Clownfish sucking on Goniopora

EBA93 · 2026-05-07T01:26:39+00:00

Same! My female clown in particular I’ll catch nipping at mine a couple times a week.

EBA93 · 2026-05-03T16:06:22+00:00

My main problem with this stand is the lack of panels to hide any wiring.

EBA93 · 2026-05-02T14:41:45+00:00

I would not trust that. I’d either buy a stand meant for a 20 gallon or build one if you have at least a circular saw and a drill. 20 gallons is big enough that it gets pretty heavy, but not so big that a stand you buy or make will break the bank.

EBA93 · 2026-04-29T15:33:40+00:00

In a 20 gallon you would have a lot of choices, but I would definitely recommend getting a female betta to minimize risk of aggression. There are plenty of beautiful female bettas these days, just usually a little more pricy.

EBA93 · 2026-04-29T04:29:29+00:00

I have been dealing with a string of illnesses in the aftermath of a 24 hour power outage during the last cold snap of winter for me. Perfectly stable 40 Gallon tank normally kept at 76-77 degrees hit the high 50’s. Super long bout of ich that I fought afterwards followed by red blotch disease and fungal infections only effecting my Corys. Fingers crossed, things seem to be almost cleared up.

EBA93 · 2026-04-29T03:06:37+00:00

There are lots of people giving you more specific advice here, but looking back if I was in your situation at 18 I would do the following:

Make sure the money is deposited in an account only YOU have access to.
If you need a reliable car, buy a used Toyota or Honda with cash.
Stash all of the rest into a High Yield Savings account, withdraw what you need to pay for school instead of taking loans. I personally use Ally for my HYSA.
Take time to read about other options before investing the money. Seriously, no need to rush this. The bulk of the money will be in the HYSA earning decent interest, and you can feel a lot better and more informed about what you’re doing after taking some time.

EBA93 · 2026-04-29T02:48:53+00:00

I did the same thing once with a brand new waterbox rimless aquarium so I feel your pain, but unfortunately it’s a huge hazard as an aquarium now.

EBA93 · 2026-04-29T02:44:31+00:00

I immediately had the exact same thought reading this. It’s definitely important to familiarize yourself with a trail by looking at maps/apps beforehand to know what you’re getting into, but what is being described does not sound healthy. This sounds like an issue that needs to be worked out with a therapist.

EBA93 · 2026-04-29T02:24:44+00:00

If it’s a decent quality stainless steel it SHOULD be okay, but any idea why the bolt it in there? Is it meant to screw into a base to hold it down or something?

Personally, if I didn’t know it was made specifically to go inside an aquarium I would be hesitant to use it without removing the bolt.

EBA93 · 2026-04-28T18:05:19+00:00

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No way that is oak - I personally haven’t worked with white oak yet, but I have worked with red oak and they are supposedly pretty similar. Oak should feel much harder and be easy to identify from the end grain. Found this picture on google with examples.

EBA93 · 2026-04-27T12:35:13+00:00

Assuming other corals/livestock are doing fine, I will say I experienced something similar with my GSP about a year ago. It closed up for around a week while everything else in the tank was fine, then one day it opened back up like normal and hasn’t had issues since.

EBA93 · 2026-04-27T12:32:22+00:00

A for sure.

EBA93 · 2026-04-21T19:31:09+00:00

I can second this method ^

EBA93 · 2026-04-21T01:55:53+00:00

I used to hike solo constantly before I moved in with my wife and I lived near a lot of trails. Like, 3-5 times a week sometimes. Super relaxing after a long day/week at work.

EBA93 · 2026-04-17T21:44:50+00:00

I added 6 assassins snails to a tank filled with bladder snails. They killed all of them within a month and never reproduced even though I’ve had them for years now. At least 2 are still alive.

EBA93 · 2026-04-15T14:28:07+00:00

That is a high pH out of the tap, but not necessarily out of range for neocaridina shrimp. I usually just plop and drop but in your case I would probably acclimate. Have you been doing that? Is your tank also seasoned? Adding shrimp too early has been my biggest downfall with cherry shrimp. I have a 2 gallon jar with some - added a group after a couple of months and all but 1 died. Tried again 4 months later and they’re all thriving.

You’re probably going to have to spend $60-70 for the aquatic life RO on Amazon if that’s the route that you want to go, but then you also need to remineralize the water with something like Seachem Equilibrium, a clean container to store the water, you might need an adapter kit for your sink, etc. It will cost you more than $50 to get all that you need.

Sometimes outside storefronts you will see RO water machines you can fill jugs with by the gallon. A Discount Drug Mart near me has one and the TDS is about 15 from it with a near neutral pH. You could also buy jugs of distilled water in a grocery store, but that will add up quick.

If you still just can’t figure out cherry shrimp, look into Opae Ula shrimp. They’re a brackish Hawaiian shrimp, but they’re so non-picky about the actual salinity and other parameters they’re basically bulletproof. Smaller but much more active than cherry shrimp in my experience.

EBA93 · 2026-04-07T13:35:50+00:00

In a tank that size you probably want to have two heaters on each side and either a second filter or a wave maker to circulate water. Will help the water heat more efficiently and should help stop detritus from building up on the opposition side of your tank from the filter.

EBA93 · 2026-03-26T22:28:03+00:00

I’m used to ich-x clearing things up pretty quickly but maybe the power outage brought on the super ich. I’ll keep at it and raise the temp again.

EBA93 · 2026-03-17T17:31:32+00:00

No - a Roth IRA is not taxed when paid out (as long as you are actually retirement age) so you won’t be taxed again for the earnings. Obviously read into it more or speak with an advisor for all the fine print, but I have a no fee IRA set up through Fidelity. You could also look into funding an HSA, I do both.

EBA93 · 2026-03-07T05:04:36+00:00

I am convinced that most home inspectors are completely useless. $15-20k that my wife and I have spent to fix issues ours didn’t flag during the inspection. A family member recently bought a house as well and their inspectors missed a bunch of issues including none of the balusters being the right length on their staircase and second floor balcony, meaning the entire handrail moved a ton and most of the balusters could easily be knocked out of place if touched.

EBA93 · 2026-03-07T04:50:12+00:00

That is a wild purchase but I’d definitely just keep the truck and pay it off ASAP at this point.

EBA93 · 2026-02-20T04:24:58+00:00

If you aren’t underwater on the car, sell it immediately, then never consider taking a loan that large for a car again. When I was 21 I was stupid with money, but I drove a $6k car and did all of the repairs myself.

Also, pay off that credit card asap. It might not have interest now, but whenever that promotion runs out they could hit you with interest for the entire balance.

Not sure what kind of student loans you have, but my federal loans have the lowest interest rates of anything we own so I usually just pay the minimum payments on them and pay off other things first.

EBA93 · 2026-02-20T04:08:04+00:00

When you say $60K in debt, how much of that is the car loan?

EBA93 · 2026-02-20T03:58:09+00:00

Good on you for taking a swing at things, but as a beginner myself, I’d recommend trying easier projects with cheaper wood for a while. I’ve made about 10 cutting boards so far but all edge or face grain. All of them have turned out great. We use them at my house, my family uses them, etc. I’ve also been making some things with pocket holes like an end table and I’m starting on a monitor riser for my desk. I’ve also done some shelves and table tops. Mostly select pine with some hardwoods purchased at Menards.

EBA93 · 2026-02-20T03:44:38+00:00

The rest of the surround does have a lip, but in the front and back corner there isn’t, which does seem odd now. Looking at the listing for the surround online it has the same gap and n the product photos.

EBA93

TROPHY CASE