Posts by Avery

    Many people have had luck in just dropping them into the tank and watching to make sure that they do not rot. Others have had luck treating them as a seed and putting them into the fridge, before putting them into the tank and trying to bury them in the substrate to act as if they were above water in a sense.

    I don't think this is accurate, African Dwarf Frogs can only live inside freshwater. Any traces of salt can clog the ducts/glands inside of their arms, which would cause them to dry out and die.

    There are other species of frogs that can swim within saltwater/brackish water when they are younger, and move into freshwater for breeding reasons or as an adult.

    I don't think that it can be a replacement for a heater since they function completely differently. For example, a chiller/cooler actually cools the water down in case it gets too hot for specific species (think mostly of saltwater tanks). A cooler, in theory, cannot heat the water at all since many don't have that function unless you buy a combo unit that does (which isn't normally used unless you need to process a lot of water through the same system).

    I don't think that it can be a replacement for a heater since they function completely differently. For example, a chiller/cooler actually cools the water down in case it gets too hot for specific species (think mostly of saltwater tanks). A cooler, in theory, cannot heat the water at all since many don't have that function unless you buy a combo unit that does (which isn't normally used unless you need to process a lot of water through the same system).

    There are TONS of different brands and types of aquarium substrates that are ideal for planted tanks. Many include substrate that is naturally inert, but has been sourced with a bunch of various nutrients to make it similar to soil, but in a gravel like format that can be recharged via dosing or root tabs. Other substrates can be just pool filter sand if dosing, or actual organic plant soil that has been sifted through to remove wood, etc. that are within those bags.

    It really depends on the specific bags you may have locally, or the size of the grain (some are sand but are inert with nutrients, others are gravel sized, some are pebble like sized, and then you have the outliers).

    There are tons of different types of substrates, but many break down into the following categories;

    1) Gravel

    2) Sand

    3) Barebottom (so no substrate in a tank)

    4) Pebbles/River rocks

    It really depends on what species you have, since many do require very specific types of substrate such as sand, or mixed substrate such as sand with river rocks for example.

    All air pumps work pretty much the same - they have a small pump that sucks in the air that is around the pump, and pushes it into the aquarium (or tubing). The only difference is that there is a battery instead of the actually pump being plugged in, which can be idle if the power goes out or there isn’t any extra plugs for the air pump to be plugged into.

    I just recently put in some convict cichlids with my turtle, since they are more aware especially at night when other fish just tend to stay in the same spot and don’t really move until it’s too late.

    The biggest thing is probably just to make sure that the cichlids have similar water requirements as the turtle, and that your tank can honestly handle cichlids due to their size or speed (and ability to jump dependent on species).

    I would avoid having more than one turtle in the same tank, unless you have a pond that is of bigger portions so that if a turtle is getting harassed by another, it can actually swim away (vs. swimming in the same tank and being chased endlessly).

    As far as the difference between male and female, do you know the exact species you are talking about? They have different visual cues to note if they are male vs. female.

    We actually cover this pretty common question in our getting started article; https://aquariu.ms/article/2-fres…rs-thermometers

    Below is the specific section that answers your question regarding any low power mode (there isn't one, at least that I have found in testing over >15 of these on the market for present ones).

    Quote

    Having an adjustable heater is something that is highly recommended since you can maintain the temperature throughout the whole aquarium by moving the switch from one degree to another. This is since many preset heaters, or always on heaters do not turn off when they reach a specific temperature (unlike adjustable ones) and you can cook your inhabitants to death. Since there are many different manufacturers, we suggest that you read the product's back packaging to know the specific watts you need for your aquarium size.

    Ultimately, this tank is just an extremely weird height and size, and even for a Dwarf Gourami as and snail tank, it just gets way too dirty too fast that requires a ton of maintenance to clean (ex; draining a vast majority of the tank to reach down). I've decided to move on, and start breaking this tank down. Driftwood will be saved and migrated into the turtle tank once I get a bigger tank size (I've already put a piece into here to secure the basking dock more), snails will be fully moved into the turtle tank once I sift through the sand, plants will be moved into the turtle tank another tank I'm going to setup soon, and everything else will be sold (tank, sand, lights, filter, etc.).

    For everyone else, it's a good tank, just really hard to keep up (especially by a window), and it's size really limits you to very specific set of fish (unless you go marine and make this a reef tank, although you'll need to buy a new DIY based hood and lighting system).

    For all of you shrimp keepers, have you seen the recent line of shrimp dedicated tanks that many retailers are trying to sell recently? For your given shrimp species only tanks, do you tend to use dedicated tanks like these which are internal filters hidden away being a grate, specific substrate for planted tanks and shrimp to move around, or have a powerhead output for the filter to make sure that it doesn't directly point somewhere static that cannot be moved?

    I've found a bunch of them seem like a really nice deal because they are in a weird starter kit format but missing a few pieces of core equipment like a heater, substrate, or other aspects. Although their size is on the smaller side (ex; <19 gallons), their size is ideal for a perfect planted shrimp tank that can really highlight the shrimp and plants, while providing the needed lighting and layout for doing a lovely aqua scape.