Posts by Avery

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).

Have you tried to grow any of the grasses out there, inside of your tanks, and did you have good luck in getting it to take off and grow?

I know that many may believe that seagrass, manatee grass, turtle grass, or eelgrass are macro-algae (and grow for this purpose), but they are actually some of the few species of plants that survive within saltwater. I remember when I was first learning about these grass types and trying to grow them, without realizing that they have some decent requirements dependent on which species you plan to have.

Out of all of them that you have found, either that are within your own tank, or others, what is the craziest critter that you have seen, and what made it so crazy? Yes, this also does include those random hitchhikers that seem to sneak in over time that may not be discovered right away.

Looks like they still have some Cyber Monday deals going on (won't be tracked here), I'll be curious if they keep them going the full week or end it after tonight once the website refreshes.

What is the schedule that you have set for the lights on your tanks?

For me, I have mine to slowly come on around 6:30 AM (right when everyone gets up so the living room lights don’t scare them with shadows) and then turn off fully around 6:30PM slowly (have them set where one out of the two light fixtures turns off and than 30mins later the other does to mimic the sun going down - similar to how I have it set when they first come on).

Almost pulled the trigger on the 120-gallon can't kit set for the turtle tank - but I had to take some measurements since I’d need to rebuild the dry dock I have (as it's far too short length-wise), and I also need to see how big the turtle will grow shell wise since it has multiple braces at the top (which I’d try to avoid so the turtle can have the full surface to use as a dry dock or swim around).

I did pick up some extra canister filter media, and some discounted fish food.