What Works for Me May Not Work for You

I threw a chunk of frozen bloodworms in the microwave to thaw 'em out, forgot they were in there, and baked them to the dish.

I've been known to obsess about my water perimeters to the point where my husband tells me to change the subject.

I never wash my hands before sticking them to the tank!

Or quarantine!

Or acclimate properly!

And right now I'm in a bit of a snit because I didn't know you could rinse your filter cartridges out in water to re-use them. I was throwing them away when they got too gunky.

And.. one time I filled the water up so high that my cories banged their noses on the top when they swam up for a gulp of air.

And.... I can drop a small fortune on fish supplies without blinking an eye. Forget the tank pictures.... we should post pictures of our loved ones' faces after a trip to the lfs/petstore, lol
 
I'm trying a bunch of new things with my aquarium:

Potting soil under sand substrate (with some gravel underneath that)

substrate is 4.5 inches deep to promote denitrification - it works!

I switched from plastic plants to live plants

I'm keeping live blackworms and Malaysian trumpet snails in the soil intentionally

added some dead leaves for tannins, they also feed the worms

planted an ivy houseplant (pothos) and let it trail out of the tank

bought a canister filter, I think it's way better than my old HOB's

got rid of the original strip light and hung shoplights from the ceiling as lighting

I think I will continue doing all of these new things, because I've seen such improvement with each of them. Though the pothos as yet to prove itself. My fish are looking and acting better than they ever have before.
 
NorthcoastGirl said:
I threw a chunk of frozen bloodworms in the microwave to thaw 'em out, forgot they were in there, and baked them to the dish.

I've been known to obsess about my water perimeters to the point where my husband tells me to change the subject.

I never wash my hands before sticking them to the tank!

Or quarantine!

Or acclimate properly!

And right now I'm in a bit of a snit because I didn't know you could rinse your filter cartridges out in water to re-use them. I was throwing them away when they got too gunky.

And.. one time I filled the water up so high that my cories banged their noses on the top when they swam up for a gulp of air.

And.... I can drop a small fortune on fish supplies without blinking an eye. Forget the tank pictures.... we should post pictures of our loved ones' faces after a trip to the lfs/petstore, lol
Click to expand...

Har har har! You're funny!

Wow, you know, there's a lot of women in this hobby! Smart women! I just thought I should point out how many of us there are and how durn smart we are!

Though I am picky and biased towards the whole nature-artificial elements approach to the well-balance, stable fish tank I believe that any approach which effectively pleases a particular aquarist is the right one for her or him, even if I am personally snobby about their approach. Also, I am a bit cavalier, too, re. acclimation and hand washing. Never had a problem.
 
Anoxia said:
substrate is 4.5 inches deep to promote denitrification - it works!

added some dead leaves for tannins, they also feed the worms

planted an ivy houseplant (pothos) and let it trail out of the tank

bought a canister filter, I think it's way better than my old HOB's

got rid of the original strip light and hung shoplights from the ceiling as lighting

I think I will continue doing all of these new things, because I've seen such improvement with each of them. Though the pothos as yet to prove itself. My fish are looking and acting better than they ever have before.
Click to expand...

You know, Anoxia, these things yer doin' with the tank are very interesting! When I am situated again in a place where I can keep an aquarium, I'm definitely taking some queues from you. Tried the pothos thing already once and found it very effective. Walstad emphasizes emersed plants and I think she's spot on!
 
1.) I hardly ever buy fish supplies(except H2O conditioner) I just buy another used tank setup:grinyes:
2.) I never buy new filters and heaters
3.) I hardly ever buy fish(I take what people don't want)
4.) Most of the time my tank lights in the fish room are turned off except between 12-4am in the morning when I'm in there doing water changes and playing with the rats.
5.) I keep all of my fish foods in containers, I hate the bags some come in, they rip easily and fall over.
6.) I'm constantly checking for coupons at the LFS. Usually will get my Hikari food half off.
7.) Always buy used substrate.
8.) I have ducks and chickens, so I'm feeding my fish fresh eggs with no chems/steroids TIP: Ducks eggs have double the nutrition of chicken eggs.
9.) I do a quick scan of my fish during feeding time to make sure my fish are all there and looking healthy.
10.) I only test water when there's a problem, setting up a new tank, or moving fish to different tank.
11.) I swap unneeded tank supplies for H2O plants.
12.) If there's a dirt cheap good deal on a tank setup on CL I buy it regardless of whether I need it, and most of the time I always end up using it.

Just a side note: I've spent less then $300 on my 15+ tanks( a couple of the large ones arnt setup)
 
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the only thing i do that most people probably dont do is........save every little baby java from my 55 i must have at least 100 baby javas growing in my plant tank, it looks like a little forest!!!!
 
-Clean out filter once to twice a year
-Keep temp in the 74-76f range
-Keep fish that can only comfortably turn arounf in the tank
-Grow algae like its nothing, free fish food, gets as thick as lettice leafs.
-love tannin rich water
-water change 50% biweekly
-tried using meds backfired.
-overprotective of my fish
-love snails and catfish almost too much
-get a rush when the lfs gets a new order in
-diy most of my filters
-would only use activated carbon to remove meds.
 
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Well okay I'm cheap!

buy or accept all equipment used (craigslist)
use clip on construction lamps with CF screw-in bulbs
water changes 50% 1x week with python
I like airstones and bubblers
use carbon and change every month
do not use medication
overfeed
feed only Monday thru Friday
Firm on soil base subst.
filters anything cheap or free
stone and wood from nature not the store
will mix live and fake plants mostly live plants only own 4 fake plants.
I like duckweed
let cats drink from open top tanks (who's going to stop 4 cats from getting to water)
3 nets for 7 tanks
 
Surfkat: I always have dog hairs in my tanks!!

I use a bucket for my water changes, and change 'one bucket full' from my 10g and the same from my 20g about once a week. I rinse filter media on tank water or warm tap water depending on gunk level and age of media. I sometimes skip water conditioner (no problems yet), but almost always match temp.
I euthanize guppies that are visibly infected using clove oil, then dump some salt in the tank for good measure.

I'm fairly new to this but already have some bad habits... dang.
 
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