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jvision

Edmonton Moderator
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Posts posted by jvision

  1. I use a hose. Siphon into houseplants, then outside or down the drain in winter. Hook the hose up to the tap, dose tank w enough Prime for the ENTIRE TANK VOLUME, and fill it up.

    Been doing 50% WCs like this for 20 years or so and have had almost no issues. If you're not using Prime, don't do a huge WC after a bit plant trim of filter cleaning; there is often a bit of ammonia released when dechlorinating tap water. The Seachem product keeps the ammonia as a non-harmful form until it can be used by bacteria or plants.

  2. Diatoms are common in new setups and will disappear once the system matures. Ottocinclus cats love them, pulling the tank apart all the time is a sure way to having diatoms around longer. Have some patients and the brown will go away and you'll start to see some green get established

  3. If you decide to kill them with "no planaria" be ready for a bunch of WCs, their corpses will start to decompose and could cause an ammonia spike. The slow way to reduce their number is to reduce the amount of food added - their population grows to the amount of food available.

  4. If they're fertilized, you can take them anytime. If this is her first time spawning you may want to leave then with her to help her learn how to brood them. There's a higher chance of a new mom swallowing the eggs, but if you always strip the eggs she'll never learn. But, if your goal is production of fish and profit, then that might be what you need to do.

  5. Probably. If you look up infusoria - a common first food for small fry - you'll see that the most common way to culture then is to put leaves in a jar of water. Those tiny critters are exactly what hydra eat.

    Your best bet would be to create competition for the hydra - small fish that will nibble at the infusoria and maybe pick at the hydra (small gouramis are known hydra predators). The hydra will eventually starve out. Lots of WCs will help, but that'll also remove what you have the almond leaves in there for.

  6. Seems a bit drastic for hydra. You nuked your beneficial bacteria. Hydra are pretty easy to control by starving and\or predation.

    I've been playing in tanks for a long time and have made loads of mistakes. I just try to share what I've learned along the way. But this is what I know to be true about the hobby:

     

    Have fish, have fun!

     

  7. You can use RO water augmented with some tap to keep the pH low. AB tap water is buffered pretty well, so the almond leaves may not be altering the pH a whole lot - might just be realising lots of tannins to change the color of the water. If you're doing 20-50% WCs weekly you should need fine using tap water.

    BTW, with high Cl content sure to spring runoff, you'll want to use enough dechlorination to treat the full tank volume, or go 2-3x the normal dose.

  8. On 3/17/2022 at 8:24 PM, maligne said:

    Also can you get live foods like micro worms for the LFS?

    This site used to be THE PLACE to get small live foods as it seems hobbyists are the main source. There are a few online fish stores that sell microworms and such, and I only know if 1 or 2 LFS in Edmonton that regularly have them in. I'm not sure what LFS have in Calgary, best to call around or check a local FB group - did the Calgary Fish Club have a forum?

  9. Find out what your killis s spawn in - if it's peat, just have a shallow container available (like cream cheese or sour cream) so you can take it out to harvest the eggs - I had a few that I'd rotate through when I kept peat-spawners 20yrs ago. If they're mop spawner or eg scattering, I like using nylon or polyester yarn as it won't break down - get a darker color so it's easy to see the eggs.

    Bushy plants like hornwort and is nice, and floating plants like water lettuce and Salvinia sp. are good as well.

  10. I use Play Sand a lot for substrate. Make sure to get some Malaysia Trumpet Snails to keep it stirred. If you don't like sand a silica blasting sand like Sil 8 is a good size and natural color.

    Horwort is a good plant that will absorb calcium from the water and nice for fish to hide in. Water Lettuce and Salvinia are good floating plants as their roots are thick and they're easier to control than tiny duckweed.

  11. I found the same when I was looking to build a custom sump - glass prices seemed goofy. For utility tanks, I go to Architecture Clearing House just off Kingsway and buy used glass.

    There's a guy named Mike Wilson on one of the FB forums that seems decent, but his quote for glass was higher than I wanted to pay at the time.

  12. Welcome!

    This forum is trying to revive, but there's a good decades worth of reading! 

    I saw a 48" cube for sale in Edmonton... I'm tempted! I think my wife would say the same as yours.

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