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125g: In-Line Heater

So, I mentioned how Justin finally rigged his in-line heater for this most recent filter build.  Funny story:

While we were looking for PVC that was going to house the heater; we discovered that there was no easy way to make the heater’s plug fit into the end of the tube we had made for it without there being a huge open gap on one side. And as you have probably guessed, a gap is a problem. Water spewing out the hole where our heater goes isn't something anyone wants. 

Anywho...

We found a screw cap for the end of the PVC that was big enough for the plug and we just filled the gap with silicone. I mean filled. 

Justin piled so much silicone onto this thing that it is NEVER going to leak.

I think its wonderful.

I’ll continue to keep you posted!  MoreLater

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Update: 125g: Filtration Overhaul

A lot of things happened in January 2017. We got a puppy, my car died, my ovary exploded, and more random nonsense that was just a lot to handle. 

We also moved. It was just across the hall but when you have excruciating pain in your ovaries and orders from a doctor not to lift things it makes moving a HUGE chore.  Justin moved our fish and all of our fish tanks including the Big Tank, (as well as everything else) by himself. He had to empty it, dig out all the sand, move all the rocks, unhook the filter, move the stand, then the tank, put all the sand and rocks back in, re-fill it, re-hook up the filter, let it run for a day (we had the fish in the 36g for a night if i remember right) move the fish over, deconstruct the 36g, move it over and then we still had to clean up the apartment. 

We basically moved the 125g in, set it up, threw our fish in it and that was that for a good while.

At the end of February or so, we made a DIY light for it. We bought a rain gutter, end caps for the gutter, and a piece of 3/4″ PVC pipe from Lowes. We cut it to size (about 5 3/4′) painted the outside black, wedged the PVC into it and there it sat without lights for a while. A few weeks later Justin found a deal on Amazon for some sticky strip lights that were “waterproof”. We were super excited to have found something that was so perfect for less than $50 (lights are so expensive. ugh). 

We had that set up for a while and one day the lights were off. With some investigation(we lifted the light) we had discovered that *GASP* the lights were in fact not waterproof. (omg no waaaay. If you can't tell, I am still pissed off about this) There were some cells that water had made its way into and they had exploded. Honestly, we’re lucky (ha) that there wasn't a fire or that the lights didn't melt into the tank and kill our fish. So we are currently out some lights. We’ve decided that we are going to completely re-do the lights, so we threw away the whole thing. 

A few weeks ago Justin decided he wanted to completely re-do the filtration for the 125g. We were going to need to house the Oscars etc. in something that wasn't the 125g while we were doing this. So, we were officially on the hunt for a stand for the 36g. Justin found it online for $60 at Petsmart so we went to pick it up and we ended up with the 75g(more on that story later) as well as the 36g stand. SO! We had a more appropriate temporary home for the Oscars etc.! 

When we finally got home from our eventful trip to petsmart, Justin had decided he wanted to paint the back of the tanks. All of the tanks. I gotta admit. I was really nervous about painting our tanks. “Paint! On our only assets! No!”   We bought this paint called PlastiDip. Its basically plastic in a can. We did a small test spray on our 36g(our least expensive tank). It was gonna look great! We messed up on the 75g and had to re-do it but it wasn't a huge deal. When both of the smaller tanks were painted, and the 75g was set up and ready for fish, we moved the Oscars etc. and started emptying the Big Tank. 

Justin ripped off the electrical tape that we had on the trim and I taped off the glass. We ended up opening all the windows and spraying it inside. It wasn't as bad as you'd think. We also painted the trim. It looks awesome.

We also finally found lids that fit the 125g (YAY). I don't know if I mentioned it, but we have been using metal, ill-fitted, terrarium lids (that recently started rusting) as the lids for our 125g. We searched and searched for the lids for this tank but they didnt seem to sell the right size anywhere. We finally found them on a site called Drs. Foster and Smith. We went ahead and ordered them and they fit perfectly and add a new slick look to the Big Tank that hasn't been achieved until now. 

Before we moved it back to the wall, Justin started a new filter. We bought new everything. We did things a little differently this time. 

The bucket we got is semi-opaque so you can see the water level. We purchased bigger pipe for the intake into the filter so more water can be gravity fed into the bucket to help with the pump making water leave the bucket too fast. We also got rid of the soft hose and replaced it with hard line PVC. We added an extra ball valve with quick release to avoid water dumping from the pump (before, we only had one ball valve from the bucket so water from the pump would get everywhere when we unhooked it.) We made our heater an in-line heater so our water wouldn’t be unevenly heated. (In such a long tank it was cold on one side. We had to get a smaller heater for the other side so the fish would stop just hanging out by the heater.) We bought silicone to seal the places that were questionable even with the PVC pipe glue. Justin decided he wanted to try a tank-length spray bar. Basically everything was Re-done. We didn’t keep anything from the old set-up. 

(The little nub of pipe in the middle is a cap that he made to hold the spray bar onto the tank so that it wouldn’t lean; because it’s so long)

The plan now, is to spray all the parts that are going to be in the tank with some  black aquarium-safe spray paint and fix all the leaks and do a final leak test. With the weekend over we just moved it back to the wall and we are going to (hopefully) finish this coming weekend. 

We are finally almost done with this tank! We need to get some more rocks and get some plants to fill some of the empty space in the tank. We also have plans to make a new light but we’re really thinking about just buying a new one and cutting our losses with the DIY light. 

We are going to use the 36g to grow out some Silver Dollars and some sort of bottom feeder(we haven't decided yet on what kind) for this tank. Super excited to see this tank finally actually coming together. 

Ill keep you posted. MoreLater

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This is by far the most accurate description of a betta I have ever read

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Update: The Tank Situation

We have gone through several tanks recently. I believe that when I started this blog, we had 2 10 gallons, a 36 gallon bow front, our 125g, a 10 gallon terrarium and a 40 gallon terrarium with a Texas Rat Snake. We have since gotten rid of the snake(he just wasn't for us) and his 40g tank and the two 10 gallons and we've gained a 75g tank and a 2.5g tank for Foxtrot.

We are also thinking about setting up a 2 tier 20 gallon set up to cycle feeder fish in... More on that some other time.

MoreLater

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So a sweet lesbian couple who have been regulars at our store for years are moving and planning on traveling and can’t take their tank and they brought us their amazing collection of plecos to put in our 40,000 gallon tank and this one was by far my favorite. It’s known as a vampire lyretail pleco and I squealed when I saw it.

I’m going to post the other things they brought us too.

The tank they had their collection in was something like 275 gallons and they were all so well taken care of. Some of these fish are probably at least fifteen years old

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Hiatus: EXPLAINED!

Aren't you just so excited? Reasons!

I have been disgustingly busy the last 5 months. A lot has happened and a lot will be happening! So, here goes.

Around the time of my last post (early-mid November) Justin and I decided to get married. We called some people and made some arrangements started planning out our last minute wedding. It was wonderful and being able to have our families there made everything incredibly worth it. We got married December 30th, 2016! (So, 2016 wasn't a complete failure of a year.) 

Right before we left to go to Indy to get married (Mid-December) our power went out. We had a leak in our filter we didn’t know about, so, Justin woke up to go to the bathroom and was greeted by a half empty 125g fish tank. We had about 70 gallons of water on the floor and some very cold fish. We spent an entire weekend and then 4 more days with the air conditioning on cleaning up and drying the carpet. (It was very cold in our apartment for about 2 weeks.)

There were INNUMERABLE problems while we were in Indy planning out the final details of our wedding. Huge problems and little problems. Everywhere. 

Pretty much right after we got married we got a puppy. We thought she was a German Shepherd puppy but thats a story for another time.

Charlie. She is a Shetland Sheepdog/German Shepherd mix, so she's pretty small. But also REALLY great <3

Two days before we left for VA, we tried to start the Malibu (my old car) and the engine spluttered and died. This was a huge problem seeing as Justin has to be back in Norfolk when his leave ends <Or Else>. We thought maybe the battery was dead, so we went to Advance to get a new battery, got back home, hooked up the battery and... nothing. *splutter. struggle. die.* So we troubleshooted some more and thought maybe it was the starter, so we ordered a starter and picked it up the next day (cutting it WAY too close for NavyBoy) and it didn’t work either. We called my uncle and he rushed over and we found out that the engine had seized and cracked because of the cold weather. SO, we were out a vehicle. My uncle happened to have an extra vehicle on hand and he let us borrow it. SO, we drove a 1997 Toyota RAV4 with 350,000 miles on it home to VA from Indiana.  When we got into Richmond there was ice in sheets 6 inches thick on the road. That continued all the way into VA Beach. The RAV handled beautifully and I'm not sure my Malibu would have made it into our parking lot, let alone through the ice covered highways.

As if not having our own vehicle, puppy training and settling back into our apartment and putting things back in order wasn't enough of a job for us, the same week I had to be taken to the emergency room. I was in an unbearable amount of pain. I called my entire family trying to avoid going there but they all said that abdominal pain this bad couldn't be ignored. So, off we went. We were there FOREVER. After a very rude nurse and a butt-load of tests they concluded that I had ruptured an ovarian cyst (when this was found out the nurse softened considerably.) I was basically on “LLD” until further notice. They prescribed some SUPER drugs (ibuprofen and tylenol  -_-). 

About 2 days after this happened we went to talk to our apartment complex. We had been planning to move into a bigger apartment for a while and having Charlie made it more immediate. We had noticed that the 2 bedroom across the hall was empty and the carpet had JUST been replaced (#nosey). We asked about it and they were very eager to help and let us move into the apartment across the hall but there was a catch. They needed us to move in over the weekend. That gave us 3 days to move into the new apartment. I was on strict orders to not lift things so, I organized and moved most of the kitchen but Justin was the real hero here; moving everything that weighed more than 5lbs (Including our 125g fish tank) by himself.

Not long after we moved into the new apartment, we decided we needed a shelf. I believe it was a Sunday. We went outside and our RAV was gone. Justin hadn't moved it since Friday when he parked it after work. It turns out someone had bought the spot our RAV was parked in and the night before the apartment people painted numbers on that spot. We had been towed. We didn’t have any money because we had just used the last of it to pay the difference in our rent for the month, so, we had to borrow money from my parents to get it out the same day, but because it was Sunday we had to do a money order at Walmart. We had to call one of Justin’s friends and she lugged us all over creation (THANK YOU CHAR ILY) to get our car back. The towing place wouldn’t let us just come pick it up with the key. We had to call my uncle and have him send “official documents” saying that we had permission to use the vehicle and that Justin was on the insurance. (Which is ripe bullshit). Finally we got the RAV back and all was well. 

We were finally able to get back into the fish tanks again a couple weeks ago. We ran to Petsmart to get a stand for our 36g bow front tank. Justin had found the stand online for $60 so we were going to price match it. When we got there they had 75g set ups and we remembered that we had found a deal online for a 75g Marineland set (tank, lids, stand and lights) for $98. We couldn't find the deal online so we searched our phones and found a screenshot that I had sent Justin the week before. Our local Petsmart price matched it for us and then our cashier told us about a coupon we could get on our phones for 25% off our purchase. We ended up getting a brand new 75g tank set for a little more than a dollar a gallon ($79). 

More on tanks later! 

For now, I’d like to thank a couple of people for letting me know that they’re actually interested in my writings and fish tanks and general bullshit.  Thank you guys<3

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i love catfish so much because they act like theyre fbi agents or something when theyre really just using reverse google image search

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Update:125g: FISH!!!!!

We finally got some permanent fish!

Introducing: Romeo and Juliet! The Tiger Oscars!

We got them about a week ago on Justin’s birthday. We went out to get some plants for the 125g to flesh out the rock scape and we came home with this perfect pair of Tiger Oscars. When we first got home with them, they were already not happy with how they were taken out of their tank at the pet store. We tried to take them out of their bag with the net and it stressed them out so bad that they were pretty skittish with us the first day we had them. Feeding them and talking with them has ALREADY made them a lot less afraid. They swim up to us when we approach the tank and they don't swim away when we make a sudden movement.

They follow each other everywhere. They almost seem like they’re dancing a lot of the time. They ignore the feeders for the most part. The feeders have started schooling and whenever they swim too close to where Juliet (the white one) is doing something or looking, she lunges at them and they swim off. We plan on taking them out and replacing them with a small school of Silver Dollars. We also plan on getting a Convict, a Firemouth, a Red Shouldered Severum, and a bottom feeder of some sort. 

Justin LOVES them. He goes over to them and baby talks them. They are such responsive fish. They’re supposed to grow really fast through the first year. We are gonna try to take a picture of them every day to get their size difference over the next year. I’m really excited for this tank to finally be fleshed out!

We’ll keep you posted! MoreLater

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Update:125g: Rock Scape

A few weeks ago we cleaned out the 125 and re-set it up when we installed the DIY canister filter. Justin had decided he wanted to try a sand bottom for the cichlid tank to make it look more clean and simple. We decided that since we were emptying the tank for the filter replacement that it would be a perfect time to change out the substrate. We bought three 50lb bags of pool filter sand from (YOU GUESSED IT!!!) Lowe’s. They were about $6 a bag.

Before we re-filled it we took out the Lowe’s gravel and stored it in two 5 gallon buckets. We dumped the sand in and spread it out level on the bottom of the tank. Then we put our plastic mixing bowl we have for our fishtanks on the bottom and put the end of the hose in the bowl so the water wouldn’t disrupt the sand. 

We were trying to think of a way to decorate it without spending a fortune on fake rocks and plants. We had really just resigned ourselves to it. Usually we would have gone to a local creek or something to pick some rocks up. But not being from Virginia we didn’t know the area well enough to find a place like that.

About a week later we went to the beach down the road. (There aren't any beaches in the middle of Indiana! We didn’t really think about the beach being an option) We found some rocks that were perfect. 

We picked up some of the more reasonably sized rocks. We also snagged some smaller ones. We took them back to the apartment and scrubbed them and rinsed them with hot water. We thought about baking them but apparently they can explode (!!!!!!!!!!) so we decided that just scrubbing them off and rinsing them in hot water was good enough. 

We put the rocks in the tank and rearranged them like, 5 times until we found an arrangement we liked. 

We are planning on making a light for the top of our tank next paycheck. We are going to make a custom 6ft light to fill the tank with light! Thats our next project installment in the saga of the 125g tank. 

We’ll keep you posted! MoreLater

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Update:10g:Fish!

We got a new fish to put in with Foxtrot! 

Introducing: Bravo the Bristlenose Plecostomus!

He’s VERY cute. We bought him when we bought all the stuff from our Fish Store. I had been wanting a BN pleco to put in with Foxtrot for a long time but we couldn't find them for a while. Almost everywhere had been low on fish (We think, now, that the hurricane had something to do with that.) Originally I had wanted an albino one. I figured a darker one would contrast more with the white rock that I have in the 10 gallon. 

We bought him algae wafers and I've been feeding him about half of one every 2 days. We’re also going to be getting some cucumbers to slice up and drop in there as treats for him. He’ll only grow to be about 5″. We only plan on having Bravo and Foxtrot in this 10 gallon. 

I feel like Foxtrot doesn't even know he's there. He's been swimming around like normal. Attention seeking little guy, isn't he? Everyone seems happy and healthy! 

Ill keep you posted! MoreLater

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Betta a day #11

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A then-and-now of Xenia.

other fishkeepers: “when my betta adapted to proper care and husbandry and his colors came in, he was so much more vibrant and colorful!”

me: “my daughter is batman.”

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Ｔ Ｈ Ｅ  Ｃ Ｈ Ｕ Ｎ Ｋ

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The 10g Experience

Sometime near the beginning of the 125g stuff we were shopping around some thrift stores for a desk. We DID end up finding one that I used for my vanity until recently. It was lovely. BUT during this we found a 10 gallon fish tank that had been dropped off at one of the thrift stores. It was a complete kit. It had an HOB(hang on the back) filter and LOTS of replacement cartridges and activated carbon, 2 nets, and some filter sponges. (We also picked up a stand while we were out that same day hoping that it would work for the tank we picked up. It turned out to be for a tall 20 gallon tank.) 

-Foxtrot was in the 125g at this time and we decided we needed to move him into something more appropriately sized but with a filter, heater, and some plants. The only thing we had for him at the time was the tiny betta cube. and it didn't have heat or filtration. We thought maybe this 10 gallon we picked up was gonna be perfect. But when we got home, the tank ~obviously~ didn't fit on the stand we picked up.-

We stored the tank under the Big Tank for about a week. In that week we procured a chest of drawers which we decided we would put the 10 gallon on it and keep Foxtrot in our room with us. We set up the tank with some leftover white gravel from the Big Tank. We took one of the little heaters, 2 of the color change lights, and some of the plants as well. It was a little incomplete looking but it was nice.

Initially he didn't take the move very well and we had to move him back into the 125 to recuperate. 

We thought maybe the tank had sick fish in it before and we didn't clean it well enough to put him into it so soon. The HOB filter wasn't pushing enough water either. So we ran to a pet store, picked up a cheap 10 gallon tank and an under gravel filter and went back home to set it up. 

Luckily Foxtrot recovered and we put him into the new tank we set up and he was sluggish for a couple days (turns out he was just getting used to the space). He perked right up after that and he's been great ever since(save for another story that I will tell later)

(This is the first set up with the under gravel filter.)

We rearranged the bedroom and moved this chest of drawers to our utility closet. We took apart a desk we bought at goodwill and took part of it that was small and used it to put the 10 gallon on. We bought a better air pump, some new plants and a pretty blue glass. We put in a bubble wall and moved the tank to the side of the bed.

(this was the second set up with the glass and new plants)

We recently bought a 36 gallon bow front tank from a coworker of Justin. We tried putting him in it with a couple of the feeders from the 125 and he didn't seem like he was as happy as he had been in the 10 gallon. We re-set up the 10 gallon next to the bed and moved the 36 in front of the window. We set it up a little differently with a bubble stone instead of the bubble wall. 

(This has been my favorite set up of the 10 gallon by far.)

He's happy and healthy again. His color has darkened SO MUCH. He's swimming around and eating well. I love this little guy.

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get beeped get booped

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When the big boy was a tiny baby fish