Welcome

[jon carman]

If you want to go up, I would check out the 75g. It shouldn't be to much more, but can hold a lot more fish.

Glad to have you on the site, I love all things aquatic, this site is just for pet chatter in general.

[angel]

Hahaha hope you got a picture of that! The plants should eat the nitrates, but if they're decaying anywhere that can add back to them . When my nitrates go up besides water changes I check for plant decay and give the sponge in my filters a good cleaning. It can be trying. But as crappy as that is, at least it's nitrates not nitrites or ammonia. Lesser of the evils kind of. Keep at it, and let us know how it's going.

[jeremyh81]

Here's the pic of the otto:



I had to be quick because these guys like to change feeding locations quickly. It is quite funny to watch the ottos.

The API master test kit is showing no ammonia and nitrites between 0 and .25ppm, so I think things are going well considering this is my first aquarium.

It did help that the tank and filter came from a coworker that had everything previously cycled.

About to post my Photobucket album in the Pictures section.

[jeremyh81]

Oct 27, 2009 12:32:31 GMT -6 jon carman said:

If you want to go up, I would check out the 75g. It shouldn't be to much more, but can hold a lot more fish.

Glad to have you on the site, I love all things aquatic, this site is just for pet chatter in general.

That is a good idea because I would love to keep some larger species, but stay with the community theme. I especially like catfish (could be the country boy in me).

I'll keep my eyes out for any deal on a 55 or 75!

[angel]

Dunno--depends on if you also like bass or not! Which I just love, btw!
Your otto is a determined one isn't he? That's a great capture! How long have you had the aquarium at your place? Do you have a filter with a sponge instead of a disposable cartridge? And when you clean it out, do you leave something else undone, like not vaccuum that day or not wipe the sides of the tank? Leave the decorations go? Maybe it's just a matter of finding the balance?

[angel]

So the filter is new, is it the only filter on the tank? If so, it needs time to age. Do frequent water changes to keep the fish comfortable and make sure there's lots of oxygen and wait it out. It should settle.

[jeremyh81]

I know I like eating bass! They would be an interesting addition to a home aquarium, too!

Right now, I'm actually running 2 filters: HOT Magnum 250 canister & Penguin 200.

I got the tank back in August, but didn't fill it until mid-September. The Magnum came w/ the tank and was already established (it still had water and "dirty" media in it), but I wanted the additional bio-filter from the Penguin.

The Penguin's cartridges do tend to clog up quickly with loose algae hairs, so I usually rinse them at each water change, but leave the HOT alone until it's absolutely necessary.

The HOT Mag w/ Biowheel came in today, but with the plastic divider in the middle of the tank, I can't install it. So I'm thinking about taking the cartridge out of the Penguin to just use the Biowheel along w/ the HOT canister filter. I'm also going to add more plants to help with the nitrate levels. My wisteria and anubias are producing new growth at the moment. I also have a small, $10 CO2 bubbler helping the plants.

As for the decorations, I have removed one artificial half log, but otherwise just use the toothbrush method for the long (>4 inch) hairs. Then the ottos take care of the rest.

I do have a freebie 29g that I'm tempted to cycle. It used to be a DIY wet/dry filter for a saltwater a coworker wasn't using anymore. Then it was the home of my hermits.

It needs some silicone scraped off the walls from one of the reservoir walls and rinsed of playsand, but is still water-tight. That would give me a little extra space for more/larger fish and a place for my new filter. I just have to wait until payday to get some gravel and Flourite, another heater, and various natural decor.

When I setup the new filter, I'm going to take the carbon container and sponge from the existing filter and place it in the new to speed up the process.

[angel]

I'm not positive the bacteria stays alive when it's not running. Anyone else know? I actually had always wondered that.
Do you know how to get the green or white residue off a saltwater tank? We picked one up about a month and a half ago and the previous owner said if you have that on there get some muriatic acid and clean it off. If you ever have to do that, of course rinse and rinse til there's none left, and then rinse some more. But I thought it was a good tip so am passing it along. We buy used tanks all the time so it was nice to know.

[angel]

Oh, and bass does taste great. And I love the fight they put up when catching them. But I've gotten weaker over the years to where I couldn't bring myself to pull that beautiful fish out of the water hold it up and admire it then kill it. Used to though. Have actually gotten so bad about it--we have a hatch of bettas here and SirKnight told me to keep back my best 10 males and I forget how many females and feed the rest to the larger fish but I'm sure he's shaking his head over the pics I recently posted. I've got 95 of them and I tried HONEST I did try to do what he said. I always value his opinion so much! But I couldn't. They were all so cute. They all danced in front of the glass. So I have to find them all homes.

[jeremyh81]

The tank donor actually told me to use 100% pure white vinegar, no dilution, to clean the tank, then rinse with tap. It worked very well, except I noticed hard water stains after I had put the crabs in it. Because land hermits are very sensitive to any chemicals in the humid air they breathe, I didn't worry with it.

Once I rinse again and fill with dechlorinated freshwater, the stains will eventually disappear (from what I've been told).

[angel]

Cool! Another great tip.

[jeremyh81]

BTW, thank you and Jon for the advice. I'll start posting most questions in the appropriate folder. I know how having multiple topics in a general post can make it hard for others to read up and learn from the discussions.

[angel]

Excellent. And you're right.
You're very welcome re: advice, and Jon's advice is always miles better than mine but always willing to share what I have learned from this group.

[angel]

Welcome back, bmalachi! So happy to see you've registered. You'll be a big help with the livebearers section. Did the door go back on that stand ok? Take pics of the tank on it!

[bmalachi]

i hope to get it back up and running buy saturday afternoon. Thanks for the great deal on the stand.
Jimmy