Hello All, New To Tff

[vrob]

Np Ninjouzata, It did help a little. I think i'm going to start giving him a 1/2 cube every day and see how that goes. 
 
Hi ShinySideUp, My tank was originally for my son but as with most children, he lost interest pretty quick lol. We originally chose the blue gravel to go with the whole children's GloFish LED theme but i dont personally care for it. Eventually I would like to aim for a large mildly planted setup, I love the natural look

 

[Ninjouzata]

Hm, I asked my friend who is quite knowledgeable and experienced. She is getting a degree in biology and runs a fish rescue.
Here is what she said on feeding "They eat a ton. They should be fed three times a day or so. Meal worms, blood worms, prawns, crickets, earthworms. It may only eat worms till it gets a bit larger but that is ok."
 
It is up to you on if you want to listen to her or not, of course. I just thought that might help a bit more than I did.

 

[vrob]

Thanks for that info, I will take that into consideration. He's still a bit small at the moment and really seems to like his frozen bloodworms but i plan on transition him to larger worms and maybe even feeder fish when he gets bigger. Also as per ShinySideUp's suggestion I'm going to go get some sand today and am going to do the 1/2 sand/gravel thing. I'll post a pic when it's done

 

[Ninjouzata]

I told her what size he was when asking about it but like she said imagine he'll mainly just take worms for now. That's how mine are too. Does he eat out of your hand? I would not use feeder fish, ever, unless you breed your own.
 
Looking forward to the pics!

 

[vrob]

Yeah we usually either hand feed him or put the worms in his cave (the other fish don't go in there anymore). I use an old turkey flavor injection syringe (capped with some plastic to avoid accidental poking) to place them in his cave. It's alot more fun to hand feed though . Are feeder fish bad for them? Only reason i thought about it is because i've seen alot of videos of them being fed that way when they're bigger. If bigger worms are the preferred diet i'd prefer to not use feeder fish anyways. 
 
As for the tank overhaul, I'm sad to report that NO fish/pet stores in my area sell sand i can use. Even my local petsmart only had live saltwater sand... They dont even have saltwater fish!!! lol
Any recommendations for online suppliers? I thought about the alternatives (pool/play sand) but i'd like to go with a darker sand.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Feeder fish can very easily introduce disease, and I believe when using feeder goldfish they can cause nutritional deficiencies? Not 100% sure. Hand feeding is the best
 
If you want something very cheap you could do black diamond blasting sand, should be able to buy it at same places you'd get pool or play sand. I'd read up on it first though to see if you really want to go with it.
Me and my dad went with regular aquarium sand which cost more but just feels safer to us.
 
You can order sand online at petsmart/petco or bigalspets

 

[vrob]

That's good to know, I prefer to hand feed him anyways. He's almost to the point where he like to get pet now

. Here's a pic of my wife feeding him this morning. 
 

 
For sand i was thinking about this http/www.bigalspets.com/super-naturals-tahitian-moon-50-lb.html sand. I think it'll looks pretty good with the blue gravel and black background. Even better when the LEDs are on

. I prefer to use products that are meant for how i'm gonna use it. I've also read at a few other forums that some of the blasting sands can have some sharp bits in them and could cut/scratch him so I'd rather not risk it.
 
 

 

[Ninjouzata]

I think that sand would be fine. I prefer black myself so think it's a great choice Super cute pic!! I wish I could get a pic or vid of hand feeding my fish ><

 

[vrob]

Thanks! It's alot of fun to hand feed him, IMO it also makes them feel more like pets and less like "just fish" lol

 

[vrob]

Just built a secondary filter. I think it came out pretty good for a DIY plastic bottle filter lol. 
 

 
Figured I could use some more bacteria homes (and i couldnt fit my new media inside by hang on back filter)

 

[Ch4rlie]

Good job

 

[vrob]

Thanks Charlie. But It didn't stay in too long. I ran into a good buy i couldn't pass up. Here's my new Aquatop CF300 canister filter I found for $70 today.
 

 
3 drawers (1 mechanical, 2 biological). It's a little noisy in comparison to the old setup but i think it's a good trade off

 

[Ch4rlie]

Sounds like a good buy, nice.
 
 

3 drawers (1 mechanical, 2 biological). It's a little noisy in comparison to the old setup but i think it's a good trade off

 
I have a similar external, a TetraTec EX 1200 and with 3 drawers crammed full of media, a very good filter and maintenance fairly easy to do if a little cumbersome but once get into the groove of it, a great filter to have.

 

[vrob]

Yeah, I've wanted a canister filter for a while and I noticed this one on the shelf at my LFS. So I figured I'd try it out. Works great so far. I used the supplied coarse and fine mechanical filtration pads for the first drawer. The second drawers is packed with Seachem Matrix, and my last drawer has some Biohome Ultimate (great stuff) in it but i need to get some more to fill it up. And after some inspirational DIY videos on YouTube (Thank you "The King of DIY (Aquariums)") I've re-purposed my old filter (Aqueon Quietflow 30 HOB) and using left over tubing from the canister filter.
 
Here's my new gravel vac. Looks like crap but it works sooooo good lol.
 

 
 
 

I just let the pump float around and recirculate the cleaned water that comes out of the filter floss. Here's a pic of the dirty floss after the 2nd time going around the tank.
 

 
The first run was ALOT dirtier but it wasn't until the second when i thought "I should take some pics and post them" lol

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Hey rob welcome aboard!