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I've enjoyed his videos and I'm sure he'll be an interesting presenter at this conference. He's almost totally irrelevant to a low-level home hobbyist with a 20 gal tank like me, but still worth watching with the huge tanks and exotic fish and marine life he keeps. Its pretty impressive. Does seek a little off-kilter at times though, so I was not surprised to read that he's got some skeletons in his closet and has rubbed some folks the wrong way.TLEF316 said:
What? Do you rely on the plants to remove all the No2 & No3?
Ok so the fish we bought are going strong. Typically do a water change every weekend but missed a weekend due to traveling so had to wait an extra week and when I tested it all the levels were great and I feel like the tank is in great shape. Given this I am going to add to the tank in near term with plan of 2 more neon Tetras as they are just great fish and a single feature fish. Will update once they are added in.
Variation of plants are enough to keep the tank safe. Shrimp and other fish to take care of algae
Clay will never stop leaching into the water. Is this stuff sold as substrate?
So since this post, I've had another 4 dead fish. 4 dead in the first week and another 4 over the last 2 months.
) and 3 that replaced those that proceeded them. 3 that died are glofish tetras (green, orange, and pink) - cool looking fish. 
Do you use a air bubbler? Also, you need to let the water sit in the tank for a week or so to let the microbes (sp?) establish. Throwing all the water out is a bad idea unless it’s contaminated.So since this post, I've had another 4 dead fish. 4 dead in the first week and another 4 over the last 2 months.
I have 2 that we call the OGs (my son believes OG stands for Original Guppy
After the 3 glofish died, I emptied the tank and started it over again. Think I'm starting to get the hang of this (although it was my ####### wife/kids that wanted this and I'm the only one tending to it) - I feed them a pinch every other day, once every other week I take about 1/3 of the water out and replace with water that I add water conditioner to before dumping in the tank.
So two of our fish are now 2 months old and the other 3 are 2 weeks old... Hoping our OGs can make it to at least 6 months.
Tank size and amount of fish & plants matter. My buddie has a 175 gallon tank with a forest in it but only 3 fish. Does a 20% change every 4-6 months. The plants and filtration basically removes all the No2 & No3
Yes, it looks great as soon as it's done but with bottom feeders like corys that are constantly picking at the gravel and pushing plants around it starts to mix over time. And once it's mixed it, well mixed.
I was thinking of using a finer bottom/plant layer so it would settle back to the bottom when it got stirred up. I have no idea if that's a real thing though.
We did the glofish thing at first and they all died quickly. I then realized they are basically manufactured fish and kept away from them. Got some neon tetras instead and they are doing great.So since this post, I've had another 4 dead fish. 4 dead in the first week and another 4 over the last 2 months.
I have 2 that we call the OGs (my son believes OG stands for Original Guppy
After the 3 glofish died, I emptied the tank and started it over again. Think I'm starting to get the hang of this (although it was my ####### wife/kids that wanted this and I'm the only one tending to it) - I feed them a pinch every other day, once every other week I take about 1/3 of the water out and replace with water that I add water conditioner to before dumping in the tank.
So two of our fish are now 2 months old and the other 3 are 2 weeks old... Hoping our OGs can make it to at least 6 months.
I had a clown knife that lived for 22 years. He was developing cataracts when he died. RIP Chester
You could probably do a simple planted tank with a few shrimp. (just some moss or maybe some anubias or java fern) There are some pretty cool ones.
A beta fish might like it but agree it's really hard to keep the water stable at that size.
What's an air bubbler? I'm reading they're good for circulation?
What neighborhood is this fish shop in? We have a Petsmart about 7 blocks away, that's where I've done my fish shopping to date.
Get another tank. Don't do that even to a guppy. Go with a five gallon and get some neon tetras
They are a small local store owned/run by a really nice guy. In addition, to selling fish and supplies out of the store they build, stock and maintain high end custom aquariums throughout the city. They really know their stuff and are super helpful. I bought my fish and supplies from them after I went the Petland route.
Nah. I have a 33 gallon at home and not really interested in buying anything for work. I just figured I would take it if it was usable. I'll just pitch it, no big deal but because of FBGs some little guppy will get eaten when he could have had a happy but cramped life in my tiny tank. I hope you guys will be able to sleep knowing that...
In fairness, serving its role in the food chain / cycle of life is probably a more meaningful existence for the guppy than watching you work all day.
Are you suggesting that watching me work is worse than being eaten? Ouch that hurts!
Getting ready to (re)start a new project. 4' L x 4' W x 9" H tank (old frag tank) dedicated to shrimp and foreground plants. I may add CO2 later. 5 bags of eco-complete will go down thickest in the center then radiate out. Blasting sand will cap it all. If anyone's growing Buces, blyxa japonica, or Euroes, or is raising Shrimp (Neos) please PM me. I'm still a week or so off for plants, and ~month for shrimp. Also can anyone can recommend a shrimp save root tab?
The problem with salt is the water changes. If you don't do them the algae gets really bad no matter how many turbo snails you have. Buddy of mine went small. Like a 20 gallon. What he did was pick up a 5 gallon bucket of RO water from the pet store near him every other week. Drain 5 gallons, add in the 5 gallons and done. His tank was immaculate all the time. Doing the same with a 100 gallon would be a little harder.
I wouldn't go that big, 20 gallons is plenty for corals and maybe a few clown fish. I'd do that until I'm 100% more confident. The downside is 20 gallons is harder to keep stable. The changes wouldn't bother me, I do a 10% on my tank every weekend on my current planted tank, clean it and monitor the Co2.TheFanatic said:
Yeah, I always thought the 30 was the sweet spot for a balance between small and stable.
How high is the nitrate? That might simply be the nitrate in your tap water. Also, you need to cycle the take by either putting some feeder fish that will die and start the ammonia cycling process or use Ammonium Chloride . Also, what are your current nitrite and ammonia levels? And yes the small bio filter from another tank will help jump start the cycling, do that before adding fish (unless again you're adding feeder fish to die and start cycle).
Nitrates 10-15ppm, Nitrites ~4ppm, 0 ammonia.
Are you feeding the plants anything? Co2, Flourish products and like @TheFanatic said what kind of lighting do you have?Dinsy Ejotuz said:
I've been able to get away with not doing much feeding, but extra lighting was always a must for any plants I grew. I once pulled an amazon sword out of a 45 high that was the size of a basketball.
). I'm running the lights 10 hours a day, with a 90-minute ramp up/down on either side.
Also, I think this is too many fish for a 40 gallon and that Gourami will eat the tetras, guppies and the apistogramma depending on its size.
Yep. Scrubbed it and soaked it for three or four weeks. Had no trouble getting it to stay down in my tank and doesn't seem to be leeching tannin or changing water params.
I disagree on both counts. the vast majority of the fish will be rasboras and tetras. And I don't see that gourami eating anything unless the fish breed and it snags some babies. Actually, if it were me, I would up the neon tetras to 18 or 24.
I haven't had much luck with Gouramis in a community tank, they've always bullied my other fish but I guess we'll see
