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adventure in the sandbox posted:I'll try to be extra-good about doing partial water changes when it gets hot out. The water bottle idea is a good one, I'll do that. Yeah I've had luck with Java fern, java moss, duck weed (when I was breeding bettas and gouramis, they use it with their bubble nests), cabomba, hygrophilia. Those were tanks that all got direct sunlight, which I don't have now. Ones that I don't do so well with are the aponagenton, amazon sword, and the long grasses. I'd really like to make a forest of the long twirly grass ones, "Vallisneria americana" I guess it is (Using this site as refrence.) And sort of a "lawn" at the bottom. Right now I don't think I can afford to get the added strip lights and now the current trend is to get a special contraption add C02 bubbles into the water. Maybe I can just blow into the tank with a straw every day.  Seems like there's always a fancy trend to get plants going, I remember in the 90's everyone was buying this doohickey that slowly leached hydrogen peroxide into the water, it worked pretty good for the plants and fish and even helped with some of the waste. Wonder whatever happened to that. I still have the doohicky in the basement but I don't know where to get the HP refills. I guess a lab or so.
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| # ? Aug 6, 2008 18:42 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 23:23 |
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I have a quick question. Someone on Craigslist is offering a free tank with fish in it, but it has one of those plecos that obviously is not in any danger of getting smaller anytime soon.  Do pet stores take plecos back even if it's not one you bought? That fish obviously can't stay in that tank.
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| # ? Aug 6, 2008 19:43 |
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Twisted Echidna posted:Honestly, co2 isn't necessary for most plants (this coming from a guy who's got a 20-lb bottle pumping into his 90 gallon whenever the lights are on). So long as you keep the light levels moderate, just normal gas exchange will get your plants all the co2 they need. If you wanted to grow vals and something short, you wouldn't really need a super-lighted tank if you chose the right short plant (there's a variety of dwarf valisneria out there now that's just awesome if you can get your hands on it). Also, I took some new pictures of the 90, but they came out looking like poo poo  Guess I'll have to go for round 2 tonight and see if I can't get a good shot.e ^^^ Yes, most good stores will accept trade-ins, even if the fish wasn't originally bought there.
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| # ? Aug 6, 2008 19:45 |
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Vigilantly Vigorous posted:Is 1.8 watts per gallon too low for having plants? I'm gonna pick up a new substrate tomorrow and replace the gravel in the 29 but it's getting hard to find a better lighting option. Either really high or low seem to be my options right now. If you're talking a 55 watt power compact you're probably fine, I have a 96 watt power compact over my 58 gallon and my crypts are growing, they are lower light plants though. 29 and 58 are similar in height I think. I had 2 96 watts over my tank but I shut one off cause I didn't feel like buying more CO2 and stuff still lives. Edit: since no one has posted since my last post kaosAG posted:Honestly, co2 isn't necessary for most plants (this coming from a guy who's got a 20-lb bottle pumping into his 90 gallon whenever the lights are on). So long as you keep the light levels moderate, just normal gas exchange will get your plants all the co2 they need. If you wanted to grow vals and something short, you wouldn't really need a super-lighted tank if you chose the right short plant (there's a variety of dwarf valisneria out there now that's just awesome if you can get your hands on it). If you do it right with fertilizer and CO2 and plenty of lights the plants grow like crazy which is rather rewarding to be honest. It takes attention though cause if your CO2 runs out and you don't notice you might get nasty thick green water, I know that first hand, you couldn't see past 1" in my tank. Stuff will survive and grow slowly with low lighting and no added CO2, but if you have high light and high CO2 and fertilize a Crypt or Sword plant may put out a new leaf every day. Stuff like Rotala can easy grow an inch or two a day as well. I trimmed with every water change back then and cut off probably 15-20 crypt and sword leaves each time. So no CO2 is fine but it's a whole different ballgame when you fine tune fertilizers and CO2 and lights to the max. My preference for fertilzing is using one of those roundy feeders to drop in KNO3, K2S04, and MgS04. Then I would put some seachem flourish in after each weekly water change, I might have even done the flourish twice a week back when I lived in an apartment and had nothing to do all day but play with my fish tank (no internet at the time). 
Jackdonkey fucked around with this message at Aug 6, 2008 around 20:46 |
| # ? Aug 6, 2008 20:23 |
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I have 65 watts on my 29 gallon. My substrate is about 75% EcoComplete with the remainder being a mix of black sand and black gravel. It is between 3-4" deep. I use Flourish Plant Tabs, Flourish, Flourish Excel, Flourish Trace, Flourish Iron, and Flourish Potassium. The only plants I can't grow right now are those that require really high light or those that stick close to the substrate. I've been successful in growing Amazon Sword, Red Crypt, Anubias Nana, Java Moss, Madagascar Lace, and a few different stem plants. I think I need to get a CO2 system and better light before I try any of the grasses again.
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| # ? Aug 6, 2008 20:43 |
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aunt moneybags posted:I have a quick question. Some do, some don't. Some Petcos will take in fish to adopt out, but you have to call ahead to check. Sometimes it just depends on room. Your best bet is calling smaller specialized fish stores. I had a problem with a really territorial cichlid, who became that way when I stupidly let him live in a tank by himself for a month and then when I tried to put in a few new friends in, he wasn't having it. I ended up taking him to a nice small fish store and the owner traded me for a different cichlid. Like I said, this varies greatly on the place, but it never hurts to call and ask.
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| # ? Aug 6, 2008 20:47 |
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Sorry to bring something back up from the first page, but gross I saw the pictures of your plant setup with the pvc/gravel, and was wondering if you had some more indepth steps to how you made that. It looks great and I've been wanting to make something similar for my 29 gal and transfer my fire bellies into it, but have no idea where to get started. I saw the instructions on the pipe, but in your particular tank did make it so one piece is on bottom, another ramps up, and the other is on top? It's hard to tell from the pictures. Also, I'm new to live plants. I'm going to put two fire bellied toads in the tank first, so does anyone have an idea of what fish and plants are best to add to that?
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| # ? Aug 6, 2008 21:57 |
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Fingers McLongDong posted:Sorry to bring something back up from the first page, but gross I saw the pictures of your plant setup with the pvc/gravel, and was wondering if you had some more indepth steps to how you made that. It looks great and I've been wanting to make something similar for my 29 gal and transfer my fire bellies into it, but have no idea where to get started. I saw the instructions on the pipe, but in your particular tank did make it so one piece is on bottom, another ramps up, and the other is on top? It's hard to tell from the pictures. I'm not sure which part you're asking about exactly, but the tubes are all parallel. Wherever they touch, they're joined with silicone. I just made them different lengths and cut the top-rear one at an angle to make the shape more interesting and hide the bare PVC in spots. The little platforms on either side of the top are lengthwise cuts of pipe. Hope this clears it up:  Click here for the full 705x940 image. quote:Also, I'm new to live plants. I'm going to put two fire bellied toads in the tank first, so does anyone have an idea of what fish and plants are best to add to that?
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| # ? Aug 6, 2008 23:32 |
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gross posted:I'm not sure which part you're asking about exactly, but the tubes are all parallel. Wherever they touch, they're joined with silicone. I just made them different lengths and cut the top-rear one at an angle to make the shape more interesting and hide the bare PVC in spots. The little platforms on either side of the top are lengthwise cuts of pipe. Hope this clears it up: Wow thanks for the fast response, that's just what i wanted to hear. How do you still go about feeding the frogs? Do you still put crickets in there or do they survive just fine on guppies alone? Mine have only ever been cricket fed in a 10-gal half-water half-land so I'm just wondering how they'll adjust.
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| # ? Aug 7, 2008 00:15 |
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Fingers McLongDong posted:Wow thanks for the fast response, that's just what i wanted to hear. How do you still go about feeding the frogs? Do you still put crickets in there or do they survive just fine on guppies alone? Mine have only ever been cricket fed in a 10-gal half-water half-land so I'm just wondering how they'll adjust.
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| # ? Aug 7, 2008 01:48 |
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Vigilantly Vigorous posted:Was thinking about getting one of these for my 29 gallon. Anyone know anything about this lighting option for plants? Desert Bus posted:I think I need to get a CO2 system and better light before I try any of the grasses again. For tanks 40 gallons and under, I don't see any reasons not to at least TRY a DIY CO2 setup. They're easy and cheap to make, and after a week or two you can notice great improvement. crudnugget fucked around with this message at Aug 7, 2008 around 02:33 |
| # ? Aug 7, 2008 02:29 |
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crudnugget posted:To me, Big Al's Online has better prices than the Dr.'s, and the light I would recommend is this one. It's enough to give you just over 2 watts per gallon. I had that light over a 29, and grew many different plants successfully. I have that fixture with this bulb (the 65 watt model). Thanks for the plant suggestions. I'll look into them.
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| # ? Aug 7, 2008 03:43 |
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This is my new 55 gallon tank, we just upgraded from a 29. We let it cycle, and only added all these fish to it two days ago.  This is our upside down catfish, he's grown so quickly in the year or so we've had him.  This is the iridescent shark, who my sister got 8 years ago and quickly outgrew the 10 gallon she had. I cannot convince my family to get rid of him, even though he will outgrow the 55 gallon as well. He is about 8" and I'm surprised he hasn't bashed himself to death against the tank walls yet when he gets startled and torpedoes around the tank.  The pearl gourami, a sunburst micky mouse platy, and a few zebra danios.  Two of the sunburst micky mouse platies, some driftwood and plants.  We have: 1 pearl gourami 1 upside catfish 1 iridescent shark 1 green emerald cory cat 4 albino cory cats 5 sunburst micky mouse platies 6 zebra danios We'll be getting a few more next week, I'm thinking killifish and some more pearl gouramis. I'd really like to do a little more of an advance tank, but my family just couldn't do it. I'm the only one who seems to get water chemistry or anything like that and I get a bueatiful balanced tank and I come back from college and most of the fish and plants are dead. I don't really know why I bother sometimes, but I really like aquariums and goddamn it I wish I could have one of my own at my place instead of just my little betta.
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| # ? Aug 7, 2008 05:30 |
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Just put some ADA Amazonia II and replaced that lovely old black gravel. Planted Tank ahoy!
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| # ? Aug 8, 2008 02:23 |
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I just got my first "Platinum" fish. I picked up a young (2.5") Platinum Gourami. I'll try and get pictures of her once she's settled in.
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| # ? Aug 9, 2008 22:11 |
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I haven't done this in a while.. Time for a picture spam! I spent way way too much money on plants and am very happy about it.  This is my favorite tiny tank.  This is 2.5 + gallons of candle vase that I bought at Target, filled with Flourite susbtrate, ludwigia peruensis, dwarf hairgrass, dwarf baby tears, Sag dwarf subulata, hornwort, rotala indica and java fern. A tiny HOB filter on the back and a 5 gallon Visitherm heater as well as ammonia meter and therm. This will be a shrimp home (I hope), if I can figure out if the copper in the substrate will or will not kill my shrimps.  Another tiny, this one is more along the lines of 2 gallons, a bit less with the black sand, which has fert tabs. Not heavily planted yet, has some dwarf sag and some java fern plus the tiny bit of driftwood in the back. The aerator has been replaced with a tiny hob, but no heater.  My 10 gallon betta tank, Ophelia the aging female betta and two dwarf frogs live here. In other news, gently caress you Gremlin for eating my wendtii red.  This is the culprit.  Mako's Tank:  In it, Flourite, Ludwigia Peruensis, dwarf subulata, amazon sword, java fern, java moss, heteranthera star grass and some driftwood. Here's Mako.  Ignis' tank.   Heteranthera stargrass, dwarf sag, spiralis, java fern, Flourite. What's this? I do believe it's the ugliest planted tank, ever!  This tank is what happens when you first get into planting and throw a ton of lilies and aponogeton together withotu thinking of placement and then start adding things trying to make it look good, but succeed only at cluttering it. In it.. Anachris, Cabomba, dwarf subulata, some tiny sprigs of micro sword, dwarf lily, aponogeton distachyos and undulatas, rotala magenta, hornwort, wisteria, amazon sword (bleheri) and hell if I know what else. Also, glow fish, long finned danios, platies, tiger shrimp, tangerine shrimp, one apple snail and a nerite snail. I have more tanks but this is really enough for now, I think.
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| # ? Aug 10, 2008 04:26 |
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Kuja posted:This will be a shrimp home (I hope), if I can figure out if the copper in the substrate will or will not kill my shrimps. Shrimp have no issues with Flourite, or at least I've kept them in a tank with a Flourite substrate.
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| # ? Aug 10, 2008 04:38 |
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I was hoping that was so, got two ghost shrimp and they died, when all params were normal. Just in case, I nabbed some tetra aqua safe which neutralizes heavy metals. I just know that inverts and coppers spells death, so I'll be pretty bummed if they kick it because of the flourite (perhaps because of the size of the tank in conjunction with the flourite) despite my hearing and seeing otherwise most of the time. Thanks for the word, anyway, it offers some reassurance.
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| # ? Aug 10, 2008 04:47 |
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I guess this is the official aquarium thread now so i'll ask this here, what's a good online store to buy parts from? I need a new hood for my 29 gal since the old one I was given is kinda busted and the glass cover pieces are broken, and I'm really interested in getting a dual-strip so I can do the daylight/nighttime effect with a night bulb, and I keep seeing them for around $150 or so. Is this expensive or is there a good source to get things like that cheaper?
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| # ? Aug 10, 2008 22:42 |
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Freshwater or salt? I don't know the best place for freshwater, but for pretty much anything saltwater, http://www.marinedepot.com is where you'll go.
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| # ? Aug 10, 2008 23:06 |
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its fresh. I guess the nighttime light is really unnecessary, but I have some nighttime heat lamps heating up some herp tanks and it looks really neat, so I thought it'd be cool to follow suit with this, even though I don't need the heat or extra light.
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| # ? Aug 10, 2008 23:40 |
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Depends on the color. If you're going to do actual night lighting (as opposed to a blue bulb that is on for an hour before and after the daylights to simulate sunrise and sunset), you're going to want to get moonlamps. They're either blue or white LEDs that are either mounted in a light fixture or you can get them externally. The people who get really nifty with their moonlamps will get a computer type setup that brightens and dims them across a 30 day cycle to simulate the rise and fall of the moon (fish supposedly spawn more when this is in place).
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| # ? Aug 11, 2008 02:52 |
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http://www.bigalsonline.com and http://www.drsfostersmith.com are both pretty cheap places to get good brand name aquarium items. Big Al's usually has some kind of special running, you'll see it at the top of the page. They recently had free shipping on any order over $75 and a bunch of people I know used it to save a bunch on shipping stuff like lights and bags of substrate. Some of their specials are kind of crap though, so if you can afford to wait, they usually change every week or every other week.
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| # ? Aug 11, 2008 03:00 |
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Psimitry posted:Depends on the color. If you're going to do actual night lighting (as opposed to a blue bulb that is on for an hour before and after the daylights to simulate sunrise and sunset), you're going to want to get moonlamps. They're either blue or white LEDs that are either mounted in a light fixture or you can get them externally. Yeah I guess I was referring to the purple-blueish light that you can see in the dark. I'm going to do some live plants so will a single UVB strip be enough? I might add on the moonlight effect later just so i can get the tank started sooner. That moonlight cycle sounds awesome, do you know of any online tutorial type thing that explains how to do that? Probably more effort than I'm going to go through but it'd be neat to see.
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| # ? Aug 11, 2008 21:52 |
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Very little effort. But the setup probably costs as much as your light fixture you'll put on it (there's a reason that they're usually only used in Reef systems. We're used to paying out the rear end for weird things). http://fishbowl-innovations.com/product/moonComputer
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| # ? Aug 11, 2008 22:02 |
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That's sweet, might invest in that one day. I wanted to do a reef tank, but my girlfriend talked me into doing this cheaper alternative that i wanted to do. Not trying to take up the thread with my questions, I'm just a newbie to fish and want to make sure I do it right. Is a single strip going to be enough to grow plants well? I don't want to cheap out on stuff because I want this done right and to be successful, but I don't want to blow all my money on unnecessary stuff. edit: found some answers on the recommended websites, and I think i'm going to get a bio-wheel, so if i order a glass canopy the 2" segment of vinyl can be cut enough to allow the bio-whee filter through without problems right? Fingers McLongDong fucked around with this message at Aug 12, 2008 around 01:57 |
| # ? Aug 12, 2008 00:09 |
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Fingers McLongDong posted:That's sweet, might invest in that one day. I wanted to do a reef tank, but my girlfriend talked me into doing this cheaper alternative that i wanted to do. Yeah, the back plastic parts of the glass tops can be cut. When I got mine, I thought it felt pretty tough, but I tried cutting it with a normal pair of scissors and it worked.
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| # ? Aug 12, 2008 03:32 |
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crudnugget posted:Yeah, the back plastic parts of the glass tops can be cut. When I got mine, I thought it felt pretty tough, but I tried cutting it with a normal pair of scissors and it worked. I used a small saw after breaking my scissors on one of them.
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| # ? Aug 12, 2008 04:09 |
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I had to move my fish over an hour away, and I was terrified. Luckily they're doing quite well as always.     I'm thinking about buying them an aquarium, but they've lived in the pond for 5+ years, and they seem to love it. I'm not sure what to do. My desire for a pond has gone beyond my love for water, and now onto what would make my fish happier.
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| # ? Aug 13, 2008 17:29 |
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My boyfriend and I have been dating almost a year. For an anniversary gift I wanted to give him something customized. He'd been talking about getting a pet betta after seeing how easy it is to care for mine, so I got him this nice 1.5 gallon with light, filter, and storage compartment built in. Not bad for $20! He'd mentioned getting a solid blue betta and naming it "Simon Bettamont" after the main character of the CastleVania games, so an idea struck: turn the tank into Dracula's Castle. After many measurements, map searching and crafting I present:     The "Main Hall" (right) was a beast to work with. When they put the map online, they'd just edited together screenshots to make a big picture. Problem is, the developers didn't pay attention to the architecture which led to weird stuff like columns ending mid-wall, pits of death hanging in space and so forth. Lucky me, the whole thing was fixed in MSPaint within an hour. You can see my female betta Mordeca loafing around the bottom, helping cycle.
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| # ? Aug 13, 2008 21:52 |
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TunaSpleen posted:My boyfriend and I have been dating almost a year. For an anniversary gift I wanted to give him something customized. He'd been talking about getting a pet betta after seeing how easy it is to care for mine, so I got him this nice 1.5 gallon with light, filter, and storage compartment built in. Not bad for $20! You should consider getting some silk plants or some other decorations so that the Betta has places to hide, and to help break up any current from the filter output.
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 00:08 |
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Yeah, I put the filter to the side so it doesn't really stir up much water, plus it's not very strong to begin with. (The filter media is the size of a trading card.) I figure an average-sized fake plant for the betta, and maybe some hard plastic skeletons with smooth edges at the bottom to go with the theme. Mordeca's the laziest fish on earth and she doesn't have a problem with the current, I figure even a fish with fins twice as big as hers and of average activity will still be fine. Hell, in a few days I could put Mordie back in her community tank and try out the new one with my male betta to see how he gets around.
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 05:10 |
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Who has a favorite website for fish health? I thought I was finally in the clear, having recently won the battle against a pea soup algae bloom, and then an outbreak of minor fin rot, but tonight another guppy looks ill. He is listless, hanging out at the surface, and looks fat (bloated?). Besides Petco/Petsmart, the nearest fish store is 30-45 minutes away, and closed by 6pm, which makes it hard to get to. I hate this "cross my fingers and hope for the best" routine, because I know if my cat was acting like this I'd be rushing to the E-vet. But, there are no fish vets that I know of in my greater metro region. (well, there might be a koi vet around, but I have guppies, not koi).
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 06:59 |
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Well if its an intestinal blockage, mashed peas works great. What are the other symptoms? Also what kind of food is he eating? If it's floating flakes or pellets maybe he's eating en too fast and and they are expanding in his tummy and he's getting a lot of air in his tummy. Try some cooked mashed peas or well washed a bit of zucchini or lettuce clipped below the surface) and see if it works its way though and hope he doesn't have dropsy.
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 07:31 |
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Twisted Echidna posted:Well if its an intestinal blockage, mashed peas works great. What are the other symptoms? Thanks. We feed flakes, freeze dried bloodworms, and sinking pellets (and algae wafers for the otto cats, but the guppies peck at it) for food (mostly Hikari Flakes though). We did try a mashed up pea this evening, when I noticed Speck was ill and fat, but he didn't eat any. Other symptoms, well, I'm not sure yet, I just noticed. Mostly being still, resting on top of a leaf, kinda gulping with the mouth, but not super bad. Had a big poop, but it was kinda stringy. Hanging out at the surface. Water parameters 2 days ago were Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10ppm. On a related note, how often should I do a water test? After my initial daily tests, I've slacked off to every other week or so. Of course my favorite fish store is in the middle of a going out of business sale. So after this month, my only resources (besides PetCo/Smart) are the place that doesn't speak English to well, or the place where you take a number like a deli to get help. All 45ish minutes away. I want so much to take good care of my fish, but they aren't mammals, and its hard to relate to them. UGH!
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 07:48 |
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my tank is nothing too special, but it is big and empty. Then again, I don't think adding stuff would be a good idea, since I have an Oscar, and it likes to rearrange/ruin things. The aquarium. It's 50-60 gallons i think.  Here is the clam he destroyed. Oscars are slobs.  These used to be under the gravel. Oscars are slobs.  Now, my dad's goddamned ugly-as-sin boxer dog chewed up my biowheel's water wheel. I went to my local pet stores and NONE of them carried those wheels, so I ordered one off the internet, but to compensate for the loss, I used an ordinary HEPA filter in place of the water wheel, and it is working just fine. Here is a picture. 
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 09:53 |
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Just started my first aquarium, it's been running for about a week now, but I put the water and flourite in it maybe...2 weeks ago? Ten Gallon, 40 watt florescent, HOB 10 gallon filter, Flourite, 1 piece 'o' wood and some moss, java, and another plant that kicks major rear end. Want it to be a fairly awesome planted tank and once its stabilized I'd like to get a couple of neon tetras for it. I'll get a picture when I can. Questions are, nitrates, nitrites, and pH all look good. Absolutely no nitrates or nitrites, pH is a bit acidic, but ammonia is 1ppm. The guide on the test kit says any ammonia at all is very bad for fish. It also says this is common in new tanks and there is a product (that I cannot remember the name of) that nutralizes the ammonia. Seeing as how the rest of the tanks parameters are pretty good, I was just thinking about getting this magical amonia pacifier and getting some fish this weekend. Safe bet? The java fern I got is a bit...ugly. All of the other plants in the aquarium seem to be thriving, lots of new growth and bright green, good stuff. The java fern has black marks on it and the leaves look like they've been bitten by caterpillars. The thing is, its not getting worse, the plant just seems content to be ugly as sin and not die. I'm worried about the dead-ish leaves contaminating the water and making my ammonia spike even more, but the plant also cost money. I am lord of cheap. This is a problem. I should note the light is only kept on 4 hours a day until I can get some fertilizer or a DIY co2 system up. Does the chemical they make they clears your water work for the greenish/brownish tint that the wood and plants give off? I tried boiling the wood but could only get about 50% of it, I don't own a massive pot. Thanks for the help, I've been reading my rear end off on various aquarium sites but sometimes it just seems so overly complicated. Also, that castlevania tank is bad rear end. Good job. Mcqueen fucked around with this message at Aug 14, 2008 around 17:16 |
| # ? Aug 14, 2008 17:10 |
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Wood will always be leaching tannins (think tea) into the water. Another boiling won't hurt to take more of them out. It is very natural and shouldn't affect plants.
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 17:15 |
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TunaSpleen posted:Castlevania
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 17:16 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 23:23 |
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TunaSpleen posted:Castlevania betta I have this same tank (minus custom stuff, of course) and my betta just loves it. The current from the filter is very gentle.
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| # ? Aug 14, 2008 17:29 |
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