Hello AC.
My daughter turned 2 in February and we decided to get her a fish tank to replace a rotating light we've been using as a night light in the bedroom.
My experience has been limited to fish in small bowls that came from the fair, and my girlfriend's experience had a traumatic ending early in her life, so we wanted to set something up that would be able to function properly.
After a few trips to various stores, we decided to go with an all-in-one unit to minimize cords, hoses, and other potential magnets for a toddler. We chose a BioCube as it appeared to be a quality piece of equipment, and offered us the possibility of saltwater as we grow in the future. (Another selling point was the 24 hour lighting system so it could actually replace the nightlight. :idea
We brought our life-support system home and put some gravel in the bottom with a few plants and filled it on up. We figured we'd give it a few days to clear out whatever stuff might be floating from the factory or whatever, and I set out trying to figure out what creatures would fit in our new world.
So begins an obsession.
After determining a few of the hardier specimens and figuring in our relatively fast-moving current (for freshwater) we let my daughter pick from 5 tanks at the LFS. She went right for the only genetically modified pet that is available, so we went home with 3 bright orange Glofish. (Even though we spent almost 2 hours trying to acclimate them before letting them into their new home, one fish didn't make it 12 hours. Lesson learned: If one of the eyes seems odd...there's probably something wrong with the fish.)
In my frenzied first reading I came across the Nitrogen Cycle and decided it would be best, since we were putting 3 fish in a 1 week old 14 gallon tank, to try to stimulate our tank with some BioSpira.
So far this stuff seems to have my ammonia and nitrites at zero! I had the LFS test the water a few times over a couple weeks, and still the same.
I bought the Mardel 5-in-1 test kit to monitor pH, total hardness, alkalinity, nitrates, and nitrites. My alkalinity was non-existent and my pH, on the low side, seemed to be affected by this.
After reading several quick and longer-term fixes, I decided to try adding some substrate (crushed coral) to raise the alkalinity, raise the pH, and add some other trace minerals. I heard that aragonite in particular was good for it's buffering properties. My only concern is that the product is for saltwater, and I am running freshwater, but it did what I wanted and so far so good.
Our driftwood has changed the water color slightly, probably due to the quantity in such a small tank, so I am doing a water change every few days until I can get the yellowish tint under control. I use a 3 liter container which by my rough calculation would be just over a 5% water change, and I have been doing that about every 3 or 4 days.
The fish sure seem to love playing/schooling in the current and then diving into the cave created by the driftwood to float a little before they jump back out into the current; and they seem to feel safe in the grove of anacharis (that's where they retreat when my hand comes in the tank).
The plants have been taking off under the BioCube's daylight, and the algae are benefiting from my liking for the Actinic light's effect on the Glofish. I have a few Otocinclus in there to help our hitchhiker snails clean up some algae. I have a desire to include some shrimp in my Cube, but I'm worried that even Yamato (Amano) Shrimp may be swept away by the 137 gph flow.
In my quest to find out everything I can about this hobby, I have been to many forums, checked books out of the library, and talked to the employees of several LFS's. I realized that I can't really find much about Freshwater use of the BioCube, so I'm blazing a trail until I do.
In case it would help, here is the current set-up:
BioCube 14 Gallon
1-24 watt 10,000k Daylight Compact Fluorescent Lamp w/ remote ballast
1-24 watt Actinic 03 Blue Compact Fluorescent Lamp w/ remote ballast
2-0.75 watt Lunar Blue Moon Glow LED's
3 Chamber Wet/Dry Filter w/ mechanical, chemical, and biological filtration
137 gph Pump
added
Marineland 50 watt Stealth Heater
Coralife Aqualight Power Center (Dual Timer)
-extra power strip b/c the Coralife only has 1 "constantly on" outlet...
substrate
15 lbs-Estes' Spctra Stone
5 lbs-CaribSea GeoMarine Aragonite Formula Florida Crushed Coral
flora
1-BioSpira Bag
3 pieces-Misc. Driftwood
Anacharis
Java Moss
Cryptocoryne
fauna
2-Orange Glofish (zebra danios)
2-Green Glofish (zebra danios)
3-Otocinclus
conical snails that hitchhiked in on the Java Moss
I also have some scrap acrylic in the basement that I thought was plexiglas until I was reading about how to construct an aquarium and went down to check it out. I saw one of those "zero edge" aquariums at the LFS and I'm thinking about constructing such an animal. There are a few do-it-yourselfers out there that have tried it, but I'm thinking something shallow that where I could house creatures that my daughter could pick up. Like a petting-zoo aquarium or something.
Anyway, here I am getting all jazzed about new ideas when a month ago I didn't even have a tank.
I'm looking forward to being able to share this community and continue in pursuit of the hobby!
--BioNube
My daughter turned 2 in February and we decided to get her a fish tank to replace a rotating light we've been using as a night light in the bedroom.
My experience has been limited to fish in small bowls that came from the fair, and my girlfriend's experience had a traumatic ending early in her life, so we wanted to set something up that would be able to function properly.
After a few trips to various stores, we decided to go with an all-in-one unit to minimize cords, hoses, and other potential magnets for a toddler. We chose a BioCube as it appeared to be a quality piece of equipment, and offered us the possibility of saltwater as we grow in the future. (Another selling point was the 24 hour lighting system so it could actually replace the nightlight. :idea
We brought our life-support system home and put some gravel in the bottom with a few plants and filled it on up. We figured we'd give it a few days to clear out whatever stuff might be floating from the factory or whatever, and I set out trying to figure out what creatures would fit in our new world.
So begins an obsession.
After determining a few of the hardier specimens and figuring in our relatively fast-moving current (for freshwater) we let my daughter pick from 5 tanks at the LFS. She went right for the only genetically modified pet that is available, so we went home with 3 bright orange Glofish. (Even though we spent almost 2 hours trying to acclimate them before letting them into their new home, one fish didn't make it 12 hours. Lesson learned: If one of the eyes seems odd...there's probably something wrong with the fish.)
In my frenzied first reading I came across the Nitrogen Cycle and decided it would be best, since we were putting 3 fish in a 1 week old 14 gallon tank, to try to stimulate our tank with some BioSpira.
So far this stuff seems to have my ammonia and nitrites at zero! I had the LFS test the water a few times over a couple weeks, and still the same.
I bought the Mardel 5-in-1 test kit to monitor pH, total hardness, alkalinity, nitrates, and nitrites. My alkalinity was non-existent and my pH, on the low side, seemed to be affected by this.
After reading several quick and longer-term fixes, I decided to try adding some substrate (crushed coral) to raise the alkalinity, raise the pH, and add some other trace minerals. I heard that aragonite in particular was good for it's buffering properties. My only concern is that the product is for saltwater, and I am running freshwater, but it did what I wanted and so far so good.
Our driftwood has changed the water color slightly, probably due to the quantity in such a small tank, so I am doing a water change every few days until I can get the yellowish tint under control. I use a 3 liter container which by my rough calculation would be just over a 5% water change, and I have been doing that about every 3 or 4 days.
The fish sure seem to love playing/schooling in the current and then diving into the cave created by the driftwood to float a little before they jump back out into the current; and they seem to feel safe in the grove of anacharis (that's where they retreat when my hand comes in the tank).
The plants have been taking off under the BioCube's daylight, and the algae are benefiting from my liking for the Actinic light's effect on the Glofish. I have a few Otocinclus in there to help our hitchhiker snails clean up some algae. I have a desire to include some shrimp in my Cube, but I'm worried that even Yamato (Amano) Shrimp may be swept away by the 137 gph flow.
In my quest to find out everything I can about this hobby, I have been to many forums, checked books out of the library, and talked to the employees of several LFS's. I realized that I can't really find much about Freshwater use of the BioCube, so I'm blazing a trail until I do.
In case it would help, here is the current set-up:
BioCube 14 Gallon
1-24 watt 10,000k Daylight Compact Fluorescent Lamp w/ remote ballast
1-24 watt Actinic 03 Blue Compact Fluorescent Lamp w/ remote ballast
2-0.75 watt Lunar Blue Moon Glow LED's
3 Chamber Wet/Dry Filter w/ mechanical, chemical, and biological filtration
137 gph Pump
added
Marineland 50 watt Stealth Heater
Coralife Aqualight Power Center (Dual Timer)
-extra power strip b/c the Coralife only has 1 "constantly on" outlet...
substrate
15 lbs-Estes' Spctra Stone
5 lbs-CaribSea GeoMarine Aragonite Formula Florida Crushed Coral
flora
1-BioSpira Bag
3 pieces-Misc. Driftwood
Anacharis
Java Moss
Cryptocoryne
fauna
2-Orange Glofish (zebra danios)
2-Green Glofish (zebra danios)
3-Otocinclus
conical snails that hitchhiked in on the Java Moss
I also have some scrap acrylic in the basement that I thought was plexiglas until I was reading about how to construct an aquarium and went down to check it out. I saw one of those "zero edge" aquariums at the LFS and I'm thinking about constructing such an animal. There are a few do-it-yourselfers out there that have tried it, but I'm thinking something shallow that where I could house creatures that my daughter could pick up. Like a petting-zoo aquarium or something.
Anyway, here I am getting all jazzed about new ideas when a month ago I didn't even have a tank.
I'm looking forward to being able to share this community and continue in pursuit of the hobby!
--BioNube
