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Jeepman99

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 21, 2017
Messages
9
Location
Northern WI
Ok last time I had fish undergravel filtration was the norm. I now have a 29 gal aquarium. Biowheel 330 with sponge on intake. Pool filter sand substrate What's left of a creeping charlie plant, one potted Amazon sword, a tannin leaching piece of driftwood and a 36" Nicrew LED light as the light we had went up in smoke....literally. There are 4 black mollies, 3 banded cory cats, 5 platys.

Issue

1. How often and how much do I do for a weekly water change? My well has a touch high iron but otherwise is really good.

2. How often should I feed my fish?

3. I boiled my mopani driftwood twice for 2 hours each in my turkey fryer. It still is leaching tannens what now? Let it go? Remove it? Is there another driftwood species to try?

4. I need a good cover plant for the live born fry. What is a less messy alternative cover plant? Do I go with a floating plant?

5. Is the Nicrew 28-36" enough light for plants?

6. What is this CO2 system I hear about. I don't need it right?

7. I know mollies are brackish. Do I need to add salt? Won't it cause issues with the other fish?

8. I need to order any live plants in as my local pet store has a snail problem with their plants, and the other good store never has many plants beyond creeping charlie. I thought it looked nice but died off quickly and was a mess. If I order plants via ebay or other source how do I know that they arrive alive not frozen?


I have been reading for 3 days. I am now more confused than before. I used to raise mollies and swords. I would sell them to my LPS for in store credit.
 
You'll probably get varying opinions, but here's my two cents.
1. Weekly water change of 25-30% works well for me.
2. Feed 2-3 times a day, a small amount. But you can skip a feeding or two with no harm. Better to feed too little than too much at a time.
3. I had mopani driftwood in a bucket of water, changed weekly, for months before it quit leaching.
4. Cover plant - myriophyllum is good. You can get plants from several internet sellers. But stay away from Aquariumplants.com - they are absolutely terrible.I speak from experience.
5. Don't know much about lighting but my plants do ok with similar LEDs
6. I had a CO2 system for awhile - expensive - and I didn't have much luck with it. But that's me. I find using planting substrate like Caribsea works pretty well for most plants. Also, Seachem Flourish Excel I find works wonders to help plants grow and almost totally eliminates algae. Love the stuff.
 
1. I change 40% bi-weekly

2. Once a day.

3. It will quit leaching at some point. Charcoal in the filter will clear the water until then.

4. To many options to name on this one. I suggest you find something you like the look of.

5. Can't help with this, not familiar.

6. Depends on the type of plants you want to keep. I do all low tech lower light plants. No Co2. But tanks with it can be amazing.

7. I have never kept Mollies.

8. I have bought lots of plants online. Snails are always a risk and so is the plant melting. Be prepared to buy twice as many plants as you think you need until you find ones that survive your water/light etc.
 
Thank you all for your opinions.

So a quick update. Today I came home from a 16 hour day of work sicker than a dog with the flu. The water was really dark brown. I immediately check the filter and the bio wheel 330 impeller has stopped. Ok great. I grab my other Bio wheel 170 and use one wheel from the 330 and the filter cartridge and get it going.

I then changed 10 gallons of the water. Which sucks because I did water change 2 days ago. After a 16 hour work day it's no fun.

I removed the 330 impeller assembly and it had been jammed by a piece of the impeller cracking off. OK this thing is ancient, time to order a new filter. Problem is I live in the middle of nowhere. Nearest store with anything fish is 1.5 hours one way. So for now I will be running the 330 and 170 in the 29 tank so I don't come home to a near catastrophe in the short period.

I don't have a cabinet beneath my tank so a canister filter is out. I was looking at an Aqua Clear. I would sponge over the intake tube. I would use ceramic cubes or what is recommended.

So do I get two Aqua clear 30's? I am thinking one filter on each side of the tank would be more beneficial.

Or do I get two Aqua Clear 50's?
It is cheaper to get one Aqua Clear 50.
 
I don't have a cabinet and I use a canister. But lots of people love the aquaclear.
 
Id say two ac50. If you want two filters. Remember you can adjust the flow. You could manage with two ac30. But having the larger media basket is nice too.
 
One AC50 is scheduled to be here from Amazon tomorrow.

I was curious my LPS has ghost shrimp. I have Platys, mollies, masked cory cats, glo tetras (thanks to my daughter....grumbling), and Ottocinculus. I have a planted tank and driftwood the size of a average persons forearm. Think they would be ok? I don't want to feed the shrimp to my fish, I just like watching them.
 
Couple things on ghosts...super cheap often a dime each. Losses are easier to swallow than a sakura. Get some size to them and some are fearless. Will tolerate higher tds (400). Helpful to judge if tank or aquarist is ready for more demanding/expensive shrimp. Id say go for it.
 
Aqua clear 50 is running with the bio-wheel 330. Love the filter. I have a pretty good explosion of green algae right inline with my lights. All my water parameters are within normal. A touch high in iron.

I have 3 Otto in my 29 gallon tank and 2 in my 10 gallon tank. They aren't able to keep up with the glass algae. Plants look awesome. I was thinking about getting Amano shrimp for the 29 gallon tank to help with the algae. I live in northern WI it was 13F today with a low of -9F overnight. Do I even try to order shrimp? If so where do I get them without breaking the bank?

Should I use a magic eraser and scrub the glass?

I can't find Amano shrimp anywhere within 3 hours from me. I am scheduled to go to Milwaukee for work for a week. I was thinking of buying them there and bringing them home. (4 hour car ride)

The ghost shrimp in the 10 gallon tank are doing great. I did not put any in the 29 as I was floating the bag of shrimp to acclimate them and the Glo tetras were really interested in them. I decided it was a bad idea as the ghost shrimp were small.
 
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