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Aquarium progress

thedutchtouch

thedutchtouch

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2020
Messages
3,526
Location
Maryland
No fish added yet, but have made a bunch of progress on this tank getting ready for them so posting here part to give an update, part to keep track of what I've done/when. Got the tank and filters cleaned off using water/vinegar and times/air fryer them for a while, then got the stand etc.

On Saturday I collected some stream bed gravel and washed it as best I could, tested a sample in vinegar and didn't notice any bubbling so I think they should be ok to use. I've read some aquarium forums where people warn against using gravel from a stream/river, but the fish will be coming from the same place so I'm not as concerned about parasites/pollutants as if I were buying cichlids or something. Perhaps this will be a fatal flaw, time will tell.

Added some plants today- Bacopa in the back and Rotala Vietnam h'ra in the front- not exactly staying in the native tank theme with the plants I don't think but eh, they were a moment of weakness purchase at the pet store today with my kids when we stopped off for some filter supplies. Hopefully some of them start growing (I may move some of the Bacopa around if they all make it, or add some other plants in between when they start to get a bit bigger as it's looking a bit too... Uniform).

Screenshot_20230612-214201.png

The photo background is a bit of a disappointment once installed, colors are super washed out, but it's main job is to hide the wires etc so it'll be fine. The little sign says don't tap on the glass, a compromise I made with my kids that I'd buy another decoration if they followed what it says, and was a good way to redirect away from the 30 dollar castle decoration they were angling for.

Otherwise I need to add an air stone/bubbler (the one I got today was broken in package and I didn't notice until I got home so going to swap it out and install the air line/bubbler tomorrow). I am going to give it some time to filter (I think I didn't wash some of the bio media that I put in the filters well enough as it got a bit cloudy after adding them so think I have some dust circulating). Hoping that it'll settle/filter out over the next few days.

Otherwise Ive added some seachem prime to treat the water just in case there's any chloramine (though I think my water company only uses chlorine) in there and also added some seachem flourish when I added the plants, didn't really research this part that much other than reading the bottle packaging so am pretty much winging it and keeping my fingers crossed that the plants take root and grow.

I need to get a water test kit and ensure a nitrogen cycle is done before adding the fish, but no plans to add any for a bit here anyway. Hoping to find some pumpkinseed or sunfish and may add a few darters/bottom fish if I can catch a few. The girls are already talking about growing bluegill big enough to eat them and swapping them out with smaller fish, I said let's work slowly and just concentrate on keeping 3 or 4 alive in there. If that's successful, perhaps we'll add a larger stock tank in the basement, I dream about having an aquaponic setup up and running one day.

It's all a bit of an experiment, the tank and 2 filters (fluval 70) were used/free, but I put in new sponges, activated carbon, and biomax cartridges in both, and after buying the stand and all the accessories... It's not the cheapest hobby (he says on a saddle hunting forum lol).

Any experience aquarists want to weigh in on how I'm doing so far?
 
I’ve been out of the game for awhile, hope to do another one sometime, but don’t know anything about native fish… can just suggest (1) definitely don’t rush it with fish add em slow and let the thing cycle, (2) know how many watts of light you have per gallon if you’re doing live plants, and (3) CO2 injection works wonders for plants and can be done as simply as a pop bottle, hose, some yeast and sugar, it’s kinda fun.
 
Looks good so far, the only thing that was recommended to me that I’ve now taken as gospel is: when you add fish to “clean” or “new” water, the tank will become very cloudy as an explosion of microorganisms are created in the “clean” environment, don’t buy into the hype of having to buy this or that, just let it be and it will balance itself out over time.
 
ketch22 said:
Looks good so far, the only thing that was recommended to me that I’ve now taken as gospel is: when you add fish to “clean” or “new” water, the tank will become very cloudy as an explosion of microorganisms are created in the “clean” environment, don’t buy into the hype of having to buy this or that, just let it be and it will balance itself out over time.
Click to expand...
I purposely buy hardy fish to get that all taken care of. Then after its all cleared up and thriving, I add whatever fish I'm going to have in it. Usually some sort of a cleaner fish like Cory Cat fish. They clean up any leftover food on the bottom to help keep the tank clean and fun to watch if you get a school (wont work well with a native tank unless you want them to end up a meal as they only het 1-2" long)
 
thedutchtouch said:
No fish added yet, but have made a bunch of progress on this tank getting ready for them so posting here part to give an update, part to keep track of what I've done/when. Got the tank and filters cleaned off using water/vinegar and times/air fryer them for a while, then got the stand etc.

On Saturday I collected some stream bed gravel and washed it as best I could, tested a sample in vinegar and didn't notice any bubbling so I think they should be ok to use. I've read some aquarium forums where people warn against using gravel from a stream/river, but the fish will be coming from the same place so I'm not as concerned about parasites/pollutants as if I were buying cichlids or something. Perhaps this will be a fatal flaw, time will tell.

Added some plants today- Bacopa in the back and Rotala Vietnam h'ra in the front- not exactly staying in the native tank theme with the plants I don't think but eh, they were a moment of weakness purchase at the pet store today with my kids when we stopped off for some filter supplies. Hopefully some of them start growing (I may move some of the Bacopa around if they all make it, or add some other plants in between when they start to get a bit bigger as it's looking a bit too... Uniform).

View attachment 86061

The photo background is a bit of a disappointment once installed, colors are super washed out, but it's main job is to hide the wires etc so it'll be fine. The little sign says don't tap on the glass, a compromise I made with my kids that I'd buy another decoration if they followed what it says, and was a good way to redirect away from the 30 dollar castle decoration they were angling for.

Otherwise I need to add an air stone/bubbler (the one I got today was broken in package and I didn't notice until I got home so going to swap it out and install the air line/bubbler tomorrow). I am going to give it some time to filter (I think I didn't wash some of the bio media that I put in the filters well enough as it got a bit cloudy after adding them so think I have some dust circulating). Hoping that it'll settle/filter out over the next few days.

Otherwise Ive added some seachem prime to treat the water just in case there's any chloramine (though I think my water company only uses chlorine) in there and also added some seachem flourish when I added the plants, didn't really research this part that much other than reading the bottle packaging so am pretty much winging it and keeping my fingers crossed that the plants take root and grow.

I need to get a water test kit and ensure a nitrogen cycle is done before adding the fish, but no plans to add any for a bit here anyway. Hoping to find some pumpkinseed or sunfish and may add a few darters/bottom fish if I can catch a few. The girls are already talking about growing bluegill big enough to eat them and swapping them out with smaller fish, I said let's work slowly and just concentrate on keeping 3 or 4 alive in there. If that's successful, perhaps we'll add a larger stock tank in the basement, I dream about having an aquaponic setup up and running one day.

It's all a bit of an experiment, the tank and 2 filters (fluval 70) were used/free, but I put in new sponges, activated carbon, and biomax cartridges in both, and after buying the stand and all the accessories... It's not the cheapest hobby (he says on a saddle hunting forum lol).

Any experience aquarists want to weigh in on how I'm doing so far?
Click to expand...
Aquarium Co-Op sells their own fertilizer called "easy green" and it worked way better for me that anything form a box store.
 
If you are using stream fish, then use stream water, stream rocks and gravel. Don't worry about cleaning everything, plug in your filter and clean the filter bag a few times and drop the stream fish in. Don't over think it. I have been running aquariums for 30 years. A river, pond aquarium is the easiest to run.
I don't mess with saltwater anymore, but did run a few for awhile. I live in VA Beach, brought home buckets of saltwater, sand, and fish. Ran flawlessly until I introduced non-native species (snails for algae build up)
If you are running aquarium fish, then yes do all you are doing.
 
Great thread. I've been out of that hobby for a decade plus after 20+ years of varied sizes, habitats, & species. When our kids were young we had Oscars as pets the way most have cats & dogs.

You just might have inspired me to give it another go, and if so, I'm most interested in local freshwater fishes.

I'm of an age and situation that I could probably use some real dollars and do something substantial... so long as I stop buying hunting kit!

I always wanted to build one into a wall such that it was enjoyable from multiple rooms, and the hardware was all hidden behind access panels. Probably still a pipe dream.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 
Lol I chuckled at the pipe dream comment, strong work. My kids just gave me a "dad jokes are how eye roll" Tshirt.

Hm sounds like I might be able to introduce the fish faster than I'd thought, makes sense that the stream fish would be a bit hardier, but will still likely give it a bit to see what's going on with the plants first. The cloudiness os pretty much gone overnight, confirms the inadequate rinsing of the filter media etc I think. Makes the background even more obvious, I definitely "installed" it incorrectly, the cors pop where it's right against the glass, but where's there's a tiny bit of air space... It's pretty muted. So Im going to give that another try to attempt to get the entire thing clinging to the glass, perhaps I'll get it a bit wet to encourage that.
 
This is a super cool idea. I have no aquarium experience, but I love the idea of doing one with what is available near by. Good luck, I look forward to following along!
 
Looking good. Just do your research on fish compatibility. Don't be the guy who had to explain to his daughter why her brother's fish ate her fish.......

Also you need to have places for them to hide, it promote healthier fish due to providing them with cover and stress reliever.
 
Although I haven't kept an aquarium for about 10 years, I kept native fish in a 40 gallon aquarium for years. Also had an Eastern Painted turtle in the same tank for a while. My 13 yr old son currently has a 40 gallon tank with a small channel cat and a turtle.

A couple of things I learned over the years:

Don't overstock your tank. It will be way easier on you and your fish if you stay well understocked. Especially with native fish, they can be dirty.

Don't overfeed your fish, they need way less food than you think.

Water changes are your friend. Frequent 25-50% water changes are much better than less frequent 50%+ changes.

Get one of these or something similar and get your faucet set up to use it. You will thank me later.


If you are keeping native fish that will eventually outgrow your tank, keep the water as cool as you can. The warmer the water the quicker the fish will grow.

Good luck with your plants. I tried on several occasions to keep live vegetation and it was more work then the fish by far. I eventually gave up, you can get some pretty real looking artificial vegetation.

Over the years I had various sunfish, perch, SM and LM bass, catfish, crappie, and even a 4" long chain pickerel for a while that my son called "the pokey fish". It only made it a couple of weeks. There is flood control dam near me that the Corps starts lowering the water in mid summer. This would create a small pool about half the size of a basketball court in the middle of a large flat that would strand thousands of minnows of every species that lived in that lake. A buddy and I would seine that pool every year and get literal trash cans full of finger size minnows. We would stock his farm ponds with most of them but, I would always pick a few out for my tank.

Blue Gill and Sunfish were actually harder to keep than Bass for me. It always seemed like the BG were loaded with parasites, even when I would catch them out of the same pond or lake as I caught my bass every year. They also were much more aggressive with each other. I would catch 4-5 BG at the same time, all about the same size, and put them in the tank together. They would immediately start picking on the weakest fish until they killed it, then the next weakest fish would be the target, so on and so on until just one fish was left.

Bass are by far the most enjoyable and easiest native fish I have kept, especially small mouth. If you can catch them at 3-4" this time of year (can be a challenge) you can keep them for about a year in a 40 gallon tank. They will be 6-8" long at that point and ready to swap out with small ones again. It is amazing to watch them eat. I used to have pics of 6" long small mouth swimming around with the tails of four different 3" long Rosey Red minnows hanging out of their mouth. When they were real small they would eat minnows almost as long as they were. Half of the minnow would be sticking out of the bass's mouth for several hours until he digested it. They would also quickly learn to eat out of your hand. The kids would love to dangle a minnow by the tail and have the bass come out of the water to take it out of their fingers.

I almost always kept a channel catfish or two to clean up the bottom of the tank also.

Overall it was fun and the kids loved it. I still regret getting rid of my tank at times and was kind of excited when my son wanted to get one. I would set your tank up in the room you spend the most time in. I think my downfall was my tank was in a game room that we didn't use that often. A tank is much more enjoyable when you can watch it frequently.

(Disclaimer: I am making no claims about the legality of anything said above. My buddy and I actually stopped seining that pool when we realized one day that we literally had thousands of undersized and/or out of season fish and we started doing some mental math on the potential fines for that)
 
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Thanks all (and particularly @GCTerpfan lots of detail there). Sunfish/bluegill is the main plan because of the no minimum size to keep rule around me, but I would like to find a bass from somewhere if it's doable/doesn't pose possible fines etc, one step at a time though.

I foresee myself going to plastic plants as well, as particularly with bluegill I hear they can go after the plants at times. More shelter is in the works as well, may do some stacked rocks with hidden spray foam to keep them together, or a broken pot or something, trying to avoid buying more things for now. This aquarium was given to me as a 55 gallon, but after looking at the dimensions, I'm pretty sure it's a 39 so likely scale back to 2-3 sunfish and perhaps a bottom feeder or two, hoping that with two filters and regular water changes I'll be able to flirt with the max capacity lines a bit when they are bigger.

I'm also doing my best to set the stage that it's more of an experiment than pets to the kids- while I will try my hardest to avoid this, I've been talking about how we should "expect them to die and then we figure out what went wrong and fix it". I'm guessing it'll still not be great if that happens, we'll see if I need to head down to the stream and pull an switcheroo if I lose one or two when they are at their mom's house (oh ,no, it must have been hiding for a few days and then grew a bunch). Speaking of which, I need hiding spots.

Do I have too much gravel in there? I figured more gravel is more surface area for bacteria to grow/break down ammonia and nitrates, but also wondering if I overdid it a bit.

I also really like the looks of that water filler gizmo, quite a bit indoor floor safe than what I did to fill it (ran the garden hose in the front door and across the dining room pinned it in place with a chair and , ran and turned it off when the water got to the top)
 
thedutchtouch said:
Thanks all (and particularly @GCTerpfan lots of detail there). Sunfish/bluegill is the main plan because of the no minimum size to keep rule around me, but I would like to find a bass from somewhere if it's doable/doesn't pose possible fines etc, one step at a time though.

I foresee myself going to plastic plants as well, as particularly with bluegill I hear they can go after the plants at times. More shelter is in the works as well, may do some stacked rocks with hidden spray foam to keep them together, or a broken pot or something, trying to avoid buying more things for now. This aquarium was given to me as a 55 gallon, but after looking at the dimensions, I'm pretty sure it's a 39 so likely scale back to 2-3 sunfish and perhaps a bottom feeder or two, hoping that with two filters and regular water changes I'll be able to flirt with the max capacity lines a bit when they are bigger.

I'm also doing my best to set the stage that it's more of an experiment than pets to the kids- while I will try my hardest to avoid this, I've been talking about how we should "expect them to die and then we figure out what went wrong and fix it". I'm guessing it'll still not be great if that happens, we'll see if I need to head down to the stream and pull an switcheroo if I lose one or two when they are at their mom's house (oh ,no, it must have been hiding for a few days and then grew a bunch). Speaking of which, I need hiding spots.

Do I have too much gravel in there? I figured more gravel is more surface area for bacteria to grow/break down ammonia and nitrates, but also wondering if I overdid it a bit.

I also really like the looks of that water filler gizmo, quite a bit indoor floor safe than what I did to fill it (ran the garden hose in the front door and across the dining room pinned it in place with a chair and , ran and turned it off when the water got to the top)
Click to expand...

Gravel looks good. You are right, more surface area is better. Also, when you refill after a water change try to get the water you are putting back in close to the temp of the water in the aquarium. Just a simple feel test is good enough but, having a 70 deg tank and filling it with 55 deg water from a hose will cause a temp drop that will stress your fish. The cleaner/filler I linked above will allow you to adjust the fill water from your sink.

I personally wouldn't spray foam the rocks. Rearranging them occasionally to create a new underwater world is half the fun.
 
GCTerpfan said:
Gravel looks good. You are right, more surface area is better. Also, when you refill after a water change try to get the water you are putting back in close to the temp of the water in the aquarium. Just a simple feel test is good enough but, having a 70 deg tank and filling it with 55 deg water from a hose will cause a temp drop that will stress your fish. The cleaner/filler I linked above will allow you to adjust the fill water from your sink.

I personally wouldn't spray foam the rocks. Rearranging them occasionally to create a new underwater world is half the fun.
Click to expand...
Sounds good thanks. The spray foam idea came in to try to maximize space- thinner rocks glued together to make walls that don't topple. But it would also be something else to buy so yeah likely I'll just stack some up
 
I hope live plants work out for you. An aquarium is so much cooler with live plants.

And another warning with crayfish is they climb and will get out of your tank. We had one a very large one that we found dead in my son’s closet halfway across the house several days after we realized he was missing.
 
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