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Told you! They're fascinating to watch.
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Sep 11, 2014 08:27
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I think I'm going to have to order some shrimp when I want them, none of the LFS/LPS around here have any of them.
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Sep 11, 2014 15:23
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Don't worry, they're worth it. and as long as they're happy you'll get more in the future, whether you want them or not.
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Sep 11, 2014 16:15
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Finally grabbing my filter and stand for my 20L planted today. Been holding off since I was overseas for 2 months.
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Sep 11, 2014 17:46
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SocketWrench posted:Don't worry, they're worth it. and as long as they're happy you'll get more in the future, whether you want them or not. Yeah let me tell you a story about seven or so stray shrimp that hitched a ride on some moss from my 20L into my 55.
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Sep 11, 2014 18:54
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I have been interested in freshwater aquariums for a while. I do have some questions though. Is it possible to create a good enough community comprised of waste/algae eaters and live plants to make it so I never have to clean the tank or do water changes? Or is such a thing impossible? Is it possible that having that combination could at least make the necessity for such cleanings/changes less often?
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Sep 11, 2014 19:02
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Knifegrab posted:I have been interested in freshwater aquariums for a while. I do have some questions though. Is it possible to create a good enough community comprised of waste/algae eaters and live plants to make it so I never have to clean the tank or do water changes? Or is such a thing impossible? Is it possible that having that combination could at least make the necessity for such cleanings/changes less often? No cleaning is possible in reef tanks, but you always need to do water changes. Ammonia build up, etc needs to be removed somehow.
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Sep 11, 2014 19:04
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Pukestain Pal posted:No cleaning is possible in reef tanks, but you always need to do water changes. Ammonia build up, etc needs to be removed somehow. Aren't reef tanks salt water though?
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Sep 11, 2014 19:34
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Knifegrab posted:Aren't reef tanks salt water though? Yes, but was just giving you an option if you wanted 1 out of 2 
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Sep 11, 2014 19:39
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Pukestain Pal posted:Yes, but was just giving you an option if you wanted 1 out of 2 I appreciate it none the less. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being thick. So with a good ecosystem set up in a freshwater enviornment, what kind of cleaning / water changing is needed. As a kid I had a tank and had to change the water every week and clean it once a month and that poo poo got dirty. It was a real burden. Are we talking partial changes every week and full cleans every two?
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Sep 11, 2014 20:04
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Unfortunately there is no super simple rule of thumb for this because there are too many variables; bio load, filtration, etc. More frequent smaller water changes are generally better though because you don't want conditions to change too rapidly. Most importantly a really big water change or thorough cleaning could cause your tank to go through the nitrogen cycle all over again because of losing too many beneficial bacteria. This is bad.
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Sep 11, 2014 20:20
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Knifegrab posted:I appreciate it none the less. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being thick. Once a month you should be doing partial water changes but even then you will be losing water to evaporation as well. I tend to do 1/3 at a time. With dual canister filters I rotate them out for cleanings as well, you would be amazed at how dirty they get and I have to clean them monthly. Even the pre-filters I am having to pull out and change weekly. When I rinse them out under the sink it is literally dirt. I have to run pre-filters because the stupid shrimp decided to have babies and I don't want them getting sucked into the canister and dying in there. The fish don't snack on them so now I have hundreds of red cherry shrimp in my 55. The positive effect is that they clean the hell out of the tank and it is a lot better now than before they were there. Nothing goes to waste in there.
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Sep 11, 2014 21:31
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Ha. So I have three rather large shrimp, a couple of medium sized ones, and then the rest are quite small. Yesterday I got home from work and saw what looked like lint on the bottom of the tank. Looking closer, I realized it was the partial remains of one of the small shrimp. Well, okay, I expected something like that along the way and I just kept an eye on them to make sure it wasn't a factor to do with illness or contamination. This morning I turn on the light and there's another of the tiny ones dead ... and being feasted on by one of the larger shrimp. Well, then. Figured that the big ones might eat a couple of the tiny ones, too. Before I left for the day, I went to snag the net to just skim out what bloodworms didn't get eaten from earlier. The three large shrimp were at the front of the tank, staring at me with their wee beady eyes, not moving a bit beyond slowly picking at the corpse of the tiny dead shrimp. I'm starting to worry that the shrimp are plotting my demise.
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Sep 11, 2014 21:50
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Knifegrab posted:I appreciate it none the less. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being thick. I had one heavily planted tank that I ran as much as 3 months between changes (in a 180 gallon tank, mind you)...the plants eat up the nitrates from fish poop/excess food/etc, but there are still things that build up over time, or are used up and need to be replenished (largely micronutrients for the plants). I'd do a water change, clean out the filters (dual canisters), and then ignore it for another quarter-year...kinda. The thing is, however efficiently the tank is set up, there's always work to be done...if you've got plants to eat up nitrates, they'll need pruning and probably fertilizing, if you don't have so many plants, then there's water changes. There's always some degree of cleaning necessary. As I said above, I do 10% weekly changes, usually monthly filter maintainance, after 20+ years of aquariums, it's kinda just become part of my life's routine, doing bi-weekly or monthly changes works just fine, as long as you're changing out the right volume each time...and of course, stocking levels and variety of "working" critters, be they fish or shrimp or whatever makes a big difference. It's really just a matter of finding a balance between the amount of work you're willing to do, and what you want to have going on in the tank.
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Sep 11, 2014 22:02
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tokomon posted:I'm starting to worry that the shrimp are plotting my demise.
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Sep 12, 2014 03:53
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tokomon posted:Ha. Are you sure it was a dead shrimp you saw? Molted shells do look a lot like dead shrimp.
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Sep 12, 2014 03:55
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Fish Noise posted:If you ever have your hands in the tank for a while, like during cleaning or whatever, I'm going to recommend not letting them climb on your hands for too long. Sooner or later they start trying to rip the hairs out of your skin. Oh wow  Shrimp!
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Sep 12, 2014 04:27
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SynthOrange posted:Are you sure it was a dead shrimp you saw? Molted shells do look a lot like dead shrimp. Funny you should ask... Apparently it's one dead shrimp and one molted shell. I did a couple of head counts this evening and I'm just short the one tiny shrimp.  Otherwise, everyone in the tank seems to be super frisky and active. Probably going to add in one more real plant and then that'll be it for my additions and alterations for a while.
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Sep 12, 2014 05:39
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I built myself a co2 generator out of a two-liter, because I'm a nerd.
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Sep 12, 2014 13:01
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tokomon posted:Funny you should ask... Yeah, as I learned, if it was a female that molted, they're all busy looking for a one night stand. Make sure you have decent places for them to hide. I've a bunch of stones, along with plants, and they love grazing on top of them and darting down into the crevices when a fish violates their personal space
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Sep 12, 2014 15:50
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Does anybody have experience with "wild" driftwood? I found a bunch of cool pieces on a brackish beach off the Intracoastal, but some of them have dark, crumbly soft spots where they were lying on the sand, and in some parts where the branches have been hollowed out. There is no particular odor, but there is a little moss/algae growth. How damning is this? Can I just scrape the soft spots away or is the whole piece not suitable for an aquarium?
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Sep 12, 2014 18:31
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GreyPowerVan posted:PVC tunnels? I want a shot of your aquarium, that sounds neat.  This was the original layout. That little bastard silver scat has since eaten everything except the melon swords. Probably going to go back to this layout and set up some duckweed as low hanging fruit. I'll post an updated one later, config is way different.
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Sep 12, 2014 19:57
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Why the hell are aquarium stands so expensive. Is there anything at IKEA that'll hold a 20L? haha
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Sep 12, 2014 19:58
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I just added some micro sword to my tank to get a middle ground plant for shrimp to hide in. I also trimmed the red ludwigia a bit since it is loving huge. Easily tripled in size this month. Once the dust settles I will take some photographs of my plants and my betta, Riddick. For those of you who know Cory cats: I heard their barbels are a bit sensitive and that they prefer certain substrates, will my flourite red be too abrasive?
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Sep 12, 2014 22:51
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Pukestain Pal posted:Why the hell are aquarium stands so expensive. Is there anything at IKEA that'll hold a 20L? haha Build one.. no fingers were lost in the process of building this stand. Also I don't own power tools other than a drill. 
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Sep 12, 2014 23:23
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demonR6 posted:Build one.. no fingers were lost in the process of building this stand. Also I don't own power tools other than a drill. If I even tried to build a stand I'd probably still manage to burn the house down.
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Sep 12, 2014 23:24
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Pukestain Pal posted:If I even tried to build a stand I'd probably still manage to burn the house down. Check the pic above. I drew it out, measured everything up and bought the wood at Lowe's. They were nice enough to cut everything to size for me. The rest was wood screws and Gorilla glue. I stained it making a bigger mess at that than anything else.
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Sep 12, 2014 23:25
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demonR6 posted:Check the pic above. I drew it out, measured everything up and bought the wood at Lowe's. They were nice enough to cut everything to size for me. The rest was wood screws and Gorilla glue. I stained it making a bigger mess at that than anything else. I'll see if I can duplicate what you did. What size planks did you use?
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Sep 12, 2014 23:28
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demonR6 posted:Check the pic above. I drew it out, measured everything up and bought the wood at Lowe's. They were nice enough to cut everything to size for me. The rest was wood screws and Gorilla glue. I stained it making a bigger mess at that than anything else. Checking the pic, you avoided having your house burn down by doing it during a rainstorm.
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Sep 12, 2014 23:40
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Pukestain Pal posted:I'll see if I can duplicate what you did. What size planks did you use? I chose a suitable wood for staining from the lumber section at Lowe's. It's 3/4" x 3 1/2" x whatever length works best for your final project. This is a rough idea of the dimensions.. 
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Sep 12, 2014 23:43
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demonR6 posted:I chose a suitable wood for staining from the lumber section at Lowe's. It's 3/4" x 3 1/2" x whatever length works best for your final project. This is a rough idea of the dimensions.. JuffoWup posted:Checking the pic, you avoided having your house burn down by doing it during a rainstorm. No lies I had a fire extinguisher in the garage. Heh.
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Sep 12, 2014 23:44
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Chichevache posted:I just added some micro sword to my tank to get a middle ground plant for shrimp to hide in. I also trimmed the red ludwigia a bit since it is loving huge. Easily tripled in size this month. Once the dust settles I will take some photographs of my plants and my betta, Riddick. I used flourite for a dozen years or so in multiple tanks with cories and no issues whatsoever.
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Sep 13, 2014 00:48
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Okay, my wife decided we had to rescue a betta when we were at Petsmart looking for a hood for our tank, so now we have a brand new 5g with a Betta in it. He's a blue halfmoon and beautiful, still a little bashful because he's only been here a day and a half but I'll take pictures later.
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Sep 13, 2014 01:17
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I use a 2x2 cube Ikea Expedit shelf to hold both my 10 and 5 g. Measurements and people posting on the web show that it's being used to hold up quite a number of 20g tanks too. http://www.amazon.com/Ikea-Expedit-Bookcase-Shelving-Display/dp/B0091V8NTE/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0CH28YZXD6N2Y7P524QJ
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Sep 13, 2014 12:47
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We have the larger version of that bookshelf in my wife's office and it's great for what it does. I considered it at first for the 20L but.. they are not suited for holding the weight of a full 20L with substrate. I had that same cube you linked in the pic and tried to screw an additional bracket for support and punched right through it like nothing. I then decided to see what it was made of and it is essentially honeycomb cardboard. When I did the quick math at what the aquarium weights and thought twice about the construction of that bookshelf I threw that idea out the window. I could only picture that collapsing under the weight and finding my aquarium on the floor when I got home. Sure some others may be using it and are fine with it but I can tell you there are a lot of people that will say do not screw around with the piece of furniture that is supporting hundreds of pounds of water.
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Sep 13, 2014 20:36
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I have my 20g long held up by a 18 dollar put together-yourself coffee table from walmart. It held my fat rear end + my wife without a creak so I assume it'll work.
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Sep 13, 2014 23:55
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whats a good ph range for a planted tank? I'm just establishing my 55 and I'm not sure what I should be aiming for. For that matter, if its out of a solid range, what can I do to adjust it?
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Sep 14, 2014 01:44
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w00tmonger posted:whats a good ph range for a planted tank? I'm just establishing my 55 and I'm not sure what I should be aiming for. I guess the first step would be to find out what the PH of your tapwater is. Have you measured it yet?
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Sep 14, 2014 02:06
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I have not posted in any PI/YCS aquarium threads in ages and had been out of the hobby for a few years until somewhat recently. I've got two Fluval Spec Vs going, some Endler's and Otocinclus, some Thai Micro Crabs, some Red Cherry, Glass/Grass/Ghost, and an Amano shrimp. Both have some mopani wood, one's got some anacharis, willow moss, marimo balls, and some other stuff with crappy black gravel - the other one has java fern and willow moss with Eco-Complete substrate. And now houses my most recently acquired little friend, this Mexican Dwarf Crayfish / cambarellus patzcuarensis v. orange!  I have been into freshwater inverts for a while, started with crayfish but I haven't had one in years. I missed this kind of character! This guy right here was my favorite crayfish of all time and my #1 internet claim to fame see here. 
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Sep 14, 2014 06:55
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I'd love to get a few crayfish because I love crustaceans just as much as fish, but lots of my fish sleep on the bottom.
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Sep 14, 2014 07:41
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