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Rarest fish I have owned recently were Elassoma boehlkei that I collected in cooperation with the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program Office of Conservation and Community Affairs, Department of Environment and Natural Resources near Wilmington, NC. This endangered native endemic Pygmy Sunfish occurs in only 3 counties in North Carolina and is found nowhere else in the world. I bred them out into a small colony and then traded them to Robert J. Goldstein for a copy of his book, American Aquarium Fishes. I believe he used them to found a species maintenance colony for distribution to other hobbyist. //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/Book3.jpg.31b936ff8ea402103e3b7f5e1e3e5ccd.jpg These were absolutely fabulous aquarium fishes, small, easy to keep and breed, but with drawback. They will only eat live food. //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/Elassoma_Gilberti_male_in_breeding_colors.jpg.28c0f7bcd03ea58c17b6e7f7aea7a933.jpg And that live food problem is the reason people don't keep Pygmy Sunfish. Males are pretty when they are breeding. That is not an enhanced photo, that is exactly what pygmy sunfish males (gilberti in this case) look like when showing off for females. And the male nuptial dance involves slow staccato waggling while simultaneously and independently flicking each fin. Probably the most amazing fish dance I have ever seen.

Busy thread! If you don't mind me putting in my two American pesos here... You can combine a LOT of things for various results. If budget is a concern I highly encourage more people to look into Safe-T-Sorb. It looks nice, and when charged (literally just let it sit in a tub with enough water to cover it all and pour in a BUNCH of fertilizer... like a half a bottle of easy green or a 10+ root tabs, then let it sit and soak for a couple weeks) you can get some very long term growth. Just make sure you rinse the stuff really, really well before the soaking process to help get it clean. I personally prefer active substrates, specifically aquasoils like Fluval Stratum, Brightwell Rio Escuro, ADA Amazonia etc etc, because I'm so used to what I get from them and how to plant in them. You don't NEED to do this route, I just look at it as the shortcut version of something like mineralized top soil or charged safe-T-sorb without the work and potential negative side effects. In the end, if you like the look of sands, try looking at something like the caribsea naturals peace river - its a really fine sized gravel that has a semi-sandy appearance, but it's just coarse enough to act as a nice cap without risking compaction. As many have mentioned, I have an on-going series I call Substrate 101 on my YouTube channel which I would highly encourage watching (clearly, I have no bias... 😅) and thank you to those whom suggested it earlier, but in the end, research is your best friend. Be willing to explore a LOT of options to find what will be best for you and your schedule of maintenance. Just because someone like me will say "I use X, it's the best!" doesn't mean that will be the same for you. There are plenty of people who preach one substrate over another and I prefer people look at every option, understand the pros and cons, then decide based on their water, goals, routine and budget.

I thought I would do a little journal of my journey with my very first 55 gallon tank. Even when I was big into fish tanks as a kid in the early 70s, I never had a tank larger than 20 gallons, so this is pretty exciting for me. I just came back to the hobby a couple of months ago and dove in headfirst. I have two 20 gallons, two 45 talls, a ten and the 55 gallon tank. Only one of them currently have fish; I have some guppies and cherry shrimp in one of the 20s. Although one of the 45s has finished cycling and will probably have more guppies next week. I'll focus on the 55 gallon though since I have not done anything with it yet, other than make a few decisions. Here is the tank currently: //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_103659.jpg.2f661240beba402d3c31a8e47e5841a2.jpg Cables and such will be hidden. I have some material coming today to cover the top 2x4s with, then I'll make it a little prettier. I decided to do the plasti-dip for a black background and I am doing the twin wall polycarbonate for the lid. Most of my supplies for the tank are coming via UPS today, I bet our UPS guy is going to be surprised when I hug him... Filtration: I am going a little overboard with filtration for now, with the two large spongefilters from the Co-Op and a marineland 350 HoB. For air flow, I just grabbed one of the Aquatop Breza 100s from the Co-op and a battery backed up one from KG Topicals. Heater: I bought two of the 300 watt Eheim Jager's heaters and the JBJ true temp controller @Daniel recommended on another thread. I'm only going to put one of them in the tank for now, I just want one for back up. Substrate: Going with just Eco-complete. Plants: I already have a bunch of plants waiting in one of the other tanks. So far I have: Vallisneria Christmas moss Java Fern and Water Sprite. I want to also get some type of carpeting plant too, but haven't quite decided what yet. Hardscape: I'm going to walk down to the bay tomorrow morning and look for some interesting hardscape stuff. If I can't find anything I like over the next few weeks, I'll grab some of the usual suspects online. Fish: Probably will change, but I'm currently looking at 6-8 Boesemans Rainbowfish, 6-8 Rasboras, but haven't decided on which one, and 5-6 dwarf corys as well as some type of shrimp. {EDIT} For some reason it won't put the pic where I want it, instead it just displays the path and puts the image at the bottom of the post... //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_103659.jpg.2f661240beba402d3c31a8e47e5841a2.jpg

//content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/DiscusTank.jpg.cd664a6034738896caa35f2d497a1c9b.jpg I kept this tank between 82°F and 84°F and the Amazon sword grew like a weed. So did seemingly anything that propagated by runners. I think that grassy stuff in the foreground was supposed be pygmy chain sword but it clearly wasn't. This seemed to be near the high end of tolerable for the plants, but it was tolerated as you can see. German blue rams did great in this tank. Most of my tanks are 'attrition tanks'. They start a wider variety of plants and fish than they eventually stabilize into. There is usually no exact formula for what works and what doesn't. The only way to really know is throw it all in there and see what thrives and what disappears. In end you end up with a lot of stuff that likes your water and your style of fish keeping and none of what doesn't.

To other forum members, personally I hope we keep the 'Files' section of the forum as an area for uploading books and research papers that would not otherwise have a home on the Forum. I would prefer it not become a place to upload movies and photos as has begun to happen recently. I fear if we keep doing this the files area may get closed down. There other ways to share videos on the internet, but not so many for safely sharing old fish books and such. Just my 2 cents.

This is where I shop for substrate, not including cap. I don't move plants, I don't mess with my substrate, and I don't gravel vac. $1 per gallon scoop. I pick the topsoil on the right, not the compost on the left. There are many paths, but mine is organic soil. I grew up on a dirt road, with well water, a septic tank, and a leach field. A bit of grass, lots of trees, a river. The whole ecosystem. Vermont now actually mandates composting organic waste, so I may end up bringing my own food scraps to this place. I made sure to get the industrial sifter in the shot.

Here is the beginning of the setup. I found a nice piece of slate in the basement that just happens to sit perfectly stable on the slightly uneven surface of the antique table that they want to use. There is another similar slate piece that I might setup between the tank and the wall as a vertical background. BTW, @DaveSamsell, I returned the 29 for a 20H to be safe. I think the scale is nice between the table, the slate, and the tank. I've got some soil in, with more in my car from my $2 trip yesterday. I'll be using 1.5 inches of soil, and 1.5 inches of cap, first black sand, and then some Peace River and/or Rio Grande gravel. I'll be adding in the plants from the tubs, a few more I got, some of the Mopani from the tubs, and maybe some rocks. Then after a little cycle time, I'll catch all the shrimp and White Clouds and drop them in! This is a pretty cool project for me, because as a kid, 30ish years ago, I had a 20H right in this very spot! Cheers

Here's Charlie, my Bernese Mountain dog.

I have tended towards South American fish so my favorites have been Neon Tetras, Cardinal Tetras or Rummy Nose Tetras. Not the best picture but there are Cardinals, Rummy Nose and Hatch Fish in this picture. //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/Planted-Tank.jpg.78c09eecfc56c2a0e0623101746bd229.jpg

Most of the tank bred strains such as cacatuoides and agassizzi will breed in water 7.4 and even higher pH. They have been bred in captivity for enough generations that they have acclimated to the higher pH water.

one of my favorite substrates is a mix of fluval stratum and fluorite (i use dark). the two combine to make a great texture and a pretty natural look. it’s pretty easy to plant in as well, you just really need to rinse the fluorite well.

the water cleared up and it tested good so i moved the shrimp in. managed to grab some photos with my camera, i do like how large the shrimp look with the distortion. accidentally let some duckweed in when adding the shrimp in.. probably going to make a feeder ring to keep the center clear. i cant wait till the plants grow in.

Fish police here, those species are not compatible.

I keep my female cull guppies in with them and they seem to work as dither fish to make the multies a little less shy.

Ive got a 20 gallon tank with a fairly large crypt and about 10 or so dwarf sag. I normally gravel vac but i feel like i shouldnt do it to this tank. Should i gravel vac even though my plants are root feeders?

Hey all: The MTS addiction gets ever stronger... I have a countertop island in my kitchen with its own power. I'm weighing the possibilities of putting a nice cube tank on the center of it, but I don't want any cords to show. Wondering if anyone here has had to deal with that (paging Mr. @Daniel), and what kind of clever solutions/ideas you've come up with or seen for hiding those kinds of things? Suspended lighting from the ceiling is doable, but not optimal, because it's a very high ceiling at an angle. I am open to drilling the bottom of the tank, but how do I get power cords through there? Thanks! Bill

*Excuse the photo problem I am having, but I think you get the gist. @Bill Smith you hit upon the solution exactly which is four big holes drilled through the bottom of the aquarium. //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5783.JPG.db3c783c7742fb91e048c618edc005e1.JPG Pipe on the left goes down to the recirculating pump. Pipe on the right is a standpipe overflow that runs the excess water out to a pond. //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5786.JPG.58c7bb8492d83372d1d8adb26347f953.JPG This is the inline heater (a hot tub heater) and the Iwaki circulating pump. The tube with the blue ball valve is water from the well/RO system that reaches the tank through Pex tubing embedded in the concrete slab foundation of the house. //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5784.JPG.e08cf70d9166c7be842601ed88068277.JPG This is the other side of the tank where water enter and leaves through hidden emitters in the aquarium, and the other pipe is the other side of the Iwaki circulation system. This tank has no filter system, but the water is automagically changed frequently. Lights come down from outlets embedded in ceiling. //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5787.JPG.69953d93cba2d0212fd427528919b408.JPG I have made the sleeve to tuck all the lighting cables up on the ceiling but have been too lazy to get around to it. The iLonda (which I purchased on your recommendation and love) cannot go upside down, so I am still think about that one. If I didn't have the lights suspended from the ceiling I would have mounted them like this: //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/Kessil1.PNG.c70813db30f61c30482f3416a6636ca0.PNG And discretely snaked the power cables along the black rim. Notice that the Kessil cabling runs through the interior of the gooseneck mounting arm. Very nice! So in summary, plumbing etc. underneath with holes drilled in bottom of tank, and electrical from above or discretely snaked along edge of tank. //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5783.JPG.db3c783c7742fb91e048c618edc005e1.JPG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5786.JPG.58c7bb8492d83372d1d8adb26347f953.JPG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5784.JPG.e08cf70d9166c7be842601ed88068277.JPG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5787.JPG.69953d93cba2d0212fd427528919b408.JPG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/Kessil1.PNG.c70813db30f61c30482f3416a6636ca0.PNG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5783.JPG.db3c783c7742fb91e048c618edc005e1.JPG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5786.JPG.58c7bb8492d83372d1d8adb26347f953.JPG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5784.JPG.e08cf70d9166c7be842601ed88068277.JPG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_5787.JPG.69953d93cba2d0212fd427528919b408.JPG //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/Kessil1.PNG.c70813db30f61c30482f3416a6636ca0.PNG

Even better 👍 They do make clear SCH 40 & 80 pvc that way it would fit standard bulkheads

ACTUALLY you know what, I looked up some pics of eques and I think you are absolutely right, I have a sneaky eques in there with my Beckford's! I remember when I got them like a year ago the store just had a tank of "pencilfish" and I the employee tried to get all Beckford's, but I can see now that they look very similar. Thank you so much, @Cory! I am glad to see I was freaking out for little to no reason. 😅 It was stressing me out this week.

If you use an acrylic tank you may be able to drill and tap a hole in the bottom. You could then use a 1/4in push-to-connect fitting to run an airline into the tank. Idk how water tight that would be but an interesting experiment. Other idea is to have a center spire of black pvc pipe connected to bulkhead on the bottom, run everything up through that, obviously have the end above the rim of tank, conceal it with plants and decor. Not sure what drilling the bottom of tank does for the structural integrity though.

Magnet-driven filtration! Brilliant! I love it! This scratches my DIY itch so hard. For lighting, I was thinking a decorative lamp might do the trick as well...like, lean into it as part of the design.

First thing that comes to mind would be a black cord hinder on an outside corner of the tank. If you don't run a heater and use only a sponge filter you could have only one airline going into the tank. If you build a little enclosed pedestal for it you could hide the airpump and cords under the tank. Use a fluval 3.0 nano for a light, that has a small cord.

Here is a little brainstorm idea. Make your own powerhead sponge filter mounted on the bottom, without drilling, using foam, and one of these: https://ecotechmarine.com/vortech You could have the tank on a little riser to hide the outside part of the powerhead. You could even try lighting from underneath, maybe with glass cubes or cylinders in the substrate directly above the light source(s). I love your idea!

Tiger barbs are great fun to watch a big group of. One of my favorite shows on tv! (Should tell you how little I watch tv) I kept a mixed school of tiger barbs that was normals, albinos, greens, long finned normals and a couple platinums in a 65 with a rainbow shark and a couple SAE and a group of dojo (weather) loaches. All the different types schooled together and no, the long finned variants did not get fin nipped at all. The SAE got in a few shoving matches with the tiger barbs around feeding time, but no one was ever damaged. The rainbow shark (in typical rainbow shark fashion) declared that she was boss of the tank and any time I put in a spirulina tablet it was hers and no one else's. She would defend it vigorously from the tiger barb hoard, but they'd still get a few bites in before she could gobble it down. In another tank, I kept a group of half a dozen angelfish, a group of several dozen kuhli loaches, half a dozen hi-fin/lyretail swordtails and 25 tiger barbs (mixed albinos and greens). The tiger barbs ignored the kuhli loaches completely, even when they were glass surfing. The tiger barbs and angels were all put in when they were relatively small (angels were nickel sized) and they grew up together. The swordtails were the first ones in there so they could make plenty of live food for the barbs and angels. Yes I was absolutely curious to see if the 'nippy' tiger barbs would go after the big fins of angels or the swordtails, and if angels could be as mean as some people say they are. Thw swordtails were always bigger than the tiger barbs, and after one of the male swordtails turned around and bit a tiger barb back for nipping his tail, the tiger barbs respected and left the swordtails to the incessant plant pecking.The tiger barbs very quickly realized angels were to be given space as well, and that was that. The tiger barbs schooled around, the angels did their thing (which was usually hang out in the back wall of jungle val), the swordtails usually stayed at the top and picked at the roots of the dwarf salvinia and the kuhlis were adorable dorks that wiggled around on the bottom and in the plants. Pretty fun tank really. Tiger barbs are demonized about being nippy fish way too much. Just keep em in a decent sized school.

I completely agree, I just recently changed my water change routine so that I siphon into a bucket. My plants were doing OK before, but they are doing incredible now. And the improvement was almost immediate, not like fertilizer that might take a month to see results. It makes me want to change my water more often...lol.

I personally am really enjoying all the tetras and neons. I'm all really wanting to get the celestial pearls cause I think they look awesome. My best planted tank atm is my 20g tall.

If you already have a 38 gallon, then you are used to tanking care of larger tanks. You will actually have less maintenance with a planted tank because the plants do a lot of the work for you. The only thing about size is that the bigger tank you get, the more plants you will be getting and you will need a larger light. So, the larger the tank, the more you will spend on "accessorizing" it. As for schooling fish, you will have a ton of options. Harlequin Rasporas are good looking. We have some longfin Zebra Danios that act like they are ADHD 😁, but they school really nicely. Although very small, but they are eye catchers, we have some glow light tetras (these are not glofish). Their bright orange colors really pop. And our Albino Cherry barbs are really pretty, both the male and the female.

When I was a teen and had fish tanks in my bedroom, right outside my window was our garden. I would run my python hose out the window and water the garden, and we always had tons of veggies that my mom would freeze or can. Now, my fish room is in my basement and it would be a lot more work to get the fish tank water out to the garden, also being the garden is quite a ways away, so I don't use it, although indirectly it does benefit my lawn as it gets pumped into my septic tank.

The water comes out of my tap at 7,8 and I breed both cacatuoides and agassizii with ease. I do, however, put some Indian almond leaves and one piece of wood in each tank

this is one of my favorite plants, it grows well and really fills out large tanks. i have some growing in a high tech set up and the leaves start turning purple once they are about 4-5” from the surface. easy way to add color to all the green! anyone else getting this with their pogo? any other plants that surprised you with their color? i wasn’t aware when i got it that it does turn purple in high tech.

i have a sand gravel mix in my 55 only thing is no plants in that cause its a cichlid tank also have bichir in there he enjoys the soft smooth surface. but i have a 46 gal bow with plants and believe it or not its got a sand/dirt mix and then patches bare bottom obviously my plants are in the soiled/sand section and i used that black blasting sand that @Pete mentioned get 50lbs for like 20 bucks at hardware store

Building my PVC air loop system took me like a week of planning and part buying, and I kept putting it off because it seemed daunting, but then I said "Just do it." Got it done in 4 hours or so lol.

This is Zosyn Alexander Fuzzybutt. He is 15 and rules the house. His favorite things to do are cat napping and begging for treats. Since I began working from home he is always "helping" me get my work done...haha

@Cory My suggestion is less with the functionality of the site and more with the content. I very much appreciate that the forum is here to help new folks and by all means I will keep commenting and trying to assist, but I really enjoyed it when it was a members only community for several reasons. For one, the size worked really well. I could get answers on posts in hours; now I have been trying to get answers on a certain issue for several days but it keeps getting drowned out by new posts. Second, the content was a little different with members only because a lot of members have more experience and so there were fewer questions that can be answered by doing a thorough Google search. I totally respect that the forum is designed to spread the hobby and we were ALL beginners at one point. But it would be nice to perhaps have a "members only" section. That's just my personal opinion and I totally respect whichever direction you choose to take the forum. I'm not trying to throw shade at new people! Just nice to read posts about newer topics and to not have posts drowned out.

I am amazed you have the self control to not have tanks under your row of tanks!

beautiful.. love the tanks and squares of everything... makes my OCD smile LOL... except you got to balance your lower 2 shelves left side with more tanks

My go to for planted tanks is a 50/50 mix of eco-complete and fluval stratum. you could even do a mix of this and cap it with some sand if you desire, a black blasting sand would blend right in.

Both a 125 and 75. I could handle just having those for the rest of my life.

It sounds like you were FAR from depleted, it was more that you had too many nutrients and had to keep light low to manage algae. I have not had trouble with clarity in a dirted tank with a thick sand cap, not have I had trouble with algae, but I stepped my lighting up slowly, waiting for the plants to catch up. I am not trying to convince you to go with dirt--I only have it in one tank, but I do really love it. I do not love eco complete, my vals, lilies, lotuses, and crypts like it though--not so much fragile roots, and it is annoying to plant it to me. ADA amazonia is highway robbery, but works ok for a monte carlo carpet, and is a little easier to plant in. If you are looking to have a more precisely controlled nutrient load then going with an inert substrate makes sense, I think you have the best solution right in front of you--use the sand you like, and mix in a larger particle sand or small gravel in the bottom layer where your dirt currently is. You don't say what size tank this is, but economical options include regular aquarium gravel from a big box store, or play sand from building supply stores. I think once you go inert, you are really just looking for a particular look with at least some variation of particle size, best accomplished by mixing.

Nothing was wrong with my dirted tank. I just want to try going with more light and better selection of plants. With my dirted tank I had to go with low light or else the algae would go nuts. The reason for an inert substrate is that I would rather supplement with fert as opposed to having to redo the substrate once it is depleted. I also want to have clear water, which was hard to achieve with a dirted tank.

Check out @Bentley Pascoeon YouTube. He's been doing a series on substrate and does pretty in depth explanations on the pros and cons of different types, including kitty litter of all things.

I've found I like growing plants in sand way more than using fancy substrates like EcoComplete. The sand is so much easier to work in and holds new plants with weaker root structures better than coarser materials out there. It's also 10x easier to get Easy Root Tabs placed in sandy substrates with simple planting tweezers. Pool filter sand really really is the best option I think. A second choice would be blasting sand which is cheap but coarser. Third choice is what I used; big box pet store brand black aquarium sand. It still didn't break the bank.

I feel you on the plants @ShellFire. There are some plants that I just can not do to save my life, like Java ferns. Then there are tons of other plants I find work well for me. 🙂 The key is finding what you like and what works for you 🙂 And welcome to the group!

Welcome. Central Florida here

If you’re looking for a “real” camera, the Canon M50 with just the kit lens can be had for around $500 on the Internet. It’s a pretty solid starter interchangeable-lens camera for stills and the kit lens is great for learning and 1080p video. It also does 1080p video very well. A good add-on lens for the M50 would be the Canon EF 50mm 1.8 for around $100-$125. You would have to buy an additional EF-M to EF adapter that would run about $25. Another great option would be the Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 is ii USM with the lens adapter mentioned above. That’s a $400-$500 lens though but it’s the best telephoto option for the M50 without getting into “L Series” lenses but if you can afford an “L Series” I’d suggest getting a better camera more suited for your budget. I would also get a CPL filter to fit the lens you use regardless of whatever camera/lens you end up getting. A CPL filter is a polarized lens attachment. Not only will it help with tank-glass glare and stray light, it will also enhance the colors of whatever you’re photographing, especially if it’s through water. Polarized filters shift the rays of light hitting the sensor to essentially reduce glare. If you’ve ever worn polarized sunglasses and looked into a lake/river )or even into your aquarium) a CPL filter does the same thing for your camera. if you can’t afford something like that, a modern phone is more than capable of taking pretty good pictures. Lighting your subjects are key. Don’t be surprised if you have to add more lighting to your tank just for photos. It’s ok though because those extra lights aren’t permanent. Just use them for the photos. Photo editing features on modern phones have come a long way and can also be helpful in producing a good photo. Again, lighting usually dictates that. You’d be surprised how much noise and grain can be reduced just by using proper lighting.

Hello! I’m Ryo Watanabe from Japan. I’m really excited to be a part of this forum. Looking forward to learn and share more about this wonderful hobby here!