Aquarium Homies Thread

[DougO 5238]

I have a shit-ton of cedar mulch on the ground that I would love to get rid of, though.

[El Diablo 4232]

1 minute ago, DougO said:

I'm not even 100% sure it is bois d'arc, but I think it is. Very orangey wood, and really dense. I had a hard time cutting through it with my chainsaws. It's an outlier on the place, as there are no other big trees like it that I have found. If you had asked a few months ago I had the perfect limb that was laying out in the yard after I had brought it back from cutting, for some reason. But all that stuff got cleared recently. I'll take a look soon and see what's left.

It's a horse apple tree to most folks, some call it Osage Orange. It's dense but probably not any more than oak or walnut. The bowed limbs are a pretty noticeable feature too. The wood on live tree even is pretty black.

[El Diablo 4232]

This is what I threw together tonight. It's rough but it's not finished so there's that.

[El Diablo 4232]

THIS is pretty much finished. It could use a few more plants among the chunks of wood and maybe a few very small plants in the open gravel area but I'll get around to that in the spring.

[Mother mopar 3288]

Back in the game after a long break. Picked up a 29g bio cube this past week. Built a small stand, just waiting on test kits and some misc stuff before we fill it up and start the cycle.

[El Diablo 4232]

15 hours ago, Mother mopar said:

Back in the game after a long break. Picked up a 29g bio cube this past week. Built a small stand, just waiting on test kits and some misc stuff before we fill it up and start the cycle.

What's the stocking plan?

[thunderlounge 7698]

17 hours ago, Mother mopar said:

Back in the game after a long break. Picked up a 29g bio cube this past week. Built a small stand, just waiting on test kits and some misc stuff before we fill it up and start the cycle.

I admire your discipline. Wish I could do that well. 29 turns into 40, which turns into 75, and ends up in the thousands. One day I’ll get my shit together, but I like too many things to focus in on a practical setup. :sadtrombone:

[Mother mopar 3288]

Plan is for 30-35lbs of rock and a 2"-3"sand bed with a small CUC and some soft corals. Fish will be a clown, diamond goby and maybe a dwarf angel. Kinda of limited with it being a nano.

I've wanted to do it for some time but knew it had to he small. End state will be a 220g tank but that's after I leave the service and live in the retirement home. Trying to get the wife in the hobby but facing some slight resistance.

[thunderlounge 7698]

sounds like a plan! 

[El Diablo 4232]

Weekends mean tank maintenance. I figured I'd share a picture of my water change setup, maybe someone is lurking who is considering an aquarium and they might find this useful.

I'll preface my comments by saying that there are "systems" on the market that utilize a sink, a hose, some hardware and the Venturi effect to accomplish the same goal. I don't know about them, never used one. Probably the best known of those is the Python.  I just like pumps and hoses I guess.

Anyway in the tank on the right side is a 330gph pump to get the water out. I run the clear tubing into a garden hose that I run out the front door onto the lawn. The big trashcan on the left has a 550gph pump in it for refilling the aquarium. I run the garden hose from the kitchen sink to the trashcan to fill it up and adjust the temperature as it's filling (digital thermometer can be seen velcroed on the rim of the trashcan) . Add the dechlorinator, a shot or two of liquid plant fertilizer and some Seachem Equilibrium to add some minerals to the water. I can fill the Brute, take the same hose and use it to drain the tank and then start pumping water back in.

Whole process takes maybe 45 minutes if that's all I'm doing but a lot of times I'll mess with cleaning the algae off the glass (magnetic algae scraper can be seen on the right side of the tank), rinse the sponges on the prefilter and give the plants a little "massage" - kinda gently rub the leaves to loosen any algae or whatever that might be trying to set up shop there. Oh, and unplug the heaters before I start. Anyway, that's about it. Nothing special just felt like maybe someone would be interested.

[Mother mopar 3288]

Let the cycle begin...using the live rock method this time. I'll test every 3 or so days and follow the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. After cycle is done I'lladd a CUC.

 

 

 

 

[thunderlounge 7698]

 

[El Diablo 4232]

Was messing around with the camera after I got done with my water change and got this shot. Couple of baby platies and a Nerite snail.

[El Diablo 4232]

Cousin has either a 55 or 75 that has been sitting around idle for a few years. Sigh. I think this is what they call multiple tank syndrome. I can make room for it, I know I can.

[thunderlounge 7698]

MTS is real. Yep. 

[El Diablo 4232]

PSA, the "Aquashella" fish festival is the 30th and 31st of March at Fair Park in Dallas for anyone that might be interested in that sort of thing.

[Mother mopar 3288]

Tank is cyling past 2 weeks, found this little star fish out today. In the meantime, having an outbreak of brown hair algae and bubble algae. Still waiting for my ammonia/nitrates to increase. Then I'll do a big water change and drop a CUC in there.

[thunderlounge 7698]

Nice hitchiker!

[El Diablo 4232]

Maybe one of you saltwater homies can help me out here, I'm thinking of trying to breed Nerite snails and research says that the eggs aren't viable in freshwater, that it needs to be brackish. So I'm thinking of using tap water that has a TDS of around 160, bumping that up to ~300 using Seachem Equilibrium (calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate with some trace elements added) and then Instant Ocean aquarium salt to get my desired salinity. I've looked at a couple of refractometers and the Milwaukee MA887, think that's the model number, seems like it would be more than adequate.

These snails are algae eaters so I'd be actually trying to grow a shit ton of algae. I guess that some form of algae that can live in the environment would find its way in, right? Tank would be relatively close to a window plus I got a bright ass tank light to cover it if need be. 

Anyway, any thoughts on such a project, aside from "wtf? snails?" ? TIA.

[Mother mopar 3288]

Curious, why you're interested in breeding snails? They're cheap and live for a few years, and that's a good return for .55-.75 cents a piece.

Ps. I know nothing about snail breeding.

[thunderlounge 7698]

30 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

Maybe one of you saltwater homies can help me out here, I'm thinking of trying to breed Nerite snails and research says that the eggs aren't viable in freshwater, that it needs to be brackish. So I'm thinking of using tap water that has a TDS of around 160, bumping that up to ~300 using Seachem Equilibrium (calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate with some trace elements added) and then Instant Ocean aquarium salt to get my desired salinity. I've looked at a couple of refractometers and the Milwaukee MA887, think that's the model number, seems like it would be more than adequate.

These snails are algae eaters so I'd be actually trying to grow a shit ton of algae. I guess that some form of algae that can live in the environment would find its way in, right? Tank would be relatively close to a window plus I got a bright ass tank light to cover it if need be. 

Anyway, any thoughts on such a project, aside from "wtf? snails?" ? TIA.

 

First thought is no tap water. You can supplement the water with whatever you need, but don’t use tap. Even filtered tap. 

Invertebrates are highly sensitive to copper, and even trace amounts will kill them. Also make sure the tank you use has never had copper-based medications used in it.

That refract should be fine. Instant Ocean will be fine. Algae will grow, but also add in a little tick of live rock as well. Filtration will be needed, but nothing too terrible. IIRC, brackish is in the 1.018 SG range. 

You’ll need to remember to top off with fresh water, but water changes will need to be brackish. 

 

Snails? WTF?

[El Diablo 4232]

17 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

 

First thought is no tap water. You can supplement the water with whatever you need, but don’t use tap. Even filtered tap. 

Invertebrates are highly sensitive to copper, and even trace amounts will kill them. Also make sure the tank you use has never had copper-based medications used in it.

That refract should be fine. Instant Ocean will be fine. Algae will grow, but also add in a little tick of live rock as well. Filtration will be needed, but nothing too terrible. IIRC, brackish is in the 1.018 SG range. 

You’ll need to remember to top off with fresh water, but water changes will need to be brackish. 

 

Snails? WTF?

Being able to use tap water is kind of the key to this whole idea. I know that for saltwater species that is simply a no-no but these snails already do well in the freshwater aquarium and lay eggs, they just won't hatch (supposedly) though I've seen and read otherwise. I suspect that in the wild their breeding corresponds with seasonal salinity increase or maybe they're just able to acclimate to freshwater and are marketed that way. I just don't want to get into RODI if I can avoid it at this point. 

Admittedly I haven't fully researched this yet but right now the plan would be to take a half dozen or so out of my freshwater tank and gradually acclimate them to brackish which I think is pretty easy to do. These particular snails don't reproduce asexually so I'll need a little group to get the party started. 

[Mother mopar 3288]

Anyone have experience with AI prime LED lights?

[52-80 19047]

RIP my turtles.  One slider and 1 mud turtle. About 3 years old.  The size of an adult palm.

Came home and our sunroom smelled ROTTEN.  Found both turtles floating.  One with it's neck swollen up like a sausage. 

Poor fuckers swam happy and healthy yesterday.  No idea what happened.....we have a suppository looking heater stick thing...maybe it faulted and fried them?

 

Other than that there's a 10W LED lamp and no way could that have heated up and burned them or something.

 

They're just damned turtles you can't form an emotional bond but I feel bad as fuck

 

[52-80 19047]

Fished then out of the tank.  Both completed bloated.  One had its poor eyes just bulging out. 

[thunderlounge 7698]

That’s just weird. Could have been the heater, but most have some type of mechanism to prevent that. I don’t think they could get into a runaway situation and heat the water hot enough to do that. 

Had you changed the water lately? Added anything new? It’s possible it could have been brewing for weeks and finally tipped the scale. 

[52-80 19047]

49 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

That’s just weird. Could have been the heater, but most have some type of mechanism to prevent that. I don’t think they could get into a runaway situation and heat the water hot enough to do that. 

Had you changed the water lately? Added anything new? It’s possible it could have been brewing for weeks and finally tipped the scale. 

theres a floating island for the slider to bask.  both were found floating just below the island.  water is constant, cycling through a good pump, and i occasionally top up from the tap.  food and feed is still the same. 

 

googled 'bloated dead turtle' and couldnt find anything.  i suppose they couldve been killed of disease or something, but it seemed to have happened basically overnight.  and then the bloating must have been from naturally decomp, rather than symptomatic of cause of death

[El Diablo 4232]

Heater frying should have tripped a breaker, right? And I've heard of heaters running wide open and killing fish but if the turtles had a place to escape to then it really is puzzling. I've heard that a frog will boil to death if you warm the water slowly, did you check the temp in their water? They might have just been cooked.

[thunderlounge 7698]

It certainly is odd. It happens when keeping these types ofnpets, even with the best laid plans, environment, expertise, and enactment.

 

[El Diablo 4232]

2 hours ago, thunderlounge said:

It certainly is odd. It happens when keeping these types ofnpets, even with the best laid plans, environment, expertise, and enactment.

 

Yeah, but turtles are a bitch to kill even thru neglect.

Buddy of mine in high school would collect turtles and take them home to roam his backyard. In the spring when there's heavy rains turtles get the urge to move, at least that's what I recall, anyway you see them crossing the road fairly frequently. He'd stop and pick 'em up. Come winter nary a turtle to be found in his backyard but come spring there they'd be. Not sure how they managed that.

I picked one up one time under similar circumstances and kept him indoors, free range of the house. Fed it lettuce, ground meat, veggies, whatever. Then it just disappeared. Found him alive and covered in dust bunnies a month or two later, he had got stuck under a sofa.

[Mother mopar 3288]

Almost pulled the trigger on this. Guy wanted $500 for 185g tank,stand and canopy. Already drilled and drains are plumbed.

[Mother mopar 3288]

They guy called me back and said he would lower the price to $450. Its a phenomenal deal, so I bought it. Currently in the garage all cleaned waiting a decision on whether to resell it or build it out as full reef tank doe the house.

[thunderlounge 7698]

Do it. 

That would be a great setup. 

[Mother mopar 3288]

Tank is done cyling and algae is a bit crazy. Most all GHA, add some nassisarius smalls, blue leg hermits, cerinths, turbo snail and a emerald crab. Give it a few days and I'll do a water change. Then I'll entertain the idea of a fish.

 

 

 

[El Diablo 4232]

On 3/29/2019 at 8:49 PM, Mother mopar said:

Tank is done cyling and algae is a bit crazy. Most all GHA, add some nassisarius smalls, blue leg hermits, cerinths, turbo snail and a emerald crab. Give it a few days and I'll do a water change. Then I'll entertain the idea of a fish.

 

 

 

I was wondering how the cycle was coming along, I've never done salt. Post up some pics when you can.

[Mother mopar 3288]

This was the first day. I'll have to grab a few pix of when the lights are. Been lights out for the past 30hrs. Trying to combat the green hair algae. My emerald crap has been doing damage though, little man puts in some work on the night shift.

[Mother mopar 3288]

Here with the lights out. Second pic you can see how bad the GHA is. Did a 30% water change yesterday.

[El Diablo 4232]

I saw a video  some guy made where he tried to use Mollies to maintain the algae in his salt tank. No luck. They adapt to full salt no problem but just don't eat enough algae. I use Nerite snails to keep things in check in my freshwater tank and they're easily acclimated to salt water. I have them in all of my tanks now, I just bought a half dozen of them yesterday just because they're a good looking invert. They feed entirely on algae and a few will wipe the stuff out. I had a Betta tank with a white mountain looking doodad in it for decor and it was near a window. Thing turned green almost completely. I dropped a couple Nerites in and they left it brown. They ate every bit of live algae and what was left was just the remains on the surface of the decor piece. Of course then I had to take THAT out and clean it. 

By the way, I don't know how well it will work but there's a little program called IrfanView, it's software for editing photos. It has a feature where you can edit RGB light. It might be useful for pics from a salt tank. Hell, I might just try it on my tank, I've got blue LED's in my fixtures. 

ETA: Nope. Duh. All of the light is blue. If I take all the blue out guess what? It's a black picture. smh. 

Edited March 31, 2019 by El Diablo

[Mother mopar 3288]

The rocks that have GHA are bulk dry rock that I'm seeding with live rock. My guess is it's leaching phosphate thus the rapid grow of the GHA. My life rock doesnt nearly have the algae that my dry rock has. I'll keep doing big weekly water changes and see how it goes.

 

My LFS has the nerite smalls, have like a zebra stripe on them. Pretty looking certs for sure. I'm going to see how these guys do then adjust from there.

 

[hookem2010 2590]

I'm a total amateur and since I moved and changed jobs last summer, I've been horrible about managing my tank. I somehow got all the fish from Houston to Fort Worth alive during the move, even with an overnight stay at my parents. My power filter recently bit the dust, so I had no choice but to get my shit together somewhat. Probably the best the tank has looked since the move. The biggest struggle is getting the wife to shut the blinds in the guest bedroom so the tank isn't completely green after a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I've got another move coming up at the end of the summer and I don't know how I feel about trying to transport this thing to Santa Fe. I'm holding onto it for now, but If any DFW folks are interested, I may give it up pretty cheap in the next few months. It's a pretty basic 37 gallon tank with stand and I've replaced the light hood and in addition to the power filter in the last year. The tank started put as a Tanganyikan cichlids tank. Current occupants are orange leleupi, brichardi, Boesemans rainbow, a pair of I think dwarf rainbows and a couple syndontis.

[thunderlounge 7698]

13 hours ago, hookem2010 said:

I moved and changed jobs last summer, I've been horrible about managing my tank. I somehow got all the fish from Houston to Fort Worth alive during the move, even with an overnight stay at my parents.

I was stationed in Norfolk, then was transferred to Tinker AFB. Moved a 45g freshwater and a 75g saltwater (fowlr) setup. With a stop in central Missouri for a couple days. Talk about joyous fun. Had everything in 2 big ass coleman coolers. Took 4 big ass marine batteries to run 2 aerator pumps, 2 heaters, and 2 biowheel filters. Miraculously, everything survived. Not real sure how, but it did. Not something I'll be doing again, mind you.

 

 

[thrillhammer 682]

17 hours ago, hookem2010 said:

I'm a total amateur and since I moved and changed jobs last summer, I've been horrible about managing my tank. I somehow got all the fish from Houston to Fort Worth alive during the move, even with an overnight stay at my parents. My power filter recently bit the dust, so I had no choice but to get my shit together somewhat. Probably the best the tank has looked since the move. The biggest struggle is getting the wife to shut the blinds in the guest bedroom so the tank isn't completely green after a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I've got another move coming up at the end of the summer and I don't know how I feel about trying to transport this thing to Santa Fe. I'm holding onto it for now, but If any DFW folks are interested, I may give it up pretty cheap in the next few months. It's a pretty basic 37 gallon tank with stand and I've replaced the light hood and in addition to the power filter in the last year. The tank started put as a Tanganyikan cichlids tank. Current occupants are orange leleupi, brichardi, Boesemans rainbow, a pair of I think dwarf rainbows and a couple syndontis.

synodontis cats were my jam.  i probably had 20 of them at one time, in three different tanks.  was an addicted collector.

[El Diablo 4232]

Any of you guys ever tried your hand at breeding fish?  Seems like a person has to be really meticulous to have much success and then what? You've got tons of baby fish to care for. Bleh, lol.

[thunderlounge 7698]

46 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

Any of you guys ever tried your hand at breeding fish?  Seems like a person has to be really meticulous to have much success and then what? You've got tons of baby fish to care for. Bleh, lol.

 

I’ve been kicking around the idea of breeding goldfish (or shad) for bait purposes. You’re roght about meticulous, and then some. Right params to breed, then have to isolate parents, then have to rear, and on and on. No wonder breeders just throw em in a big pond and let it happen. I’d have to have a ridiculous amount of equipment and volumes of water to get it done right and supply my needs. 

[El Diablo 4232]

38 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

 

I’ve been kicking around the idea of breeding goldfish (or shad) for bait purposes. You’re roght about meticulous, and then some. Right params to breed, then have to isolate parents, then have to rear, and on and on. No wonder breeders just throw em in a big pond and let it happen. I’d have to have a ridiculous amount of equipment and volumes of water to get it done right and supply my needs. 

I know guides who keep shad at home and even that is a hassle due to seasonal temperatures. And that doesn't include the filtration needed etc... I guess if you've got a going business then it's just part of it but I also know guides who just catch their bait on a per trip basis.

I know of a guy who breeds Black German Rams, they're a very dark variant of German Blue Rams. He's posted pictures and video of his fish room and of him tending to all of it and it's just nuts to the point of "That's the crazt fish dude".

[thunderlounge 7698]

Exactly. 

[Mother mopar 3288]

Clean up crew earning their keep. Between a lights out for 48 hrs and a robust CUC, I think the hair algae may just be on the outs. I added some red gracilaria to the display to help suck up nitrates and phosphates, plus gives the guys a snack too.

[Mother mopar 3288]

Added a 6 line wrasse, Duncan and hammer coral. Slowly coming togather.

[DougO 5238]

I have long pined for a humongous tank with various native sunfish in it, maybe a bass. I had a few aquariums before many years ago, but regular aquarium maintenance is not in my wheelhouse. I did host a betta on my desk for two years about a decade ago. That's a pretty good run. Barney was a good fish.

Here is a pic of Barney critiquing a little sculpy thing I did.

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2019 by DougO

[thunderlounge 7698]

I had a river/pond tank about 15 years ago. I’d catch small bluegill/bass in my pond out back and put em in the tank. When they got too big I would move them back to the pond and do it again. It was fun.