I had expectations...

[Oldspartan]

I treat it as tools, so I'm not buying anything that doesn't fill a precise job. And as a matter a fact I haven't changed anything in over 30 years.



Where we live, peoples go air powered or Co2 for these. You have to be extremely cautious, in many occasions you can't take the shot. Too many things behind them. But when a squirrel has the idea to make his nest in your recycle bin, There's no other way. They come back and make new holes to get in each time they're fixed.

So I used an old Crossman American Classic 22, That I played with for a couple months. Replaced the stock, the barrel, the pump and polished the trigger to 1 pound click. Replaced the barrel supports added 2 picatinny rails, Some good telescope, a tripod and zeroed it parallel to the canon.

It looks dead pan tactical loll, I call it "The Squirrelator"...

View attachment 364770

They are really fun to mod.

I just use a Ruger 10-22 that I have had for a very long time. Don't have to worry much about hitting stuff in the background.

 

[Magnum Man]

I sold half of my mostly un used or worth more than their intended purpose warranted, hole puncher collection & paid cash for a 1960 El Camino, ( not in show condition, but in great cruiser condition ), I turned 60, in 2020, so I bought a car that was made the year I was made... I still have plenty of long range hole punchers though... so the car was a good sideways investment..

 

[GaryE]

"Like shooting fish in a barrel".

I always thought that was a weird expression, til I met you guys.

 

[MaloK]

I sold half of my mostly un used or worth more than their intended purpose warranted, hole puncher collection & paid cash for a 1960 El Camino, ( not in show condition, but in great cruiser condition ), I turned 60, in 2020, so I bought a car that was made the year I was made... I still have plenty of long range hole punchers though... so the car was a good sideways investment..

In the good old days, there was open public drag strip less than a mile from our home, During summer, every Fridays after school. When the engines started revving, we would jump on our bikes and go check the crazy older boys blowing their cars up. My father wouldn't let us use any cars to go there (I still wonder why) But every vehicles he had was large 4 barrels V8 with slimy 3 speed torqueflite and Dog clutch differentials. In today's jargon, these where ripping the head off your shoulders, when opening the second pair of barrels.

I think you posted pics of your Camino in the past... Good Choice for a vintage car.

 

[Naughts]

water changes... so it was suggested I wasn't changing enough water... now with the big RO, and pumping water in and out 1/3 of the tanks water changing twice a week, now for 2 weeks, I'm not noticing any differences in fish reactions or attitudes...

33% water changes are pretty conservative.

 

[gwand]

I perform 25% water exchange weekly. Never more or never less. Never miss a week though. The fish, shrimp and frogs across my 7 tanks are healthy and seem happy. My a. cacatuoide and a. thomasi are breeding like mad, not to mention the livebearers. I have been using this routine since the Fall of 2022.

 

[Ceez]

Then there’s Jack Wattley the legendary Discus man who advocated daily 100% water changes . Fish in the wild have that daily 100% water change . Aquarium life is unnatural and big water changes every week reduce that unnaturalness to make fish life in an enclosed environment possible . Filtration alone doesn’t cut it . Big weekly regular water changes are mandatory for success in this hobby .

Im changing 80-90% weekly. I mix RO with tap to achieve a range of 40-65 TDS recommended by German breeders and it's worked well for me with my pleco tanks. Theyre all fat, healthy and at least my 046's are breeding with regularity. My 236's have went on strike since i moved them from a 50g to a 20G long. Soon enough though, they will go into a 40G breeder once I get all these new tanks set up. I've seen no sign of disease thank the good lord and they are all very active at night and during feeding.


My regular display tank, I change the water once every 2 months and top if off weekly with regular tap. Tank consists of Loaches, Roselines, 4 different pleco species, Silver Dollars etc..im also only cleaning the filters twice a year. This includes 2 HOBs and an FX6. I have a 68" long piece of driftwood, pothos that have taken over with root masses blowing around in the current and monstera that won't die even though my light set up burns the crap outta the leaves. This tank is also thriving.


Pleco tanks go from 40-65tds up to 90-105tds at one week.

Display tank goes from 105-120tds to about 260tds in the 6 months.

I will say I do see an activity difference on the display tank for the 1st couple days after doing a full cleaning of filters and water change. My nitrates are always high no matter what I do because I'm about 20ppm from the faucet and rise to about 80ppm at the end of the 6 months, so I've just kind of given up on the battle in disgust but it seems my fish aren't suffering any ill effects.


What I've learned over the years, from this forum and other sources is paying attention and spending time watching your tanks is invaluable. I notice subtle differences in behavior/activity which alerts me to do some testing etc. I rarely test my water, maybe once or twice a year if that honestly because I see my fish every single day and it's always the same routine.