Any Aquarium Owners?

[GrimLore]

Being that my brother is huge into saltwater tanks, they've both intrigued me and scared me away. They seem to be a lot of work, but it's also worth it at the same time, as can be seen in your pictures. Coral is incredible.


I returned the stand I had bought online, so I'm looking for something I can use to support this tank. That's my #1 concern right now. It's going to be on carpet, so I'll need a stand that isn't too skinny, and has some width to it. I've thought of just using cinder blocks, but was afraid they're too wobbly...

The females that drop eggs would require a male to fertilize them. Also, for an Aquarium stand on a carpeted area you might consider going anywhere that sells second hand furniture. With tape measure and size in hand find something with four sturdy legs and you will be happy with stability. Pet supply places have some real nice looking "garbage".

Grimmy

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Also, for an Aquarium stand on a carpeted area you might consider going anywhere that sells second hand furniture. With tape measure and size in hand find something with four sturdy legs and you will be happy with stability. Pet supply places have some real nice looking "garbage".

Grimmy

I've thought about that, but didn't want to risk the table falling apart due to the weight of the tank.

 

[GrimLore]

I've thought about that, but didn't want to risk the table falling apart due to the weight of the tank.

We have a few different STURDY stands from second hand shops. One is a very old maple end table that has wood wheels and holds a 20 high quite nicely. Also have an oak piece that appears to be a small buffet. That one handles 40 gallons easy. Honest their is some old well made stuff out there and it can be fun rooting around those places and then haggling a price

Grimmy

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I was actually up at Petco (went in to buy mealworms for my dragon), but glanced over and saw a few tanks w/ stands on sale. I picked up this 28 gallon, and I'm pretty satisfied with it.


Only problem is that I've noticed that it tends to lean forward on the carpet, not sure how to fix that...

 

[GrimLore]

Only problem is that I've noticed that it tends to lean forward on the carpet, not sure how to fix that...

On carpet I have used plastic bottle caps under the legs to get the setup level prior to filling(they disappear into the rug). There are also some very stiff chair glides that nail in if you do not need something thick.

Grimmy

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Well, this tank sprung a leak so I had to return it. Now I have no tank and no stand. I do have a filter and a heater, though.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I've kept fish over the years. Had a breeding colony of Kribensis that gave me 10 years or more of nice visuals and the occasional batch of fry to sell off. Fish take as much work as bonsai, I don't see it as much of a time saver. Sure, you can go into it thinking I'll keep it low key, maybe start a nice tank with a batch of Endler's live bearers or guppies. Next thing you know, you are now maintaining two strains to avoid inbreeding problems, suddenly you are developing new lines with different patterns, tails, colors, etc. And before you know it, you have 20 tanks and it take 2 hours a day to feed everything and do the partial water changes. Its an addiction, we are all frustrated urban farmers. We just have to grow stuff or raise livestock.

I am still thinking about starting a guppy tank, maybe I can keep it at just one....

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Here's my newest tank. It's a 10 gallon and I plan on having African Dwarf Frogs, probably about 4 or 5 of them, in the tank. I have only gotten the plants in it so far. I need to begin adding ammonia, as I picked that up today.

 

[GrimLore]

Here's my newest tank. It's a 10 gallon and I plan on having African Dwarf Frogs, probably about 4 or 5 of them, in the tank. I have only gotten the plants in it so far. I need to begin adding ammonia, as I picked that up today.

Nice lil setup, are those the frogs that make a lot of noise for tiny things?

Grimmy

 

[Paradox]

Only problem is that I've noticed that it tends to lean forward on the carpet, not sure how to fix that...

Ive used thin wood wedges shoved under the stand before you fill it with water that Ive bought in bundles Home Depot I think.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Nice lil setup, are those the frogs that make a lot of noise for tiny things?

Grimmy

Thanks! Yeah they can tend to be quite vocal at night. Oh well, I'm pretty excited to get them once I cycle my tank.

Ive used thin wood wedges shoved under the stand before you fill it with water that Ive bought in bundles Home Depot I think.

That was the old stand, but that's what I was considering. Some composite shims would've worked.

 

[GrimLore]

I used to have red scallops in a Salt setup. They were VERY active at night and used to bang around making a lot of noise. My solution was to cover the tank before I left for work and uncover it and light it all night. Just a thought if those frogs get on your nerves.

Grimmy

 

[Steve C]

I'm very big into fish/aquariums. I'm a freshwater Cichlid guy myself, mostly Peacocks and Hap's and Lake Malawi Mbuna. I currently have a number of tanks set up and running.

My main tanks are...
265g 7ft x 30" x 24" which I've been working on for the past year
55g Peacock cichlid tank
55g Mbuna cichlid tank

I also have a 29g, three 20gs and two 10g's

One thing I do is I build my own 3D backgrounds for my tanks using foam which I hand carve, then coat with drylok and fusion paints then seal with a two part epoxy. Here's some of my tanks with the 3D background I have made.

This is my 7ft 265g tank which I built into the wall in my basement office. The background in the tank as well as the entire wall it is mounted in is all hand carved foam that I have been working on for the past year now. You access the tank behind the wall via a hidden doorway I made in the wall. if you look to the left of the tank you can see a slight outline of the door in the wall.

My 55g Mbuna tank with hand carved background

This one is my 55g Peacock and Hap tank with another hand carved background I did to look like a cave. The openings are backlite with Cold Cathode light bars to look like sun light in the open water of a cave mouth.

Koi/goldfish tank

Those are my three main tanks. Live plants are great in tanks but can be a bit tricky to care for. If you want some live plants that don't take a lot of work then get some Java Fern and Anubias. That is what I have in the tank above and they dont require a ton of light, and do alright without CO2 injection. I simply add Florish Excel daily to provide them with iron and they do very well.

One of the most important things to do is to make sure you cycle the tank properly when you get it set up. It will take about 3-5 weeks to fully cycle properly but it is THE most important step to having a healthy aquarium. I suggest doing a fishless cycle myself. That can be found here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fishless_cycle.php

Also get yourself an API freshwater master test kit. You will need it for cycling the tank, plus it's handy to have so you can keep tabs on the basic health of your tank/water parameters.

When you get ready to buy fish I highly suggest that you find a local fish shop that is not one of the large chain store such as Petsmart or Petco. Look for a small private owned fish shop. Reason I say that is because the large store like Petsmart/Petco run all the tanks in their store off one central filtration unit and the tanks have baffles between them where the water flows through all the tanks. So if one fish gets sick or is ill then all the rest of the fish in the store are exposed to it because the water flows through all the tanks. A good local private shop will usually have a separate HOB filter on each tank, or a central air pump with sponge filters running to each tank. That way fish in one tank wont spread illness to the rest of the tanks in that store.

Aquariums are great, as you can tell I love them. Just make sure to cycle your tank properly first, buy fish from a reputable quality shop, and make sure to do water changes on a regular bases and you will have a happy and healthy tank to enjoy.

Steve

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Those are my three main tanks. Live plants are great in tanks but can be a bit tricky to care for. If you want some live plants that don't take a lot of work then get some Java Fern and Anubias. That is what I have in the tank above and they dont require a ton of light, and do alright without CO2 injection. I simply add Florish Excel daily to provide them with iron and they do very well.

One of the most important things to do is to make sure you cycle the tank properly when you get it set up. It will take about 3-5 weeks to fully cycle properly but it is THE most important step to having a healthy aquarium. I suggest doing a fishless cycle myself. That can be found here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fishless_cycle.php

Also get yourself an API freshwater master test kit. You will need it for cycling the tank, plus it's handy to have so you can keep tabs on the basic health of your tank/water parameters.

When you get ready to buy fish I highly suggest that you find a local fish shop that is not one of the large chain store such as Petsmart or Petco. Look for a small private owned fish shop. Reason I say that is because the large store like Petsmart/Petco run all the tanks in their store off one central filtration unit and the tanks have baffles between them where the water flows through all the tanks. So if one fish gets sick or is ill then all the rest of the fish in the store are exposed to it because the water flows through all the tanks. A good local private shop will usually have a separate HOB filter on each tank, or a central air pump with sponge filters running to each tank. That way fish in one tank wont spread illness to the rest of the tanks in that store.

Aquariums are great, as you can tell I love them. Just make sure to cycle your tank properly first, buy fish from a reputable quality shop, and make sure to do water changes on a regular bases and you will have a happy and healthy tank to enjoy.

Steve

Incredible tanks Steve! You really have some talent, especially with those backgrounds!


I am currently in the process of cycling my tank and have just finished adding ammonia to begin the fishless cycle. Right now there's a bacterial bloom occurring. I also do have the API test kit.


I'm curious about the flourish tabs though, can I use them even when a tank is cycling? I've got two Java Ferns and two Anubias Nana right now, as well as a couple of Crypts.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I used to have red scallops in a Salt setup. They were VERY active at night and used to bang around making a lot of noise. My solution was to cover the tank before I left for work and uncover it and light it all night. Just a thought if those frogs get on your nerves.

Grimmy

That's so strange to hear, I would have never pictured scallops making an obnoxious amount of noise

 

[Steve C]

Incredible tanks Steve! You really have some talent, especially with those backgrounds!


I am currently in the process of cycling my tank and have just finished adding ammonia to begin the fishless cycle. Right now there's a bacterial bloom occurring. I also do have the API test kit.


I'm curious about the flourish tabs though, can I use them even when a tank is cycling? I've got two Java Ferns and two Anubias Nana right now, as well as a couple of Crypts.

Excellent glad to hear you chose to fishless cycle The Flourish I use is the liquid bottle, I haven't used the tabs. The bacterial bloom is normal, that happens during cycling quite often, it'll usually go away before the end of the cycling process. Then you will most likely see another bloom not long after the tank has cycled. That one will be a brown colored algae, it's called diatoms and is completely normal as well in newly set up tanks so don't get worried when that happens. You can clean the diatoms off by hand when they happen, or get a bristol nose pleco and he will rid the tank of them.

Far as dosing flourish during cycling- I'm not sure what effect if any that would have on the cycling process or the readings for water parameters so I would probably suggest waiting till it has fully cycled to start dosing the plants. I will will say to keep a close eye on the plants though because Ammonia in large amounts can be toxic to plants so just make sure that they don't start showing signs of damage while the tank is cycling with the added ammonia.

Steve

 

[GrimLore]

That's so strange to hear, I would have never pictured scallops making an obnoxious amount of noise

They zip around at a very fast speed kicking up the bottom and sifting it from what I could see. I am guessing because they are shelled they do not care about bouncing off the glass hundreds of times a night... It took me several nights to figure out the noise because I was flipping on the lights in that room to try to figure it out.

Grimmy

 

[GrimLore]

I will will say to keep a close eye on the plants though because Ammonia in large amounts can be toxic to plants so just make sure that they don't start showing signs of damage while the tank is cycling with the added ammonia.

Steve

Weights and Balances can be achieved but as in Bonsai do not take shortcuts

Grimmy

 

[GrimLore]

I'm very big into fish/aquariums.Aquariums are great, as you can tell I love them.
Steve

Very nice displays and work, it has been awhile since I have worked with Lake Malawi and Tanganyika cichlids but they are not beginner fish by any means. I was breeding Psuedos that were baby blue males and peach females from birth when they were selling for an easy 80 USD each. It took me 2 years to figure it out and have ANY alive. They were "extreme" aggressive back in the first Import days.

Grimmy

 

[Steve C]

Very nice displays and work, it has been awhile since I have worked with Lake Malawi and Tanganyika cichlids but they are not beginner fish by any means. I was breeding Psuedos that were baby blue males and peach females from birth when they were selling for an easy 80 USD each. It took me 2 years to figure it out and have ANY alive. They were "extreme" aggressive back in the first Import days.

Grimmy

Yeah there are some guys that are EXTREMELY into those. The real die hard Troph guys will pay top dollar for good quality colonies of them.

I try not to get too deep into the breeding side of fish keeping, but I've had some breeding lately. I currently have about 35 Mbamba Bay fry, 20 Yellow labs about 1.5" that are growing out, as well as another yellow lab and an OB holding right now. I never planned on breeding but I just hate to see the little guys get eaten if left in the tank on their own.