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I agree, I think that they are pretty cool looking and when done right, can really make a tank look super cool. The only downfall is that many of the GloFish tanks that are sold as a kit tend to be WAY smaller than what is required for the fish that are being sold.
Their original reason for becoming a thing (to have researchers be able to tell if the water is safe, not toxic, and could be drinkable when boiled) was genius.
I honestly haven’t done much to this tank. Currently it’s growing good plant wise, and the snails have a massive population. I might start trying to sell these snails since maybe people charge an arm and a leg compared to giving them out for pennies on the dollar.
It’s actually pretty easy, here are some of the steps. The biggest thing is to make sure that you get the bleach out of the Purgien otherwise if you add it back it will kill all of your fish.
Some highly good beginner plants that take in low light (and need really nothing) include; Java fern, Java Moss, Anacharis, Water Wisteria, Anubias, Marino Moss Balls, Hornwort, and lastly Guppy Grass.
African Dwarf Frogs are slightly blind (they mostly go by the smell in the water and their hose and also by the feeling they get from the water movement around them. A lot of times it’s just recommend to either have them in their own tank (as they take their time eating), or to try and feed them at night since the other fish should be sleeping and it will give them a better advantage when it comes to finding the food first.
Dependent on what that area that you picked the tank up from, it could be hard water stains (mostly an obvious sign of it disappears when it’s wet or filled with water but appears as it drys out).
To get rid of those, I’d just recommend using vinegar and a rough rag (some people even highly recommend using those magic erasers). I would personally avoid using any harsh chemicals since it tends to be harder to get those out of the aquarium when it dries or washing them out since some may slightly soak into the silicone.
I’ve had some in WAY worse shape due to the hard water where I live, but after an hour of rubbing it all out it should come off with ease.
Sadly, no news yet. The issue isn’t having to do with the app itself, but more of the extension on the forum side (it’s just not up to date as it should be from their end). I’ve created a few different support tickets, but they keep saying that they are looking into it and are planning on having a resolution pushed out shortly.
We’re actually working on some of them now. Sadly, with the time it takes to write them to be detailed enough to be helpful, it can appear as if none are being written.
So far we have a good amount up on freshwater, then will come some saltwater (helpful articles, how to, common diseases), and then back to freshwater to to over common species (and then back and forth in this type of method). Stay tuned though, we have a lot coming soon!
That looks just like Brown Diatoms which is common for a ton of reasons. Try reading this article and it should guide you on the fix and resolution on it.
It really boils down to a lot of various publications (and studies) done that contradict each other, only show half of the test, or have very inconclusive results. Many who discredit heat say that it only kills it at a given stage, or increase its lifecycle so fast until it cannot reproduce (or be visible enough to the eye that it still is there).
I’ve personally used the heat only method a good chunk of times, but that is with fish that can handle it (many cannot, therefore you must use medicine to treat) or they have tanks that cannot survive that heat (think planted tanks, for example where heat will kill the plants).
Many people also simply just don’t know what source to trust, since even other professional websites with lots of data and details regarding various infections note that heat cannot cure it and must be mixed in with salt or additional medicine). That’s why we offer all methods here, with heat being a primary method to be recommended due to personal and other people noting that it works.
Either way, use whatever method that you are most comfortable with whether that be heat only, medicine, heat with medicine, or any other variation.
The yellow color is more than likely from something called “tannins”. This is leached out by the driftwood in the tank, and can also leach out from soil if used in the tank as well. It does not mean that the driftwood is toxic at, it’s just a common thing and why the water near boggy areas is always dark black/yellow (due to all of the wood leaching out tannins like this).
A common way that people get rid of this from the start is to do big water changes, and then boil the driftwood for 10-15mins. That makes a vast majority of the tannins release right away compared to slowly over time. If you don’t want to boil it (or it’s too big to boil, not a good shape to) you can always add in a bag of Seachem Purgien to your tank and it will absorb all of the tannins until it needs to be recharged (bleached, and then rinsed with a ton of water).
Maybe people may recommend doing water changes, but this will resolve the current color (it will come back again in a few days).
I’m not too sure that there is a good guide you can read that will help you. Most people try to follow the 2/3 ruling where you have 3/4 of the visual elements on one side, then a gap, and then another 1/4 on the last side.
Other times it really just comes down to what you think is visually pleasing (which is an opinion, so that’s why people find art either good or bad). I just would follow what you think looks good, or if you want to try to become better at it, watch some aquascape competitions and see how they set it up and what they did specifically. A lot of time it’s all about the flow where the fish aren’t there or are there just as a color aspect.
I tend to find a majority of sumps that are on the market already pre-made super expensive. It doesn’t take too much time or effort in order to build one from scratch.
If you have built one from the start, would you mine sharing some photos and steps so others could see how it’s done?
As far as fish are concerned, then yes clown fish tend to be the most forgiving when it comes to water parameters while also being a low cost option in case you do mess up once or twice (hopefully not though with our help)!
I've mostly stuck with name brands when it comes to substrate for saltwater tanks (never really looked too deeply into which one to specifically use), along with making sure to use some live rock in order to provide the beneficial bacteria (although I always keep a lookout at night for any of the brittle worm since they are a pain in the butt for sure).
Saltwater tanks require the most precise lighting based on what you plan to have in your tank. For example, having corals require a specific wavelength of lighting for a certain amount of time to allow for the corals to be able to look their greatest, and to be able to consume the light and use it as energy. In our to create a more natural environment of lighting for your saltwater tanks and the life that you keep inside of it, which one do you use and why?
Looks cool! How much did you say that you spent on the tank and all of the equipment? Do you have a plan once the turtle gets bigger on a new setup?
In total, I probably spent about $370 for everything that you see. I never really thought about pricing everything out since I mostly bought it all on sale from various different stores (including some local only stores for items that most big chains do not carry). I can always do this, but I don't think you can look to buy all of this at once (it took me a good month overall for everything to line up price wise where it made sense for me to do it).
Once the turtle gets bigger, it will honestly probably move into it's final home of a 150/200 gallon tank (and not the tall models but the wider ones). I'll obviously have to redo the basking platform (will end up adding more driftwood to it to make it more stable and taller/wider), and will more than likely add in another turtle just to keep the one company. Ideally, this won't happen for another 3-4 years, at which point this tank will probably become just a standard one (or possibly a saltwater tank).
I think it really depends in your area, since there are some pros and cons to highlight - along with the key aspect that same laws in some areas d prevent anyone from collecting any type of rain water for any usage (so check your local laws to verify if you can do this).
Pros:
1) It's free water that you know won't have chlorine or any hard water deposits.
2) You can store it pretty easily without having to worry too much about needing to add any types of chemicals to balance things out with.
3) It would be the same water that is in your region, specifically in lakes/ponds around you - which is ideal for outside tanks or ponds.
Cons:
1) Acid rain/water - if you live in a heavily polluted area, you water actually is pretty acidic and can be harmful (even to even slowly burn paint off of a car over time).
2) Having a way to collect it without allowing for bugs and algae to form over time.
In that photo I would probably lift the decoration and push the fish out from the front to back. If you still are unable to, try to get a hammer or something hard to break the decoration without damaging the fish directly.
I mostly recommend that unless the fish is exactly half way through (then pushing from the back makes better sense overall).
The is very common on all pieces of driftwood when they are first added into an aquarium. It’s more common on those that have some sap still on the wood since the added sugar creates this appearance (but even thicker).
It’s perfectly healthy and normal, and many fish and invertebrates will actually love this as a food source and keep it in check. After about 2-3 weeks of this appearing it will disappear on its own as the wood has leeched out all of the extra nutrients that allows for this to grow.
If it’s something that you can’t stand to see, I’d just recommend to use a rag and wipe the wood down and then put it back into the water.
