treesprite

Still alive. Sometimes it just kind of lets itself floats and looks dead, but then sometimes it actually swims momentarily. I still think it is more likely to die than not. I'm worried about ammonia because I had nothing to start with (other than the water from the cup the fish was in), so I put about a third or half vial of Biodigest (hard to tell) in the tank (only bacteria additive I have). The guy must have had the fish for a long time, because the container of beta food he gave me is almost empty. I guess if he had it that long, maybe he was so attached to it that he just took it with him not thinking about the fact that it might freeze to death.

Great drawing. So, is there like a hairline crack in the tube? I used to have a couple in my tank junk that I got from someone years ago and never used. If you want, I can look for them and give them to you (if I find them). I don't know how far you would have to drive, though... I'm in lower Montgomery County.

I just got home a few minutes ago, just finished putting some RODI in a 2g tank. The fish container got heated way faster than I intended. I had the heat jacked up in the car and drove with the container between my legs, trying to keep it from getting cold again. The temp went up to 75. The internet says 78-80. People keep these fish at room temp in horribly tiny containers, so the the fish probably go through all kinds of fluctuations and die young. The container this one is in, is the one it was bought in. EDIT to add: I don't have a small enough heater. The heater element is only in the bottom half of the heater, so I think as long as just the top is out, it will be okay. I have to have it sideways though.

So, I'm in Starbucks and this guy who apparently became homeless yesterday, handed a container of freezing cold water with a beta in it, that he has been carrying around all this time, a lot of which was outside. I thought was dead because not even the gills were moving, but it moved when I touched it. I'm worried about raising the temp too fast, but knowing the fish will probably die anyway, I don't know what I should do. ** Keep in mind that I am still at Starbucks, with an IDD client, so I can't just leave so that I can go home with the fish. I will not be home for maybe an hour and a half.*** I ran warm water over the container for a while, but not long enough to make the temp feel liveable (to a beta fish). I sat the container into a Starbucks cup that has some hot water in the bottom, so the steam will keep the temp from dropping back down (the container isn't touching the water). The fish isn't upside down anymore, and is moving a little, but sometimes it goes vertical and looks maybe dead but it's gills are obviously moving. Still, I'm worried it will die. I'm gonna put the fish in a 2g tank when I get home, just don't know what to do about the temperature. A thing to worry about of it doesn't die, is that there is a bump on its tail fins that looks like it might be fungus. It is kind of hard to tell. If it lives, it will need a permanent home that isn't mine.

Do you mean using on your U tubes overflow? I'm curious how the aqualifter intake hose would work in it. Would you put it inside the tube?

Stand is coming along great. Will you be putting a sump inside of it? If so, will you be using something to waterproof the inside?

I want to see the hole in the wall already.

Yikes! I'm glad people and animals are okay.

The most common thing I've noticed, is that Aqualifters gradually get clogged inside of the ports where the hoses connect. If not cleaned out once in a while, efficiency slowly gets worse and one day the thing stops. The box can't transfer water from the tank to the external box without a strong enough siphon, so if the siphon gets weak or stops, the box won't work. The return just keeps pumping until the sump is dry, and all the water overflows the edges of the tank. Another thing that can happen, is that the rubber bladder thing inside the Aqualifter can get a hole in it from use. Those can easily be replaced, but that won't help when the 40 gallons of water have already poured over the tank rim onto the floor while you were at work, and you have to order the part from online and wait several days for shipping while the tank is possibly suffering. Aqualifters don't last with adequate efficiency long enough when used continuously, so I don't trust them well enough to use a continuous siphon overflow box. I use an Aqualifter for my ATO and it has lasted several years, but it only runs intermittently, and it won't cause a flood in the house in that application.

Maybe try using acrylic rods through the rock. I just epoxy rocks together, but that probably won't work for holding a rock wall together. Then there are the holes sand will go through that you might have to fill in.

Are you going to put the deep sand on just one side? I'm assuming a DSB with animals that go all the way through it, doesn't have the anaerobic bacteria that an undisturbed DSB does.

Scary situation. I don't know if the aqualifter ones are any safer though. I had aqualifter type of overflow boxes before having a drilled tank, and had an aqualifter failure which caused the overflow box to fail. That was when I decided I had to have a drilled tank, but I understand the not wanting to do it.

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing this tank if you get it running.

Oh, thanks for the reminder to mention the bristleworms as part of the CUC. They also serve as live food for some fishes.

I usually do with very little of crabs and snails. A brittle star and shrimp will deal with food bits and detritus on the sand and rocks, without having dozens of hermits. Mag floats will take care of the glass, and a tang will take care of algae. Of course right now I don't have those things. I think the snails and hermits are a greater necessity in smaller tanks than they are in bigger tanks, though I have done no experiments to prove my opinion.

Good advice.

Sometimes obsessing about the tank while at work prevents obsessing about the retaliatory bullying supervisor.

Now my dottyback has been unseen for a couple of days. It mostly only comes out at feeding time, but hasn't even done that. I'm guessing it died in its hidey hole. Poor fish.

I somehow have always figured most reefers have Type A personalities. I think this is just the type of hobby that attracts people who thrive on having something to fuss over in extreme detail.

If you are planning to drill the tank, you need to make sure it isn't tempered. The last 75 I bought from Petco was tempered so I ended up giving it away. Make sure the surface you are working on is flat and not bumpy. Being unlevel at a consistent angle can be accounted for, but bumpiness can't. I built a second top frame for my last stand because I thought something was wrong with the first one when there wasn't; turned out the floor surface wasn't flat and I had to finish the stand out on the cement patio.

I just don't know. The hardest thing is to just look at the tank and relax. It feels impossible to not find things to pick over without even looking for problems. When it finally does seem like there are no problems, the good conditions are a prompt to add new coral or new fish. Adding to livestock then provides something to fuss over, but if there is a problem with the addition, it can pull the focus back on the system as if the system is to blame for that problem.

Cool but not many people are going to be able to see what's on it as it flies overhead.

Welcome! I'll be waiting for you to upgrade the size of your tank.

I went to Paul's shop a lot when it was in Rockville. Now sometimes I stop by on my way home from WV trips, but mostly just to look around and say "hi" to Paul and Cathy. I bought CUC critters the last time I was there. I'm too picky about fish now to buy them in the average LFS. Sometimes there are frags there that I might want if I am living too far to buy frags from my fellow WAMAS members. One day I took corals to trade with Paul, but a customer came in who offered me a lot more money and Paul approved of me taking the better deal, so I did. So I got more money and the customer spent less money, and Paul basically sacrificed potential earnings by not making me stick to the plan. He's a really nice guy. Cathy is the daughter of a man who used to own a shop in Wheaton Triangle. She worked at Tropical Lagoon after her dad's shop closed, then went to work at Fintastic.

There is nothing close to Berkeley Springs, let alone up the mountains. Frederick is pretty far, for sure, but closer than the DC/MD/NoVa metro area.