Post Your Aquarium/Fishies!

Hello!

I’m not sure if I quite have the right category, buuut here we are!

I love my fish tank
I have a 20-gallon planted tank with some guppies, neon tetra, a dwarf algae eater, a Corydoras, and an otocinclus.

This might be crazy, but I don’t do water changes much! I just add the water back that has evaporated in addition to API Quick Start and some other chemicals.

RO/DI Setup & Why I use it

My tank does not accumulate much algae. Something that causes algae buildup is TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in your tap water. With my RO/DI filter, the TDLs go down to almost non-existent.

RO/DI Filter

I use a cheap valve to split my cold water for my washing machine. This way, I can just turn on the valve to run water to the filter.
I also have some loooong tubing I was able to get from Lowes for like $5. It’s connected to the end of the filter and runs all the way to my tank. Once the tank is full, I just whined the tubing up and sit it next to the filter.

Equipment/Supplies

  • Fluval 207 Cannister Filter
    I have a canister filter, and honestly, I love it. It’s silent and sits below the tank. I can change the media pretty easily, and it just works xD

  • Marineland 150w Heater
    I’ve seen some bad reviews about these, but mine has just sat in my tank and worked as intended. Good heater if you ask me!

  • Fluval Startum Soil
    The soil is pretty nice. I haven’t had any trouble growing all of my plants. I like how the soil is in good-sized clumps, it feels like the plants stay rooted better.

I use solutions and additives 1x weekly to keep things running smoothly:

  • API Quick Start (Readministering good bacteria)
  • API Stress Zyme (Preventative)
  • API Leaf Zone (Fertilizer for plants)
  • API CO2 Booster (Supplement for plants)
  • API Accu-Clear (Clears cloudy water)
  • API Algae Fix (Curb any remaining algae growth)

Using Quick Start & the Stress Zyme might be a little contradictory*

Fish Food

  • Daphnia (Guppies)
  • Omega Small Bite Pellets (Mainly neon tetra & cory, some guppies)
  • Fluval Algae Tablets (Algae Eater/all fish)
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I killed my kid’s fishes because I was an aquarium noob…

Maybe someday I wont be an aquarium noob and build/setup a bigger tank

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Aw It’s ok :rofl: I can answer any question haha

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I blame the pet store because I told them Im noob and they let me buy all the stuff I pointed at, bought fishes (one of each kind that looked cool).

Turns out gupies and tetras are schooling fishes that get stressed when just few in numbers.

I didnt analyze the water too and just plopped mineral water and fishes together. The pet shop failed to mention about the nitrogen in the water.

The LED lamps were too bright as well.

meet pinchy

He’s an australian yabby, a kind of small lobster

this one was rescued from a live catch restaraunt and was saved from being food and now he lives with me

He decided to be a doof and sleep sideways

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I love him so much :sob:

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Am i allowed to post my aquatic turtle?

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me too! Hes awesome

he was all brown and sad when i got him and now hes a nice and resplendent blue

heres him doing some plant acrobatics

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The pond is completely built by hand personally. (got my YT degree.) That area used to be just dirt and weeds.

  • About 5ft deep

  • 4,000 ish gallons

  • about 10 Koi weighing about 10lbs each

  • Fed manually with large fish feed (or Cheerios) They go NUTS and fight to get the Cheerios.

  • All the rocks are hand placed according to shape and size(to fit nicely)

  • Cost about 3K, But to hire someone to do the same thing(size and everything would have been quadruple that) Digging, rocks, piping, filters, waterfall, lights, labor, etc (not including the setup for the offspring. That’s completely separate.

Took all summer to dig and set up. Big project but worth it for gatherings since right behind it is a 12Ft in ground pool.

So we have guests over often, And the kids swim while we sit by the fire pit and drink.

The wood houses the filtration pipes and goes through a filter and a natural Bog.

The blue pool and shipping containers are the offspring each year and each year we get about 500+ babies and sell them.
The filtration for the blue bins is small gravel and plants(vegies)
They grow tomatoes and other herbs while filtering the water.

Shameless self plug.

If anyone is in the MD area that wants Koi, I’m your guy. Babies are about 5 per but depending on size goes up from there. Color sometimes depends. Flexible on price if you want a bunch. Some colors are more rare and sought after. DM’s are welcome

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Wow! What can I say, it looks amazing!

Are you in a more or less tropical climate? Will the fishes be alright when it becomes cold? How hot/cold does it get? How do you manage the temperature?

Do you happen to sell the moon deity variety that goes in pairs to keep the water bending in balance? Asking for a fire nation friend.

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MD, US. It doesn’t get too cold here. rarely does it get below freezing. The water isn’t temp controlled. When it gets really cold, the fish just go to the bottom where it’s warmer.

The fire nation doesn’t deserve the work put into this project.

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Whaaaaaaat cool!!

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Of course! I would love to see a cutie lil turtle :))

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This is an older picture. I have a new tank as this one leaked out all its water. But we have a bigger 75 gallon tank filled half way now for her. Dont mind the ghettoness of her basking area. We have upgraded it. But we just decided to use stuff we have lying around to make her a basking place. We are going to convert the old tank into a dedicated nesting box. The last 10 years we have used a tote for that. But our end game is to have acrossing between the two tanks and she can nest whenever she wants. Just last week she laid 10 eggs.

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Ever since we switched tanks weve had trouble getting the water crystal clear. Gotta do a half water swap soon.

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Oh my goodness what a cutie :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Can any of you recommend trustworthy information about home aquariums?

I’m a complete fish novice (but am anal about following details), my intention is to get a fish tank where the ecosystem can operate in a as-close-to-as-possible equilibrium meaning you only have to add food.

Apart from enjoying them myself I’d like it to serve as live “Cat TV” for cats that only know nature through a window.

Resulting in something like that:

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Aquarist here too but my 300L (70ish gallons) tank is now not really presentable, I did not “vacuum” the bottom for ages and the few snails I got did not survive unfortunately. In my previous tank, I had those snails and the sand was superbly clean, I want to get some again so much. I’ll post pictures anyway tonight.

Not changing water is not really advisable in the long term as even RO water may come with a bit of minerals, those will over time accumulate to higher than desirable levels. But that is OK to not change for ages, actually, my tank has been only topped up for 2 years or so, the canister filter has not been cleaned for like 3 years, when you do not over-feed and have a good balance, that is what you get.

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I think its time…

My kid wants to restart the aquarium and I want to do it right this time.

Care to post any good starter guides (or at least some reading resources)? Thank you very much!

I dont want to overthink but I plan to restart the aquarium with a bigger tank, about 30 gallons or maybe less.

There is this glass supply vendor and it looks like they are selling the excess glass as aquarium. They use this as the aquarium sealant.

It doesnt seem to have any other additive/features like antimicrobial claim so I’m thinking it is safe?

I find it weird that the container basically says dont use/immerse in water at the bottom.

There is an aquarium in the store that has fishes and it looks like its been there for a long time. Is it safe to buy their aquarium with said acetic silicone sealant?