ctylermast
Active Member
I’ve kept many of tanks as younger kid, freshwater, turtles, a bluegill for a while lol, as I got later on in high school I got away from it, didn’t have time or interest, I moved a lot, but I’m now married, in an apartment for now hopefully buying a home next January so I’m not upgrading until then. Growing up my dad had an amazing 180 display with an entire fish room behind it , unfortunately no pics but it peaked my interest for sure.
Starting early July 2025, has an AC50 HOB, E300 heater, and cheapo Amazon LED I’ve now learned to dial down to abut 20%Did a fishless cycle with microbacter start and dosed ammonia and a week later my tank was ready for fishNot much has changed since then and now just letting it cycle. I was battling phosphates and I think I’m paying the price, of using rock from someone’s set up that was taken down. 80lbs for 100$ I couldn’t pass it up. But about a week ago I had the big clown die….no other symptoms than he was really skinny and his gills were feathered. I chocked it up to a one off event and me getting poor info. I was told to feed every other day and cut them off because they’ll never stop eating. Now I’m feeding the remaining one every day a decent amount and he’s doing great. I have since added an aquamaxx HOB 1.5 skimmer and I see alotnof junk it’s pulling from the water. But I’m battling MICROBUBBLES and it’s killing me. I have a bubble remover on the way and hoping it mitigates it ….if not I may go without the skimmer. But I’m giving it a week and gonna try to find a new pair for my clown.
Starting early July 2025, has an AC50 HOB, E300 heater, and cheapo Amazon LED I’ve now learned to dial down to abut 20%Did a fishless cycle with microbacter start and dosed ammonia and a week later my tank was ready for fishNot much has changed since then and now just letting it cycle. I was battling phosphates and I think I’m paying the price, of using rock from someone’s set up that was taken down. 80lbs for 100$ I couldn’t pass it up. But about a week ago I had the big clown die….no other symptoms than he was really skinny and his gills were feathered. I chocked it up to a one off event and me getting poor info. I was told to feed every other day and cut them off because they’ll never stop eating. Now I’m feeding the remaining one every day a decent amount and he’s doing great. I have since added an aquamaxx HOB 1.5 skimmer and I see alotnof junk it’s pulling from the water. But I’m battling MICROBUBBLES and it’s killing me. I have a bubble remover on the way and hoping it mitigates it ….if not I may go without the skimmer. But I’m giving it a week and gonna try to find a new pair for my clown.
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But everything is looking great!
