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mattsteg
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:20 pm

Usacomp2k3 wrote:
So it turns out that we had overfed our fish and put the nitrate/nitrite levels through the roof. Whoops. We switched to crisps from flakes and haven't had any more problems. We also got a couple more platy's and the 3 baby's are still great. So the stock is 3 adult platy's, 3 baby platy's, my catfish, and then the mother platy who is dying. I want to feed her to the cats.
Overfeeding isn't likely to cause a nitrite spike short of dumping an entire container of food in. A nitrite spike means your filter isn't established or is overstressed to the point of breaking. Since it's a new tank, the biological filter isn't established (unless you nabbed filter material from an established tank). Overfeeding is a bad thing, but it's only likely to push your nitrates up and maybe make your tank turn into a white or green cloud from a bacterial or algal bloom unless it's really nuts. Nitrates don't tend to be immediately fatal unless you've got really, really high levels - for fish they're more of a stressor/weakener than something that kills in the short term.

Unless your nitrites are 0(they should be by now I'd think, considering I've started and cycled my marine tank since your last post), quit adding fish or you're just going to kill more of them. Ideally you'd get the nitrification cycle started with something other than fish and only stock when ammonia and nitrites went to zero (or start with an established filter). Pragmatically you should at least quit stocking beyond whatever goes in first until ammonia and nitrite are zero. Otherwise you're just asking for a rather disheartening tank of death.

What's wrong with the mother now?
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Usacomp2k3
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:18 pm

mattsteg wrote:
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
So it turns out that we had overfed our fish and put the nitrate/nitrite levels through the roof. Whoops. We switched to crisps from flakes and haven't had any more problems. We also got a couple more platy's and the 3 baby's are still great. So the stock is 3 adult platy's, 3 baby platy's, my catfish, and then the mother platy who is dying. I want to feed her to the cats.
Overfeeding isn't likely to cause a nitrite spike short of dumping an entire container of food in. A nitrite spike means your filter isn't established or is overstressed to the point of breaking. Since it's a new tank, the biological filter isn't established (unless you nabbed filter material from an established tank). Overfeeding is a bad thing, but it's only likely to push your nitrates up and maybe make your tank turn into a white or green cloud from a bacterial or algal bloom unless it's really nuts. Nitrates don't tend to be immediately fatal unless you've got really, really high levels - for fish they're more of a stressor/weakener than something that kills in the short term.

Unless your nitrites are 0(they should be by now I'd think, considering I've started and cycled my marine tank since your last post), quit adding fish or you're just going to kill more of them. Ideally you'd get the nitrification cycle started with something other than fish and only stock when ammonia and nitrites went to zero (or start with an established filter). Pragmatically you should at least quit stocking beyond whatever goes in first until ammonia and nitrite are zero. Otherwise you're just asking for a rather disheartening tank of death.

What's wrong with the mother now?

Well we took it in to get tested again, and they were back to just barely above zero, so we're not really concerned about it. We got some nitrate/nitrite treatment chemicals and a few rounds of that seems to have done the trick. We're also going to try to be a little more consistent with the tank cleaning. We have an ammonia tester thing and that has never been a problem.

The mother, well after she gave birth, she just got all weird, like just sitting on the bottom of the cage for days at a time. She eventually started swimming around every once in a while, but mostly just lays there breathing (labored, judging by the movement of her gills). Her swimming is nothing close to eloquent, she looks like she forgot how to do it. Her spine appears to have bent or something because it's not straight anymore (probably leading to the poor swimming). It's just depressing and since it's been like 3-4 weeks, we're not holding out much hope. Today will probably be her last, depending on if our neighborhood cats are around.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:40 pm

Usacomp2k3 wrote:
Well we took it in to get tested again, and they were back to just barely above zero, so we're not really concerned about it. We got some nitrate/nitrite treatment chemicals and a few rounds of that seems to have done the trick. We're also going to try to be a little more consistent with the tank cleaning. We have an ammonia tester thing and that has never been a problem.
Good, ammonia shouldn't ever be a problem except for the first week or two. Beyond that and any ammonia issue means you have something seriously broken or undersized. Nitrite should also go to zero (not near-zero, but zero as far as measuring is concerned) but this takes a bit longer, maybe an extra couple of weeks.

How large is your tank and what do you do when you clean it? It's possible that you're working against yourself if by overcleaning here. If you're stripping the tank bare, cleaning everything, and replacing the filter all at once you're just making things worse on yourself. Unless you've got a really tiny tank or are feeding way too much, you shouldn't need to *clean* too often (and that should mostly help against nitrate buildup).

Nitrate/Nitrite treatment chemicals are a great way to make your fish store rich while not accomplishing much of anything. In the end, you don't want to be dealing with things chemically - you want to do things biologically. If you're applying a chemical band-aid to cut nitrites you might well be sabotaging your biological filter that's going to take care of them long-term and delaying any true stability. Nitrites should be handled by your biological filter. Nitrates should be managed by water changes. The use of any such chemicals should be rare and a last resort. A far better option most of the time is to change half the water. Nitrates are fine in relatively high levels. You don't need to get them down close to 0. Less than 40 is generally OK. To go lower, change water rather than adding chemicals.
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
The mother, well after she gave birth, she just got all weird, like just sitting on the bottom of the cage for days at a time. She eventually started swimming around every once in a while, but mostly just lays there breathing (labored, judging by the movement of her gills). Her swimming is nothing close to eloquent, she looks like she forgot how to do it. Her spine appears to have bent or something because it's not straight anymore (probably leading to the poor swimming). It's just depressing and since it's been like 3-4 weeks, we're not holding out much hope. Today will probably be her last, depending on if our neighborhood cats are around.
Sounds sick or damaged by ammonia. You're using water conditioner when adding water, right?
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:08 pm

mattsteg wrote:
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
Well we took it in to get tested again, and they were back to just barely above zero, so we're not really concerned about it. We got some nitrate/nitrite treatment chemicals and a few rounds of that seems to have done the trick. We're also going to try to be a little more consistent with the tank cleaning. We have an ammonia tester thing and that has never been a problem.
...
Nitrate/Nitrite treatment chemicals are a great way to make your fish store rich while not accomplishing much of anything. In the end, you don't want to be dealing with things chemically - you want to do things biologically. If you're applying a chemical band-aid to cut nitrites you might well be sabotaging your biological filter that's going to take care of them long-term and delaying any true stability. Nitrites should be handled by your biological filter. Nitrates should be managed by water changes. The use of any such chemicals should be rare and a last resort. A far better option most of the time is to change half the water. Nitrates are fine in relatively high levels. You don't need to get them down close to 0. Less than 40 is generally OK. To go lower, change water rather than adding chemicals.
...

I can speak from experience on this one. It actually took my tank three weeks longer for it to cycle because I used some ammonia remover. The ammonia remover didn't just lower the ammonia levels, it obliterated any trace of ammonia in the tank thereby starving out any good bacteria that might have started to build up.
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:51 pm

Yes, don't use specialized chemicals unless absolutely necessary. Lawn included. Otherwise you throw of nature's balance and you make a ton more work for yourself trying to do what nature does automatically.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:46 pm

Okay, so I got a bright idea for a lighting solution. It occurred to me while I was nosing around for a new tank for my betta. The tank I'm looking at getting for him is just a five gallon thing. Not very big. Needless to say, finding a light hood for that thing has been mostly impossible. So, as I've suggested before, why not just hang a light above the tank. The problem is I don't think I could really do that. What I was thinking, however, is to get some light kits from AH Supply and just mount them to the dry wall. That makes it light and simple.

Let me detail out the setup here. The tanks are on a counter that's kind of like a breakfast/buffet thing. There is a hole in the wall, so I can see into the kitchen from my desk in my office area. The opening stops about a foot above the 10 gallon aquarium. So, the opening is about 2.5 feet high, and 48 inches wide. The thickness of the wall is about 6 inches.

The reason for having the light suspended above the tank is two fold. First, I just want to have an open tank. Second, I have a bamboo plant that makes it impossible to have an enclosure. Can I just mount a kit from AH Supply to the wall/mini-ceiling?
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mattsteg
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:52 pm

You can mount AH-supply stuff to or in pretty much anything. It's just bulb/reflector/ballast so building around it isn't real difficult.
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titan
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:00 pm

mattsteg wrote:
You can mount AH-supply stuff to or in pretty much anything. It's just bulb/reflector/ballast so building around it isn't real difficult.

That's what I thought. Which kit would you recommend? Keep in mind that the light will be a about a foot above the water.
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mattsteg
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:09 pm

titan wrote:
mattsteg wrote:
You can mount AH-supply stuff to or in pretty much anything. It's just bulb/reflector/ballast so building around it isn't real difficult.

That's what I thought. Which kit would you recommend? Keep in mind that the light will be a about a foot above the water.

Whatever's the right size, really. It looks like they don't have the little 13 watt stuff anymore though. Any of what they offer should be more than adequate and mounted as you're talking about shouldn't be problematic with heat.
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:23 pm

I think I might end up going with a 2x36W kit from AH Supply. Only question now is 5500K or 6700K? I want it to be white, not blue or orange. White. High noon white. I keep getting conflicting information on which Kelvin is the closest to that.

Also, which is better: Red Cherry or Amano shrimp? Or is there a better shrimp? The tank will be heavily planted and I want shrimp that are plant friendly, but will eat any kind of algae. I'm planning out what I'm doing, so it isn't like I'm buying these things today.

And another thing, what benefit would Corbicula fluminea bring to an aquarium?

On that note, I just got my Betta into his very own five gallon tank. He must be happy because he is swimming around more than he was in his two and a half gallon bowl. For his tank, I bought a Hydor Mini 7.5W heater, but after two days the water was still at room temperature. So much for believing the packaging. Now I have a 25W Visi-Therm Stealth heater and that got the water temperature up to target really quick and has been holding stable. I also bought a Red Sea Nano filter. It's only rated for three gallons, but I bought it more for a gentle current than it's filtration capabilities. It's very quiet and has flow control. Very nice.
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:31 pm

titan wrote:
I think I might end up going with a 2x36W kit from AH Supply. Only question now is 5500K or 6700K? I want it to be white, not blue or orange. White. High noon white. I keep getting conflicting information on which Kelvin is the closest to that.

5500 and 6700k are both fine. 6700k is closer to D65 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D65
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:51 am

I've kept freshwater aquariums of one sort or another for 40 years now. I've settled on keep African Dwarf Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. Being dwarfs, they all stay about finger sized which lets you have a more diverse tank. I have a 58 gallon setup 36"L x 21"H x 18"D. Im using crushed coral sand because the water in Lake Tanganyika is hard alkaline: pH 7.6-9.0, GH 12-20, KH 14-20 water. These fish prefer rocky bottoms and do a lot of digging. I used Type-A alkaline granitic rocks I collected myself from my college days (I'm a geochemist). The coral is also nice because calcite is softer than glass and so it does not tend to scratch the glass when scrubbing off algae (and entrapped sand) from the glass. I feed them Spirulina algae cichlid food.

Lets see I have...
4 Juliochromis marlieri (checkerboard black and white)
2 Julidochromis ornatus (horizontal black stripes top of fish)
4 Neolamprologus cylindricus (vertical black stripes)
7 Neolamprologus Leleupi (bright yellow. two breeding pairs, both are tending numerous (10-20) fry at the moment)
4 Clown Loaches
2 Australian Rainbow fish (quick target fish)
2 African Kribensis
2 Paradise Fish (tough enough to cycle a tank, hang with dwarf cichlids, and they hang around high in the water column)
1 Chinese Algae Eater (had 4 but cichlids hate scavengers and try to kill them)

I have a picture of the tank over at 2cpu... http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?p=557400#post557400
Last year I used a 1/6 HP pump and 3 feet of 6 inch transparent schedule 40 PVC to add a fluidized bed filter. I pull water from the tank, fluidize a bed of crushed coral which stands to the right of my tank, and then it goes through a UV sterilizer before return to the tank. I also have a couple powerheads running undergravel filters and a couple air stones to break up the water surface and prevent filming. The fluidized bed looks really cool and is in constant motion. I've toyed with putting an LED inside the bed for effect. I'd like to figure out a way to reduce nitrates without doing water changes. I keep reading about these sulfer and limestone based anaerobic nitrate reactors the salt water guys are using and wonder if they really work. I use fluorescents but am thinking of building an LED array lighting setup. I'd also like to implement a moon cycle with LED's.

I'm Keeping an eye out locally for the following...
Cyprichromis leptosoma (colorful surface fish)
Neolamprologus brevis (tiny shell dwellers, quite droll)
Julidochromis regani (horizontal black stripes all over)
Neolamprologus buescheri (wicked cool looking, never seen one alive)
Julidochromis transcriptus (sort of a blend between ornatus and malieri)
Neolamprologus tretocephalus (broad vertical black and white stripes, panda bear eyes)
Neolamprologus brichardi (like lelupi but Lyretailed salmon colored with pale blue highlights on fin edges)
Altolamprologus calvus (vertical black and white stripes, very compressed body hard to see face on)
Altolamprologus compressiceps (similar to calvus but bulkier)
Cyphotilapia frontosa (like trets but bigger but grow slowly)

If you plug the names into google images you can see what they look like.
Edited: to add fish I forgot.
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Usacomp2k3
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:26 am

We got a nifty 55gallon tank with an bowed front ($50 on craigslist with stand and a couple nets and some food and some buckets and hood and light and filters. Quite a steal). It's got a long flourescent light (with purple-ish tinted light) on top (an aquarium specific bulb, that I don't know if we want to keep since it does some heating, I think. Any thoughts?) It's got a pair of filters like these I put 2 large bags of white gravel on the bottom (didn't rinse it as thoroughly as they said to because I couldn't find the right tools I would have needed to do it with since everything was in boxes). Then we have a shipwreck ornament thing with lots of portholes for the baby fish to swim through.
Fishwise, we got some more so now we have:
6 full-size platties
2 baby platties (.5" long or so)
1 full-size mollie
2 baby mollies (we originally got 3 mollies, 2 of them didn't make it 48hrs, but the remaining one gave birth to a couple little ones)
1 cory catfish

We now need to find some plants to put in the tank, and probably get some more fish. I was thinking of getting a handful of tetra's, but I'm not sure. We could probably also use some algea eaters.

So what would ya'll recommend. Say you had $25 to get more fish and $10-15 for plants. What do you think would do the best to complement the tank and be the most balanced (and least maintanance)
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:19 pm

Just finished replacing the return pump on my marine system. It died overnight. Woke up to a tank that was too cool and wasn't circulating. That was not good at all. Fortunately I knew of one local store that carried a suitable replacement so I could pull a swap - hooray for PVC unions.

Bowfronts are pretty. One of my tanks is one (46).

The purplish light doesn't have anything to do with heating, at least not any more than any other bulb. If you don't like it go ahead and replace it. If you like it go ahead and keep it. Nothing you've got really cares what color your light is. Is it just a regular fluorescent?

Rinsing is no big deal. It's just to keep your tank from temporarily going cloudy to start.

Get more cories. They like to be in groups. Tetras can be fun. I've kept neons and cardinals. The cardinals are more expensive and supposedly more difficult to keep, but they absolutely thrived for me. They're a bit more unique with more red coloration. Neons are a bit more disease-prone, especially since so many of them come from massive hatcheries. Make sure everything's stable and cycled before adding anything, please. Is your tank glass or acrylic? If acrylic, Otocinclus might be preferred over plecos for algae eating due to being less prone to damaging things. Be sure to get healthy ones with plump bellies.

Unless you want to upgrade your light go with normal low-light plants - nothing exotic.
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:53 pm

Thanks for the feedback. The glass is definitely real glass, as the thing weighs a ton. I had to move it about 10 feet along the wall it's on, and that took me about 45 minutes of inching along. If I have to do that again, I'll have to do more than a 20% water removal.

I'm impartial to the light, I just noticed that it was a specific aquarium bulb. I'll see if I can look it up at some point.

I think the red tetra's would go well with the orange and red and yellow platy's. I'll have to keep that in mind.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 5:31 am

Wow, that guy is cool! How big is he?
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:44 am

That is quite nice looking.

Bad news on our front. We got hit by another round of nitrite poisoning. I think I figured out what it was though. My wife says that the filters are where the bacteria forms that eats up the nitrate/nitrite, and well I've been cleaning the filters with faucet water; the chlorine contained therein effectively kills all the bacteria. Whoops. Now I know better.

We are down to a single Molly, 2 adult platy's, 1 juvenile, and 1 baby. I still have my catfish though. We also got a half-dozen little plants that look really good in the tank and the fish seem to like nibbling on them. Once we ensure that our tank is stable again, we're going to go buy another dozen platy's and the tetra's to restock. We don't really care for the Molly's so we probably won't get any more.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:03 am

Could you please stop a moment and either read a book on introductory aquaria keeping or google around for 5-10 minutes on the basics of running an aquarium? Whatever fish you acquire in the future will thank you.
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:11 am

mattsteg wrote:
Could you please stop a moment and either read a book on introductory aquaria keeping or google around for 5-10 minutes on the basics of running an aquarium? Whatever fish you acquire in the future will thank you.

Ah yes, thank you for your excellent post filled with valuable information :roll:
Nowhere have I seen talk about this, and I've spent more than 5-10 minuts of looking. Thanks though.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:17 am

Considering chlorine is put in the tap water to keep it "clean" by killing the "bad stuff" and they always say don't fill a tank with just tap water and dump the fish in, I'm not sure this is a shock. ;)

edit first link for googling "tap water fish tank"
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_chlorine.htm

Anyways, this thread is an interesting read. I have a few years to go but what do people think is an age kids would start to be interested in things like fish? My daughter is only 4.5 months old so I have time. :lol: My wife is allergic to all other kinds of pets much so this is as good as it gets.
Last edited by tfp on Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:19 am

tfp wrote:
Considering chlorine is put in the tap water to keep it "clean" by killing the "bad stuff" and they always say don't fill a tank with just tap water and dump the fish in, I'm not sure this is a shock. ;)

Well obviously I treat the water before putting it into the tank, and let the filters dry after rinsing them out. It was the location of the bacteria or whatever that was unknown. I just figured they were in the actual water or on the various surfaces in the tank.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:28 am

So I would not expect all of chemicals in the water to evaporate when the filter is drying either. I would kind of think they would start killing what is in the water, ect after the filter is put back in and everything is running again. I'm sure there are bacteria in the water and else where but I expect a number of them get caught or at least go though the filter.

I remember back in college they put a ton of chlorine in the drinking water and you could smell some times after taking a shower. Made up for the lack of soap I guess? We used to joke they did that to try to make people temporally sterile while they were at school.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:33 am

Usacomp2k3 wrote:
let the filters dry after rinsing them out.
Don't do that either. That probably killed anything that the chlorine didn't.
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
It was the location of the bacteria or whatever that was unknown. I just figured they were in the actual water or on the various surfaces in the tank.
They're there too, but unless you've designed your filtration differently not in sufficient quantities to run the tank.
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
mattsteg wrote:
Could you please stop a moment and either read a book on introductory aquaria keeping or google around for 5-10 minutes on the basics of running an aquarium? Whatever fish you acquire in the future will thank you.

Ah yes, thank you for your excellent post filled with valuable information :roll:
Nowhere have I seen talk about this, and I've spent more than 5-10 minuts of looking. Thanks though.

So you didn't google "clean aquarium filter" and click the first link I take it? I'm sorry but it's just disheartening as hell watching you report how you killed your latest fish through sheer negligence...repeatedly.
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:36 am

mattsteg wrote:
So you didn't google "clean aquarium filter" and click the first link I take it?

No, I didn't. Why would I have expected an aquarium filter to be different from a filter in an air conditioner, car, air purifier, or pool. You are supposed to clean those out. That's why it didn't even occur to me that it would be completely backwards from everything else in an aquarium in that you're not actually supposed to clean out the filter in a fish tank. Now I know, but again, it's completely counter-intuitive.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:44 am

Usacomp2k3 wrote:
mattsteg wrote:
So you didn't google "clean aquarium filter" and click the first link I take it?

No, I didn't. Why would I have expected an aquarium filter to be different from a filter in an air conditioner, car, air purifier, or pool.
Would you let a pool filter dry after watching it to make sure the chlorine dissipates before reinstalling it? Of course not. One second you state that you did something differently for that type of filter, the next you claim you see no reason why you'd treat any of them differently? What kind of unholy hypocrisy is that?
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
You are supposed to clean those out.
Sure, but they're not biologically active.
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
That's why it didn't even occur to me that it would be completely backwards from everything else in an aquarium in that you're not actually supposed to clean out the filter in a fish tank. Now I know, but again, it's completely counter-intuitive.
That's why you do research so you have the faintest clue what you're doing before you take another creature's life in your hands. That's why, if you screw up and kill some of your fish, you figure out wtf happened rather than callously throwing more into the slaughterhouse. You're managing the environment that things live in and depend on for their survival, not just a decoration. Show enough compassion to do the minimal necessary work to quit killing your fish wholesale!
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Usacomp2k3
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:50 am

I have no comment. Clearly I'm inhumane and you should be appalled.
 
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:02 pm

I've always used Marineland filters with Bio-wheels in them for the biological side of things. You can pull out the filter cartridge and rinse it out without so much as disturbing that bacteria even a little (well the ones on the wheel anyway). Plus they have penguins on the box. :wink:
 
Usacomp2k3
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:04 pm

Those look really nifty actually. Plus, my wife adores penguins, so it has WAF. I got the filters used, so I have no idea how much life they have left. (nor do I know how to tell). I'll defintely keep the penguin one's in mind for when ours need replacing.
EDIT: Hmm. They're only $30 or so. I'll see what petsmart has in stock. http://www.aquariumguys.com/penguin350b.html
 
mattsteg
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:24 pm

Usacomp2k3 wrote:
I have no comment. Clearly I'm inhumane and you should be appalled.

It's just not ethical to keep animals you don't know how to properly care for, and refuse to learn how to do so, particularly when the knowledge on how to do so is quite well-known and simple to apply. Aquarium fish shouldn't be consumables. They should live for years.
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Usacomp2k3
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Re: Fish hobbyist thread (aquariums and tanks - not the sport)

Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:29 pm

mattsteg wrote:
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
I have no comment. Clearly I'm inhumane and you should be appalled.

It's just not ethical to keep animals you don't know how to properly care for, and refuse to learn how to do so, particularly when the knowledge on how to do so is quite well-known and simple to apply. Aquarium fish shouldn't be consumables. They should live for years.

I'm starting to come around that that mentality. I'm going to stop by the library on the way home and see what they have in terms of literature. Petsmart has a bio-wheel filter thing for $21 that I think would help as well, since the bacteria are separated from the particulate-filter. Once those get settled then we'll look into getting more fish.

I do need to give an apology for being snippy and give ya'll my thanks for helping.

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