GoofyGarra's Journal

[GoofyGarra]

Not too much work tonight, i think i can pull off a post, my normal formatting might be a bit off, sorry for the confusion:

 

First of all, my aquaclear filter is having problems. I have cleaned everything out (impeller, intake tube, prefilter sponge, filter media) since Sunday, and the flow is very reduced. This is a problem ive had many times before (usually a cleaning of the intake tube/prefilter sponge fixed it) but if anyone can help me, id REALLY apreaciate it.I have the filter at full flow, and i am only getting a trickle...

dispite their camera shyness, i got a few pictures of the mosquitofish fry:

i also got a nice picture of a cory fry, there is some variance of size between, i can tell my feeding schedule is working well (i use 1 squeeze of the easy fry food twice a day) and the fry are growing fast, but there is little to no mulm build up on the bottom, which means most of the food is getting eaten.

i also played the "photograph your favorite fish"  (well favorite platy...) game, and in my opinion, did not get a good picture.it might not come out well on camera, but in person she appears to have a metallic green sheen in the front of her body,or a gold sheen, it depends on how the light hits her scales. Definitely a considered breeding project for the future.

most of the cory eggs are gone, but there are no egg marks on the glass that there would be if they were eaten, i have two theories. A.they hatched, B. due to how long they've been there they no longer leave such an egg mark. Im hoping its A, but its probably B.

 

my platy female in isolation has become on of my most important fish right now. I have not had fry in months, and since ive had her in isolation for a while, she should be dropping fry any month, i mean day now, so shes pretty important. All this importance gets her more feedings and more water changes,( and i might raise the temp a bit).

 

I am also happy to report that my remaining Mystery snail is behaving perfectly fine and healthy, so it fortunately  appears whatever killed the other one did not get this one, so its probably not a direct environmental factor.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by GoofyGarra

[Guppysnail]

Check the balancing foot. I’ve had mine settle and tilt backwards a bit to far causing me to get only a trickle. Adjusting it so it’s tilted more towards the tank helps. 
 

The other thing that happens is the motor gets gunked up. Here is a video of how to remove the motor and clean the actual motor not just impeller. I use the kitchen sprayer to spray inside the motor. 
 

Forgive me if you already know how to remove the motor. Until I started not getting more than a trickle no matter what a few years back I had no clue until I saw the video 🤣

 

[GoofyGarra]

@Guppysnaili have messed around with the balancing foot to no avail.

I will check out your video later and try that.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/30/2023 at 5:51 PM, GoofyGarra said:

Not too much work tonight, i think i can pull off a post, my normal formatting might be a bit off, sorry for the confusion:

 

First of all, my aquaclear filter is having problems. I have cleaned everything out (impeller, intake tube, prefilter sponge, filter media) since Sunday, and the flow is very reduced. This is a problem ive had many times before (usually a cleaning of the intake tube/prefilter sponge fixed it) but if anyone can help me, id REALLY apreaciate it.I have the filter at full flow, and i am only getting a trickle...

@nabokovfan87 is pretty good with filters.  Maybe he can help?

What kind of media are you using and how do you have it loaded?

Edited August 30, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[GoofyGarra]

On 8/30/2023 at 6:46 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

What kind of media are you using and how do you have it loaded?

i have an ACO medium prefilter,  aquaclear sponge material, a filter floss pad,and a bag of bio rings. Even when i remove all of the media nothing has changed. Its an aquaclear 50.

Update: I went in and cleaned out that thing the impeller sits in with a Q-Tip, i got lots of gunk out, but things are still not working too well.

[Guppysnail]

On 8/30/2023 at 7:17 PM, GoofyGarra said:

that thing the impeller sits in with a Q-Tip,

That screws off the actual filter. It’s the motor I was talking about the video shows. The gunk builds up inside where qtips cannot reach. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 8/30/2023 at 7:18 PM, Guppysnail said:

That screws off the actual filter. It’s the motor I was talking about the video shows. The gunk builds up inside where qtips cannot reach. 

ill check it out, thanks.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/30/2023 at 2:51 PM, GoofyGarra said:

First of all, my aquaclear filter is having problems. I have cleaned everything out (impeller, intake tube, prefilter sponge, filter media) since Sunday, and the flow is very reduced. This is a problem ive had many times before (usually a cleaning of the intake tube/prefilter sponge fixed it) but if anyone can help me, id REALLY apreaciate it.I have the filter at full flow, and i am only getting a trickle...

Here's a video to give you an idea of what to look for.  The one thing you want to do is to visually check and make sure the filter is working.
 

 

With the aquaclears there is a few key things to check for and I'll try to describe it as best as I can.

NOTE: you need to add water to the reservoir to ensure the aquaclear is "primed" and able to pump water.  If it is not primed, there is not enough water in the container and the pump will not work as a result.

1.  Is the pump working, and is the impeller clean? Is the shaft damaged? (see video below)
2.  Is the impeller cover in place properly or is it slightly crooked?
3.  Is the lift tube in the track over the impeller opening?
4.  Is the the water moving as it should or is air simply stopping it from flowing?
note: you can adjust the filter from low to high and then back and forth to clear air out of the lift tube.
5.  Is anything else causing restriction, like a prefilter or a snail in the tubing?



This is what that piece visually looks like.
 

 

[GoofyGarra]

After a whole lot of trying and trying and trying, i got it working. But for how long is the question? I want to be able to have it at full flow between water changes, but it always decreases to the slightest trickle by the end of the week...

 

[GoofyGarra]

so far the filter is still running strong 🥳

 

[Odd Duck]

Thank you for these latest posts about the filter.  It reminded me I need to order a backup for my 6 G cubes.  They both have the same filter, Aquaclear 20, and one isn’t behaving well despite cleaning and the other one is about the same age although still behaving.  Backups are on their way now!

[GoofyGarra]

sigh...

so many cool little cories out there. Honestly the past few months the idea to rehome my albinos completely and try another kind of cory has been getting to my head. The pains of a hobby like this...

[Guppysnail]

On 8/31/2023 at 8:00 PM, GoofyGarra said:

sigh...

so many cool little cories out there. Honestly the past few months the idea to rehome my albinos completely and try another kind of cory has been getting to my head. The pains of a hobby like this...

I do this. I find a good home so I can try new fish. As much as I loved my panda cory I had 4 Cory types and wanted to try a new dwarf cichlid. I gave my breeding group to @Elodie Rose  

I miss them sure. However I was not giving them the sit and watch attention like I used to. It was maintenance and food with the occasional stop and watch for a minute. 
Now they get ogled at daily and inspire another aquarist the way they used to for me. 
It is a more realistic approach than ending up with more tanks than I can manage well. 

[GoofyGarra]

between tannins and water lettuce the tank is looking pretty dark today:

i cant give up on these guys quite yet... (note the emerald sheen comes out well on camera).

if any fry ever exist in this tank  they have plenty of little things to munch on, i spotted some little darting creatures in the water.

 

also at what point will the matten be cycled enough that i can remove the sponge? its been a week already. No rush, im just curious.

 

Also in a month or so ill be starting an aquarium project with a bio teacher, that should be fun...

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

I was awoken this morning by the sound of a fish thrashing around outside of water, but the sound stopped before i could investigate, ive seen no dead fish so ill assume the fish got itself back into the water.

sunday is water change day. I dont have too many pictures, as (at least just for the 20) these water changes are relatively quick, so there isnt always a good chance to take pictures.

But i drained out a bunch of water

normally at this point id clean out the filter media (prefilter sponge+sponge, filter floss pad, + ass. bio media), but as per my experiment, i left it as is.

I  then refilled the tank. (those ACO catch cups are pretty clear.) Also side note. My ACO catch cup had begun to turn yellow, and i was dissapointed as its supposed to be clear. So what happened? I use this catch cup when breeding cories to incubate the eggs, it seems when i do that there is an algae growth that forms on the catch cup, then when i remove the container, the algae dries and turns it yellow. I fixed this with a simple scrub out of the container, and id say its looking pretty clear again.

Now onto the filter issue. It turns out that mulm buildup on the output ramp thingy really restricts the flow. The good news, its really easy to clean. I mentioned previously that i did not clean the media, i want to see how long my current setup will go before the flow is significantly reduced.

The other thing im playing with right now is Brazilian Pennywort. I got the plant a few months ago intended for aquatic use, but it didnt go so well, so i moved it into my terrariums, well its thriving there and growing rather fast, so i trimmed some off and now im trying it aquatically again. (i shouldve been a bit more careful as it looks like a bit of contaminant came in on the pennywort, but it looks like no harm done.)

 

.

 

 

Im impressed with how strong Garra Guys mouth is. Normally he's partially supported by the glass, or a leaf. Not today. (he wasnt  swimming right there, just going along it with his mouth).

 

Surprise, still no platy fry. I know increasing the temperature will speed it up, but i dont want to stress out the female too much, so for now im just doing nothing...

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

My mystery snail is eating the zoo-med block i put in for him. Im glad because he needs the calcium for his shell.

[Guppysnail]

On 9/1/2023 at 4:34 PM, GoofyGarra said:

also at what point will the matten be cycled enough that i can remove the sponge?

This depends on how heavily stocked the tank is. Light stock the filter only needs seeding and it will grow fast enough to keep up with maybe 1-2 extra water changes. Very heavy stock I would wait a month at least. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 9/3/2023 at 7:39 AM, Guppysnail said:

This depends on how heavily stocked the tank is. Light stock the filter only needs seeding and it will grow fast enough to keep up with maybe 1-2 extra water changes. Very heavy stock I would wait a month at least. 

light stocked. Its 1platy (unfortunately), with a bunch of plants, at at least %25-50 water changes at least once a week.

[Guppysnail]

On 9/3/2023 at 11:05 AM, GoofyGarra said:

light stocked. It’s 1platy (unfortunately), with a bunch of plants, at at least %25-50 water changes at least once a week.

  If it’s an established tank go now and test test daily and do wc if needed. I would keep the sponge running in another tank for a bit until you are certain the matten is stable. 

[GoofyGarra]

 

ive been pulling algae out of the 2.5gallon tank. It will provide a good food source for future shrimp, but for now it does not look the best. Im also moving it into the female in isolation tank as free fry cover.

i took a while trying to get a picture of this platy male, does the redness come out on camera? He's a one of a kind for me, and definitely a future breeding project.

my crypt tropica is growing taller now, i dont really like crypts because they dont do well for me, but this one is doing fine.

 

"Im watching you Wazouzki, always watching"

 

i was busy this  morning, but im getting to the other tanks maintenance  now.

I took water out of both tanks via a siphon tube. I use different tubes for each tank not from a sanitary perspective, just from a practical perspective. 1/2in tubing drains a 5gallon far too fast. I removed the sponge filter from the 2gallon. the matten has been there for over a week, its full of plants, and more importantly, im using bio rings as fry hides, so they are all over the bottom of the tank, im not concerned. In the process i might have seen a fry, but as its nothing definite yet im not acting on it. It turns out the sponge filter wasnt flush against the bottom and there was a dead area right below it, so i siphoned that out. After that i refilled the tanks. The 2gallon  still looks dirty, but the water change stressed out the fish, so im waiting to do more maintenance for now. The sponge filter got moved into the 5 with the mosquito-fish fry, but ill probably use it for cycling the bio teacher's tank when i get started on that. Of this whole water change adventure i got tons of pictures, but now i dont think there is any point posting the pictures.

 

green water test #1:

Old tank water+overdose Easy Green in the backyard. I was going to use brine shirmp mesh to keep mosquitoes out of it, but if theirs one skill i have its losing things. I lost the mesh so im substituting with sponge.  (ill replace it with the shrimp mesh if i can find it...)

 

 

@GoofyGarra : this part is  just a test of something for myself, you can ignore it.

Edited September 3, 2023 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

funny what happens when im bored with free time, i actually do things.

Im now a bit skeptical about the outside bottle green water experiment. After maybe half an hour of when i set it up i brought it inside and took its temp, 107f. Im not sure if green water can handle that.

I took down my walstad/mdfishtanks style tank today. It wasnt working. I had the whole nutrient layer but used natural sunlight instead of a actual light, and the plants just didnt grow alot. Seperating the potting soil from the sand was easier then i expected it to be, though bits of each got into the other. I then hosed out the container in the backyard, and its ready to go for a future project.

 

i think PH could be a culprit in the 2gallon. Ive been doing lots of water changes with water at nuetrel. The other tanks have crushed coral so their PHs stay up, but this one didnt, so i just threw some in behind the matten. If it turns out thats not the issue, it wont hurt anything.

 

 

[GoofyGarra]

Happy Labor Day to All.

Female platy is looking more gravid today, im hoping that means she'll give birth soon. Going on the guy feeling that i saw a fry yesterday during maintenance, i took her out of the tank and took out all the plant mass, then fed the tank, doesnt look like any fry yet 😞. I think my sense of time is off a bit, but after another week or two if there are no fry im going to replace her with a different female. I really want to do more platy strain breeding, but i just dont really have the tank space right now. The 2is too small for a pair of platies, and the 5 is inhabited, and also most of my females are pregnant already, so im unsure if adding in a male would actually do anything.

 

Some of my cory fry are getting big enough i think they'll be ready to move out and join their parents and siblings,It would also let the smaller cory fry get more food. Im not too worried about anything in the tank bothering the largest fry. The fry are now a bit over three weeks old, and im noticing a pattern in cory fry growth. It appears that with 5-10 fry, given baby brine shrimp a few times in the first week, then easy fry food twice a day for the next 2 weeks will get rather fast growth out of Albino Cory fry.

Anyway thats the updates for right now, i should go feed the fish then feed myself, talk to y'all later.

 

[GoofyGarra]

i was checking out  @Chick-In-Of-TheSea's journal.

At the moment in my 2.5gallon tank for shrimp there is a coarse ACO sponge filter, should i be changing this if it would be a risk to shrimplets?

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 9/4/2023 at 1:39 PM, GoofyGarra said:

i was checking out  @Chick-In-Of-TheSea's journal.

At the moment in my 2.5gallon tank for shrimp there is a coarse ACO sponge filter, should i be changing this if it would be a risk to shrimplets?

I think Cory keeps his shrimp infestation in tanks with sponge filters.

[GoofyGarra]

I have made a small change on the outdoor green water experiment. I replaced the sponge with a breather bag that i rubber banded on. I think it might allow for more gas exchange, but the main reason was i imagined a curious raccoon choking on the sponge bit, and i dont want to be killing raccoons.