Tips and Tricks

[Shane]

I wanted to start an open thread where people can post their "Tips and Tricks" for all things aquarium hobby related. I spent a lot of time with Jools in his fishroom last month and was struck by the fact that two very experienced fishkeepers can go about accomplishing the same routine fishroom chores in very different ways. I brought home several tips and tricks from that visit and had it reinforced to me that fish husbandry is as much art as science. Please share your tips and tricks here with your fellow hobbyists.
-Shane

[Shane]

Cyanobacteria

Pretty much every aquarist has dealt with cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, at some point. It tends to coat the substrate and decor in sheets and gives the tank a foul swamp smell. Although it is a bacteria, and not an algae at all, the root causes for cyanobacteria break outs in the aquarium are the same as they are for algae.
I had a 20 gal long that was suffering from a minor cynobacteria problem mainly because it receives lot of sunlight through a nearby window. I recently moved a female cichlid that had been nearly killed by her overzealous mate to the tank and began treating her with Melafix. For those that have not used Melafix, it is an anti bacteria treatment made from the oil of the tea tree. Melafix (and Pimafix) are great treatments for the catfish hobbyist to keep on hand as they are more "gentle" on scaleless fishes than typical chemical compounds used to treat aquarium fishes.
After three days of treatment the cichlid was healing well. I also noticed that the cyanobacteria was about 80% gone. This should not have been a surprise as Melafix is an antibacterial, but truth be told, it had never occurred to me to use Melafix to rid a tank of cyanobacteria. If you are battling blue-green algae, give Melafix a try. It is certainly less "harsh" than many of the medications and antibiotics recommended for getting rid of cyanobacteria.
-Shane

[Shane]

Add music to your fishroom

I recently moved an old iPod dock and speakers out to the fishroom and set them up. Now when I head out for water changes or general maintenance I grab my iPod and rock out while I work. It really makes completing the routine chores in the fishroom much more fun and I find I often hang out after finishing my work just to hear a couple of songs. Anything that makes us spend more time with our fishes is a good thing.
-Shane

[krazyGeoff]

Tuck a small towel into your belt while performing maintenance on your tanks. It is handy to prevent wipeing wet hands all over your pants / shirt.
I also keep the towel there whenever I have a tap turned on.
When having a smoke or making a coffee I look down and see the towel, then I can run back to the fish room because I know that I have a tap running.
Geoff

[Taratron]

Always keep a spare of the following:

Net
Water conditioner
Clean bucket
A sponge filter, preseeded, in a currently running tank
Airline Tubing
Air stones
Air pump



Melafix is a good idea too!

[bronzefry]

Don't want your fish getting stuck in the tube of the sponge filter? Take a media bag, cut a hole just big enough for the airline, place over the tube and duct tape in place.

Save some of your RO waste water for your plants.
Amanda

[Shane]

I also keep the towel there whenever I have a tap turned on.

Jools has a special baseball cap for this purpose. It either hangs on the tap (water off) or is on his head (water on). Smart idea.
-Shane

[racoll]

Great thread

How about using a fat hose (e.g. 1" diameter) to really speed up water changes.

Be vigilant though, not to suck up curious fishes.

Not so much a problem in the catfish aquarium

[bronzefry]

I went through this the other day and it really paid off:
After a power outage, do a quick walk-through of your fishroom. Make sure all the filters are in proper working condition. For some reason, 1 or 2 may not restart.

When filter cleaning outputs, make sure to have the holes facing AWAY from your face.....
Amanda

[Richard B]

If you are removing gravel or sand & don't wanna syphon out with the water use an old dustpan as the flat bottom makes this quite easy

[MatsP]

One that I've never used myself, but Roo told me works: If you put a bucket at the top of your stairs, you can siphon water quite quickly into a downstairs fish-tank. Good for when you "age" water for water changes. [If you want to be fancy about it, get a tub that has wheels, drill a suitable hole and connect a hose-connector to the base of the tub - that way, the hose is permanently attached, and you don't have to try to start the siphon].

Also, to avoid using buckets, use a long hose that goes to a floor-level drain or the lawn for taking water out of the tank.

--
Mats

[andywoolloo]

keep your heater, if fully submersible kind, below the 50% water level horizontal, so you can do 50% partial water changes without worrying about exposing the heater and you do not have to worry re unplugging and 15 minsn and replugging in and waiting 15 mins.

Feed defrosted tubifex on the day before you are due to do a water change. lol

mount your power strips on a wall up a bit so no fear of water getting into them accidentally.

use seperate buckets and equip for each tank

qt your fish

cleaning canister filter tubing, a heavy ish screw or bolt attached to a piece of thick string, attached to a filter cleaning brush, drop the screw into the canister filter hose and feed it down by jiggling the tubing, when it comes out the other end, insert the brush end in and pull thru slowly, pull on the weighted end while squishing the tubing with your hand where the filter brush passes thru.

have towels everywhere, and plastic cups.

a dry erase board helps when you have multiple tanks. can note water changes, filter cleanings, tube cleanings, sponge changing etc

[Shane]

a dry erase board helps when you have multiple tanks. can note water changes, filter cleanings, tube cleanings, sponge changing etc

I actually just write on my tanks with a dry erase marker to note last water change (and percentage), date new fishes added, date fry born etc. This is esp useful when medicating a tank.
-Shane

[andywoolloo]

oohhh even better!!

[shamrock]

not really a tip or a trick but a question - anyone used aquarium pc software?

[wrasse]

When you are looking to move house, think carefully about your criteria...
X bedrooms
big kitchen
private garden
decent fish shop nearby - location location location!

And, I don't know if everyone does it... put a course sponge on the intake of an external filter and swap it weekly with a second one to cut down on maintenance.

Recently discovered a good companion/dither fish for a warm water catfish tank... giant hatchet fish. Not the usual marble or silver hatchet. They're bigger and aren't as delicate, they eat any small food given, stay in the top half, and are very showy.

[FuglyDragon]

A turkey baster makes a great tool for moving small fry / eggs, and you can use it to suck up detritus from fry tanks.
A wire tea strainer (sieve) is handy for converting flake / tablets to fine powder for feeding fry, mix it with spirulina powder to make a thick paste then add to fry tank.

[MatsP]

I use a pepper-mill for grinding tablet/granule food to fry-size grains.

--
Mats

[Cory_lover]

oooh that's a good idea using the pepper grinder! esp since i just got a batch of C. sterbai fry last night

[Shane]

I use a pepper-mill for grinding tablet/granule food to fry-size grains.

Great idea. I have always used a small mortar and pestle for the same task.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortar_and_pestle

Like so many other great fishroom tools (e.g. my turkey baster and plastic colander for cleaning gravel) I took it from the wife's kitchen. Once they see it full of ground Tetra Bits they usually just make it a gift to you.

-Shane

[MatsP]

If it wasn't for the mortar and pestle I have is _MY_ kitchen implement, and it's a good one, I probably would go for that option too - it's actually more efficient and flexible - but it's also more expensive than a cheap pepper mill from the "low-cost household store".

Another new tip is: For tying plants to wood, I use cable-ties (aka zip-ties). Black ones work best as they don't show up much.

--
Mats

[2wheelsx2]

Crazy glue and push pins is how I attach Anubias and Java Ferns to wood.

[TwoTankAmin]

The nylon wire ties are available in a variety of sizes and colors and you can gang them together to make them as long as needed. Waxed dental floss works well also, it wont dissolve and must be cut off, but it is versatile.

If you do planted in the substrate tanks and want to anchor driftwood using a tile but also want to be able to plant right up to the edge of the wood, use nylon spacers. They come in a variety of lengths and diameters. By using a longer stainless steel screw and the spacers between the tile and the wood, you can have the tile on the bottom glass while the wood only minimally below the substrate's surface. This leaves inches of substrate above the tile in which you can plant.

I use a brine shrimp net or a larger fine mesh one to net intake prefilters and sponge filters before I remove them from a tank for rinsing. This minimizes the amount of crud they let go of into the tank when they lose suction.

I have 6 old bathmats and a couple of old large bath towels for accidental overflows.

When you get older (or drunker or whatever), you forget the towel in the belt or the cap on the head or any other reminder and the system will fail. There are only 2 sure ways to be safe: 1- never leave a tank being emptied or refilled; 2- never do water changes.

[L number Banana]

A good way to feed veggies to fish that like to stay in the plants is to use a wooden skewer dropped down vertically into the centre of the plant. A skewer across the top of the tank holds it in position. It's a veggie shish-kabob, you can even skewer a shrimp or scallop onto it.

[wrasse]

When doing water-changes on a big tank or topping-up the pond, I set a portable cooker timer. the pond has over-flowed too many times before, usually because the phone rang or the dogs were barking etc.

[Jools]

Use that thing you get with dishwashers or washing machines to hook siphon hoses into tanks. Shown centre in this pic:

http://appliancespares-direct.co.uk/images/DWH05.jpg

Jools

[2wheelsx2]

Use that thing you get with dishwashers or washing machines to hook siphon hoses into tanks. Shown centre in this pic:

http://appliancespares-direct.co.uk/images/DWH05.jpg

Jools

Oooo...I like that one. I was thinking of getting some of the Fluval clips for the same use, but it looks like Fluval stole the idea.

[exasperatus2002]

I put a drip loop in all my power cords incase theres a leak it wont track back to my surge protector.

Great tips everyone.

[andywoolloo]

this is a great thread.

i also use the zip ties, to attach plants and when we make screens for the lids. zip tie the netting, hard bigger square netting coated in plastic attached to wood , thin wood like for gardening stakes attached with zip ties.

also I use various kitchen items also. big plastic spoons to stir/dissolve salt in fish buckets, if needed medicinally only. small hand held strainers to remove excess snails from sand, larger fine colanders set over a fish bucket, to gently slowly empty canister water into to save baby fish when cleaning filters. box of toothpicks, blunt end, to feed defrosted bloodworms to bettas, since they stare at the top for more even when some sinks down, I just feed them each one by one they lunge and attack the toothpick like little warriors. Plastic cups and straws for collecting mosquito larvae and feeding. You get a cup of their tank water and use the straw to suck them up, not suck, but put ur finger over the end by you and then hover other end over mosquito larve and then let finger off top and it sucks them up, put finger back on and it holds them there.

blh blh blh sorry

[DJ-don]

A good way to feed veggies to fish that like to stay in the plants is to use a wooden skewer dropped down vertically into the centre of the plant. A skewer across the top of the tank holds it in position. It's a veggie shish-kabob, you can even skewer a shrimp or scallop onto it.

I use the same concept except with stainless steel chopsticks.