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MattyM

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Everything posted by MattyM

  1. MattyM
    Unfortunately not, I've given up on stem plants and my life is so much better lol
  2. MattyM
    Live/frozen foods, esp BBS, as a pre-lights out feeding typically works - might still take a bit tho. I have 2 females that are obviously egged up, and frozen food at night really gets the males pestering the females.
  3. MattyM
    Is this newly planted? Is the tank new? If you bought it from the Coop they might send a replacement. 10ppm nitrate might be a little low for a planted tank, then again I've never had good luck with stem plants so I just don't do them - my ph is close to yours fwiw.
  4. MattyM
    I would give it a good leak test while you are figuring all this out.
  5. MattyM
    For me, I much much prefer the AquaClears to the Tidals. On my 20g I used an Aquaclear 55 and painted the back of the tank black - all you see is one tube going into the tank. The heater can be easily hidden if you mount it horizontally just above the substrate and put plants/decor in front of it, and you won't have to worry about turning it off during water changes. I also had cory cats to help kick junk up into the water column where the filter could catch it, and a small pre-filter sponge that I got off Amazon. To tame the flow back into the tank, I added a baffle - which can be as easy as cutting a plastic water bottle or ordering a 3d printed one off Etsy - little googling will get you there. That said, I have 2 canisters on my big tank, and one is a Biomaster Thermal. It is amazing, yes it costs more but you are getting a quality heater, and with the removable pre-filter I barely have to open the entire thing up for cleaning. It also has flow control should you need it, and it comes with a spray bar, which none of the fluvals do. Hope that helps!
  6. MattyM
    If your tank and fish are healthy there's no reason to add salt, the fish will have a good slime coat by just taking good care of everything. I've never heard of using salt all the time just to promote a good slime coat, but then again I don't keep cichlids.
  7. MattyM
    I like bottled bacteria - Fritz and API Quickstart seem to work best for me. It still takes a week or two, but I found as long as the nitrites are low, like under 1, and I don't overstock, the fish can easily handle it (articles have shown nitrite levels this low are not harmful), especially in a well planted tank. And the bacteria need some nitrite to feed on and grow. If the nitrites creep up past 1, a small water change and/or prime dosing, and sometimes dose more bacteria as needed. Eventually I test and get the blue color for nitrites. I still do this even if I used some established media - the bottled bacteria is just handy to have around when starting up a new tank.
  8. MattyM
    That could explain the high nitrates if a bunch of stuff from the substate got kicked into the water column.
  9. MattyM
    I don't think I've ever seen nitrate that high (seems like over 100 maybe?), that could def be part of the issue. What is your water change schedule like and can we get a full pic of the tank, along with the tank size and what/how many fish are in it? Some fast growing plants will also also get that nitrate number down, or even pothos growing out of the tank. Myself, I've found that adding calcium to the water and their diet helps. This could be something like cuttlebone/wondershell for the water, and Crab Cuisine for diet.
  10. MattyM
    Guppies and live bearers in general like hard water - your water may be a bit soft with the low PH. I already have hard water so I cannot suggest a product I've used.
  11. MattyM
    If there is a film on the surface, you can lay a paper towel on it and it will soak it up.
  12. MattyM
    Just add de-chlorinator to some clean tap water and squeeze out the filter in there.
  13. MattyM
    Is there any sort of film on the surface?
  14. MattyM
    My LFS sells them like that (tied together) and I never had any luck. I bought some beautiful looking java fern online that was potted in rock wool. It looked amazing for a couple weeks, but as it adjusted to my water it started getting those black spots and producing new shoots. Much of the original plants have melted away now, but the new growth is doing much better.
  15. MattyM
    I don't suppose your light has a dimmer? If not you might be able to find an inline one, I had some luck with this one on a previous tank/light: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082YTTX7H/
  16. MattyM
    Mine always hang out in their favorite plant. Even when I upgraded to a larger tank and moved both them and "their" plant, they still found the same plant and still hang out by it even though there's several other plants now. Some of the younger/smaller ones might explore a bit - but for the most part they don't do much except eat, and when I'm lucky, spawn.
  17. MattyM
    Might have been munching on some minerals that evaporated water left behind, and fell or something.
  18. MattyM
    Have you checked the Coop's YouTube channel? Just search for "hot rod" - that's the term used to modify improve filters.
  19. MattyM
    The employee should have asked more questions first, and maybe suggested a bottle of API Quick Start, test strips, and some Cory food or something - in case you didn't have such things on hand. I think she had good intentions, but I know I would get frustrated working in any pet chain store. Sadly the aquatic departments in our big box pet stores are just lacking, especially compared to some European ones that are pristine works of art and knowledge. like check out this store:
  20. MattyM
    It seems you have Colu's attention now so you are in good hands!
  21. MattyM
    Brown diatom algae: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-algae
  22. MattyM
    Does it move on its own?
  23. MattyM
    I don't know if it's just me but all the photos are black.
  24. MattyM
    Your new tank may just be trying to find balance. The driftwood and leaves could cause a downwards PH shift, but in natural bodies of water the PH also shifts as plants take in/put out CO2 and Oxygen. As long as everything seems healthy I wouldn't sweat it too much.
  25. MattyM
    I like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L54HB83/
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