hkbialik

I think I'm going to need a splash guard regardless. I bought this used and didn't realize that when they're new, they come with a splash guard. Even if I switch back to the old filter. I guess I just need a sheet of plexiglass or something. I also think I'm going to try the naturally planted tank/Walstad method. I may not need a filter at all, in the end, especially with bettas who aren't bothered by low oxygen. I've read mixed information on using no filter, but we'll see what happens.

It came with an incandescent bulb and I replaced it with a daylight florescent bulb, which, as I said, exploded and died. Now I figure if I replace it, it will just happen again. Unless I switch back to my other filter. The plants had been growing extremely well with new growth visible one day to the next, so maybe I should just go back to the other filter.

Yes, that's the one.

Some glues are safe, some aren't. I actually used the guide stickied on this forum to choose the glue.

Why shouldn't a planted tank have a lid? I'm a bit paranoid about jumpers and I also have three cats. I had also considered simply getting a desk lamp with a daylight bulb, but then I'd want glass or maybe a screen? The hood looks like this: This is my tank:

I need a lid/lighting solution for a planted 5.5 gal aquarium. Preferably something fast, so my plants don't die off in the meantime. I have a 5.5 gallon that's planted, and up until now I've been using a hood with a regular screw-in light fixture. I had a bulb for plants in there, until this morning when I turned the light on, it sizzled, sparked, and the light went kaput. I look under there, and the whole area was wet. I'm guessing this is because I switched from a Whisper internal filter to a sponge filter, and it sends up a lot of little water droplets. I switched filters because I divided the tank into three sections and the other filter didn't fit properly anymore. So... I could get a new bulb and switch back to the old filter, but I'd rather not. It might get wet again for some other reason. Obviously, it's poorly-designed (I paid $10 for this whole setup, so I guess my expectations weren't high). What is a better lighting/lid solution for a tank like this? Could I just get a sheet of acrylic and place it under the light? Where would I get that?

I took Aquatic Ecology in school and remember learning that the fish in cold lakes up north grow bigger, are healthier, and live longer. They also took much, much longer to reach their full size than fish in warmer waters. I was reading about betta breeders in Thailand today and thought of this topic. The discussion about the bettas was how the imported fish tend to only be ~3 months old and are fully mature, whereas in North America, it usually takes twice that long to reach full size. Breeders are always trying to get their fish to grow faster, of course, because then they can be sold faster. It was also noted that 2-3 years for a Thai import was a good, long life, whereas locally spawned fish would live 5-6 years on average, and some even living 10 years. Shipping and acclimation stress are obvious contributors. I've recently imported some bettas. Some seem to be doing fine, whereas a couple of them seemed stressed for the first month they were here no matter how good their water was, although they all finally seemed to acclimate and do well eventually,

I live in Lethbridge, so if anyone else lives in Lethbridge and is going up, I'd be willing to carpool and go halvsies on gas.

I just threw this together. It's plastic craft paper, two yogurt lids, and some zip ties. The bottom is glued on and the top is just resting. Easy!

So, I recently have learned that people use acrylic yarn for breeding mops and it had never occurred to me before to use yarn in any sort of aquarium application. Now that I think out it, though, it seems it would work well as a biomedia. It's very fibrous and so has a large surface area. If you knit or crochet, you can make a solid piece or "cartridge" in whatever shape or size you want. I'm a knitter and I have boatloads of yarn. People like to give me bags of yarn that they don't want anymore. Since most cheap yarn is acrylic (and I usually like to use nicer yarn for knitting) I have a surplus or acrylic yarn. I have even thought that I could knit fake plants and other aquarium decorations. Not very natural looking, but something the kids would like for sure, and if it houses bacteria, then all the better!

I've been looking at those and wondering if you really need to use those brand name media. Any small item that moved freely would work, would it not? Like plastic straws cut into little rings, or... anything, really.

I have just learned about building plywood fish tanks, which is really cool. Aside from making giant tanks on the cheap, it also opens up the potential for really unique pieces. One thing I wonder is if you can take an existing piece of furniture and waterproof it. For example, a small china cabinet? I haven't found any posts on someone modifying any existing wooden furniture. It seems fairly simple to me, as long as it all ends up being strong enough to hold the weight (as they obviously weren't built with that in mind). Is there anything I may not be considering?

What's a jar show? Just bring stuff in a jar to show?

I've got the bug again. When I was a teenager, I had several tanks and betta bowls. My pride was my 60 gal community tank, fully planted, with loads of cool fish. When I moved away from home, I stopped keeping fish. Now it's a decade later and last week my 6-year-old daughter said she wanted a turquoise betta fish. Hm... those are hard to find. There certainly weren't any at the local pet shops. I ended up on aquabid, and well... now it's hopeless, lol. One LFS did have a few fancy bettas, so I bought myself a big-ear plakat male who is very pretty. All three of my kids now want fish, so I went on an aquabid shopping spree "for the kids" and soon I'll have some really beautiful bettas. I had "Little Mac" (kids named him!) in a 1 gal jar for a while, but now he's in a proper home, a 5 gal heated, filtered tank. I have some really neat ideas for decorating the fish tanks and my hope is to have each tank be a unique piece to make my home more beautiful. Having secure lids will be important, as you can tell by the photo.