Aquarium Hobby

semaphore said:
Guess it depends on the person, people I know don't do them, or if they do its like once a year. Friend of mine has a 1500l system, heavily stocked with rays and such.

This is my watchman keeping a lookout for the pistol shrimp

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That's where it is important, now vs. established. We have a Big tank in the office. Fresh water, no pump, no filter and just a light. This tank getting back in the office after the December break, had a massive algae bloom, in this case we used a cheap pump flowing over river sand for two days and no light. All cleared very well.
But, with a planted tank like mine, water tests and balance are the key. Like me, I've got a few brown snails that has hitched a ride on the Hornwort, Introduced two Assassin Snails to deal with the problem, instead of just killing them. Balance is key.

On your system with salt water, not sure I've got enough patience for that, but kudos to you.
 
Binary_Bark said:
That's where it is important, now vs. established. We have a Big tank in the office. Fresh water, no pump, no filter and just a light. This tank getting back in the office after the December break, had a massive algae bloom, in this case we used a cheap pump flowing over river sand for two days and no light. All cleared very well.
But, with a planted tank like mine, water tests and balance are the key. Like me, I've got a few brown snails that has hitched a ride on the Hornwort, Introduced two Assassin Snails to deal with the problem, instead of just killing them. Balance is key.

On your system with salt water, not sure I've got enough patience for that, but kudos to you.
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I find that chasing numbers always leads you down a rabbit hole. My nutrients bottomed out in my tank, so I started dosing nitrates. Cyano appeared, but I kept dosing nitrates to restore balance. As the cyano vanished, the system came into equilibrium. I test maybe once every three weeks. The only thing I test weekly is KH. My anemones like the water a bit dirty, and so far my acropora is happy.

Thankfully I was able to seed my system with a rock from my old tank, however seen tiny aptasia every now and then so will add some peppermint shrimp at some point. I have a giant pyramid snail that keeps my rocks clean and lots of red banded. They decided to spawn so have tons of babies all on the glass, which, now i can't clean as the class has turned into a pod and snail nursery.

Honestly i find salt water easier than freshwater, I've been wanting to started a planted tank. Might do it this year sometime.

My old tank:


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Lost a fair amount of the fish, fox face seen in the front is still with me , the clowns i moved over. But lost my lion fish, my gem tang, puffers, triggers copper band... why i have no idea. No diseases or anything. Most of those fish i had since babies and got them big, the fox face now is a massive fat thing and i get very anxious trying to catch her, she is gonna nail me with her spines i can just feel it.
 
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semaphore said:
Of course there is, many do it.

edit: Ignoring freshwater top up.
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Well sure of course you can just ignore it.

In the same way you could not change the water in your dog/cat/bird’s bowl and they would probably be fine but is it the right thing to do?

Or more specifically let your kids bath in the same water all year round?

It’s just an unnecessarily cruelty.
 
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PCWARITM said:
KH is the big one to keep in whack. At one point I was micro dosing calcium carbonate or soda ash just to keep that buffer up. Makes a huge difference. I found it harder and harder to get the stuff at a reasonable price. When I started, our local chemist stocked it and it was dirt cheap.
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I made my own two part, cost peanuts.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Well sure of course you can just ignore it.

In the same way you could not change the water in your dog/cat/bird’s bowl and they would probably be fine but is it the right thing to do?

Or more specifically let your kids bath in the same water all year round?

It’s just an unnecessarily cruelty.
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That’s complete rubbish. lol.

With proper filtration, proper macro and micro nutrient dosing people have done it for years, just topping up the evaporation. The entire point of all that expensive equipment is to keep the water clear. I do water changes, but purely because it’s easier to replenish the multitude of trace elements my acropora need. But with that said I have an algae scrubber that runs 24/7 for phosphate and nitrate reduction, I auto dose vinegar for carbon dosing, of which the by products feed the corals. My skimmer is oversized so I’m pulling fill cups of think dark skimmate every few days, I also employ an ozone unit which runs everyday for one hour iniecting 120mg to break down other organics, water smells fresh and is crystal clear.

So please, just because you “think” you’re right, doesn’t mean you are. There are professional marine biologists doing it on a daily basis, they know far more than you about this.
 
semaphore said:
That’s complete rubbish. lol.

With proper filtration, proper macro and micro nutrient dosing people have done it for years, just topping up the evaporation. The entire point of all that expensive equipment is to keep the water clear. I do water changes, but purely because it’s easier to replenish the multitude of trace elements my acropora need. But with that said I have an algae scrubber that runs 24/7 for phosphate and nitrate reduction, I auto dose vinegar for carbon dosing, of which the by products feed the corals. My skimmer is oversized so I’m pulling fill cups of think dark skimmate every few days, I also employ an ozone unit which runs everyday for one hour iniecting 120mg to break down other organics, water smells fresh and is crystal clear.

So please, just because you “think” you’re right, doesn’t mean you are. There are professional marine biologists doing it on a daily basis, they know far more than you about this.
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I’ll remind you that the original conversation involved no filtration whatsoever.

Starts being a whole different conversation when there are filters and pumps involved, but even then some water changes every once in a while does make life easier.
 
My four Kuhli loaches are an absolute joy to watch. They’re very active, like mini eel torpedoes around the tank.

Since they’re nocturnal, I switch on the red lights late at night, and that’s when the real show begins. They go through the substrate, go under the driftwood, pop out on the other side, then dart straight up to the surface. Swim along the glass, disappear under the wood again, reappear at the plant roots, and keep digging searching for food.
They are most definitely one of my favourites
 
The penguin tetra is a bit weird, they do not swim straight, more at a 20° angle. But just introduced, see how they do once full acclimated .

 
And the two Odessa barbs that has grown a bit since introduced, they are still young.
Really cool thing about them is they'll eat out of my hand, or finger, very inquisitive and not fearful of anything.

 
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RedViking said:
Looking good!
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Getting there, going to get more plants tomorrow to reduce the alliance on the hornwort.
Have you considered getting a tank?
It's only been fun, getting the set-up, getting the water just right. Then sitting and watching the fish, it's calming and peaceful.
 
Binary_Bark said:
Getting there, going to get more plants tomorrow to reduce the alliance on the hornwort.
Have you considered getting a tank?
It's only been fun, getting the set-up, getting the water just right. Then sitting and watching the fish, it's calming and peaceful.
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Goodness no, have zero space for anything. Too much stuff in the house already.
 
Used to have fish tanks as a kid and then got gifted this free tank 2 years back:
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The above tank was my dream growing up - but it's a pain to maintain and it messes up your eyes with all the angles. It's now a dedicated shrimp breeding tank.

After oodles of money spent in school fees on learning about planted aquariums, I finally have this which is going to get rescaped as soon as I build up enough store credit from selling shrimp to the aquarium shop.

Don't even ask what this cost - it's 🤯

Apex 60P but 45CM high:
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Some of the gear:
Chihiros Vivid 3 Light
Chihiros 4 pump auto doser (full ADA Ferts + Seachem Flourish Excel)
Chihiros inline 1000W heater
Chihiros Cooling fan
Strideways CO2 Regulator
Inkbird Temperature Controller
Pre filter sponge filter, Dophin Canister Filter - just being used to hold bio media
Sunsun Amphibious 3500L/H pump
A few ESP32's for a scale, back light and TDS meter
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Mandatory Home Assistant Dashboard:
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Most of the livestock is out in prep for the rescape but currently there's:
4 x Siamese Algae Eaters
6 x Otosinclus
2 x Hillstream Loaches
15 or so Amano Shrimp
 
After adding the driftwood yesterday, I've seen quite the difference in the behaviour of the fish, more confident and started to create micro territories. Different pieces started to loosely school together.
The slight tea colour water is because of the tannins from the driftwood seeping in the water. Things are starting to look better and a jump up in the ecological system.

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Binary_Bark said:
After adding the driftwood yesterday, I've seen quite the difference in the behaviour of the fish, more confident and started to create micro territories. Different pieces started to loosely school together.
The slight tea colour water is because of the tannins from the driftwood seeping in the water. Things are starting to look better and a jump up in the ecological system.

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Not sure if you've seen/heard of Purigen by Seachem?
It's expensive but it'll remove the tannin's and make your water crystal clear... most insane looking aquascapes have purigen inside.
 
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