Aquariums

[Ron61]

Mike,

I cleaned my tank yesterday and it was so murky and full of floating crud that I couldn't even see the waterwheel in the bottom. But once I finished and turned the pumps back on, in about 25 minutes it was crystal clear. I have to use a brush to get the green algae off the sides and this mineral in our water really fills up the filters fast.

Ron

[Sharroll Celby]

There are snails that eat the algae off the glass.

[Roscoe]

Get a Pleko. They are more interesting than snails.

[J. T. Toad]

Have you ever seen the zebra form of 'pleko' .... way

http://tropical-fish-pictures.com/ze...ecostomus.html

[Ron61]

JT,

It says in your link that they are not really an algae eater and also the mineral in our water would really be bad for them if those readings are correct. I have had algae eaters before, they cost quite a bit, and none of them lived very long. The guy at the pet store where I get my supplies tested the water and said the minerals were to high for them but ok for regular gold fish and other types.

Ron

[bomelia]

Update. I bought some Nutra Fin (Pet Smart brand) Bio Clear. At first I only added 10-15 ml at a time. It would get clearer. But not much. Last night I threw caution to the wind and put in 30 ml. The water cleared up completely in one hour! It is so clear that I am certain the fish get vertigo when they go to the surface and look down.

I read about Bio Clear on some aquarium forum.

Mike

[vegasmike]

Bio Clear locks up organics so your mechanical filter can take them out. Most cloudiness is just too many organics, so feed every other day, not every day. In my opinion, an easier freshwater tank to maintain will have both an UG filter and external filter. Change the carbon insert on the external once a month. Make sure it is rated twice your actual water volume.

I recently had to take down my 450 gallon SW reef tank and I am missing the hobby already. I got my 12 yr old a 5 gallon fresh water and he loves the thing, just too boring for me. I like the SW fish, live corals and clams.

Good luck with it and beware. I started with a 2 goldfish in a 1 gallon bowm that my mother bought me oldest son when he was three. The progressed to a ten gallon fresh, 90 gallon salt, 180 gallon salt, 180 and 150 gallon salt and finally to the 450.

Have fun.

[bomelia]

I have read about salt water tanks. And, I have gotten the impression they are very difficult. Also, they should be large. The sky is the limit when it comes to expense. Was that your experience? And why did you take your 450 down?

[vegasmike]

I took it down to move cross country. I moved from Las Vegas to Charlotte. I am in a rental house until my house in LV sells, so it could be a while before we get our own place here, but once we do, a new tank will be in the plans, probably another 450. I really liked the dimensions (96"x36"x32").

You are right though, the bigger the better and the sky is the limit on cost. I did everything high end and took my time planning it. It really wasn't that much work once it was up and going. The key is to try and automate the water top-off and make water changes easy. You only change about 10% of the volume per month, so that wasn't too bad. Buy good equipment to start with so you don't have to replace it once you find out you bought the wrong thing.

SW is less work than fresh in my opinion as long as you set it up right. They are not difficult either. The perfect size is really anything 180 gallons and up, the sweet spot being 180-300. There are very good on-line dealers for livestock and there are very good on-line sources of info. See www.reefcentral.com. They have forums for newbies and fish only if you want to start out that way.

If you really are interested in SW, feel free to pm me any questions. I have been doing it over 10 years.

[vegasmike]

oh yea, to give you a reference point. I bought and set up a 75 gallon tank at my kid's school for their science teacher. He has been maintaining it as a reef tank for the last seven years or so.