Please help. First ray into 360.

[Jamieishard]

either way... when people post with a issue they are asking for help ...not for a bashing...putting someone down isnt helping any situtaion or ray for that matter...you join MFK to learn and further your horizons in something you feel passionate about...

"if you don't have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all..."

but no matter what you do or where you go some people just thrive on conflict.

and back to the important matter i think fishdogs idea with the switching of the media sounds like a great idea and maybe some substrate in the 150 also...see this is helpful...

 

[ashleysomething]

I'm very appreciate of the constructive feedback. Let me give you an update of what we did last night.

For the 360:
1. Added a generous amount of very 'dirty' filter squeeze from a trusted LFS.
2. Added Abner (our silver arowana) and two discus to help cycle.
3. Added the substrate from the 150.
4. Added more Turbo Start.
5. Did other little things to help with bio, such as adding more gravel and rinsing out the filter pad from the 125 into the filter of the 360.

For the 150 Sick Tank:
1. Did the most graceful transfer of #2 into the 125.

We'll be taking it easy on the water changes in case they are serving as a barrier to letting it cycle completely, and we'll be closely monitoring the ammonia as well. We've halted water changes before, and all the ammonia level did was increase to 2.0, but with transferring #2 to the 125, we are hoping for better results this time around.

Transferring the bio media from our established 125 to the 360 is a great idea, Michael. We'll try that tonight as well.

We are always open to hearing when we've done something wrong and to better ourselves. We are never out to hurt our stingrays. We are absolutely in love with them and always want to do the best we can for them. We are here because we care, and because we're interested in becoming as knowledgeable as possible so we can feed our passion for this hobby.

Someone made a great point that nothing will teach us like the actual experiences of ray-keeping, not even research and consistent forum involvement. But we are very excited about getting that under our belt as well, and feel fortunate that MFK exists to help us through that when we hit some speed bumps.

Blah blah blah.

 

[torres]

C'monn guys... both of em' like an angle overthere... give some love ya

 

[JD7.62]

Aww miles you listed a thread of mine, must mean you were thinking of me!

I'm still a noob though. For my hystrix i took a 29 gallon tank, filled with straight tap about 8hrs before I added the ray, primed, bought the cheapest but largest intank filter I could find (whisper walmart thing), took some scrubbies out of my FX-5 and voila...Ray tank! haha Funny too that my little guy is doing so well too.

To me there are two things that important to rays husbandry...thorough understanding of water chemistry/nitrogen cycle and KISS!

 

[FishDog]

What I did with my 75 gallon was take a dozen scrubbies from my 200's sump and just floated them on top of the water. My 75 has HOB filters on it so I did not have a place to add scrubbies. The ammonia went from 1.5 to 0 in 24 hours. I still have them floating in the tank letting the HOB's current push them around. The only downside is I transferred these awful planaria worms to my 75 by doing this. Now I have two tanks contaminated LOL!

 

[ashleysomething]

What I did with my 75 gallon was take a dozen scrubbies from my 200's sump and just floated them on top of the water. My 75 has HOB filters on it so I did not have a place to add scrubbies. The ammonia went from 1.5 to 0 in 24 hours. I still have them floating in the tank letting the HOB's current push them around. The only downside is I transferred these awful planaria worms to my 75 by doing this. Now I have two tanks contaminated LOL!

Haha, oh no. That sucks about the worms. Did you get those suckers out of there?

I think when Matt gets home in a few hours, we'll try and do that, too... switch around some pot scrubbies. We have 'Binoxed' and 'Primed' both the 125 and 150 fairly recently, so there shouldn't be a trace of any bugs, or anything. I suppose we have that on our side.

We have two HOB filters on the 150, and we have pot scrubbies in there, but straight from the package they came in (after being rinsed, of course). There aren't many in each, as there wasn't much room. There's probably about four or five stuffed in each one. But letting them float around on the water's surface is a very interesting idea. I feel like we will try anything at this point.

The 150's Current Ammonia Level: 0.5
*No water changes for about 16 hours. HUGE improvement. It usually rises back to 1.0 within a couple of hours.

A big part of our problem is that these little healing water monkeys are eating like CRAZY. It is honestly constant. I outfed them once, and felt I had accomplished the impossible. Feeding them less would help with the ammonia, but I know their little pancake bodies are trying to compensate for the parts of their discs that are regenerating and know that food is very necessary for them right now.

Fun News:
We found that #1 and #2 are actually females! We've just been referring to them as all boys, lol. It's hard to see if they have claspers or not when they're in a big black rubbermaid!

#1: Mirabelle, or Mira for short.
#2: Midori.

 

[FishDog]

Might not be a bad idea to float extra new scrubbies in your 150 and 125 so you will have them ready to add to your new tanks when they come in. Just thinking ahead and out loud. Floating the scrubbies works well with rays but it kind of freaks out the other fish at first LOL!

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

Of all people, I would be the one to rip on someone for extreme 'Liger' loving...

However, I have had lengthy chats with both Matt and Ashley, and there is one thing that separates them from most Liger hunters..

Comprehensibility.

They ask questions, they absorb answers, they have PASSION for these fish, just like the rest of us.. They aren't here to brag about their trophy rays with their cichlidiot friends.. They aren't here to spend big money on black rays and gloat. They aren't here demanding the answers to the most basic of questions...

They do there research, they ask detailed questions, they seek knowledge and advice. They came to the right place, correct?

We were all new at some point ... however, I don't ever remember bringing up lengthy in-depth conversations about aerobic bacterias and the maturation process of nitrosomonas in saline water.. especially in my first few months of raykeeping.. My questions were more like - What do they eat? ... What were your first fishkeeping questions like? Osmoregulation? Potamotrygon Identification? Nitrification?


Get off their freaking case.. they are trying, they are asking, they are DOING. They have invested large amounts of money into these animals they love and CARE for... which is better than some idiot coming on here asking what to feed his 55g tank, with an oscar, and a 'teacup'... Those are the people you VETS should be ripping on.

Did you buy a 360g in your first few months of raykeeping? Oh and you had those 500g stock tanks on order, too, I bet? .... Taking it 'slow' is just a learning curve.. they seem to pick things up quick. Remember that word, comprehensibility... you are all masters of it, right?

So lighten up a little, huh guys?

Wow your awesome miles!

 

[ashleysomething]

Might not be a bad idea to float extra new scrubbies in your 150 and 125 so you will have them ready to add to your new tanks when they come in. Just thinking ahead and out loud. Floating the scrubbies works well with rays but it kind of freaks out the other fish at first LOL!

Oooo, you are on it. That's a great idea.

 

[klowd123]

wish you all well, fish and humans.. happy new year!!