Newbie things I learned doing my last water change.

[Mary K]

1.)  Look at the bottle of water conditioner to make sure it is conditioner.  I just grabbed the bottle with a pump. It was the Easy Green bottle.   (Only added it to 5 gals before I saw my mistake.)

2.) Don't forget to turn the filter back on after doing a water change.  I noticed it 24 hours later. Luckily no Ammonia spike.  

3.  Don't skip a water change.  I went 2 weeks.  Nitrates were way to high and it took me doing a 7gal water change  3 times to get it down.  (its only a 29 gal.) 

4. Don't over feed. See #3. 

(Started Tank up Sep 2nd)

 

[shkote]

Your tank looks great! I love that driftwood. 😍

[Alesha]

I think we've all done those things...whether we're beginners or not! Glad every-fishy is doing well in spite of your growing pains. Congrats on the beautiful tank!

[Tami]

Just yesterday I forgot to turn my heater back on - boy was I surprised today when I put my finger in my tank when feeding! from 76 to 66 in less than 24 hours (of course our house is always freezing 65 degrees)

 

[The nano tank man]

Hey man, you got a beautiful aquascape going on. Also I remember my friend had a 1 gallon aquascape that he had for a year. (No live plants in this set up) and only did one water change. In a year hus betta died.(I tried to tell him his tank was too small)

[E-Man]

Forget to turn the heater off.   It smokes and melted my plastic bracket.

This happens pretty much every week.  The smoking part.   

[FishObsessed]

Like your tank!

[Maggie]

I've had to get creative with heating water. I use gallon milk jugs to change about 5 gallons twice a week in my two tanks. The aged water is about 66-70 depending on where it's stored (I need to get water storage worked out in my little house). What I do is heat 1 quart to about 100-120 in the microwave, then mix a small amount of that with the room temp water in a separate plastic container and add to tank using my hand to guage the temp. Repeat process a few times. It is not ideal at all which is why I do smaller changes more often. In the summer there will be the problem of cooling the water. I'm thinking aged water ice cubes which I'll probably have to add randomly throughout the day, at least in the danio tank. Does anyone have any better ideas about keeping them cool in the heat? I keep my ac at 78-80 during the day and in heat waves it can't even keep up with that. 

[LiveBearer Fan]

What a gorgeous setup you have! I cannot wait to get a larger tank.

[Tami]

@MaggieI do almost the same thing, I have a few gallons by the heater vents and if I need more 2 cups in the microwave from a gallon for 2 minutes - add it back to the gallon and usually it is just right - the things we do for our fishy

[JettsPapa]

Maybe I'm doing things wrong, but I've never forgotten to turn something back on after a water change because I never turn anything off.  The intakes on my HOB's are still below the water line when I do water changes.  The flow may slow down when the water level drops, but they keep going.

And my heaters are all placed low enough in the tanks that they also stay below the water line.  Some of them are very near horizontal instead of vertical, but they stay in the water.

[Lemon]

On 11/2/2020 at 2:49 PM, Mary K said:

1.)  Look at the bottle of water conditioner to make sure it is conditioner.  I just grabbed the bottle with a pump. It was the Easy Green bottle.   (Only added it to 5 gals before I saw my mistake.)

2.) Don't forget to turn the filter back on after doing a water change.  I noticed it 24 hours later. Luckily no Ammonia spike.  

3.  Don't skip a water change.  I went 2 weeks.  Nitrates were way to high and it took me doing a 7gal water change  3 times to get it down.  (its only a 29 gal.) 

4. Don't over feed. See #3. 

(Started Tank up Sep 2nd)

 

1# is really important accidently use seachem nitrogen all the shrimp died surprisingly the fish were fine 🤔

[Sharon- fishandfloral]

Forgetting to turn the submersible heater off before doing an aggressive water change. I only figured it out by the scent of melting, smoking plastic. It still works though. 😆. 🤷‍♀️

[H.K.Luterman]

Your tank looks great! It's only going to get better and better as the plants grow in. Love the little scuba guy. :3

 

[Mary K]

 

Thanks for the kudoes and replies folks!  The Tank is growing nicely and the fish also.  Dwarf Lilly's FTW!