What are you doing to your tank today?

Nothing.

My water test kit is empty.
Didn't do WC for a week and half now.

My tap water is toxic to fish atm. Still no answer from water supplier - due to covid 19 they are not answering phone, just emails .(After 30% WC week and half ago, fish started to kind of die after about 2 hours - red gills, lethargic, few minnows floating upside down, few upside down on the bottom, betta lying on the side on the bottom. Anyway I saved all of them by transferring all of them in 9l jarrarium, they looked better within few hours spent there with 2 drops of Esha 2000. Did 100% WC change on tank, added purigen, bio chem zorb and big slab of activated carbon in tank together with 5 x dose of prime and left if for 3 days before I transferred fish back from jar, first day most of plants melted but kind of recovering now).
Don't see any more Cyclops in the tank, so i guess they all died.
Cycle didn't die (hope so), I had last test 2 days after transferring fish back to tank and readings were OK (could be because of Purigen and Bio chem, but anyway I'm daily dosing Stability)

Anyway fishes look happy atm and that is main thing. All plants look like they are recovering except Limnophila - I did cut most of it, roots look healthy enough so hopefully just need more time.

Now waiting on new tank and substrate so will redo the whole thing hopefully by end of next week and water will go back to normal.

That's it, my daily rant xD
 

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I’m doing water changes on at least two tanks today—my 50g, 40g, and maybe the QT as well. Was anyone going to tell me that Nerite snails can dirty a filter sponge faster than goldfish and Bristlenose plecos, or was I just supposed to find that out myself? (Don’t get me wrong, I love them and they’re amazing algae eaters, but the area under the driftwood where they spend most of their time is without fail the filthiest part of the tank.)
Also, I’m finding places to get the rest of the equipment and plants for my new 40g. That was so much more fun before I looked at the total cost.
 

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Ended up taking the sword out of the 5 and putting it back in the 55. The roots went all over the tank....arranged my new plants and this is it!
 
Changed some water and did a rescape with my plants. My male Nannacara has become the tank King for sure.
 
What did you guys do today for the fishys?
 

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Helped a family member get her poor little betta out of an unfiltered and I heated 1 gal into a 3 gallon filtered/heated tank I bought her... made me feel so happy.
Added a few more inches of water to a betta fry tank I’m slowly filling as the fry grow.
Made plans for some new aquariums.... basically it.

tomorrow is water change day on my guppy tank’s though...not my fave, but it must be done.
 

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Helped a family member get her poor little betta out of an unfiltered and I heated 1 gal into a 3 gallon filtered/heated tank I bought her... made me feel so happy.
Added a few more inches of water to a betta fry tank I’m slowly filling as the fry grow.
Made plans for some new aquariums.... basically it.

tomorrow is water change day on my guppy tank’s though...not my fave, but it must be done.
Yeah I siphoned 35 gallons total today haha I'm glad I got that hand pump
 
WC today at some point if I can get the bf on board to help me with the buckets - 3 12s over the weekend and my back took a beating! Excited to set up my new Finnex HLC 24/7 light to help us up our plant game. Will be ordering some Niloc to replace the flourish we were using. Also need to find a good place to order some shrimp today, it’s time for a clean up crew. Any online reputable sites??
 
Hey but it’s shaping up to be a beautiful pot of water lol
 

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I'm prepping a 15 gallon plastic tote as a qt tank today. I've got coconut shells and bottom is covered in fake grass for 4 Keyholes I've got coming this week (hopefully, ordered this weekend, haven't gotten any info yet).

Should I give the inside of this tote a vinegar water wash before I start putting water / heaters / filter in? I bought it last week specifically for this, so it hasn't been used.
 
It rains every time I have a day off so here I am again lol. Ended up doing a 50% WC and massive gravel vac- largest we have done since starting the tank. Cleaned plant leaves a little bit that brown algae is a PITA. The new light and filter combo is working great the 24/7 feature will hopefully help me to not leave the lights on too long/intense.
Rigged an air line “enclosure” for our ailing frogbit- hoping now with better lights and keeping them away from the filter current will help.
And ordered three Nerite snails and some RCS online, oh my!

Ignore the haziness, just finished messing with the tank. image.jpg
 
Should I give the inside of this tote a vinegar water wash before I start putting water / heaters / filter in? I bought it last week specifically for this, so it hasn't been used.

It’s a good idea! You never know what goes on in those factories and storage facilities lol I worked at a grocery store in high school and knowing what we did off the clock (racing lobsters on the deli counter or coconut bowling etc - we were young and stupid) I’d wash it out well!
 
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Did WC’s on the three small tanks I have yesterday and it looks like the snails in my betta tank like the green center of the algae wafers I put in for my otto cat
 

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Watching my first visible tangerine baby! For scale- those white specks are frozen baby brine shrimp that landed on tne branch!
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Back ~20 days ago I shared that my rack just about burnt down due to a faulty power supply. I finally received a replacement that runs (up to) twice the amperage. I set it up originally with dual supplies of equal size for white LEDs, and specific growth color bars separately, I let the grow lights come on earlier and shut off later than the white to give a twilight effect. My grow lights are back up finally I've been running white only on a longer schedule and haven't lost any plants but the fish have been stressing a little bit.

Here's the new beast. It even has a fan for those curious about the technicals, old supplies were 12v10 amp. My whites draw 8.4 amp and my grow spectrum draw 5. The new supply can provide 20 amps. Next week I'm bringing another tank online and may also be needing to vent the rack once I put doors on so the overhead is nice.
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And as usual, here's a fresh fry pic.
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Don't judge on the higher than my usual shade of green, this one's the closest to the window and I've been letting nature help a bit this month with the light issues
 
Back ~20 days ago I shared that my rack just about burnt down due to a faulty power supply. I finally received a replacement that runs twice the amperage. I set it up originally with dual supplies of request size for white LEDs, and specific growth color bars separately. My grow lights are back up finally I've been running white only on a longer schedule and haven't lost any plants but the fish have been stressing a little bit.

Here's the new beast. It even has a fan
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And as usual, here's a fresh fry pic.
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Don't judge on the higher than my usual shade of green, this one's the closest to the window and I've been letting nature help a bit this month with the light issues
I added two more 12 in swords and pulled a 20 gal. water exchange. Changed filter media finally got rid of one stock cartridge...1 more left in a month or so and I can get rid of it as well! Also added some more sponge and phosphate remover.
 

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Today we will try feeding Nibbles crab for the first time. I got a box of crabs that have been chopped in half and am thawing them right now.
We shall see if this leads to another "That's not a shrimp!" tantrum. I suspect that it will not as we have moved to whole uncleaned shrimp that he doesn't like as much (gut loaded, got to get your vitamins).

Nibbles has gotten lazy to the point where he will just wait for us to pick up shrimp he drops and hold them in front of his face. Lazy lazy fish.

We also need to go buy some crayfish traps and fishing licenses.
 
Today I did literally nothing for my tanks. My fish are getting a 2 day fasting.
 

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Well Nibbles loves crab. He actually followed the chunk down the the bottom of the tank once after dropping it rather than waiting for us to pick it up for him. It is great to find a new level of crunch for his teeth until he can crush cockles and clams.
Crab has also changed his poop. It used to be shrimp goes in one end and what look like cooked shrimp jelly beans come out the other. Now it is crab goes in one end and limestone gravel comes out the other end.

For clean up I was going to get a 32" metal litter scoop but at the Asian grocery noticed a deep fryer scoop that will do an even better job (and no need to wait until the end of time for Amazon to ship it). So the Scuds now get their food more conveniently. Circle of life, circle of life.
 
I began to tear down my 33 long. Trying to go down to just 2 tanks. Catching shrimp and fish all day.

33 long before
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Side shot of the 33 long half way tore apart
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I'm pondering whether I should do the waterchange a day early. Mostly because I got nothing else to do right now.
 
I have a lot going on this week, but today was lowkey. All I did was receive a Landen hang-on thermometer for the high tech planted tank I'll be setting up soon, and connected my diy inflow heater housing (with heater) to my canister filter and tank. I tested it and sealed it well, but cross your fingers for me that it doesn't leak! (Good thing I'll be home all day to keep a close eye on it.)
 
I'm pondering whether I should do the waterchange a day early. Mostly because I got nothing else to do right now.

Decided for today, so usual schedule.
 
Making weirs. Actually, 2 weirs for later use, and 2 corner matten-style filter holders for this week's project.

Last time I cut up a bucket and did the whole painting shenanigan. This time, I found a number 5 PP (polypropylene) thick walled trash can in the right color. Much like Mr. Ford era 1909, I'll make any color weir, as long as it's black.

Here's the victim:20200505_104031.jpg20200505_104304.jpg
Edit:
One done.
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This will be an electric pumped corner sponge all in one. There will be a rain bar with venturi on the right. The heater and pump will be neatly hidden behind the corner sponge. I moved the knockout 5 inches up from the floor of the tank so I can use a drifted/dunes style sand as substrate.
Once the silicone sets, I will be blacking out the back panel.
 
My Keyholes are out for delivery. I've got the QT tank set up and ready to go, but I may just drop these fish into the main tank straight away (I've got 20 lemon tetras in there now that I got a few weeks ago), and try to pick up my kuhli loaches this weekend up in Boulder for the QT tank. Water quality wise, these cichlids have been traveling to Colorado from Ohio for going on day number 5. I'd rather get them into the more established tank, skipping the qt on them as that I've been watching the tetras for a few weeks now and all 20 are looking great, hungry, active, and already trained to use the feeding ring.
 

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Did 50% water change on guppy tank
50% on betta fry tank as well

Putting my other 3 water changes off until tomorrow (because I’m a little bit lazy)
 
Question:
Should I do a makeover this weekend? If so, what would you do?

Rule#1: I have no money for additional decoration, plants, or fish. So it will have to be done with what I have. I only have 1/4 bag of sand, leaflitter collected in fall and some cattappa leaves left that I could add additionally to what's in there right now.

Rule#2: I'm not going for a typical planted tank look.
 
Doing the Racheal Oleary scrap challenge and building a second row of 10g's on my shrimp bar. Useing only items in garage and around house other than items i needed to be able to install the auto water change and top offs. This way all my tanks in same area and lower my maintenace for the summer and the future.
 
Testing my saltwater 10 g as it continues to cycle. Did a WC on my 20g fresh & flipped the mopani log upside down to see if the fish like the taller cover.
 
Finally... Done.

Did a semi-redo today. Got all driftwood and rocks out, moved the substrate mostly to the right side and replanted some of the Vallisneria.

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I had a situation with my adhesives. I forgot when you do polypropylene with silicone you need to perforate it and let the adhesive "stitch it". Learned that repairing plastic cars. That said, Thursday mt new matten holder failed. I fixed it and by the end of today it will have water and sand dang-it.

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This is the hole pattern I use to silicone the un-silicone-able:
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Did it all friday on my main tank 3hrs i went outside and took half hour break having a cuppa, top filter was sorted, then the submerged cage filters, then the glass was cleaned and 2 ornaments but left the others so there's always good algae, then vacuumed and everything moved and finally topped it up.
Then yesterday did my new 5 gallon hexagon tank as it's cycling, so i removed two cages and soaked them in my tank water and swapped them over with my submerged caged filters, so now i've got to carry good bacteria and a new one in the middle and added some crushed bug bites to help more.
 

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Success. I should be able to build the correct light bar out some time this week.
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I've stopped having notifications all together
Yeah, sometimes I stop getting notifications for a lot of threads because I get a million notifications and then I just lose track of which ones I've looked at and I forget to look at the latest notifications.
 
For the past few months I've just been trimming the tops of my plants when I trim, leading to the bases of most of my plants to be a tangled mess of cut off shoots that stopped growing, leaves dying from being too shaded and all that. So today I will be pulling up every individual stem plant, trimming and cleaning up the bases and replanting. I have well over 150 stem plants in my 55. Just woke up, doing some stretches and downing lots of coffee before I dive into this tedious task. I'm guessing it'll be 3 hours minimum. I'll post a pic later.
 
So there's actually some story to me rushing that 29, and it not being either a viquarium, or partitioned for breeding. I have a good friend whose is moving with his family to the literal opposite end of the country and didn't think his fish would make it. I set that 29 up as a stand alone for a 3 month QT to bring his fish in as he had some various issues the last year with his stock. If they clear I will be integrating into the tank with some of my community fish to give my frat tanks more space.

Here's what I ended up with, mostly plants salvaged from his break down, a couple Cardinals, a fancy guppy, 2 Otto's and a clown.

Wish them luck.
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Excuse the haze, I just squeezed some sponges into it too start a seed.
 

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So this is what i did yesterday. I had a 20 long in one room on the floor and decided to move its content to a 40 B in another room. This is the 20 long just before tear down:

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And this is the 40B as of this morning - note that the lights aren't on yet so not the best picture:

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As far as i know everyone made it ok. Should probably double check ammonia next few days to make sure cycle carried over.
--
One thing I will say is that the 20 long had moonlight (which is fine sand) and people say plants won't grow in fine sand but the crypt and sword plants had massive root structure in that sand - esp the crypt. The crypt is rather large had more roots below the gravel than leaves above.
 

Random Great Topic!

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