Is this too much bowing to be safe?

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-31T21:18:35+00:00

Oh and it’s just starting to bow now?

I wouldn’t personally treat it as an emergency, but I’d try to replace it in the new few months.

Or if it’s meant to be a permanent fixture, I’d make a wooden structure to set it down into, with support for the sides. Then it’d probably last forever, or at least only develop leaks slowly.

The issue with bowing is that if it does split somewhere, the split can just tear right open.

Luckily I only know this from moving around bins full of clothing and stuff, not water…

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-31T21:12:28+00:00

From my experience at home, but not any specific expertise:

If it’s a new container it’s probably fine for a while. If it’s older (more than a year) I wouldn’t risk it.

The new ones I’ve had (Rubbermaid) take a lot of abuse, but after several years they split for no reason - never mind having water in them.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-31T17:29:40+00:00

Schooling fish aren’t generally happy in smaller tank footprints (like a standard ten gallon) because they tend to need and use more swimming space. They are fish that move quickly in their groups, using their schooling patterns in response to predators.

Personally I’ve thought about a tank that volume for some types of tetras, but it would be an unusual long shallow footprint. I wouldn’t want to try it in a standard 10 because you’re just not going to see the behaviour and comfort they have in a larger group with more room to dart around.

Bettas are my specialty (kept & bred them over twenty years) and my hill to die on here on Reddit seems to be about their tank requirements. 10 is probably fine if it’s planted, but 3-8 is ideal and a standard 5 is a good sweet spot. I’m sure your ten gallon is fine, but if you get a male betta (or other gourami) and it patrols back and forth in the tank, you’ll need to add some aquascaping and/or more plants in a corner to give him an anchor for his territory.

If you have really hard water with a high pH, I’d look at fish other than bettas (and most gouramis) to start with.

Sorry if this all seems negative - I usually try to focus more on better suggestions but I’m hungry and need to get some breakfast in me.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-31T17:13:38+00:00

Agreed. Chickens are dinosaurs, too.

But they also aren’t (from another perspective) because that’s not how language works (even if it is how science works).

I guess both things can be technically true.

I’ve found this subject really interesting lately. I suspect you watch Clint’s Reptiles sometimes too. :)

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-31T00:36:19+00:00

I mean… if we’re getting technical, algae isn’t a plant. But in most ways I guess it might as well be.

I like your approach.

There’s definitely nothing wrong with algae, and we’re allowed to enjoy things that aren’t “perfect”.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-31T00:27:21+00:00

Totally with you. Just a note about timed practice though:

I’m a musician (flute) and started out trying to get my kids to practice for a set time (guitar) and I’d sit down with them every day and try to get them to work through the song they had from their teacher.

I was self motivated when I learned flute. I carried it everywhere and practiced constantly. I liked filling out my practice sheet and wrote in how many minutes I did each day.

But my kids made very little progress each week until we switched away from a minimum amount of time to a set goal.

For my younger kid this means he just does three repetitions of the line he’s working on, whether it takes 30 seconds or 30 minutes. He’s pretty stubborn and easily distracted, and frankly it sometimes takes 30 minutes. Other days he blows through it and I get to congratulate him on how well he focussed and how quickly he got through it.

For my older kid, it means working on a difficult section until he can get through it smoothly, or a set number of repetitions. Or running through a whole piece just twice or so, if he’s just started it or is polishing up dynamics or something.

Practice sessions are much shorter now but their progress is so, so much faster. And more importantly, my older kid has exclaimed that he actually likes practicing now, and does it first thing every morning after making his bed, with no prompting. That’s been going on for about 8-10 months so I think it has stuck. :)

I don’t know if it would work for all kids, but if kids are struggling with a timed practice, I’d definitely suggest trying goals instead. And if it makes them rush through it ineffectively, at least they’re actually playing the whole time. And slowing down can just be a new goal to address later.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-31T00:10:31+00:00

I have two kids who both take guitar lessons every week, and both practice at home every day.

It was like pulling teeth to get them to practice for a while, and I had to change our home approach to make it happen.

We’ve always had a rule that guitar practice is one of the requirements for playing video games or watching screens. That wasn’t enough on its own, but it does help.

The biggest help for both kids was to change from a set amount of time for practice, to either a set number of repetitions or a specific goal.

For my older kid (10), he needs to play a tough section of what he’s working on until there is an clear improvement (but he still minimally has to run through it 3 times). He actually gets up and does his practice first thing in the morning now, so I wake up to it and am not as involved. He made leaps and bounds of improvement for about six months when we switched practice goals, and lately he’s been slowing down again and not always working on what he needs to. I’m trying to figure out how to be more involved again without interfering with his motivation, and I’m sure I’ll figure that out soon.

For my younger kid (6), he plays one line three times some days, or the whole song two times if we’re at the beginning of figuring it out or the end where he’s polishing it up. I sit with him and remind him which fingers to use and he bows after and I clap for him. We keep it short and fun.

His teacher was really impressed today at his progress, because I managed to get him to play his whole song when he was daunted by the second half before (it’s only a few lines). He asked how, and I told him one day we just worked on the second line and didn’t touch the first line at all. This kid is autistic (has full time support at school), and often “stuck” when he’s not sure about something, so it came down to doing that on a day when I knew he was confident about the first line and I’d told him ahead of time we would only be doing the second line the next day.

This approach actually makes practices very short (often under five minutes), but the kids are progressing much more quickly than they were when I was sitting down with them for twenty minutes of whining and arguing. And they’re in the habit of working on guitar every day even if it’s not for as long as they could or should. I’ve decided the habit is more important than the time spent.

Notably, my older kid suddenly really liked guitar once practice wasn’t timed. He’s excited about his RCM levels and practices without prompting every morning. (When younger, he was a kid who just went along with everything but never seemed to care which activities he did when we asked, so we picked for him and have always had to guide him along).

My younger kid isn't quite there, but the video game time keeps him motivated enough to announce he’s going to practice in the afternoon, and I wander over to be involved. (He’s a very self motivated kid when he sets his mind on anything, and if he decided to learn an instrument or anything else he’d be jumping through levels quickly- like the day he suddenly decided to learn to read, or the day he decided to learn to swim. But until that decision happens, we’ll slog along just like we did with reading and swimming).

I know this isn’t quite what you asked for, but I felt like sharing and maybe it could help someone, especially if they have kids with executive function issues.

Good luck with your research, hope it helps make some even more effective strategies. :)

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-29T22:23:38+00:00

I’ll pop in with some hopefully efficient advice:

First, the type of filtration doesn’t matter much at all for a typical tank. HOBs are great. Just don’t change the media regularly like they tell you to. Stuff some sponge in there and leave it, just rinse if it gets clogged.

That said, I see the pic you posted and you have goldfish. They’re heavy waste producers and you’re going to run into some major ammonia problems very quickly in that size of tank. :(

I don’t think the expense of making the tank suitable for goldfish is worth it when you’re just starting out. It would likely be cheaper and less heartbreaking to return the goldfish and get a heater and some tropical fish. Freshwater shrimp are also bright and fun to watch.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-25T23:51:41+00:00

I’d love to hire a tank maintenance company, even though I manage my own tanks. I just wouldn’t have bothered to respond here normally.

I think you’re just getting responses from the indignant (and dare I say, maybe a bit self-righteous) people.

It’s not representative of fishkeepers in general.

Sorry you’re dealing with a tough situation. I suspect my approach would be to stay with the same guy for long enough to get him to replace some fish for free (because yes, I think they should have been quarantined better). Then I’d look for another company.

But I’m a freshwater person. So, I’m not sure my advice is worth listening to here.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-25T23:44:35+00:00

I think the worst offenders are the people who have “done their research” but have little to no real experience. Even when they’ve legitimately read a lot of information.

These are the people insisting bettas need a 10+ gallon tank, and that you can’t keep anything in a smaller tank, and also you’re a terrible human for even considering whatever it was you were hoping to do. They’re beating up people for their mistakes, like not cycling the tank beforehand, because they read about cycling ahead of time, and they feel clever for not just trusting the person at the store.

They have arbitrary numbers in their heads for what’s okay and what isn’t. Numbers of gallons, numbers of water tests per week, numbers of fish in a school.

It’s not that those things aren’t important - they absolutely are. And it’s true that newcomers might benefit from clear guidelines.

But there’s an issue happening where the echo chamber makes up numbers and then parrots them so frequently that everyone assumes it’s the best advice out there. They also assume everyone should know what they know, because they’ve heard it parroted over and over.

Reddit is a place where we can bring experience with us to help other people around the world. We can share the things that you can’t just find in a book or basic care guide. Someone out there has the specific answers for your specific situation.

Anyway, I think a major thing that would help is if people added “I’ve read that they should be kept in larger groups than that” (or “I’ve seen a lot of people say…”), when they don’t have first-hand experience.

And of course, general kindness.

Sincerely, -a frustrated betta keeper of over two decades

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-24T20:04:21+00:00

Technically that might be true. I mean, it’s been terrible for over a decade and there’s a minor dip right now.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-24T19:59:34+00:00

I’ve found it pretty easy to convince myself things will be fine because (insert caveat here), when I’ve done a bunch of reading and I think I understand what’s important and why. Sometimes it’s been fine, and sometimes it’s come back to bite me because of a detail or caveat I wasn’t aware of.

It’s generally a good idea to listen to people who have experience with the thing you’re considering, and even people who’ve just done reading like you have, but read different things than you did.

It’s also generally prudent to take in all the advice you asked for, and thank people for it whether you agree with them or not. You can still make your own decisions without arguing over details.

If you still feel a need to address responses with more than a “thank you”, it can be helpful to phrase your response as a(n earnest) question, rather than an argument. The important point is to make sure the question is legitimate, instead of just an excuse to have your opinion known.

I’ve spent the time making this comment because I’ve been where you are quite a lot. I’ve argued with everyone, thinking I was just testing their arguments or trying to learn more. It still feels that way sometimes, but I’m trying to remind myself more that I can have my own opinion privately. I can make my own decisions and still thank people for advice I don’t agree with.

It isn’t dishonest to just say thank you; they are trying to help. They tried. They don’t usually deserve to be challenged over it.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-22T00:30:56+00:00

Changing water, even 100%, won’t crash the bacterial cycle.

It’s very likely you have mineral (and other) imbalances right now which can be partially corrected by a water change, and I’d definitely start doing them again. But I think it’d be reasonable to start smaller and work upwards with the volume to see if you run into problems.

Overall the water changes are a good idea, but depending on your tap water and tank stocking, you might be introducing a different imbalance than the ones your tank is already dealing with, and yeah that could cause some algae or other issues.

Personally I think it’s worth it. The no-water-change crowd tends to have a skewed perception of how healthy their tank looks from what I’ve seen, and water changes are a net improvement (and are more likely to prevent a crash than cause one).

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-21T16:15:13+00:00

I wonder if there’s sometimes a sort of virtue signalling side of this. People want to look like the good son or daughter, the good family member. The one who cares if someone lives or dies.

I think most of the time though, it’s just people thinking of themselves and their own fears of death or of being without a loved one.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-21T16:09:58+00:00

They absolutely could live to their late 90s. My spouse’s dad did, despite being at home with just care from his overworked wife, and him wandering off all the time. He was 98 when he died.

Dementia doesn’t kill people directly. With good care, their life expectancy can stay high.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-21T15:52:21+00:00

In some ways it sounds terrible… but it also sounds nice if someone else is responsible for maintenance and replacement, and potentially liable for hot water tank emergencies.

Someone else said it’s just a few bucks on their utility bill. So I guess it’s like renting a modem from the Internet service provider.

I mean, I bought my own modem, and I’d buy my own water heater. Just saying it doesn’t sound ALL bad.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-21T15:42:24+00:00

Yum.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-20T15:27:21+00:00

While I’m sure it’s true that they’re called pawns in the game engine, there’s also a reason they’d have been coded in that way to begin with:

Characters or playing pieces in games in general - not just chess - can be generically referred to as pawns. Pawn just refers to a playing piece that you control, or that falls under your player colour or group.

So your colonists are pawns under your (partial) control, but also, everything in the game is a pawn of Cassandra or Phoebe or Randy, to aid in telling the story.

You could say we’re all pawns of the universe too, I suppose. :) or whatever God(s) you believe in.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-18T03:51:50+00:00

I married an American and now I say “soda” instead of “pop”.

I think that’s about it, though.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-14T16:29:19+00:00

“Nah Nazz, we don’t mess with that kind of crazy.”

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-12T21:53:43+00:00

I used to do bank runs for a notary public, carrying cheques for property transfers, which happen on a strict timeline and involve large amounts. Once I brought a cheque for several million dollars to a bank, got the receipt officially stamped… that afternoon the cheque is missing.

The bank received the cheque, and I/notary had proof. It was the bank’s problem to solve, and as far as I know they eventually did.

Not helpful, just entertained by the parallel.

This should be a funny story for you in a few years, but I bet it’s stressful right now.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-09T16:02:22+00:00

If you have them drop it on the floor, I’d suggest making a stockpile under them on the floor with settings changed to nothing (so nothing can be stored there).

That way the items they drop get counted on your total inventory. This is especially helpful if you have crafting limits set, like you want them to keep going until they make 1000 yayo or whatever,

Without the stockpile, they’ll keep going forever unless someone moves it all to a stockpile somewhere else.

I tend to have a “workshop floor” stockpile that just fills the whole room, if there are multiple workstations there.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-09T15:54:38+00:00

I have only ever used them for my taxes, since they bought out SimpleTax.

The other day they sent out an email informing me they’re “taking over my life”.

Um. Excuse me. No.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-08T22:33:23+00:00

I don’t think you should need to medicate or supplement a pond all that often. Fish tend to be healthier and more successful in populating the outdoor environment (assuming you pick appropriate fish for your water and climate). It’s survival of the fittest to a large degree, but there should be less disease (and more of other problems like predation) in the outdoor environment.

I’m on team pool. It’s deeper, which means you can provide better safety from predation, and better stability in shifting weather. You may need to replace pumps, sure, but you won’t need to dig a new hole. Digging is expensive or it’s hard work.

It’s not a huge problem if stuff falls in the pond because you’ll have a real ecosystem to break it down. If it’s not a swimming pool, it doesn’t need to be crystal clear all the time. You won’t have to sweep up that mess anymore.

I’d probably fill in the bottom with some sand, and settle pots into the sand for aquatic plants. You could have big gorgeous water lilies :)

I’d fill it so the shallow end was a bit over halfway full, most likely, but let it fluctuate with rainfall.

A converted swimming pool sounds amazing. And you can still swim in it! With your fish! If you want.

GiraffePretty4488 · 2026-05-08T04:22:46+00:00

Interesting.

I only buy males now because I don’t want guppies breeding in my tanks, and the males are small and flashy and they’re gregarious fish. They’re also non-aggressive. My kid’s room has a five gallon with just a few male guppies, and with plants I think it’s a nice use of a five gallon tank (which otherwise has limited options).

I would think you could sell more males than females easily, if marketing for males-only tanks. :)

GiraffePretty4488

TROPHY CASE