kriss Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Mellie and I got a Petsmart gift card from her mom and since we've been so fascinated with the land snail we found at the supermarket a month and a half ago (whose doing great by the way!), we figured we'd try our hand at a couple of fresh water snails. We purchased a 1 gallon aquarium (you know, those smaller and more compact tanks that can be put on a space compromised desk in an office). After a bit of research, we found the tank can hold the two snails as well as a couple of tiny (non) tropical fish. The only thing we're both hung up on is how the air filter system (the thin tube that's inserted at the top of the tank) work - any of you guys/girls happen to be amateur aquatic life enthusiasts? (well, aside from the film I mean...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I have 2 large salt water fish tanks in my room, but they are my dads. He is pretty crazy about them, and is constantly working on them. One is just for coral, and the other is all fish. They are kind of cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriss Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 Does he keep the filters on at all times? The small air filter that comes with this is the one thing that has us confused. We're gonna keep the snails in there and let the water and the tank set for about a week before introducing the two small fish we plan on keeping in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Yeah, he built a natural filter for both. It's pretty crazy actually, the water drains to another tank underneath and passes through a bunch of seaweed and stuff and is pumped back up and in. He also has power jets to circulate the air in the tank, to create a good oxygen enrich environment and shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steventangent Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Right now, I wish I was an expert on aquaria. Then I could be all kinds of helpful, instead of just looking for an excuse to use the word "aquaria" in a sentence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flood Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 i currently have a 125 gallon tank in my living room with a cople koi in it... at one point i had 3 tanks a 55 with moray eels, a 35 with assorted oddball freshwater fish that was full planted, and the big one with gars, oscars, wolf fish, and other aggressives... but in my old apartment the furnance broke one weekend and the ice caused a power outage, and everything froze solid... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknroll76 Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I had a 60 gallon salt water with inverts, and all sorts of exotic fish. To address the OP, I'm not exactly sure what your question was but I'll throw in my two cents! The smaller the tank, the more that can go wrong and at a quicker rate. Basically, the larger the tank, the closer to a real environment and thus more room for error. I think the snails you got a pretty hearty though and they are one of those creatures that almost just needs to be wet to survive. The type of filter you have going could be an undergravel one? Without seeing pics or having more detail I'm not sure of what you have. I would keep it running at all times though and do a water change at least once a week on a tank that small. Make sure you treat the tap water accordingly before adding it to the tank or buy the proper water at the pet store. I'm not sure if chain stores carry water like that, they should though. I wouldn't change more than 50% of the water at a time. Hope that helps, feel free to PM if you want and good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idreamofpunk Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 i currently have a 125 gallon tank in my living room with a cople koi in it... at one point i had 3 tanks a 55 with moray eels, a 35 with assorted oddball freshwater fish that was full planted, and the big one with gars, oscars, wolf fish, and other aggressives... but in my old apartment the furnance broke one weekend and the ice caused a power outage, and everything froze solid... That is actually really sad. Sorry to hear about that. Em and I had an aquarium, and may be able to help on the filter system. PErhaps. If we still had it, we'd gladly give you our 10 gallon tank but it's long gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriss Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 I had a 60 gallon salt water with inverts, and all sorts of exotic fish. To address the OP, I'm not exactly sure what your question was but I'll throw in my two cents!The smaller the tank, the more that can go wrong and at a quicker rate. Basically, the larger the tank, the closer to a real environment and thus more room for error. I think the snails you got a pretty hearty though and they are one of those creatures that almost just needs to be wet to survive. The type of filter you have going could be an undergravel one? Without seeing pics or having more detail I'm not sure of what you have. I would keep it running at all times though and do a water change at least once a week on a tank that small. Make sure you treat the tap water accordingly before adding it to the tank or buy the proper water at the pet store. I'm not sure if chain stores carry water like that, they should though. I wouldn't change more than 50% of the water at a time. Hope that helps, feel free to PM if you want and good luck with it! The filtration system is undergravel - I figured out how to get it going (attaching the air stone to the air pump, etc) and it's working wonderfully now. I caught the the snails a few minutes into their mating ritual and separated them as I'm not all that enthused on having dozens of them filling up such a small space. I'm thinking I'm going to get another smaller container to house one of the snails and keep the other in the current 1g tank - are two miniscule fish (roughly two thirds of an inch each), one black mystery snail and perhaps a tiny shrimp over crowding in something like this? The water's been treated and I was told that I should only need to change about a quarter of the water out on a monthly basis - as you've suggested half of it, which should I err to? I don't plan on putting any fish in there for a week or so until everything stabilizes. Poking around on line, the main opinion I've found about the air filter is to keep it on for upwards of 12 hours a day and run it on a timer - thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinxremoving Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I have a 55 gallon community freshwater tank, a 5 gallon nano reef tank, and a 1 gallon planted tank. The only fish you can put in a small tank is a beta. In nature betas live in small puddles/ rice patties so they are well suited for small tanks. I would suggest doing a 1/4 water changes every week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknroll76 Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I think you'll be all good with changing out 25% of the water during changes but once a month seems pretty long. Though, if it's just snails (and maybe one fish) even at 1 gallon they probably wouldn't dirty up the water too quick. You will be able to tell pretty quick if the water is getting dirty quick and then come up with your own routine...once a month, twice a month, etc. Glad you got the filter figured out! I thought it was something like that. After a couple years, if you use it for that long you might need to replace some little parts. I seem to remember some rubber bushing or something burning out when I did have that kind of filtration. If you heard or were told to run it for 12 hrs on/off then go for it. I had freshwater/undergravel set up a few years ago and I was successful with it but I think things change a lot technology-wise and what's considered the best way with home aquariums. Wait til you get hooked and you want to start a salt water tank! Those are so amazing and extremely rewarding. Once you get there I would find a more specialized shop if possible. They have healthier animals. You'll be all good with this one, like I said, those things are pretty tough and it sounds like you're a good pet owner and will be keeping an eye on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriss Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 What would you suggest for cloudiness? I put in a couple of chunks off of an algae wafer and now the water is a bit cloudy for my liking. Ended up getting another 1g tank today that matches the other so now they're side by side. Threw a couple of ghost shrimp into each one as well. It's just bumming me out seeing one tank with clear clean water (the one I got today) and one with a bit more milkiness in color (the one that's been running since last night). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicole Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I've been keeping small aquariums on and off for 11 years and actually work at petsmart. feel free to PM if you have any questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 What would you suggest for cloudiness? I put in a couple of chunks off of an algae wafer and now the water is a bit cloudy for my liking. Ended up getting another 1g tank today that matches the other so now they're side by side. Threw a couple of ghost shrimp into each one as well. It's just bumming me out seeing one tank with clear clean water (the one I got today) and one with a bit more milkiness in color (the one that's been running since last night). You can buy chemicals to clear up cloudy water, but it's obviously better to do it with a filtering system. A one gallon tank is out of my knowledge zero, since I've only have big tanks, but I can imagine they sell small ones for those tanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicole Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 for cloudiness there are products you can use, but adding chemicals is not the best way to go about it. first off its important to know that having the water a little dirty is not going to harm the inhabitants. in fact having water that it too clean is more dangerous than having water that is a little dirty as fish need healthy bacteria to live. if its really offending you that badly, better filtration would be something to look into, as thomas mentioned, though you are very limited with a 1 gallon tank. its tiny. you may want to look into getting a 5 or 10 gallon with a simple hang on back filter which will keep your water cleaner and that way you can amalgamate the snails and fish from both you small tanks (assuming you don't plan on getting betas) the general rule is 1 gallon of water per inch of (full adult size) fish. meaning if you were to have 2 fish which would grow to be 2 inches each in length you should have minimum 4 gallons. if you get a 10 gallon you should be able to get a starter kit fairly cheap which will include lights and a filter and hood and everything. you'd be able to have your snails and shrimp and either 2 or 3 fancy goldfish or 6-7 small tropical fish... though you would need a heater for those. whatever you wind up doing, it's important to add fish slowly. don't add more than 2 or 3 at a time. if you are going to stick with the 1 gallons, you could get a dwarf frog and beta in each. makes a cute little setup for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flood Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 the water will be cloudy in the begining as it starts to cycle the bacteria.. its a natural part of the process... normally you'd ideally fill the tank and let the filter run for like a week with a single fish in it to allow the natural bacteria to build up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imaminorthreat Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 This thread is rad. Post some pictures people! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicole Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 This is my new 20 gallon African Cichlid setup. Theres currently only a couple baby fish in it since its new but it was a hell of a lot of fun to put together. To all you guys with marine tanks, I'd love to see pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Tank for fish, and custom filter below it. I think it's a 75 gallon tank. It' super small compared to the custom build 220 gallon he had before. Coral tank, 50 gallon iirc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicole Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 thomas: is keeping a marine tank really that much more complicated than freshwater? i've always wanted one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriss Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Yeah the cloudiness is definitely setting in on both. It doesn't obscure being able to see what's in the tanks, just makes things a bit hazier. On one hand it bothers me aesthetically but it mainly bothers me because I'm worried that I'm doing something wrong with the set up and upkeep. Glad to know it's normal and should clear up at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicole Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 it's part of the nitrogen cycle. you've tanked clean water and shocked it by adding a source of ammonia to it (food and poop) so now the nitrogen cycle kicks in to turn the toxic ammonia into nitrite and then ultimately non-toxic nitrate. cloudiness is normal until a healthy bioload builds up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriss Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Is there a reasonable timeframe for the bioload to build up? I figured I should change out a third of each tank's water every couple of weeks - perhaps I should do it once a week or every five days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 thomas: is keeping a marine tank really that much more complicated than freshwater? i've always wanted one. Not really, they just require more attention then freshwater. You need to check salt levels a lot, and stuff like that, while most freshwater you just do a water change once a month or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flood Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 the secret with fishtanks is counter intuitive... with tanks the bigger they are, the easier they are to take care of . Smaller salt tanks are a pain because its so hard to do water changes and not eff up the salinity level Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.