Tips and Tricks

[jsoong]

Keep your QT tank's filter material in the main tank's filter. When you need a hospital tank or a QT for that impulse buy, you can use that spare filter pad in the QT tank & have an instantly cycled setup.

[fluffyntex]

Great tips everyone! Keep them coming!

[kimo]

Originally Posted by jsoong

Keep your QT tank's filter material in the main tank's filter. When you need a hospital tank or a QT for that impulse buy, you can use that spare filter pad in the QT tank & have an instantly cycled setup.

There's a problem with this though...

If You have fish that are sick in the main tank there is a possibillity that whatever they have (parasites,dormant spores) has already spread to the main filter. Keeping the QT filter pad in the main filter then transferring it and the fish to the QT tank means both are still infected. If the infection is dromant spores, tranferring them to a new, clean environment will help spawn them. Drug resistant germs are not always killed in the QT tank even with high doses of medications.

A QT tank does not need to be cycled.

[cogburn]

overfiltrate, overfiltrate, overfiltrate... and did i mention overfiltrate?

[Korwin]

Originally Posted by jcarlilesiu

Sometimes you need to look at your tank without thinking about the problems inside of it. Take the time to enjoy the hobby without thinking of it as a "job". Sometimes I find myself sweating the small stuff and forget why I do it.

Take time to smell the flowers of your work. You will enjoy the hobby more.

Thank you for that.

[NJGourami]

I was having trouble with floating small plants (duckweed, pieces of guppy grass, java moss etc) getting sucked up by the filter and sticking all over the end of the cover at the end of the tube. I put a bubble bar under it and that solved that problem. It stays clear now.


I but a bubble wand near the intake of my powerhead thinking it looked cool and would help to oxegenate the water. I wound up with a burnt out impeller. So i would not recommend it.

[kimo]

Originally Posted by cogburn

overfiltrate, overfiltrate, overfiltrate... and did i mention overfiltrate?

No need to overfiltrate as long as your bio-load matches your tank WITHOUT filtration. What happens when the power goes out for a few weeks at a time?
Overfiltering a tank that is already maxxed out will only lead to gasping fish at the surface and a good old ammonia spike.

[saffikeagan]

great advise jcarl!