Has anyone here ever owned an aquarium of any kind? Is it true they require constant maintenance and monitoring? Feeding and changing water obviously, but also cleaning, O2, CO2, N, fighting algae, temperature, pumps, etc etc)
Would one with just plants + shrimps be relatively self-sustainable?
Im considering setting up one but im worried the overall hassle might be too much.
If you're one of those people that enjoys keeping plants, you'll probably be fine.
Personally the upkeep wasn't worth it for me, I stopped appreciating the tank after a couple months and then it just became a chore.
thanks, i didnt know
this actually does somewhat appeal to me. I myself would be changing the water though, because i plan to have a system that would use aquarium as a water-tank for watering nearby potted plants automatically, and i would manually refill the aquarium (with rainwater when possible)
Start with a freshwater aquarium if you're serious about trying. Once you get the aquarium cycled and running properly they are low maintenance. But that can take months, even a year for heavily planted tanks. Even then its not like its much work.
If you set up a planted aquarium and don't overstock it with fish there shouldn't much algae or issues with water chemistry once everything settles in. At that point it's just regular partial water changes once every week or two and filter maintenance, maybe some fertilizer.
Its the process of getting the tank to that balanced state which requires trial and error in terms of plants, substrate, lighting, co2, fertilizer, etc. But it doesn't have to be complicated. One of my best heavily planted 10g tanks used compact florescent plant bulbs and a shitty co2 generator that was powered by yeast and sugar. It had a betta and some cherry shrimp. These days you can much better co2 equipment inexpensively.
Aquariums do require some work and research in the beginning. Once they're up and running its maybe 30min of maintenance a week plus daily feedings. You can also set up an auto feeder if you're not around to feed them.
Just be careful about that great deal online from the single mother selling an aquarium inexpensively. Its usually not worth the risk of a leak from old or shitty seals. Buy a new tank.
This pretty much
Freshwater is easy enough. Don’t overstock it. Take 15min once a week to do a little water change, maybe 30min to an hour once a month to vacuum and check filter media. Larger tanks are harder to frick up, especially once they’re established. Algae doesn’t get too bad as long as it’s set up right and a quick scrub is included in that 15min a week. You can get a couple snails or a smaller breed of pleco to help, just don’t be the dumbass with a 10” long common pleco in a 10gal tank.
I would check out like a 20gal long or 29gal to start, unless you have the money and ambition to go 55-75gal. 10gal tanks will leave you really limited, 29gal won’t be that much invested if you give up on it in a couple years.
Wish I had pics of my old setups, this is the only one of some baby cichlids from my 75gal. Left it up north when I moved and I regret it sometimes.
>Has anyone here ever owned an aquarium of any kind? Is it true they require constant maintenance and monitoring? Feeding and changing water obviously, but also cleaning, O2, CO2, N, fighting algae, temperature, pumps, etc etc)
I had an aquarium with shrimps where I never changed my water or did anything other than throw an air stone filter in there to circulate it around and to have a debris collection the scrimps loved to eat on. I also never fed them other than the occasional pleco wafer.
Algae basically ran the show. It fed the shrimp and snails, provided oxygen, filtered the water and kept everything in balance. Not sure why people pay money to remove algae, and then pay extra money to do what algae does but worse.
My levels remained pristine the whole time.
Also, when something died... Well there was no real issue. Shrimps and snails ate the remains, algae grew as it filtered the water, shrimp eat the algae and the cycle just repeated. Snail shells leeched calcium back into the water so the shrimps and future snails made their own snails.
ez game ez life.
This looks like shit. Why bother?
It's nature, anon.
Everything is thriving.
And that's good.
Let me guess, you need more?
Just want to burn money?
> Let me guess, you need more?
Yes. I have a nice home and don’t want a tank that looks like I scooped shit out of the retention place pond. Call me crazy. I have some standards.
> Just want to burn money?
Nothing I said had anything to do with money but I’ll bite. Yes, I do have the money to burn. That half hour a month to clean my tank and refill the water isn’t going to break me.
>i want a simulacrum of nature
I love aquariums but having a balanced ecosystem appeals to me even more. Your tank definitely tetters into vivarium territory. Maybe seed it with something that is bioluminescent. Problems is you're getting into salt water tanks at that point.
There's a guy on YouTube that does these vivariums from the rainforest. Lots of plants and then fills them with animals which then thunderdome themselves until balance is reached. He adds ina spray system to simulate rain and sound for thunder. What was cool to me was it tricked the frogs into their natural croaking. I'd love to get into something like this but I'd be afraid of leaving it alone for any length of time even if it's supposed to be self sufficient.
This is the guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTH9m6MDIfc&pp=ygUNVml2YXJpdW0gdGFuaw%3D%3D
>It's nature
based
this
These frickers breed sooooo much.
Better have some other fish in there that like to eat the babies.
Java moss always looks dope when you get it growing right.
There are some wild Jappo planted tanks
Little brother had a 50 gallon saltwater. They get easier the larger the tank. They are an absolute nightmare to own unless you are really into them. His system even had a water chiller and dosing system and it was still a huge hassle. Some type of algae or something ended up throwing the water parameters off and he just finally had enough and sold it.
It was basically just one issue after the next. Pumps burning out, dosing tubes coming out or getting clogged, fish needed a special feeding ritual etc etc. When he had to leave to work in another state for a couple weeks he needed me to feed the fish and check the system. Just constantly stressed about nuking his tank. The only way hes probably going to run another tank is if he becomes a multi-millionaire and can build a redundant system that can be easily managed by a moron. Salt water tanks are basically a full time job.
>Has anyone here ever owned an aquarium of any kind?
Im not gay.
>beetles are people
Buy beetles.
Easy mode is just Java fern, Java moss, anubias, etc for plants. Mine do fine with no co2.
I view water changes as a way to reduce the problems of adding fish food to the tank. If you don't add food, you won't have to change water. Although cycling the tank at first is a lot easier if there's some kind of fish poop going on in there.
One thing to note is your local water chemistry. Water softness and ph are the critical factors you should understand.
Well if you're looking to learn from my mistakes. Over feeding your fish is a biggy. They probably don't need as much as you think. Change your filters a lot. Get actual tools to reach in and do stuff if it doesn't work get a new tool, and don't get fish (or aquatic things) you feel uncomfortable reaching in with your hand if you're not going to do that. Sometimes after a few years after your favorite fish dies, it starts to become a weird science experiment to see what happens when you don't do things and seeing if adding something to it makes a difference. Some of it is trial and error.
>Easy mode
The coolest one I ever had was a 50 gallon salt water tank with one occupant, pic-related, which is about 3 inches long, and looks like something from Dr. Seuss. He came with a rock that had a hole in it like on a bowling ball, and he'd zoom in there and turn around and pop his head out and prop his front two fins on the ledge and sit for a while. then he'd zoom out and "bite" the red algae off the back and side walls, leaving "lip prints" all over the place. That was what he ate. Mostly I just wiped the front glass every week or so, and pretty much never had to do any water maintenance or feed him. The only way it could have been better if there had been a breeding pair and a local store that would buy the little ones.
I have 6 freshwater aquariums running. Do your homework before getting into this hobby.
Also, Look up plenum filters on YouTube. Easy to make and they work well.
I've got 25 aquariums, I have a 20long I've had since like 1987. The rest are 55 and 75 gallons.
I top up the water when it starts getting low, and I'll feed my tanks like once a month. Twice a month I'll go through and trim the plants in half the tanks. And once a week I dose liquid fertilizer. I do no other significant maintenance or upkeep. I don't even do water changes unless I have to dose salt for disease.
Get 1 inch of potting soil in the bottom, not miracle grow. Anything organic should work. Soak with enough water just to eliminate any air. If you want, add in some diatomaceous earth, Epson salt, and peat moss.
On top of that add 1-2" of substrate. This is fine grain sandy material, NOT pebbles. The small grain structure is required to lock the nutrient layer away from the water column cycle. Fill with dechlorinated water.
Plants. You can go low-med light, or high light. I'd do low-med light to start. Get some plants known to be hardy and fast growing. You can't go wrong with Valisneria as your first plant. Once it establishes you'll be cutting it back weekly. It's a decent water column feeder as well as root feeder. So it will help control your nitrogen. Let your tank sit like this for a week or so. No water pump needed. No filter, no hang on back. Nothing.
Now is the fun part. Building your food web. Go to a local, healthy looking freshwater source near you with a bunch of Tupperware. Get some mud and water samples. Return home quickly and introduce them to the tank. I dump the mud and water cultures into a 5 gallon bucket and top up the bucket halfway with aquarium water, then stir it all up to one muddy mess, and then return the water to my tank. It will look gross, but that's fine, trust me it will settle out without any filtration over time.
Put in a good handful of organic matter. Hardwood leaves and branches/twigs that you know are pesticide free. If the branches float just weight them down with a rock and twine.
Again: let it sit like this for at least 2 weeks at the minimum. You're adding in a pretty significant biological load of microscopic and macroscopic life and rattling plant matter. You want to let this stabilize before adding your fish. The dried leaves and wood will add tannins which will acidity the water slightly putting the ammonia/ammonium balance in your favor.
You will start seeing all sorts of microscopic life teaming all over your tank in short order. Populations will rise and crash and should eventually stabilize. At this point you should also be seeing any pond or bladder snails that hitched a ride or have since hatched.
My next step is introducing more snail species. Specifically MTS, or Malaysian Trumpet Snails. I feel these guys are incredibly important because they dig through the substrate and will help with accelerating the nutrient cycle in your substrate layers. I also add ramshorn snails. If you're getting shrimp add them now, they'll do wonders here. Again, wait 2 or 3 weeks minimum before proceeding.
By now your plants should be going gangbusters. Start adding in your fish. Do it in stages so that you don't shock the system.
You're essentially trying to mimic nature. This is also essentially what the first aquariums were if you read the historical accounts of aquariums in homes and schools.
You're providing the building blocks for a food web from the truly microscopic and invisible to your eyes, up to the macroscopic.
Most of my tanks are lightly stocked and if they get fed at all from me it's tiny little amounts. I do have some heavier stocked tanks which require more regular feeding, but that's only 4 out of the lot. And even then: they're built the same way. I went on a 3 month road trip and the only thing I told my friend to do was check for leaks and top up any tank that had dropped more than a thumb's width from the bottom of the frame. I even locked up the fish food and specifically told him in no uncertain terms was he to feed any fish food. Every single tank was happy and healthy, completely and utterly overgrown, and I had to do a LOT of culling of fish fry from the population explosion over 3 months of no culls.
My favorite tank is my rasbora tank. 75g, deep substrate, highly tannic water. Loaded with Valisneria, 50-ish Exclamation Point Rasbora, 50 Strawberry Rasbora, and another 50 Chili Rasboras.
>pic related. Been starting this tank up over the last 3 months. Had to do a filter to keep the water clean from the start if I wanted to be allowed to have it in the living room.
Beautiful tank anon. I’m gong to do a Walsted method 1g jar tank for my first. Been researching all day. I just want little shrimps and snails to stare at.
>I'll feed my tanks like once a month
Are there fish in these or just things like shrimp and snails? Only feeding fish like once a month seems like not enough, what are they living off of?
Freshwater aquariums aren't too bad but marine aquariums are soul crushing.
With decent filters, occasional water changes (with filtered water or at least with the chlorine evaporated), it should mostly look after itself.
Marine aquariums require constant monitoring and testing. You can get full tank wipes in marine aquariums at the drop of a hat, even in an established "stable" tank. Nothing like a single fish getting stressed and it causing a chain reaction of parasite outbreaks. Even if you do everything right, you can find your heater fails and by the time you notice the temp being out of range, all the fish get stress illnesses.
If you want them to look nice, yes you need to clean them pretty regularly or get them to a really solid place where algea is taken care of (right amount of light, fish, cleaning animals like snails). I get pretty bad algea in this tank but even if i let all the sides get covered its not too bad to clean, it's better to clean frequently enough that doesnt happen. I have a smaller tank which has less issues but i still havent added shrimp or snails to this one. Also, the heavier you plant the less algea issues you will usually have as long as there are enough nutrients to satisfy all the plants, this is another issue with this tank i need to add much more plants (planned to carpet without co2 but didnt work out). It's honeslt not that expensive to get into, if you find it becoming not worth the effort just get rid of it.
>Would one with just plants + shrimps be relatively self-sustainable?
With a filter, yes. There are people on youtube that have setups without a filter and just shrimp and they rarely do maintenance. With a filter you could probably manage just water changes every other week and cleaning the filter.
Best days in an aquarium enjoyers life? The day he gets the aquarium and the day he gets rid of it
Exact opposite for me. It makes me sad whenever I have to break down an aquarium and getting a new one is a pain getting it set up and cycled. It's the in-between that's fun.
Cory catfish are funny little clowns. They look like chubby aircraft when they zoom to and from the surface.
They're useless and fish are boring. You will eventually cease to care and will have wasted the money. Download a screensaver instead, you don't have to feed those.
ALL your qualms are justified.
>They're useless and fish are boring.
Some are less boring than others. My angel fish gets excited if you approach the tank as it thinks you might feed it and it will follow your finger around. It's somewhat amusing.
Go watch a bunch of green aqua and other aquascaping videos on youtube. MD fish tanks is good too if you're broke as shit and also a eurogay. Once you've made it through the pretentious bullshit, spend as much money as possible on plants and hardscape. The plants help keep the water parameters stable and keep algae down.
they're pretty cool, I just got one. I got an automatic feeder too, I don't see it as that much work. it's right next to the sink too so changing the water is pretty simple