What Did You do With Your Tank Today?

[eduguy]

Malfunctioning heaters suck. Today I tested my water.
0.25 ammonia
Almost no Nitrite.

 

[Convict2161]

5 gallon water change on my BC29, just finished up, now gonna open an ice cold one.

 

[pcdebb]

did top-offs on all the tanks. my peppermint shrimp even came out for an appearance! lol he's always hiding

 

[Oceangirl]

Hello Ocean...

Good for you. Larger tanks are much easier to maintain. The more water you have, the more "wiggle" room for accidents in tank management, which happen to even the best water keeper.

I went to 55 G tanks and they're so easy to keep. I just change half the water in them weekly. Now, I don't have to test the water or have a larger than normal filter or filters. By flushing a lot of pure, treated tap water through the tank, you guarantee stable water conditions for the fish and plants.

B

Thanks for the reply back BBradbury! I had thought no body noticed and it made my day that you did!! I actually convinced my hubby that the sand stays where its currently because I just had an outbreak of something I think wasting disease (in my 20 high) and did not want to boil/sanitize sand and make a large mess.

 

[BBradbury]

Sand Substrates

Hello again Ocean...

You're welcome. I check in on this thread occasionally, to see what others are doing. Good luck with the sand. Gravel is most commonly used, I prefer pea-sized. It allows for good water circulation for the nutrients to get to the plant roots and is easily cleaned of wastes.

Sand can sometimes get compacted and the plants can't breathe or get food and voids can develop and form little pockets of toxins. Do you clean the sand regularly and how is it done? Just interested.

B

 

[Oceangirl]

I actually under stock sand so to speak, I have a min. amount of sand and stir it every couple weeks. I have a 30 gallon tank and I think 15 pounds of sand. I can't remember LOL. My cories, turn the sand as well, my sand ranges from 1 inch to less than one inch. I have the sand built around my amazon sword (Which is dug up Every week by my cories) I also have been rearranging decor because I just moved everybody over from a 20 high. I use my gravel vac and all the yuck (poo, plant, etc) I was considering Malaysian Trumpet snails, but I hear they are very hard to get rid of. I do 50% water changes, yesterday today I did another 5 or so trying out my new gravel vac, top fin from Petsmart.

I also have a little less than a cm of root at the base of the amazon sword sticking above the sand. I use liquid ferts and I noticed they like it better that way.

 

[BBradbury]

Tank Info.

Hello Ocean...

Agree with the large weekly water changes. Never had much luck with smaller tanks. Never got the water chemistry quite right. I started having more success when I went to larger tanks. I have 5, the smallest is 38 gallons. Seems like for me, the water chemistry is more consistent when there's more of it in a tank.

Anyway, thanks for insight into the smaller "water cubes".

B

 

[clearancepuppy]

Today was supposed to be water change day but just did not happen.

Cleaned out the 29 filter.

Planning to do the wc tomorrow. Overdue for testing on all.

Is there a trick to getting the flow started on a huge python? Because I am at my wit's end with this one I have.

 

[Coel]

I fed my fish...of course and also finally put timers on my lights. It was about time to give them regularity.

 

[pcdebb]

Did a water change on mom 55 gallon. For some reason it gets a cloudy haze after a few days. Possible algae bloom of some sort, but don't know the source of this....

 

[aaronjohn20]

Did a water change on mom 55 gallon. For some reason it gets a cloudy haze after a few days. Possible algae bloom of some sort, but don't know the source of this....

Mine gets cloudy right after for almost 24hrs. I think mines just micro bubbles

 

[BBradbury]

Cloudy Tank Water

Mine gets cloudy right after for almost 24hrs. I think mines just micro bubbles

Hello aaron..

Algae growth is nothing more than too much dissolved fish or plant food in the water and a reason for cloudy tank water. If you over feed, then primitive plants, like algae, will thrive. In nature plants and fish are fortunate to eat once a week. That's different than the daily buffet we provide at home.

I feed my fish and plants twice a week and just a little. My plants are healthy and my fish are always swimming around the the plants and at the bottom looking for a piece of food that's been overlooked. Good exercise.

Feed less and you'll have healthy fish, plants and a tank with stable water proprerties and no visible algae in the tank.

B

 

[BBradbury]

Added a Couple of Land Plants

Hello...

Added a couple of land plants to my 45 G. The tank is full and I have four different species of land plants that I can grow in nothing but water. The roots get very thick and almost white.

The roots take in the nitrogen the fish produce. The waste dissolves in the water and water movement provided by the HOBs move the water through the plant roots. The water stays pure with no more than a small water change of a couple of gallons per week to service the filtration equipment.

Haven't tested the tank water in weeks, but it's perfectly clear and my "Livebearers" are breeding constantly. An added benefit, is the land plants take in all the dissolved nutrients, so there's no visible algae in the tank.

B

 

[aaronjohn20]

Hello...

Added a couple of land plants to my 45 G. The tank is full and I have four different species of land plants that I can grow in nothing but water. The roots get very thick and almost white.

The roots take in the nitrogen the fish produce. The waste dissolves in the water and water movement provided by the HOBs move the water through the plant roots. The water stays pure with no more than a small water change of a couple of gallons per week to service the filtration equipment.

Haven't tested the tank water in weeks, but it's perfectly clear and my "Livebearers" are breeding constantly. An added benefit, is the land plants take in all the dissolved nutrients, so there's no visible algae in the tank.

B

What land plants do you hane in there? Also how do u put them in your tank? Do you just float them, put them in the substrate or ????????????

 

[BBradbury]

Using Land Plants in Freshwater Tanks

Hello aaron...

I have Aglaonema, Pothos, Philodendron and Nephthytis. I make a large, retangular pocket of plastic netting attached to long bamboo sticks. The netting is secured by plastic twist ties. Simple to lay the frame across the top of the tank and emerse the plant root ball into the tank water. The leaves are held above the water by the netting. There's no substrate needed.

All the potting mixture must be rinsed off the roots before putting the roots into the tank water or the plant will die. The roots take in the nutrients from the fish waste and balance the water chemistry.

I keep the standard HOB filters to filter the tank water at night when the plants slow their filtration work. The filters keep the water moving through the plant roots, so there's a constant source of nourishment for the plants. The leaves grow with the long hours of low light and CO2 from the air circulating in the room.

The great thing about the plants, they require only ambient "room light". I have some pole lamps I leave on 12 hours a day and the plants are thriving. I may have some pics I can post if you're interested.

B

 

[Wroberson]

I fed the fish and turned on the lights.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I did 3 30-40% water changes on my 180

 

[clearancepuppy]

I spent two hours this am water changing the 29 & 150, testing, documenting, fertilizing, cleaning glass, cleaning small filter, and large canister-wrangling.

 

[StarterFisherman]

5 gallon water change on my BC29, just finished up, now gonna open an ice cold one.

What does BC stand for?

 

[Samzter]

What does BC stand for?

Bio cube