10 Tank's fish and tanks

[10 Tanks]

Okay. Here we go again. Wednesday and we're working on three tanks. Have a 55 gallon finished and will work on the outdoor 300 and the government tank. Water changes for these three and a little plant work. i guess I'm a little on the lazy side. I like natural tanks. Those are tanks you set up and just allow to do their thing naturally. The only thing we do, is change half the water every few days. Most people wouldn't go for a tank like mine, it can get overgrown and a bit messy, but you can't complain about poor water conditions. Half or many times more water is removed and replaced at least every week or even five to six days. The largest tank gets two large water changes weekly. If you keep large Goldfish and Koi, you should change out the water more often.

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[10 Tanks]

Thursday morning and sitting in the dining room with a cup of coffee and brainstorming what I'll need to do today. We've been without moisture for a few days. So, will do some watering. The garden is looking better every week and the plants are really coming back. We had some plants that suffered from "Winterkill". That's what my wife calls plants that don't completely rebound from the cold over the Winter. But fortunately what's left will respond and rebound to some water and fertilizer from the fish tank water.

No tanks today. We'll take the day off. Our young Platies are roughly half the size of the adults and aren't afraid to show themselves more often then just at feeding time. The Buenos Aires Tetras (my favorites) are all healthy and wanting to eat more often than three times a week. Your fish will constantly beg for food if they're well taken care of, but you need to resist feeding more often than every other day or so. The young fish will do fine with the same feeding routine as the adults. The fry will learn early in their lives that they need to stay on the move and search for that last piece of food the others missed. They need to get their exercise and do their part to keep their house clean.

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[10 Tanks]

Friday morning, pretty early. I'm an early riser. 5:30 AM is my normal wake up time. When you do this, you need to be in bed early and at my age that's around 8:00 PM. So anyway, today we're not working on any tanks. It's a feeding day, so we'll see a lot of pushing and shoving to be the first one to get to the food. We feed just a small variety of flakes and freeze dried worms, nothing special. The Goldfish and Koi get a few pellets. Most foods you get at the local fish store are nutritious, so I just get several kinds and mix them all in a small blender. After this many years keeping tanks, I don't keep fancy plants anymore or worry about lighting. I pretty much just change out the water every few days and let nature do whatever it likes. With all the tanks we take care of, changing the water takes up just about all your hobby time.

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[10 Tanks]

Friday morning supplemental post. Noticed this plant growing near my 300 gallon outdoor trough. Another one of my wife's drought resistant plants she keeps in the back yard. It's called "Yellow Archangel". This plant grows in several places in the back yard. Here's a picture.

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[10 Tanks]

Saturday morning and there's one tank to do today. We'll go over to the government office and check on their tank. We'll change half the water and possibly clean the front glass if it needs it. There's never been an issue with algae growing on the glass of this tank. Probably because we're removing and replacing so much water there's no much in the way of dissolved nutrients to sustain much algae. The office people do tend to overfeed the fish, so there are really too many snails. But, with two large water changes weekly, we're keeping up with the nitrogen produced by the dissolving fish waste material. The fish all look good and the plants are healthy.

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[10 Tanks]

It's a bit of a cloudy Sunday morning in northern Colorado. Unusual for this time of year. Anyway, we're going to work on three tanks today. Removing and replacing half the tank water is all that's needed. No filtration, just a little water movement from the sponge filter system, without the sponges. The other part of the filter works well as an air stone. We use API's Tap Water Conditioner. It seems to do the job. I think it's easier to use than the granule or powder products. I don't think you have to use as much.

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[10 Tanks]

Hello again. Thought I's add something to my daily post. I mix a handful of standard aquarium salt to my pitcher of water treatment. The contents goes directly into the tank and then I can fill the tank directly from the water faucet. The treatment works immediately to detoxify all those chemicals the public water people put into the tap water to make it safe to drink and the aquarium alt works to slow the reproduction of pathogens in the water.

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[10 Tanks]

Monday morning and the start of a new week. We're changing things up. We'll need to start watering the garden areas and we can only water on certain days and in the morning or maybe in the late afternoon. So, we'll water three days a week and do tanks the other days. Today, will be a garden watering day, so that's what we'll do. But, the city says don't water in the afternoon. It will be getting too hot and the water will just evaporate more quickly. Apparently, we could water in the late afternoon. But, I like to relax during this time, so I'll just water in the morning. I have my trusty day planner, so I'll make some notes and take care of the tanks four days a week. No big deal!

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[10 Tanks]

Hello gwand. You're my most faithful reader. Much thanks! You know, with all the very knowledgeable people on this forum, sometimes the average water keeper doesn't feel like they can contribute. But, even though some of my ideas are a little out of the ordinary, it can many times be a good thing to think outside the box. Just look at what Thomas Edison did! I don't recommend anything I haven't tried myself a number of times, just to make certain the idea works. Thanks for checking in on this thread.

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[10 Tanks]

Good morning and a happy Tuesday to you. We'll get busy on four tanks today. The more water you change and the more often you do it, the better for your fish. By removing the toxins from the dissolving fish and plant waste before the stuff builds up, the healthier your fish. Your fish tank is really a toilet. The fish do all their business in the same water they live in. If I was living n that type of an environment, I'd sure want someone to "flush the toilet" as often as possible! So, we're going to treat our fish just like we'd want to be treated. Seems like this is "The Golden Rule" as I understand it.

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[10 Tanks]

Hello, hello. It's "Hump Day". This used to be an important day, because we were almost half way through the work week. Now, this day is another in the life of a retiree. We completed water changes on five tanks yesterday. We don't usually get this enthusiastic. So today, with the exception of the government office tank, we'll take the day off. I'll help my wife with getting some annual flowers for the garden and she found a perennial called a White Bleeding Heart. Sounds strange for a bleeding heart to be white, but this one is. If you're not familiar with flowers, an annual just grows for the Spring and Summer and dies when it starts to get cold. You have to go get more seed and replant it. The perennial will reseed and if weather conditions are good enough, it will grow again the next Spring. I don't see why you'd plant an annual, but that's just me. Anyway, they are pretty.

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[Oldspartan]

I installed a watering system for Linda. Hung a manifold on the outside cellar wall and connected hoses. Then dug shallow ditches and layed down perforated septic pipe with weeping hose inside. Works well, waters the roots and no evaporation. The septic pipe prevents the weeper hose from clogging and also allows us to leave it in year round.

Linda has the white bleeding heart. It is many years old and very pretty.

 

[Oldspartan]

I should note I was a much younger fella when doing this and would not attempt it now without a ditchwitch.

 

[10 Tanks]

Whoa! That's way too handy for me! I learned many years ago to not get in over your head. This rule has served me very well! I let my wife brainstorm the setup she'd like and then, I call an old Navy Buddy who used to do landscaping and he does the work. Everything looks and works so much better. The Iris this year are prettier than ever, so maybe everything else will do as well, including the White Bleeding Hearts. The other Hearts are very nice.

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[10 Tanks]

Thursday morning and we're listening to some light music and planning the day's tank work. Three tanks will need water changes. The 100 gallon trough in the basement, the 60 gallon and a 55 gallon. We picked up some new fish yesterday. We now have some Scissor Tail Raspboras. Nice looking fish. We have another group that I forget the name of, so I'll post a picture to get an identification. Some type of Tetra for sure. The fish were cheap and I think I can take care of them a little better than the fish store. At least, I can give them a bigger home.

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