Pets MEGA Cats VS Dogs - POLL!

[junglejuice]

btw...beautiful tanks!
All your corals and fish look very happy.

 

[junglejuice]

Here's a question:

After I came back from my 6 week long trip from Europe, my tank had plenty of algae growing everywhere (Perhaps I set the light-timer to stay on for too long.) But my question is, what would be the best way to remove the algae that seems to be caked on the walls of the tank/lava rock?

I tried using the abrasive side of a dish washing sponge, but it seemed to be rock hard.

I had an infestation of snails that looked like they were eating away at the algae, but their population has mysteriously disappeared.

edit: moar questions.
How often do you clean your tank? How often do you change the rocks/gravel/sand? How many hours of light would be ideal for tropical freshwater fish like mine? Is a rapid build-up of algae a sign of something wrong?

Well...there are a few factors that contribute to algae growth
-overfeeding, leading to excess nutrients such as nitrates
-lighting...how much, how long? Any natural light?
-water chemistry parameters such as phosphates, etc (more advanced)

Your tank sounds like a mess and once you get it clean, it'll be fine as long as you keep up with it in terms of maintenance.

To clean the glass of stubborn algae:

Go to home depot or the equivalent and get yourself some straight razor blades. This works great on removing ANYTHING from glass...even marker or spraypaint. When using one of these blades just be careful to not slice the silicone at the seams. That could cause your tank to leak. Razor blades are great. Don't use a kitchen sponge! Many times those have detergents, soaps and chemicals in them. Get an algae scrubber pad from your LFS, that's what they are meant for.

To clean the gravel of stubborn algae:

Your gravel is what holds the vast majority of your beneficial bacteria. You don't want to replace it unless absolutely necessary. If your gravel is all covered with algae, just stir it up. When algae cant get light, it dies. Stir the clean gravel up to the top of the gravel bed.

To clean larger rocks:

I'm guessing you have some large chunks of lava rock and other things as decorations. These can be a pain to clean, but try this easy way. Take all your rocks, ornaments and artificial plants, but NOT your gravel, and pile it all into a large sink or your tub. Hose everything off to remove debris. Then fill the basin with hot water, enough to cover everything. Then add bleach at about a 5% ratio to the water. Trust me on this, it works. Let it sit for a few hours, drain, and then spray everything off with the showerhead/sink sprayer. This will knock off a lot of loosened algae. Rebleach if needed. When you are done, spread these items out (if they are arranged in a bathtub, thats cool) and let them dry until you don't smell bleach on them anymore. Then cover them with water one more time, and this time add dechlorinator to remove any traces of bleach (bleach = chlorine). For the truly cautious, let em dry out one more time. Just make sure that you smell no bleach.

So...

Don't replace the stones or gravel unless completely necessary. Usually they can just be cleaned. I do water changes about once ever 3-4 weeks in my tanks, no more than 50% at a time.

To clean this tank up-
-Thoroughly wipe down the insides of the tank, scraping off the algae into the water
-Remove all decorations you wish to bleach.
-Stir up the gravel as much as possible
-Siphon out a lot of water, trying to get as much algae, debris and shit out.
-Fill tank back up with 78˚f, dechlorinated water
-Put in plants/decorations once they are ready.

If you haven't done a water change in a long time, chances are that your pH has become very acidic. The fish are probably used to it if that is the case. The problem comes in with the water change. If you knock the pH up via 2 points, that's a big difference and can lead to fish stress or death. Not to scare you, just to suggest that you test your pH before you undertake this project.

Your tank should get about 10 hours of light a day, and preferably no natural light. This will help to cut down on algae growth. Also don't overfeed, and consider adding an algae eater such as a plecostomus. They do a great job.

 

[Xyzpdq0121]

Ya, the acans, zoas and LPS should be fine. Good to hear that your acros are doing ok. With that shallow of water, you are rig, the PAR should not be that deminished, but not a long term solution. Like I said, I did not mean it to come off like I was bashing. I am deep in the business as well so...

Great thread, and I am excited to who else has a tank.

 

[Xyzpdq0121]

Well...there are a few factors that contribute to algae growth
-overfeeding, leading to excess nutrients such as nitrates
-lighting...how much, how long? Any natural light?
-water chemistry parameters such as phosphates, etc (more advanced)

Your tank sounds like a mess and once you get it clean, it'll be fine as long as you keep up with it in terms of maintenance.

To clean the glass of stubborn algae:

Go to home depot or the equivalent and get yourself some straight razor blades. This works great on removing ANYTHING from glass...even marker or spraypaint. When using one of these blades just be careful to not slice the silicone at the seams. That could cause your tank to leak. Razor blades are great. Don't use a kitchen sponge! Many times those have detergents, soaps and chemicals in them. Get an algae scrubber pad from your LFS, that's what they are meant for.

To clean the gravel of stubborn algae:

Your gravel is what holds the vast majority of your beneficial bacteria. You don't want to replace it unless absolutely necessary. If your gravel is all covered with algae, just stir it up. When algae cant get light, it dies. Stir the clean gravel up to the top of the gravel bed.

To clean larger rocks:

I'm guessing you have some large chunks of lava rock and other things as decorations. These can be a pain to clean, but try this easy way. Take all your rocks, ornaments and artificial plants, but NOT your gravel, and pile it all into a large sink or your tub. Hose everything off to remove debris. Then fill the basin with hot water, enough to cover everything. Then add bleach at about a 5% ratio to the water. Trust me on this, it works. Let it sit for a few hours, drain, and then spray everything off with the showerhead/sink sprayer. This will knock off a lot of loosened algae. Rebleach if needed. When you are done, spread these items out (if they are arranged in a bathtub, thats cool) and let them dry until you don't smell bleach on them anymore. Then cover them with water one more time, and this time add dechlorinator to remove any traces of bleach (bleach = chlorine). For the truly cautious, let em dry out one more time. Just make sure that you smell no bleach.

So...

Don't replace the stones or gravel unless completely necessary. Usually they can just be cleaned. I do water changes about once ever 3-4 weeks in my tanks, no more than 50% at a time.

To clean this tank up-
-Thoroughly wipe down the insides of the tank, scraping off the algae into the water
-Remove all decorations you wish to bleach.
-Stir up the gravel as much as possible
-Siphon out a lot of water, trying to get as much algae, debris and shit out.
-Fill tank back up with 78˚f, dechlorinated water
-Put in plants/decorations once they are ready.

If you haven't done a water change in a long time, chances are that your pH has become very acidic. The fish are probably used to it if that is the case. The problem comes in with the water change. If you knock the pH up via 2 points, that's a big difference and can lead to fish stress or death. Not to scare you, just to suggest that you test your pH before you undertake this project.

Your tank should get about 10 hours of light a day, and preferably no natural light. This will help to cut down on algae growth. Also don't overfeed, and consider adding an algae eater such as a plecostomus. They do a great job.

The only thing I would add to this (and by no means do I keep FW fish anymore so take what I say with a grain of salt), Make sure you are using some sort of purified water. Most local fish stores will sell RO water (do not use RO/DI in a FW tank), You can get bottled water in gallon jugs from any store, you can even get purified water in machines and 5 gallon containers at most any supermarket in the US. The amount of phosphates and nitrates in most tap water (no to meanton other bad things you do not want in your tank) will grow algae like mad.

You might also consider getting good ligts like PC lights and growing plants in your tank. The plants will help keep the O2 level up in your FW tank and compete for the same nutrients that the algae needs to live.

Oh that just reminded me of another point, how old are your lights? As a bulb gets older, it shifts in color and that can help algae grow.

 

[slortaone]

ahh i just typed a whole lot and it got deleted! i just wanted to say stunning tanks ay, Xyzpdq0121 your corals are amazing.. JJ your 20g long reef setup is really cool, i love tanks in that style. i used to keep mudskippers, they spend half there life in water and half out (brackish) really cool pet, here he is, oofoe..

some malawis i kept some 3 years ago..

Bruce the Green Terror!

I currently keep,

1x Saratoga Jardini
1x Green Terror
1x Fire Oscar, hes about 6 years old. there the best jj.
5x Synodontis Multipunctus
1X Synodontis Decorus
1x Gold spot Pleco (big!)

i dont have as many tanks as id like right now but thatll change soon, im making more room id love to give a reef a go, i also really like triggerfish and puffers so saltwater is definatly on the cards. At the moment im all about freshwater tankbusters and catfish tho! moar flicks! im really blown away by your corals. oh and that oscar tank is setup perfect, props.

edit- nice cichlids n3ophy7e! malawis were what got me hooked on fish.
JJ man awesome idea on the 6 footer for the mantis, there so innocent looking but anyone who knows, knows! there the biggest savages around. Also that puffer looks awesome, freshwater you say?

 

[Jamshyd]

I'd love to get a tank with anemones, corals, molluscs and other invertebrates. I am fascinated by these creatures.

Nice pics, everyone

 

[euphoria]

yeah i am too. funny this thread resurfaced because recently over the past 2 weeks or so i've been seriously considering getting a freshwater tank and starting an aquarium of my own. i love fish. i have to wait until i move in 3 weeks to get anything new. i'm going to start with a freshwater tank since that seems a little less complicated. i dont wanna fuck it up and kill my fishies with the wrong pH of water or something

 

[panic_the_digital]

When I go home to see my folks I'll snap some shots of my Frontosas. I've got them breeding as well as some Haplochromis sp. 44 red-tail. Good pics all around.

 

[BA]

I upgraded to a 10-gallon tank a couple days ago. Still have my puffer fish, he's about 4 inches long.
Pay no attention to the shitty background, I haven't gotten a backdrop yet.

 

[n3ophy7e]

Nice tank BA! The puffer fish is really cute, does he/she have a name?

 

[DarthMom]

i am so sad none of jungles pics are showing up.

i have always wanted a saltwater tank, but it is so demanding, i don't want to get into something when i can't even keep my sons beta tank from not getting green.

we have a family member with one built into their breakfast nook wall and it is so fabulous. and another friend who has a few in her home, but she said she spends hundreds every other week, it just seems so expensive.

 

[junglejuice]

Tank looks good, BA!

I have a pet lobster now...but no camera.

He looks like this

 

[poopie]

Rock LOBSTAH!!!

 

[artaxerxes]

Ferrets are way cool pets. But from what I've read regarding your apartment's limitations, may I suggest a rat? In fact, two rats, but I'll get to that later.

Rats are very smart: they learn their names, will come when you call them if you train them to do so, they're cute as hell, they learn tricks if you desire to train them, and they're quite easy to take care of. They're very clean and they never smell.

There are some studies that suggest that rats spend 30% of their time grooming themselves. Once you have one, you'll understand this statistic. They constantly groom themselves. I gave my two rats baths rather frequently because I enjoy the fragrance of green tea and bergamot (the fragrance of their shampoo), but after a bath I would have two rats grooming themselves for a couple hours after their baths. That's what they're into. They like to have their fur just so. It's pretty funny actually.

I had two females. Females are known to be more adventurous, whereas males tend to like to just hang out (preferably on your shoulder, or better still, on your lap).

Rats take up virtually no space. You just have to give them a cage that's large enough for them frolic around in. My rats were well-trained, would come when I called them, and were highly-socialized, so I would let them out to run around my office when I was working. I work at home so they were good companions.

I tend to get really angry when I am writing or designing, hence a lot of shouting and swearing and throwing of objects when looking for the right word or the solution to a design problem. After they got over the fact that I wasn't mad at them, they would crawl on my shoulders when I was violently angry. It calmed me down. My dog is still scared by my manic outbursts and he will stay well away from me during my fits of rage.

My rats' favorite location was in my home office, hanging out either on my shoulder, on the bookshelves near my desk, on top of my computer or my large desk. (It's a door braced by two file cabinets, about 7 feet in length.)

They are highly sociable and love being around humans. They loved to greet my friends and take a ride on their shoulders. Some of my friends grew up in places where rats were persistent vermin, stealing food and scaring the living shit out of them as children. I had a similar upbringing and until I met a friend's rat, I would never have considered a rat as a pet.

So, getting back to having two rats instead of one. Rats are highly social animals and studies have shown that they get really neurotic without another rat companion. Neurotic rats will chew shit you don't want them to chew. Pretty much everything I've read on vet boards and pet rat boards are in agreement on this. However, I had my first rat for a few months before I got her a companion. I can say that my first rat acted like she'd much rather have been an only rat. She wasn't into sharing my attention at all.

Also, I know of several rats in friends homes who are very happy being single rats with the family cat (true) or the family dog as their sole companion.

I rescued my rats from a snake/lizard/tarantula store. (The Vivarium, if you want to know more about them. They're hard-core into reptiles and big spiders and they sell a lot of giant Madagascar cockroaches to baby goths.) They were feeder rats but they turned out to be great pets.

However, rats that are bred by breeders (and you're talking $20-30 for a rat. They're super cheap and cheap to maintain.) are supposedly way easier to train because they choose the very social rats to breed for pets.

Long-ass post. But I think rats can make great pets and your situation strongly suggests that rats could be the perfect pets for you.

I should also add that at the time that I got my rats I was deep in a suicidal depression. Very very bad. I'm almost 40 now and have had multiple phases of depression and unfortunately they get worse with age. I didn't think I could stand to be alive long enough to get a dog. My rats helped me out of my depression, and when I went through a pretty hideous time with a couple of botched back surgeries and family deaths and 2 close friends who OD'd, my rats made it easier for me to get through those challenges.

Like dogs, they are animals who have the capacity to sense and respond to your pain. My rats helped me out of my depression because they gave me something to nurture and take care of. And they distracted me from my pain.

Downsides to owning rats: They die. usually within 3-5 years. That's another reason to get a rats from a breeder. They tend to live longer than feeder rats. Also, check for a rat vet in your area before you go and get a couple rats. There are vets who specialize in rats, but they can be few and far between. The movie Ratatouille has increased the sale of pet rats by about 1000% (even in France!) so there are more vets learning about rat health.

That's enough book writing for right now. Sorry about the length of the post. I tried to give you all the information you'd need to make the decision to get a rat or two.

Here are some photos:

 

[mariacallas]

andi

 

[junglejuice]

Please share your experiences

-How long did it take to see results?
-Are your allergies completely gone now?
-Did insurance cover it?
-How long was your course of treatment

Thanks

 

[Rogue Robot]

I'm curious to know myself.

 

[AfterGlow]

As a kid, I got allergy shots from the time I was about 5 or 6 until about 11 or 12. My insurance covered it. In the end, they stopped giving them to me because my arms would swell up with reactions. My allergies started going away on their own when I was about 18. But if I rub a cat in my face today, my eyes will get red and swollen and my nose will get stuffy. Allergy shots didn't really work for me.

 

[[eK]]

I'm keen to hear of some positive outcomes from these shots.
At the moment my face and throat swells up whenever I even walk through the same house my kitten is in. Not to mention the unconteollable sneezing I suffer after I play with her.

 

[CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT]

^I'm the same eK. My eyes water, go red and puffy, my skin itches, I have trouble breathing, my nose becomes full and conjested and I sneeze uncontrollably whenever I'm around a cat or dog, or even where one has been! Same for birds in cages, or any other hairy or feathered animal. If one licks me I break out in itchy red hives.

As well as pet triggered hayfever and asthma, I'm also triggered by dust and pollen - so I'm just a bundle of fun to care for in general.

I've thought about allergy shots but the cost seems very prohibitive and I don't believe my current insurance covers it.