Get to know everyone - 10 questions

[JJenna]

On 2/2/2023 at 5:02 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Put a small "hallway table" next to your tank or something like a plant stand.

Great minds.....!

[Tanked]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:11 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

How do you mean?

Hm...  I am guessing this is related to the above.

Lets start with the easy one. 

I reentered the world of planted aquariums about 5 years ago. Growing aquatic plants had always been a struggle. Eventually the first pest snails arrived, and it became an almost nightly ritual to wait for some gravel to move by itself and a MTS rise from the depths.  Eventually the Bladder snails out competed the MTS ( balance) and I lost interest.  The MTS are still in there, but live sightings are rare and the snails are tiny.

Balance has always proven to be elusive.  

My answer was originally going to be lighting.  But that is only one variable. Until the ACO light became available, I had moderate success with various forms of DIY lighting.  My planted 29 had good light, filtration, heat, light stocking, and EG dosing. At one point or another, It also had many of the algae related problem that others experience.  I've only killed off 12 easy plants.

The project tank on the other hand is equipped with: sand, pest snails, and a flashlight. The water is sourced from the planted tank. I sometimes refer to this as the last chance tank.  There was no saving the Jungle Val and Moneywort, but the Italian Val, Wisteria, and PSO are doing well, after being pulled back from the brink in the planted tank The tank seemed to be "balanced" and algae free until I played with the lighting.  (there's that word again).

Videos on aquarium balance and lighting by Bentley Pascoe and Girl Talks Fish are useful but so would par levels for the ACO lights.  I think I need to start with: Low Medium and High Light for Dummies!

I'm done rambling.  Thanks for asking.

[Lennie]

On 2/6/2023 at 12:43 AM, Tanked said:

Eventually the Bladder snails out competed the MTS ( balance) and I lost interest.  The MTS are still in there, but live sightings are rare and the snails are tiny.

That's really interesting! Cause in my tank, they outcompeted bladders and I believe caused all bladder population to die. I found bladders more delicate and MTS super hardy. I feel like MTS can outcompete all other "pest snails". I'm surprised to see your experience

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/5/2023 at 1:43 PM, Tanked said:

Balance has always proven to be elusive.  

My answer was originally going to be lighting.  But that is only one variable. Until the ACO light became available, I had moderate success with various forms of DIY lighting.  My planted 29 had good light, filtration, heat, light stocking, and EG dosing. At one point or another, It also had many of the algae related problem that others experience.  I've only killed off 12 easy plants.

Needless to say.... I feel your struggle. I've been there and I understand.

I went from not even knowing what anubias was to having a tank with panda corydoras and marimo balls and some moss glued to rocks. (I can attach photos, but I don't think I have one with the original setup)

This was all around the time I discovered the co-op, got back into the hobby and was trying to figure out my first plant order from the coop. Fast forward some time and I have a 55 and then a 75 with pressurized CO2 and I'm diving right in to trying to do well with more varieties of plants. I have a decent tank, loving everything.  Then things crash and the easiest reason to blame failure was on the sand substrate and the CO2 tank running out.  I'm certain that I am (or was) terrible at finding balance in that tank when things crashed on me. You fail, you learn, and then you try to do better....

Yeah, I did that too. I tried really, really hard to do better and that resulted in a tank with detritus worms of some kind and just a mess of a filter because the black beard algae had gotten so bad the pump stopped.

Fixed all of that, killed off even more plants and yet again, trying to make things progress.

It happens, and it happens to experienced keepers as well as novices.  Sometimes you just have to focus on method, know your method is sound, take really good notes, and then see what you (or others) can recommend to improve things. Observe and report, basically.

I've been on a ~2 year journey to balance a tank and seemingly.... Knock on wood.... Making progress again in the right direction.  I still struggle with some things every time I stare at the tank and it's dejecting.

Know what you're doing is a step in the right direction, ask for guidance, and find someone you trust with knowledge to help you along the way. Ultimately, mentorship is a great way to turn a tank around. Especially when you feel like you've done everything else you can.

[Tanked]

On 2/5/2023 at 4:55 PM, Lennie said:

That's really interesting! Cause in my tank, they outcompeted bladders and I believe caused all bladder population to die. I found bladders more delicate and MTS super hardy. I feel like MTS can outcompete all other "pest snails". I'm surprised to see your experience

I always wondered why I never saw a larger/older MTS. It has occurred to me that the UGF might be a contributing factor. In this tank it is air driven, so it isn't as effective at removing snail food as it could be.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

1.  What was the first fish you ever kept in some sort of an aquarium?

A painted Indian glass fish.  I must have been about 7 years old.

2.  What tank are you most proud of and why?

My 29 gallon because I have given a serious effort to live plants this year, and it is rewarding me with lush growth.

3.  How did you get here, specifically to these forums?

I think I was shopping and I scrolled down and saw the link to the CARE forum.

4.  What is something you think you do to make the hobby easier for yourself that others can use?

Pond pump & 1/2" hose w/ water diffuser on the end to replace water in a tank.  No faucet hookup required.  Go straight from a bucket in the sink to the tank.

5.  What is something you specifically wish for guidance with in the hobby?

That's tough.  Probably more education on microfauna & tank ecosystems.  Seems I'm periodically surprised when I run across posts where someone has captured photos of a different variety of microfauna.  I've been casually absorbing/skimming information on natural tanks/Walstad/FF method and would like to give it a whirl one day, and ecosystem is key.

6.  What fish do you miss most?

I had an orange mbuna that mated and was carrying the fry around in its mouth.  The fry were reared successfully, but ultimately I had to adopt out those fish because I moved from a house to an apartment.

7.  How often do you change water?  Is this the same for all of your tanks?

Once a week unless I don't like what my test kit says.  Then, more often.  

8.  What is better, one big tank or a rack of 20Gs, why?

One big tank.  Allows a better hobby/work life balance and ensures maintenance doesn't get skipped on any given tank.  Also, a divider can always be added to a big tank for more diversity.

9.  When was the last time you spent 30 minutes staring at a tank?

Yesterday 🙂 

10.  What is your favorite food to feed your tanks?

Some kind of Snello or Repashy.  I like to see a swarm of snails or shrimp piling up on it. It's very satisfying to make a recipe and see the patrons enjoy it.

[Comradovich]

On 2/4/2023 at 9:13 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I imagine two tanks, is one of them planted yet?

No, they're both still empty. I suppose that's as good of a start as any. Gonna need a lid, probably oughta read that ACO reviews to see how the new light does with 40 Breeders, and then set up the Top Fin HOB I bought for 5 bucks at the club auction. Been meaning to hotrod my HOBs with the new coarse foam and filter floss anyway. Most of my plants are epiphytes, so I could easily start dividing stuff and putting it in once lighting is hammered down. I also need to reverse respiration a few of the java ferns to remove some BBA.

On 2/5/2023 at 2:43 PM, Tanked said:

Eventually the first pest snails arrived, and it became an almost nightly ritual to wait for some gravel to move by itself and a MTS rise from the depths.  Eventually the Bladder snails out competed the MTS ( balance) and I lost interest.  The MTS are still in there, but live sightings are rare and the snails are tiny.
 

Yeah, I also "keep" MTS. With a pair of Comm degrees, I tend to pick particular language when describing my tank residents. The neon tetras on the other hand, are my "pets". MTS are like farm animals, they have jobs. You have to manage them in their jobs so they can remain effective at doing it. MTS plow and churn my substrate, getting rid of my excess food. I used to keep dwarf crays to get rid of excess food, but the MTS seem less "fin nippy". Bladder snails get behind the mesh wall holding the süßwassertang, or behind the filter to clean up brown diatoms. Ramshorn snails are neutrally buoyant enough to clean plant leaves that the nerite snail would be too heavy for. And so on...

Here's a little MTS trick I learned last week. (Not going to claim to invent it, I just figured out how to do it myself last weekend). Get a cheap plastic net from one of the big box stores. Little blue or green job with mesh that is just a bit bigger than your substrate grains. (I suppose this might not work great if you're not using sand, YMMV). Using your siphon hose, get a swirl of substrate and MTS going by holding the siphon edge down in or really close to the substrate. Now slide that net under the end of the siphon and raise the hose up in the tank. You should see all the baby MTS start raining down as the pressure in the siphon lessens. They'll pop into the net, which you just need to tap and wiggle like you're sifting flour. Sand goes out, snails stay in. You may lose some very tiny snails, but you'll keep the bulk of them.

After learning that trick, I got to take my three Dwarf Chain Loaches aside and have a little chat. "Look, you guys ATE the assassin snails. I wasn't gonna say anything, but you have one job here. Please stop letting me down." I don't hold high hopes for these guys, they're pretty little morons, but morons all the same.

[Miranda Marie]

On 2/2/2023 at 12:45 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

1.  What was the first fish you ever kept in some sort of an aquarium?
2.  What tank are you most proud of and why?
3.  How did you get here, specifically to these forums?
4.  What is something you think you do to make the hobby easier for yourself that others can use?
5.  What is something you specifically wish for guidance with in the hobby?
6.  What fish do you miss most?
7.  How often do you change water?  Is this the same for all of your tanks?
8.  What is better, one big tank or a rack of 20Gs, why?
9.  When was the last time you spent 30 minutes staring at a tank?
10.  What is your favorite food to feed your tanks?

1. We had a single guppy when I was 5, which I killed by accident. We were going away for camp (my mom was the Craft Lady, so all us kids and her went together every year) and I convinced myself it would starve to death while we were gone. So I dumped the whole fish bottle of food in and when my dad came home, he found the poor thing dead. I was a very sad five year old LOL.

2. My 20g. I started it to combat seasonal depression 4 years ago, making an "underwater garden" because keeping a full spectrum light on a cycle can really help combat SAD and I really wanted a patch of growing green plants in my bedroom. I kept it plants only for a while, then graduated to shrimp, and finally fish. I've learned so much and the tank has changed so much over time, and that makes me pretty proud of how far it has come.

3. I stumbled around aquascaping YouTube for a while because I started out with a tank specifically meant to be a water garden. Then once I started actually researching fish to add, I came across an aquarium co-op video. The rest is history. I watched an insane number of their videos, heard about the forum on one of their livestreams, and popped on over to check it out.

4. Hmm... Probably the kasa wifi timer. Not super original of me, I know, but it helps so much to be able to program my lights to come on and shut off on their own.

5. Plants, always plants. Despite tons of research, having a great light and using Easy Green and Easy Root Tabs, I have always struggled to get plants to truly flourish. They mostly just survive, always with shedding leaves and signs of half a dozen nutrient deficiencies despite my best efforts. LOL. 4 years later and I still wish I could accomplish the lush growth I see from so many others... 

6. Nothing yet. I'm still new enough to fish keeping that I've kept hardly anything and every new species I do get to keep is a joy.

7. Once a month, these days. I struggle to keep nitrates up enough for the plants even with infrequent water changes.

8. No idea. LOL. I have one 20g and one 6g and that's plenty for me currently. I can't even imagine having multiple 20g, let alone a huge tank. That seems very overwhelming LOL.

9. Yesterday. I did a big trim and removed an excessive amount of duckweed, plus did a water change. Then I just sat and watched the tank for quite a while.

10. Easy Fry And Small Fish Food. All my fish adore it, and it's so easy to feed!

Edited February 6, 2023 by Miranda Marie

[NanotankBank]

1) Bala Shark in a 3gal fish bowl (2005, it outgrew it and I gave it away. I’m so sorry 😭 

2) My 5gal no tech (except for light) tank. The plants have developed so nicely and my shrimp colony has started to grow already (thanks to having 2 berried females in my original batch)

3) I googled a topic I wanted to know more about and found this forum page. Since then it’s been my #1 stop for information or ideas

4) Selling plants. It’s so simple, I simply grow the plants I have and when they grow too big, I trim them and sell the extras. There are always local FB groups filled with people who are interested in plants and it’s a easy way to fund the hobby!

5) I eventually want to get a tank larger than 100gal, so anyone who is able to assist me with maintaining a tank that size, I’d appreciate!

6) Billy Sr. The Bolivian Ram. Although Billy Jr. is just as fun, Sr. Was more colorful and his unexpected death hit me hard.

7) Once a week, no matter what. Even if it’s only a 5-10% change for my shrimp tanks or a 30% for my community tanks. There is always a bio load and water changes help remove that!

8 ) I’d enjoy the 20gals for nano fish because you can keep a whole bunch of different schools. But I’d really want one massive tank to fit bigger fish or larger schools in 

9) 30min? Yikesss it’s been a long time. I usually spend 5-10min most at each tank because I want to see them all!

10) Any pellets! Watching the large fish demolish them before they hit the bottom, or watching the snails and corydoras school around them is so fascinating to watch!