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DAILY OBSERVATIONS

While I was doing my morning rounds - checking on MLFR I noticed one of my filters wasn't running. I'm not sure what happened to it but it was hot to touch so I assumed the motor is fried. I had enough filtration on that tank but need a new back up filter as my back up died too. I do have a couple extra sponge filters so that's what I used until I can pick one up. Other then that everyone is doing great.

I have 2 holding females sharing a 10 gallon tank which I have divided in two so they each have their own space. One mom is a Dragon Blood and the other is an Electric Blue Fryeri. I'm really excited about her. I haven't had EBF babies yet. It's a first for this pair as well so I'm hoping she does well. So far she seems to be holding fine. As for Dragon Bloods, I have a brood of fry that are only a couple weeks old in another tank. They are prolific breeders I can tell you that.

In my hospital tank I still have "Shredder" my German Red Shoulder. He somehow got beaten pretty bad. His fins were shredded and he was missing a whack of scales as well. He's done a week of Melafix tomorrow. I will probably send him back to the layover tank. Hopefully he'll be okay now that he's all healed up. Besides I need the tank he's in. I have to do a complete clean so I can set it up for my next mom. I have another EBF holding in the main tank. I'll give her a good week before I relocate her.

In my last 10 gallon I have about 20 RedTop Zebras that I need to move. I was going to take them in over the weekend but with gardening and the nice weather, my outdoor chores had to come first. I will post them and see what happens.

In my 20 gallon grow-out I have a brood of Auratus and Dragon Bloods who are about 2-3 weeks old. In the corner of that aquarium I have a breeder box with Elongatus and Red Empress fry. In my 30 gallon grow-out I have about 30 Red Top Zebras, 10 Albino RedxReds, 4 Dolphins that I purchased and in the corner of that aquarium I have my tumbler with about 15 Yellow Labs wigglers.

I have lots of work to do tomorrow in My Little Fish Room. Water changes all the way around, completely clean one of the 10's and doing a little juggling as well. I'm going to be needing my other 10 gallon soon so I may have to set up one of my empty 40 gallon tanks in the basement. I only use them if I have an excess of fry - which I do!

THE BEST AQUARIUM SAND BY FAR

When I first started in this wonderful hobby I didn't know anything. I purchased a 40gl setup complete with everything from gravel to Cichlids. All I basically did was transfer it from there to here. I was up and running that quick and easy. To begin with I had 8 Cichlids but soon was out looking for more.

My setup had a natural coloured gravel. Looking online I found the most popular for Cichlids was white sand. I wanted white sand too. I didn't like how dark the gravel made my tank look and the fish didn't really stand out against such a drab background. So, I went sand shopping. Not knowing any better and not thinking to ask I purchased fine white sand specifically suited to Cichlids.

Removing the gravel and replacing it with sand was quite a job. I removed everything, shop vacked the remaining gravel out..cleaned out the tank and added my rocks and sand. Once it was all done I really loved how clean and bright it looked. I was sure my fish preferred it as well because they were digging in it immediately.

Not more than a week or two later my HOB filters starting making a lot of noise. Cleaning them out I found the sand was so fine my intake tubes where pulling the sand into the filter and causing my impellar to grind. Not good. Reading, searching and through forums I found that this often happens. I first raised my intake tubes hoping if they were higher they wouldn't suck the sand up. Nope, that didn't work. My fish were prolific diggers and constantly sent clouds of fine sand up into the water.

Next I purchased a coarser sand and again removed my substrate and did the whole big job over again. This time I had no problem. The sand was heavier and coarser not allowing the fish to make clouds for my filter to inhale.

Over time as I have added aquarium after aquarium I have switched to pool filter sand. There are many types but I didn't realize that. I figured it was all pretty much the same. It was affordable and looked just as good as the expensive fishy sand. The only thing was it took some elbow grease to wash it.

Over the weekend I setup yet another aquarium. The place where I've gotten my sand before didn't have it in stock so I went to Canadian Tire. A great store I might add. The sand they had was different. They only had 20lb bags instead of 50lb that I usually bought. The price was right and the sand looked awesome. The stuff I bought before came in a solid bag so I couldn't see what it looked like but this came in a thick heavy clear plastic bag. I could see it was pristine.

I have it now in my newest setup and I have to say - It's the best most beautiful sand I've used thus far. It's actually crushed quartz. Under the lights it has an iridescent quality about it. I took a photo of the bag so when I need more I'll get the right one. Something as simple as substrate can enhance your tank.

AQUARIUM FILTRATION: (King of DYI) - YouTube

This is one fantastic, helpful, inovative and knowlegeable Channel
It's for your benefit to check it out.

KING OF DYI - YOUTUBE