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Fish Tank Calculator website I made!

GaryE said:
For me, it's a standard social skill we're stuck with. You have to read people and decide what fits with what more scientifically driven info suggests. There are a number of writers here who have changed my mind about things, largely because they've taken a few more lines of writing to give interesting "whys".

It's supposed to be discussion, though it can look like pontification. The more you put into it, the more people may call you out on over generalizations or slack thinking. We all do it it's just that some people try to hide it.

There are also often five ways to effectively solve a problem, depending on what fishkeeping 'philosophy' we have developed. There are some online cult like gurus who stick to one way and one way only, but such fundamentalists are everywhere, even in fishkeeping.
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Totally agree with you, it's really great having all this opinions and points of view, but I also like thinking about people how have 0 clue and just want to start.
I've always been more scientifically driven and like researching in databases, websites...
But if I wasn't like that, who should I believe? What could I do to follow every opinion?

I've found myself in the middle of this mindset with the order of stocking for example. Some people told me to put shrimps first to let them settle; while others told that's crazy and they have to be the last addition because of how fragile they are.

The thing is: who would a person believe? Maybe this made people even leave the hobby, we never know.

I for example, just chose what I think is best for them and ngl I don't remember the point I was trying to make was so just give me your advice xD
 
I'd personally never advise on shrimp, because I don't keep them.

What bothers me is when people tell a newcomer what to do, then refuse to say why. We even see people who make a statement and then say not to disagree with them. I assume that's because they think only stupid people would disagree with them, but it makes them look very insecure and uninformed. People will be people.

Ultimately, you win here by learning questions, not from answers. Once you have what seems to be the right questions, you can then use your good brain to find answers that make sense to you. If you are a reader and researcher who respects data and expertise, it becomes easy.

When I was new to killifish, I bought a species in an auction, couldn't get good info online (early 90s...) and started asking myself questions and finding solutions in spite of my inexperience. I was able to breed and carry forward the extremely rare species, which I later read was almost impossibly difficult to do. I didn't know any better, so I was able to spread the rare fish through the North American hobby. They actually weren't horribly difficult, but they did take time and work. Any motivated new aquarist can learn very quickly, if they're willing to work at getting better at the skills needed. You can have all the experience in the world, but take away motivation, and a beginner who questions will do a better job with a fish than you can.

All you have to do is realize every species is different, and every worked out answer can only be trusted for one question.
 
There are two basic ways to add ammonia to a tank for cycling. One is the way your calc works for ammonia from a store. I stopped using that about 15 or more years ago.

What I use is dry ammonium, chloride which I mix with RO/DI water. This is the specific product I use: https://fritzaquatics.com/products/ammonium-chloride

Early on I used Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride which comes in liquid form and one doses it by adding 4 drops/gallon. For loarger numbers of gallons one can dose it in ml. It is expensive to use for multiple tanks and bigger tanks which is why I went to the dry. There are other brands besides his. Fristz makes Fishless fuel which also uses 4 drops/gallon for dosing. This amount will produce 2 ppm of ammonia-N. This means using the Nitrogen Scale.

However, most of the hobby test kits measure Total Ammonia (TA) which is ammonia (NH3) + ammonium (NH4). Most of the hobby test kits measure using the Total Ion scale. So Dr. Tim's and FritZ's Fishless fuel will produce 2.56 ppm of TA. Have a look here https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/NitrogenIonConversion.php

Using the ammonium chloride removes the need to know the ammonia concentration % as the products are more stable in terms of their concentration. Bear in mind that in water most of the TA will be in the ammonium form, NH4.
 
I just too a quick look at your cycling info. If somebody were to ask me if they should do what you suggest for a fishless cycle, I would tell them not do do so. Please have a read of the fishless cycling article here. And then. if it makes you feel better, have a read here on the subject. Dr. Hovanevc. PhD is the one who discovered most of the specific bacteria involved. https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling/

Comparative Analysis of Nitrifying Bacteria Associated with Freshwater and Marine Aquaria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 62, No. 8: 2888-2896.​

Hovanec, T. A. and E. F. DeLong. 1996.

Nitrospira- Like Bacteria Associated with Nitrite Oxidation in Freshwater Aquaria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 64, No. 1: 258-264.​

Hovanec, T. A., L. T. Taylor, A. Blakis and E. F. DeLong. 1998.

Identification of Bacteria Responsible for Ammonia Oxidation in Freshwater Aquaria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Dec. 2001, p. 5791-5800​

Paul C. Burrell, Carol M. Phalen, and Timothy A. Hovanec. 2001.
 
TwoTankAmin said:
I just too a quick look at your cycling info. If somebody were to ask me if they should do what you suggest for a fishless cycle, I would tell them not do do so. Please have a read of the fishless cycling article here. And then. if it makes you feel better, have a read here on the subject. Dr. Hovanevc. PhD is the one who discovered most of the specific bacteria involved. https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling/

Comparative Analysis of Nitrifying Bacteria Associated with Freshwater and Marine Aquaria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 62, No. 8: 2888-2896.​

Hovanec, T. A. and E. F. DeLong. 1996.

Nitrospira- Like Bacteria Associated with Nitrite Oxidation in Freshwater Aquaria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 64, No. 1: 258-264.​

Hovanec, T. A., L. T. Taylor, A. Blakis and E. F. DeLong. 1998.

Identification of Bacteria Responsible for Ammonia Oxidation in Freshwater Aquaria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Dec. 2001, p. 5791-5800​

Paul C. Burrell, Carol M. Phalen, and Timothy A. Hovanec. 2001.
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Hi! Thanks a lot for your insight! Tried adding your tips in the cycle guide and the ammonia thing! IDK if I did it correctly hahaha, but thanks a lot for all the info! :)
 
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I tried it out using the current stocking of my 50 gallon tank. It was going well until I told the calculator about my 1000 (est) Red Rili Neos. I was suddenly drastically overstocked. I dropped the number down to 100 and that looked better. Anyway I think the bioload you've assigned to my neos is too high.

It's a good effort, I can tell it was a lot of work to develop. I confess I did not have time to look at every link but the ones I did visit were nicely done.
 
ilex said:
I tried it out using the current stocking of my 50 gallon tank. It was going well until I told the calculator about my 1000 (est) Red Rili Neos. I was suddenly drastically overstocked. I dropped the number down to 100 and that looked better. Anyway I think the bioload you've assigned to my neos is too high.

It's a good effort, I can tell it was a lot of work to develop. I confess I did not have time to look at every link but the ones I did visit were nicely done.
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From what I looked most people say 10 neos per gallon so that's the formula I used hahaha

I still have lots of things to fix (with everyone's help!) , add and improve! I have to add almost all the fish images hahaha and a lot of plants, I plan on adding them after I finish the fish images
 
ambrosia04 said:
From what I looked most people say 10 neos per gallon so that's the formula I used hahaha

I still have lots of things to fix (with everyone's help!) , add and improve! I have to add almost all the fish images hahaha and a lot of plants, I plan on adding them after I finish the fish images
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Well, I have a couple hundred in each of my 6 gallon cube tanks so I think you can safely up that ratio! :)
 
ilex said:
Well, I have a couple hundred in each of my 6 gallon cube tanks so I think you can safely up that ratio! :)
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you think 20 shrimp per liter or 50 is more reasonable?
(ended up adding a new category for neocaridina as small shrimp and putting 50/L)
 
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