Your other hobbies

[neurotix]

Well considering the activity here, seems like it was worth making.

[SoloCamo]

@UltraMega

 

On the initial topic of freshwater tanks...  I'm actually repurposing my nano 3.7 gallon tank and instead of subjecting a single fish to it (a punishment, even for a betta IMO) I was going to make it a planted tank with nothing else. 

 

Going to use substrate, a small heater of course and it has a built in filter w/ carbon cartridges.  Light is LED (but either white or blue so not full spectrum).  Are there any specific plants you'd recommend?  I'm mainly looking for a tank that pretty much runs itself with minimal effort.  I've grown anubias, amazon swords, etc.  Are there are anything unqiue or colorful for that matter that are fairly easy?

[UltraMega]

54 minutes ago, SoloCamo said:

@UltraMega

 

On the initial topic of freshwater tanks...  I'm actually repurposing my nano 3.7 gallon tank and instead of subjecting a single fish to it (a punishment, even for a betta IMO) I was going to make it a planted tank with nothing else. 

 

Going to use substrate, a small heater of course and it has a built in filter w/ carbon cartridges.  Light is LED (but either white or blue so not full spectrum).  Are there any specific plants you'd recommend?  I'm mainly looking for a tank that pretty much runs itself with minimal effort.  I've grown anubias, amazon swords, etc.  Are there are anything unqiue or colorful for that matter that are fairly easy?

My tank just has sand, not substrate. My sand is expensive aquarium sand, but my gf has a tank too and we set that up with sand from a rock yard that was so cheap it was basically free. Both work equally well. 

 

Avoid small ground cover plants. Those never do well without extreme planning, but just about anything else will likely work just fine. 

 

I don't even use carbon filters in my tank. I just buy a big roll of filter medium, and cut it to fit in my filter. Vastly cheaper. The carbon in those pre-made filter cartridges is totally useless and it's purely a gimmick to get you to buy the expensive cartridges. 

 

 

I'll just add, be sure you want to commit to the nano tank before you set it up. I think a lot of the time people start small and quickly decided to go bigger. There are usually a lot of 10 and 20 gallon tanks for free on Craigslist around here, and if you get a standard size tank like that then you can probably also find a pretty cheap glass lid for it at petco or on Amazon, and then you will be able to get whatever kind of led strip you want and the plants will blow up. 

[SoloCamo]

1 hour ago, UltraMega said:

My tank just has sand, not substrate. My sand is expensive aquarium sand, but my gf has a tank too and we set that up with sand from a rock yard that was so cheap it was basically free. Both work equally well. 

 

Avoid small ground cover plants. Those never do well without extreme planning, but just about anything else will likely work just fine. 

 

I don't even use carbon filters in my tank. I just buy a big roll of filter medium, and cut it to fit in my filter. Vastly cheaper. The carbon in those pre-made filter cartridges is totally useless and it's purely a gimmick to get you to buy the expensive cartridges. 

 

 

I'll just add, be sure you want to commit to the nano tank before you set it up. I think a lot of the time people start small and quickly decided to go bigger. There are usually a lot of 10 and 20 gallon tanks for free on Craigslist around here, and if you get a standard size tank like that then you can probably also find a pretty cheap glass lid for it at petco or on Amazon, and then you will be able to get whatever kind of led strip you want and the plants will blow up. 

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind about the filters as I can easily cut the right size out for it instead of ordering the overpriced cartridges. 

 

As far as the Nano thank goes, it's actually due to space constraints of where I'm putting it.  The tank is going to be in my office area and is going to serve as a decorative piece more than anything.  I've had larger tanks with success but being we are renting the home I don't need a larger potential for water damage.  I'd love to do a salt tank again but the whole renting thing is another reason I can't.

 

I'm just hoping to find plants that are nice on the eyes or unique.  Wish they'd flower underwater but I know when that does happen it's not normal and they don't last.

[UltraMega]

44 minutes ago, SoloCamo said:

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind about the filters as I can easily cut the right size out for it instead of ordering the overpriced cartridges. 

 

As far as the Nano thank goes, it's actually due to space constraints of where I'm putting it.  The tank is going to be in my office area and is going to serve as a decorative piece more than anything.  I've had larger tanks with success but being we are renting the home I don't need a larger potential for water damage.  I'd love to do a salt tank again but the whole renting thing is another reason I can't.

 

I'm just hoping to find plants that are nice on the eyes or unique.  Wish they'd flower underwater but I know when that does happen it's not normal and they don't last.

If there isn't a store near by that has plants you like, you can order them here: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/live-plants

 

 

Be sure to post some pics once you get it setup

Edited June 3 by UltraMega

[bridgypoo]

awesome hobbies you all have!

 

I'm boring and read a lot. my goal is to do a book a week. currently reading holly by Stephen King.

 

used to be into (though i get nostalgic sometimes):

-bass guitar

-skateboarding

-online mmorpgs

-fighting games (didn't play in tournaments)

 

occasionally:

-current rpgs (still need to finish TOTLK, I'm interested in the new assassin's creed)

-retro games

 

actively:

-reading

-gardening

-watching movies with neuro

[Sir Beregond]

55 minutes ago, bridgypoo said:

-online mmorpgs

Same, but these days just don't have the time. Was a total EverQuest junkie in 1999-2004.

[UltraMega]

Onto a different hobby: cooking. 

 

I know there is a guy on here that has a pizza oven, and I am very jealous of that. I have a pizza stone and a pizza slate (ceramic vs steel). The steel slate works best. 

 

During covid I put a lot of effort into learning how to make pizza at home. I've kept up with that ever since. I make the dough and sauce from scratch. I'm getting pretty good at it. 

 

 

 

Edited June 4 by UltraMega

[SoloCamo]

5 hours ago, UltraMega said:

Onto a different hobby: cooking. 

 

I know there is a guy on here that has a pizza oven, and I am very jealous of that. I have a pizza stone and a pizza slate (ceramic vs steel). The steel slate works best.

 

Me perhaps?  Well I bought it for my girlfriend as she makes pizzas.  Unfortunately she hasn't used it yet... it's been over a year lol.  She does have a pizza stone which worked well and I had previously bought her a steel version which is excellent but cumbersome for obvious reasons.   Still trying to get her to use the Ooni pizza oven for a proper wood fired pizza one of these days...

Edited June 4 by SoloCamo

[Sir Beregond]

2 minutes ago, SoloCamo said:

 

Me perhaps?  Well I bought it for my girlfriend as she makes pizzas.  Unfortunately she hasn't used it yet... it's been over a year lol.  She does have a pizza stone which worked well and I had previously bought her a steel version which is excellent but cumbersome for obvious reasons.   Still trying to get her to use the Ooni pizza oven for a proper wood fired pizza one of these days...

Funny how that sort of thing goes often times. 

[neurotix]

On 03/06/2024 at 20:38, bridgypoo said:

awesome hobbies you all have!

 

I'm boring and read a lot. my goal is to do a book a week. currently reading holly by Stephen King.

 

used to be into (though i get nostalgic sometimes):

-bass guitar

-skateboarding

-online mmorpgs

-fighting games (didn't play in tournaments)

 

occasionally:

-current rpgs (still need to finish TOTLK, I'm interested in the new assassin's creed)

-retro games

 

actively:

-reading

-gardening

-watching movies with neuro

 

Correction. You did play in fighting game tournaments, and placed higher than me. Lol. @bridgypoo 

Edited June 6 by neurotix

[UltraMega]

Soo...

 

KInda ironic that not long after I made this thread to talk about my fish tank, it all fell apart.

 

My tank sprung a leak. It happened at about 8AM, I was still in bed but my gf was awake. She heard a sudden stream of water and when she went to check, she saw that my aquarium was pouring out water from the side like a faucet. She came and woke me up and I immediately sprung to action. About 3-5 gallons of water got out onto the floor. Luckily not carpet. 

 

The tank was leaking from the side where the silicon seal between the glass panels had failed. Normally, if an aquarium does leak it starts as a slow drip leak, but not in this case. I think because my tank is so tall, when it failed it failed hard as the glass panels had more room to bow out and separate from each other. 

 

Long story short, I had to drain the tank right away, while holding the side and putting pressure on the glass to slow the leak. I have a spare 10 gallon tank that was empty just sitting in my backyard so I took that and shoved all my plants and fish in there for now. We threw all the towels we have on the floor to clean up the water, and it was just enough to keep it from becoming a true disaster. 

 

I got my tank used. I used to have a neighbor that worked at an aquarium shop, and a customer donated an old tank to him that he then gave to me because it was similar to a tank I already had at the time, only larger. The tank was probably at least ten years old already when I got it, and that was almost ten years ago. It's possible it's actually much older. I had never thought about an aquarium wearing out before but after learning about it, my tank was primed to fail. large, tall tanks that are over ten years old are the worst offenders as far as leaking, and my tank checked all those boxes. I had thought it was a 40 gallon, but after looking into this, turn out it's a 47 gallon.  

 

I tried to repair my tank by stripping out the silicon from the inside and replacing it with new silicon, but it didn't hold. It actually leaked in a different spot after the attempted repair, so I did fix the original leak but the silicon cracked on a different side. I figure I would need to completely redo it, take the glass panels apart and redo the silicon not just inside the tank but also between the panels to really repair it, which would be a ton of work. 

 

So, at this point I started thinking about replacing the tank. I could get a different sized tank but it wouldn't fit on the stand I have, and the glass lid I have with the LED panel I have would all probably need to be replaced, so if I did get a different tank I would also have to replace a lot of other things. The problem is, my tank is a rare size that, as far as I can tell, is only really sold on the east coast (I live in California). Eventually, I went to an aquarium store that can do custom tanks, and I was able to place an order for a tank of the same shape and size as the one I had. I have to wait 3 weeks for delivery, but the cost wasn't too bad all things considered. Way cheaper than getting a new tank + stand. 

 

Now I'm just waiting for the new tank to arrive at the shop, and then I'll be setting it up again. 

 

Tank before leak:

 

 

 

Temp 10 gallon with everything stuffed in it:

 

What the leak was like:

Edited July 18 by UltraMega