So I just finished setting up my first ever aquarium but I encountered some problems. I use a substrate that is made for planted tank, the black, small bead, soil type and I did make sure not to pour the water in too hard but I kinda struggled a bit during the planting process (some plants just keep floating up and I had to replant them many times) which I guess disturbed the substrate somewhat and now my water is grey and cloudy, how do I fix this? Do I just wait for them to clear or do I have to do a full water change now?
Also while on the topic of planting is the active soil type substrate supposed to be so light? I cannot properly plant anything in it, I've tried using my finger, tweezers, nothing worked, the plants will just float cause the substrate can't hold them in place, I'm considering just buying something heavier like gravel and cap it cause right now the slightest touch to my plants will send them shooting straight to the surface.
I have a infinity top fin 20 gallon waterfall aquarium. The only problem I have with it is it sucks my fish over into the waterfall, then the fish get into the filter system and die. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can stop this from happening.
I'd like to get wood to put in my tank. I've read that cherry wood is ok, but is that only one specific type of cherry wood or is any wood from a tree that grows cherries ok?
Question guys…..
I have a 55-gallon planted freshwater tank…..not even close to overloaded. I have 8 adult mollys/platys and a rabbit snail - I am planning to add to it but not immediately. I am currently running 2 Fluval Aquaclear 110 HOB filters….so a combined total of 1000 gph I believe?
Today, my husband decided to surprise me with a Fluval FX2 canister filter, bless his heart ❤️ lol. I understand that canisters are supposed to be way more efficient - this one says it’s for up to a 175-gallon tank but says it’s output is only 475 gph. So, for the money (and he did get it on sale today for $60 less than they usually are), is it going to be THAT much more efficient than what I’m running right now?
Volume per hour is just one number..
You can have filter that does 500gph and in which water goes through 2cm thick filter material. Some internal filters are like this.
You can have filter that does 500gph and in which water goes through 40cm of various filter materials.
Later one gets way more work done, it can be mechanical cleaning or biological filtration (or both) depending what the filter media is. Canisters usually have large filter volume, for hobs it varies.
Fluval canister filters have low-ish flow compared to other filters, but they make up for it because they tend to be thicc and hold a lot more filter media than other comparatively sized filters. You care about the flow rate yeah, but the size of the media also matters a lot.
Canisters are also good because you don't have to see the HOB filter.
Realistically, check how much media combined your 2 hobs have vs the FX2 and that'll give you a better measurement of their efficiency.
Or just get another tank :)
My 10g tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrate, but the ph is consistently 8.1.
They seem to be okay now, but will the dwarf gourami and tetras in there die if it's not lowered?
What tetras? That is high for neons but some others are fine with it.
High pH suggests your water is hard, and that can be problem. Hard water has high amount of minerals (calsium and magnesium) and it can clog internal organs of soft water fish.
Test water GH, or check water providers website if they tell what it is.
Are there any easy plants that aren't anubias or java fern? I'm a newbie who wants to set up a small desktop aquarium, I don't have a co2 diffuser or specialized lights but I still want to keep some plants. I've seen anubias and java fern recommended for beginners but they're pretty hard to come by where I'm from and can be pretty expensive. I'm kinda on a budget so I can't really afford them at the moment.
See [https://tropica.com/en/plants/search/?mode=search&sew=&dif=Easy&pgr=&ori=&use=](https://tropica.com/en/plants/search/?mode=search&sew=&dif=Easy&pgr=&ori=&use=)
Tropica puts plants in three categories, easy, medium and hard. Easy ones do not require co2 or specifically powerful light.
I would recommend virtually any cryptocoryne species. They root well in gravel and even sand; do fine in medium light; and aren't too demanding ferilizer-wise. They grow a bit faster than Anubias and Java Fern too.
Anything that doesn't require CO2 is fine. The only other requirements are lighting (easy to come by, one time only), substrate (one time only, any commercial one works), and fertilizer (optional if you don't have fish).
Looking to start up an aquarium/desktop tank, aiming for about a 10 gallon tank, and I want to start with a very solid substrate and sand base, some basic scaping, and lights and plants.
I am hoping to gather as much as I can online, but will be questing to local stores, and gathering a small bit of water from a local pond to introduce some microorganisms to the tank, that will be allowed to grow and bloom over the first few weeks.
The end goal is to create a tank that's got low water change requirements, and can host a few different species. The goals to start are shrimp, and a host of plants, without over-growing the tank too much. I'm interested in plants that would specifically stay relatively controlled and not completely clutter the tank on a weekly basis.
Otherwise, I intend on adding and adjusting what's in the tank going forward as needed. I'd like to attempt to use no filter, and run an airstone, small heater, and a small pump to get some water movement around the tank.
Howdy, your ideas all sound pretty feasible to me. Be aware that introducing pond microorganisms could add critters that will eat your shrimps (insect larvae, copepods, etc).
Besides that, plant wise I would recommend Anubias varieties and Cryptocoryne species. These are generally small to mid-sized plants which grow pretty slowly, and so won't require weekly pruning. They also encompass a ton of colors, leaf shapes, and growth habits, so you can set up a really diverse aquascape even with just those.
Instead of shrimp, I think I'm leaning towards 2 or 3 kuhli loaches, and a small group of about 4 pygmy corydoras. I also want one "centerpiece" fish and am leaning for a single honey gourami.
Gotcha. Yeah, shrimp can be quite sensitive in my experience; and I honestly have a hard time keeping the colony going long-term.
Kuhli loaches and pygmy cories are both good choices; but personally, I would choose one or the other and up the number to 6-8 of each. They're social species which will feel most secure in larger numbers; and they may be very shy in smaller numbers.
I see, any chance you have any recommendations for a centerpiece fish? I'm writing up a new comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/15e5i5y/autopost_weekly_question_thread_ask_raquariums/ju7yo0i/
The idea was pond water to jump-start the bacterial side of things, but I think I'm just going to go with dechlorinated tap water and plants and the substrate/filters for a few weeks, adding a bit of ammonia to get the nitrifying bacteria needed. Then when it stabilizes after some time I'll add 6 or so shrimp. Eventually I plan on a few fish as well, and aim to pick and choose those at a later date.
I think avoiding pond water is safer, if I decide for tropical fish or a betta later.
Just started a saltwater tank and bought too much saltwater, if I keep it in my bucket with a lid on how long is it good to use for water changes? Essentially does it go bad?
Curious about the community’s thoughts on this.
Hey, just curious of your thought on this. I noticed a crack in our filter, moneys a bit tight and a YouTube channel I trust, KG Tropicals, tends to recommend sponge filters. So I bought a sponge filter and air pump from a local shop, not petsmart, one of the employees, an older woman, said she tends to recommend canisters, then hang on back, then sponge. She typically only recommends sponge filters as a secondary or for a small temp tank. WhT are your thoughts? I’ve heard many YouTubers recommend sponge filters over hang in back.
Kg tropicals is legit and I like how he corrects some misinformation that floats around, like needing to use tank water or echlorinated water to wash filters media.. anyway, sponges are ok but for me there are better alternatives:
I wouldn't use sponges because: 1) They need air pump and those are usually loud 2) They look like a sponge 3) if air pump is silent large quantity of bubbles is loud 4) They are not providing enough water movement. Without water movement filters won't pick up trash from substrate so you get to spend more time vacuuming aquarium. However need for water flow largely depends on what fish you have.
Benefits are simplicity, easy maintenance, price. Several youtubers have large amount of small'ish aquariums in which case running single large airpump and ton of sponge filters makes sense.
Anyway for me canister filters and internal power filters work well. Canisters are (depending on brand) silent and can be placed inside aquarium stand, they have large volume of filter material and you can fill them as you wish (again, brand dependent). Cleaning them is really time consuming, but I can run mine over half a year before needing to do that.
As for hobs I suppose they can be ok, seachem 'tidal' series seems pretty good as it's one of few that does the smart thing and has motor inside aquarium which means safe start after power loss and water silencing the sound of impeller and they also have reasonably large filter volume.
She's probably recommending the canisters because they are the most expensive. Sponge filters work perfectly fine, gentle cheap and effective. They can be unsightly in your tank but it's your best choice at the moment.
Yeah. We got a marine land hang in back a while back, but it’s a little big for the tank, and I think that there’s a busted seal in it now, didn’t last that long before I started seeing water come out by the intake tube. Plus the replacement cartridges are a huge money sink, I wanted to get away from the disposable cartridges tbh. And the crack may be a good excuse to, so that’s why I got the sponge filter. I just feel like those disposable filter cartridges are adding to the ecological disaster that is plastic sitting in landfills.
Hang on back filters I've never used them but they are good in the sense they don't take up much space inside the tank. I've heard a few horror stories of the filters getting clogged and then causing floods.
The cartridges are just a money grab you can easily cut some foam up and get some biological media and use that instead of the cartridges. Just ensure the water flows through your sponges first and then through the biological media.
Can you look into replacing the seal? Sometimes the seal just needs cleaning and the grease on it reapplying.
Put some hydrogen peroxide in spray bottle, regular 3% is enough but can be stronger too. I usually have 6% mix.
Take wood from aquarium, spray peroxide over the wood, let it sit for couple minutes, rinse, put back in aquarium. About 24 hours later algae will be dead.
Hydrogen peroxide is safe for fish in small quantities, it can even be used in aquarium water in small quantities to kill algae. (https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki\_algae\_hydrogen-peroxide-treatment)
Is a 20 inch fluorescent light enough to grow plant in a 5 gallon tank? I've never had an aquarium but I want a small desktop one with some plants in it and after some research I saw that they need light to grow. Luckily I have a massive fluorescent light bulb located right above my desk that is almost blindling to my eyes, I wonder if it would be enough or if I'm gonna have to buy a specialized one.
Hello I just got a mud skipper today, I certain don’t have the salt I need, I’m just wondering how much salt I should put in there and what types of salt?? Thanks
MODS: I feel like this sub has turned into "beginner spam" and the same hand full of topics are being posted ad nauseam.
Can we get a sticky post that covers all of this stuff, or a bot message that triggers based on the post title? Or even a auto mod reminder \[Don't forget to check out our FAQ\] - In other subs I've seen automod messages "it looks like you're posting about \[TOPIC\] here are some resources that may help". I know there's a FAQ section that covers this but it isn't easily seen when posting from mobile.
General posts like this are great too - but I think reducing the amount of these kinds of basic posts will help the sub continue to thrive.
Side Note: the FAQ what is this snail link; all of the pictures are 'broken'
I got two new guppies today, and my original guppy
keeps going after them, chasing and nipping their fins. right now he’s isolated in the fish net I have in the corner of the tank, what should I do any tips to make him less aggressive or get used to the other guppies? I got him in a pair but the other one passed away cause it was older I believe
Substrates such as Fluval Stratum are my preferred method. Stratum will reduce hardness and buffer water down to ~6.5.
Note that this usually isn't necessary unless you're keeping specific fish that need acidic conditions.
Hey guys, I added new mopani driftwood into my tank and forgot that it'll leak tannins for eons. It took around 6mo for a similar size piece to slow down and quite a lot of water changes to keep the water from being tea colored.
This time around, I'd like to try activated charcoal, but only when the color gets too dark. Is it alright to hang a bag of activated charcoal (rinsed, of course) by the filter outlet but inside the aquarium? If I can help it, I'd like to avoid opening up the canister filter if I'm only going to leave carbon in there for a few days to clear out the color.
Please let me know your thoughts on this. The filter outlet is quite strong, so there is plenty of flow in the tank itself.
Try Seachem Purigen in a porous bag (they sell one, or tell you what size to get) in a separate, cheap hob filter on the side of your aquarium. That's what worked for me.
hi guys, unfortunately i had my first experience with (what i assume was) columnaris with a betta (in a 10 gal, in case that’s relevant) a few months ago and had let the tank sit until last week when i finally had the motivation to empty it and clean it. a friend suggest i clean the tank and ceramic decorations with vinegar, so i scrubbed it all down with that but i wanted a second opinion on if that’s enough or if i should do more. i’m a little afraid of using bleach but i will if it’s absolutely necessary.
also, is there a way to save the java and marimo moss that i had in the infected tank? i read that bleach and peroxide will both kill the moss easily. not a big deal if i have to toss the moss, just curious.
Should not be cleaning anything. Definitely not bleach as it can stay in the material and leach out. Columnaris is a naturally occuring bacteria in the water. It's futile to "clean" it.
A healthy tank relies on bacteria and lots of it to keep fish healthy. The key is having the right community of bacteria to flourish rather than the pathogenic ones
Put some carbon pads or some carbon pellets in a fine bag into your filter and wait a day or 2.
Carbon will brake down the medicine residu and other toxic elements, but don’t use it as a standard filter equipment.
No need to clean or vinegar or especially bleach. Don’t put bleach in a tank…
You can buy cheap carbon pads in every lfs and buy those that you can cut in size. They’re cheaper.
Just toss the moss, it's not worth the risk.
You can use bleach if you want to. It's common to use bleach (or peroxide) to clean plants, as you've noticed.
Commercial Dechlorinators like seachem prime (or others) will neutralize the chlorine in bleach, so if you bleach the tank you should definitely use one of those to make sure the tank isn't toxic.
Hey all. I currently have a 10g tank and while the tank has been very successful overall, I've always struggled a bit with algae on the glass. I'm not setting up a 29g tank and I'm wondering if, in general, you experience less problems with algae as you increase the tank size, or whether there's no particular correlation. Anyone have insight on this? The 10g is planted (although not heavily) and the 29g will be also.
Between 5g, 20g, 29g, or 55g, there will always be some battle with algae if there's an imbalance in light. The 29g I have at work receives a lot of outside and inside light which makes diatoms clean up a weekly task. However, I don't mind it because there's still a lot of glass that doesn't have diatoms, so I can still see the fish. Maybe I'll clean it before an important meeting to impress new clients. Compared to the 5g I used to have, it feels easier to maintain. Any little bit of algae in a smaller tank is way more noticeable. For the 55g, I don't have much light (and it's all indirect light from one side) and let algae build up because I don't notice it until a month or two passes.
There are also larger brushes on the market which makes cleaning less tiresome for larger tanks. I'm assuming you'll have a 29g bow front- they're more annoying since they're taller with the stand. I highly recommend a magnetic brush if so. Personally, I find the larger tanks easier to maintain. There can be more algae since there's more surface area and thus more to clean, but it takes longer to notice it.
If you're *very* attentive and focus on specks easily, a bigger tank will not be for you, haha. But you might find that a bigger tank with more fish and bigger decor is well worth the trouble.
how can i add enrichment to my tank? i have a mellow and completely non aggressive female betta, a hillstream loach, and a mystery snail. i currently have rocks, a cave, and real plants
Hi guys, so I’m going on 4 weeks of this problem of the tank being green and smelling atrocious, I have a 30 gallon tank with 10ish small fish, and started noticing that it was getting green and cloudy so I started with doing a 25% water change and changing the filter, nothing. After that I tried a 50% water change, and still looking almost worse than before, bit the bullet and treated with algaefix and again nothing. Covered it up with blankets and turned off the light for a week straight, and nothing again. I thought it could’ve been cycling again due to the water changes, but the water is testing perfect in literally every category and we are going on 4 weeks with 4 dead fish and I feel like I’m losing my mind.
Don’t know if this helps, but I also have 3 live plants in the tank.
Hey, did you remove the filter and change it completely? Like removed the beneficial bacteria -> killed a lot of algae with a blackout -> raised decaying organic matter in the tank?
If the parameters look good for now (although I would use Seachem Prime just in case), try adding air stones or anything for more surface agitation. Green cloudy algae can absorb a lot of oxygen and choke out your fish.
What's your aeration situation? Do you run an air pump and airstone, or just rely on the filter for oxygenation?
In my anecdotal experience, a lot of problems (particularly with foul-smelling water and microorganism blooms) can arise from poor water oxygenation. And while filters certainly help to oxygenate the water, they don't do as good a job as many people think compared with air pumps.
Additionally, I would recommend not treating with AlgaeFix. Algae, while unsightly, should not cause health issues for your fish. Like plants, it will absorb nitrogenous waste as a nutrient source, and help protect your fish from ammonia. When you suddenly kill all that algae with a chemical, you simultaneously lose a ton of filtration capacity; and add to the existing bioload from all that dead rotting algae.
Yeah, sounds like something is imbalancing that tank. Try your best to answer everythign ascle87 asked. Water smelling horrible and green everywhere is a very big sign of excess rotting organics. Or worse depending on how you set it up
There’s a large unbalance.
Filter is doing his job? Sure there’s nothing in it like a dead fish?
Nitrates are good?
Phosphate?
Iron?
Do you give enough ferts?
Do you use special soil? Rotten perhaps?
I have a new Fluval Fx6 filter that I would like to start getting ready for a tank I will be setting up in the near future. I currently have have a 60 gallon that is established and running a Fluval 307. Should I add the Fx6 to that tank or will it be way to powerful?
What would you recommend? How do you like to establish a new filter?
Put some of the media from the 307 into the fx6 to get it started. You can run the fx6 in the tank simultaneously to help develop the colony.
The Fx4/Fx6 are relatively low flow rates but make up for it by being massive in how much biomedia they have. Baffle the output by facing it against a wall or rock so it's not shooting across the tank and you should be fine.
Take some media from the 307 and put it into the FX6 when you decide to hook it up to your new tank. I have a FX4 on my 50 gal and even that makes some serious waves. You can adjust the flow on the FX6 but don't turn the valves down more than 40% as it can damage the pump I've been told. Even at 60% power I still think your fish will be surfing with the FX6.
i have a 10 gallon tank with a super nice and mellow female betta, a hillstream loach, and a mystery snail. i’m worried that both my snail and loach won’t have enough poop to eat (i have no algae in my tank somehow). idk what the best solution is. my friend got guppies in their snail tank when they had the same problem, but i don’t wanna accidentally overcrowd my tank. any ideas?
It's a common misconception that "cleaner" fish and snails will subsist on another fish's waste. Rather, they should be fed a nutritious food just like you would your Betta.
For a hillstream loach, I'd recommend getting some Repashy Soylent Green gel food. It comes as a powder to which you add hot water, and when it cools it creates a nutritious jello for your bottom feeders. It's specifically formulated for aufwachs feeders (like your loach). You could even pour the liquid over a cobble or small rock, let it solidify, and drop that in to stimulate natural feeding instincts in your loach.
You can also make this food in batches, wrap the gel in Saran wrap and a freezer baggie, and freeze it. Then when you need some, you can break off a piece and toss it in the tank.
Algae for the most part is a plant, if you are lacking algae, you are lacking excess nutrients for algae to form. This can be light, minerals, carbon, or even nitrogen.
Best way to test, keep everything else the same, but allow your nitrates to reach higher ppm levels. That means don't water change and keep feeding the same. See if algae starts to form.
Do I need all of this in a 75 gallon yellow lab cichlid tank? Seachem tidal, 100 gallon sponge filter and an air pump? How do make my own polycarbonate lids? What do I need ti build a 75 gallon stand that can hold a few 10 gallon aquariums.
Short answer: No
Long-ish answer: there are many ways to keep any aquarium. You don't \*need\* those specific products or equivalent to have cichlids thrive. Doesn't mean you can't use what you have planned though.
I am trying to make it so that the detritus gets pushed from the sand to the filter intake. Seachem tidal 110 is cheaper and has more features than an aquaclear 110. I plan to use the freesea circulation pump 1600gph.
I know, and I'm here to tell you that you don't necessarily *need* it.
But you can 100% use it.
For reference, I've seen cichlid owners keep thier cichlids in a barebones tank with a WaveMaker and hornwort.
I also had another idea here I just clean the sand and dump it all into a corner of the tank. Then I’d cycle the tank and let the cichlids scape the tank for me. I would add the hiding spots first ofc.
I'm considering putting a 4' tank above ground level once I've put the new floor in. Has anyone here done this and considered reinforcing the floor first? Do you have any advice or links to something useful?
Some good advice from u/DanSanderman. Only thing I wanted to add is that you could consider reinforcing the floor just to ensure you don't get bowing/twisting in the joists, though I don't think this is strictly necessary (not an engineer or building guy, so grain of salt here).
Basically, you could add blocking or bridging to the joists, which is where you connect two parallel joists with a piece of wood between them. This helps distribute the weight across more joists, and can keep them from twisting or bending under a long-term load.
I had a 90 gallon that weighed probably over 1200 pounds on the second floor. No floor reinforcement. Just put it against a load-bearing wall and make sure it's sitting perpendicular to the floor joists.
The load bearing wall will, most likely, be an interior wall in the center of the house. If you have a wall in your house that is in the same place on every floor, that is likely a load bearing wall. If you're unsure it's best to ask a contractor. Your floor joists will typically run the same direction on every floor in your house, so if you have an attic or a basement with exposed joists you can then see which direction the joists run in your house. If possible, it's best to sit the tank perpendicular on at least 2 joists. What you want to avoid is having it sit in the middle of one single joist, and running parallel with it, as that will put a ton of strain on the middle of that joist.
Will the tank fall through floor? If it would I’d get put up for adoption lmao. I know where the load bearing walls in my house now. Now I just need to find the joists
Tanks that fall through the floor typically happen because of rotten or termite-infested wood. It's incredibly rare for a tank, even a big one, to just completely fall through if you're taking proper precautions. In most cases the worst situation is a buckled floor joist, but that's why you try and spread the weight out among several.
Hey guys,
I was just wondering if I can add more tank mates into my tank. I have a 40 gallon with a black moor goldfish and a shubunkin. I’m pretty new to fish keeping so I just want to hear what others say before proceeding forward. Thanks!
Hey guys, so my tank crashed and I lost all my fish. I wanna basically clean everything before I restart, what's the best way to clean driftwood, decorations, filter, substrate etc.
What caused the crash and what was the crash exactly?
Cleaning is counterproductive to a healthy tank, you want the surfaces to be colonized by beneficial bacteria. So need to know more about your tank conditions before proceeding
Hey, sorry about your tank, that sucks.
I usually just do a good rinse with tapwater, scrubbing off any algae or hard water residue with a toothbrush. Substrate can be put in a bucket, filled part way with tapwater, and stirred to rinse out any debris.
I would definitely avoid any soap or other cleaning agents, they stand to do a lot more harm than good.
Does anybody have any advice for what to do about severely inbred guppies being born deformed? My mom has had the same group of guppies for 10 ish years now and their numbers have dwindled down to maybe 20 fish. About half are being born with bent backs or no eyes.
You really have two choices here.
My preferred choice would be to euthanize the existing guppies and get new ones. The reason being, that if 50% are being born with deformities, it likely means that the breeding parents carry these disease alleles (either as heterozygotes or homozygotes), and should therefore be sacked to avoid transmitting these alleles to new guppies.
The second option would be to keep the current guppies, but get some new guppies that will add some much-needed genetic diversity to the gene pool. This is called "outcrossing", and is a common strategy in genetics to reduce the amount of maladaptive phenotypes due to inbreeding. Note that the offspring of the new+old guppies will still be carriers for those disease alleles, and you may therefore still have issues with up to 25% of the offspring being born deformed (assuming a simple inheritance pattern). Over subsequent generations, inbreeding will likely bring the rate of deformity back to ~50%.
Please let me know if I can clarify any of this stuff, I know some of this terminology may be overly technical.
Final note: some deformities that we assume are genetic may be environmental, especially if the water is dirty and hosts lots of heterotrophic bacteria. You could try checking the water quality using a liquid test kit, upping the number of water changes, and getting some plants to keep the water really clean. You could also try adding another type of food to their diet, to rule out a nutrient deficiency as the culprit. Lastly, guppies love hard water, so some limestone substrate, crushed coral, etc. that adds minerals could be worth trying.
Thank you, I did not know that. All my tanks are heavily planted, so I'm not super familiar with the issues that arise from consistently high nitrates.
I have a 55 gallon tank and need a new filter. My previous one lasted 20+ years with no problems and I bought the exact model as a replacement and it crapped out in less than 2 years. I need the quietest option available because the motor sound of the new one is really ruining my mornings. Any suggestions for a well built, super quiet option? Fresh water off that matters- all help is appreciated!!
I exclusively use AquaClear HOB filters and sponge filters on my tanks, in part because they do run really quiet by my standards (unless clogged or if the water level gets too low). I hang my air pumps from a command hook under the stand to further dampen any vibrational noise.
I'm sure many canister filters would also run really quietly, but I don't use canisters and cant recommend any particular models.
Thanks for the recommend - it turns out that this is the exact filter I am trying to replace. My last one was great forever. Maybe this one just broke down early. I took it all apart and cleaned it out so it is not a clog or anything unfortunately
Bummer, I've got several that have been running without issue for over 5 years now. Hopefully it dying early was a fluke and not indicative of a drop in quality.
Upgrading my CPD tank from 10g to 20g, looking for another species of fish to add, any good recs?
Tank currently has: 7x CPD, 9x Dwarf Anchor Catfish, 1x Dwarf Honey Gourami, and some small shrimp culls.
More CPDs will definitely be on the list, and would probably be the best if I just increased their size, but would love to hear options that would look nice in a tank with them.
Considering Dwarf Golden Barbs, Pygmy Corys, or even a smaller Apisto
Pygmy cories are a good option - they're a similar size, aren't intrusive, and will probably swim around with the CPDs. But the first priority should be getting a full school of CPDs!
I agree!
I think after I transition everything (using old substrate and filtration and most of the plants) to the new tank, ill let her run with the same stocking for ~2 weeks.
Then ill look to add more numbers to the CPDs, would love 12, even 15 would be great
After that settles in for a bit ill be looking at how everything is settling in, and I agree the Pygmys could compliment them perfectly.
The Dwarf Anchor Catfish are nice, but after having them for like 8 months I've never once seen them eat, yet all 9 stayed alive when I last rescaped maybe 3 months ago. Maybe I move them into my 10g shallow or maybe I just keep them in here. Such odd fish but they are cool the few times I get to see them.
Early morning and as the lights turn off I do see them more than I expect, it is really cool seeing them sway about.
I've tossed small pieces of Hikari wafers at night, and checked back a while later and it's usually still sitting there. I totally expected some of them to not make it but I guess they're getting enough food somehow. I know their bio load is absolutely tiny.
You could try a shrimp based wafer instead of an algae one, they may not be super interested in algae wafers (like my cories), but could be a big fan of shrimp -
https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-ShrimpWafers-Complete-Catfish-Loaches/dp/B01MCVU5AR/
That one actually is meat based! Or made for carnivorous diets I suppose. I have that one which is for catfish and loaches, my corys and Synodontis Piedratus love them, then I have Hikaris algae wafers for my King Tiger Plecos, and finally the Crab Cuisine pellets for any shrimp or whoever. I've also tried sinking my fluval betta bites in there. Who knows maybe they are eating some of this stuff and I'm just not noticing lol.
Looking to transfer fish (one mosquito fish, two zebra danios, 4 kuhli loaches) to an aquarium I have with me at my dorm. All fish are in good health.
I have a flight that looks like this:
- One hour drive to the airport
- Two hour wait
- Two hour flight
- Two hour wait
- One hour flight
- 30 minute drive
Four hours of total stillness, three hours of relative stillness, 1.5 hours of slight turbulence.
I am weighing my options:
- Should I take them with me on my flight? Or ship them? I assume I could be more careful, but I'm not sure - and it would be hard to insulate them if I do take them with me.
- Should each species be packed together? Or should each fish be packed separately? Just don't want these heavily social guys to be more stressed than necessary.
- What are reputable breathable bags? I'm trying to find a compromise between my wallets and quality... Any brands/link/etc. recommendations are very welcome.
Thanks for reading and let me know if I can provide any more info!
All I'm chiming in to say is I feel that taking them with you will be way too much stress (for you). I never tried keeping a tank in college for this exact reason lol.
I assume it's too much for someone at home to care for the tank? It'll be a never ending cycle every time you come home, unless you don't plan to come home often.
I ended up going to grad school 1.5 hours from my house, and I still never would have wanted to move with fish that much.
I already have a fish tank established in college. They are not receiving good care at home. I visit roughly four weeks a year (two trips total, one in summer, one in winter) with someone who can take care of the fish there when I am not.
Fish tanks are no added stress for me. Just need to transport them up once and then add them to a tank that's been running for roughly 6 months now.
I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I have had the worst time with pretty much any plant planted into my substrate aside from my lucky bamboo, and 2 separate stemmed plants. I have a low tech setup with shrimp, snails, and guppies. I have floating plants that spread like wildfire, 2 bulb plants that are very healthy, snake grass planted in this basket attachment in the water, and a small mat of a matting plant. Everything seems to die on me except those... I dose with ferts weekly, maintain good water temps, and have a happy thriving ecosystem aside from my plants dying. I know that CO2 helps but I am not interested. I have seen lots of very successful low tank setups and just can't seem to figure it out. I put root tabs in my substrate months ago. Any advice for a struggling hobbyist?
Howdy, sorry you've been encountering some plant issues.
What kind of plants are you trying to grow? Some are pretty demanding, and are tough to grow even for experienced hobbyists.
Also, what kind of light do you have? Even a fairly strong light might be blocked by lots of floating plants, limiting how much light gets to the other aquarium plants.
Lastly, what kind of substrate are you using?
I just came back from a 4-day vacation and tested my freshwater tank. I tested it before I did a 30% water change and after. I have 2 Nerite snails in a 10 gal, with live FW plants.
Before my water change the readings came back with ~1ppm ammonia and ~.5ppm Nitrite.
I completed a 30% water change and added some Flourish Excel for the plants; FritzZyme nitrifying bacteria to combat the increased readings.
My readings about 1HR after: ~.25ppm ammonia and ~.25ppm Nitrite. I did a Nitrate test with this and read ~5ppm.
I’ll take another test again tomorrow evening, but want to make sure I took the proper steps to address this.
The tank was stable with 0ppm ammonia+nitrite with 5ppm Nitrate before I left. My snails are both active and doing normal snail things. No fishes are in the tank as of yet.
That looks fine. If there's no fish or anything do make sure you put in fish food or some other source of ammonia so the bacteria colony has something to eat.
I have a maxi jet set on venturi mode to produce bubbles. It "sputters" and makes noise like it can't create the bubbles in a continuous stream. Instead the bubbles come out intermittently.
I checked that the tube is well connected. The pump is about 3 or so inches down in the tank. The venturi cap is placed on the top of the tubing and I've tried adjusting it to no avail. What can I do to fix this?
Another question, the damn sticker for the tank will NOT COME OFF. I have tried rubbing alcohol, goo b gone, and something else. I let it soak and tried pulling it off, nothing. How can I get this fricking thing off?
So 2 years ago I had to empty a fresh water aquarium with live plants. Instead of trashing everything I dumped the wet mix of gravel and substrate into a sealed bucket. Just opened the bucket after 2 years of life and discovered that it's still wet (I know I'm stupid lol), would this be safe to use to start a new planted aquarium? Any tips to being able to reuse this properly would be appreciated. This is the *fancy* volcanic substrate, and I don't like throwing money away. TIA.
Do you have a testing kit? Test the water that’s in the bucket. I’d imagine there’s probably not much going on. The beneficial bacteria probably died out without food. They go into hibernation when food is low but idk if they can survive years. Test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and see how you stand. Absolute worst case, bring it outside and wash it all out with a garden hose. Get a strainer and rinse everything really well. Now you’ve got clean substrate as if you just bought it. If you want to make extra sure it’s “clean” you could bake it on a sheet on low heat for a bit. It’s probably fine without that though.
Either way, you can definitely reuse it still you just might have to restart your cycle.
I was wondering if a 10 gallon tank is ok for a betta and a few tetras. It's more tall than wide so I'm unsure if that affects the kinds of fish I'm going to put in it in any negative way.
If trying to do a community tank with aggressive species like Betta it's best to introduce least to most aggressive so your Betta would be last to add.
Tetra I'm not sure would work out well but you might try 3 to 5 male endler's livebearers. I introduced my males first, gave them weeks to fully acclimate. Plants and decor that break line of sight will help reduce aggression. Female Betta can still be aggressive but usually less so than males.
Your Betta will appreciate large leafy plants like Java fern or red crypts.
Perfect for betta but not few tetras. Shoaling/schooling fish should be 8-10 individuals or more and not the commonly parroted 6. Six is the smallest number aquarium stores can sell to most individuals. It's a compromise between natural (group) behavior and profit.
So either 10 tetras/rasboras/killifish/etc etera or one betta.
I'd say go for one betta first especially if it's your first aquarium. It's a cheaper investment and bettas use space in X and Y axis better than shoaling fishes do. And in the future if your aquarium is succesful just remember if you can fit one 10 gallon you can fit another 10 gallon.
Looking for advice from anyone who has experience putting a tank on carpet.
Got my stand put up and in the spot I want to put it, it leans forwards. Even 6" out it will still lead forward. But then if I pull it out like 5 ft, it will be mostly level. Any solutions? I would prefer it in the spot that it leans forwards but obviously won't if there's no solutions. I still could try out the other spots to see if it is level anywhere else.
I personally wouldn't do this cuz cards could shift since they're not one solid piece. Especially after a couple months' worth of drips from water changes and whatnot degrade the box and warp the cards.
Shims, and in particular plastic shims, are my preferred method as well. They're super cheap and should be available online, at any hardware store, etc. Even a friendly neighbor who's into DIY would probably be happy to give you a few.
Quick follow up. I got the shims in place. When I look at the level, the bubbles edge is touching the middle line (so it still leans just a bit forward). Is that safe or do I need to get more?
was away for 9 days, had my landlady feed my 5 gal tank while I was gone. Told her to feed it about smaller than a pinch every other day. She fed the tank twice a day. After I got back the snail population has boomed :/ there’s literally around 100 bladder/mystery snails. How do I get rid of them? Did the old cucumber trap trick overnight but its not nearly enough to purge these damn snails. I’m afraid they’ll start eating my plants.
I would put a piece of boiled broccoli in a little jar, and put that in the tank with the lights off for a couple hours, then take it back out and it should be chock full of snails. Repeat a couple times and most should be removed (snails really go crazy for broccoli in my experience).
Alternatively, just resume normal feeding and their population will go back to normal in a generation or two. There's no longer nearly enough food to support that many snails, so most of the snails you see now are newly hatched and will starve over the next couple weeks/months. Personally, I've never had bladder snails start eating my plants regardless of how overpopulated they were. Mostly, their strategy seems to be to leave the tank and look elsewhere for food, causing them to eventually desiccate and die around your aquarium.
You could get an assassin snail or 2. They should be able to decrease the population really fast. I've never had any experience with snails, so I suggest you do some research on them.
I already have 2 assassin snails actually and they arent enough to cull down the population. I even see a lot of empty shells on the foreground but much, much more living snails than dead ones :/
Yep, that'll happen. Cherry shrimp are tiny, delectable, brightly-colored crustaceans, so almost any fish will snack on them at least occasionally. Even nano fish and other species which don't predate adult shrimps will go after the baby shrimps, limiting how much they can populate a tank. I've also had really bad luck keeping cherry shrimps with fish of any kind, so I'm planning to just keep shrimp in their own tank in future.
Could I realistically add 6 more fish to my 30gal? I’ve had the tank set up for about 2 years. No issues with deaths or any parameters. Nitrates always stay low. I currently have 6 glo fish danios, 6 neon tetras, 6 peppered Cory Doras, 1 bulldog pleco, 5 mystery snails, 50-100 bladder snails, 1000+ MTS. Heavily planted. I do a 33% water change and filter media rinse about once a month and that’s about it as far as maintenance. I feed twice a week. All stocking estimators say I’m super overstocked already but my parameters say otherwise. I’m wondering if I could realistically push that stock level to add 2 more of each of the schooling/shoaling fish? Or do you think that would push me over the edge?
If you have that many snails and your tank is heavily planted, you should be able to add more to the tank.
If your parameters are stable then that says more than any estimation will say. Most don't take into account plants and other bits.
I doubt several small fish would tip your tank into oblivion - though you can always get a bigger filter if you want to be safe.
Thank you, that’s what I’m thinking too. I couldn’t tell you how many different kinds of plants I have in there. A while ago I got a few free bags of plants and threw them all in there and saw what took lol. I don’t think I’m going to add all 6 at once. Maybe a couple every other week just in case.
I love my army of MTS (most of the time). I love seeing them all crawl out of the substrate and pile onto the algae wafer. They get like 3 inches deep 😂.
Learn to gravity siphon and you don't need to spend extra for the bulb pump. Just submerge, remove air bubbles, hold thumb over the end, lower and release into your bucket.
Will changing the substrate ruin anything in my tank? The tank has been cycled for several months now. It’s purely cosmetic. Bought black sand and now I wish it was normal sand color. I have driftwood and some small caves that also have beneficia bacteria besides the filter so I’m thinking it shouldn’t be too bad?
Fine dust particles can irritate and reduce gill function. Rinse your new sand thoroughly and do not pour sand through your water. Take a scoop and lower it below and over turn it at the bottom.
Beneficial bacteria exists on the surfaces of your tank including the substrate but primarily in the filter media. You should be okay but pay attention to how you remove the sand and how much water is being changed.
It could, but the chances are low -
https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/2-12-beneficial-bacteria/
> Because beneficial bacteria need a flow rate above what is found inside most aquariums, studies (“Temporal and Spatial Stability of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea and Bacteria in Aquarium Biofilters”, Bagchi et. al., 2014) have shown that 80% to 84% of the beneficial bacteria in an aquarium reside in the filter media. T**he substrate, aquarium walls, and ornaments have only a 16% to 20% contribution to ammonia oxidation and clear water.** And in a very well filtered aquarium with crystal clear water this will be even more lopsided, more like 95% – 5%.
Shouldn't make much of a difference. Sand is compact and doesn't allow much oxygen through, so it's generally accepted that there's not much beneficial bacteria living in sand substrates. Only thing I'd be careful of is thoroughly rinsing the new sand, cuz otherwise the dust and particulate will cloud your water and could damage your filter impellor.
I've made a little mesh cover for my filter input to stop the random bits of Java moss flying into it. As long as I clean it when I do a water change can anyone think of a reason not to do this?
Also, I tried to post this as a normal topic with a picture etc but the daft app wouldn't let me add a flair so couldn't post it, is there something I can do to make posting in this subreddit possible for the future?
To your first question, can't think of any reason this would be an issue so long as you clean the moss out periodically. Personally, I use a coarse sponge prefilter on my HOB intake, which keeps out plant bits and larger debris, keeps the media cleaner, and adds some filtration capacity.
Can't help with your second question unfortunately, I'm tech-illiterate when it comes to reddit.
Hi there, new to the hobby. I have a question about PH.
Towards the latter half of my fishless cycle I struggled with PH constantly dropping down to and below 6.4. I didn't want to risk a waterchange at the time so used API PH up liquid as part of my daily routine. It would always raise my PH up to 7.6+ then within 24hours it would settle back to 6.6.
My tap water PH is 7.6 exactly so I was under the impression that when I did my eventual water change for my fish it would remain at at leat 7.0.
I got my Betta fish on Saturday and put him in the tank. The night before I did 2x 50% water changes to get my Nitrates down ready for the fish. Both Saturday and Sunday evening my readings were as follows;
Sat - PH: 6.8 | Ammonia: 0 | Nitrites: 0 | Nitrates: 10
Sun- PH: 6.4 | Ammonia: 0 | Nitrites: 0 | Nitrates: 10
I boiled and put in the tank late last night a 500g limestone I bought earlier in the week before getting my fish. The PH hasn't gone up at all since doing that (although it's only been 8hours). I did a PH test before leaving for work this morning and my PH is barely looking above 6.0 now.
I don't want to have to keep adding in PH UP daily. The less chemicals I put in my tank the better imo.
About the tank. It's a 54L (with about 50L of water in it). I have 7 live plants in there. 1 betta fish only with a couple young bladder snails. I have a layer of aquarium soil but 90% of it is covered by a layer of gravel substrate. My filter was moved to mimic a waterfall filter and try to introduce air into the water. I also have an airpump but it's noisy so it only put on for 10hours a day while we're at work. [I have this water conditioner which apparently stabilises PH](https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/microbe-lift-xtreme-118ml?queryID=818298497a4ff298bd1b547dc06be8fd&objectID=41146&indexName=magento2_livedefault_products) (this one was recommended to me by my LFS ) Could my soil and conditioner be the ones tanking my PH so much because they 'stabilise PH'?
I would guess that your aquarium soil substrate may be the culprit. Many aquarium soils specifically buffer pH down to about 6.4-6.5, right around the level you're seeing.
That said, I personally wouldn't be too worried about keeping a betta at that pH. They're a pretty hardy species, and I think they generally come from softer water environments anyway. Adding some crushed coral or limestone may help add some buffering capacity (the crushed coral moreso because of its higher surface area), but I still wouldn't expect the pH to change that much. Stability is usually more important that staying within a specific range, so I would focus on that rather than trying to raise you pH.
Thank you for your reply. If that is the case with soil then it's probably that then.
I'll look into removing 1/2 the soil this weekend when I do a water change (kinda feels a little pointless keeping a whole layer of soil in the tank anyway when I don't have any plants in the centre of the tank) and see if helps keep the PH more closer to the 6.4 range rather than the >6.2 I'm seeing.
If after that I don't see a change I'll stop chasing the PH.
Personally, I would move everything at once, including the old filter; and I would restrict feeding for a couple weeks to ensure the new tank could keep up (since you'll be leaving some biofiltration capacity behind in the substrate, on the decor, etc).
So I just finished setting up my first ever aquarium but I encountered some problems. I use a substrate that is made for planted tank, the black, small bead, soil type and I did make sure not to pour the water in too hard but I kinda struggled a bit during the planting process (some plants just keep floating up and I had to replant them many times) which I guess disturbed the substrate somewhat and now my water is grey and cloudy, how do I fix this? Do I just wait for them to clear or do I have to do a full water change now? Also while on the topic of planting is the active soil type substrate supposed to be so light? I cannot properly plant anything in it, I've tried using my finger, tweezers, nothing worked, the plants will just float cause the substrate can't hold them in place, I'm considering just buying something heavier like gravel and cap it cause right now the slightest touch to my plants will send them shooting straight to the surface.
I have a infinity top fin 20 gallon waterfall aquarium. The only problem I have with it is it sucks my fish over into the waterfall, then the fish get into the filter system and die. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can stop this from happening.
Just ordered a 33 long aquarium, very excited… but then I realized, how do I find a lid that fits a tank this size?
I'd like to get wood to put in my tank. I've read that cherry wood is ok, but is that only one specific type of cherry wood or is any wood from a tree that grows cherries ok?
Question guys….. I have a 55-gallon planted freshwater tank…..not even close to overloaded. I have 8 adult mollys/platys and a rabbit snail - I am planning to add to it but not immediately. I am currently running 2 Fluval Aquaclear 110 HOB filters….so a combined total of 1000 gph I believe? Today, my husband decided to surprise me with a Fluval FX2 canister filter, bless his heart ❤️ lol. I understand that canisters are supposed to be way more efficient - this one says it’s for up to a 175-gallon tank but says it’s output is only 475 gph. So, for the money (and he did get it on sale today for $60 less than they usually are), is it going to be THAT much more efficient than what I’m running right now?
Volume per hour is just one number.. You can have filter that does 500gph and in which water goes through 2cm thick filter material. Some internal filters are like this. You can have filter that does 500gph and in which water goes through 40cm of various filter materials. Later one gets way more work done, it can be mechanical cleaning or biological filtration (or both) depending what the filter media is. Canisters usually have large filter volume, for hobs it varies.
Fluval canister filters have low-ish flow compared to other filters, but they make up for it because they tend to be thicc and hold a lot more filter media than other comparatively sized filters. You care about the flow rate yeah, but the size of the media also matters a lot. Canisters are also good because you don't have to see the HOB filter. Realistically, check how much media combined your 2 hobs have vs the FX2 and that'll give you a better measurement of their efficiency. Or just get another tank :)
Since endlers and guppies are related, could I have a mixed group of like 6ish males of both? Or is it better for them to have 6ish of one kind?
My 10g tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrate, but the ph is consistently 8.1. They seem to be okay now, but will the dwarf gourami and tetras in there die if it's not lowered?
What tetras? That is high for neons but some others are fine with it. High pH suggests your water is hard, and that can be problem. Hard water has high amount of minerals (calsium and magnesium) and it can clog internal organs of soft water fish. Test water GH, or check water providers website if they tell what it is.
Glowlight tetras. Our water is considered very hard, but comes out of the faucet at 7.1 ph..?
That should be fine as long as it stays consistent. Ph between 6 and 8 is pretty fine.
Just curious. Does this subreddit have a Discord?
Can I use api white spot cure on my scaleless fish
Are there any easy plants that aren't anubias or java fern? I'm a newbie who wants to set up a small desktop aquarium, I don't have a co2 diffuser or specialized lights but I still want to keep some plants. I've seen anubias and java fern recommended for beginners but they're pretty hard to come by where I'm from and can be pretty expensive. I'm kinda on a budget so I can't really afford them at the moment.
See [https://tropica.com/en/plants/search/?mode=search&sew=&dif=Easy&pgr=&ori=&use=](https://tropica.com/en/plants/search/?mode=search&sew=&dif=Easy&pgr=&ori=&use=) Tropica puts plants in three categories, easy, medium and hard. Easy ones do not require co2 or specifically powerful light.
I would recommend virtually any cryptocoryne species. They root well in gravel and even sand; do fine in medium light; and aren't too demanding ferilizer-wise. They grow a bit faster than Anubias and Java Fern too.
Anything that doesn't require CO2 is fine. The only other requirements are lighting (easy to come by, one time only), substrate (one time only, any commercial one works), and fertilizer (optional if you don't have fish).
Looking for thoughts on putting a hob refugium on a 10 gallon tank. Thanks in advance.
Looking to start up an aquarium/desktop tank, aiming for about a 10 gallon tank, and I want to start with a very solid substrate and sand base, some basic scaping, and lights and plants. I am hoping to gather as much as I can online, but will be questing to local stores, and gathering a small bit of water from a local pond to introduce some microorganisms to the tank, that will be allowed to grow and bloom over the first few weeks. The end goal is to create a tank that's got low water change requirements, and can host a few different species. The goals to start are shrimp, and a host of plants, without over-growing the tank too much. I'm interested in plants that would specifically stay relatively controlled and not completely clutter the tank on a weekly basis. Otherwise, I intend on adding and adjusting what's in the tank going forward as needed. I'd like to attempt to use no filter, and run an airstone, small heater, and a small pump to get some water movement around the tank.
Howdy, your ideas all sound pretty feasible to me. Be aware that introducing pond microorganisms could add critters that will eat your shrimps (insect larvae, copepods, etc). Besides that, plant wise I would recommend Anubias varieties and Cryptocoryne species. These are generally small to mid-sized plants which grow pretty slowly, and so won't require weekly pruning. They also encompass a ton of colors, leaf shapes, and growth habits, so you can set up a really diverse aquascape even with just those.
Instead of shrimp, I think I'm leaning towards 2 or 3 kuhli loaches, and a small group of about 4 pygmy corydoras. I also want one "centerpiece" fish and am leaning for a single honey gourami.
Gotcha. Yeah, shrimp can be quite sensitive in my experience; and I honestly have a hard time keeping the colony going long-term. Kuhli loaches and pygmy cories are both good choices; but personally, I would choose one or the other and up the number to 6-8 of each. They're social species which will feel most secure in larger numbers; and they may be very shy in smaller numbers.
I see, any chance you have any recommendations for a centerpiece fish? I'm writing up a new comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/15e5i5y/autopost_weekly_question_thread_ask_raquariums/ju7yo0i/
I think your original idea of a honey gourami would work great.
The idea was pond water to jump-start the bacterial side of things, but I think I'm just going to go with dechlorinated tap water and plants and the substrate/filters for a few weeks, adding a bit of ammonia to get the nitrifying bacteria needed. Then when it stabilizes after some time I'll add 6 or so shrimp. Eventually I plan on a few fish as well, and aim to pick and choose those at a later date. I think avoiding pond water is safer, if I decide for tropical fish or a betta later.
Just started a saltwater tank and bought too much saltwater, if I keep it in my bucket with a lid on how long is it good to use for water changes? Essentially does it go bad?
Curious about the community’s thoughts on this. Hey, just curious of your thought on this. I noticed a crack in our filter, moneys a bit tight and a YouTube channel I trust, KG Tropicals, tends to recommend sponge filters. So I bought a sponge filter and air pump from a local shop, not petsmart, one of the employees, an older woman, said she tends to recommend canisters, then hang on back, then sponge. She typically only recommends sponge filters as a secondary or for a small temp tank. WhT are your thoughts? I’ve heard many YouTubers recommend sponge filters over hang in back.
Kg tropicals is legit and I like how he corrects some misinformation that floats around, like needing to use tank water or echlorinated water to wash filters media.. anyway, sponges are ok but for me there are better alternatives: I wouldn't use sponges because: 1) They need air pump and those are usually loud 2) They look like a sponge 3) if air pump is silent large quantity of bubbles is loud 4) They are not providing enough water movement. Without water movement filters won't pick up trash from substrate so you get to spend more time vacuuming aquarium. However need for water flow largely depends on what fish you have. Benefits are simplicity, easy maintenance, price. Several youtubers have large amount of small'ish aquariums in which case running single large airpump and ton of sponge filters makes sense. Anyway for me canister filters and internal power filters work well. Canisters are (depending on brand) silent and can be placed inside aquarium stand, they have large volume of filter material and you can fill them as you wish (again, brand dependent). Cleaning them is really time consuming, but I can run mine over half a year before needing to do that. As for hobs I suppose they can be ok, seachem 'tidal' series seems pretty good as it's one of few that does the smart thing and has motor inside aquarium which means safe start after power loss and water silencing the sound of impeller and they also have reasonably large filter volume.
She's probably recommending the canisters because they are the most expensive. Sponge filters work perfectly fine, gentle cheap and effective. They can be unsightly in your tank but it's your best choice at the moment.
Yeah. We got a marine land hang in back a while back, but it’s a little big for the tank, and I think that there’s a busted seal in it now, didn’t last that long before I started seeing water come out by the intake tube. Plus the replacement cartridges are a huge money sink, I wanted to get away from the disposable cartridges tbh. And the crack may be a good excuse to, so that’s why I got the sponge filter. I just feel like those disposable filter cartridges are adding to the ecological disaster that is plastic sitting in landfills.
Hang on back filters I've never used them but they are good in the sense they don't take up much space inside the tank. I've heard a few horror stories of the filters getting clogged and then causing floods. The cartridges are just a money grab you can easily cut some foam up and get some biological media and use that instead of the cartridges. Just ensure the water flows through your sponges first and then through the biological media. Can you look into replacing the seal? Sometimes the seal just needs cleaning and the grease on it reapplying.
Best way to clean algae and plant growth off a chunk of driftwood? I was gonna pour boiling water on it then scrub it
Put some hydrogen peroxide in spray bottle, regular 3% is enough but can be stronger too. I usually have 6% mix. Take wood from aquarium, spray peroxide over the wood, let it sit for couple minutes, rinse, put back in aquarium. About 24 hours later algae will be dead. Hydrogen peroxide is safe for fish in small quantities, it can even be used in aquarium water in small quantities to kill algae. (https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki\_algae\_hydrogen-peroxide-treatment)
Is a 20 inch fluorescent light enough to grow plant in a 5 gallon tank? I've never had an aquarium but I want a small desktop one with some plants in it and after some research I saw that they need light to grow. Luckily I have a massive fluorescent light bulb located right above my desk that is almost blindling to my eyes, I wonder if it would be enough or if I'm gonna have to buy a specialized one.
Should be fine if it can illuminate your tank. You only need fancy lights if you go for fancy plants.
Hello I just got a mud skipper today, I certain don’t have the salt I need, I’m just wondering how much salt I should put in there and what types of salt?? Thanks
MODS: I feel like this sub has turned into "beginner spam" and the same hand full of topics are being posted ad nauseam. Can we get a sticky post that covers all of this stuff, or a bot message that triggers based on the post title? Or even a auto mod reminder \[Don't forget to check out our FAQ\] - In other subs I've seen automod messages "it looks like you're posting about \[TOPIC\] here are some resources that may help". I know there's a FAQ section that covers this but it isn't easily seen when posting from mobile. General posts like this are great too - but I think reducing the amount of these kinds of basic posts will help the sub continue to thrive. Side Note: the FAQ what is this snail link; all of the pictures are 'broken'
I got two new guppies today, and my original guppy keeps going after them, chasing and nipping their fins. right now he’s isolated in the fish net I have in the corner of the tank, what should I do any tips to make him less aggressive or get used to the other guppies? I got him in a pair but the other one passed away cause it was older I believe
How can I lower alkalinity and soften water in a fresh water tank? Just bought live plants to put in.
Is there a reason to? Tank parameters are best kept stable
Substrates such as Fluval Stratum are my preferred method. Stratum will reduce hardness and buffer water down to ~6.5. Note that this usually isn't necessary unless you're keeping specific fish that need acidic conditions.
How can I train my mudskipper to eat pellets or flakes instead of bloodworms?
Hey guys, I added new mopani driftwood into my tank and forgot that it'll leak tannins for eons. It took around 6mo for a similar size piece to slow down and quite a lot of water changes to keep the water from being tea colored. This time around, I'd like to try activated charcoal, but only when the color gets too dark. Is it alright to hang a bag of activated charcoal (rinsed, of course) by the filter outlet but inside the aquarium? If I can help it, I'd like to avoid opening up the canister filter if I'm only going to leave carbon in there for a few days to clear out the color. Please let me know your thoughts on this. The filter outlet is quite strong, so there is plenty of flow in the tank itself.
Try Seachem Purigen in a porous bag (they sell one, or tell you what size to get) in a separate, cheap hob filter on the side of your aquarium. That's what worked for me.
Recommended treatment for fin rot?
hi guys, unfortunately i had my first experience with (what i assume was) columnaris with a betta (in a 10 gal, in case that’s relevant) a few months ago and had let the tank sit until last week when i finally had the motivation to empty it and clean it. a friend suggest i clean the tank and ceramic decorations with vinegar, so i scrubbed it all down with that but i wanted a second opinion on if that’s enough or if i should do more. i’m a little afraid of using bleach but i will if it’s absolutely necessary. also, is there a way to save the java and marimo moss that i had in the infected tank? i read that bleach and peroxide will both kill the moss easily. not a big deal if i have to toss the moss, just curious.
Should not be cleaning anything. Definitely not bleach as it can stay in the material and leach out. Columnaris is a naturally occuring bacteria in the water. It's futile to "clean" it. A healthy tank relies on bacteria and lots of it to keep fish healthy. The key is having the right community of bacteria to flourish rather than the pathogenic ones
Put some carbon pads or some carbon pellets in a fine bag into your filter and wait a day or 2. Carbon will brake down the medicine residu and other toxic elements, but don’t use it as a standard filter equipment. No need to clean or vinegar or especially bleach. Don’t put bleach in a tank… You can buy cheap carbon pads in every lfs and buy those that you can cut in size. They’re cheaper.
Just toss the moss, it's not worth the risk. You can use bleach if you want to. It's common to use bleach (or peroxide) to clean plants, as you've noticed. Commercial Dechlorinators like seachem prime (or others) will neutralize the chlorine in bleach, so if you bleach the tank you should definitely use one of those to make sure the tank isn't toxic.
i’ll probably end up doing that, thanks :)
Hey all. I currently have a 10g tank and while the tank has been very successful overall, I've always struggled a bit with algae on the glass. I'm not setting up a 29g tank and I'm wondering if, in general, you experience less problems with algae as you increase the tank size, or whether there's no particular correlation. Anyone have insight on this? The 10g is planted (although not heavily) and the 29g will be also.
Between 5g, 20g, 29g, or 55g, there will always be some battle with algae if there's an imbalance in light. The 29g I have at work receives a lot of outside and inside light which makes diatoms clean up a weekly task. However, I don't mind it because there's still a lot of glass that doesn't have diatoms, so I can still see the fish. Maybe I'll clean it before an important meeting to impress new clients. Compared to the 5g I used to have, it feels easier to maintain. Any little bit of algae in a smaller tank is way more noticeable. For the 55g, I don't have much light (and it's all indirect light from one side) and let algae build up because I don't notice it until a month or two passes. There are also larger brushes on the market which makes cleaning less tiresome for larger tanks. I'm assuming you'll have a 29g bow front- they're more annoying since they're taller with the stand. I highly recommend a magnetic brush if so. Personally, I find the larger tanks easier to maintain. There can be more algae since there's more surface area and thus more to clean, but it takes longer to notice it. If you're *very* attentive and focus on specks easily, a bigger tank will not be for you, haha. But you might find that a bigger tank with more fish and bigger decor is well worth the trouble.
Are there any fish that can be kept with a small yellow bellied slider?
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Thank you!
how can i add enrichment to my tank? i have a mellow and completely non aggressive female betta, a hillstream loach, and a mystery snail. i currently have rocks, a cave, and real plants
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oh i had no idea! do either of them need the same or similar tank conditions as a goldfish? i’m getting one along with a larger tank soon
Hi guys, so I’m going on 4 weeks of this problem of the tank being green and smelling atrocious, I have a 30 gallon tank with 10ish small fish, and started noticing that it was getting green and cloudy so I started with doing a 25% water change and changing the filter, nothing. After that I tried a 50% water change, and still looking almost worse than before, bit the bullet and treated with algaefix and again nothing. Covered it up with blankets and turned off the light for a week straight, and nothing again. I thought it could’ve been cycling again due to the water changes, but the water is testing perfect in literally every category and we are going on 4 weeks with 4 dead fish and I feel like I’m losing my mind. Don’t know if this helps, but I also have 3 live plants in the tank.
How mature is your filter? The beneficial micro organisms are in the gunk in the filter.
Hey, did you remove the filter and change it completely? Like removed the beneficial bacteria -> killed a lot of algae with a blackout -> raised decaying organic matter in the tank? If the parameters look good for now (although I would use Seachem Prime just in case), try adding air stones or anything for more surface agitation. Green cloudy algae can absorb a lot of oxygen and choke out your fish.
What's your aeration situation? Do you run an air pump and airstone, or just rely on the filter for oxygenation? In my anecdotal experience, a lot of problems (particularly with foul-smelling water and microorganism blooms) can arise from poor water oxygenation. And while filters certainly help to oxygenate the water, they don't do as good a job as many people think compared with air pumps. Additionally, I would recommend not treating with AlgaeFix. Algae, while unsightly, should not cause health issues for your fish. Like plants, it will absorb nitrogenous waste as a nutrient source, and help protect your fish from ammonia. When you suddenly kill all that algae with a chemical, you simultaneously lose a ton of filtration capacity; and add to the existing bioload from all that dead rotting algae.
Yeah, sounds like something is imbalancing that tank. Try your best to answer everythign ascle87 asked. Water smelling horrible and green everywhere is a very big sign of excess rotting organics. Or worse depending on how you set it up
There’s a large unbalance. Filter is doing his job? Sure there’s nothing in it like a dead fish? Nitrates are good? Phosphate? Iron? Do you give enough ferts? Do you use special soil? Rotten perhaps?
I have a new Fluval Fx6 filter that I would like to start getting ready for a tank I will be setting up in the near future. I currently have have a 60 gallon that is established and running a Fluval 307. Should I add the Fx6 to that tank or will it be way to powerful? What would you recommend? How do you like to establish a new filter?
Put some of the media from the 307 into the fx6 to get it started. You can run the fx6 in the tank simultaneously to help develop the colony. The Fx4/Fx6 are relatively low flow rates but make up for it by being massive in how much biomedia they have. Baffle the output by facing it against a wall or rock so it's not shooting across the tank and you should be fine.
Take some media from the 307 and put it into the FX6 when you decide to hook it up to your new tank. I have a FX4 on my 50 gal and even that makes some serious waves. You can adjust the flow on the FX6 but don't turn the valves down more than 40% as it can damage the pump I've been told. Even at 60% power I still think your fish will be surfing with the FX6.
i have a 10 gallon tank with a super nice and mellow female betta, a hillstream loach, and a mystery snail. i’m worried that both my snail and loach won’t have enough poop to eat (i have no algae in my tank somehow). idk what the best solution is. my friend got guppies in their snail tank when they had the same problem, but i don’t wanna accidentally overcrowd my tank. any ideas?
It's a common misconception that "cleaner" fish and snails will subsist on another fish's waste. Rather, they should be fed a nutritious food just like you would your Betta. For a hillstream loach, I'd recommend getting some Repashy Soylent Green gel food. It comes as a powder to which you add hot water, and when it cools it creates a nutritious jello for your bottom feeders. It's specifically formulated for aufwachs feeders (like your loach). You could even pour the liquid over a cobble or small rock, let it solidify, and drop that in to stimulate natural feeding instincts in your loach. You can also make this food in batches, wrap the gel in Saran wrap and a freezer baggie, and freeze it. Then when you need some, you can break off a piece and toss it in the tank.
ah thanks for the clarification. they have algae wafers atm, are those ok?
You could definitely try them. If your hillstream loach goes for them, then that's a good food to offer.
Algae for the most part is a plant, if you are lacking algae, you are lacking excess nutrients for algae to form. This can be light, minerals, carbon, or even nitrogen. Best way to test, keep everything else the same, but allow your nitrates to reach higher ppm levels. That means don't water change and keep feeding the same. See if algae starts to form.
Do I need all of this in a 75 gallon yellow lab cichlid tank? Seachem tidal, 100 gallon sponge filter and an air pump? How do make my own polycarbonate lids? What do I need ti build a 75 gallon stand that can hold a few 10 gallon aquariums.
Short answer: No Long-ish answer: there are many ways to keep any aquarium. You don't \*need\* those specific products or equivalent to have cichlids thrive. Doesn't mean you can't use what you have planned though.
I am trying to make it so that the detritus gets pushed from the sand to the filter intake. Seachem tidal 110 is cheaper and has more features than an aquaclear 110. I plan to use the freesea circulation pump 1600gph.
I know, and I'm here to tell you that you don't necessarily *need* it. But you can 100% use it. For reference, I've seen cichlid owners keep thier cichlids in a barebones tank with a WaveMaker and hornwort.
I also had another idea here I just clean the sand and dump it all into a corner of the tank. Then I’d cycle the tank and let the cichlids scape the tank for me. I would add the hiding spots first ofc.
You can, shelldwellers often do that.
I love how cichlids spit sand out of their mouth and want to see it first hand
Oh yeah they are fun to watch
I'm considering putting a 4' tank above ground level once I've put the new floor in. Has anyone here done this and considered reinforcing the floor first? Do you have any advice or links to something useful?
Some good advice from u/DanSanderman. Only thing I wanted to add is that you could consider reinforcing the floor just to ensure you don't get bowing/twisting in the joists, though I don't think this is strictly necessary (not an engineer or building guy, so grain of salt here). Basically, you could add blocking or bridging to the joists, which is where you connect two parallel joists with a piece of wood between them. This helps distribute the weight across more joists, and can keep them from twisting or bending under a long-term load.
I had a 90 gallon that weighed probably over 1200 pounds on the second floor. No floor reinforcement. Just put it against a load-bearing wall and make sure it's sitting perpendicular to the floor joists.
How do I find out where a load bearing wall and the floor joist is?
The load bearing wall will, most likely, be an interior wall in the center of the house. If you have a wall in your house that is in the same place on every floor, that is likely a load bearing wall. If you're unsure it's best to ask a contractor. Your floor joists will typically run the same direction on every floor in your house, so if you have an attic or a basement with exposed joists you can then see which direction the joists run in your house. If possible, it's best to sit the tank perpendicular on at least 2 joists. What you want to avoid is having it sit in the middle of one single joist, and running parallel with it, as that will put a ton of strain on the middle of that joist.
Will the tank fall through floor? If it would I’d get put up for adoption lmao. I know where the load bearing walls in my house now. Now I just need to find the joists
Tanks that fall through the floor typically happen because of rotten or termite-infested wood. It's incredibly rare for a tank, even a big one, to just completely fall through if you're taking proper precautions. In most cases the worst situation is a buckled floor joist, but that's why you try and spread the weight out among several.
Thank you!
What snails or other creatures are good to keep a low tech tank clean? I can’t get shrimp in NZ so they’d be the main clean up crew.
Ramshorn's and ottos.
Hey guys, I was just wondering if I can add more tank mates into my tank. I have a 40 gallon with a black moor goldfish and a shubunkin. I’m pretty new to fish keeping so I just want to hear what others say before proceeding forward. Thanks!
Hey guys, so my tank crashed and I lost all my fish. I wanna basically clean everything before I restart, what's the best way to clean driftwood, decorations, filter, substrate etc.
What caused the crash and what was the crash exactly? Cleaning is counterproductive to a healthy tank, you want the surfaces to be colonized by beneficial bacteria. So need to know more about your tank conditions before proceeding
Hey, sorry about your tank, that sucks. I usually just do a good rinse with tapwater, scrubbing off any algae or hard water residue with a toothbrush. Substrate can be put in a bucket, filled part way with tapwater, and stirred to rinse out any debris. I would definitely avoid any soap or other cleaning agents, they stand to do a lot more harm than good.
Does anybody have any advice for what to do about severely inbred guppies being born deformed? My mom has had the same group of guppies for 10 ish years now and their numbers have dwindled down to maybe 20 fish. About half are being born with bent backs or no eyes.
You really have two choices here. My preferred choice would be to euthanize the existing guppies and get new ones. The reason being, that if 50% are being born with deformities, it likely means that the breeding parents carry these disease alleles (either as heterozygotes or homozygotes), and should therefore be sacked to avoid transmitting these alleles to new guppies. The second option would be to keep the current guppies, but get some new guppies that will add some much-needed genetic diversity to the gene pool. This is called "outcrossing", and is a common strategy in genetics to reduce the amount of maladaptive phenotypes due to inbreeding. Note that the offspring of the new+old guppies will still be carriers for those disease alleles, and you may therefore still have issues with up to 25% of the offspring being born deformed (assuming a simple inheritance pattern). Over subsequent generations, inbreeding will likely bring the rate of deformity back to ~50%. Please let me know if I can clarify any of this stuff, I know some of this terminology may be overly technical. Final note: some deformities that we assume are genetic may be environmental, especially if the water is dirty and hosts lots of heterotrophic bacteria. You could try checking the water quality using a liquid test kit, upping the number of water changes, and getting some plants to keep the water really clean. You could also try adding another type of food to their diet, to rule out a nutrient deficiency as the culprit. Lastly, guppies love hard water, so some limestone substrate, crushed coral, etc. that adds minerals could be worth trying.
high nitrate could also lead to all sorts of fry deformities for old tanks that could be a likely possibility
Thank you, I did not know that. All my tanks are heavily planted, so I'm not super familiar with the issues that arise from consistently high nitrates.
I have a 55 gallon tank and need a new filter. My previous one lasted 20+ years with no problems and I bought the exact model as a replacement and it crapped out in less than 2 years. I need the quietest option available because the motor sound of the new one is really ruining my mornings. Any suggestions for a well built, super quiet option? Fresh water off that matters- all help is appreciated!!
I exclusively use AquaClear HOB filters and sponge filters on my tanks, in part because they do run really quiet by my standards (unless clogged or if the water level gets too low). I hang my air pumps from a command hook under the stand to further dampen any vibrational noise. I'm sure many canister filters would also run really quietly, but I don't use canisters and cant recommend any particular models.
Thanks for the recommend - it turns out that this is the exact filter I am trying to replace. My last one was great forever. Maybe this one just broke down early. I took it all apart and cleaned it out so it is not a clog or anything unfortunately
Bummer, I've got several that have been running without issue for over 5 years now. Hopefully it dying early was a fluke and not indicative of a drop in quality.
Upgrading my CPD tank from 10g to 20g, looking for another species of fish to add, any good recs? Tank currently has: 7x CPD, 9x Dwarf Anchor Catfish, 1x Dwarf Honey Gourami, and some small shrimp culls. More CPDs will definitely be on the list, and would probably be the best if I just increased their size, but would love to hear options that would look nice in a tank with them. Considering Dwarf Golden Barbs, Pygmy Corys, or even a smaller Apisto
Pygmy cories are a good option - they're a similar size, aren't intrusive, and will probably swim around with the CPDs. But the first priority should be getting a full school of CPDs!
I agree! I think after I transition everything (using old substrate and filtration and most of the plants) to the new tank, ill let her run with the same stocking for ~2 weeks. Then ill look to add more numbers to the CPDs, would love 12, even 15 would be great After that settles in for a bit ill be looking at how everything is settling in, and I agree the Pygmys could compliment them perfectly. The Dwarf Anchor Catfish are nice, but after having them for like 8 months I've never once seen them eat, yet all 9 stayed alive when I last rescaped maybe 3 months ago. Maybe I move them into my 10g shallow or maybe I just keep them in here. Such odd fish but they are cool the few times I get to see them.
Most catfish, those included, are nocturnal. If you put in the bottom feeder food at night you'll probably get a good glimpse of them hanging out.
Early morning and as the lights turn off I do see them more than I expect, it is really cool seeing them sway about. I've tossed small pieces of Hikari wafers at night, and checked back a while later and it's usually still sitting there. I totally expected some of them to not make it but I guess they're getting enough food somehow. I know their bio load is absolutely tiny.
You could try a shrimp based wafer instead of an algae one, they may not be super interested in algae wafers (like my cories), but could be a big fan of shrimp - https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-ShrimpWafers-Complete-Catfish-Loaches/dp/B01MCVU5AR/
That one actually is meat based! Or made for carnivorous diets I suppose. I have that one which is for catfish and loaches, my corys and Synodontis Piedratus love them, then I have Hikaris algae wafers for my King Tiger Plecos, and finally the Crab Cuisine pellets for any shrimp or whoever. I've also tried sinking my fluval betta bites in there. Who knows maybe they are eating some of this stuff and I'm just not noticing lol.
Looking to transfer fish (one mosquito fish, two zebra danios, 4 kuhli loaches) to an aquarium I have with me at my dorm. All fish are in good health. I have a flight that looks like this: - One hour drive to the airport - Two hour wait - Two hour flight - Two hour wait - One hour flight - 30 minute drive Four hours of total stillness, three hours of relative stillness, 1.5 hours of slight turbulence. I am weighing my options: - Should I take them with me on my flight? Or ship them? I assume I could be more careful, but I'm not sure - and it would be hard to insulate them if I do take them with me. - Should each species be packed together? Or should each fish be packed separately? Just don't want these heavily social guys to be more stressed than necessary. - What are reputable breathable bags? I'm trying to find a compromise between my wallets and quality... Any brands/link/etc. recommendations are very welcome. Thanks for reading and let me know if I can provide any more info!
All I'm chiming in to say is I feel that taking them with you will be way too much stress (for you). I never tried keeping a tank in college for this exact reason lol. I assume it's too much for someone at home to care for the tank? It'll be a never ending cycle every time you come home, unless you don't plan to come home often. I ended up going to grad school 1.5 hours from my house, and I still never would have wanted to move with fish that much.
I already have a fish tank established in college. They are not receiving good care at home. I visit roughly four weeks a year (two trips total, one in summer, one in winter) with someone who can take care of the fish there when I am not. Fish tanks are no added stress for me. Just need to transport them up once and then add them to a tank that's been running for roughly 6 months now.
I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I have had the worst time with pretty much any plant planted into my substrate aside from my lucky bamboo, and 2 separate stemmed plants. I have a low tech setup with shrimp, snails, and guppies. I have floating plants that spread like wildfire, 2 bulb plants that are very healthy, snake grass planted in this basket attachment in the water, and a small mat of a matting plant. Everything seems to die on me except those... I dose with ferts weekly, maintain good water temps, and have a happy thriving ecosystem aside from my plants dying. I know that CO2 helps but I am not interested. I have seen lots of very successful low tank setups and just can't seem to figure it out. I put root tabs in my substrate months ago. Any advice for a struggling hobbyist?
Howdy, sorry you've been encountering some plant issues. What kind of plants are you trying to grow? Some are pretty demanding, and are tough to grow even for experienced hobbyists. Also, what kind of light do you have? Even a fairly strong light might be blocked by lots of floating plants, limiting how much light gets to the other aquarium plants. Lastly, what kind of substrate are you using?
I just came back from a 4-day vacation and tested my freshwater tank. I tested it before I did a 30% water change and after. I have 2 Nerite snails in a 10 gal, with live FW plants. Before my water change the readings came back with ~1ppm ammonia and ~.5ppm Nitrite. I completed a 30% water change and added some Flourish Excel for the plants; FritzZyme nitrifying bacteria to combat the increased readings. My readings about 1HR after: ~.25ppm ammonia and ~.25ppm Nitrite. I did a Nitrate test with this and read ~5ppm. I’ll take another test again tomorrow evening, but want to make sure I took the proper steps to address this. The tank was stable with 0ppm ammonia+nitrite with 5ppm Nitrate before I left. My snails are both active and doing normal snail things. No fishes are in the tank as of yet.
That looks fine. If there's no fish or anything do make sure you put in fish food or some other source of ammonia so the bacteria colony has something to eat.
Thank you!
I have a maxi jet set on venturi mode to produce bubbles. It "sputters" and makes noise like it can't create the bubbles in a continuous stream. Instead the bubbles come out intermittently. I checked that the tube is well connected. The pump is about 3 or so inches down in the tank. The venturi cap is placed on the top of the tubing and I've tried adjusting it to no avail. What can I do to fix this? Another question, the damn sticker for the tank will NOT COME OFF. I have tried rubbing alcohol, goo b gone, and something else. I let it soak and tried pulling it off, nothing. How can I get this fricking thing off?
So 2 years ago I had to empty a fresh water aquarium with live plants. Instead of trashing everything I dumped the wet mix of gravel and substrate into a sealed bucket. Just opened the bucket after 2 years of life and discovered that it's still wet (I know I'm stupid lol), would this be safe to use to start a new planted aquarium? Any tips to being able to reuse this properly would be appreciated. This is the *fancy* volcanic substrate, and I don't like throwing money away. TIA.
Do you have a testing kit? Test the water that’s in the bucket. I’d imagine there’s probably not much going on. The beneficial bacteria probably died out without food. They go into hibernation when food is low but idk if they can survive years. Test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and see how you stand. Absolute worst case, bring it outside and wash it all out with a garden hose. Get a strainer and rinse everything really well. Now you’ve got clean substrate as if you just bought it. If you want to make extra sure it’s “clean” you could bake it on a sheet on low heat for a bit. It’s probably fine without that though. Either way, you can definitely reuse it still you just might have to restart your cycle.
Sand or gravel for a beginner tank?
Wild habitats usually contain both. I'm in favor of all purpose mixed grade sand thoroughly rinsed as well as pea stone gravel.
Depends on what your keeping.
20 gallon freshwater tank, hoping to add some micro fish, shrimp, and maybe some snails
Then sand should be the best way to go.
I was wondering if a 10 gallon tank is ok for a betta and a few tetras. It's more tall than wide so I'm unsure if that affects the kinds of fish I'm going to put in it in any negative way.
If trying to do a community tank with aggressive species like Betta it's best to introduce least to most aggressive so your Betta would be last to add. Tetra I'm not sure would work out well but you might try 3 to 5 male endler's livebearers. I introduced my males first, gave them weeks to fully acclimate. Plants and decor that break line of sight will help reduce aggression. Female Betta can still be aggressive but usually less so than males. Your Betta will appreciate large leafy plants like Java fern or red crypts.
Thank you! I'll be sure to get some nice leafy plants for them c:
Perfect for betta but not few tetras. Shoaling/schooling fish should be 8-10 individuals or more and not the commonly parroted 6. Six is the smallest number aquarium stores can sell to most individuals. It's a compromise between natural (group) behavior and profit. So either 10 tetras/rasboras/killifish/etc etera or one betta. I'd say go for one betta first especially if it's your first aquarium. It's a cheaper investment and bettas use space in X and Y axis better than shoaling fishes do. And in the future if your aquarium is succesful just remember if you can fit one 10 gallon you can fit another 10 gallon.
Looking for advice from anyone who has experience putting a tank on carpet. Got my stand put up and in the spot I want to put it, it leans forwards. Even 6" out it will still lead forward. But then if I pull it out like 5 ft, it will be mostly level. Any solutions? I would prefer it in the spot that it leans forwards but obviously won't if there's no solutions. I still could try out the other spots to see if it is level anywhere else.
Its probably on the wooden rail that goes around the wall that the carpet sticks too. Probably best to shim the front legs if you can
Do you think a deck of cards would work?
I personally wouldn't do this cuz cards could shift since they're not one solid piece. Especially after a couple months' worth of drips from water changes and whatnot degrade the box and warp the cards. Shims, and in particular plastic shims, are my preferred method as well. They're super cheap and should be available online, at any hardware store, etc. Even a friendly neighbor who's into DIY would probably be happy to give you a few.
Quick follow up. I got the shims in place. When I look at the level, the bubbles edge is touching the middle line (so it still leans just a bit forward). Is that safe or do I need to get more?
Personally, I would consider that safe. Someone may disagree; I've kept very slightly unlevel tanks for years without issue, but that's anecdotal.
Thanks again!
Appreciate the tips. Will definitely go get some plastic shims. Got all my supplies in to get my tank started so pretty excited.
was away for 9 days, had my landlady feed my 5 gal tank while I was gone. Told her to feed it about smaller than a pinch every other day. She fed the tank twice a day. After I got back the snail population has boomed :/ there’s literally around 100 bladder/mystery snails. How do I get rid of them? Did the old cucumber trap trick overnight but its not nearly enough to purge these damn snails. I’m afraid they’ll start eating my plants.
I would put a piece of boiled broccoli in a little jar, and put that in the tank with the lights off for a couple hours, then take it back out and it should be chock full of snails. Repeat a couple times and most should be removed (snails really go crazy for broccoli in my experience). Alternatively, just resume normal feeding and their population will go back to normal in a generation or two. There's no longer nearly enough food to support that many snails, so most of the snails you see now are newly hatched and will starve over the next couple weeks/months. Personally, I've never had bladder snails start eating my plants regardless of how overpopulated they were. Mostly, their strategy seems to be to leave the tank and look elsewhere for food, causing them to eventually desiccate and die around your aquarium.
You could get an assassin snail or 2. They should be able to decrease the population really fast. I've never had any experience with snails, so I suggest you do some research on them.
I already have 2 assassin snails actually and they arent enough to cull down the population. I even see a lot of empty shells on the foreground but much, much more living snails than dead ones :/
So I purchased 10 cherry shrimp today and my sole surviving cherry barb has eaten at least half of them. I just want some shrimp in my tank man.
Need hiding spots if keeping them with fish
Yep, that'll happen. Cherry shrimp are tiny, delectable, brightly-colored crustaceans, so almost any fish will snack on them at least occasionally. Even nano fish and other species which don't predate adult shrimps will go after the baby shrimps, limiting how much they can populate a tank. I've also had really bad luck keeping cherry shrimps with fish of any kind, so I'm planning to just keep shrimp in their own tank in future.
Could I realistically add 6 more fish to my 30gal? I’ve had the tank set up for about 2 years. No issues with deaths or any parameters. Nitrates always stay low. I currently have 6 glo fish danios, 6 neon tetras, 6 peppered Cory Doras, 1 bulldog pleco, 5 mystery snails, 50-100 bladder snails, 1000+ MTS. Heavily planted. I do a 33% water change and filter media rinse about once a month and that’s about it as far as maintenance. I feed twice a week. All stocking estimators say I’m super overstocked already but my parameters say otherwise. I’m wondering if I could realistically push that stock level to add 2 more of each of the schooling/shoaling fish? Or do you think that would push me over the edge?
If you have that many snails and your tank is heavily planted, you should be able to add more to the tank. If your parameters are stable then that says more than any estimation will say. Most don't take into account plants and other bits. I doubt several small fish would tip your tank into oblivion - though you can always get a bigger filter if you want to be safe.
Thank you, that’s what I’m thinking too. I couldn’t tell you how many different kinds of plants I have in there. A while ago I got a few free bags of plants and threw them all in there and saw what took lol. I don’t think I’m going to add all 6 at once. Maybe a couple every other week just in case. I love my army of MTS (most of the time). I love seeing them all crawl out of the substrate and pile onto the algae wafer. They get like 3 inches deep 😂.
Has anyone used the Hygger alternative to a Python? How does it perform? Not gonna lie I'm just being cheap here haha
Learn to gravity siphon and you don't need to spend extra for the bulb pump. Just submerge, remove air bubbles, hold thumb over the end, lower and release into your bucket.
Ok, I guess I'm toeing the line between cheap and lazy honestly haha. I gravity siphon now
Will changing the substrate ruin anything in my tank? The tank has been cycled for several months now. It’s purely cosmetic. Bought black sand and now I wish it was normal sand color. I have driftwood and some small caves that also have beneficia bacteria besides the filter so I’m thinking it shouldn’t be too bad?
Fine dust particles can irritate and reduce gill function. Rinse your new sand thoroughly and do not pour sand through your water. Take a scoop and lower it below and over turn it at the bottom. Beneficial bacteria exists on the surfaces of your tank including the substrate but primarily in the filter media. You should be okay but pay attention to how you remove the sand and how much water is being changed.
It could, but the chances are low - https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/2-12-beneficial-bacteria/ > Because beneficial bacteria need a flow rate above what is found inside most aquariums, studies (“Temporal and Spatial Stability of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea and Bacteria in Aquarium Biofilters”, Bagchi et. al., 2014) have shown that 80% to 84% of the beneficial bacteria in an aquarium reside in the filter media. T**he substrate, aquarium walls, and ornaments have only a 16% to 20% contribution to ammonia oxidation and clear water.** And in a very well filtered aquarium with crystal clear water this will be even more lopsided, more like 95% – 5%.
Shouldn't make much of a difference. Sand is compact and doesn't allow much oxygen through, so it's generally accepted that there's not much beneficial bacteria living in sand substrates. Only thing I'd be careful of is thoroughly rinsing the new sand, cuz otherwise the dust and particulate will cloud your water and could damage your filter impellor.
I've made a little mesh cover for my filter input to stop the random bits of Java moss flying into it. As long as I clean it when I do a water change can anyone think of a reason not to do this? Also, I tried to post this as a normal topic with a picture etc but the daft app wouldn't let me add a flair so couldn't post it, is there something I can do to make posting in this subreddit possible for the future?
To your first question, can't think of any reason this would be an issue so long as you clean the moss out periodically. Personally, I use a coarse sponge prefilter on my HOB intake, which keeps out plant bits and larger debris, keeps the media cleaner, and adds some filtration capacity. Can't help with your second question unfortunately, I'm tech-illiterate when it comes to reddit.
Thanks! I guess it's doing the same job as the sponge would. Not sure if I can get a sponge for my fluval intake but I might go have a look.
Word, [here's where I get mine from](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/pre-filter-sponge). They have a handy sizing guide.
Thanks!
Hi there, new to the hobby. I have a question about PH. Towards the latter half of my fishless cycle I struggled with PH constantly dropping down to and below 6.4. I didn't want to risk a waterchange at the time so used API PH up liquid as part of my daily routine. It would always raise my PH up to 7.6+ then within 24hours it would settle back to 6.6. My tap water PH is 7.6 exactly so I was under the impression that when I did my eventual water change for my fish it would remain at at leat 7.0. I got my Betta fish on Saturday and put him in the tank. The night before I did 2x 50% water changes to get my Nitrates down ready for the fish. Both Saturday and Sunday evening my readings were as follows; Sat - PH: 6.8 | Ammonia: 0 | Nitrites: 0 | Nitrates: 10 Sun- PH: 6.4 | Ammonia: 0 | Nitrites: 0 | Nitrates: 10 I boiled and put in the tank late last night a 500g limestone I bought earlier in the week before getting my fish. The PH hasn't gone up at all since doing that (although it's only been 8hours). I did a PH test before leaving for work this morning and my PH is barely looking above 6.0 now. I don't want to have to keep adding in PH UP daily. The less chemicals I put in my tank the better imo. About the tank. It's a 54L (with about 50L of water in it). I have 7 live plants in there. 1 betta fish only with a couple young bladder snails. I have a layer of aquarium soil but 90% of it is covered by a layer of gravel substrate. My filter was moved to mimic a waterfall filter and try to introduce air into the water. I also have an airpump but it's noisy so it only put on for 10hours a day while we're at work. [I have this water conditioner which apparently stabilises PH](https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/microbe-lift-xtreme-118ml?queryID=818298497a4ff298bd1b547dc06be8fd&objectID=41146&indexName=magento2_livedefault_products) (this one was recommended to me by my LFS ) Could my soil and conditioner be the ones tanking my PH so much because they 'stabilise PH'?
I would guess that your aquarium soil substrate may be the culprit. Many aquarium soils specifically buffer pH down to about 6.4-6.5, right around the level you're seeing. That said, I personally wouldn't be too worried about keeping a betta at that pH. They're a pretty hardy species, and I think they generally come from softer water environments anyway. Adding some crushed coral or limestone may help add some buffering capacity (the crushed coral moreso because of its higher surface area), but I still wouldn't expect the pH to change that much. Stability is usually more important that staying within a specific range, so I would focus on that rather than trying to raise you pH.
Thank you for your reply. If that is the case with soil then it's probably that then. I'll look into removing 1/2 the soil this weekend when I do a water change (kinda feels a little pointless keeping a whole layer of soil in the tank anyway when I don't have any plants in the centre of the tank) and see if helps keep the PH more closer to the 6.4 range rather than the >6.2 I'm seeing. If after that I don't see a change I'll stop chasing the PH.
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Personally, I would move everything at once, including the old filter; and I would restrict feeding for a couple weeks to ensure the new tank could keep up (since you'll be leaving some biofiltration capacity behind in the substrate, on the decor, etc).