Posts by Avery

I would say it depends on if you have a hood, open top, or have an actual wooden top that hides your lighting equipment.

If you don’t mind the look of more lights, I would go with multiple lighting fixtures to make sure you cover all of the spectrums for enough time (you can even have lights on various schedules so it's not super bright when they first turn on, and not jet black when they all turn off). Otherwise, you can get one lighting fixture but make sure it covers corals primarily if you have any, since lighting for the fish is a secondary aspect (only benefits the owner, outside of letting the fish have a day/night cycle).

100% - although we are still working on other content, I can go through what we have again first in order to add such documentation (more than likely in a Wikipedia reference style where we will indent with numbers, that will correlate to references at the bottom of each page/article).

This will take some time since I need to dig up the studies/reference we used prior, but I'll keep you posted once we have everything marked up that we currently have now. Additionally, we'll be adding photos to those articles and pages as well in order to decrease the blocks of text, and add insights that many would find helpful in being able to compare/contrast.

I think they are generically helpful, but do not share a species matrix as sub-species can be wildly different than a general species level (ex; there is some community-level aggression of African cichlids and then super aggressive African cichlids).

I can create a general one is you think that would be helpful?

I’ve seen that a few times, normally the snail will give up on the hermit crab shell or the hermit crab will change shells if it gets annoyed enough (make sure to have similar shells in the tank near it). Normally you don’t have to pull the snail off unless it's completely blocking the hermit crab from moving/entering/exiting it's own shell.

Due to how the light can shine into the tank and how it makes any corals or fish inside, do you use a single light fixture or multiple that has different light colorations? This can help make the tank look less overall blue (if you want specific corals to shine) but also allow for other species to still pop when they swim by or move around within the tank. This can include smaller lights such as those that can be hidden underneath the tank's trim, or lights that are even placed inside of the aquarium water under the substrate, between rocks, etc.

What are some of the alternative soil substrates that you have heard of for planted tanks? I know that commonly, organic gardening soil can be used along with root tabs, or you can purchase online other forms of planted tank soil that are known to keep its shape (and more importantly), make sure that you do not have to sift through the dirt to remove excess containments (wood pieces, extra fertilizers added for plants but not safe for aquarium usage).

Has anyone tried to use other methods or substrates for planted tanks that are very similar to soil (such as peat moss with some type of layers or so)?

As the thread states, do you use a single heater (or multiple that are just enough to get the right wattage per gallon of aquarium water), or do you use multiple that can (if a single one went out) keep the wattage well above the gallon requirement to make the water temperature correct?

What does the clean-up crew inside of your tank look like, and how effect are they in making sure that everything is kept in a good clean manner?

Whether it is upgrading your current tank or adding another tank, are you hoping to add a new tank in 2023? Tell us if you are thinking about another tank, and if not, let us know if that could possibly change with a free tank (that isn't broken) near you.

A lot of the time when you are adding the substrate to your new marine tank, you can think of using a specific brand or grain size and then once the tank is fully established, it might not look or be what you are looking for. Other times, you might need to change it in order to have the substrate act as a better buffer when it comes to water parameter issues. Although it might not be ideal, how often have you come across this issue with your own tanks, and do you end up actually changing the substrate around, or do you just add onto the current substrate with whatever you wanted that might be more ideal?

Since chillers can tend to be rather pricey depending on the unit and manufacture you are looking for, where do you find some of the better-used units that aren't just beaten apart or on their last leg for a good decent price? Do you tend to make sure that you go with an online store that might have a warranty in case it is defective, or do you tend to find those selling in the local area that you live in to pick it up from (and make sure that it's either working in person before buying it)?

I believe the filter outlet makes a pretty big difference, not just in terms of the water flow, but also in creating/eliminating dead spots within any aquarium tank shape. For example, the most common two outlet shapes that come with canister filters (and sometimes even come with internal filters or hang-on-the-back filters) are;

1. Spray bar - which is normally a long bar that has holes in the bar
2. Jet nozzle - this is the smaller outlet option that appears to be a wide nozzle.

A spray bar is ideal for more sensitive or slow-moving fish since it can move the fast flow through the whole tank in a line (or at the surface if you have it placed that way). Otherwise, using the jet nozzle tends to provide a faster flow that you can directly point to prevent any dead spots or create a fast flow for plants, or around decorations.

I tend to use the spray bar as the go-to on all my tanks (except for the turtle tank, which requires flow), although if I'm trying to remove a dead spot, I will use a jet nozzle on an internal filter.

I believe just like in freshwater, it really is those species that tend to just grow extremely large or tend to have very specific care requirements (whether that is a dietary requirement for example). I don't have an exact list, since it tends to vary more with saltwater tanks due to their huge difference in size (and many homes have custom acrylic aquariums, which can throw a curveball into the mix).

I'm sure others can chime in with a good list of species.

I think the best way to answer those is the following;

1) Make sure that the clam tends to spend as little time as possible in the air, and you place it relatively similar to how it was in the prior tank/setup.

2) I never have but I don’t see how a soft brushed toothbrush would do any damage (personally).

3) Slowly and gently wiggle/pull the clam, do not use force or grab it with crushing like grip/force.

Good luck!

End of year 50% off sale started on Tuesday, now's the time to get another tank for those of you who wanted a late Christmas gift!

This would work, although not to the super high standard that a dedicated protein skimmer works (since they mix water around a filter to get it out of the water itself vs. just the surface of the water). Just make sure that the protein skimmer attachment isn't able to be knocked down easily, and that it goes through the filter vs. just being sucked into the output directly (I've seen some filters do this).

To answer the question in your thread title, the reason why only saltwater fish can live in saltwater is due to them being able to process the salt through their organs/gills. There are some brackish, and very few freshwater fish that can live in saltwater (they have a special organ that can allow them to process saltwater), but other fish would slowly die due to them not being able to separate and process the salt in the water.

Since snails can pass randomly even when they are fully healthy (just due to old age), how often do you do a snail check to ensure that they have moved (and are alive)?

I personally will try to just check on them once a week or bi-weekly (with every species, to make sure that they are getting enough food, not stuck somewhere since I've had that happen before), but won't truly go on a search by moving things around if I don't see them for a full month or so.

As the title states, do you have multiple testing tools or kits available in case you get an extremely odd result when using a refractometer (or something similar that is digital in readout)? How often have you found yourself double-checking or having to reset some of the digital tools since they are starting to skew out too far with their results from what the values actually are?

I've done it a few times, but I would first use the biggest spray option or bit for your pressure washer to make sure you aren't throwing rocks around or any hard things that would end up scratching the heck out of the tank walls. I would also avoid any very specific bit that could damage the acrylic by causing hairline spots that bow or remove the acrylic (especially around the seams since those are chemically bonded).