Not sure where else to ask ....

[citymouse]

This is a question about a freshwater tank and decorations for my daughter's tank, it's a 29 tall, she bought some Topfin decorations, they're mushrooms, nothing super gawdy The tank has black sand. The decorations are trash, they're slimy, leaching paint or something...they're awful crap!!

I figure a lot of you might also have freshwater tanks too (i have both SW and FW myself), or kids who have tanks. Can anyone advise where to buy decorations that are better quality and won't kill the fish?

There are currently no fish in the tank at all, I had tossed in one of my yellow labs to cycle the tank, all was good until the decorations started peeling or whatever it is they are doing...and the fish died. The water was good, cycled and ready to get her own fish..

Now we're starting over, totally cleaning out the tank and she wants some fake plants that reach the top of the water and maybe a couple of decorations.

 

[Carabeo]

The fake plants should be solid for you. Rock and wood isn't an option? I've always had good life from resin ornaments, like resin wood. Molded stone caves too. The paint seems to always peel if it's that shiny vinyl stuff. I can't stand painted gravel because it peels too.

 

[citymouse]

The fake plants should be solid for you. Rock and wood isn't an option? I've always had good life from resin ornaments, like resin wood. Molded stone caves too. The paint seems to always peel if it's that shiny vinyl stuff. I can't stand painted gravel because it peels too.

Wood isn't but maybe rock. She wants some interesting decorations but she's old enough to not choose super bright, ugly stuff. lol The mushroom were not bright but definitely painted and maybe sealed with something terrible for tanks! They're brown with muted red tops, not sure what they're made of. It did look really cool with the black sand, it's so disappointing they turned out to be terrible! I'm just glad she hadn't stocked it with her fish choices yet! It was just one of my yellow labs in there, and I have far too many of those things..they won't stop reproducing..its like a brothel in there.

I have holy rock in my 75g FW, maybe she'd be ok with a small one of those and 1 decent decoration with plants. She also doesn't want pink and colorful plants anymore like she did when she was little! She had a mermaid tank, pink, yellow, a mermaid, pink rock and all...hahaha Those cheap decorations never faded or leached junk into the water!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Run carbon to alleviate toxins and use resin decor and plastic plants only.

 

[Tired]

There are inert two-part resins that can be used to coat decorations and make them inert. I don't know any brands off the top of my head, but I'm sure you could find 'em pretty quickly if you did some Googling about sealing decor to make them safe.

You should also send an email to Topfin. Their stuff is generally, if not /good/, at least not lethal to fish. Maybe something's contaminated somehow? They might want to know.

 

[flyfisher2]

Try TFP in Lancaster PA. I shopped there frquently and they have a good rep in my opinion.

 

[citymouse]

Try TFP in Lancaster PA. I shopped there frquently and they have a good rep in my opinion.

Are they a local store, or do they have a website? I'm in TX

 

[citymouse]

There are inert two-part resins that can be used to coat decorations and make them inert. I don't know any brands off the top of my head, but I'm sure you could find 'em pretty quickly if you did some Googling about sealing decor to make them safe.

You should also send an email to Topfin. Their stuff is generally, if not /good/, at least not lethal to fish. Maybe something's contaminated somehow? They might want to know.

My daughter talked about this, she did a bunch of research, read forums etc. but she wasn't sure if they would work based on some reviews. I'll have to ask here what she found. She's so much like me!

 

[citymouse]

There are inert two-part resins that can be used to coat decorations and make them inert. I don't know any brands off the top of my head, but I'm sure you could find 'em pretty quickly if you did some Googling about sealing decor to make them safe.

You should also send an email to Topfin. Their stuff is generally, if not /good/, at least not lethal to fish. Maybe something's contaminated somehow? They might want to know.

Oh and I never had issues with Topfin in the past, this is the first time I've seen decorations do this. They were fine, we rinsed them off beforehand, they were good for about a month or 2. She said she read about others having this same problem too. I'm googling resins to seal them now! TY

 

[jrmailo]

Why do you not want real plants in your daughter's tank. There are many good options that do not require soil substrate or co2 injection. Many of these require minimal maintenance.

My opinion is the tank will look better and healthier with real plants.

 

[citymouse]

Why do you not want real plants in your daughter's tank. There are many good options that do not require soil substrate or co2 injection. Many of these require minimal maintenance.

My opinion is the tank will look better and healthier with real plants.

She's going to take care of the tank herself, I think real plants would be too much for her.

 

[flyfisher2]

Are they a local store, or do they have a website? I'm in TX

website and storefront

 

[jrmailo]

She's going to take care of the tank herself, I think real plants would be too much for her.

In my experience, (non-high tech) plants are easier to take care of than the fish. I tossed some plants in my dimly lit shrimp cull tank that I do not do maintenance on and they are doing quite all right 6 months in.

Remember, plants love dirty water. They use it as nutrients. Meaning she can get away with less frequent water change and potentially saving your fish in case of ammonia poisoning post-cycling.

 

[saltienewb]

Real plants don’t have to be hard. She can use regular gravel and grow all types of moss in lower light and doesn’t have to root it in substrate. crypts and Jungle val are both easy and forgiving plants.

Since she’s starting over you could point her toward some aquascaping sites. Green Aqua and MJ Aquascaping can show her the beauty tanks she could build.
Also you could ball out a small tank for less than one reef setup component haha

 

[Chrisv.]

She's going to take care of the tank herself, I think real plants would be too much for her.

I set up a little planted tank for the fun of it a few years back. I put maybe half a dozen kinds of plants in there and used the stock fluval flex freshwater light. Used one of the planted tank substrates-- a product called eco complete. Not all of the plants thrived but most of them did with essentially no added care. Completely ignored them. Fed the fish. It was a pretty little tank...but I'll stick to reefs.

If you have a half decent light and add some planted tank substrate I bet she can make SOME live plants flourish. If she's interested in that.

 

[Tired]

There are some real plants that are incredibly simple to keep. Java moss, Java fern, and duckweed (especially duckweed!) don't really need anything more than the light already over the tank and the nutrients the fish give off. They don't even need or want to be planted in soil. Red root floaters may also be an option.

Fake plants don't tend to look nice for long, since algae grows on them, but there are plenty of decorations that can be nice. One option might be to find 3D printed things on Etsy. Just double-check what materials they have to be printed of to be aquarium-safe; I know some 3D printed plastics are safe, but not which numbers they are.

 

[saltienewb]

This is the one I set up in my daughters room. 15 gallon. Not including tank itself, the most expensive thing were the rocks. This is 75 bucks worth of Monte Carlo and crypts,and aqua soil. 50 for the rocks.

this is 3 months later when I kept buying stuff off Etsy and Reddit haha.

 

[WheatToast]

There are some real plants that are incredibly simple to keep. Java moss, Java fern, and duckweed (especially duckweed!) don't really need anything more than the light already over the tank and the nutrients the fish give off. They don't even need or want to be planted in soil. Red root floaters may also be an option.

Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) has consistently been very easy for me to keep as well, though it is a very fast grower at tropical temperatures.

It has been over 10 years since I have owned artificial anemones. However, if my memory serves me correctly, they became slimy/moldy over time as well. I also recall reading an Amazon review which explained how the artificial anemones require regular soaking (in bleach, I think) to prevent such spoilage. Personally, i would just avoid the hassle and use silk/plastic plants or the beginner plants listed above.

 

[saltienewb]

Anubias varietals also can be done with sand substrate. Just attach the rhizome to decoration/hardscape and let it go.

 

[jrmailo]

This is my 13g. I do have a co2 injection, but everything in this tank can be grown without one (low tech) with MINIMAL maintenance.