What did you get done today?

[Odd Duck]

On 9/17/2022 at 11:50 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Great point @Odd Duck. That might actually force me to dry things every time before hanging them.  Metal stand definitely is getting some magnets and hooks.  I tend to be the mindset of a chef/surgeon when I work and always needed an extra set of hands.  I always seem to need to ask for help for "please hold this for a second" and it could be a list of 5+ things by the time I'm actually done with the work.  A specimen container and the "cheap" equipment always gets the brunt of it!!! 😂

At least now, they have a home 🙂   I just got a drawer holder / block for my cooking knives as well, so yeah.... OCD or something must be kicking in!


How are your tanks doing, how is the moss garden going?

Which moss garden?  😆 The angel tank moss hasn’t taken as well as I hoped after flooding but it’s coming back. Fighting hair algae but not as aggressively as I should. My attention has been a bit divided lately but I’m getting back to tanks a bit more now.

My 10 gallon “moss garden” is doing well but I need to get some of the Fissidens put in different tanks to give them more space. Other moss pieces/clumps are split between doing well or struggling depending on the tank.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

I’m a complete freak about keeping instruments in good condition, so nothing that is precision metal stays wet for long.

[anewbie]

Did water change on my 40B today; here are some pictures just after the water change. Doesn't really look that nice but oh well. At least the little 4 year old purple aflame is still growing ! (look front mid right; i keep the area around it clear - it might be small but it is my precious). Also the various spiralis have grown well with little to no algae. The poor pinto anubia on the right near the purple aflame is coated in bba - kind of sad.The blyxa novo on the left front are doing really well and the pile of various types of nurii to the left of the purple aflame are spreading like weeds.

 

[CornAndCrawlers]

While feeding my fish I noticed a red cherry shrimp full of eggs 

[drewzero1]

I spent way too long last night rearranging dwarf water lettuce so I could scoop duckweed more aggressively. I'm not trying to completely remove it, but at least make some room for other floaters and let some light through to the plants below.

I've been struggling to keep my val planted with all the critters shuffling around in the substrate. This weekend I was out for a run and noticed a bunch of it floating in the lake, so I guess it's natural to see it uprooted a little. 🤷

On Saturday I visited a new LFS that I expected to be too rich for my blood (huge beautiful marine display, fancy modern high-tech store setup) but was pleasantly surprised that I can actually afford some things there. The owner came over to talk to us and seemed very nice, very welcoming to beginners. If/when I get my SW setup ready for corals, I know where to get frags now. 👍

[CornAndCrawlers]

Went to a local creek and caught 7 Blackstripe Topminnows, I now have 12 total, going to disperse them amongst two different species only tanks and give it a go at breeding.

[drewzero1]

On 9/19/2022 at 7:49 PM, CornAndCrawlers said:

Went to a local creek and caught 7 Blackstripe Topminnows, I now have 12 total, going to disperse them amongst two different species only tanks and give it a go at breeding.

I so wish I could legally go collecting in my area. There are so many great native fish around here, but you can't legally possess any of them unless you get them from a hatchery! 😡

Day 2 of Operation Salad Farm is going well. I can't believe this much dwarf water lettuce grew from a small baggie I bought in June!

There's no way this is going to eliminate the duckweed, but a week or two of picking it out every night should set it back a week or two. 😂😢 (I've got a few other mystery floaters in there, probably giant duckweed and some kind of frogbit, so I'm saving those too.)

[Hally M.]

I did some plant maintenance today! I purchased a big load of plants recently and everything is settling in nicely. We got some Swordtails, jungle Val, dwarf sag, Anubis’s nana petite, crypts, lily bulbs, money wart, Moss and Java fern varieties. I hope to experiment with more in the future! 

[CornAndCrawlers]

Tied some plant trimmings to wire mesh, going to tile em on top of substrate and see if they end up carpeting or failing. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Cleaned my sponge filters and fed everyone some carrots and bloodworms. And superglued some Java fern to rocks and wood.

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[CornAndCrawlers]

Hatched some baby brine shrimp to feed my Blackstripe Topminnows. 

[Aaron Hanson]

Moving some super red bristlenose fry to my fry tank, and trimmed some of my Madagascar lace plant leaves. Prior to trimming, the leaves go to the surface and drape down to the substrate.

[Chris]

(mostly) finished setting up my 55 for my Green Spotted Puffer today. Tank has been wet for a few days with dry (dead) rock, and I've got .5 PPM ammonia. Added some cycled live rock today to start processing that, and will hope to move the puffer by this weekend.

Scape is nowhere near done, although I feel as if I'm lacking any sort of rock that will be tall enough to fill in the top of the tank. Maybe some mangroves hanging down could help fill it in?

 

[Patrick_G]

On 9/27/2022 at 6:01 PM, Chris said:

Scape is nowhere near done, although I feel as if I'm lacking any sort of rock that will be tall enough to fill in the top of the tank. Maybe some mangroves hanging down could help fill it in?

Yeah, some mangroves would look nice. Some feather caulerpa might also be a good option. 
 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Patrick_G

[Chris]

On 9/27/2022 at 9:23 PM, Patrick_G said:

Yeah, some mangroves would look nice. Some feather caulerpa might also be a good option. 
 

I actually have a teeny tuft of Caulerpa Mexicana in there, but we'll see if it makes it. May order a bit more.

Palm Caulerpa is a personal favorite.

[nabokovfan87]

Out of frustration mostly..... I ended up moving a tank today.

The panda horde is officially moved / relocated and Grace the shark is back in the room with me.  I took all the hardscape out, knocked out about 4 anubias plants (yep, need more glue again) and then drained that into a bucket with tank water.  I took apart filters, the rest of the hardscape and moved that to another bucket filled with tank water.  I filled another bucket halfway with water for the fish and set them in a quiet, dark space with an airstone to relax while I drained and moved everything. 

It took some doing trying to get things level, as always seems to be the case! But.... I think it's ok. I'll check it after everything has had a chance to settle.  Power is now mounted on the wall and I'm running into an issue where they Kasa wifi switches are interfering on the power strip I have.  I may end up needing to swap it out or go ahead and just get the kasa version of the surge protector.

I've got my large airpump running two tanks right now, 4 devices total.  One gang valve leads to the second tank.  If you are facing the tank, black corydoras on the left, power in the middle with a CO2 tank right there on the floor, and now the pandas are to the right.  I do have a bit of a conundrum because the pandas are setup with basically no light in their tank right now.  I may keep it or swap back to a fluval planted light.  Undecided.  The goal being for that tank to be completely anubias.

Again, now I can keep an eye on things, test, better care all around than I was dealing with previously.

I know the fish have always been ok, doing well, but the peace of mind of knowing I don't have to stress about other hands on / around the tank is helpful.  Appreciated.  I hope things settle for them, it's more quiet, less stressful, and that the fish can just relax and be fish without all the activity around the tank in their previous area.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:00 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Out of frustration mostly..... I ended up moving a tank today.

The panda horde is officially moved / relocated and Grace the shark is back in the room with me.  I took all the hardscape out, knocked out about 4 anubias plants (yep, need more glue again) and then drained that into a bucket with tank water.  I took apart filters, the rest of the hardscape and moved that to another bucket filled with tank water.  I filled another bucket halfway with water for the fish and set them in a quiet, dark space with an airstone to relax while I drained and moved everything. 

It took some doing trying to get things level, as always seems to be the case! But.... I think it's ok. I'll check it after everything has had a chance to settle.  Power is now mounted on the wall and I'm running into an issue where they Kasa wifi switches are interfering on the power strip I have.  I may end up needing to swap it out or go ahead and just get the kasa version of the surge protector.

I've got my large airpump running two tanks right now, 4 devices total.  One gang valve leads to the second tank.  If you are facing the tank, black corydoras on the left, power in the middle with a CO2 tank right there on the floor, and now the pandas are to the right.  I do have a bit of a conundrum because the pandas are setup with basically no light in their tank right now.  I may keep it or swap back to a fluval planted light.  Undecided.  The goal being for that tank to be completely anubias.

Again, now I can keep an eye on things, test, better care all around than I was dealing with previously.

I know the fish have always been ok, doing well, but the peace of mind of knowing I don't have to stress about other hands on / around the tank is helpful.  Appreciated.  I hope things settle for them, it's more quiet, less stressful, and that the fish can just relax and be fish without all the activity around the tank in their previous area.

My goodness, you’ve been busy. Sounds like at least one tank was in a high traffic area before; maybe both tanks were far apart or in different rooms?

Glad it’s a better setup now for you and for them.

[Chris]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:00 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Out of frustration mostly..... I ended up moving a tank today.

The panda horde is officially moved / relocated and Grace the shark is back in the room with me.  I took all the hardscape out, knocked out about 4 anubias plants (yep, need more glue again) and then drained that into a bucket with tank water.  I took apart filters, the rest of the hardscape and moved that to another bucket filled with tank water.  I filled another bucket halfway with water for the fish and set them in a quiet, dark space with an airstone to relax while I drained and moved everything. 

It took some doing trying to get things level, as always seems to be the case! But.... I think it's ok. I'll check it after everything has had a chance to settle.  Power is now mounted on the wall and I'm running into an issue where they Kasa wifi switches are interfering on the power strip I have.  I may end up needing to swap it out or go ahead and just get the kasa version of the surge protector.

I've got my large airpump running two tanks right now, 4 devices total.  One gang valve leads to the second tank.  If you are facing the tank, black corydoras on the left, power in the middle with a CO2 tank right there on the floor, and now the pandas are to the right.  I do have a bit of a conundrum because the pandas are setup with basically no light in their tank right now.  I may keep it or swap back to a fluval planted light.  Undecided.  The goal being for that tank to be completely anubias.

Again, now I can keep an eye on things, test, better care all around than I was dealing with previously.

I know the fish have always been ok, doing well, but the peace of mind of knowing I don't have to stress about other hands on / around the tank is helpful.  Appreciated.  I hope things settle for them, it's more quiet, less stressful, and that the fish can just relax and be fish without all the activity around the tank in their previous area.

I've been there. Glad you got everything settled! Sometimes just thinking about stuff like that is enough to drive you crazy!

Added a black background to my flowerhorn tank. Used black cloth and double-sided tape - $10 for enough to do a 55, a 40, and a handful of 20's and 10's. Not bad!

[jwcarlson]

Set up our empty 10 gallon tank for my daughter to have "her own" snail and shrimp tank.  I have no idea where they got a Fluval sticker, it must have come with the Stratum or maybe some biorings.  It will have blue and yellow shrimp in it, I couldn't convince her to get just one color so that she could raise them and maybe sell them to a LFS.  They already have local suppliers of red and blue. *shrug*

Right now it's got a few different kinds of snails in it (bladders, ramshorn or something small that looks like them... they hitchhiked in and are small still, Faunus ater, and MTS which also hitchhiked).  Plants from trimmings/extras and some from a fellow discus guy who has been generous with his trimmings.

Thought about getting a small school of CPD/galaxy raspboras or whatever they're called now.  But leaning towards not doing that just so it remains lower maintenance.  Don't want to chain us to doing water changes too frequently.  She has a 37 gallon community tank in her bedroom and I struggle keeping nitrates in it so we just do a water change about once a month other than topping off.

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by jwcarlson

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/29/2022 at 2:05 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

My goodness, you’ve been busy. Sounds like at least one tank was in a high traffic area before; maybe both tanks were far apart or in different rooms?

Glad it’s a better setup now for you and for them.

Yeah, one is in my room, my personal tank. The other stuff was in tubs, was in the 75G, which was in the living room at the old house.   That tank got moved, into tubs, then into a holding tank so I could run a heater. I got a smaller tank for them in the living room, family tank for everyone to enjoy.

Was setup on one side of living room, it kept getting budged, floor had issues, so I moved it to the other side in the entryway to the house, under the spiral stairs. It was a better location, needed an outlet, but got all that sorted. After ~2 months or so, probably longer, the fish were doing fine, but the tank wasn't. Everything on the stairs, especially dog hair, ends up on the lid. Finding a lid for the 29 that actually fits isn't easy. Even if you buy one from the company that manufactures the tank!

Anyways, issues and what not resolved, fish are happier, better behavior I've seen in grace the shark.  It's next to my computer desk, which just means for the sake of spills, moving the electronics. 

Gotta do what you gotta do....

On 9/29/2022 at 5:53 AM, Chris said:

I've been there. Glad you got everything settled! Sometimes just thinking about stuff like that is enough to drive you crazy!

Added a black background to my flowerhorn tank. Used black cloth and double-sided tape - $10 for enough to do a 55, a 40, and a handful of 20's and 10's. Not bad!

Absolutely!

Beautiful photos of your fish. Love black backgrounds, they definitely make the colors pop.

On 9/29/2022 at 7:01 AM, jwcarlson said:

Set up our empty 10 gallon tank for my daughter to have "her own" snail and shrimp tank.  I have no idea where they got a Fluval sticker, it must have come with the Stratum or maybe some biorings.  It will have blue and yellow shrimp in it, I couldn't convince her to get just one color so that she could raise them and maybe sell them to a LFS.  They already have local suppliers of red and blue. *shrug*

Cherry shrimp are allegedly the easiest to sell. I think Cory had mentioned or recommended that in one of his vids a while back.

The tank looks great, very nice setup for shrimp!

[anewbie]

Did water change today on my 40; in exchange the crypt gave me the finger. Figures....

 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Moved way too many tanks and racks around in preparation for my custom designed puffer breeding tank that I should pick up from the manufacturer this week.

This rack replaced a smaller one and was initially supposed to sit against the far wall with 2 40 breeders on it. It ended up with this layout when i wasnt comfortablewith the legs being quite that close to the main water cutoff for the house. Intelifaucet under the single tank rack on the fishroom sink.
 

Currently the grow out for the 5 Tetraodon miurus . It's a bit of a "where's waldo exercise" but all 5 are visible in this photo along with there bags used to hold them for 6 hours of effort moving and setting tanks back up. 

This heater hasn't yet been upgraded to the coop heater so is still using the inkbird controller as the heater safety.  Inkbird set higher than heater range so it in theory cuts off if the heater fails on. 

[Patrick_G]

On 10/2/2022 at 1:21 PM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

Moved way too many tanks and racks around in preparation for my custom designed puffer breeding tank that I should pick up from the manufacturer this week.

 That sound really interesting, I can’t wait to see the new tank.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

@Patrick_G same here.  This will be the first time I came up with a design and had it turned into reality ....whenever I pick it up

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Went to get tacos at Tijuana Flats. Enjoyed this mural while I was there.

 

 

And got some nice anubias at the LFS. They’ve been out of power since hurricane Ian, and they have fresh and saltwater tanks. Thankfully they have generators and lots of gas. Power did come back on for them this afternoon.

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[anewbie]

Did water changes; nothing special I seem to do them every wednesday; bit concern the 120 nitrate level are rising; might have to reduce stocking. Little kids are growing fast - faster than i would like - i think i should give'em a bit less food. At least one of the 11 angles is a male - pretty sure i have 4 of them sexed as males now; at least 2 females - other 5 not sure yet. Going to be a mess.... Still it should take at least 4 more months before they reach maturity - fingers crossed. 

 

I'd post pictures but pretty sure you find them spammy and boring by now so hey give me a thumb up for not spamming you.