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I normally don't order lots of root tabs. I should; I have tons of plants that can use them. But they are more buoyant than anything I've ever seen in a aquarium, and it's really difficult to get them deep under the root of my plants (even with forceps) so that they'll stay there before the tablet casing begins to degrade! It sometimes takes me several minutes to deposit one tablet, and it's a task I really don't look forward to. When folks on this forum a couple weeks ago mentioned a very expensive, unavailable-to-the-US mechanism made just for this purpose, I hit the internets. But there was no way I could have something like this shipped to the US for less than $60! So I started researching the DIY route, and after some trial and error and lots of research, I've come up with this one-handed solution. It can be made for less than $10 in parts from your local Home Depot. In fact, you can make two for about the same cost! It is sized for Aquarium Co-Op Easy Root Tabs. PARTS: So let's dive in. These are the parts I collected together (non-affiliate links) : 1. Straight PEX Pipe: 1/4" ID, 5' length: $1.76 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Apollo-1-4-in-x-5-ft-White-PEX-Pipe-APPW514/301541226 2. Wood dowel: 3/16" diameter, 4' length: $0.70 https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-16-in-x-48-in-Wood-Round-Dowel-HDDH31648/204354369 3. Drawer pull: 1-1/14" birch cabinet knob: $0.98 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Liberty-Rowland-1-1-4-in-32-mm-Birch-Wood-Round-Cabinet-Knob-P10512H-BIR-C/204143998 4. Drawer pull: 1-13/16" birch cabinet knob: $1.88 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Liberty-Classic-1-13-16-in-46-mm-Unfinished-Birch-Wood-Round-Cabinet-Knob-P10515C-BIR-C5/100156480 5. Springs: 6-pack zinc-plated compression springs (used the 3/8" x 1-1/8" x 0.041" spring): $4.22 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Zinc-Plated-Compression-Spring-6-Pack-16087/202045468 TOTAL: $9.54 TOOLS: 1. Drill and assorted bits 2. Wood glue (or white glue) 3. 5-minute epoxy PREP: The 1/4" PEX pipe does not fit the Easy Root tabs. I made it fit by enlarging the first inch or so of one end of the pipe using a 5/16" drill bit. Now, the smaller end of the Easy Root Tab fits very snugly. If I don't push it in too far, it's a perfect grip! Next, I cut a 12" length of the PEX pipe and a 13" length of the dowel. I don't have very deep tanks, so this is fine for me. But this can be cut to any length you need; just make sure the dowel is always one inch longer than the tube. The wooden knobs already have holes drilled in them, which made it very easy to enlarge them to exactly the diameters I needed. For the smaller knob, I enlarged the hole to 3/16", making sure not to drill all the way through. I glued in my wood dowel with a drop of wood glue to hold it permanently: For the larger knob, I enlarged the hole to 3/8" diameter, this time going all the way through. I made sure to start with a 3/16" bit, and repeatedly went larger and larger until I reached 3/8". This ensured my hole stayed centered and I had a nice clean cut all the way through. I glued in the length of PEX pipe with 5-minute epoxy. This should hold well enough for my purposes. I'm using the shorter, wider spring for this project (3/8" x 1-1/8" x 0.41"). For good measure, I used some 5-minute epoxy to glue the spring to my plunger. This is totally optional, but gives me one less piece I can lose. That's pretty much all there is to do. I just inserted the plunger in the tube and I'm ready to try it out! I placed an Easy Root Tab in the end, just far enough for it to grip, but not so far that it won't push out easily. I inserted the tool with one hand into the tank, pushed the plunger, and voila! A deposited tablet in 5 seconds! But I am over the moon about how this tool turned out. I just placed about 20 tabs in two minutes. Even with coarse gravel, forcing the pill in was no problem. The two pieces come apart for drying, as that wood dowel won't last forever. Now I understand why the professional ones are so expensive. This makes things so much easier. I'm definitely making a longer one for deeper tanks. Hope you find this useful. Thanks for reading! Bill

On some aquarium co-op video someone slid lids from clear plastic containers (think like the kind you get with a fountain soft drink cup) over the air hose line to stop excessive splashing. Maybe that would work for you?

As long as the hole holds the line, yeah. Or make your own from a take out lid. Found the video

Hey all, so i have been experimenting with a bunch of solar options for the USB nano pump and through it all i came up with this set up. Its been running for little over a month now without issue I've had many different failures leading me to this conclusion. The USB nano pump needs a USB nano solar system. Sure I can build or buy a solar generator, but such things get expensive, if not down right complicated. Being that USB is kinda plug and play I wanted a plug and play system that was easy to set up....lets go over the parts shall we.First i went with this King Solar 21watt foldout solar panel because it has two USB ports (this will prove to be important), it has a kickstand for easy "deployment" and 21 watts seems like its big enough for were i live.Next is the battery bank. I landed on this Pursun 10,000mAh (10Ah for the engineers). Now this choice did not come lightly. I experimented with many different batteries. Unfortunately most battery packs do not have pass-through capability, which is to say they can't give a charge while receiving a charge. This pack is no different in this regard, but i did figure out a work around. Also alot of battery packs need to be turned back on after being charged, which means everyday after sunset you have to go out and turn the thing on for it to work through the night. This battery does not have to be turned on every night. It will switch from taking a charge to giving a charge without you having to interact with it....and it has a digital display which is kinda sweet. Let's go over cords and connectors for the system.USB male to USB female extention cord. USB to USB C type cord (commonly used to charge android phones today) USB female to 2 USB male spliter (commonly used to power external hard drives). This part is paramount. It solves the pass-through problem i spoke of earlier. Allowing the solar panel to charge the battery while powering the pump during the day and allowing the battery to takeover at night. Well thats cool, but how's it all go together? Let seeFirst i plug the pump into the spliter, allowing the pump to accept power from 2 different sources. Next I plug one of the spliter ends into the battery. Then I attach the solar panel to the other side of the spliter, using the USB male to female extension cord Finally I attach the battery to the solar panel using the USB to USB C type cord. And that's it you're off to the races. What do I like about this system? Well the battery never over heats because its sitting in the shade while the solar panel is having fun in the sun. Also its modular, if any one part goes bad, I can replace it without scraping the whole system.

Not sure about other tank mates, it sure makes it easy just to keep 1 species in a tank. But I am sucker for Corydoras and Apistos. I can see little breeding colonies of each. But once something goes in your pretty much not getting it back out without draining the tank. Now that the discus are in the tank, she is warming up to them. Her gripe about discus is discus politics. The pecking order is just like chickens and sometimes the least discus gets crap from everyone else, but has no one to pass it on to. She always feels sorry for that fish. In this group so far (and I think this is because they are still very young) it is still all pretty egalitarian. In theory I should want some rams, but I am at complete loss to explain my disinterest. Right now this is like the early stage of a budding romance. I think about discus. I walk over and look at the discus. I think about what a wild discus might be doing in the rainy season. Are they swimming amongst the flooded forest. Is that why they lay eggs on verticals, because that is a substitute for a tree trunk? I think they eat a lot of detritus and small fruits and berries in the wild, why don't mine do that? What did the discus habitat look like that @Cory and @Dean’s Fishroom saw on their last trip to Peru? Okay, don't laugh, promise not to laugh. I sneak around the corner and watch them with high-end birding binoculars from 12 feet away so as not disturb them. When I am too close, they make eye contact and just watch me. Right now they float around the driftwood like birds, pecking on everything to see what it is, learning the new layout. This is what is really bothering my wife, she's seen it before, she knows that I have a diagnosis of stage II discus fever. She wishes I was thinking about our beekeeping business (and I do some). But she knows I will go deeper down the rabbit hole before coming out the other side.

Recorded some unboxing footage a few months back, never did anything with it. This thread got me thinking about it again, so I made an attempt to edit it together and add a voice over:

CoralVue is working on something too, the Hydros Control. It is also listed for this fall. CoralVue | HYDROS Control 4 WWW.CORALVUE.COM HYDROS Control 4 is a larger, more powerful device with all the capabilities of the HYDROS Control 2 plus additional ports to monitor, control, and...

Hi Guys, great to see this forum up and running, I’ve been keeping fish for 30 years and still love it! I’m also a fan girl of the Coop! Look forward to seeing lots of tanks. Dana (rescuedogtreats...on Youtube)

I recently changed over my big aquarium. I sold the fish to my LFS and I am starting again. Why? Because it was not the tank I would sit down in front of with my cup and coffee and just watch for 1/2 an hour. My wife was highly skeptical. 'That's the best aquarium we have ever had. Nothing ever goes wrong. It is easy to take care of. What possible benefit of can come of getting rid of the angelfish? I like those fish!' And she was right on every count. I like(d) them too. Back when the parents were spawning and then growing the babies, there was excitement and even a little risk everyday. But after 4 years the tank had settled in to a happy monotony. Breeding wouldn't happen again as there were too many adult angels for a territory to be defended. It wasn't bad, but it was one big school of angels, almost like a school of tetras, very pretty to watch and very predictable. I need a challenge, I want a project, I want some risk. So now there are 11 discus in the big aquarium. The tank is new to them. I feel their apprehension as they are exploring the nooks and crannies of the driftwood. Each day they venture a little further and with more confidence. The biggest fish is the leader of the pack and initiates foraging runs and also serves as chief look out. Now the old excitement is back. That's the tank I want to be watching now because now that tank gives me hours of pleasure again.

I didn't realize Sac had an aquarium club! I see they have posted their recent meetings online- I'll have to take a look! I am in the East Bay area, so its a bit of a drive but I see they meet on Saturdays, so that's do-able (well, once COVID blows over.) Plus there are a lot of people who commute that regularly (although y'all are crazy. 😲 ) Looks like we have a good bunch of SF and Sacramento peeps here!

Solar panel: https://www.amazon.com/KINGSOLAR-Portable-Waterproof-Foldable-Electronic/dp/B07Y8CQWQD Battery bank: https://www.amazon.com/Updated-Compact-10000mAh-Technology-Portable/dp/B07YB9K7WJ Cord Packs: https://www.amazon.com/Anker-2-Pack-Premium-Charging-Samsung/dp/B07DC5PPFV https://www.amazon.com/USB-Extension-Cable-Male-Female/dp/B07PGZT8WX Spliter: https://www.amazon.com/CGTime-Extender-Splitter-Charger-Extension/dp/B06ZY98462 These are not affiliated links. Again you can save a bit of coin by shopping around on the cordage. But I do strongly recommend this battery. I tested 12 different batteries (including anker) before I found one that worked without effort. If you all ready have a battery pack test it and let me know if it works. I am currently searching for a large capacity battery, but can no longer afford to throw money at batteries that may or may not work.

Daniel, Will you be getting any tank mates for those discus, like Rams? I had a similar experience with a twist. I went from Discus to African Cichlids. Wife loved the discus. She thinks the ACs are too ornery.

Great stuff Bill! Nice work, I may have to make one of these now 🤔

All filled up and ready for denizens! I have some fish and daphnia coming late in the week. The right-most planter has only an airstone; all the rest have box filters.

Wow, wow, wow! From the @Bill Smith Menlo Park R&D think tank comes another great product! And just like always, @Bill Smith has shared all the trade secrets too. It appears to be just the right size for the Aquarium Co-Op Root Tabs, right? The design is so elegant, that is what makes it genius. Be prepared for a deluge of orders on this one! @Randy Here is your prototype, send all royalties to @Bill Smith at the Aquarium Co-Op Forum by way of @Lizzie Block

I put in about a dozen cherry shrimp this morning and about 20 scuds too. Let the breeding begin!

In one of the Aquarium Co-op live streams Corey had mentioned that sometimes a male will suppress their hormones or something to keep from coloring up, perhaps related to tank competition. In suppressing the hormones they grow bigger and look like females, but they are males, the colors will eventually show and because they grow so much larger they tends to rule the tank. Not sure if that is the exact reason for it, but I had this happen with a Japanese Neon Blue Endler that got to about twice the size of my other male endlers before he started to show his colors.

I noticed that Felix seems to use a seneye component. I am still doing more research on these products. Cory's 2018 video illustrates how long product development takes, compared to marketing. I hope we have a bunch of competition in the aquarium automation and monitoring sector. I want better programming, more interoperability, and better networking. I would love to have little wireless probe hubs that you just plug into power or USB-C chargers.

Here are some more. Plenty more to come.

I think Neocaridina would be a great one to try. I've had them in colder tanks without issues, and warmer tanks without issues and they are pretty adaptable to different parameters. If they do well, they will breed like crazy and your Discus could snack on the juveniles and help keep the numbers down.

@Brandy They are some tiny little chompers, but pretty wide for their mouths. They do kind of remind me of little rodent teeth a bit. This was before. I have seen photos of them being much worse, and pointy but he was struggling to eat some things and was getting to the point where he had to suck bloodworms through his teeth like spaghetti, almost cartoon like. Sounds nasty, but weirdly entertaining to watch. And this is Gizmo post trim- now he's chomping snails like a pro, can really tell the difference. He doesn't just carry them around and look at me with sad eyes anymore.

Amano shrimp could likely survive those conditions. Sulawesi shrimp love warm water, but they also love hard water. Neocaridina...some might scoff, but it would be a relatively inexpensive experiment. My neo's don't seem to mind the warm water in the summer months (often 80-82 degrees for extended periods).

I would think Amano shrimp would stand a better chance in there and help with your cleanup...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mVLw6TXLO0 I used to have a bluegill that would really go for it.

You could build up the substrate in the back of the tank to give the illusion of more depth in the tank. Also there's a really good picture showing various composition theories in this thread that you can use the help place your hardscape and plants.

@Dean’s Fishroom has issues with guppy grass? Also owns no snails? But what do your oversized carnivores eat for crunchy late night snacks?!? honestly to each his own. I’m just surprised!

Your water lily is beautiful! Do you know what variety it is?