Help me out. My brain is tired after a long day.
I do 25% water changes on my tank every 1 or 1.5 weeks, depending on when I can get around to it. I’ve got an enormous tank, so it takes a lot of time.
Anyway – about once a year I’ve got to rinse the gravel b/c it gets all mucked up. It doesn’t look dirty at all, but anytime I stir it up the water becomes a dirty mess.
In the past I have had to spend about and hour cupping the gravel out. It’s such a horrible task…
Do you think that once all the water is cyphened out (keeping 75% in a few large buckets) that I could vacuum the gravel out w/the hose extension on my Dyson vacuum? It’s bag-less, so I could just dump it into the bucket then whisk it off to the bathtub for a rinse.
Would that work? Would it damage the vacuum? Anyone ever given this a try before?
If you think it’s a disaster waiting to happen…could you offer another idea?
Good idea, Dwarf…but I’ve already got one and there is so much gravel that it’s pointless. It’d take even longer than cupping it out + rinsing it.
Can you suggest another brand of vacuum maybe? Perhaps mine was a dud.
Posted in aquarium advice (Tags: bathtub, brain, buckets, dirty mess, disaster, dud, dwarf, dyson vacuum, gravel, tank, water changes) | 5 Comments
i have metal halides on my tank and i need a cover for my tank so my fish won’t jump out. what should i use? i need something that can with stand a lot of heat. and that light can penetrate through. any advice will be greatly appreciated
So I buy fish from a freshwater retailer, poke a couple holes in the bag with a needle, and set it in the water.
How long should I leave the bag in the water before it’s safe to let the fish out? A few of the fish I’m after are too delicate to go through hours of bucket dumping, and siphon dripping, so the bag/diffusion method seems the wisest choice. I’m assuming the time would depend on the salinity, I’m aiming to set the tank at 1.008, keep it at 81*. Salinity, hardness, pH, oxygen, all the other factors considered, how long should the fish sit in the bag before they’re released?
At this point, I’m just in the researching phase, any advice would be absolutely wonderful. Ideas, fish suggestions, tips, techniques… I haven’t had an aquarium in 4 years, so I’m a little rusty. I’ve only ever done freshwater, which seems considerably easier. I’ll be using sand as a substrate, intend on live plants, driftwood, and rock slabs. Outside of the brackish fish, what freshwater and marine fish can adjust to a brackish environment?
Don’t tell me about mollies, I already know. XD
Okay, I understand that ammonia among other things builds up inside the bag, but two cups of water in 150 gallons shouldn’t throw it out of whack. I never had a problem with that. Supposing I’m going to ignore that tidbit of advice for the time being (I’m starting with mollies, ghost shrimp, and, yes, guppies, so I highly doubt that little bit of ammonia would wipe them out. Especially when they spent the time IN the bag to make it that way). How long for the water to diffuse?
Posted in aquarium advice (Tags: ammonia, Aquarium, brackish fish, couple holes, diffusion method, driftwood, ghost shrimp, little bit, marine fish, oxygen, plants, rock slabs, salinity, substrate, tank, tidbit, xd) | 2 Comments
I have only had experience with freshwater fish. I have two 10g tanks and one 29g tank that I love. But I would absolutely love to try out a saltwater aquarium, fish only to start. I was planning on waiting to purchase a tank but then I saw a kit at WalMart for a 55g tank with a heater, flouresent lights, and an AquaTech filter. It seems a good price and I don’t want to miss the deal but I’m worried about purchasing it only to find out the filter wont work and the lights are wrong. I don’t want to rush into anything because I love fish and would hate to make a mistake but I also don’t want to miss out on such a good deal. Will this filter work with saltwater tanks and would I also need a protein skimmer and do I need special lights of will flourescent work? Any help would be appreciated.
I’m getting a betta fish but I will be going out of town for a week. I’ve done some research and vacation food blocks wont work because my tank doesn’t have a filtration system. I’ve heard that he can survive for up to two weeks but others say only four days. Will my betta be okay going 7 days without food?
My betta fish is gulping at the air, floating at the surface of the water, thrashes about when startled and wont eat. I found out on a healthy betta website that he is oxygen starved. I already have a well working pump, but he still isn’t getting enough oxygen, for some reason. I tried putting ice baggies in his tank and turning off lights, but this isn’t working. How do I treat him?
Since its such a big tank I’ll need some worthy equipment for it. Any particular filters, gravel vacs, air pumps/stones/wands you recommend. Should I get a kit that has everything to test the water conditions? What are some good plants I could add and what type of lighting will they need? Lastly what type of fish would you recommend?
I have a betta, cory cats, dwarf gouramis, and neon tetras at the moment. I figure I’ll definatly get some corydoras as a clean up crew. How many do you recommend? What about some otocinclus catfish?? If so, how many of those? I’m also interested in tiger barbs and bala sharks. What about Cichlids?? What about some frogs or snails? Types??
I WANNA KNOW EVERYTHING I CAN ADD! PUT YOURSELF IN MY POSITION AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU WOULD DO. I WANT ALLLLLLL THE DETAILS, PLEASE!!! THANKS!!!!!
Posted in aquarium advice (Tags: air pumps, bala sharks, clean up crew, cory cats, corydoras, frogs, gravel, lighting, neon tetras, otocinclus catfish, plants, snails, tank, tiger, tiger barbs, type of fish, water conditions) | 3 Comments
My betta fish, i’ve had for about 2 months. Recently, i put 2 small guppies in his tank because I read that thats a good type of fish to put them with and he keeps chasing them around and flaring up to them. Does this mean he wants to kill them? And if not, what does it mean?
Me and my cousin are getting a betta fish! And we want to put another fish in the same tank! Please! Help! Help! Help!
what would be some good aquatic ferns to plant my tank with, im looking for more feathery fern if there are any.
