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My 110 first setup (2017) Eventually the fx4s couldn't keep up with the bioload so, I reset the tank with and did completely opposite. No plants and added the sump for an African Cichlid tank. (2018-19) Got bored of the Cichlids, sold them to my LFS. I wanted plants back. I started off wanting just to do a low tech Val tank but that didn't last long since I had all the equipment for a high tech setup and now had a sump to play with. (2019-present) I've since removed the large driftwood because it was getting BBA on it and to make more open area for plants. Most recent photo

I just use the Pro mode on my Note 9. I adjust the settings until it looks good to me, turn the saturation up. I use a cheap tripod off Amazon for filming. This sheet helped me understand the settings better

this was my little nano tank when i first set it up a few months ago and it a couple days ago

Yup, there’s a massive selection of food just for ricefish here. Probably because it’s the most popular pet fish to keep here in Japan. Here’s a small selection from the pet section at my local home center. The green one in the second picture is a favorite among many medaka keepers as you can watch them pick at the donut shaped, floating pellet. Quite interesting to watch a bunch of them go at it. The gold color packaged food is also quite popular. This one was recommended to me by a ricefish breeder/farmer. He said that this food helps his fish grow well and doesn’t get his water as dirty compared to other foods.

Thanks Cory! I've learned tons since that video and although a lot of practices are still the same some techniques have changed. At one point I was fascinated with using a Flash. I have a 61MP of a Rainbowfish that kinda blows my mind using a high powered flash. I went from taking spotlight photos of individual fish with black or blown out backgrounds to doing more fish tank shots with fish in them. For every single one of these I still use the same lens, a 90mm Macro. Having a proper 1:1 ratio (or more) magnification for these tiny fish is key for a nice photo next to having good light. I've always preached about having enough light to keep your ISO as low as possible. When I film at the store, I borrow the lights from the aquariums next to the one I'm filming to give me more light on top of bringing my own little 12w light. Once you figure out the whole ISO, Shutterspeed, Aperture settings you'll understand light and everything will flow.

I'll just share one of my 9 tanks, with the biggest change. October 2019... Colorful gravel, Petsmart ornaments with no cohesive theme, and an assortment of plants to see what might grow. October 2020... Same fish, new look. I have some things figured out now, but still very much a work in progress. EDIT: it wasn't until seeing the old photo again that I realize how much those ornaments have lost color over time. The later photo does have a different, brighter light, but still.

This is my dining room for starters lol!!! Then I have a 55 gallon in the living room and in my bedroom I have two 40's stacked like the ones in the pic then 2 20's in each corner. Thats just the ones that are in use right now I have 3 7.5's and 4 14 gallon cubes waiting to get setup the MTS is real LOL!

Thank you @Daniel for putting the before and after pics together for me.

Here is my discus tank from 2008 And here is the same tank from last week

First I just want to say Thank You to Cory and The Aquarium Co-Op for providing all the videos that have inspired me to setup my new tank. I have had small (failed) aquariums in the past but never have I started one with knowledge and understanding I have now. Looking forward to many years of NERMing out and doing business with the Coop. Sep. 8th Initial setup and cycling of the tank. Plastic Rocks float. LOL First plants from the Coop. Cypress Knee attached to slate to hold it down. I got this Knee on etsy and it was perfectly prepared out of the box. It did not leach any tannins. Almost too tall!! More Plants. All came from the Coop (WA) to me (FL). They were in the mail 7 days (we had just had a hurricane here so not the Coops fault) and they were perfect. Vintage Décor FTW! Oct 2nd I added 5 Platy's. PH 7.8, NH3 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, Nitrate 5 PPM. I turn the LED background lights on for an hour or so in the evenings just to enjoy the ambiance. I have more plants coming in today. To be continued... Thanks for looking. Mary K. Oh yeah... gottah show the stickers

Week #2 so its time to show tank #2, but first a mention about how many great looking aquariums I've seen on the forum this past week. I've always enjoyed seeing what other people are doing and the species they are keeping and it motivates me to think about and try new things. The skill level from some of you is quite impressive and for that I have decided to showcase the complete opposite today. I've always liked mountain streams and the recreated look inside an aquarium has always been something I've wanted to achieve. While I can certainly appreciate the dedication and skill of the carefully aquascaped and brilliantly planted high-tech setups, I am much more of a scatter rocks and lay in some random driftwood type. One of my favorite Aquarium Co-Op products was the bag of Spider Wood Nano Twigs. Remember those!? I would take a few and simply toss them in a tanks to let them soak, sink, and lay wherever they fell. The look would achieve for me a more naturally looking display than any arrangement I would try to piece together. I still like this method of aquascaping and have a 20 long where I am doing a similar thing with collected wood, leaves, and small cones to be shown another day. But todays tank is one of my favorites for its sheer simplicity. The aquarium is 30 gallons measuring 36" x 13" x 16" and this size has become one of my favorites to utilize in the apartment because of the ease of fitting it underneath a cinderblock and 2x4 rack. The 36" length fits perfectly between the columns on either side and the width is within the dimensions of the blocks as well. Its just too perfect. The fact that I've found three tanks with these dimensions on my local craigslist in a short period of time has been a severe enabling of my multi tank syndrome. From craiglist, the tank came with a sad 24" t8 bulb an Aqueon 30 hob and a terrible blue background. The set up was super simple and was gathered from scratch aquarium decor laying around; some pool filter sand mixed with pea gravel mixed with aragonite scattered in with some eco-complete, locally collected river rocks and a piece of driftwood also found locally and I added an airstone. My idea for scaping the tank came from what I have seen in nature, an area of flowing water with a collection of rock snagged up on a root or piece of wood creating a sort of eddy or sandy area on the leeward side. Ideally I want to create this in something like a 33gallon long but the 36" will work for now. Stocking the tank was with fish I already had on hand and I thought would fit in naturally with the scape. There are about 20 White Cloud Minnows and 4 Characidium fasciatum in right now. I'm rolling around ideas for a centerpiece fish or something more to add. I'd love to hear any suggestions. I have two wild type swordtails in quarantine that may round out the stocking here soon. The tank is unheated but the room will not drop much below 70f at night during the winter. Sorry about the glare and poor picture quality. The aquarium photography aspect was not something I had thought about when starting this. Crummy cell phone pics will have to do. Anyways, a bit about simple, basic fish in a simple basic set up. I'm a big fan. It reminds me of what I could imagine seeing if I out and peered into a section of a nearby mountain river. While definitely not the most colorful of fish the Characidium or "darter tetra" should get more consideration. These little dudes are super active, always scooting around and exploring cracks and crevasses and playing in the current. I'd be interested to hear what you think of this style, what are some of the perhaps less showy fish that never fail to capture your attention, or what would you put in this tank or something similar. Once again, thanks for looking.

this was gucci

I got the brown betta from Petco about a year and a half. Can you guess what kind he is? He is actually a Bumblebee. I don't know about you but I think he is pretty unique. Recently put the blue betta in a 75 gal with 4 tetras and he is LOVING it! After being born in a cup, this is a huge improvement.

Great photo. I need to step up my game with fish photography. I've seen people accomplish some awesome shots on smartphones. Best I could get of mine today:

What did your aquarium look like at first and what does it look like now? Thanks to @tfwvusa for these photos!

This is my first tank back in the hobby, a 20 gallon Askoll. I read a lot, bought a cool tank gathering dust, did organic soil, too much sand, some box store plants, and a nice piece of wood. A few days later, I thought it would be cool to add some white sand over the black. It was interesting, until it looked like digital camo. Two years later:

Instead of putting the tissue paper on the tank lid, attach it directly to the Stingray. It WILL NOT get hot enough to cause concerns. I’d just scotch tape the tissue paper directly over the Stingrays splash shield. You could even just cover a few sections of the splash shield to cut down a little less light if full coverage proves to diminish too much light. You could also use wax paper to diffuse some light or some window screen. You could also use in an inline dimmer from Amazon for like $5-$15. You’d have to cut your cord to splice on the dimmer but people have been doing dimmer mods to Stingray lights since they came out. It’s very simple to do but I understand not wanting to hack apart your cord but a dimmer wood be your best solution. Another thing you could do is (if you can) physically raise the entire fixture farther away from the waters surface. My favorite part about Stingrays is the flush-mount they include (or use to, I haven’t bought a stingray in years). Another thing you could try if you really wanted to would be to take out the splash guard and clear coat it with a matte clear coat. The matte finish will diffuse the light. I don’t suggest that unless you’re really ambitious because it’s a permanent mod that if you screw up you need to replace the splash guard. If that happens, the splash guard seems to only be either 1/32 or 1/16 plexiglass/lexan (I’m not 100% sure on the thickness). Most home improvement stores (Lowe’s, Home Depot, Menards, etc,.) should carry plexiglass in several thicknesses. Use the old splash guard as a template, trace it on the new sheet, use a razor knife to cut out new splash guard. Plexiglass comes with a protective film over both sides, it usually comes in blue or a foggy matte clear. If it’s foggy matte clear, remove it from one side only. THAT will be your light diffusion. If it’s another color, remove both sides and take a very fine grit sandpaper (1000+) and evenly scuff the entirety of one side. The scuffs will diffuse the light. Although the Stingray isn’t a very powerful light, it does produce good lighting for what it is. In my experience, over time your fish should become accustomed to the brighter light. Some species do tend to be a little “gun-shy” when the tank goes from dark to high-noon bright in a split second but in my experience, most species get use to it. It’s like someone coming up from behind and scaring you. The first handful of times they get you every time but after a week or so, you start to anticipate it so when it happens it’s not such a sudden shock anymore. Again, that depends on species and what’s in the tank that provides natural shadows and hiding spots (overhangs, caves, dense plants, etc,.). In all honesty, I’d be more concerned with new algae growth due to the brighter light. If you can’t get the light “dimmed” within a reasonable time, I’d consider reducing your photoperiod (how long the light is on) by a few hours for a few weeks and slowly lengthen the photoperiod over those few weeks until your tank is back up to the brightness you want. TL;DR........ So, there are several different methods of diffusing excess light. The method you choose is up to your abilities, confidence, motivation, and the tools at your disposal. It can be an easy task or an involved project. Personally, I’d just tape the tissue paper to the fixture and add/takeaway layers until the brightness level is where I want it. If I wanted a permanent solution, I’d just make a new matte splash guard. In my experience, the Stingray shouldn’t really need diffusion unless it’s on a very shallow tank and as long as your fish have a spot to hide for a second or two they should get use to the difference in brightness in a few weeks. I also experience fish becoming startled when lights suddenly turn off too so this may be something we think is “bad” but it really isn’t. That’s why I prefer to use controllable LED’s and ramp up/down the lighting so it’s not such sudden a shock.

I totally agree it may require some work to get a pair to live together. They are also territorial. You may want to look into a powder blue female. If that style doesn't work out honey gouramis seem much more robust and passive.

I think maybe he just took too many of his prescription pain meds.🙂

some of my tips: -good lighting is important. i always up the brightness on my tank lights before taking photos, your camera will never have the same dynamic range that your eyes have so the tanks/fish will always come out darker in the photos than how it appears to your eye (this is very basic, if you’d like me to go into depth on it i can). -a flash will help freeze action and will help isolate fish in motion, great for fish that are active and hard to photograph. -keep your camera as parallel to the glass as you can to help reduce distortion through the glass and glare. -turn off all of the lights in the room/block windows so there are no reflections on the glass. you can also use a polarizing filter on your lens to help remove some glare and reflections as well. -throw in food to attract the fish to the front of the tank. i like to spot feed in one part of the tank and that is where i actively take the photos instead of chasing the fish around the tank with my camera -you dont need a high end camera with a macro lens, your phone should work just fine for most shots. a macro lens is very very helpful for getting really nice close up shots though. i wanted to expand on using a flash a little bit. here is an example of a non flash photo and a photo taken with flash in the same tank. different fish but same lighting/tank. you can see how the flash freezes the fish and really brings out the colors in the background that are very difficult to bring back in post. the image is also a lot cleaner since there is little to no noise from needing to bump up the iso to compensate for the lighting. i find myself being in the 2000-3500 iso range a lot of times when shooting photos in uncontrollable environments (like in the store tanks or where i cannot control the lighting). this high iso leads to lots of noise in the photos. by using a flash you can drop that down very low and you get a cleaner image overall. no flash flash

I believe you re-dose the full amount every time, so 5 capfuls again. Here is the Aquarium Co-Op blog post on ich, as well as the official instructions on the website. Good luck with the ich treatment!

That is an awesome Betta!

Here are some of my older tanks that I have photos of. First 2 are a natives tank I had in college In 2016 then my 90 gallon when it was first being used for over wintering the pond fish back in 2017 and then the little fluval spec that I had on my parents counter back in 2018. I don't have any pictures of my really old setups back in the early 2000s @Danielthat size is that big tank you have?

The clump of algae is now in a bucket waiting for the Malaysian trumpet snails to evacuate it. I did the dum-dum and tried to get the snails off the algae in the aquarium, and noticed some strands of algae breaking free. I think I caught them though.. I didn't scrub the rock completely yet, nor did I spot treat it with H2O2, but I'll keep that as an option if the other measures won't help. There is now more plants in the tank than when the algae popped up, and that will get better by the day as my rather slow plants start getting bigger and bigger. Also, I won't be rummaging through the substrate releasing all the nutrients and trace elements from the clay balls as the plants are already pretty much where I want them to be. I also reduced the lighting period a bit. I did like the look of the algae ball too, and honestly the aquarium looks almost naked without it, since the plants are still growing. That shouldn't be an issue in the long run, as I have a Barclaya Longifolia bulb trying to take root near the big rock. And I think in the end, I'd prefer the Barclaya over the algae 😄

Well I think there is a few prevention "meds" out there that are doing what you want. #1 salt. Dependant on what plants you are running you can safely run a bit of salt 24/7 and it will be very therapeutic. #2 tannins. Driftwood and various leaves you can get release tannins which are very helpful in keeping fish healthy. #3 diet. A widely varies high quality diet goes a long ways to healthy fish.

Love me some snails. I'm the kind of dude that will check the changed water for 30 mins with a flashlight to see if there are any lost tiny snails in the bucket. Don't want to kill a single one lol.

I realize I've just made comment after comment, so I'm going to make a list to make things easier. You can also try to get: Ryo Watanabe, Flynn (this time talk to him about his maintenance business) Zenzo again, Preston John (The world needs more Preston John)

Handsome man... my previous betta Soundwave looked like his brother from another mother. 🙂 Here's my current mustard gas betta fish named Sonic who is enjoying life as the tank boss of my planted community tank:

I love that bettas always have cool names :) Meet Sapphire, my chubby half-moon. He lives with a bunch of female guppies and they seem happy together.

This is Carlos- I'm always surprised with how much they can change over time.

I think if you have quarantined your fish and ran the meds trio during the initial quarantine, I’d hold off on running more meds unless you see something. Some of the meds used are antibiotics, the more you use them, the less effective they can become. Bacteria can build up an immunity. Also meds change the viscosity of the water and can add unneeded stress on the fish. I’d lean towards the position of don’t fix what isn’t broken. Remember the goal is to have a thriving eco system. Meds can hamper that. On the other hand, if you have never ran your fish through quarantine or the med trio, I would do it to ensure a clean bill of health. I just wouldn’t do it again unless I saw issues.

Yes, I've had Cladophora algae in my tank before, and I had great luck getting rid of it with hydrogen peroxide. I treated the whole tank with about 1 Tbsp of H2O2 per 10 gallons. First you switch off all the lights and filter, add the H2O2 into the tank and stir it in a bit, wait one hour, and then turn on the filters again after 1 hour. I think I did the treatment 3x per week, and I was careful to do some partial water changes during that week to avoid nitrogen spikes from the dying algae. It totally got rid of that algae. If the algae is concentrated only in that one area, it might be more effective to spot-treat it directly using a pipette with a squirt of hydrogen peroxide (or liquid carbon if you don't have any plants that are sensitive to it). I also turned off the filter/light during the spot treatment. Hope that helps!

Got a Lot done today. Did a water change in Dragon’s 5.5 gallon betta tank. I recently trimmed the water sprite I got from the CoOp because it’s going absolutely bonkers rn. I cleaned out some hair algae and scrubbed the beginnings of brown spot algae off the glass. I’m propagating pothos in the back right now and I started an avocado pit floating. I had some success with the avocado in the past but I tried transplanting it to soil and it died, so now I’m starting another one. I also am getting my 10 gallon tank underway (finally) because im going to do a bit of a swap. I’m gonna dose KanaPlex and aquarium salt in the 10 gallon and move Dragon over to help with his Popeye, and I’m gonna grab a betta at my LFS (which I just got a job at) and put it on Dragon’s tank while I get either my 20long or my other 5.5 from my storage unit and clean/set it up. There was still some leftover from the dead rat in the 10 gallon so I’m gonna run it with carbon and do some rounds of water changes over the next few days while letting it cycle. When I’m satisfied with its cleanliness I’ll do the swap. Ive also thought through what I wanna do stocking wise, and I think for the 20 long in addition to the 2 Plecos and the 3 pea puffers from home, I’m gonna try to do some celestial pearl danios. I also wanna try a species of corydora but I’m not sure which (I am open to suggestions so lmk). Now that I have a job I’m much more motivated to get things moving in the fish room since money has been really tight for me for the majority of this year due to losing my job because of covid-19. I also realized that my hang on back has adjustable flow, I’ve had it since 2018 😅 shoutout to my roommate for essentially giving me all my supplies for our first tank. Anyways, I setup the air pump and am running both tanks off this blue tetra pump so I can have my USB nano one free in case of emergencies. Stay tuned for when I start setting up my other tanks and get this fishroom further along in its journey.

Though I could be wrong, I think that the picture on this topic is actually from a pleco I own and keep with bristlenose. I really like plecos, and I have 3 bristlenose, 3 peckoltia braueri, 4 l333s (probably 1 l066 and 3 l333s, though I bought all for as l333s) and one hypostomus affinis in a 65 gallon aquarium. I do provide plenty of hides and caves, and I only ever see agression between the same species and it never results in injuries to the fish. Here is the Pic of my pleco

I don't know about Black Kuhlis and Striped Kuhlis, but I have the striped and spotted Kuhlis together and they don't really seem to acknowledge eachother. That being said, I don't think they care either way. I ended up with 4 banded Kuhlis and 2 Calicos. They are still comfortable enough to venture out during the day, and swim around and play.

Thank you for the compliment 😊 If you ever are searching for advice or want to ask some questions always feel free to contact me. Sumps are one of my favourite filtration mainly because of the versatility! the refugium idea really has and I've been expanding on it and trying plants out and testing growth rates. If you want some plants I've found useful or any other questions about it let me know!

Six cory cats it is, then! Thank you!

So I raised mine in a 4x2x2 the depth I think is really important! As that will in my opinion mean way more to it's overall happiness then the length. Bigger is always better and mine is in a 6x2.5x2 but honestly is no more active so I dont believe it was life changing for my Fahaka. But each can be different you may have to see what yours is like! Obviously the more water the easier it can be to sustain healthy water. But in all honesty regular maintenance good feeding loads of appropriate decor and I would ALWAYS recommend a sump (not that's their isn't other ways as there is many ways to filter well) I just love sumps as I use a whole entire chamber as a "refugium" for emergent plants to help reduce my bioload! So the 4x 2 X2 I think is appropriate if you take on the right management Photos below is my Fahaka and the "refugium" as example to what it is like. (Pardon the bad photo can always do a clearer one 😂) It made a huge reduction in my algae and nitrate.

Just a few of many from the Gulf end of the Withlacoochee River FL

Maybe one of those 3d backgrounds? BUT it's your tank, nobody says you have to have a background. If there is a reason not too, and it sounds like there is, skip it. I'm like ADMWNDSR83, no bettas and a black background. I really want to get one of those universal stone backgrounds, but I can't justify the cost... yet.

What I would do is remove as much of it as I can with my hands or a toothbrush, and then adjust my lighting and fertilizing ratio, until I don't see any more algae appearing. You can also use H202 as mentioned above; just be careful not to overdose.

This was Brian, and he was awesome...

I was using 3% H2O2 from my local drugstore. I don't know how they do with snails, but they didn't harm my 100s of cherry shrimp or my plants at all. The tutorial I used was from Mark's Shrimp Tanks. I'm not sure this is the right video, but here is one from his channel:

I did some reading on other forums and a SAE was recommended to eat it.

I love stuff like that and would just let it be. It's cute. ;3

I think my favorite part of this post is the realization that your garage is bigger by a long shot than the entire house I just bought!

My first pond, 20 gallon. Daisy's blue rice fish. Love the sound of running water. Short.mp4

I setup three outdoor Walstad-style tubs with a ton of plants, some wood, rocks, white clouds and neocaradina shrimp here in Vermont. Cheers, Jason

Mine is a 100 gal Rubbermaid tub with a Coop sponge filter and Ziss air stone running on the USB mini pump. Started with 19 white clouds but they’re making babies like mad. I feed them frozen baby brine and Coop Easy Fry Food. My water is really green now so it’s harder to see everything, but I still spot new babies most evenings. IMG_3777.MOV