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PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:39 pm 
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Darkside wrote:
Please use caution when changing water. You need to make sure you've used a dechlorinator/conditioner to remove chlorine from city water supplies. Some city water uses chloramine which will release ammonia as the chlorine evaporates are is removed with a binding agent in the conditioner.
Chlorine will kill fish quickly.
You will want to try your best to match temperature too. I usually leave two 5 gallon jugs out to get to room temp. I keep the tank at 76, so I'll add about 2.5 gallons at a time and let the heater do its thing. This is more of a winter problem though. I'm averaging 20% water changes a week.
I use a gravel siphon and dump water into a 5 gallon jug so I know I'm removing precisely 10 gallons and adding 10 gallons, with some fudge factor for evaporation.
There is no reason you couldn't change higher percentage of water, in fact if you're not properly cycled (nitrogen cycle) you may have to. The old school of thought was that you're harming the colonies of beneficial nitrifying bacteria but we know now that there is very little of this bacteria in the water column and largely in the filter with smaller percentages on the surfaces in the aquarium. The most problematic part of large water changes is maintaining stable parameters, temp and ph, gh being the most likely parameters to shift too quickly.
I keep my ph buffered with crushed coral in mesh bags in my canister filter. It's almost always right at 7.8 no matter what I do. Coral is quite fascinating.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:40 pm 
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Drunk Squirrel wrote:
You can do more if you want.. guys with large fish will do as much as 80% at a time. There is math involved that shows why you want to do this but these guys will also do 3 a week. When I had my ome tank set up it was 350 gallo s of water upstairs hooked up to a 120 gallon sump in basement. I actually consistently added water to the sump and every day would shut pumps off for a seconds that would than siphon the sump down to about 25 gallons of water. I’m trying to remember if it filled fast enough to auto siphon or not. This system worked great for when I was setting tank up,and it was mainly smaller fish as nitrates stayed extremely low.

On the other hand, when i switched to the planted discus tank it was a harder as the plants were a higher light requiring variety to deal high tank temps and had to be dosed with minerals. It was a pain in my ass even if at peak tank it was beautiful. After a couple years of that and a 3 year old killing all my fish I switched it up to a South American cichlids tank that just needed more water flow than this system provided so I changed to a canister system.. still not enough and I’m going to tear it down and go back to original in a community setting vs a specialized.

This guy knows what hes talking about...

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:40 pm 
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Frank Coztansa wrote:
Darkside wrote:
Please use caution when changing water. You need to make sure you've used a dechlorinator/conditioner to remove chlorine from city water supplies. Some city water uses chloramine which will release ammonia as the chlorine evaporates are is removed with a binding agent in the conditioner.
Chlorine will kill fish quickly.
You will want to try your best to match temperature too. I usually leave two 5 gallon jugs out to get to room temp. I keep the tank at 76, so I'll add about 2.5 gallons at a time and let the heater do its thing. This is more of a winter problem though. I'm averaging 20% water changes a week.
I use a gravel siphon and dump water into a 5 gallon jug so I know I'm removing precisely 10 gallons and adding 10 gallons, with some fudge factor for evaporation.
There is no reason you couldn't change higher percentage of water, in fact if you're not properly cycled (nitrogen cycle) you may have to. The old school of thought was that you're harming the colonies of beneficial nitrifying bacteria but we know now that there is very little of this bacteria in the water column and largely in the filter with smaller percentages on the surfaces in the aquarium. The most problematic part of large water changes is maintaining stable parameters, temp and ph, gh being the most likely parameters to shift too quickly.
I keep my ph buffered with crushed coral in mesh bags in my canister filter. It's almost always right at 7.8 no matter what I do. Coral is quite fascinating.

Image

:lol:
It's kinda like that.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:41 pm 
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my dad has a 180 gallon one, freshwater. mostly smallish cichlids, used to have a few oscars. as long as you clean it once a week and change at least 15%ish of the water each cleaning your fish should be fine. messed around with live plants for a bit and those were annoying


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:43 pm 
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billypootons wrote:
my dad has a 180 gallon one, freshwater. mostly smallish cichlids, used to have a few oscars. as long as you clean it once a week and change at least 15%ish of the water each cleaning your fish should be fine. messed around with live plants for a bit and those were annoying

Yeah. Plants require as much if not more care than the fish do sometimes. That's a common complaint. They're pretty though. I love a nice planted tank. My anubias need plant tabs. The mosses and ferns get nutrients from the leaves. Their roots are for anchoring.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:47 pm 
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Now a cool tank I did once was a 40 gallon with some random tetras and java moss.. with limited water changes and diffused light the tetras (Buenos Aires I think) breed repeatedly and the tank filled with the damn stuff.. pretty sure I got ride of my crap I’m that tank by throwing away moss than siphoning. Not a pretty tank but kind of a fun experiment.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:39 pm 
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Updated tank shot.
Https://imgur.com/a/3tg2jSX

For whatever reason I can't embed the image. It just shows up as "can't define image size"
Works if you click it.

The wife added some angelfish.

I just cleaned the filter Sunday. Took about an hour and I broke the impeller shaft. Fortunately, I had thought ahead and had a motor maintenance kit on hand. Saved the lives of all our friends.

The Java moss is going bonkers. I cut off a baseball sized amount every week now. I added some stem plants. Egeria densa. It mostly died off adjusting to the water parameters but now the new stems are growing nicely. Finally. It was a battle. So if anyone wants a shitload of free Java moss, it's yours.

Although it's technically overstocked the plants are just downing nitrogenike crazy. 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and less than 20 ppm nitrate, almost undetectable nitrate as of my chemistry tests tonight.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:03 pm 
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Looks good.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:12 pm 
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Darkside wrote:
Updated tank shot.
Https://imgur.com/a/3tg2jSX

For whatever reason I can't embed the image. It just shows up as "can't define image size"
Works if you click it.

The wife added some angelfish.

I just cleaned the filter Sunday. Took about an hour and I broke the impeller shaft. Fortunately, I had thought ahead and had a motor maintenance kit on hand. Saved the lives of all our friends.

The Java moss is going bonkers. I cut off a baseball sized amount every week now. I added some stem plants. Egeria densa. It mostly died off adjusting to the water parameters but now the new stems are growing nicely. Finally. It was a battle. So if anyone wants a shitload of free Java moss, it's yours.

Although it's technically overstocked the plants are just downing nitrogenike crazy. 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and less than 20 ppm nitrate, almost undetectable nitrate as of my chemistry tests tonight.


Still have to finish the tear down. I think if I knew what I wanted to do I'd have done it but its been easy to put off. I do now at least have the supplies set up though so I got that going for me. Re plumbing down to the basement will be a joy.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:14 pm 
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Do you have a ship wreck, diver, or buried treasure?


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:16 pm 
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An aquarium that large absent a spongebob seems inappropriate.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:17 pm 
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Spaulding wrote:
Do you have a ship wreck, diver, or buried treasure?

We used to have weird shit in the tank. Slowly went with a more natural approach. All the plants are alive. They're either growing on rock or real wood.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:17 pm 
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Nice job. Impressive.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:22 pm 
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Now that I'm a semi retired empty nester with just the occasional dog and an outdoor alley cat of four years, this sounds intriguing.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:22 pm 
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Spaulding wrote:
Nice job. Impressive.

Thanks!

We sometime just sit in a dark room and listen to music and watch the little dudes swim around.

Tomorrow they get a cucumber slice. Big day!

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:22 pm 
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Regular Reader wrote:
Now that I'm a semi retired empty nester with just the occasional dog and an outdoor alley cat of four years, this sounds intriguing.

I'll help.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:24 pm 
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Darkside wrote:
Regular Reader wrote:
Now that I'm a semi retired empty nester with just the occasional dog and an outdoor alley cat of four years, this sounds intriguing.

I'll help.

Thanks brother, I'll let you know.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:26 pm 
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Darkside wrote:

We sometime just sit in a dark room and listen to music and watch the little dudes swim around.

Tomorrow they get a cucumber slice. Big day!


Fish eat cucumber?


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:31 pm 
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Didn't you rail on the Shedd Aquarium for keeping fish captive?

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:35 pm 
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Regular Reader wrote:
Darkside wrote:
Regular Reader wrote:
Now that I'm a semi retired empty nester with just the occasional dog and an outdoor alley cat of four years, this sounds intriguing.

I'll help.

Thanks brother, I'll let you know.

Two big tips...

Setting up a biological filter is hard or easy. Easy if someone gives you used filter media (seeded media). If you want to set up an aquarium and you give me a couple weeks notice I can put some media in my filter to get beneficial bacteria in it. In fact I have some filter floss I was looking to replace in the next 6 months. If you put that into a new filter you would have an instant "cycled" tank.

I've got so much Java moss that you can have 20 30 bucks worth for free each month.

I feel like a 55 gallon freshwater setup done "right" would be about...
$200 for the tank
$100 for the stand
$250 for the filter
$200 for the light
$40 for an air pump
$100 for a heater
$60 for sand or gravel.

I can get you started with plant cuttings if you want real plants which I'd recommend. I can get you started with water test kits too. Then it's about deciding on driftwood or rocks. Once you're all set there it's about what kind of fish you want to look at.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:36 pm 
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Spaulding wrote:
Darkside wrote:

We sometime just sit in a dark room and listen to music and watch the little dudes swim around.

Tomorrow they get a cucumber slice. Big day!


Fish eat cucumber?

Yes. The bristlenose LOVES it. The others nibble on it.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:36 pm 
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Crystal Lake Hoffy wrote:
Didn't you rail on the Shedd Aquarium for keeping fish captive?

Doesn't sounding me. But I'm known to say weird shit when I'm drunk.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:40 pm 
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My two favorite setups were for brackish water fish and red bellied piranhas.

The piranhas were pretty low maintenance; though, the coolness factor wears off fast. When they got bigger, they would run a goldfish against the aquarium wall to knock it out. I'd freak out thinking someone was breaking into the damned house.

Brackish fish are pretty hard because you have to keep a consistent level of salt and fresh water. The archer fish are fun because they spit water out of the top of the tank. I kept puffer and archers and always thought they were pretty easy to deal with.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:42 pm 
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Wow. You found puffers easy? That's a tough guy to keep happy.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:44 pm 
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Darkside wrote:
Spaulding wrote:
Nice job. Impressive.

Thanks!

We sometime just sit in a dark room and listen to music and watch the little dudes swim around.

Tomorrow they get a cucumber slice. Big day!

I 1000% can totally see this and I am jealous.

That is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!


8) 8) 8)

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:46 pm 
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I liked red bellies. I was and am half tempted to go that way again but they do get boring. They also are striking fish as they get older. I tried a brackish tank once when I lived in Montana but it was near impossible to get fish in. Puffer’s are cool but it’s hard to keep their teeth worn down. I thought the South American ones were cool as hell but their beaks grow like crazy.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:47 pm 
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Darkside wrote:
Wow. You found puffers easy? That's a tough guy to keep happy.


Its been a while but they were hard to find. I got them from Grand Aquarium back in the day when they were still in business. I don't even know where you can find a good pet store anymore that would sell exotic fish. Scott's Pet Shop maybe.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:48 pm 
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I am just really appreciative of the fact that people get as stoned as I do apparently.

Sans aquarium.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:48 pm 
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Drunk Squirrel wrote:
I liked red bellies. I was and am half tempted to go that way again but they do get boring. They also are striking fish as they get older. I tried a brackish tank once when I lived in Montana but it was near impossible to get fish in. Puffer’s are cool but it’s hard to keep their teeth worn down. I thought the South American ones were cool as hell but their beaks grow like crazy.

Most successful puffer owners I know have ponds that provide a supply of snails.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:50 pm 
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Hawg Ass wrote:
I am just really appreciative of the fact that people get as stoned as I do apparently.

Sans aquarium.


Getting stoned was more fun 2 years ago.

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