My secret shame.

I am a recovering aquarist (that's actually a word, says Google). I had tropical fish as a child, and started to get back into it after moving to my current city.

One thing I discovered was that changing 1/3 of the water weekly is a good way to keep fish healthy, but clean your filter only once every couple of months (and only squeeze out the sponge inside the filter - never use any detergent). It seems that the filter ends up full of 'good bacteria' which balances the tank ecosystem. I had been vigorously scrubbing the filter every week and wondering why my fish kept getting diseases. The guy at the shop gave me the above advice, and suggested cleaning the filter in tank water (not fresh water). That is, when you take 1/3 of the tank water out, clean the filter in that water. Worked a treat.

I really loved having the tank, but eventually grew tired of it. It just became a fortnightly chore (every week ended up too much).

Would be keen to see pics once you get it set up.

@kymbos

I have my mother bringing me some slate rock from her rock garden this weekend as she comes up for Thanksgiving holiday, with that I am going to break it into proper sized pieces and join them together with the remaining marine fish safe sealant I posses. I will have a back ground of 1-2" wide 1''thick and thin, stagger them to make a rock back ground, until a month from now once its cycled I will add plants and once that's settled fish. Live plants add something more to the space, I grow plants as a hobby and have many around me, but to be able to put them in the aquarium and take use of my old hydroponic gear is very welcoming.

Added marine salt today. Sucks playing the waiting game.

Did try it for a while, but got sick of how hard I found it to not have the fish suddenly all up and die for no reason I could fathom, despite following the process @kymbos mentioned. I love a large, impressive fish tank, but at someone else's house I just find they don't give enough 'back' to me for all the work. I prefer animals that are more intuitive to care for... like chickens and a cat (which is what we have now), or a dog (we use to have).

Also, the chickens give us eggs, and the cat, eventually (he's young at the moment), should be fending off the rats.

Would love to see the results of your efforts though

Sounds awesome, BR. I know nothing about marine fish keeping (as opposed to freshwater), except that it always looks incredible when done well. Or when you say salt, are you talking about the salt you put in to neutralise the freshwater?

I used to hear stories of people who had modified old TVs into aquariums, so that you think you're looking at the screen, but it's actually a functioning tank. I guess that doesn't work with flatscreens...

As for plants, I was always partial to a tiger lotus: http://www.mosswall.com/ebay/image/PL/PL-NY01-01.jpg

Again, freshwater.

Will be keen to see what you put together.

@kymbos Fresh water my friend. The salt I put in is glorified kitchen sea salt now that I have read about it. Yes it is put in the freshwater to help with the internal ph of the fish, same way we use electrolytes I assume. I had a little blip recently with my 5 gallon month old tank, found that this salt is something handy to use when setting up a tank as well as general use for fish well being.

I am partial to Eel like creatures, khuli loaches and such.

Well being a Scorpio I know that Aquariums and Scorpios are Fixed Signs, and when Fixed Signs meet, it's intense and fascinating.

That being said, I have am not the "hey..what's your sign?" kinda guy unless I am in Tokyo or Kashmir and then I am like "no really...what is your sign????"

That's what I think of Aquariu...ugh...OMG....where is my spell check...

Khuli loaches look pretty cool. I always loved having clown loaches around. Depending on the size of the tank, having a school of these is awesome. They are very social creatures: http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddbal46.jpg

>> ^kymbos:

Khuli loaches look pretty cool. I always loved having clown loaches around. Depending on the size of the tank, having a school of these is awesome. They are very social creatures: http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddbal46.jpg




Thats kind of the plant setup I want, video more so for the khuli.

Will have to checkit when I get home - youtube is blocked from my work.

As a kid, I used to keep freshwater fishes like Bettas, goldfishes, tropical (Angel), tiny frog (from a tadpole), cra(w/y)fishes, etc. I probably have old photographs/photos. buried somewhere from the 1980s/80s. I used bowls, hexagon tanks (small and huge), etc.

(*#$&

I am getting a little annoyed at the science behind aquariums.

I know water quality via Ph and Parts per million in dissolved solids.

I put that aquarium salt in the water less than the instructions tell me, and my water shoots up to 850 ppm, which I know is "hard water" . so using this product I can only assume I have made my water hard.

I'll be joining another web based forum for aquariums, as this is blowing my fucking mind out.

It says to use it, but then it does that to my water.... I obviously do not understand tank dynamics fully.

Like hell I am going to be buying distilled water every couple days.

Edit- The PH down I use which is my old Phosphoric Acid, brings the PH down but also adds phosphates, phosphates are bad, Mmmm'Kay ?

My problems came from that I bet. the water hardness I am still figuring out. Very good to know though, I might have to invest in some Hydrochloric/ acid.

Those fish forums are pretty intense. I once went there asking for advice, and someone basically told me that any baby fish born into my tank would be retarded. Finding that rather comical, I embarked on a trolling campaign pretending he had basically accused me of intentionally breeding genetic retards, but after a while I realised no matter how wild my comments got, they would always be considered genuine. Those people are out there.

@BoneRemake What you describe is exactly why I gave it up! The tank gathers dust downstairs now...

Good luck sir, may the force be with you

>> ^spoco2:

@BoneRemake What you describe is exactly why I gave it up! The tank gathers dust downstairs now...
Good luck sir, may the force be with you


I hear that, this is a fist fight now in my eyes.

I am not going to be the one giving in, this fucker of a tank is going to have a bloody nose before I do. The tank WILL be my bitch.

I am human, I am smarter than water.

>> ^kymbos:

Those fish forums are pretty intense. I once went there asking for advice, and someone basically told me that any baby fish born into my tank would be retarded. Finding that rather comical, I embarked on a trolling campaign pretending he had basically accused me of intentionally breeding genetic retards, but after a while I realised no matter how wild my comments got, they would always be considered genuine. Those people are out there.


That's just the Internet in general. Any topic you can think of has a dedicated forum packed with the exact same mix of people that had simply picked a different passion.

Politics, economics, books, science, math, xkcd rules, xkcd sucks, (xkcd sucks) sucks, martial arts, dolphin sex, video games, sports, cars, fish, medicine, homeopathy, astrology, UFOs, mole men, moon men, Nazis in Argentina, Nazis on the Moon, flat Earths, hollow Earths, the Electric Universe...

I thought of this sift talk post when I saw this link.
http://weburbanist.com/2011/10/04/holy-water-24-amazing-aquariums-and-fish-tanks/

Dig a hole. Put some Koi in it.

No leaks, no fish dead.

A-ok.

*quality

Awarding BoneRemake with one star point for this contribution to VideoSift - declared quality by dystopianfuturetoday.

http://postimage.org/image/5eq879loh/

http://postimage.org/image/pdbbmwwmn/ The betta is in with the others because he has a sick belly,poor lil feller. That tank is just better for him at the moment, its more setup and lots of places for him to chillaxe in the weeds.

I worked on the left side, the right is still in progress.

Looking good, BR. But where's the red tiger lotus? Don't make me come over there!

*discard

Discarding this post - discard requested by original submitter BoneRemake.