Leaderboard

As much as you want. From no substrate, to very thick. Pros and cons to everything. At this point, I want enough that I can plant into. Too little substrate and your plants just float right out of it. Too much and it’s just money spent on gravel that could be spent on other things in my opinion.

If you go with guppies; go with smaller endlers; they aren't quite as colourful but they are live breeders so your sons can marvel at the babies 😉

With plants I would do the same depth you had before.

with plants, i like to see at least 2". all that gunk down in the gravel is great fertilizer for the plants.

My mom made this for me for my birthday. I thought it was really awesome and I wanted to share it. Thanks mom.

I’d say, from 1 to how ever thick u want it to be @Herefishie, the plants just need to be able to have all the roots under the gravel and stable.

I'd say you're fine. I put an inch in my 10 gallon shrimp and kind of wish I put more, but I have a massive centerpiece that prevents it

Great video! messing with the site and what the video provides, I might go with 1 Honey Gourami, 8 Ember tetras, 2 Mystery snails and 5 Amano Shrimp as my complete tank fish.

I'm in the process of replacing my Aquarium with a larger one. While preparing to make the change, it occurred to me that I think I have way too much gravel in my tank. It's probably 2 to 3 inches. I'm planning to not use nearly as much in the new tank. Just enough to cover the roots for the plants. Is this a mistake? Even though I gravel vac regularly, it was shocking how much junk was down in that substrate. The tank is only six months old.

Agreed that when I started my first tanks and didn’t have other filters/media/plants to pull from established tanks I only dosed once. Doesn’t hurt to continue to dose ammonia, but I never personally have

Considering there’s no fish in the tank, I wouldn’t be concerned at all. Like @Tony s said the plants will eat ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. When you go to put fish in, I would water change to get nitrates below 40. Biofilm is absolutely normal. Water is the source of all life!

Lil bro is hangry

Such a beauty

last post on first page Cory writes in why they decided to stop offering it. Further up the page is a video where Cory discusses why they discontinued it. I bought 2 AQQA look alike heaters recently from Amazon. Electronic circuitry functions like the first co op heater. Only difference I have been able to perceive is the logo and a shorter cord. But just because I cant perceive other differences doesnt mean there are not other differences… If I could still buy the co op version I would be.

@AllFishNoBrakes Thank you again for putting me at ease! Every time I see something new, I panic lol!

The detritus worms and algae are completely normal. Algae is just showing that your tank is coming alive. You could remove the algae if you want to, and I personally wouldn’t water change until the cycle is complete considering you’re doing a fishless cycle. Once ammonia and nitrite are at 0, you’ll be good to add a couple fish.

The trail is the only way I knew he was in there. He's like half the size of a grain of rice.

I do not suggest guppies in a 5 gallon at all. They are highly active fish and therefore need space to move around. They also reproduce very quickly if you get any females. If you get males you have to deal with setting up the tank properly to avoid aggression or they will kill each other. One of the things required to deal with aggression is space. Chili rasbora are a fish you could have multiple of in this tank though. Shrimp or snails are always a solid option as well. I found this video and it has some really amazing suggestions:

Check for snello recipes on Lav’s snails channel on youtube! Once you get the idea, you can play around the recipes based on what ingredients you have

My HOBs and canisters serve as fantastic homes for my neocaridina. Some tanks it’s the only safe place for them to grow large enough not to get eaten. As far as diet every yummy thing shrimp love is collected inside. It never hurt any of them health wise that I could see once returned to the tank over 5 or more years. You can buy the fine prefilters off Amazon but those clog up weekly or sooner on aquaclears.

You are already way ahead of the pack. We won't be seeing any "Help! My fish dies in my new tank" threads from you... 🙂

Right. Gotta get this down first then the fun part. For something to play and plan with try aqadvisor.com. It’s a stocking advisor. You put in your tank size and what fish you want. It gives you a good idea of what can go together and how many. But you pick everything going in your tank. It just double checks it for you.

I am now feeding lightly plus I got a second filter. I did put some fish food day 2, not sure whether they started the cycle. I took water sample to local aquarium store, tested with api kit and it’s okay. I will get a api master kit myself and start testing.

Okay, I understand now. Boy getting into this hobby is tough work haha I still haven't even thought about what I wanna stock my 10 gallon with. But once this bump is over it'll be all worth it! I really appreciate the thorough explanations guys!

That is a fine approach. You can just stick with your plan. You can add other fertilizers for the plants. The nitrates in those fertilizers shouldn't affect your cycle (nitrate is the end product of the nitrifying bacteria). Your plants will consume various nitrogen-containing compounds.

that’s what I normally do though. But I went and got my bottle of fishless fuel. And actually doesn’t say that. Says after it clears first, you should be okay. I must just be extra paranoid 😂

What you’re after is the ability of your bacteria to clear ammonia from the tank in a quick and efficient manner. As they’ll be getting a consistent dose from any fish in the tank. So the first dose starts the cycle with the addition of beneficial bacteria. Usually fritzzyme7 or Seachem stability. Then sends it to zero over time. The second or third dose of ammonia is to make sure it clears in 24 hours, simulating the ammonia produced from living fish. The ability to clear in 24 hours being key

It sounds like you are doing just fine. Note that your nitrate test may be inaccurate -- the presence of nitrite may elevate the reading. In my most recent fishless cycle, I only added ammonia at the beginning and waited for the nitrite to reach 0. I didn't add ammonia after the first dose. My reasoning was that nitrifying bacteria can last a long time without a source of ammonia. However, it won't hurt to dose again. There is no need for a water change. That is one of the benefits of a fishless cycle. Just add some ammonia and wait... 🙂

Dirted tanks are fun, but like you said yourself I would suggest becoming more comfortable with just a standard tank first. The variables of dirt and other things make it different. I have 14 tanks, and only 1 with dirt. I was like 2 years into my hobby when I finally took the dive and felt comfortable with it. Here’s my dirted tank: No filter, no fertilizer, no c02. Fun little Pearl Weed forest of a tank. This tank pearls more than my tanks with c02. As far as lower maintenance, I still water change this tank every week. You probably don’t have to, but I do. Keeps things consistent with my super soft water, and I’ve gotten green water on this tank 3 times. Any little change causes green water and I have to balance it again.

Google up dither fish. But we shouldn't be surprised when we build a nice tank that allows fish to hide and then they proceed to do so.

@AllFishNoBrakes Okay! I appreciate the informative help. So much varying information online and I was worried I might crash the cycle but I'll trust you guys and just keep an eye until It drops. Thanks again!

For sure. I use it in my aquaponics tank all the time. Flowers, veggies, herbs, etc all do well with it. Now, depending on what you’re growing hydroponically, there are probably much better fertilizers out there though.

Some pictures of the tank might help, but I have a couple of thoughts: -When you’re not in front of the tank, are they out and about? -Any lighting coming from behind you causing a shadow when you walk up making you look like a big scary predator? Like a tv on the other side of the room? -Any loud noises by the tank? Like a tv perhaps?

My thought exactly. I can just never remember how to spell “gonopodium” lol

Ha!!! No clue how I didn't think to look for that. Yep it's definitely a male lol

Do a 50% water change and run active carbon for 24hr to remove any remaining medication before you start treating with paracleanse

Poor fish.

We did fish in cycle for decades. Just need to take care of the water more for the first couple months.

Yes, both above are correct. But I know Cory has the cute planters. And I believe they leave things like crypts in there. So don’t think it will harm the plant. But, yes, optimal long term is planted. It’s going to escape anyway, so ….

It will do much better planted.

It should be planted.

Uncycled tank, you can probably expect the remaining fish to die off as well. Read up on cycling a tank.

Emperors can hold their own in more rambunctious tanks including bigger tetra characins so the danio aren’t an issue at all just make sure everyone gets enough food Pretty much all danio are very food motivated so slower less aggressive fish can go hungry sometimes

Mine are around room temp, most of the time 20-21°C, summer it goes up to 25°C and some times even around 18°C. I do a cold water change so they often experience 11 and so for short term. So far they are doing great.

I appreciate the feedback. I've read many suggestions on this, even the Co-op's guide, and 3 males in a 5 seems to be okay. But we'll see. Maybe I can still convince them that a betta is better. I just have more experience with it.

That reminded me of another i suggest often for small tanks because they aren't very active. Ember tetras. They are super pretty too.

I would vote for chili rasboras. Mine move so little that I swear they could live in a thimble... 😉

Lennie, I appreciate you friend! Always going out of your way to provide good sources!

That’s a neat surprise! I’ve not looked into black worms yet but they seem like a pretty decent live food. If I were you I’d see if I could catch some out and culture them. It’d be pretty cool to maintain a black work culture that just apparated in one of your tanks.

@Fish Folk That's what surprised me. I've never fed blackworms before. 🤔 From my understanding, it only takes a segment of a worm to make a worm. I wonder if frozen blood worms or another food source contained them? It's pretty cool how things just seem to mysteriously happen. 😎