Why do I stay in this hobby????

[MaloK]

Thanks for the encouragement. Short of a canister, what filtration would you or anyone suggest? I’d ultimately like to incorporate frogbit or water lettuce down the pike, but this flow in my HOB is ridiculous

You are right, it's more difficult to have floating plants with a powerful HOB in a small tank.

Most of the time, some kind of support or at least a water barrier for the plants is beneficial and installing the plants on the opposite side of the filter output when using floaters or near output when using stem plants. There are some that will cover a tank quickly and thicken by the week. If they are planted near the surface in baskets they will grow incredible roots and block the surface and have to be regularly pruned.

I'm a big Fan of HOB's filters and peculiarly Aquaclear, They bring a lot more natural water movement. As stupid as it can look like, nearly all the water you filter comes in contact with the surface before returning to the aquarium. That never happens with a canister. That is a tremendous loss of gazes exchanges. The only way to compensate is a spray bar, and they are a burden.

I go AC, with a 20x and over turnover. And once the media starts to be broken in, this is the grace period loll, the flow is going to lower a lot and you should be able to keep the tank cycled by not having to replace your media for years. I run an AC600 that is rated for 30x my tank. After a year on breaking in, the flow is just perfect now and remains that way for months between maintenance.

I fishless cycle my tanks with plants and most of the time the flow already reduced before I add stock.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Some good advice here--you've come to the right place. Plants can remove your ammonia for you, but only if you have a lot of plants and not a lot of fish. Looks to me like you have a lot of bioload for the amount of plants. There are some floating plants that will stand up to the current, hornwort being one of the toughest. If you can, get a whole bunch, enough to cover 30% or more of the surface. It will help with the ammonia. But you should still keep up with the water changes--the plants won't do it by themselves with the large fish load.

HOB filters drive me crazy, as they're noisy and make it really hard to have floating plants. I like canisters myself. Each kind has its pros and cons. I would definitely advise keeping the HOB going for now, since it is currently holding whatever beneficial bacteria you have. But it would be a good idea to add more.

So: More filtration; huge daily water changes until the ammonia goes away; more plants, especially floaters; Prime or similar product to detoxify. And a contingency plan to rehome some of your critters when aggression becomes an issue.

Also, I doubt the fish care, but the colored gravel is stressing me out. In case you were wondering.

 

[gotham01]

AC600?

 

[gotham01]

Honest to

Some good advice here--you've come to the right place. Plants can remove your ammonia for you, but only if you have a lot of plants and not a lot of fish. Looks to me like you have a lot of bioload for the amount of plants. There are some floating plants that will stand up to the current, hornwort being one of the toughest. If you can, get a whole bunch, enough to cover 30% or more of the surface. It will help with the ammonia. But you should still keep up with the water changes--the plants won't do it by themselves with the large fish load.

HOB filters drive me crazy, as they're noisy and make it really hard to have floating plants. I like canisters myself. Each kind has its pros and cons. I would definitely advise keeping the HOB going for now, since it is currently holding whatever beneficial bacteria you have. But it would be a good idea to add more.

So: More filtration; huge daily water changes until the ammonia goes away; more plants, especially floaters; Prime or similar product to detoxify. And a contingency plan to rehome some of your critters when aggression becomes an issue.

Also, I doubt the fish care, but the colored gravel is stressing me out. In case you were wondering.

Some good advice here--you've come to the right place. Plants can remove your ammonia for you, but only if you have a lot of plants and not a lot of fish. Looks to me like you have a lot of bioload for the amount of plants. There are some floating plants that will stand up to the current, hornwort being one of the toughest. If you can, get a whole bunch, enough to cover 30% or more of the surface. It will help with the ammonia. But you should still keep up with the water changes--the plants won't do it by themselves with the large fish load.

HOB filters drive me crazy, as they're noisy and make it really hard to have floating plants. I like canisters myself. Each kind has its pros and cons. I would definitely advise keeping the HOB going for now, since it is currently holding whatever beneficial bacteria you have. But it would be a good idea to add more.

So: More filtration; huge daily water changes until the ammonia goes away; more plants, especially floaters; Prime or similar product to detoxify. And a contingency plan to rehome some of your critters when aggression becomes an issue.

Also, I doubt the fish care, but the colored gravel is stressing me out. In case you were wondering.

Gravel indeed was another mistake. Seemed like a decent idea at the time. As for contingency plan, if/when they act up, I’m just either gonna keep the two boys or 2 girls.

 

[MaloK]

AC600?

Aquaclear A600

 

[Gamegurl564]

The Seachem filters are nice.
A Tidal 50 would be good for that size tank.
Some floating plants are great nitrate sponges.
Best of luck

 

[Bamf Comics]

Water changes over 50% in volume are dangerous. It works with some types and others can keel over from the changes if everything isn't matching up perfectly. If I have to go that extreme I just use an ultra slow trickle to top back off over an hour or more.

Removing anything from your current filters will also remove any bacteria they may be housing and could make things worse in the short term.

Ammonia production is all you unless plants are dying. If you don't want ammonia right now, just stop feeding. It's really that simple. Whatever you feed ends up feeding the ammonia levels. The fish will not starve. Everything you have in the picture is hardy and durable.

Simple fix, vacuum and water change about 50% and put the food away for several days to a week where no one can get their hands on it. If everything's good, go back to feeding tiny meals and increase as it displays the ability to handle it. You can also pull some fish out of the tank for now into something else from another tank to setting up a simple cheap tub. You're going to need something a lot bigger anyway looking at those balas.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Sponge Filters - cheap, easy, and effective. Also, undergravel filters are good. Not so well used anymore, but very effective.

 

[werlyb23]

Are you serious???
A 136G tank wouldn’t even be enough for the fish you have in there…….

 

[gotham01]

Are you serious???
A 136G tank wouldn’t even be enough for the fish you have in there…….

A chocolate cichlid and 4 dwarf jewels?

 

[Bamf Comics]

Don't panic. You'll find some people want you to own an olympic sized pool for each fish and others say you can get by with a fish bowl. It comes down to a few basic things. Are you capable of maintaining the water quality. The more crowded something is, the more % you'll need to change and the more frequent those changes will need to be. The next factor once you've figured out you are capable of doing the physical labor is compatibility. That can usually be tended to with a variety of decor choices to allow for space in and out of sight of other fish if desired and territories to set up and defend. Even then what works now, may require rethinking down the road if anyone pairs up to spawn. As long as you're willing to do what's needed, just be happy and enjoy. Life's too short for anything other than that to really matter.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I think people are seeing the pictures of bala sharks and other fish on your backdrop, and thinking they are real fish. (Those are just pictures, right?) Thus the confusion about tank size. A 36g should be plenty of space for the fish you have listed, until your cichlid grows up. I've never kept chocolate cichlids, but it sounds like they do get very large.

 

[Bamf Comics]

I thought they were real as well. I haven't seen a background with fish on it yet. Seems like it may confuse some fish as well as people online looking at a still.

 

[gotham01]

Don't panic. You'll find some people want you to own an olympic sized pool for each fish and others say you can get by with a fish bowl. It comes down to a few basic things. Are you capable of maintaining the water quality. The more crowded something is, the more % you'll need to change and the more frequent those changes will need to be. The next factor once you've figured out you are capable of doing the physical labor is compatibility. That can usually be tended to with a variety of decor choices to allow for space in and out of sight of other fish if desired and territories to set up and defend. Even then what works now, may require rethinking down the road if anyone pairs up to spawn. As long as you're willing to do what's needed, just be happy and enjoy. Life's too short for anything other than that to really matter.

I really appreciate the kind words. Like I posted earlier, the Balas and such are just a background to make it look fuller for the time being.

I really, really wanted to do a fishless cycle this time around , do it the right way. After the old tank leaked, I put the chocolate cichlid in a bucket for a month, while I tried to cycle new tank. Unfortunately, my guilt got to me and I decided to put Hershey in the tank. He wasn’t eating, and looked miserable (I was changing water out in bucket all the while). As soon as I put him in tank
he perked up and appetite came roaring back. Long story short, I wanted to do it the right way, but circumstances dictated otherwise. Now I’m playing catch up and can’t

 

[gotham01]

I really appreciate the kind words. Like I posted earlier, the Balas and such are just a background to make it look fuller for the time being.

I really, really wanted to do a fishless cycle this time around , do it the right way. After the old tank leaked, I put the chocolate cichlid in a bucket for a month, while I tried to cycle new tank. Unfortunately, my guilt got to me and I decided to put Hershey in the tank. He wasn’t eating, and looked miserable (I was changing water out in bucket all the while). As soon as I put him in tank
he perked up and appetite came roaring back. Long story short, I wanted to do it the right way, but circumstances dictated otherwise. Now I’m playing catch up and can’t

Seem to get the parameters correct. I don’t mind spending the money as long as it works. Getting frustrated