Any aquarium owners?

245

Comments

  • lightman1
    lightman1 Posts: 10,776
    edited January 2019
    gudnoyez wrote: »
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    A 40 gallon but it dont hold fish. Littlefoot the spoiled bearded dragon resides in this one we need to move up to a 70 gallon but he spends most of his time hanging with us or the dogs.

    I have had a few aquariums with fish but found it to much work. however I have one in the garage that holds crappie minnows for ice fishing. Nice looking tank you got there Joe.

    Littlefoot is my buddy!
  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,124
    lightman1 wrote: »
    gudnoyez wrote: »
    A 40 gallon but it dont hold fish. Littlefoot the spoiled bearded dragon resides in this one we need to move up to a 70 gallon but he spends most of his time hanging with us or the dogs.

    I have had a few aquariums with fish but found it to much work. however I have one in the garage that holds crappie minnows for ice fishing. Nice looking tank you got there Joe.

    Littlefoot is my buddy!

    Awwww something likes you

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  • Willow
    Willow Posts: 10,862
    Well it's been 3 days since my son's snail moved. I think it's dead. I cleaned the tank yesterday and it had a fowl smell. I think that's it for aquatic life for a bit.
  • DaveHo
    DaveHo Posts: 3,471
    Willow wrote: »
    Well it's been 3 days since my son's snail moved. I think it's dead. I cleaned the tank yesterday and it had a fowl smell. I think that's it for aquatic life for a bit.

    We've had bad luck keeping snails. Seems every time we change out the water, they die. Which is a shame because they are far more interesting to watch than the fish.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    scubalab wrote: »
    Finished my daughter's loft bed this week and got Winnie (her beardie) moved into her new space. Here's a couple pics
    ...

    Nice!

  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    DaveHo wrote: »
    Willow wrote: »
    Well it's been 3 days since my son's snail moved. I think it's dead. I cleaned the tank yesterday and it had a fowl smell. I think that's it for aquatic life for a bit.

    We've had bad luck keeping snails. Seems every time we change out the water, they die. Which is a shame because they are far more interesting to watch than the fish.

    Do you use any kind of chlorine/Chloramine remover water conditioner when you changed the water? Was it the same temp as the previous water?

    The reason i ask is that most of us "aquarist" have had more than one occasion where we have been inundated with unwanted snails we couldn't kill with 3 hammers.
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    Al, that looks great man. Good job!

    I always use Prime with any water. Even topping off.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    edited January 2019
    joecoulson wrote: »

    I always use Prime with any water. Even topping off.

    Here is a nugget in case you were unaware.
    Seachem Safe is the same but dry powder. It is far more concentrated and about 1/16 of a teaspoon is good for a 75 gallon tank. I always use 1/8 teaspoon because it is easier to measure. I will warn you when I would buy it would be anywhere from the 1/2 kilo to the 4 kilo tub. The best thing to do is put it in mason jars and put the lid on tight VERY TIGHT. It has 10x the odor the Prime does but is vastly cheaper and last a very long time. I was buying Prime by the 4 liter jug when my supplier turned me on to it since i was using so much for my discus and fish room.
    Per my Seachem rep alway dose for the entire aquarium volume UNLESS you add it to the water before you put the water into the aquarium. Many people only add the dose for say their 50 gallons of water changed in a 100 gallon tank. Due to the added organics in the aquarium it will be unable to effectively work as it should at the half dose if added to the aquarium after you changed your 50gal.
    Make sense?


    One last thing many people try to take distilled water and add safe and create Prime and keep it in liquid form.
    Unfortunately you cannot do that because the stabilizers that seachem uses to make prime are not in the dry form of safe so you have to keep it in the dry form but it is very good and last a long time and it's very economical.
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    Thank You sir. Makes a lot of sense.
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    Update here. Decided to amp it up with the plants. Have a vision of this ship just protruding through a forest of underwater vegetation

    Step one: CO2

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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    Step 2 fertilizer....
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    Flourish treatment in effect. Tabs and liquid.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    Are those Cryptocoryne wendtii ? What is the one in front middle? Looks like that fake bamboo dieffenbachia
  • Willow
    Willow Posts: 10,862
    Last week we just set up an aquarium. My son is now the proud owner of an African praying mantis. Sorry no fish
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    Ivan, I cannot remember the name of the ones in front but they are like a mix between Amazon sword and bamboo.
    Updated pic coming.
    CO2 helping nicely.
    Just planted Monte Carlo for that carpet look.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    edited November 2019
    Looks good Joe. It looks like what I thought was Cryptocoryne wendtii looks to be an Anubis species. Far right plant looks like a hygro type.

    May I offer some advise?
  • jdjohn
    jdjohn Posts: 2,987
    I'm afraid you might not like that bamboo over time. IIRC it starts to get really messy as it starts to peel away outer layers. YMMV
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  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    And honestly. It’s less about the plants I have currently and more about my CO2 balance.
    Although I do want the carpet to grow nicely regardless of the upper plants.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    edited November 2019
    jdjohn wrote: »
    I'm afraid you might not like that bamboo over time. IIRC it starts to get really messy as it starts to peel away outer layers. YMMV

    Correct it is not a water plant. It's can grow with it's roots constantly submerged in water but it is not a true water plant that can be submerged under water. Too many pet stores help inexperienced aquarists fail to excel with plants by selling the wrong plants. It's marketing 101, sell the wrong stuff that lives just long enough to be able to sell additional items like fertilizer, lighting and other peripherals that have high profit margins while the plant struggles to survive.
    Take sword plants for example. They have two phases, an emersed phase and a submerged phase. Many inexperienced aquarists love the plant when the see it's tall sturdy emersed phase at the pet store failing to understand that the plant was grown at the wholesale place emersed to get fast growth and tall stems and leaves. Then are disappointed and freak out when they take the plant home to submerge it in their aquarium and those leaves turn brown and yellow and die. The submerged phase could take 4 to 6 months or longer to come back and thrive. All the while "pet store marketing 101 is in full effect" sell peripherals to client. Many do not understand that swords cannot take in fert's through their leaves like other water plants so liquid fertilizer is a waste. They get ALL theirs through their roots only. It is best to plant them in deep pots instead of in the gravel bottom of the aquarium because when you do your water changes and siphon the gravel you're removing 1. Fish waste fertilizer 2. Cutting and disturbing the roots.

    Many pet stores also bury plants in gravel for display that should not be buried.
    1. Java fern
    2. Anubis species
    Both plants grow from a rhizome it should NEVER be buried. Even being buried a short time starts a path of rot. You can bury the roots of the rhizome but never the rhizome itself. The roots will attach to everything if given a long enough time and not disturbed in the process. Tie them around wood, rocks etc. and eventually they will penetrate and hold. In my fish room i loved clay pots for their porosity. I'd start with a smaller pot bury the roots of Java Fern or Anubis but keep the rhizome on the top lip of the pot. The gravel I used was Seachem Flourite. It is a hard clay like gravel that was rich in needed plant requirements and the plant roots could really grab ahold to it. As the plant grew and attached to the Flourite it created a great anchor. When i need to transfer to a bigger pot it was easy to pull the whole thing out of the AQ and transplant to a larger pot and return to the AQ. Word of caution use your finger or something to plug the hole on the bottom of the pot or a large mess will drain from the pot into the aquarium. I also kept a bare bottom aquarium the only gravel in my aquarium was the gravel in my plant pots. I found it much easier for better water quality with no gravel on the bottom so I could siphon all the fish waste and uneaten food daily. I could go on and on I had a fish room for nearly 40 years starting when I was 10 years old. I've bred many large cichlids and African cichlids and in the last 10 years of my fish room existence I was breeding discus. I had kept discus on and off for about 30 years but got really really into it in a 100% discus the last 10. I also belong to another forum that's a lot like polk it's a huge family called simplydiscus.com

    http://forum.simplydiscus.com/

    I now no longer have a fish room after my divorce I don't have a place large enough to devote the time or the space. All my gear 15 tanks from 45gal to 150gal and all the filtration is in storage. For me just having 1 or 2 aquariums is like trying to eat just one potato chip. I now get a kick out of helping my youngest son who shares my fishing and fish keeping passion raise his Trimaculatus and growing a beast of a fish.
    My favorite cichlids to grow are

    1. Dovii awesome fish that is like a pitdog. Knows its owner well and tries to kill all others who should come into IT'S room lol

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cDJbiHY2TGY

    2. Trimaculatus True Trimaculatus because it is hard to find a 100% true bred Tri-mack as the "Flowerhorn" crazy has flooded the market with the hybred fecal matter fish.

    3. Umbriferum another beautiful beast of a fish
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=335RcLC9Xro

    4. True Red Terror cichlid. Festae cichlid.
    The female of the species is the stunner. Both are beautiful but the female just takes it to another level. Males get large but females stay around 10" and heavy bodied.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OFjihjFeevM

    My discus passion leans toward wild morphs.
    I loathe the Pigeon Blood Discus strains.

    Love the Tefe Greens, Heckle, Royal Blues

    Hard to go wrong with these wild morphs they're just gorgeous.


    https://www.google.com/search?source=android-browser&q=wild+royal+blue+discus&tbm=isch&chips=q:wild+royal+blue+discus,g_1:wild+green&usg=AI4_-kRDN4cRu5xKhM_gloq-xROKK5cXeQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpjsTNm4PmAhULS6wKHdvICd4QgIoDKAB6BAgBEAM&biw=360&bih=548&dpr=3
    Post edited by pitdogg2 on
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    edited November 2019
    joecoulson wrote: »
    Of course Ivan

    Do not overlook potassium and iron. I never used the carbon infusion method. I used Glutaraldehyde the main ingredient in Excel. It can be bought by the gallon far cheaper than Excel.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/METRICIDE-CIDEX-2-6-BUFFERED-GLUTARALDEHYDE-STERILIZATION-1-GALLON-METREX/163864482732?epid=1603921733&hash=item26271593ac:g:vBEAAOSw3C1dfwwB

    If you use do not by fruity scent or if it comes with a packet to add do not add the packet. It is a medical sterilization chemical for instruments. far cheaper to buy it this way then buy it through seachem which is exactly what you're buying in the gallon showing on eBay.
    Keep it off you it can burn you.

    You have my number reach out if you have questions. AQ looks good wish I had mine up and running.
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    edited November 2019
    I too have been doing this for sometime and am totally aware of the kind of plants I have. I truly want to see what can be grown in this setup as an experiment to try and go for a certain look. I’ll go back to the old typical aquarium plants like I used to have in this tank from 2002

    lex2vujgmgma.jpeg

    That tank had a metal halide and CO2 low output (yeast based). I want this ship to look like it’s in a forest of sorts. If the bamboo type doesn’t work, no biggie. Pretty sure anything will grow in here. I have the Flourite substrate, tabs, additives, 3bubbles a sec output on the CO2 diffuser, 6000 lumens of some of the best LED’s for planter tanks.
    This tank is producing massive amounts of upwards traveling O2 which means photosynthesis is in full effect.

    Most likely the taller plants will be moved/changed around coming up. But the Monte Carlo for carpet should be the long term.

    There are two adult Koi Angels, three juvenile Koi Angels, three Clown Loaches, four dwarf (neon) rainbowfish & 15 Cardinal Tetras. The tank runs on an Ehiem 2217 canister with inline heat and all piping hidden in the 3D background.

    I too have had many many setups over the last 25 years but one of the most fun was this one (Midas who got 13”)

    gtaejm1y1fp1.jpeg

    Post edited by joecoulson on
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    And look at these two beauty’s.

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  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    These are the plants that I am hoping will dominate this tank.

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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    Red Devil's are some substrate re-arranging fools. Go to work all rocks are on the left come home can't see into the front all rocks piled to the top. LOL
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    joecoulson wrote: »
    These are the plants that I am hoping will dominate this tank.


    59y8r0kbtx2b.jpeg

    Is this a type of Hygro ? Looks like a large leaf Hygro. I had the small leaf variety completely take over a 45 tall with just 2 simple 3' Sylvania Gro-lux tubes.

    I love a large group of Cardinal Tetra's and True Rummy nosed tetra's two of my favorites.

  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    Yes. Some soft of Hygro but was the “Top Fin” packaged one so who knows
    The other taller one is Anachris and the carpet is Monte Carlo.