I think you've convinced me to start using the test strips. I've always been one of those elitists who complained they weren't good enough and have always used the liquid tests. But the liquid is a huge PITA and takes a long time to deal with when testing multiple tanks!
+Rich's Fishes yeah exactlu, when something is a pain in the butt, I tens not to do that. Clearly that is worse than testing with a steip that is in my opinion just as acurate.
Its one of those things that was drilled into me (from too much internet research when I re-joined the hobby) so I simply took it as fact without any real life experience. Now I've come to find that I rarely, if ever, actually test my water anymore anyway. I'm unwilling to attempt altering my water to meet some specific parameter, I (you, anyone) should really never see ammonia unless we somehow cause/induce a bacterial crash and similarly should never see nitrite. Nitrate readings can be useful (as you've shown) for gauging water change schedules and for determining how much fertilizer you might need to add to a planted tank. I also like the digital TDS meters as a gauge for water change schedules (although again, not something I typically bother with anymore!)
every single time you post your story its an inspiration to so many people out here and I can't thank you enough for allowing us to be part of your journey through this life
I'm glad you made this video, changing water just for the sake of changing water has always seemed asinine and counter-intuitive. Also, the tip on those test strips is such a good idea!
I just slapped myself in the head,i use test strips and never thought of cutting them so thanks for the tip 😁 love your daily dose and look forward to watching them so please keep doing them,always find your content very interesting so keep doing what u do and thanks for making them
I remember watching your videos you made with Lamont & I would think to myself why does he only have 1,200 subscribers & now you're over 20,000.. congratulations Cory, I always enjoy your content 👍
ARGH!!!! Well now I know what he's getting for Christmas...tupperware and more measuring cups. Yes more.....I've bought him multiples. I swear he has 5 sets of measuring cups and at least a hundred scissors in that fish room....somewhere.
Cut the test strips in half... That's an awesome tip that my LFS would never tell their customers. I love how Cory's videos are geared towards creating and developing hobbyists. There's only 1 LFS store in my area(besides the chain pet stores) and it feels like they don't want to share any information, and would rather their customers be totally dependent on them. If I had a LFS near me with a staff half as passionate as Aquarium Co-Op, I'd feel so lucky.
I know this is an old video by now, but couldn't help commenting! I am simultaneously disappointed by the missed opportunity of Taconess, while also drooling over the falafel. Two of my favorite foods! Americans really don't appreciate falafel (yet?), so it always cheers me up to see people eating it in unexpected places! Bon appetite for whatever you guys are eating today!
Can't believe it's been 3 weeks of Daily Dose already. I was a little on the fence on whether to buy some Repashy, since I don't see it much in the UK but this made my mind up. Another great video, Cory.
Omg I bet I know exactly what that repashy smells like. I volunteer at a zoo in australia and we make a mix almost exactly like that repashy for the echidnas (exept it comes out as a paste). also great work on trying to reduce unneeded water usage cory.
I really like these Daily Dose videos. Perfect length and they're out every day! Also, I spent about an hour today YouTubing puffers eating clams... thanks alot Cory! lol
Ordered some strips, thanks for the cut in half tip! I have the API test kit but the nitrate one has stopped working no matter how hard the 2nd bottle is shaken.
I'm 13 and went into a tackle and koi food store and I chatted to the owner and around April he's going to switch to a pet store and an hour went by and he offers me a job when it starts on Saturdays... YAYYY!!! I know lots about birds, fish and mammals which he will have!
Give the Discus a try with Repashy - I've tried it with mine and they go for it. Had to introduce it alongside their regular food but now they go for it.
The Repashy Soilent Green is popular in all of my tanks and pond (Endlers, guppies, zebra/leopard danios, snails, neocaridina shrimp, neon tetras, yoyo loaches, red zebra African cichlids, etc). I keep it stocked and feed once a day, usually. I'm also enjoying Aquarium Co-op's newer test strips. Thanks!
You were well on form today, brilliant video. Love the tip on cutting test kits and really interested in the food you fed. Going to research if they Dona food for marines.
I steal all the scissors in the house between my art projects and tank stuff, lol! They get tossed in a drawer, in a box or on some random surface and then I can't find them. Then I do deep cleaning and organizing and find 20 pairs all at once. Hehehe.
Hi Cory! New subscriber and fish enthusiast here. A bit of a long message incoming, and the reason is the struggle to find someone with in-depth knowledge about fish keeping, who doesn't have the intention of selling equipment for your aquarium. I am only looking for honest and professional advice with the well-being of the fish in mind, thus I reach out to you. Firstly, a bit about my aquarium setup: Four days ago I finished setting up a new 180 liter (47-48 g) bare-bottom tank for my future fancy goldfish. The tank is now without fish, other than plenty of live plants (six medium sized plants plus three moss balls). I am adding bacteria every week to boost the cycling process (Bacterial Combi System, Filter Starter, from EASY-LIFE), have the water temperature on around 27 deg.C (81 deg.F), and have lights on for approximately half a day for the sake of the plants. I don't use a heating element since goldfish don't need that, and I will manually lower the temperature of the tank to around 23 deg.C (74 deg.F) before I pick up the fish. The end goal is to have a total of three fancy goldfish in the aquarium, if possible, so I use two sponge filters (350 l capacity on each), and an air stone for filtration, plus I placed one bag of ceramic bio rings on top of each sponge filter. The air pump is the EHEIM Air 400 (duo outlet with a total of 400 l/h capacity). Will the airpump handle the setup or did I go overboard with the filtration? Does this setup help the growth of the beneficial bacteria? The bacteria additive promises that the aquarium is done cycling in only two to tree weeks, but is that usually the case? The first fish I've reserved is a high quality one year old, male short tail oranda lionhead, so he's quite a big fellow already. I am worried that my filtration and it's cycle can't handle a possible ammonia spike or imbalance in the nitrogen cycle when adding a first fish of that size. Do I have reason to worry? Secondly, I need to pick a type of food, and deciding if I should use fine sand as substrate or keep the bottom bare. I have heard goldfish love to filter through sand, but what are your thoughts on that? When it comes to the food of choice for goldfish, I get mixed signals. Store managers only use flake food. On the Internet, however, a lot of people who work with goldfish, including you, love the gel food. In case gel food is the best way to go, which one is best suited for fancy goldfish? I rarely see anyone actually using the Repashy Super Gold for Goldfish, but instead use the Repashy Soilent green. Or should I rather make my own gel food? I have no clue what to do, I just know that I want the fish to have all its needs covered. Final quick questions: I threw in a bit of sinking fish food sticks to help the nitrogen cycle with more ammonia. One day later the fish food is covered with a slimy, semi-transparent layer. Is this fine? Should I just leave it there to further break down or do I take it out and add new food? Your channel is great, by the way. I've learned a whole lot from you and I really appreciate that. Keep up the good work, and thank you!
Cory, thank you for your wonderful videos and doing your best to share education with fish keepers. Today my heart is broken I lost all the fish in my tank. I am a new fish keeper and I’ve tried very hard to educate myself and do all the right things. It was my nitrite that I could not stabilize I tried many many things and it’s just wouldn’t go down I am at the point now that I don’t know if I should just give up.? I just got my 20 gallon fish tank for Christmas as a present from my husband because I asked for an aquarium for Christmas 2019. Here it is only the middle of January and on my fish are dead all except for to cool the lunches that are still hanging in there. I only had one beta fish and three white tipped her trailers and five kolaches I don’t think that is overloading the tank. I didn’t put them in until my tank had good ratings after three weeks. But now here we are and they have died. I even ordered plants from you and fish food from you and fertilizer from you. By the way the service and quality were excellent! My nitrates were out of whack before I place that order I hoped some of those things would help to put things in balance. Unfortunately everything died the day or two after. It was just too late to save them. What is it that causes nitrates to not want to go down? I’ve looked but can’t quite find the answer? I don’t want to make the same mistake again... I am so sad. 😢 Especially about my beta. I had had a betta, Freddy Mercury, in a 2 1/2 gallon tank for over six months and thought I would be doing him a favor putting him in a larger tank with other fish. I killed him😢
You likely cycled your tank, and then it crashed from feeding more than the bacteria could handle. Most people think they aren’t over feeding the fish. This isn’t what you watch, it’s if you are over feeding the bacteria and plants. I’d focus on growing plants in the tank and keeping things stable for a month to 6 weeks before adding say 1 single fish back in. Then waiting another month etc. Slow is the key to aquariums.
Where I used to live we had two meters, one on water going in and one on sewer line going out and was billed for each separately. The going out sewage bill was a lot more so I'd save some on my bill by when doing water changes not putting it down drain but rather ran it out into yard.
Cory!!! You are absolutely hilarious!!!! You just said that was a real time time lapse talking about test strips🤣🤣🤣 you always make me laugh man you are great! Thank you so much for everything you do bro you are a true saint
Our Betta, Corydoras Julii’s, and black skirt Tetras also LOVE our Snell-O (obviously for snails) fortified with cuttlebone, frozen blood worms, algae wafers, and regular flakes. Never lasts longer than a few hours at most👍🏻
Rewatched this old video and learnt something new! Cutting test strips by two is just a genius idea! And pinky factor! Should do fancy pinky factor when will cut my repashy next time. I just need to do it when wify is not around home. Otherwise she will kill me or at least make me eat repashy myself 🤣🤣🤣
Hi Cory, May i know if its best to 1) Air about 10 gallons of water overnight for water change for a 55 gallon tank? 2) Add dechlorinator before adding water to the tank straight from the tap? Also, for a discus tank(5 discus in a 55gallon), is water change 1-2 times week enough? They will be fed about twice a day. Thanks!!!
Hi Cory, thank for the information in this video. I really appreciate the tip on how to save money on the water testing strips and how testing the water first should be used as a basis to come up with a water changing plan. I have two HOB filters in a 10 gallon tank. My HOBs uses two different sponge materials, one for mechanical filtering and another for biological filtering. I also added to pre-stage filters on the intake tube after seeing one of your videos. How often should the pre-stage filters be cleaned? Also how often should the mechanical sponge filter be cleaned? I planned on cleaning the mechanical and biological filter sponge inside the HOB once a month. Should I clean the mechanical sponge more often within a month?
I have heard that a sudden reduction of nitrates can stress fish and that if they are high then they should be reduced gradually. Is this true? If you perfectly matched all six parameters could you do a water change of any size and if not what is the highest you would go,,as a general rule? Would you recommend asking the pet shop to let you test the water in the tank you will get your fish from and match the levels before getting the fish? I know you cannot release them right away in any circumstance because you must equalize temperatures. Many questions,,I know. :)
Have you tried feeding Cray fish tails to your fish. I popped a few in the tanks and all the fish I had went crazy for them.different Tetras loaches swordtails guppys bristle nose and angels all loved them. Had to tie a string around one to hang it mid tank for the angels.
Love your idea on cutting strips in half. I only use the Tetra brand. However my new strips I bought on Chewy (100 for under 18.00 dollars) now state to wait 60 sec instead of 30. Not sure why Tetra changed it.
Harbor freight free scissors, cutting test strips, getting tacos, I wanna hang out someday ;) I know this is an older vid but I’ve had tanks most of my life - 50yrs- been watching for Cory about a year
Any thoughts on which Repashi food blends to use? I would think the Community has meat as well as veggies. When would you use a straight plant based diet?
I have an Extremely heavy planted aquarium, and my Nitrates and Nitrites are at or near 0 on a constant basis. I have done a partial water change once since I bought the tanks from my son (about 9 months ago), just to see how much of a pain in the butt it would be. However, I keep seeing on most every site, you have to do water changes, water changes, water changes......... What is the point if I have no Nitrogen/Ammonia problems, and the fish seem happy and healthy? They have a day for everything else, might as well have one for tacos. Love the test strip tip. I figured the tabs would fall off.
Well there are lots of parameters we as hobbyists don't test for. Like hormones, copper, zinc, etc. In high levels all can be deadly. In your case, you don't have to worry about the main fish killers which are fish waste. I'd say a water change once a month while servicing filters etc would be enough. Enough water to clean the media etc is all that would probably be needed depending on type of fish etc.
Hi cory, When you say nitrogen do you mean nitrates. Also my rasbora maculata are only eating my Hikari first bites and I tried feeding frozen brine shrimp and daphnia but they didn't go for it, is it too big for them? They never seem to go for food on the gravel either unlike my guppies in another tank!
Cory, this is a great video. It was the topic of an argument a while back. You have said many times that changing water too frequently can be counter productive. There have been times though that you seem to state the opposite and I know I am missing the point. I have a question about water hardness, I know it is hard to answer everyone but I will leave it there with no expectations. If I want to soften water by adding, peat, tea, Cattapa and then I use carbon to remove the brown stain am I removing the Material that is softening my water or can I do that anyhow? Thank you! Love your work!
Hi Cory thanks for helping me get started in this hobby. I feed flake food now but am thinking of mixing it up would I feed the Repashy once a day like the flake? 40 gallon breeder community tank. Also I am ordering the strips again thanks for all the info delivered in a entertaining way.
I haven't skateboarded since I was young, and even then I was really bad. But I enjoy their content and it's a nice break from fish 24/7 :) Doug is my favorite.
Hello Corey, I find your videos to be very informative. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. My question regarding this video is about the shrimp tanks that also have fish in them. It seems that the general opinion is not to put fish in with your shrimp since they will be eating them if the can fit them in their mouth. I noticed that you had fish in each shrimp tank and you said they were breeding well and there were plenty of baby shrimp in the tanks. How do you keep the fish from eating the tiny shrimp that are in the same tanks? I realize that the fish are small but the little shrimp can still fit in the mouths of the fish. Please help me understand how you are successful at doing that. Thank you.
I am weary watching your video as I have just had issues with test strips. your video came up in my research. The strips were showing low or zero nitrates, but i found problems with my fish and algea. I do a api liquid test and nitrates are off the charts! I think it is the storage of the strips. makes them lose their chemicals. almost no one talks about this. and i worry you were testing all tanks with damaged strips. did you ever find this? i know this is an old video. but have you tried testing with strips and liquid test kit?
Which blend do you think Blood parrots would eat best? I'm switching my African cichlid tank over to blood parrot cichlids. Making sure I have everything I need to be successful!
At what point do you do a water change because you NEED to based on waste accumulation ,etc and not nitrates? I use strips and sometimes liquid tests to keep an eye on my tanks and I have a 10 gallon with just 1 betta in it that will go a month or more without registering any nitrates. I use a hood so there's minimal evaporation as well. I changed it this morning because it had been nearly a whole month, but I did a liquid test first and the nitrates were not even 5ppm.
I recently found braille skateboarding too. Pretty cool channel. Do you skate? I got a longboard last week, it was my first time skating in about 20 years, had a great time at it, really fun. Thanks for making quality videos!
Hey, just curious...when cutting test strips in half(preferably the best Aquarium Co-op brand), Is it best to hold your pinky out...? Or just with knives...? Keep up your awesomeness...!
Do you have a dehumidifier in the garage? Is it setting higher up or on the ground/best location, for placing? That's a lot of water, you don't have molding/humidity issues?
OK So seeing you use test strips reminded me of a question. Are test strips good enough to use for aquariums, or do we need the liquid test kit (API Master Kit)? I have seen people on some forums tell members never to use the test strips, and claim they are useless compared to the liquid kit.
I hadn't thought of dropping Rapashy in as cubes. I'll have to try it on my Mbuna tank, and the community tanks. I chop it up for my goldfish and oscars. Oscars are rotten 😊 and finicky. Thanks for the videos.
Hi I use Era Strips but do the same as you cut them in half. I also in my two main tanks have Seachem Ammonia Alerts and Ph Alert in Tropheus tank as water is 8.8
How am I going to feel like a chemist when I just stick a bit of paper in the water? I've only got one tank and got the liquid tests and I kinda like them. Ill probably get the paper ones when these run out though as they are a bit annoying to do after a while.
I bought the 6 ounce size from you last week.I see they make a bigger foil bag but I'm not sure of the size.I would be interested if you can get it.my fish love it!
I can get anything currently on the market. Foil packs haven't been made in years. They are all in Jars now. but can go as large as 4lb containers I believe. What type did you want? You can email and special order through this email. store@aquariumcoop.com
+Thomas keider we dont sell the k1 yet, if there is demand for it we would. What size of aoilent green were you looking for? I could irder it up ina couple of days.
hi corey love from australia i have a 135 litrr tank that is an aqua on so its a bit taller and wondering what fish i should put in i have 10 golden tetra and 10 rasbora scissor tails 6 platy 3 sword tails and 2 sucking catfish any recomendationss for bigger colourfull fish like 2 angels or a chilliad thanks
It's not a good idea to go for bigger in the size tank with the current stock you have. I think something like an apistogramma cichlid would be an more appropriately size for you stock level, also many of them are colourful. Just check your water quality/compatibility before getting any more fish.
XxXMidnightblackXxX are you crazy its already packed with fish and adding more fish on top of that is just adding fuel to the fire....even then apistos are fincky and want certain waters to thrive...plus i doubt he is gettin apistos in Australia the cost might be another tank
Rico Suave I was not telling them to go out and get one, I was just saying it's an better option than going for something like a angel fish. Some people will not listen when you tell them their tank is over stocked, so I was opting for a smaller fish if they are still going to get another fish anyway. I live in Australia as well, apistogrammas are not that expensive here, average $20-40, which is not that different to an angel fish of $7-30 for tiny ones and $17-50 for larger ones.
XxXMidnightblackXxX yes you are telling him indirectly just cause you mention that an apisto can be mixed in will make him think it will be ok when getting a bigger tank should be the first option
+Hasan Cagri Ergen thats the easiest way for me to spot you! I want to do like a dinner at a mexican place or something where anyone can show up and hang out
what brand of test strip is that? my LFSs don't seem to sell it, i'm wondering if i didn't look hard enough. they usually only stock individual API test kits or the API kits in a bucket
Aquarium Co-Op Where I am in Australia, we recently had 10 years of drought conditions and water restrictions. Using water sustainably can be a big part of fishkeeping for some people. Thanks for the video Cory, you are both informative and fun. Top work buddy.
About how much and what kind of this gel food would you feed to betas? Would it be better for a beta to be fed a small amount twice a day or once a day with a little bit more?
Buy these tetra 6 in 1 test strips from our Amazon Affiliate link here: amzn.to/2ydgT1r
Okay. Cutting the test strips in half is brilliant. Thanks for that tip.
Works awesome :)
I think you've convinced me to start using the test strips. I've always been one of those elitists who complained they weren't good enough and have always used the liquid tests. But the liquid is a huge PITA and takes a long time to deal with when testing multiple tanks!
+Rich's Fishes yeah exactlu, when something is a pain in the butt, I tens not to do that. Clearly that is worse than testing with a steip that is in my opinion just as acurate.
Its one of those things that was drilled into me (from too much internet research when I re-joined the hobby) so I simply took it as fact without any real life experience. Now I've come to find that I rarely, if ever, actually test my water anymore anyway. I'm unwilling to attempt altering my water to meet some specific parameter, I (you, anyone) should really never see ammonia unless we somehow cause/induce a bacterial crash and similarly should never see nitrite. Nitrate readings can be useful (as you've shown) for gauging water change schedules and for determining how much fertilizer you might need to add to a planted tank. I also like the digital TDS meters as a gauge for water change schedules (although again, not something I typically bother with anymore!)
That test trip tip blew my mind!
every single time you post your story its an inspiration to so many people out here and I can't thank you enough for allowing us to be part of your journey through this life
I'm glad you made this video, changing water just for the sake of changing water has always seemed asinine and counter-intuitive. Also, the tip on those test strips is such a good idea!
I just slapped myself in the head,i use test strips and never thought of cutting them so thanks for the tip 😁 love your daily dose and look forward to watching them so please keep doing them,always find your content very interesting so keep doing what u do and thanks for making them
(Watches Corey cut test strip in half) ......o..m..g..
Simple little life changing moment for me.
Thanks Corey!!!
No problem! Changing lives one person at a time!
Awesome cutting the strips in half, you just saved me money, thanks Cory!
I remember watching your videos you made with Lamont & I would think to myself why does he only have 1,200 subscribers & now you're over 20,000.. congratulations Cory, I always enjoy your content 👍
Thanks, Hopefully you'll be thinking the same thing in a year and it's over 100k :P
ARGH!!!! Well now I know what he's getting for Christmas...tupperware and more measuring cups. Yes more.....I've bought him multiples. I swear he has 5 sets of measuring cups and at least a hundred scissors in that fish room....somewhere.
Cut the test strips in half... That's an awesome tip that my LFS would never tell their customers. I love how Cory's videos are geared towards creating and developing hobbyists. There's only 1 LFS store in my area(besides the chain pet stores) and it feels like they don't want to share any information, and would rather their customers be totally dependent on them. If I had a LFS near me with a staff half as passionate as Aquarium Co-Op, I'd feel so lucky.
I know this is an old video by now, but couldn't help commenting! I am simultaneously disappointed by the missed opportunity of Taconess, while also drooling over the falafel. Two of my favorite foods! Americans really don't appreciate falafel (yet?), so it always cheers me up to see people eating it in unexpected places! Bon appetite for whatever you guys are eating today!
Thanks for the info Cory!
You inspired me too keep fish!
+Danny's Aquariums awesome!
Had never heard of Repashy before this video! Another food to put into my aquarium tool box! You rock man!
A Beginner like myself really benefits from your advice and recommendations - keep up the good work!
Are you still keeping fish?
Fishkeeping goals! I wish my basement was set up like this. But my husband's train sets were there first! HA!
Smiling so big seeing you cut the test strip in half. Brilliant.
Test strip genius....
I watched one of your videos
Can't believe it's been 3 weeks of Daily Dose already. I was a little on the fence on whether to buy some Repashy, since I don't see it much in the UK but this made my mind up. Another great video, Cory.
+ish thanks for watchin!
Omg I bet I know exactly what that repashy smells like. I volunteer at a zoo in australia and we make a mix almost exactly like that repashy for the echidnas (exept it comes out as a paste). also great work on trying to reduce unneeded water usage cory.
I really like these Daily Dose videos. Perfect length and they're out every day! Also, I spent about an hour today YouTubing puffers eating clams... thanks alot Cory! lol
Been there, done that :P
Gore, he still does that. lol
Ordered some strips, thanks for the cut in half tip! I have the API test kit but the nitrate one has stopped working no matter how hard the 2nd bottle is shaken.
+Will Deasy awesome i think youll like em.
I'm 13 and went into a tackle and koi food store and I chatted to the owner and around April he's going to switch to a pet store and an hour went by and he offers me a job when it starts on Saturdays... YAYYY!!! I know lots about birds, fish and mammals which he will have!
What city bud?
Lyle Chipperson it won't be in a city just a small town in England.
Congrats chap
Homerun Chippa
That's awesome bro!
Give the Discus a try with Repashy - I've tried it with mine and they go for it. Had to introduce it alongside their regular food but now they go for it.
+Discus Newbie yeah, Ive had them eat it sometimes, but not reliably enough to recommend it on video. Depends on the group of discus.
"One day I'm just going to trip and die on a pile of scissors..." that was dark for you, Corey. 😆
The Repashy Soilent Green is popular in all of my tanks and pond (Endlers, guppies, zebra/leopard danios, snails, neocaridina shrimp, neon tetras, yoyo loaches, red zebra African cichlids, etc). I keep it stocked and feed once a day, usually.
I'm also enjoying Aquarium Co-op's newer test strips. Thanks!
Thanks for the daily dose today Cory, getting me through my school day 👌
+Moogoo Najieullah awesome!
Agreed I like your content. You have such a cool profession
+Yunghalfcut Shawty thanks.
You were well on form today, brilliant video. Love the tip on cutting test kits and really interested in the food you fed. Going to research if they Dona food for marines.
HE STEALS ALL THE SCISSORS! ALL THE TIME. ARRRRGGGHHHH!
I steal my wife's as well😀
I steal all the scissors in the house between my art projects and tank stuff, lol! They get tossed in a drawer, in a box or on some random surface and then I can't find them. Then I do deep cleaning and organizing and find 20 pairs all at once. Hehehe.
Savanna The Aqua Llama same here lol. I do the same with the 3 tweezers we have & drive the bf crazy lol
😂
watching the fish eat was a delight! I'd love to see it more often, maybe with different types of food?
+Erin Concepcio maybe so, we shall see.
Hi Cory!
New subscriber and fish enthusiast here. A bit of a long message incoming, and the reason is the struggle to find someone with in-depth knowledge about fish keeping, who doesn't have the intention of selling equipment for your aquarium. I am only looking for honest and professional advice with the well-being of the fish in mind, thus I reach out to you.
Firstly, a bit about my aquarium setup: Four days ago I finished setting up a new 180 liter (47-48 g) bare-bottom tank for my future fancy goldfish. The tank is now without fish, other than plenty of live plants (six medium sized plants plus three moss balls). I am adding bacteria every week to boost the cycling process (Bacterial Combi System, Filter Starter, from EASY-LIFE), have the water temperature on around 27 deg.C (81 deg.F), and have lights on for approximately half a day for the sake of the plants. I don't use a heating element since goldfish don't need that, and I will manually lower the temperature of the tank to around 23 deg.C (74 deg.F) before I pick up the fish. The end goal is to have a total of three fancy goldfish in the aquarium, if possible, so I use two sponge filters (350 l capacity on each), and an air stone for filtration, plus I placed one bag of ceramic bio rings on top of each sponge filter. The air pump is the EHEIM Air 400 (duo outlet with a total of 400 l/h capacity). Will the airpump handle the setup or did I go overboard with the filtration? Does this setup help the growth of the beneficial bacteria? The bacteria additive promises that the aquarium is done cycling in only two to tree weeks, but is that usually the case? The first fish I've reserved is a high quality one year old, male short tail oranda lionhead, so he's quite a big fellow already. I am worried that my filtration and it's cycle can't handle a possible ammonia spike or imbalance in the nitrogen cycle when adding a first fish of that size. Do I have reason to worry?
Secondly, I need to pick a type of food, and deciding if I should use fine sand as substrate or keep the bottom bare. I have heard goldfish love to filter through sand, but what are your thoughts on that? When it comes to the food of choice for goldfish, I get mixed signals. Store managers only use flake food. On the Internet, however, a lot of people who work with goldfish, including you, love the gel food. In case gel food is the best way to go, which one is best suited for fancy goldfish? I rarely see anyone actually using the Repashy Super Gold for Goldfish, but instead use the Repashy Soilent green. Or should I rather make my own gel food? I have no clue what to do, I just know that I want the fish to have all its needs covered.
Final quick questions: I threw in a bit of sinking fish food sticks to help the nitrogen cycle with more ammonia. One day later the fish food is covered with a slimy, semi-transparent layer. Is this fine? Should I just leave it there to further break down or do I take it out and add new food?
Your channel is great, by the way. I've learned a whole lot from you and I really appreciate that. Keep up the good work, and thank you!
Great tips, Cory. Love these info vids! Keep doing them, please. 👍😃🍄
Love the test trip tip!! I’ve learned so much from you in the last two weeks!Thank you
Pinky out.... Moe, Larry & Curly have taught you well!
hi cory what a good nitrate to keep your plant tank at and fish only tanks awesome videos like the daily dose lots
Cory, thank you for your wonderful videos and doing your best to share education with fish keepers. Today my heart is broken I lost all the fish in my tank. I am a new fish keeper and I’ve tried very hard to educate myself and do all the right things. It was my nitrite that I could not stabilize I tried many many things and it’s just wouldn’t go down I am at the point now that I don’t know if I should just give up.? I just got my 20 gallon fish tank for Christmas as a present from my husband because I asked for an aquarium for Christmas 2019. Here it is only the middle of January and on my fish are dead all except for to cool the lunches that are still hanging in there. I only had one beta fish and three white tipped her trailers and five kolaches I don’t think that is overloading the tank. I didn’t put them in until my tank had good ratings after three weeks. But now here we are and they have died. I even ordered plants from you and fish food from you and fertilizer from you. By the way the service and quality were excellent! My nitrates were out of whack before I place that order I hoped some of those things would help to put things in balance. Unfortunately everything died the day or two after. It was just too late to save them. What is it that causes nitrates to not want to go down? I’ve looked but can’t quite find the answer? I don’t want to make the same mistake again... I am so sad. 😢 Especially about my beta. I had had a betta, Freddy Mercury, in a 2 1/2 gallon tank for over six months and thought I would be doing him a favor putting him in a larger tank with other fish. I killed him😢
You likely cycled your tank, and then it crashed from feeding more than the bacteria could handle. Most people think they aren’t over feeding the fish. This isn’t what you watch, it’s if you are over feeding the bacteria and plants. I’d focus on growing plants in the tank and keeping things stable for a month to 6 weeks before adding say 1 single fish back in. Then waiting another month etc. Slow is the key to aquariums.
This is my favorite daily dose episode by far 😊 the tip for the test strips is just amazing!
Glad you got value out of it :)
Where I used to live we had two meters, one on water going in and one on sewer line going out and was billed for each separately. The going out sewage bill was a lot more so I'd save some on my bill by when doing water changes not putting it down drain but rather ran it out into yard.
+Andy Henson yeah, I do that as much as possible, but the sewagw is flat rate here.
Aquarium Co-Op
Where did you get your yellow and blue fancy guppies?
Cory!!! You are absolutely hilarious!!!! You just said that was a real time time lapse talking about test strips🤣🤣🤣 you always make me laugh man you are great! Thank you so much for everything you do bro you are a true saint
Our Betta, Corydoras Julii’s, and black skirt Tetras also LOVE our Snell-O (obviously for snails) fortified with cuttlebone, frozen blood worms, algae wafers, and regular flakes.
Never lasts longer than a few hours at most👍🏻
What’s the difference between KH, total alkalinity and carbonate?
Rewatched this old video and learnt something new!
Cutting test strips by two is just a genius idea! And pinky factor! Should do fancy pinky factor when will cut my repashy next time. I just need to do it when wify is not around home. Otherwise she will kill me or at least make me eat repashy myself 🤣🤣🤣
Hi Cory, May i know if its best to
1) Air about 10 gallons of water overnight for water change for a 55 gallon tank?
2) Add dechlorinator before adding water to the tank straight from the tap?
Also, for a discus tank(5 discus in a 55gallon), is water change 1-2 times week enough? They will be fed about twice a day.
Thanks!!!
Amazing video as always. You're the man, sir!
Axolotls love rapashi to. I have a bunch, I wonder if my shrimp would like it.
Hi Cory, thank for the information in this video. I really appreciate the tip on how to save money on the water testing strips and how testing the water first should be used as a basis to come up with a water changing plan.
I have two HOB filters in a 10 gallon tank. My HOBs uses two different sponge materials, one for mechanical filtering and another for biological filtering. I also added to pre-stage filters on the intake tube after seeing one of your videos.
How often should the pre-stage filters be cleaned? Also how often should the mechanical sponge filter be cleaned? I planned on cleaning the mechanical and biological filter sponge inside the HOB once a month. Should I clean the mechanical sponge more often within a month?
I have heard that a sudden reduction of nitrates can stress fish and that if they are high then they should be reduced gradually. Is this true?
If you perfectly matched all six parameters could you do a water change of any size and if not what is the highest you would go,,as a general rule?
Would you recommend asking the pet shop to let you test the water in the tank you will get your fish from and match the levels before getting the fish? I know you cannot release them right away in any circumstance because you must equalize temperatures.
Many questions,,I know. :)
Great information man! These test kits are the best in my opinion
great tip on cutting the strips.
Have you tried feeding Cray fish tails to your fish. I popped a few in the tanks and all the fish I had went crazy for them.different Tetras loaches swordtails guppys bristle nose and angels all loved them. Had to tie a string around one to hang it mid tank for the angels.
+Sam Parry I havent mostly cause I dont have a source for them.
Love your idea on cutting strips in half. I only use the Tetra brand. However my new strips I bought on Chewy (100 for under 18.00 dollars) now state to wait 60 sec instead of 30. Not sure why Tetra changed it.
Love the Daily Dose videos - I watch them every day after work. I think you should keep that silvery goldfish cos you really seem to like him!! :)
+bronwenism he is awesome. He reminds me of a koi I have.
I really like watching your fish eat!
Harbor freight free scissors, cutting test strips, getting tacos, I wanna hang out someday ;) I know this is an older vid but I’ve had tanks most of my life - 50yrs- been watching for Cory about a year
Great job Cory. Greatly appreciated!
Any thoughts on which Repashi food blends to use? I would think the Community has meat as well as veggies. When would you use a straight plant based diet?
Cory...lol...I am a huge quilter; and touching my scissors is a big NO NO :) You have an awesome wife :)))) Great tip on the strips!!
I have an Extremely heavy planted aquarium, and my Nitrates and Nitrites are at or near 0 on a constant basis. I have done a partial water change once since I bought the tanks from my son (about 9 months ago), just to see how much of a pain in the butt it would be. However, I keep seeing on most every site, you have to do water changes, water changes, water changes......... What is the point if I have no Nitrogen/Ammonia problems, and the fish seem happy and healthy?
They have a day for everything else, might as well have one for tacos.
Love the test strip tip. I figured the tabs would fall off.
Well there are lots of parameters we as hobbyists don't test for. Like hormones, copper, zinc, etc. In high levels all can be deadly. In your case, you don't have to worry about the main fish killers which are fish waste. I'd say a water change once a month while servicing filters etc would be enough. Enough water to clean the media etc is all that would probably be needed depending on type of fish etc.
So when the nitrates shows pink on the strip then do a water change, right?
Hi Corey. I'm wondering what do you do to make the Angels breed? Btw I live in Australia and I love the content.
hey aussie aussie were you from i am from melbourne
ramming_robbo Aussies in the house I am from Brisbane
I live in Brisbane.
wow lots of brisbanites in the comments. wouldnt want it any other way
ramming_robbo MELBOURNE!!! Me too
Hi cory,
When you say nitrogen do you mean nitrates. Also my rasbora maculata are only eating my Hikari first bites and I tried feeding frozen brine shrimp and daphnia but they didn't go for it, is it too big for them? They never seem to go for food on the gravel either unlike my guppies in another tank!
Wow. Yeah! Awesome tip on the test strip.
Glad to help :)
Cory, this is a great video. It was the topic of an argument a while back.
You have said many times that changing water too frequently can be counter productive. There have been times though that you seem to state the opposite and I know I am missing the point. I have a question about water hardness, I know it is hard to answer everyone but I will leave it there with no expectations.
If I want to soften water by adding, peat, tea, Cattapa and then I use carbon to remove the brown stain am I removing the Material that is softening my water or can I do that anyhow? Thank you! Love your work!
Hi Cory thanks for helping me get started in this hobby. I feed flake food now but am thinking of mixing it up would I feed the Repashy once a day like the flake? 40 gallon breeder community tank. Also I am ordering the strips again thanks for all the info delivered in a entertaining way.
You could feed it once a day. Yep
Wow i watch Braille Skateboarding every day :) Glad to hear you like em!
I haven't skateboarded since I was young, and even then I was really bad. But I enjoy their content and it's a nice break from fish 24/7 :) Doug is my favorite.
Ha same here, used to skateboard up till highschool. Doug is awesome! Jason is my favorite, fettypotter xD
Fetty is amazing too. I feel like Doug and Fetty have insane skills that don't get shown off enough on the videos.
This is a Cory humor video... Love it...
#timelapse @ 9:13
Just ordered Repashy from your website. Thank you!
Hello Corey, I find your videos to be very informative. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. My question regarding this video is about the shrimp tanks that also have fish in them. It seems that the general opinion is not to put fish in with your shrimp since they will be eating them if the can fit them in their mouth. I noticed that you had fish in each shrimp tank and you said they were breeding well and there were plenty of baby shrimp in the tanks. How do you keep the fish from eating the tiny shrimp that are in the same tanks? I realize that the fish are small but the little shrimp can still fit in the mouths of the fish. Please help me understand how you are successful at doing that. Thank you.
Lots of plants and food. They breed faster than they are eaten
I am weary watching your video as I have just had issues with test strips. your video came up in my research.
The strips were showing low or zero nitrates, but i found problems with my fish and algea.
I do a api liquid test and nitrates are off the charts!
I think it is the storage of the strips. makes them lose their chemicals.
almost no one talks about this. and i worry you were testing all tanks with damaged strips.
did you ever find this? i know this is an old video.
but have you tried testing with strips and liquid test kit?
Which blend do you think Blood parrots would eat best? I'm switching my African cichlid tank over to blood parrot cichlids. Making sure I have everything I need to be successful!
+Kristi Carr small floating pellets generally.
At what point do you do a water change because you NEED to based on waste accumulation ,etc and not nitrates? I use strips and sometimes liquid tests to keep an eye on my tanks and I have a 10 gallon with just 1 betta in it that will go a month or more without registering any nitrates. I use a hood so there's minimal evaporation as well. I changed it this morning because it had been nearly a whole month, but I did a liquid test first and the nitrates were not even 5ppm.
In my opinion, never from physical waste build up after visiting the amazon.
@@AquariumCoop Thanks, and interesting point.
I recently found braille skateboarding too. Pretty cool channel. Do you skate? I got a longboard last week, it was my first time skating in about 20 years, had a great time at it, really fun. Thanks for making quality videos!
+boogiemanspud i havent skated in probably 20 years, don't instend to start back up if it looks like so much fun.
Now I feel guilty because I rarely do water changes thanks for giving me this important info Cory love your video
thank you for all your help
We like to use the Rapashy for getting parasite meds into new fish. Great Product...
+Backyard Aquatics yep, useful for that as well.
I love that you mentioned fat, lovable goldfish!!!! They are so underrated. . . !
Hey, just curious...when cutting test strips in half(preferably the best Aquarium Co-op brand), Is it best to hold your pinky out...? Or just with knives...? Keep up your awesomeness...!
Do you have a dehumidifier in the garage? Is it setting higher up or on the ground/best location, for placing? That's a lot of water, you don't have molding/humidity issues?
I run dehumidifiers, air circulation is also key.
@@AquariumCoop is it better to set the dehumidifiers higher or lower to the ground?
OK So seeing you use test strips reminded me of a question. Are test strips good enough to use for aquariums, or do we need the liquid test kit (API Master Kit)?
I have seen people on some forums tell members never to use the test strips, and claim they are useless compared to the liquid kit.
What plant is that in the back right corner? 6:34
I hadn't thought of dropping Rapashy in as cubes. I'll have to try it on my Mbuna tank, and the community tanks. I chop it up for my goldfish and oscars. Oscars are rotten 😊 and finicky. Thanks for the videos.
+David Wangerow glad I coukd show ya somethin a bit different.
What strips are you using? Agree water changes when not needed bad for fish.
I use the tetra 6 in1 strips www.aquariumcoop.com/products/tetra-6-in-1-test-strips
Hi I use Era Strips but do the same as you cut them in half. I also in my two main tanks have Seachem Ammonia Alerts and Ph Alert in Tropheus tank as water is 8.8
cory u should make a comparison between the strip and the drop ammonia / nitrate test
Maybe some day I will.
braille skateboarding? do you know how to make a stale fish in to a skateboard? since I saw their channel I wanted to see them skate a stale fish...
I just ordered solient green from you and my goldfish love it!
+Thomas keider glad to hear it.
How am I going to feel like a chemist when I just stick a bit of paper in the water? I've only got one tank and got the liquid tests and I kinda like them. Ill probably get the paper ones when these run out though as they are a bit annoying to do after a while.
I bought the 6 ounce size from you last week.I see they make a bigger foil bag but I'm not sure of the size.I would be interested if you can get it.my fish love it!
I can get anything currently on the market. Foil packs haven't been made in years. They are all in Jars now. but can go as large as 4lb containers I believe. What type did you want? You can email and special order through this email. store@aquariumcoop.com
Omg! You amaze me. Best channel for newbis
Do you sell the k1 kaldness and do you have larger sizes of repashy solvent green?Great video!
+Thomas keider we dont sell the k1 yet, if there is demand for it we would. What size of aoilent green were you looking for? I could irder it up ina couple of days.
Great video Cory, I'm going to have to try that food out on my geos.
hi corey love from australia i have a 135 litrr tank that is an aqua on so its a bit taller and wondering what fish i should put in i have 10 golden tetra and 10 rasbora scissor tails 6 platy 3 sword tails and 2 sucking catfish any recomendationss for bigger colourfull fish like 2 angels or a chilliad thanks
nothing sounds like your maxed out unless you get a bigger tank maybe a 400 liter tank
It's not a good idea to go for bigger in the size tank with the current stock you have.
I think something like an apistogramma cichlid would be an more appropriately size for you stock level, also many of them are colourful. Just check your water quality/compatibility before getting any more fish.
XxXMidnightblackXxX are you crazy its already packed with fish and adding more fish on top of that is just adding fuel to the fire....even then apistos are fincky and want certain waters to thrive...plus i doubt he is gettin apistos in Australia the cost might be another tank
Rico Suave I was not telling them to go out and get one, I was just saying it's an better option than going for something like a angel fish. Some people will not listen when you tell them their tank is over stocked, so I was opting for a smaller fish if they are still going to get another fish anyway.
I live in Australia as well, apistogrammas are not that expensive here, average $20-40, which is not that different to an angel fish of $7-30 for tiny ones and $17-50 for larger ones.
XxXMidnightblackXxX yes you are telling him indirectly just cause you mention that an apisto can be mixed in will make him think it will be ok when getting a bigger tank should be the first option
Hi therem..what is the name of fish feed? And do u feed them once a day?
Cool video. I love the gel food. I gotta try it sometime.
+Hasan Cagri Ergen its great, just a pain to make it.
Aquarium Co-Op I will be at Chicago Aquatic experience. I love to meet you there. I may even rock my Aquarium Co-op tee :)
+Hasan Cagri Ergen thats the easiest way for me to spot you! I want to do like a dinner at a mexican place or something where anyone can show up and hang out
Aquarium Co-Op awesome. Let me know if that happens and I love to join. I'll be in Chicago Friday and Saturday.
+Hasan Cagri Ergen yeah, I probably need a Chicago native to set it up/ recommend a place to the convention center.
what brand of test strip is that? my LFSs don't seem to sell it, i'm wondering if i didn't look hard enough. they usually only stock individual API test kits or the API kits in a bucket
Metered water and water conservation restrictions, makes water change schedules much more interesting and important to manage.
Yeah, I'm considering playing with some sustaining systems. Goliad Farms run by Charles Clapsaddle doesn't do any water changes.
Aquarium Co-Op Where I am in Australia, we recently had 10 years of drought conditions and water restrictions. Using water sustainably can be a big part of fishkeeping for some people. Thanks for the video Cory, you are both informative and fun. Top work buddy.
Great tip on the test strips
I love braille skateboarding.. I don't even skate, but i love watching their videos.
About how much and what kind of this gel food would you feed to betas? Would it be better for a beta to be fed a small amount twice a day or once a day with a little bit more?
+Jen C always better to feed small portions throughout the day. Id try like a pea sized piece first and see how that went.