/aq/ - Aquarium General - How much for those Plecos in the window?

Tanganyika is best rift lake.

I have this tiny pump, the aquatop np-80, and want to put it in a nano shrimp tank, but even on the lowest setting, the flow is too strong. I thought putting some sponge over out flow might reduce it, but I also worry that will fuck up the motor inside. Any ideas?

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Pitcus catfish, striped raphaels, giant dianos and maybe ram cichlid pair? Y/N? I'm on the hunt for a 55+gal.

>>2379095
Aha, the reason why you suck at fish keeping is because you obviously can't read.

>>2379190
could you signal any harder? You're a seasoned aquarist whose been at it for years, we get it

fuck off already

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Guy who's too dumb to cycle fish tank here again

>>2379164 I've been adding a sizeable pinch of fish flakes every single day. It's day 7 and ammonia has risen to 0.25. Is it normal for ammonia to take so fucking long to rise? I'm so frustrated I'm on the verge of dumping in the whole jar (obviously not actually going to do that).

I wanted to try pure ammonia but that isn't a thing in my country.

Pic related is my setup. The hornwort looks like shit I know, it's mainly there to feed my snails.

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Yo can someone help me?


I recently got new gravel for my betta fish and when I did he kept drilling himself into the gravel and begin to act real slow and didnt swim much

now his fins arent moving, he isnt moving and his gills arent moving or at least i cant see that they are, he's floating at the top and hes not turning white or anything is he dead? please help

>>2379202
>is he dead?

Poke him you dingus.

I want to start a 40g of Endlers, Cherry Shrimp, and Java Miss. Then I can sell it all locally to either people or local shops. Is petco still doing the $1 a gallon sell?

>>2379202
bettas are hardy as fuck. What the hell kind of gravel did you add? Provide us with actual detail

>>2379206
I have, there was a bit of movement but not a lot

part of me wants to believe he's sleeping and part of me wonders if hes dead

>>2379209
I had white, small gravels and they kept stinking up the bowl so I addded medium sized glass black pebbles

>>2379210
How did the gravel end up stinking up the bowl? I'm so confused.

>>2379209
I've switched the same gravels several times, and kept him in the black gravels for weeks as well and he was fine

>>2379213
it would trap the pebbles I was throwing in for him to eat, when I took it out to clean the bowl it smelled rotted and nasty

>>2379214
>>2379210

something may have soaked onto them. remove the fish into a container of clean water and thouroughly rinse everything down

>>2379216
You shouldn't take the gravel out. It should be vacuumed often but never taken out. Did he get ill shortly after you took it out? I'm thinking that might be the cause since by taking it out you killed all the beneficial bacteria living there and he possibly died of ammonia overload.

>>2379153

Does anyone know where to get a bulk supply of test strips (6 in one) cheap?

>>2379210

Did you wash the gravel?

>>2379219
vacuumed? theyre quite small and I feel they would be stuck in vacuum
>>2379220
I did, pretty sure there were maggots growing
>>2379219
I left some of the water in

>>2379226
Anon, I'm trying my best to be nice but you really need to do more research before getting another fish.

You HAVE to vacuum your gravel. I can't even imagine the state it had to have been in for there to have been "maggots" and smell. Just buy the thinnest hose you can if it's small gravel.

Also beneficial bacteria does not live in water. It lives in substrate and filters. You could just as well have taken all the water out if you removed the gravel. Wouldn't have made a difference to your fish at that point.

>>2379226

Vacuuming gravel with a gravel vac. You can buy or make them cheaply.

Chances are you killed the fish replacing the gravel, by 1) taking out all the good bacteria causing a spike all over in nitrites, nitrates and ammonia. 2) gravel you put in was contaminated. A lot of those glass stones unless specified for aquariums are polished with nasty chemicals and sprayed with lacquer to look prettier. 3) it was just his time to go and it's completely coincidental.

How old was the fish OP?

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>>2379226
FYI this is a gravel vac. God forbid you shove an actual vacuum cleaner inside your betta bowl.

>>2379230
I've had it for a few months

>>2379232
Anon, no. I wanted to wait for the "you fuckers and your fake advice broke my vacuum cleaner started a fire and blew all my fuses!" post.

>>2379233
>I've had it for a few months
That's about how long goldfish live in tiny, unfiltered bowls too.

Congratulations anon, you're an idiot.

>>2379199
>It's day 7 and ammonia has risen to 0.25. Is it normal for ammonia to take so fucking long to rise?
yes.
fish food isn't just made out of ammonia.

it has to be consumed by bacteria that then produce ammonia. This usually takes over a week.

then bacteria have to show up to turn that ammonia into nitrite. This also takes over a week.

then the bacteria that turn nitrite to nitrate have to grow in. You guessed it- this takes over a week.

in real life cycling a tank takes anything from 1-2 months.

>>2379234
I kek'd.

>>2379238
Looks like I was given shitty advice because all the links I could find said I should get ammonia after 3-4 days.

In the meantime should I keep adding fish flakes every day or should I stop? I'm adding a largish pinch daily, approximately twice the amount I'd be feeding if I had fish in that tank.

Plus there's snails in the tank that eat and shit a lot. I would've thought that the snail shit would be a more immediate source of ammonia.

>>2379240
Cut back a bit. Put in flakes as you would feeding fish.

What sucks about not using pure ammonia and using the flake technique is there is that week lag so it's much harder to control, but, as with most things in this hobby, just a bit of patience and it'll all work out regardless and you'll be set.

Worst that can happen if you overflake though is an algae bloom and extra cleaning for you to do at the end. Remember to do a massive water change and clean that shit out before you stock fish. The media holds your bacteria, not the water column, so don't be wussy about it.

>>2379238
And to add, if you're setting up a saltwater/reef tank... hope you're a patient person.

I've used Tetra SafeStart and it does cut down on some time but I think the stories of it being an instant cycle are way exaggerated. I would say it helps partially cycling. You have to stock REALLY slow with SafeStart. Shit is really unstable at that point. But the tank was at a pretty good place in a mere two weeks so it's really not a bad product.

These days though I take Joey's advice and just have spare media stocked in my larger filters (I tend to use Aquaclear, so there is plenty of room, especially since I do not run carbon) so I can take a bit out and put it into a new tank whenever I want.

>>2379227
>Also beneficial bacteria does not live in water. It lives in substrate and filters
>>2379230
>Chances are you killed the fish replacing the gravel, by 1) taking out all the good bacteria causing a spike all over in nitrites, nitrates and ammonia
Common misconception is that there is a lot of beneficial bacteria in substrate. This is only true for undergravel filters. The amount of beneficial bacteria in substrate is insignificant compared to filter media.

BUT, this anon clearly has a bowl with no filter so you two are right, nearly 100% of the bacteria was in the gravel, and it would have been a very tiny amount indeed.

>>2379260
It's a freshwater tank. I plan to do a 90% or so water change before adding fish once the nitrites are gone, whenever the hell that's going to be. I would seed with filter media from my 50 gal tank but this filter is just so tiny, I don't think much would fit in there. Anything else I can seed with?

By the way I did find cloudy ammonia at the store but it foams up when I shake it so it must contain detergents. Am I right in assuming that this would kill everything in my tank?

>>2379260
>Common misconception is that there is a lot of beneficial bacteria in substrate. This is only true for undergravel filters. The amount of beneficial bacteria in substrate is insignificant compared to filter media

different person but how long would it take to seed a new filter medium by putting the new medium in the tank with an already established one? I'd like to replace my current sponge filter with a new one

>>2379260
>I've used Tetra SafeStart and it does cut down on some time but I think the stories of it being an instant cycle are way exaggerated. I would say it helps partially cycling. You have to stock REALLY slow with SafeStart. Shit is really unstable at that point. But the tank was at a pretty good place in a mere two weeks so it's really not a bad product.

I've used SafeStart on my 20 gal with Cherry barbs.

It's not an instant cycle, that's to be sure. It still took about a week to cycle, though. So, I'm ready to finish up my tank stocking. Pretty quick. Stock with your hardiest fish first. So, you know, your platies, swordtails, danios, etc.

And, I like to keep a bottle or two extra just incase the cultures don't take off. I'll probably add a little more once I add a pleco.

>>2379207
Not sure if they are, but you should go down there anyways to see. Plus you may find some tanks on clearance. I almost picked up a fourth tank yesterday because it was on clearance at PetSmart (Canada doesn't have Petco).

>>2379263
Yeah, probably best to stay away from that.

If you have a pre-filter sponge, that would also work since your prefilter sponge is probably a decent size from your 50G and your new smaller tank wouldn't need as much.

>>2379265
I never really ran experiments on it. I tend to leave any new media in my old filters for a full four weeks at least, although my suspicion is that it would take less time.

Again, once you get into the habit of it though, it becomes kind of irrelevant, because I have extra media sitting in other tanks for literally months.

There's some downsides though.

If you have a 20G and put two media bags in there then take one out... well you just decreased your beneficial bacteria by practically half, so watch out for mini-spikes/cycles if your tank is densely stocked. This isn't a big deal for large tanks as you will have a ton of media so a small bag taken out is not going to affect much.

Any pollutants/diseases/etc present in your existing tank will now be seeded into your new tank, so make sure your main tank is healthy.

I personally have never run into a problem with the first one. I think a truly stable, healthy colony will be able to weather big swings.

>>2379304
Ooh, I should say any mechanical filter (sponge) should work actually, both pre-filter and actual in-filter sponge.

Matters on the density though. Most mechanical filters/sponges really aren't very dense.

>>2379207
Shrimp are pretty lucrative.

TRy craigslist for used tanks. Might be able to get stuff even cheaper.

>>2379267
In my 29 Gal i dumped two entire large bottles of Tetra Safe Start, and a Bottle of Topfin's version. Tanked cycled in 48 hours that way and I was able to put my first batch of platys in. Definitely wouldn't try it with something like a Discus or some other sensitive shit, but I'd do ti again with those hardy species.

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How does /aq/ feel about this super cool new self-fertilizing herb garden that popped up on my news feed?

>>2379388
how the fuck are the fish supposed to get any oxygen

Also, everybody loves to keep bettas in the tiniest friggen containers and as much as it's pushed to be okay, it's not.

>>2379396
Labyrinth organ

>>2379396
The top is just a bunch of rocks, with a sponge in it to hold the seeds. Yeah, I think it would be cool if they had a much larger container with multiple herbs growing out of it. Is there a name for an aquarium that doubles as a grower like that?

Updated link
https://discord.gg/Exeddc4

>>2379409
No, but hydroponics with aquarium water is a pretty effective thing. Fish poop water is a great fertilizer.

>>2379417
>Fish poop water is a great fertilizer
No fucking shit. I dump my water change water out through the window, and the grass there is a lot greener than the rest of the lawn.

>>2379417
>>2379396
Minimum size for bettas should be 5 gal, if not 10gal. These jars are fucking disgusting. Those plants wont pull out enough nitrate, they don't serve as a good source of bacteria media.

Fucking atrocious.

>>2379417
fishmeal makes even better fertilizer

>>2379427
Never claimed that the plants would do that much, just that adding aquarium water to a hydroponics system can be a great boost. Of course the tank still needs a proper filter and nitrification.

>>2378885
>>2379199
>fish food method in 20 + 17 - 2054
why not use pure ammonia instead of risking fungal, bacterial and worm infections in your tank anon

>>2379184
how do you even ruin a motor by suppressing the filter

>>2379220
>Does anyone know where to get a bulk supply of test strips (6 in one) cheap?
it's called a API water test kit
more bang for your buck than awful inaccurate reading sticks

>>2379388
people who keep their pets in enclosed spaces should try living in a porta potty for the rest of their life

>>2379184
What about putting a sprinkler on it?

>go to fish shop today.
>Determined to pick up 4 more amano shrimp.
>Notice they finally have in some hornwort.
>Sold out of java moss.
>Guys there are just fantastic people.
>Ask him if they have in any Nerite snails.
>Guy fishes out 2 from the plant tanks after searching for me. They keep a puffer in each plant tank to keep snails under control.
>Hooks me up with the Amanos, some great quality ones.
>See some emerald platys. Must have one.
>Guy tells me they're quarantined until next Wednesday.
>Takes my info down and says he'll call me as soon as they're ready, will set a few females aside for me.
>As I'm leaving see a 20g Tank/Stand/Starter combo for $170.
Next week, when I get paid, I'm going to have a 20g Tank and Stand. Comes with heater, filter, conditioner, and a voucher for 20% livestock on my next visit.

I fucking love my fish shop.

>>2379448
>20g Tank/Stand/Starter combo for $170.
is that supposed to be good

>>2379448
That's not very good for a 20g set.

>>2379427
You technically don't need bacteria media if you have a good enough hydroponics system in place (which obviously those retarded jars do not). This is how algae scrubbers work, which remove ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

Others have done it with huge pothos hydroponics.

But the problem is growth rate. Basically if your plants aren't growing very fast, it's not going to pull much. So something slow growing like most herbs aren't going to do sheeeeet.

Pothos doesn't even do much unless you really blast it with light, and it is actually a weed.

>>2379448
Unless that is an acrylic or low-iron glass aquarium with a solid oak stand, then that is not a good deal. Look on craigslist. I do like to support my local fish shops but their hardware tends to be waaaaaay overpriced.

Although it could be hilarious where you buy that kit then on your next visit buy some black diamond stingrays or something crazy expensive and save hundreds of dollars (and obviously put them in a different, much larger, tank).

>>2379448
>they keep a puffer in each plant tank to keep snails under control
What kind of puffer? Were the plant tanks brackish or what?

Hey /aq/

A friend of mine has had 4 or 5 aquariums going successfully for a long time. One interesting thing though - he says he has never cycled any of them. Just added tap water and used stress coat and heated it up. Never had any tanks collapse or fish die.

Is he just lucky or is cycling properly a lot less important than people say?

>>2379489
Did you confirm this yourself (i.e. you knew him for all this time and saw his fish)?

1) He lies
2) Possibly low stocked aquariums with very hardy fish could survive the cycling process
3) Shit tons of water changes

I'm wagering one of the three at least.

Also, no one has no fish deaths ever.

>>2379489
While there are lots of retarded beginner issues, perhaps the intermediate fish keeper problem is assuming fish just explode when they're not kept in ideal conditions. I know from experience when I was younger keeping fish with my dad that you can dump tropical fish, even supposedly fragile rams, in dechlorinated but non-cycled untested new tanks and things will work out probably without deaths. Is doing this ideal? No. Will you occasionally get deaths? Yes. I'm not advocating ignorance but unless you're getting a terribly weak stock from your shop, many common species are hardy enough to cycle their own water (but wouldn't recommend).

so this might be an odd question but is spirulina supposed to glow red?

I dropped a tab into my tank for the shrimp and im noticing a red light coming off the top of the pill

>>2379489
most people don't cycle correctly.

fortunately tanks will cycle on their own, and fish will usually survive the cycle.

where things go bad is when someone doesn't get the concept at all so they keep killing the cycle by changing 100% of their filter media at once or some such silliness. Or don't bother dechlorinating their water and wind up killing their biofilter every time they do a water change. Do that often enough and fish will die.

>>2379510
So, as the newbie with Cherry barbs here, when should I change my filter media when that inevitably needs to happen? And, how should I do it?

>>2379523
google would answer this sufficiently m8

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My Betta was dead when I got home from work today. Pretty bummed out, as he seemed fine this morning and every other day. Was really active and swimming around a lot. Don't know is what happened.

>>2379531
maybe it was being in 1 gallon of stale, unfiltered, unheated water? My bets are on ammonia killing him and the only reason he didnt hop out and save himself the slow agonizing death is because of that cheap plastic top

Seriously, that container couldnt be any more than 5 inches at the water line

>>2379443
I specified in my post that pure ammonia basically doesn't exist in my country and I don't want to fuck up my tank with a soap-based ammonia solution. I'm also not waiting weeks for it to ship from Amazon.

>>2379430
It is. But it's only effective when done on a large scale. My uncle has a hot tub that he converted into a hydroponics system and both fish and plants are doing great. But that is the minimum size you need and to imagine a hydroponics system with one measly basil plant is laughable.

>>2379486
Odds are they use Pea Puffers. Small guys that can live in 5 gallon tanks. Love to feast on snails.

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I think my filter is too powerful for my been tetras, 2 days and 2 deaths. Does anyone know how to limit the water intake to a filter? It's a Top Fin Aquarium Power Filter and it looks like pic related.

>>2379409
Look up Aquaponics.

>>2379443
>how do you even ruin a motor by suppressing the filter
If you block up the intake or outlet too much it will fuck up water pressure around the impeller. If that has to work harder, the life span shortens.

I have a 1 in red eared slider in a 20 gallon long but I was thinking turning it into a community tank since he's not hunting the fish currently in the tank. After he gets too big for the 20g I'll keep it a community tank. Any suggestions/ideas?

>>2379576
Is this a new tank? How do you know it's the flow rate and not something else?

>>2379576
Get a sponge and cut and X into it, slip it over the intake. I did it to all three of the filters in my tanks. Doesn't restrict water flow, keeps fish from getting caught in the intake, gives my shrimp something to crawl on and nibble at.

For the spout, get a piece of plastic from a water bottle and rubber band it onto it to disperse the flow a bit more.

>>2379523
Never change your media, unless it's something like Charcoal. Just take your filter cartridge and swish it in the tank water during a water change to dislodge big stuff. There's guys out there that haven't cleaned their cartridges for 5 to 10 years.

>>2379650
Guppies or any other live bearers. With enough cover and a little luck, they'll breed enough to replenish themselves should the turtle begin eating them

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What can you say about Veiltail Goldfish? After watching some vids its looks like fish having real trouble maintaining balance after its get old and big (shame because fish look so sick).

>>2379712
Yes but wouldn't the turtle eat the flora as well? Hmm... quite a predicament

>>2379728
either some sturdy fake plants/vines (craft store or reptile grade decor) or a bunch of caves. Mainly you'd just want enough that gives the females time shit out babies and the fry to retreat into when they're still small; preferable things the turtle can't get into or simply loses track of them easily when chasing them. More cover increases their odds

>>2379667
It's fairly new, but I assume I would see signs of the fish being sick before he randomly ended up on the filter. There was one that looked sort of sick so I expected his death but then I found another one so I'm worried.
>>2379677
Ok, thanks!!

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>lfs has chili rasbora fry
>fuck yeah these niggas will look sick in my nano
>ask a store worker what fish they are just in case they're ember tetra or some shit
>"I dunno but they're related to that one" (pokes finger at harlequin rasbora tank)
>ask him how big they get
>"eh about 5 inches"
>mfw

How many chili rasboras can I put in my 5gal? Was thinking 6.

>>2379893
One

>>2379189
not sure if that's your own pic and you already have the raphs, but if not, you'll rarely see them if you get them
had one for many years and he preferred to sit deep under driftwood all day

>>2379530
It could, but I like getting multiple opinions.

>>2379679
Gotcha.

>>2379967
I've had them before. Seen them a plenty when it was feeding time. Having a dim light also encourages them to come out a little more.

I love how they swim. They're like little underwater wiggly spaceships.

Jesus fuck I haven't been here for over a month and the quality of these threads hav died. I should have never left. I'm here for you my children with professional advice. Don't worry anymore. Lots of experience through trial and error and run a fish store.

>>2380140
Get off your high horse, faggot.

>>2380148
I don't own a horse

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Guys I have a stupid question, but google is literally failing me.

What do I measure when I measure the depth in an aquarium? Length and height are obvious enough, but what is depth?

>yes I failed all my classes in school

>>2380167
You have three axis. Length and height are two, with depth as the third. What is depth? Imagine standing at one of the corners of the tank. "Length" is a line that goes off into one direction, "height" into another, and "depth" the last reaction.

What is depth?

>>2380172
>last reaction

You are talking to someone who only understands very basic addition and multiplication. If you have the patience for it, can you please explain this 'in english' for the dum-dum anon.

>>2380175
Reaction wasn't supposed to be the word.
http://www.kevs3d.co.uk/3dbb/presentations/assets/XYZ_axes.png
x is length, y is height, z is depth.

>>2380178
Ok...I appreciate you trying to help me, but that didn't help, so let me just tell you what I was trying to do.

I was trying to use Aquadvisor to figure out how much water a custom tank would hold.

The length of the tank would be ten feet, but the height would be 6 inches, and the width 6 inches.

I can't figure out what to put into aquadvisors calculator to figure out how many gallons it would be.

>>2379872
That's not a symptom of the filter. That's a symptom of the fish being weak due to being a sick. The filter is very, very likely not the culprit.

If your fish are sick, the vast, vast majority of the time it is a water quality issue. Check your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. Likely they are not optimal. Prepare to do more water changes.

>>2379893
The bait is strong in this one.

>>2380180
What you call width is depth.

>>2380162
Then please buy a horse and dismount it.

>>2380184
Ok, thank you.

Why is it called something else when measuring an aquarium?

>>2380187
Because width is what you'd generally use to describe what you call length, and length as a term is only really used when measuring distances, not dimensions. In dimensions (cubes and such), you have height, width and depth. In areas (flat things), you have length and width. In distances (a to b, something like a wire or a road) you have length.

>>2380180
A 10 foot x 6 inch x 6 inch tank would be very strange. Why not at least 10' x 1' x 1'?

Width is from left to right. Height is top to bottom. Depth is from front to back.

For the vast majority of fish species, the most important dimensions of a tank is not the gallons, but the horizontal area (depth x width). That is what aquadvisor is basing its suggestions on.

You can test it easily by switching from a 20G long to a 29G; those two tanks have the exact same width * depth but different heights. Their calculated fish capacity stays exactly the same.

Likewise a 20G high vs a 20G long, even though both hold 20 gallons, will heavily favor the 20G long in aquadvisor in terms of the amount of fish you can stock.

Although you have to be realistic with the dimensions. A 10'W x 10'D x .25' tank might have massive area, but the height would be so shallow as to be useless.

>>2380184
>>2380191
>Depth is from front to back.

ignore this imbecile.

in measuring aquariums we use L by W by H.

Depth could be confused with either W or H because it's not clear if we're talking depth front to back or depth of the water. So we don't use it.

>>2380204
lololololololol

Feel free to read this anon's >>2380189 post and call yourself an imbecile. Also feel free to ask any contractor in the world what depth means. Also feel free to come back to this thread and call us more names in an attempt to cover up your mistake.

TL:DR; you are wrong for the exact reasons you said I (and consequently >>2380189) was wrong.

>>2380204
>>2380191
>>2380208
BTW, this is also proven by actually going to this guy's original question, in that he wants to know how to use aquadvisor.com's stocking calculator, in which depth is 100% front to back. Were you to try it any other way, the calculator would not make sense.

>>2380208
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/converter/volume-calculator.php
http://www.ifocas.org/calculator.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/ConversionCalculator.htm
http://www.angelfish.net/tankvolcalc.php

kys moron

>>2380189
>http://www.fishlore.com/ConversionCalculator.htm
>>2380191
>>2380204
>>2380208
>>2380211


Ok, so the reason I was asking such a weird question is because a while back, I posted about wanting to make a custom aquarium that would wrap along three full sides of a bedroom and have it be specifically devoted to a small group of betta fish.

It was just a fun idea to think about, but in that same thread, someone mentioned that a tank that long would be holding somewhere around a thousand gallons. That sounded ok to me at the moment, seeing as it wouldn't be very wide or tall, and wouldn't be taking up very much space.

However, I got to thinking of how much evaporation a tank like that might have and how much that might end up costing me in the water bill, so I wanted to find out, roughly, how much it may be losing monthly.

BUT, using this anons:
>>2380212

Link: http://www.fishlore.com/ConversionCalculator.htm

I found out it would be way less water.

I did a bigger size estimate of a 12 foot room (so roughly 164 inches long), and upped it to 7 inches wide, 7 inches high, and it spit this out:

34.79 gallon

So, for one wall, I'll probably be looking at 32 gallons roughly. Times that by 3 and I'll have about about a 100 gallon tank.

Now the question I have to start thinking of is if I want it to be on the ground, or up on shelves, and what type of shelves can hold a lot or weight. Or if I just want multiple stands against each wall.

>>2380247
Maybe they meant 1000 lbs

Also you could probably just buy a used setup from a fish store . I see them on Craigslist here

>>2380247
this is one of those cases where the glass is going to weigh about as much as the water it holds. Anyways it shouldn't be difficult to build a shelf that can hold 33lbs per linear foot. The bigger problem will be supporting that length evenly so the bottom glass doesn't break if your shelf warps or settles.

>>2380253
I got it!

I'll build my own gazebo and use concrete for the bottom half of the walls which can double as a shelf.

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hey whats up

>>2380212
>thinking you can't find just as many calcs that are the other way around
>thinking that still, every contractor on the planet would disagree with you
>still not making a logical argument
k

And again, the final nail, which I already mentioned, is that the whole point of this conversation was to answer a very specific question: what does aqadvisor mean by depth? Which is exactly what two other people answered correctly, but you are too stupid to realize.

You are ARGUING ON A POINT THAT WAS ALREADY LOST. THE GUY SPECIFICALLY ASKED WHAT DEPTH REFERRED TO.

I cannot make this any more clear. You are truly a special kind of retard.

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I went to a local pond to catch daphnia for my axolotls, and found two different types of aquatic moss!

>>2380212
btw I can randomly google just as many sites as you that include depth and not both length and width:
http://www.firsttankguide.net/calculator.php
http://www.howmanyfish.com/aquarium-weight.htm#page=page-1
http://petfish.net/calculators/calculate.php
https://www.glofish.com/files/Determining-Actual-Aquarium-Volume.pdf
http://aquariumtricks.com/fish-tank-volume-calculator/

>>2380247
>Now the question I have to start thinking of is if I want it to be on the ground
Would look dumb unless you had specific species, like rays (obviously way too big for your tanks) or koi (again too large for your tank). There are probably lots of other fish that look good from the top though, but I haven't really thought about it.

Picked up a Dwarf Gourami and Bristlenose today.

I kept the bags they came in because I have an idea on water changes. Ideally, you want the water you're adding to be the same temp as the water in the tank right?

I'm going to try using these bags to float the water before pouring it in.

>>2380294
How big are the bags? How big is the tank? That seems awfully inefficient

>>2380283
>every contractor on the planet would disagree with you
as a contractor that's built a few aquariums for personal use I know you're wrong.
because contractors in general don't build aquariums for the public.

If we did, we wouldn't use "depth" for distance front to back because it would be confused with depth of water. Also aquariums aren't built with a specific front and back, that's why they're see-through on all sides.

>THE GUY SPECIFICALLY ASKED WHAT DEPTH REFERRED TO.
fair enough, I didn't read the thread.

aqadvisor is retarded. "Depth" isn't widely used in aquarium construction because it produces exactly this sort of question.

>>2380302
20 Gal and the bags can hold about a gallon collectively. But, yeah it's not going to be anywhere near as quick as just bucketing it in, but I don't have any other means of maintaining water temp for the change. I'll give it a try, note how much of a pain in the ass it may be, and decide whether or not it's worth the effort.

>>2380306
I just use the finger test.

hold a finger in the tank water for a couple minutes. Then run the tap using hot and cold mixed to feel the same as the tank water.

a couple degrees change won't matter to fish, they swim through bigger differences in water temperature in the wild. Just err on the cold side, fish handle water that's too cold better than too hot.

>>2380306
I have a meat thermometer, and I just fill a buck with hot and cold water until I get it between 78-80 F, then I treat the water and dump it in the tank. Much quicker and easier.

>>2380167
depth = width

length is your longest side, width would be the shorter sides. Height is obviously top to bottom

>>2380311
>fish handle water that's too cold better than too hot

isnt it the opposite? colder water tends to put fish into shock but warmer water is dealt with better

or is it a difference between warm-water and cold-water fish?

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>>2380183
In what way is it bait? Any retard can Google chili rasboras and find out that they grow to about 0.7in. If we go by the inch per gallon rule, I can comfortably fit 6 fish in a 5gal.

>>2380566
Nobody should use the inch per gallon thing anymore, resource sites like aqadvisor and seriously fish exist.

I honestly would give the chili rasboras 10 gallons minimum for swimming space, but I don't think it's the end of the world for them if they're kept in a 5. Rachel O'Leary keeps a small school in a heavily planted Fluval Spec V

I did a 30% water change three days ago in my 26g, and when I woke up today, my three spot gourami was sideways on the bottom, gasping slowly but exaggerated. No visible bumps, rips, or discoloration. She was fine yesterday. I cupped her in my hands and let her breathe at the surface for air. I stood with her for several minutes and she took three more breaths, righted herself, and is now swimming upright in her usual location, sometimes resting on a large anubias leaf.

To try and further help her, I added 1.75 tbsp coarse aquarium salt per gallon. I'm going to get frozen daphnia next and soak it in garlic, as I hear that works better than pea (she fasted yesterday). Other inhabitants include a clown pleco and 7 neon tetras. She is 4 years old.

>>2380591
*1.75 tbsp per 5g i mean dear god

>>2380573
The pet store keeps 20 odd juveniles in about a gallon of water. If I put a few in a 5gal that will already guarantee them a significantly better life than they would have otherwise.

>>2380566
The 1" : 1 Gallon rule doesn't account for actual surface area. For example, I can keep certain species in a 20 gallon aquarium because it's technically within the gallonage, but those same fish would do much, much better in a 20gallon Long aquarium because it has greater area of the fish to swim in.

Your chili rasboras need room to move around in and the 5 gal just doesn't have it.

>>2380602
The pet store keeps them in about 5 gallons of space, with around 500 gallons of water circulating through ti so toxins don't build up.

Holy shit, I know this is bait, but god damn, read about how a sump and refugium works. It's the reason pet stores keep their tanks over stocked. Also those fish are not living their lives out there, they are there in holding until someone buys them.

Water Change Saturday

29 Gallon got a 30% change and the Betta's 10 Gallon got a 20% change.

Today I go get a breeding population of Cherry Shrimp for the betta tank and start trying to earn my way to a bigger tank with them, and if that doesn't work out, hey, free feeder shrimp for a big predatory fish I can buy anyway!

>>2380628
If you weren't set on breeding cherry shrimp today, I would suggest just going to petsmart and getting their $0.99 ghost shrimp and testing those first. It's not a true indicator of how predatory your betta will be since ghost shrimp aren't the flashiest, but it'll give you an idea. If he goes after them aggressively, 10000000% he will go after cherry shrimp due to being colorful.

I've had quite a bit of success with shrimp + my betta too so I wish you luck as well.

>>2380573
>Rachel O'Leary keeps a small school in a heavily planted Fluval Spec V
Well, she's also literally a pro fish keeper. I believe even that tank she will sell those fish. She does water changes all the freaking time.

>>2380602
On the offchance that this was not bait and you are serious, the difference is, is that the pet store is not planning to keep those fish in there long term. In fact they probably aren't planning to keep them in there longer than a month or two. You may see it constantly way overstocked, but that's because they're selling some and getting new ones all the time.

The other part is it is literally a staff's job to keep these aquariums going, as in they have giant filtration systems in the back AND they do massive water changes DAILY.

Many home keepers do water changes only every few weeks to a month. The "good" fishkeepers do it weekly. The really, really good ones that you see on YouTube do it every three days.

(This is all for freshwater as saltwater is an entirely different world.)

Also think about quality of life. Yes, you could keep them going like that, but in the long term your fish would be stressed out and likely live a shorter life. I wouldn't be surprised if they contracted diseases due to compromised immune systems due to stress in the long term.

Just get a 10 gallon tank, or a 20G long. They're really not that big and you'll have a lot more fun with them as you have more options.

>>2380620 This guy is totally right btw. A 20G long is in general a much better size than a 20G high simply due to surface area. 20G long is a pretty good size.

>>2380632
I did that a few days ago. Betta completely ignored them.

Do you guys do partial water changes with the fish still in the aquarium?

I always have, because I figure that it stresses them out less than if I temporarily moved them all out.

Just thought I'd ask though.

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>>2380635
>>2380624
>ask /aq/ 2 threads ago what fish can live in a 5gal
>10 different anons tell me to get chili rasboras
>ask /aq/ today about chili rasboras in a 5gal
>"hahaha le bait xd!!11"

Both of you are retards for spewing memes at someone asking a genuine question. Also how do you know I'm a bad fishkeeper? For as long as I've had fish, I've been doing water changes every 3 days. Doing it once a week or once a month is unthinkable to me.

I cannot get anything bigger than 5gal at the moment. I live in a 3mx3m apartment. I already had to rehome a dozen fish from my previous place and get rid of my 50gal tank.

If I can't keep fish in a 5gal so be it, I'll get shrimp. But when everyone on the internet including most of this site tells me that the rasboras will be ok, and 2 people tell me they won't be, who will I believe?

does anyone have tank mate suggestions for my dwarf gourami in his 20g?

>>2380306
Anon, here's what I do. My tank is 200 litres, and I use two 100litre heater sticks to keep it warm. When I do water changes I just grab one of the sticks and drop it in the bucket of new water. When the light on it stops blinking, the water is warm enough to use.

>>2380697
Cory cats. Oto cats. Platy or molly. As long as it isn't an asshole.

>>2380682
Might depend on the fish.

I tried both ways with my betta, and it seemed to stress them out more taking them out.

But they are bettas and are curious, so usually when I don't take them out, they swim up to my hands while I'm cleaning.

>>2380682
Wait, there are people who move their fish out of their tanks for every change?

I suspect they get more stressed from being netted and put in a bag than they get from a gravel vacuum.

>>2379227
>You HAVE to vacuum your gravel.

i've been fishkeeping for 4-5 years and never once vacuumed the gravel. i've never experienced a problem with ammonia spikes.

but i have live plants with roots, too. does that affect it?

Can anyone recommend peaceful, visible, reef-safe herbivores for a 55gal?
The only fish living in there for the past two years are my mandarin pair and I'm getting kinda bored of what looks like an empty tank 90% of the time. However, I don't want to introduce anything that would compete for pods or bully my chubby little babies.

>>2380760
I can imagine it being fine since plants consume fish waste. But if you're like the guy I was replying to, who has a betta in a shitty betta bowl without even a filter, you have to vacuum your gravel.

>>2380766
Cardinal tetras. Brilliant blue and red colour, and super peaceful.

>>2380781
A big school of cardinal tetras would look stellar, it's too bad they are a freshwater fish.

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>>2380789
Guppies?

>>2380791
I had feeder guppies early on and their fry were delicious, apparently. When they disappeared, I tried to convert more without any luck. Not sure if they were in the last few months of thier lives or if a guppy needs to start in saltwater as a fry to live it's full lifespan.

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Holy shit anons, I hit the god damn jackpop this morning.

Went roaming some yard sales and got a stellar deal. 40g Breeder, stand, Aquaclear 70, 150w heater for $80 bucks. the filter was still in the box, unopened. Guy selling it bought it because his wife wanted to have fish, but then they ended up leaving it in the garage and never touched it. Had to really clean it out, but now I need to get this fucker set up.

What should I keep anons? I'm thinking of it being a single-species tank or a guppy/cherry shrimp tank. Any suggestions welcome.

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>>2380864
african butterfly fish

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>>2380864
I got some longfinned Rosy barbs on a whim and they quickly became one of my favorite fish. They're classified as semi aggressive, but I've never seen them mess with anybody. I think they're pretty underappreciated

I also really like rainbowfishes, lots of different options, they get decent sized but not huge, and are peaceful

Danios make a great dither fish if you have a big school of them, and there are a lot of different types to choose from

What brand of canister filters are good and what should I look for when buying them? I want a low tech planted tank

>>2379419
Are guys saying If I out my tank water in the garden the plants will do better?

>>2380926
Yes.

>>2380451
there's 2 reasons colder water is better-
we keep them at the high end of their temp range, tropical waters usually get a lot colder in winter.

and colder water holds more oxygen which is actually the bigger problem than temperature.

Anyways, if you swim in rivers, lakes, and oceans you'll quickly notice that water is 5-10 degrees warmer at the surface than it is at some depth, and that it can be much warmer or colder depending where you swim. Fish swim through these kinds of temperature gradients in the wild all the time.

so if you change water and your fish goes into shock, temperature isn't likely to be the problem unless it's WAY off.

>>2380766
all herbivores will also hunt pods.

>>2380864
Do some some sparkling gourami.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5_z-tiUIPo

Or if you decide on guppies get some wild type or mutt fish. The spots and patterns on them can be pretty cool.

>>2381052
Damn that is sad-looking.

>>2381052
>keeping a stagnant pond in a box for your viewing pleasure
will never understand this stuff.

>>2381062
I understand some people enjoy the natural look.
I don't understand WHY some people enjoy the natural look. If I wanted to see a pond, I'd go to a pond. If I wanted plain, ugly fish, I'd buy feeder guppies.

i wanna kill my 12 head& taillight tetras...
they're so gay and they eat at all my plants, especially the pogostemon erectus

Betta has fin rot and I don't get payed till next Thursday. Anything I can do besides salt?

I took him out of his tank and have him in a clean one gallon bowl with a bubbler.

I'll probably tear his tank down tomorrow and clean it completely.

>>2381078
Keep him in that 1 gallon, but salt it. I tspn per gallon.

Do daily 100% water changes so you can correctly monitor the salt.

It'll clear up in a week. You'll start to see white/clearish looking fin reforming where the rot was.

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>>2380868
Too pain in the ass and too hard to come across in my area.

>>2380900
Barbs are an idea, but after having Danios in my 29g Community, I really don't care for them. All they do is swim around and be shitty to the platys.

>>2381052
Eh... I'm not wild about the wild-biotope thing.
The tank is cycling now. I picked up a sponge filter for a little extra filtration, since you can never have enough. I threw a packet of biomax from my AC 50 into the AC70 to help get it cycled faster. I also spread a tiny bit of java moss from the 29g tank. I'm debating on bouncing the Danios or two platies from the 29g into it to get it cycled quicker.

Before I put fish it, I want to get some plants into it other then moss. I know i have a few Chain Swords and Amazon Swords I can trim up and add, and tons of Wisteria/Anacharis I can clip and plant.

I'm really leaning towards a species only or a species/cherry shrimp tank. One of the local stores will give me credit for livestock, and I can always sell them on Aquabid/facebook.

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>>2380591
Hope your lady gourami will get better, anon!

I had a mistery in my aquarium as well, today. Woke up and sighted a dead shrimp. Put it out and went shopping. After coming home, spotted 2 more dead shrimp, also many of the Red Sakura shrimp lost color (either I was blind the last weeks or they suddenly lost it). I tested the water but Ammonia & Nitrite are 0, Nitrate is 12. Did a 30% water change and will observe the situation.

>need to clean my tank badly
>have open cut on my hand

should I risk getting fishbola?

>>2381114
Use the other hand for cleaning? Only doing the stuff that cannot wait and save the big cleanup for when the cut is healed?

>>2381114
rubber glove and ducttape closed.

>>2381114
I mean, how bad could fishbola really be..? I start the siphon with my mouth every time?

>>2381083
Well that's the problem. I am completely broke till next Thursday and can't get aquarium salt. I tried looking up if I could use anything else, but NOPE. Everything else is supposedly toxic.

>>2381140
Then just do your best to keep his water clean.

>>2381118
Left hand is kind of awkward
>>2381121
ductape is safe to get into the water?

>>2381148
You're about to find out

>>2381152
Fuck it I'm dosing some prime and taking care of it tomorrow where it should be scabbed up, sorry for wasting your time.

>>2380693
different adnon. i think this is bait because he gave you a legit answer. 6 is fine for 5 gallons. most answers here are aimed toward the middle. the inch per rule is a guide line aimed at explaining a concept. Even 20 years ago when you consider oscars and koi it didn't make sense.

if you are doings water changes ever 3 days you could probably get 20 of them. but it still means you know what you are doing when you change water every three days. your percentage of water change would change drastically

>>2381114
dude just superglue the cut shut. It's water proof and comes off naturally as you heal

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What does /an/ think of my fiddler crab tank? 55 gal . Pls no bully

>>2381230
I like it

What are you using to keep the sand in place?

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>>2381230

>>2381230
are you the Australian anon with the chopper in his tank from like 6 years ago?

I like the crab tank either way.

>>2381232

A layer of bricks and a plastic paper binder to keep the sand from sloping down in the back corner lol

>>2381234

No, I only have fiddler crabs, minnows, and ghost shrimp in this tank

anyone have good set-up ideas for kuhlis? I'm getting a few in a couple of days and I already have caves and shit setup. Anything else I can add to make them more comfortable?

I want to make an undergravel cave for them but I dont really know how to go about it

>>2381255
they make their own caves under the gravel.

>>2381255
My Kuhlis never burrowed. I'm not sure if it's because 40% of my substrate is slightly coarse Eco Complete, but a lot of them just seem to chill under a huge driftwood or in a bushel of stem plants

If you have enough Kuhlis, like 10+, and you have a bunch of hardscape and plants for them to feel comfortable, they won't burrow. You might find a few moseying around the tank or draping over your decorations like wet noodles.

Ive heard stories of kuhli breeding in undergravel filter setups. I'd love to breed them if possible and im wondering if anyone knows how to replicate that environment without having to uproot my tank to add an actual undergravel grate underneath

>>2381291
partially buried driftwood might be a good idea

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>>2381089
How do you feel about doing water changes weekly? If you can keep up with them, you could do a school of Praecox Rainbows, Psuedomugils, Celebes, or Threadfin Rainbows. They'd make a very pretty species tank, and would love your plants.

Just make sure you have a nice healthy stock and quarantine, columnaris is a bitch to treat and plagues these guys if they're unhealthy

>>2381064

Yeah, I liked bright gravel and fake castles with fruity tetras when I was 12 too.

>>2379893
dumbass

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R8 my tank

birdfag reporting in, what's a good starter fish that is super hardy? I'm going to do my research before getting anything, but i don't know a damn thing about fish and this thread is a super interesting read

>>2381233
god damn that is awesome my dude, this thread is really getting me into this

>>2381177
What percentage should I go for if I'm doing every 3 days in your opinion?

>>2381332
That looks overpopulated to me, Anon.

>>2380274
who's that cutie

So let me get this straight. If I'm trying to selective breed some cherry shrimp for even redder shrimp, I should cull (feed to my turtle) any that aren't as red as I'd like. I ordered some fire red cherry shrimp from l.r bretz aquatics but some arrived looking like regular see through cherry shrimp and stayed that way for months

>>2381135
Accidentally drinking icky water is completely different to accidentally getting icky water in your blood.
Take HIV for example. You can touch HIV no problem, even drink it. But you'll get AIDS if you get it in your blood or fuck it.

>>2381392
Do you want one fish or multiple fish in an aquarium?

Bettas are obviously a good starting point for a newcomer to the hobby. There are many different types of Bettas, some that are move extravagant/expensive than the others. And all you would need is a nice 5/10g tank to start. It would also be a good intro to aquascaping and the nitrogen cycle.

I only recently got into the hobby a couple years ago, and my first tank was a betta tank. It was a simple veil tail, but he's still going strong.

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>>2381435
My crayfish.

Not sure on species at all. She changes colors a lot.

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>>2379153

Free build

Hey /an/.

I had an idea the other night and I think I'm going to roll with it.

I have a ten gallon set up, but even that had cost me quite a bit to do properly. I've sunk over $200 in an aquarium. Given, I live in a small town where prices are jacked up.

Now I have a spare twenty gallon, so I'm going to completely free build this aquarium either by showering garage sales or trading online. The only thing I will purchase is the fish at the end.

So far:

My friend is giving me some plants when I'm ready for them, I have aquaried a bubbler for free at a swap meet. I'm still needing a proper canopy, heater, and filter.

The maximum I will allow myself to spend if I have to is $50.

Decor so far is from scowering river banks, and a bit of left over gravel from a previous build.

20gallons, what should I put in it /an/.

>>2381255
For the undergravel cave you can use 2" PVC pipe. Just assemble it the way you want and throw the gravel on top of it.

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>>2381493
She looks like my young little man. He molted for the first time yesterday :)

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>>2381568
Is that a marbled?

Her claws are really small and she kind of looks like one aside from the colors. She came from a goldfish shipment from Arkansas so idk if she's a wild species or somehow an escaped marmorkrebs.

>>2381570
Almost certainly a marmorkrebs.

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>>2381575
How can you be sure? People were telling me it couldn't be a marmorkrebs since they wouldn't just wander into a goldfish breeding trough.

As you can see, sometimes she is browner, but she never gets to be the very dark spotted marbled color.

>>2381581
Marmorkrebs are like algae, you only need one to suddenly have an infestation of them. What happened probably was that a few eggs got in on a leaf or something, and suddenly there were marmorkrebs all over the goldfish pond.

>>2381445
Respond pls

>>2381604
Give them time for a molt or two. Their poor health after transport makes them lose some colour.

>>2381604

If you're providing adequate nutrition and husbandry and their colour hasn't improved you probably were spoofed M8.

>>2381445
I wouldn't worry about culling shrimp until your colony is established. I think I heard him say in one of his livestreams that some shrimp take awhile to color up and that males have less color to begin with. So it would probably be a better idea to have a cull tank rather than feed off potentially colorful shrimp before they've had a chance to mature.

>>2381496
where you live Anon? i live in okc and have a dumb excess of many fish

>>2381626

Sw Ontario unfortanetly
Appreciate it tho anon

>>2381496
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9oZkV3tGJuUUhgZaiGZkQ

This channel will be your friend.

In it, you can find info on how to make your own filters for practically nothing, how to make stands and lights and canopies, how to identify and clean good "found" materials vs. stuff that will be detrimental to your aquarium, even how to make the aquariums themselves (although this last one is really only for those who are doing massive tanks).

Stocking is tricky though. Not sure how craigslist is up there, but down here sometimes there are people looking to rehome fish for free.

Any anons in Sweden who have a spare tank to sell?

>>2381752
blocket.se

Ive only had this tank for a few days, but already it smells pretty funky when i take the lid off. Could it be the food?

>>2381903
What size is the tank, what is your stock, and how much do you feed the fish?

>>2381903
>>2381919
One of the first signs that the tank is not completely cycled yet.

Once the tank is totally cycled and stable, the smell will barely be detectable, even if you remove the lid and are really close.

>>2381903
My tanks smell like clean water and plants.

You dun goofed, or your fish farted. Eitherway, you got the stink.

>>2381479
I think at one point I'd like a lot, but I'm really interested in crabs/shrimp currently. I've yet to seriously look into any fish, but I'm sure something will flag me down

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I'm going to move overseas in about 6 months, but I still want to get another planted tank. Is it worth it?
I'll sell everything before I go, anyway.

Pic related my current 5gal with a few CPDs and a population of shrimps.

What are some good, small-sized fish native to Germany? Anything that won't need me to fuck up the water parameters too much. Is the tap water going to be a huge problem?

>>2381743

Oh I already binge the hell out of KoDIY.
Free fish are common here too but most of which are very large fish. A lot of plecco and koi most of the time.

Has anyone bought aquarium accessories from China? I'm really eyeing up the heaters online atm. Curious if they're any good.

>Watch Dustin's Fish Tank a year ago
>Obnoxious as all fuck
>click on video today
>He's trying less hard and focusing more on the subject matter.
>mfw a youtuber ACTUALLY improves

He's no KoDIY or Aquarium Co-Op, but that's a good start. I like the positivity in this hobby.

>>2382128
I love watching Aquarium Co-Op. It's nice to see the Fish Store side of things. His whole series on how to breed fish for profit got me into breeding for the local shop.

The youtube aquarium channels I hate are the guys who film the whole thing with their cellphones and the "I'm a Girl with Fish!" people. There was one betta channel I came across where it was the too-much-make up girl basically reading a fishlore post about betta care.

>>2382159
I actually like that chick.

She takes excellent care of her animals and is obvious about liking attention and dressing up.

She doesn't try to play the whole 'I want attention but I don't want to lose my innocence and have people say nasty things about me'

Basically I like her cause she isn't fake. She knows she's beautiful, she likes to be beautiful, and she doesn't try to hide it. If someones going to be like that, it's refreshing to see them be honest, upfront, and have some confidence/balls about it.

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The fuck kinda colour is this? I can't tell at all what it's supposed to represent. Help from someone who isn't blind like me?

This is a fishless cycle pls no bully

>>2382205
I'd say between 0.25 and 1.5 mg/l.

>>2382205
About 1mg/l.

>>2382214
>>2382215
Thanks anons.

How high should I ideally push the ammonia up? I'm thinking of just leaving everything as is at this point (while still feeding the cycle) and waiting for nitrities.

>>2379667
New tank syndrome

>>2382287
Throw in as much food as you would for a stocked tank. When you read no ammonia or nitrate, but plenty of nitrite, you're cycled.

I recently was given a 30gal tank and want to transfer the inhabitants (shrimps, snails, and community) from my 10gal to this new tank. The filter I have on that 10 gal is rated for up to 30. My question is can I just put everything from that tank into the new 30 gal? The 10 gal has been cycled and running for a year now.

It is low light planted if that matters.

>>2382341
I think you switched up nitrite and nitrate. Ideally you'd like 0 nitrites and a presence of nitrates.

>>2382489
Oops. Yes.

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Bought this cunt as a halfmoon but he looks nothing like what i'm pulling up on google. Anybody know what his tail type is actually called? I guess it doesn't matter, but i'm curious.

>>2382542
Rosetail perhaps?

>>2381064
I don't know if this applies to anyone else but this kind of thing appeals to me as a city person because I don't go out to the wilderness much and when I do I find it so beautiful that I want an aquarium that reminds me of the underwater world.

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>>2382546
Could be, but he's still majorly lacking the fullness of a rosetail HM. Looks like the only difference between the two is the bunching at the end of the fins on the RT. Also, I think he may have finrot after looking at him closer, so I guess I'll see if he grows out any after treatment.
Here's another pic of him.

>>2381064
Natural looks nice. Most of the time, anyway -- I guess some fish have ugly habitats. Certainly beats a bare tank with rainbow gravel. Pet care isn't always about what humans find most aesthetically pleasing, though. If your primary focus with a pet is making it look nice, you oughtta reconsider owning it.

>Turbo Cycled my new tank by throwing my AC 50's Bio max into the new AC70.
>Drop an entire bottle of Tetra Safe into it.
>Moved plants from mature tank into new tank.
>Ran water tests; 0.0 Ammonia, 0.0 Nitrites, 5.5 Nitrate.

>Buy some guppies, add them to the tank.
>They're already flitting about, both males already humping away.
I just need to find a shop that has Hornwort, water lettuce, or duckweed I could float. Anachris and wisteria only do so much. I'm also thinking of buying a pothos and hanging it from the side.

>>2382115
You want to catch native fish or just stock your tank with fish that will suit your tap water parameters?
Tap water here is mostly good, almost never chlorinated. You have to look out for your local water hardness, there can be huge differences. I have hard water, 10km away a village has super soft water.

>>2382542
Delta maybe?

20 gallon Tall set up tonight. Any ideas on what I could stock it with? I'm thinking more along the lines of a solo inhabitant, like a single Convict Cichlid. Would do a pair if it was a 20L.

>>2382685
Angel fish, platies.
20 talls are such a shitty size. You want to stock it with something that likes vertical travel. You also can't get Africa. Dwarf Frogs because it's too deep.

Sins tail is looking better. I think I caught it pretty early, but it doesn't look nearly as rotten.

Hoping I'll start seeing some growth pretty soon.

I tore down his tank and took out the thing that was providing him air to breathe at the bottom. I don't like that he has to travel so far to the surface, but considering he was doing it anyway just because he likes exploring, I'm hoping it won't be a hug hindrance. The thing was just too big and bulky and I couldn't clean properly with it in. Put on top of that me missing a water change and I think that's what started the fin rot... I feel bad, I should have just asked my partner to help me out and do a water change for me.

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How often do you do a water change?

>>2382710
I get naming you fish but say what it is this isn't reddit where people can look at your post history to see what your talking about

>>2382726
Shit sorry, I've been so fucking tired.

Sinbad, my betta. I posted this earlier:
>>2381078

>>2382725
If it's a normal aquarium and it's been fully cycled? It's debatable depending on your stocking and how clean you keep it. And your filtration going on.

Once a week is usually a good safe bet, or bi-weekly if you have a lot of fish/dirty fish and don't have good filtration to keep up with it.

>>2382542
>>2382605

Looks like a young feathertail

>>2382710
>not on the discord yet

>>2382166
Name?

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>>2382685

I keep a blue gourami (not the dwarf kind, the 3 spot) in my 20 tall since it's mainly for growing out plants. He'll get too big eventually but seems to enjoy this setup quite well.

>>2382659

I'm more interested in native plants, guess I'll just have to check when I move.

Do you keep local fish at your tank?

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>>2381064
If you're talking about the blackwater look,then yeah, I get why not all people enjoy looking at some murky-looking tank.

Then again, anything can look good with proper lighting.

>>2382756
No thanks. I don't see the point. It feels like using another site, to USE A SITE.

>>2382758
Taylor Nicole Dean

>>2382725
I do water changes weekly since it's the easiest way to stay on schedule. I've got a 40g with just a betta and a 10g with a betta, so I could probably go much, MUCH longer without a water change. If you're trying to figure out how often you should do water changes, you could just check the nitrates every day for a while and see how long it takes for the water to reach an unacceptable level of them.

>>2381078
If you aren't already, I would suggest changing the water as often as possible. At least daily. I think you should put him back in his usual tank for the salt treatment. Do one teaspoon per gallon and replace the salt you take out when you do a water change, which should be every 2-3 days. If you keep him in the 1g, i'd honestly do daily water changes just to be safe.

>wake up.
>tank lights come in
>amano shrimp are devouring the ghost shrimp I had added to the tank this week.

And that's how I ended up doing a water change at 6am.

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>>2381292
>I'd love to breed them if possible and im wondering if anyone knows how to replicate that environment

I had kuhlis years ago and they bred completely without my knowledge. I had one of pic related and it was about 60% buried in the substrate, so some of the entrances were hidden and some were not.

the noodles loved it and disappeared in there for weeks at a time, but you could often see them poking their heads out, and the population survived for like 10-12 years, it was definitely breeding in some form

>>2382910
I put him back in his tank last night. I was emptying out about 95% of the one gallon each day and adding new, and I did an 80% change on his tank last night before adding him. Scrubbed iy down and I've been adding stress coat to the water. His tail looked much better the day before yesterday, so I'm just going to keep a close eye on him.

I just let the damn tank get too dirty.
>>2382923
Lol

I mean that sucks still, but lol

>>2382159
>okay with aquarium co-ops disgusting, deformed face and curb stomp teeth
>complaining about taylor dean's makeup
The fuck's your damage?

>>2382978
>never says a YouTube's name.
>fuck you!

You white knighting faggot.

>>2382981
I don't think that was his point smart one

>>2382981
>white knighting
I don't think you know what that word means.

>>2381233
>>2381230
POST MORE ANON, MORE PICS

>>2382887
I miss talking to you though
>>2382888
God I would smash the fuck out of her. Did you see her ass in the newest salt water video? She's pretty informative though.

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>>2383036
John Bone, is that you? Where you been boyee?

>>2379153
Those fishkers look cramped :(

>>2383113
They're in there before being released

Should I increase the diet variety of my fish? I have a bettas, rasboras, and cory cats in my tanks. As of now I feed the community tank 2 types of flakes and bloodworms (1/week) and the betta gets pellets and bloodworms (1/week).

Is this variety good enough or should I add more? I have been looking at breeding brine shrimp or some other live food.

How do you resist the urge to completely tear down your tank and redo your aquascape over? It's been a little over 2 months and I already want to completely rearrange my 40 breeder, maybe even downgrade to a 20 Long if I can figure out how to setup my 36" light to stand on it

>>2383141
Certainly more variety never hurts, so sure. You could buy frozen brine shrimp too. If you're concerned about their diet, you could also look into a better quality pellet or flake. i.e., not 90% corn or wheat.

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Rate my snails, /aq/.

It was just the single mystery and a handful of pondies for the past ~6 months, but I stirred up the substrate yesterday and was greeted by hundreds of babies in a surprising variety.

I have a Pleco. For the last 2 weeks, he's suctioned himself onto one of the tank decos and refuses to move

What would cause him to do this? He's always in the exact spot when I check on him, day and night when he's usually more active

>>2383306
He might be dead. Their bony plates don't decompose, so it's really hard to tell if it's alive, and they have microscopic scales on their bellies that help them adhere to surfaces. He might have died and just not fallen off of the decor yet.

>>2383153
>How do you resist the urge to completely tear down your tank and redo your aquascape over

keeping delicate live plants, or messy ones. Tried it once when I had a glosso carpet and spent weeks scooping uprooted sprouts off of the surface and scraping it out of my filter. Never again

>>2383311
he still 'blinks' so he's alive. Just refuses to move

>>2383311
>>2383319
He could be in bad shape, like I assume you suspect. Fish can live a surprising amount of time without food, so there's a good chance he's sick and not eating.

It's pretty tough with plecos though.

I would suggest water quality but you don't seem like a noob, so I imagine the water quality is fine.

Even then, it won't hurt to have even better quality, so maybe step up your water changes to every three days. Some fishkeepers even do daily changes with sick fish.

Try to tempt him with wafers and sinking pellets. Plecos, like tons of fish, are actually omnivorous so he might appreciate a change in diet. The problem is tempting him to feed off of something else. If he's not moving it's going to be tough. Way harder than regular fish.

Good luck.

>>2383141
>>2383154
I agree with this anon. Instead of different flakes, maybe just a single really good brand. I've read and personally had great success with new life spectrum pellets and flakes, so those are my go-to for staples in diet, with frozen food every now and then.

Blanched peas are also a popular dietary supplement which I've been meaning to try.

But I think you've got a good thing going so I wouldn't worry too much about changing stuff up.

>>2383260
The protruding eye on the big snail makes me a little uncomfortable, but i'm sure he's a nice guy.

>>2383036
>Did you see her ass in the newest salt water video? She's pretty informative though.
Yeah she's about a million times better saltwater fishkeeper than I am. Or pets in general.

>>2382686
>You want to stock it with something that likes vertical travel.
>>2382685
Yeah, it's surprising how much better a 20G long is. Not a whole lot of fish enjoy the vertical travel. Mollies kind of? Seahorses do but lol saltwater at 20 gallons.

Maybe make use of the vertical space by having three distinct vertical zones, e.g. hatchet fish up top, some bottom dweller at the bottom, a small mid-level swimmer.

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>I watch Taylor Nicole dean for advice
Yeah. That's what I do.

>>2382115
What you should do is test your tap water first, then decide on your fish. It doesn't matter what's native to Germany because your tap could still be way off.

Generally, I only advise people to get fish that you only need a dechlorinator on your tap. So you have the right idea. If you need more than a dechlorinator then it's going to be a pretty painful freshwater experience.

>>2383340
>"First time I have to use a step stool to clean inside my own tank"
Tall people problems.

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This thread reeks of petco tier untrained advice. REEEEEE!

Finally unbanned when was the last autistic sperg out or has it been fairly quiet?

>>2383342
Look at that ass though bro.

>>2382125
>Has anyone bought aquarium accessories from China?
Yes, I buy LED lights from China all the time. Aquarium Co-Op has tested many with an actual PAR meter and they come out preeetty good.

I do lights because if they go poof, there is a low chance of my place ending up as a ball of fire or my fish getting fried (as is the case with malfunctioning heaters).

I feel that heaters are something you shouldn't skimp on. Even the KoDIY lost thousands of dollars in rays due to faulty heaters that were a trusted name brand.

>>2383343
It's /aq/. You shouldn't have taken it seriously in the first place.

>>2383348
First part is sarcasm but when was the last bad sperg out? I haven't been here in like 3 months.

>>2383347
Don't fuck with cheap heaters. My heater malfunctioned about a month ago. My fish were acting really, really weird and I couldn't figure out why. Eventually went in there to do something and it took me a few dunks before I figured out why the water was hurting me. If you're not gonna spend money on anything else, spend it on a good heater to avoid having a fish fry.

>>2383350
>In three months

Don't want to be an attention whore, but probably when I posted about putting my betta in a three foot tall giant vase.

Though to BE FAIR, I did try to contain that mess to it's own thread...

>try to get local fish shop to order me some cherry shrimp.
>uhh like our shrimp guy isn't breeding them right now.

>ask local petco if I can special order some cherry shrimp.
>gives me a sheet to fill out, say they'll give me a call when they arrive so I can pick them up.

Maybe I should breed the cherry shrimp from petco and sell them to the fish shop...

Hey /aq/, are sakura shrimp the same thing as cherry shrimp? One one the shops near me sells sakura red shrimp, but for like $8 a pop. Seems like a rip off.

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Very fast betta is very fast!


See that dark blur at the top left? That's him, practically jumping out cause possible food stuffs.

I even turned the filtef off for a second to calm the water. Nope. He's determined to be the worlds fastest betta.

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>>2383395
Zoom!

I am still battling green spot algae in my tank. I have read all about keeping phosphate from 3-5 in the tank, lowering light time, etc. Nothing has worked and it still appears on the glass and leaves every week after I scrub it off.

I am dry dosing according to EI, weekly water changes, and have 2.8 watts/gal.

Could not having enough plants be a culprit?

>>2383330
I do new life spectrum as well, it's worked for all my fish. I also rotate between frozen and Repashy gel which my inverts and bottom feeders love.

>>2383397
Generally you want to reduce something until your plants can put compete the algae. I am getting green diatom, but that's because I over feed and over light. My strategy has been to cut an hour of light and reduce feedings until my plants catch up and overtake the algae.

Remember there's no overnight solution. It's all about how much they have to consume; light, nutrition, co2.

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On this episode of "Anon is $4 short of getting a heater to cycle his first tank" anon legit wants off of this ride.

End me bros. I just couldn't squeeze it in yet, I have yo wait till Friday. Hype.

Ft. 5 gallon tank, my first ever

>>2383418
If your room is temperature controlled, a heater may not even be necessary. It's next to a window though, so it'll probably have large temperature swings and have fun with algae.

Also what plant is that? If that's what I think it is, those things sell for more around my area (east coast US) than your tank is worth, lol.

>>2383424
Will the bacteria die off if I chance the water temp from normal room temperature to tropical temperatures? I want to get a betta. My house it damn toasty though (attic)

Good point about the window, I may move it if it gets bad. It's a west facing window, so it only gets light when it's later in the day.

And I honestly couldn't tell you about the plant. I got it for about $4 at my LFS. The setup w/lights/tank/filter was only $30, so if plants are even a little bit costly there, then yeah maybe lmao.

Any advice of test strips for ammonia ect.?

Anyone have any luck with cheap LEDs? Looking at Beamswork on Amazon right now. Reviews look good but I am trying to figure out why the huge price differences between these and the more popular brands.

>>2383430
I have one. The solders can be shit but they work well when fucking solders dont come fucking loose. If you're doing low-mid light plants they grow just fine

>>2383435
Thats what I am aiming for, low/mid light. What should I look for? All the Beamswork ones look more or less the same and the only differences I can see is 1) extra colors and 2) different wattage

>>2383437
they're pretty much all rebrands of the same chinese company(Aquaneat?). Just make sure to get one with red lights on it and brackets long enough to go across your tank. If you have a particularly wide tank, i'd consider doubling up on them

>>2383440
Why red in particular?

>>2383444
plants feed on red light and makes them grow in more full. If you don't provide red, plants start looking for it on their own by growing upward instead of outward so you end up growing sticks with fewer leaves instead of leafy, lush looking foliage

at least, that's how i've understood it

those LEDs come with green light as well but the green isnt necessary since plants reflect green light. Green DOES make the tank look better to your eyes though

>>2383343
>>2383361

It's been fairly quiet. Last sperg out was about two weeks ago. Saltwater stuff.

Also, how is Sinbad doing?

How quickly will guppies revert to wild form?

>>2383458
>Sinbadanon gets banned for trolling
>no trolling during time he's banned
hmmm.

Please next general be shrimp edition

>>2383495
I gotchu, anon.


>>2383524
>>2383524
>>2383524

>plants must be grown under certain PAR ratings/Lumens/Watts-per-gallon
>plant light requirements are only ever listed as low/moderate/high
>aquarium lights rarely list the lumens and never ever list the fucking PAR

Fuck all this im moving my tank back into the goddamn window

>>2383345
How dare you assume my gender.

>>2383458
He's doing pretty good. Still a hyperactive begger.
>>2383472
I got banned for a thread I made while I was drunk, but I was still posting.

>>2383437
Looks like a lot of people are having success with the DA 6500k 0.50 watt. Amazon reviews look pretty good. I'm ordering it myself soon for my 40g.

>>2383385

I recently started a cherry shrimp
Colony. I have three high quality red females that I got from Petco and four that I got from a lfs (3 male 1 female). All of the ones that I saw and bought from the lfs where almost clear and the one female is a pink opaque. Somehow my local Petco has a tank of real good quality shrimps. A little pricier but at least I'm introducing a new gene pool with more admirable traits to my colony. The lfs was really cool though because they gave me a berried female and a lot of good advice. I'll probably give them my culls for free and maybe some good red ones once I'm established.