted and it fits, but something to note with hoods is that you're.often stuck with just that.

My marineland bowfront was great, loved it, but the distortion killed me. The lid needed a replacement piece, no spares, fluval should be a lot better about that aspect.

Plus. A 40B is only 3 foot long. 😉

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/28/2024 at 3:00 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Plus. A 40B is only 3 foot long. 😉

Believe me, thought about it. Idk if 40 is large enough? I’d want to put 32 fish in there. Not that they’re large fish. Tetras, Snoopy, Flint (BNP), 2 snails. Mystery snail and Flint have heavy bioloads. Esp Flint, omg 💩💩💩

Can I get a lid for a 40 that is not a dumb lid?

Edited June 28 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Tony s]

Very cool. But last week out in the wild was a video of your long fin gray pleco

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I have water quality woes!

12 hrs AFTER using clarifier; it is worse!

Also the last 2 days the tank had water changes. The clarifier was added right after the 2nd one.

Trying new floss. LFS stuff (new; white) vs Amazon stuff (previous; green).

LFS stuff:

 

First impression is good. No bypass. Now we wait. Will water change anyway around lunchtime just to collect whatever stuff the clarifier took down to the substrate.

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

So sorry you're still having sick issues. On the bloated girl, I just let mine live it out until they were super weak (no longer swimming) then I put them in floating breeders and fed them by hand. Once they got to that point it wasn't long before they passed. 

On the tank, after having had the Flex9 I'm not a huge fan of bow front anything. Personally I'd go for regular rectangular tanks myself. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/29/2024 at 7:27 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

First impression is good. No bypass

LOL! Bypass in an hour! Floss wasn’t even dirty. But, typical.. heh. Anyway, whenever I have bypass, I rotate the square of floss 90 degrees. Floss & coarse get swished in tank water during weekly maintenance. I think I will take the HOB off today and give the box and tubes a good cleaning as well.

Also I planted the hygrophila. Here is before and after. The new plants are pretty small and unspectacular right now, but I think they will fill in.

before

 

after - not very different, lol

 

When I googled hygrophila I got a number of results for “how to get rid of hygrophila” so that’s promising. Maybe it will be prolific. Also fun fact: the common name is swamp weed.

I believe my water cloudiness is caused by 2 things: 1) recent calcium food offered in tank but was not consumed and 2) some of the root tabs I placed over the weekend popped up. I had a nitrate spike, hence the daily water changes, and I knew I had to test nitrates because of this:

Multiple plants have the issue, as well as the heater, driftwood, and walls. I am hoping daily water changes, new floss, and new plants will contribute to the solution. I did trim the worst leaves, including the one pictured here.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/28/2024 at 12:14 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Can I get a lid for a 40 that is not a dumb lid?

The marineland was glass. I don't know what fluval has, but I'm going to say you're stuck with that hood.

On the 40, 60, 75g the lids are much higher quality. Thicker glass and just way nicer. Those tanks are all the same front to back, just different height and length.

On 6/29/2024 at 4:27 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

12 hrs AFTER using clarifier; it is worse!

I'm guessing this is common. There's a warning on the one I use that it might get worse before it gets better and to give it 24 hours or whatever it is to do the job.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Nice and clear today 🙂

New plants did shed a few leaves.🍃 

 

Edited June 30 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/28/2024 at 3:14 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Believe me, thought about it. Idk if 40 is large enough? I’d want to put 32 fish in there. Not that they’re large fish. Tetras, Snoopy, Flint (BNP), 2 snails. Mystery snail and Flint have heavy bioloads

Well folks, mission accomplished and tank acquired. But, um, it’s a 20L.  Here’s why:

1. I chickened out. Large water volume makes me picture a big flood in my head.

2. I couldn’t fathom breaking down the 13 year old 29 gallon. The ecosystem in there is so tricked out, I can massively overfeed and the tank can handle it. Not that I’m going to, but I have, and it does. (More likely, forgetting to remove food😬, and the tank remains stable. I do like to let food sit a while to give the snail and pleco a chance to access it.)

3. The space. I think I would have been ok with a 3’ long tank. This is 30” and will still fit on the wall with my other tanks. I also decided the 29g will remain my display tank and I didn’t want to go same size or larger with the new tank.

4. The 20L stand will match these other stands. Everything coordinates.

5. I can move the 20L around easily myself without need for assistance from non-hobbyist.

6. It resolves the problem I was really trying to solve: get everyone out of 5 gallon tanks.
 

I bought embers intending them to live with shrimps, but once I saw how greedily they eat, I knew shrimplets would not be able to coexist with them.

I bought head-and-taillights so my one lone head-and-taillight in the 29 gal would have a school. Only, there was a little bit of sickness in the 29 gal recently, and I realize I cannot add more bioload to that tank and still maintain good water quality. Also the head-and-taillights are getting restless and nippy in the 5g. I don’t want to keep them there much longer.

7. Part of dollar per gallon sale, as well as freebies and rebates. I had a $25 gift card to use as well, so the tank ended up costing me $4.99. I picked up a filter as well strictly because of the rebate and my loyalty points or whatnot from the big box store. Using the money saved, I can grab another ink bird as well as a nice substrate, light, lid, hardscape, and plants. I already have a heater.

I am leak testing today. Also I watched it fill for awhile and when I walked away, after a few minutes, the garden hose whipped out of the tank and sprayed down my tanks, walls, and I had a nice little flood on the floor. 🙄 Fortunately I have little blocks of 2X4 under my power strips so no electrical sat in the water. Some air pumps did but only briefly.

These are the 2 tanks I plan to decommission. One may stay up as a qt but I do not plan to adopt any other fish, except for 2 or 3 male guppies from my friend. I will just call them “fireball guppies” because their tails are red, orange, and yellow. It will be nice to have those flashes of color.

Edited July 4 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I run 2 Aqueon Quiet flows and love them. That's my 2 cents. :-)

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Some of the hygrophila show promise.

Others do not.

Flint was nibbling at those earlier so I think he knows they are on the way out. And here’s Button just sunning herself.

I did some “dumpster diving” this morning on my way home from the gym. Noticed a 29 gal on someone’s curb and I looted it for the lid, light, and filter.

Was a small cheap Nicrew. I found a power cord for it, but it didn’t work. I tried 3 different power cords, actually. Ah well. The HOB is a Fluval, suitable for a 10-15 gallon tank, I’d say. It made a loud buzzing noise when I tested it, so I cleaned the pump and impeller and had to monkey around with reseating everything. It works. I just need to sanitize it, just in case.

 

I used peroxide on the lid, and when it got wet it smelled like dust. I guess the hobbyist retired the tank awhile ago. The tank itself looked pretty new! But I don’t do preowned tanks if I can help it. I don’t know why it was at the curb. Could be hobbyist quit, or could be tank failed. So I left it there. Besides, no room for another tank right now.

Now I have 2 lid options for the 20L though: the hood or the glass lid. I will start with the hood because I really despise this brand glass lid. Lately what I’ve been using on most tanks are the lifewithpets lids. I like them. The only thing is they don’t accommodate HOBs but for the tanks I’m using them on, I just run sponge filters.

When I woke up this morning, I looked up at the window and saw this little guy. A baby anole. Anoles are everywhere down here.

 

 

I budgeted for my new tank project and ordered my ACO light. I’m curious about it! Looking forward to trying it out. I’ve seen nothing but good things about it so far.

Edited July 7 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Assembly of the stand has begun, and 4 fish tanks (2 stands) have been moved in the fishroom to clear a spot.

I had help…

Unfortunately I got a defective one where these welded bits were welded on crooked, so I was unable to assemble because the notches on the shelf didn’t line up. This is a fluke because I have 2 other stands like this one, and they went together just fine and are very durable.
 

Hence I repackaged it and sent it back to Amazon along with however much cat fur 😅

Edited July 7 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

🖤 Flint 🖤

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Alrighty, I am working in phases on the setup of the 20L. New stand came in, got that set up, background applied, power strips wall mounted, and I’m trying out @Guppysnail’s favorite, the CaribSea Jungle River sand. It is so nice! I think it is a worthwhile investment and will be much easier to maintain than the pool filter sand. I love all of the colors in this, and it will be a fine choice for plant roots.

The sand came with a clarifier, and it states to wait several hours for clarity, 24 hours for complete clarity. The media and this tap water are getting tossed afterwards anyway; it’s just in there as a dust collector. I have some used media and water change water from last week that I’ve been aerating. I will use this week’s water change water and gunk as well, and I will clean my filters in the new tank.

The Aqueon quiet flow- I love it! It is quiet! I couldn’t tell it was on until I saw the water flowing. Also the outflow is a nicely designed horizontal baffle, and there is an output ammonia removing sponge which can be replaced with these other types of sponges.

 

I’d probably cut my own media for it, but I love these options! Also I have a nasty prefilter sponge to put on the filter as well.

Edited July 12 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

The jungle river sand is so easy to maintain.  It vacuums quickly and deeply.  If I use my larger diameter siphon I just keep my fingers ready to pinch the hose in case I suck up too much substrate. 
I never used the clarifier.  I always put 3 inches of water I. Then dump rinsed substrate in and settle it manually.  Then I drain that water as much as possible.  When I refill it clear water. This is taken 20 minutes after that method. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I’m in no rush to clear it. This is leak test #2, just a day, and just in case. Then all that tank water can go in. Need to go shopping for a cool piece or two of driftwood, and some plants.

The male “fireball” guppies are still on reserve for me at my friend’s house.

Edited July 12 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSeaa big vote yes here for those fireballs. Cory recently mentioned fish he wished he kept and that’s one of mine. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/13/2024 at 1:59 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Chick-In-Of-TheSeaa big vote yes here for those fireballs. Cory recently mentioned fish he wished he kept and that’s one of mine. 

I’m just calling them fireball guppies because of their red/orange/yellow tails. I’m sure they aren’t marketed that way. I just make things up as I go. 😅 I think the tails have black spots on them too.

A scape has come together today in the 20L.  The driftwood I found has 2 swim-throughs which is cool. The tank was drained and now it’s all tank water in there from water changes on the other tanks. Used media and prefilter sponge went in as well. This is the ACO light. I really like it! I noticed my Hyggers have cool glow and this light has warm glow. Very pleasant.

Just need to get some air, heat, and the inkbird going and I think it will be fully equipped. I’m going to do another water change as well, since I did add a bunch of detritus in there today with the old water. It’s a good way to add bacteria, but I want to get that gunk siphoned up before adding livestock.

Also this plant (hygrophila) I thought would die just surprised me with nearby sprouts. Here’s the photo from 7/6 and the photo from today.

 

 

Edited July 13 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea