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This time I did a 20 long with an internal background and slate type tile bottom. Kept getting interrupted so don't know what fish will get in it yet.

Plant growth is limited by the scarcest element. The classic illustration is that of a leaky barrel. In this illustration it doesn't matter how much of any other element you have, plant growth will always be limited by nitrogen since that is the lowest stave in the barrel, i.e. the limiting nutrient.

BBS, Vinegar Eels, Microworms, Sera Micron, ACO Fry Food. All work good for me 👍

The safest way to go is to get a heater with a controller. Eventually all heaters fail and if it fails in the on position, it will kill your fish. One way to avoid this is to get a heater and controller. Although this is the safest route it is not the cheapest. This JBJ heater and controller combo is about $100.

This is what I got from my first time doing shrimp summer tubbing. I put 40 shrimp into a 110 gallong stock tank with a bunch of crypts and a few water Lillies I have brought about 200 to a store to trade in for store credit and I still have hundreds left. This is a holding tank for them until I can bring the rest in to be sold. I would love to see some of your shrimp tubs. I will not be shipping. I'm just selling local in the twin cities area to stores for credit I'm still trying to stock my 300 hill stream 😅

Has anyone witnessed Neocaridina mating? Is my imagination just running away with me? Have I been in quarantine too long?

Cheers from a hobbyist. There is always more to learn!

Honestly those look like garden variety worms that make up what we call infusoria or aufwuchs. Really small fish and fry eat them, but other than that they are completely harmless

I had the same problem with my stem plants melting off at the base. I was dosing Easy Green up to 20 ppm nitrate, regularly adding new root tabs, and using a Fluval 3.0 light. My problem ended up being a lack in minerals (most likely calcium). I got the API GH/KH test kit and found out I have high pH at 8.0 but very soft water at 3 dGH, which is below the recommended 4-8 dGH amount for healthy plant growth (as researched from various online articles). Once I started using Wonder Shells and then Seachem Equilibrium to boost my GH levels, my stem plants started successfully growing. I did not see any of the classic signs of calcium or magnesium deficiency in my plant leaves, just the melting stems/leaves and lack of any new growth. Not sure if soft water is your issue, but my best guess is that the melting is caused by some kind of nutrient or mineral deficiency. P.S. Just in case lighting is the issue, here are my current Fluval 3.0 light settings (for a 20-gallon high tank that is 16" tall). I have 1 hour ramp up, 6 hours on, and 1 hour ramp down. When it is on for 6 hours, it's at 30% intensity for all colors (except for 5% blue light). I finally have the algae under control, and my stem plants, java fern, aquarium lily, and crypts are all doing well under the decreased light intensity. No CO2 injection, and no floating plants that block the light.

Hydrogen peroxide wasn't as effective for me (e.g., treating the whole tank, spot treating plants in and out of water, etc), but liquid carbon did wonders. I first tried dosing the whole tank with liquid carbon (and increasing that concentration over time), but got minimal results. Once I spot treated a few leaves with liquid carbon, I saw the algae change colors and the algae eaters would pick off the dying algae. I gradually treated a few leaves every week and saved my whole tank from being taken over by BBA and a short hair algae. Also, I dialed down my Fluval 3.0 light a lot, which stopped the algae from growing back. Best of luck to you!

@StephenP2003 I installed my Google mesh wifi routers over the weekend - 3 pack 1st generation and I can report - fixed all my issues big time. I now have a strong wi-fi signal everywhere in my house (and maybe outside for all I know).

And another thing about using sunlight are the glorious caustic lines, that is, the shimmer. To achieve this would normally require very expensive Kessil lights. Or it can be free.

Not mine but I saw this behind a restaurant and thought it was cool This was a few years ago but it's the first time my dog met the cats

Larry hanging with Elmo

I’ve always been a big fan of aqua clear. My first one lasted forever. However I will warn, I’ve noticed the quality go down hill the past few years personally. I’m not sure if it’s been bad luck or an actual quality control issue. I run sponge filters in all my aquariums now, with the exception of my display tank in my living room. That is still running an aqua clear 50 and I have no plans of doing away with it. But I do plan on adding a sponge filter additionally to that one as well:)

Whenever I need a HOB I grab a Aquaclear. Lots of room for custom filter media. You can get parts for them at most fish stores. Downside they sometimes dont prime on their own and you want to find a trinket to set on top of the lid to prevent rattle.

I only use sponge filters right now because running 16 tanks with HOBs can be a bit much for me. But I did have a planted 29 gallon and i had the Penguin 50 i want to say, work great for a while then it started to get really loud, then i switched to the Aquaclear 50 and I loved it. I love the design , its really quiet and it pulls a lot of debris out the tank. I used two of the sponges it came with and the ceramic bio media and just squeezed the sponges out every few weeks or so. Hope this helps!

I am sorting through some new, nicer pics I took this weekend. These things are a delight, and squirt or two of Easy Green every now and then visibly accelerates the growth in a week! While I prep the photos, here's something I can share that started doing: Because I'm easily topping off as much as 10 gallons a week just for evaporation; I ended up running a splitter off the auto-top-off for my larger pond so that I can fill the ponds directly with filtered water: It's so much less disruptive than dumping in a couple gallons every few days. This other thing cracks me up: Each of the ponds now has a ring around the front of it: Guess my birdie visitors are appreciating the fresh water! I suspect when the water hyacinths grow in more, that kind of perching will be diminished. Bill

Hello everyone, I recently rejoined the hobby (due in large part to Cory and Aquarium Co-Op resparking my interest) after being out a long time. I just set up a new 40 gallon tank and am in the process of fish in cycling with black neon tetras. I used fritz turbo start and also bought some zyme 7 to supplement. I also planted dwarf hair grass from the Coop. Hopefully my lighting is good and the plants spread (I also used coop’s root tabs). Below is a picture of the new tank. Anyway just wanted to say hi!

I think you could do around 5 or so angelfish in that tank. Right now I have a 40 gallon and there are 3 of my angelfish in there with some Congo tetras. If you are looking to breed the angels I would buy all the angels your getting, at about a the size of a quarter, and let them grow up together in the tank.

Thanks. Glad I took the hint in the live stream yesterday to use this amazing resource that is CARE. Single these guys are amazing group they are also amazing. I wouldnt do the hairy puffer group without the ability to seperate them if necessary. They have different personalities and I likely just got the right mix for these first 18 months together; no guarantee the dynamic doesnt change at some point so I have the ability to separate them into a pair or three individuals immediately if needed. They are a pretty amazing short list species to me also.

A 20 long would be great for a pair. I kept pairs in both 20 long and highs and no issues. Are you planning to let the babies just grow out in the tank with the parents or will you be pulling them and growing out in another tank? Either way will be fine, you'll just have to watch filtration and water changes to keep water parameters in check. Good luck with the breeding project!

For performance and functionality, I do like the aquaclears. However, they tend not to last long in my experience in comparison to marineland's hob which while noisy and could use improvements, tend to be work horses that last.

YouTubers have seemingly fallen in love with the SeaChem Tidal series. Anyone have experience with them?

For some reason these pics have me thinking of Bruce, the shark in Finding Nemo. Remember husky, cats are friends, not food.

@GaaraThe shrimp I took to the store I took out the ones that were not up to my standards and I put them back in this tank to be culled later so this is a random average of what I got. @AJEI breed them outside but the photo was taken inside in a 10 gallon under artificial light. @Cory I plan on trying amonos next year and slowly adding salt to the tank to get them to breed and produce you said you tried them outside but they got to cold were you trying to breed them?

I think it would be doable you would have to have another tank for fry to grow out I think. But is you put some good line of sight blockers in the middle of the tank and put your pleco cave on one side and your apisto cave on the other. in this picture you can see the rocks in the center and swimming space on both sides if you give them both their own space in the tank I will help and you will have a higher chance of success

Welcome Katie! The easiest way, for me at least, to share pictures is to drag the file to the box where you're typing., but the picture does have to be small enough. Can't wait to see as the remodel moves along!

If only I could start every morning with this big of a laugh!

My Marineland 150 biowheel was nice and quiet when filled up to output, but loud once the biowheel itself developed dripping sounds. Today I switched to a 100 biowheel which better suits bettas in a 20 gallon, and there is a loud dripping sound no matter what I do. Will try an Aquaclear 20.

sorry not sure how to edit comments/replies so im posting another 😬 i always used pomegranate perm. with salt and pulled off the adults killing them with rubbing alcohol (in a jar or something) and have found that to be effective personally. i did however just find this article that goes into depth on anchor worms and treatment, figured it may be useful to you or anyone else scrolling through here: article i didn’t read it in its entirety but it is from a university and has good references linked.

melafix is actually mostly tea tree oil and ineffective. there was a study done that showed it had no positive effects and could actually be harmful in anabantoids (like gourami) with long term/extensive use since the oil can coat their labrynth organ over time that they use to breathe. with that said, potassium permanganate is what i have used in the past. you can also try ich x or another anti-parasitic medication though if you don’t have access to potassium perm. you may need to run some antibiotics in the water after the anchor worms have been treated to treat any bacterial infections caused by them as well but that would only be if you see a bacterial infection present. lastly, i would also add salt to the hospital tank for the entire duration of treatment, it will help treat both types of infection (parasitic and bacterial).

At the moment I'm running an AquaClear 50. I've liked it so far, and the couple times I've lost power, it has actually self-primed. I am a big fan of the plastic basket inside, as well as the convenient drip tray useful lid.

I sometimes use Marimo moss balls for the same purpose as a sponge. I don’t think it’s as instantly effective as adding a properly sized and seasoned sponge filter but it seems to be a good way to add some bacteria fast.

Got my Linear Piston Air Pump today, and got the initial plumbing set up for it while watching the Aquarium Co-op and Steenfott Aquatics live streams. Freed up 3 aqua top 100’s, a tetra whisper, And an Aquarium Co-op usb pump, added 2 more large sponge filters to my system, and increased the flow in all my tanks.

You can keep apistos with most other fishes given enough room. But when the apistos start thinking about making a family they will begin to exclude all the other fish from their territory. A typical apisto territory is about the the size of a ten gallon tank. So in a bigger tank sure. In a 10 gallon tank? I wouldn't do it.

Xtreme krill flake crushed up to a fine powder is my go to with guppies and swordtails. It seems to boost their growing speeds and size. The current batch of swordtails I have brought up and raised dwarf their parents that i got from the store along with some of my guppies i have brought up are about 3 inches now.

I have Aqueon 200 watt heaters in all my tanks . Bought on Amazon.

My longest lasting heaters are Aqueon and Eheim Jager. Both seem to work well for me, and I can always get the Aqueon ones locally which is nice.

I ordered a Separate controller from rain bird love it so far

I’ve had amazing luck with the Fluval E Series love it so far

I am running a aquatop heater. It was pretty cheap and came with a handy plastic cage around it that seems to keep my snails from crawling directly on it. I think I paid roughly 25 and it is adjustable temp.

I've had good luck with the Eheim Jager and Aqueon Pro heaters

I sometimes install shelves on the front of some of my tanks to encourage our cats:

For the most part for green water I think patience is the key--but if it bugs you to insanity levels UV sterilizers are fast and cheap. BBA I have been manually removing (look at me, I am a flag fish!) but my one big lesson from setting up many new tanks over the past few months is that each one goes through a settling in stage and over reacting to that stage is just going to cause more problems than it really solves. If you successfully kill the green water, something else will take its place, possibly something more annoying, like thread algae... Right now, you just need more plants growing. While you are waiting for the roots of your substrate plants to get started I would add as many floating plants as possible. If something needs to take up nutrients, make it something you choose.

Bet you will!

Looks like cory eggs to me! My cory eggs usually got eaten when I just left them in the community tank, so you could move them to a breeder net or another tank. Some people recommend using a credit card to remove the eggs, but I had good luck just rolling them off with my fingers. They tend to grow fungus, so if you want to increase hatch rate, you can put them in a floating plastic tub or specimen container with a little air stone or tubing for bubbles and add a few drops of methylene blue or alder cones for the antifungal properties. Good luck to ya!

So over the last few days I found it necessary to set up a couple overflow tanks to raise up some ram fry. A little messy but will have to work for a while, only 10 feet from the laundry sink and 3 feet from the ironing board. (this is my wifes sewing table 😬 🤐, don't tell) Transferred a total of 296 midnight rams and 327 gold rams for growing out.

Merlin's favorite place to bask is under one of the lights on the angelfish tank