WALFDIH: What Adam Learned From Doing It Himself
There were a couple of things I've learned from setting up and maintaining my fish tanks (particularly my 150G saltwater setup) that I haven't seen mentioned on here. I thought I would share my stories just in case it helps someone down the road.
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After I got my first saltwater algae-eating fish (a yellow tang), it didn't take long for me to grow tired of getting my whole arm wet whenever I put algae on his clip to feed him. Since this happened every day, I wanted to find a solution that didn't involve covering my arm in saltwater. I've heard that putting the clip towards the top of the tank isn't so good for tangs, that they prefer to have their algae clipped near the middle or bottom of the tank.
My first solution ended up being what actually worked, and I'm very happy with it. I attached an algae clip to my magnetic glass cleaner so that I can move it up to the surface to attach the algae, then move it wherever I want for them to eat. I should add also that I searched in fish stores and online for a magnetic algae clip and I couldn't find anything similar.
I did, however, run across some small issues getting it set up. I originally tried hot-gluing the suction cup to the magnet cleaner and saying I was done. The hot glue didn't stick to either surface. Then, I detached the suction cup from the algae clip, and scoring (scratching) the magnet where I planned to glue it. This worked better, but what ended up sticking permanently was a layer of super glue, then a layer of hot glue. This way it stuck very well, but since the shapes of the magnet and the clip weren't the same, I could use the hot glue to account for the difference.
The last modification I made was to put a layer of hot glue on top of where the clip itself, where it actually holds the algae. This just made it easier for my tang to get his nose in there and get all of the pieces out of the crevices, and also helped hold the algae better.
Good thing:
It completely solves the problem. I'm very happy with the solution.
Cons:
It's not the most aesthetically pleasing thing in the world. Not a big deal for me, but I'm sure that a better job could be done.
It slightly takes away from the magnet cleaner's use. Because it's bigger now with an algae clip attached, I can't get into all of the places I could before with the magnet. This is also kind of a fault with the way I arranged my
LR in the tank, but you'll have to keep your
LR farther away from the glass you want to clean and that's something to keep in mind.
If I actually want to just magnet-clean the tank, sometimes the fish think they're getting fed. Of course, they know that they only get algae when I show them the algae before I even touch the magnet, but still they sometimes get excited for a little bit when I first move the magnet and I feel bad.
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