Tropical Fish News

Hey guys this is just frustrating. When I first started my planted tank I bought a Water Wisteria, well after about 3 weeks the base started melting and then eventually the stem broke.

Now 7 months later I decided to try another stem plant Ludwigia ovalis. 3 weeks in and I am noticing that it is doing the same thing, breaking at the base.

I really just don't understand why everything else is doing good and this appears to be whithering away.

Ok im leaving in 1 week to go on vacation for 10 days, i have no one to tank sit and i fixed up my auto top off to take care of the water but im wondering about feeding while im gone, i feed frozen every other day, occasionlly i throw a few flakes in once a month and they eat them just fine so do i just set up a auto feeder with flake food for the time im gone??? if so whats a good feeder for this? or any great suggestions welcome. and do i leave my regular light cycle on for the corals?

Kevin

Ok, some background. My wife has a 20 long in her kindergarten class with a few hardy fish in it. I believe we've got two albino cories, one albino algae eater, one zebra danio and five white clouds. I know the stocking is odd, we have a few stragglers left from previously larger schools.

Anywho, she moved into a new school last year and we were unable to keep the tank running over the summer. This meant we had to set up a small tank at home to keep the fish in and drain the tank at school. This meant we had a very short period to get the tank going, so it was a cold start basically, very little cycling.

I have an over-powered HOB filter for the tank, plus a small internal filter to help out on the end of the tank furthest from the HOB. The internal filter was part of the summer tank, so it was already well seeded with bacteria. I also put clippings from a few live plants in the tank to help with the cycling.

Basically, my wife knows nothing about fish keeping, and I'm very rarely able to get over and take care of it myself.

So, she tells me last week that her water is cloudy, and I tell her it's likely a bacterial bloom. Now she says the water is green, and I tell her it's likely an algae bloom caused by the extra nitrates that caused the bacteria bloom which is a fairly common part of cycling a tank, especially one done so quickly/poorly.

I advised a few water changes, turning the light off and simply waiting for it to get better. Anyone else have any easy tricks I could pass along? Any fine and dandy products that might help out?

I just had the best idea ever! What about a 3-way tank? No... not that kind of 3-way... shame on you. A aquarium diveded into 3 sections 1) Freshwater 2) Brakish and then 3rd) Reef? With a eaqually complicated sump

Hi everyone,

Half playing, half totally serious - I have the opportunity for a big tank installation next year, having owned various smallish (180g) tropical tanks etc over the last ten years or so. We could go big marine, or huge tropical, but as these things are not impulse purchases, I want to explore all options :)

Anyway, as past avid fishermen, my father and I have a huge love for the Trout, and it has long been a dream to create a tank required to house them.

Now, I'm well aware that for many reasons, not least environment and fairness to the fish, the first basic must is a very large tank.

My thinking is a 4m long, 2.5m high, 2m deep custom made acrylic tank with multiple pump outlets (say 3-4) set about a third of the way up one end. Not sure how many gallons that is without doing the numbers, but it would be a lot...

This would be set partly outside, with the back and one end against a garden wall, one end exposed and one side inside.

So the size is as big as a tank really ever could be in a residential scenario, and the fish would be ensured a well placed source of streamy moving water, and the temperature should be easy to control.

We live in the UK, where many species of trout live happily. Therefore my thinking is that with as little insulation as possible, and keeping direct sun off the water via a roof - only minimal chilling/heating would be required to keep a very consistent stable perfect temperature for the fish which live just fine come rain or shine all around us.

I can't keep waffling on - but that is the outline and hopefully the most important main two elements; size and temp as good as they can be.

Bottom line is - with the above, would it actually be possible? Is that still too small? Would mixing species of trout in a tank of that size lead to problems?

I wouldnt want this to be an exercise in cruelty, and the hope is that with an outfit such as this, the right mix of a small number of fish, fed properly (ie not with beef mince) could flourish and enjoy their lives in such an environment - so I come here looking for any and all advice!

Many Thanks

Harley

Good morning all,
I set up my new nanocube system and it seems to be doing reasonably well. The only problem I see is that the lighting is putting a lot of heat into the water in spite of the fans in the cover. I was considering getting some stainless steel tubing and making a heat exchanger so I could get it down to room temperature at least. Anyone know of a good source? Anyone have a broken chiller they want to get rid of?

Hi,

Two Eheim 2217 enough for a 55g heavy planted tank?
One Eheim 2217 enough for a 30g heavy planted tank?

Hi,

Two Eheim 2217 enough for a 55g heavy planted tank?
One Eheim 2217 enough for a 30g heavy planted tank?

Hi all,
I'm new here so please bear with me. I have done a search but have had no luck. My problem is the suction cups on my heater keep letting go. I would like to put it behind some live rock and let that hold it in place. Is there a heater out there that will let me do this. By the way I have a 55 gal.
Thanks

My daughter pointed out some things she found on a rock in our tank this morning, and I need help with its identification. For the record, my tank was born 7/31/10, but I restarted the cycle by adding formerly live rock approx. 2 weeks ago. Here is what she found:


It looks like coral growing to me, which would have me puzzled. There are 3 or 4 of these growing in a hole in a large rock I have. The hole is approx. 4 inches across if I had to guess. The rocks I added were formerly live, although I am unsure how long they have been dried. I had 1 piece of true live rock that I added and had live sand as well.

So detectives... what is growing on my rock???

I had my tank running since last october an for the past year I could not keep fish, only 1 or 2 would survive. All my water paramaters are good except my Nitrate. On Monday I tested my Nitrate and it was 50ppm, pretty high I guess for a planted tank. So my question is what is the reccomened level for Nitrates for the planted tank? And how do I lower them?

-Jerome

Couldn't find an introduction Area so I thought I would post it here. I've had aquariums and fish tanks before but usually became too busy to work with them. However this is not a problem this time around.

Right now I have a 10 gallon tank with a tray of plants and 2 fish. I recently found a 55 gallon tank in the trash. I checked it for leaked and cleaned it up. I then built a cabinet for it and secured the cabinet to the wall in the basement. Yes, I am a basement dweller.

I'm all ready to go and have been shopping for filters and heaters ane looking into gravel and grow medium. That's when I saw the Petco sale and now thinking about getting a second. 55 bucks is AWESOME! It ends in my area 9-18-2010.

Anyway my two fish are in good condition. 1 is a Goyder River Rainbow Fish from Petco. $8.95. She's about 9 months old. Her recent tank mate, a solid black vailed Angel passed away last week with some kind of infection malachite green couldn't handle. It only effected her and it was a painful 2 weeks. She was also 10 months old.

Last week after cleaning the tank and change the water I picked up a new fish that Scott's, a local shop with website held for me. This little beauty is called a Dennison Barb. It's striking at 1 inch. Only 10 bucks. I've had it for about a week now and everything is going well.

Hopefully by the end of next week I will have the new 55 gallon tank cycling. And in another week plants in. The fish are okay in the 10 gallon and I look forward to seeing them thrive in the large tank.

Picture 1 is a Dennison Barb
Picture 2 is a Goyder Rainbow

See ya soon....

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I’d like to get a little input on aquascaping. I recently moved this tank and everything got rearranged. What “rules” do you guys follow? Things like “don’t place the big rock in the center”. “Split the tank into thirds”, I’m looking for the principles I guess.

I’m also looking for some stocking recommendations, both plants and fish. Fish right now include a couple rainbowfish, a couple cories, and 3 kuhli loaches. I know I’ll probably end up with a couple of cory schools of 8 or so. Otherwise I’m undecided. As for the plants I know there is Java moss and fern, C. wendtii, and the Anubius.

75g – 4’x1.5’
4x 40w T8’s
No CO2
A 10 year old mixture of Fluorite, Laterite, and Estes gravel for substrate.

Before the move –


Now –

what would be the down side to running 6.5 wpg?
I use co2 and dose regularly....

would algae be uncontrollable?

Hey guys! Awesome time in Hawaii, thought I'd share some pics:

Hanuama Bay


Kissing Humuhumunukunukuapua'a




Japanese fishermen shrine

Tropical Itch

I am starting my first marine tank and I've been inspired by some of the other posts of people doing similar projects. I will catalog my experiences here.

I'm still in the planning phase so any input anyone can offer will be much appreciated.

Here's what I have so far:

90 gallon display tank with megaflow overflows:

if you look closely you can see the reflection of my shadow (Gustav the french bulldog)

and a 30g former LFS tank that I got for 20$ bucks that I am planning on turning into my sump:


It has a two inch diameter hole in the upper left hand corner that I am trying to figure out the best way to plug. Bulkhead? glass patch?

and I just ordered a Reef Octopus 6 NWB-150 skimmer:

http://www.marinedepot.com/Reef_Octo...1-FIPS-vi.html

the tower is 22" tall and I have 25" of space so I think it's going to a pretty tight fit. Keeping my finger crossed.

I am planning on doing 100lbs of LR plus live sand. I also considered doing 75lbs of marco rock and 25 pounds of some primo LR. We'll see

Does anybody know what would be the best lighting for a FOWLR with maybe an anemone? I'm not interested in keeping corals at this point and I want to use as little power as possible.

thanks!

Basically i've been given the go to build a fish tank/bar.
basically it does have a couple of conditions.....
it needs to be able to be moved, because the only area it can go is where the current bar is, but it maybe once a year needs to be swung out to allow a trailer through..
so is there a way to have a tank + stand that can be moved either half full or empty easily?
basically just try to get some idea's, no idea on stock or anything yet, trying to get the base idea down, then size, then stock that will go well with it :)
thanks for any help possible.

P.S. Bigger the better, thanks.

I purchased this carpet anenomie like 2 days ago and he isn't looking so good. His mouth was pretty big at the fish store, but nothing was coming out like it is now. In my tank he is a little deflaited, still has good colore, and reacts if you touch him. Still sticky, but also looks like he might be going down hill.

Water perm. are good, and I should have enough light. Two 175W MH and two CF acintic bulbs that are 48". 90G tank, 80-81 degrees, salinity at about 1.023. Please take a look at the pictures and see if it looks like its getting used to the tank, or getting ready to kill everything in the tank.

Also, I tried feeding him today and he didn't eat the krill.

Thanks.

Hey guys,

I'm building a new tank in the next couple months, and I wanted to go bare bottom.

I'm trying to find some articles comparing the pros and cons, but am having trouble. Everything I've found so far is forum topics, usually just people bashing one or the other because it isn't what they keep.

If you can link me some good info on BB tanks, the do's and don'ts, the pros and cons ... or just the general chemistry ... that would be great.

Thanks

Hi,

Can vallisneria and java fern grow well without co2? Or is it a necessity?

thanks