10 Tank's fish and tanks

[10 Tanks]

Hello and good morning. It's a Friday morning and early. It's my "quiet time". We're ahead of schedule this week as far as our tank duties are concerned. So, we'll just be working on the government office tank. We'll change out half the water and spend no more than 45 minutes do this. Their tank has been running for more than a year and the plants and all the fish have settled. The water is nice and clear, the feeding routine is established and the fish are growing nicely. The tank has really turned out nicely.

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[10 Tanks]

Happy Saturday. It's the weekend again and we'll start the tank schedule over again. Two tanks today. We'll work on a 45 and a 55 gallon. The terrarium filters are working well. The tank water is nice and clear. These small filters are easy to clean and have enough power to turn over quite a bit of water every hour. We're going to start to vacuum certain areas of each tank that have collected a lot of plant debris. We got a small vacuum on line that was pretty inexpensive, so we're going to see how that works. The larger vacuums just seem hard to move around the tank and are always bumping into things in the tank and I think stressing the fish. I'll post with the results of this new vacuum at some point later.

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[10 Tanks]

Saturday supplement. Tanks are done. The terrarium filters work well, but they're designed to sit on the bottom of the tank. The suction cups aren't really strong enough to hold up the filter. I'm going to have to brainstorm a means of putting something underneath the filter to hold it in place. In an aquarium, the filter needs to sit higher in the tank. I think a large suction cup placed just below the filter will work. This way, the filter will sit on top of the suction cup and with the other suction cups in place, the filter should work better.

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[Colin_T]

I used upside down clay flower pots to put things on in my tanks but any sort of plastic or ceramic container will work, including half a brick.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Colin. That brick idea sounds great! I have some I'll try. I don't believe they're made of anything that would mess with the water chemistry. I have a 45 gallon tall that may be a challenge, but I believe the bricks will work. I haven't been able to find the suction cups I wanted. I just haven't been able to find any large enough for what i wanted to do. The bricks are much easier and those won't cost anything!

Thanks again,

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[10 Tanks]

Sunday morning and we'll work on the next two tanks. The water changes are taking very long. As you know, we lowered the water in several tanks to allow us to put in small terrarium water filters. The filters were designed for turtle tanks, but they do a nice job of mixing oxygen into the tank water and remove the small particles from the water that makes the water appear hazy.

We have some Scissor Tail Rasboras in a 75 gallon tank and we rarely see them. They'll come out briefly to eat, but they stay in one corner of the tank that's heavily planted. They're fast swimmers, so we're lucky to see them, but only on feeding days.

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[10 Tanks]

Monday morning and we're going over all that needs to be done today. We have three tanks. Removed and replaced the water in three yesterday. The 50 gallon tank with all Buenos Aires Tetras has a couple of new members. We started with 12 to cycle the tank and we're up to about 20. Could be more, they're real swimmers and way too fast to count.

On the side, we have a donation going out to the Vietnam Veterans today too. We try to give them some of the things we no longer use. I had some strip lighting I no longer use and my wife had some kitchen stuff too. We also had some clothes. The Vets will take many things that are slightly used.

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[10 Tanks]

Monday morning supplement. Well, I lost an eight year old Goldfish this morning in my 60 gallon tank. It was another "feeder" that the pet stores sell for peoples' turtle tanks. It was a nice fish though. It was a nice combination of orange and white. There's another Goldfish in the tank, so it will be the only Goldfish. But, there's an eight year old Corydoras hybrid and an eight year old small Pleco in the tank for company. They all arrived within a few months of each other. Age probably caught up with the Goldfish, this is my guess.

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[10 Tanks]

Tuesday morning and we're running errands again. So, we'll take the day off from the tank work. We ordered a small siphon for vacuuming small areas. I'm anxious to try it. There are places in some of the tanks that have collected dead plant material and miscellaneous debris. I don't like to use larger siphons, they just seem to disturb the plants and generally stress the fish. I'm hoping this smaller, narrower vacuum will do the job.

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[10 Tanks]

Wednesday morning and I'm having a bit of dark roast coffee (less caffeine). Have a couple of tanks I'm working on this morning. Will remove and replace half the tank water and possibly do a bit of vacuuming. I have this new gizmo that will vacuum small areas of the tank and not disturb so much of the bottom material. We'll see how it works.

Yesterday, we went to the local senior center for lunch. What a nice time! Got to visit with some older folks and had a nice lunch. I think we'll start doing this every Tuesday.

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[10 Tanks]

Thursday morning. The Independence Day fireworks started a bit early. There were a lot of "boomers" last night. Tonight might be really interesting. So, today we'll be working on three tanks. We'll get a little ahead of schedule by removing and replacing the water in the outdoor 300 gallon trough after we do the 100 and 55 gallon Danios' tank.

On a side subject, if you're new to the hobby I'd like to recommend getting at least a 30 gallon tank. 55 gallons is much better, but some may not have the room for a tank this size. The larger the tank, the better your chance of keeping fish successfully. I would also recommend against having several different kinds of fish in the beginning. Go with a hardy species like Platys at first. They're much more tolerant of the early mistakes made in the hobby. They're also able to tolerate a variety of water conditions, as long as the chemistry is constant.

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[10 Tanks]

Friday morning and today, we'll pay visit to the government office to check on their 55 gallon tank. We'll clean up the filters and remove and replace half the tank water. Total time: roughly 40 minutes. The fish are all looking good and their growth has been pretty substantial.

Today. we're feeding the fish a variety of foods that we blended together with a small blender. Fish don't require a lot of different foods as long as you don't feed very often. If you overfeed, fish can sometimes get very particular. If you keep the feedings to one, small one every day or even two, they'll be more inclined to eat. I just blend a couple of different kinds of flakes and feed three times a week. The fish are always willing to eat whatever is offered.

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[10 Tanks]

Good morning. It's Saturday and my morning chores are done. Time to sit and think about the rest of the day. Will change out the water on a 45 and a 55 gallon tank. The plants will need to be thinned a little too. The Dwarf Water Lettuce is the fastest growing plant I've ever had. It takes a bit of time to establish itself, but then it goes crazy! The roots will remove most of the dissolved nitrogen, so we just remove and replace the old water with new, treated tap water to replace the nutrients. The water change is the secret to keeping fish healthy.

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[gwand]

That’s what happened with my azolla. At first it was quite dormant but now it’s covering the tops of my tanks like a green door mat. I prune it down regularly.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello gwand. As always, thanks for checking in with me. I'm not familiar with this aquarium plant. I'll research it. Thanks again.

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