Cawafuoshi

I still think the addition of such a metal grid might have caused the death of my nerite, but I cannot be completely certain. I had her in a holding tank for plants, and two days later after having added a moss attached to the grid it was dead. Perhaps a coincidence.

Writing this after a bottle of red wine, so take it with a grain of salt, but I pretty much gave up on Seachem products. I never got Flourish to work for me, apart from the fact it is difficult to measure in smaller quantities, needs to be in the fridge, and the bottle always leaked it seemed. Seachem Prime smells like no other water conditioner. Does not "repair" slime coat. Easy Green line, no probs, super easy to dose, not leaking, no fridge, etc. Every other water conditioner does the same and more than Prime.

While I agree that a lot of "smart" can be helpful, be careful which smart plugs you use. My KASA one used to run aquarium lights but had to be dismissed since it always forgot its schedule after a power outage and kept the lights off. This was several years ago. Might be that glitch is fixed, but it was super annoying.

I am still trying to make water changes "fun" and safe. So far, the best solution I found on my 20G is to have an ATO, a 14G reservoir, and to perform daily small water changes, all done in about 5 minutes. The ATO takes care of what I disliked the most: carefully filling up the tank from a bucket or pitcher. Of course, at some point the reservoir needs to be replenished, but it is more easily accessible than the 20L on top of my shelf.

Looking great those lights and naturally I had to look up this brand on Ama zon. I need a new light for my 10G.

Thanks, yes, we were able to shield the significant other from it while I and the kid are isolating.

Looks very representable.

I second the pitcher. This is how I add water to my 10G after a change. You could do 1 pitcher a day water changes or what ever amounts to your preferred % of wc by the end of a week if you change weekly.

I am believer of 12 hours tropical days in my tanks. So, I do let them run 12 hours. The light I do have on top of the 10g is marginal. Probably going to upgrade to a SkyLedPlus there too and give it another try.

Yes, the tissue culture from Pet and companies can be great. I rely on Nicrew SkyLED+ on my 20L which is cheap, adjustable, and does not forget its setting after a power outage. I have Stratum myself in a 10G but failed to achieve what you did probably due to light. I am going to check out your light.

To get it green, I had to up the dosing though. Again, as a backup or temporary solution it works, or in low tech where you want to give easy plants a boost it could also be used long term when dosing according to instructions.

Nice work! Could you share which light and if CO2 was used? I am not good at guessing substrates, but is it Stratum? And perhaps, who is the supplier of your grass? Thanks a bunch!

I am a newbie on the forum, too. Have ordered from the Coop several times in the past two year or so. Only joined the forum since I wanted to ask a question regarding their pair of scissors but got sucked up in the many other threads and forgot to post my question 😄 Welcome and happy "fishing"

Already have been sitting 3 hours in front of my two planted tanks, enjoying observing #1 and cannot wait for #2 to switch its light on (the both tanks are not synched). Such pleasure if you have nothing but time due to COVID isolation.

I second the Fzone, ZRDR, or similar brand DIY systems. They simply work and mixing and setting up one takes literally minutes plus the time for the reaction to build up the gas (several hours, best do be done after lights are off, so CO2 can build up until next day). For larger tanks or longer run time, there is a 4 liter system available. What one wants to invest in is a better diffuser that works with the lower pressure in these systems. I found the Aquario/FZone Neo Co2 diffuser to be a great one. Another way of enriching the water with Co2 I found to be the SERA CO2 tabs, especially as a back up and temporary solution, not long term. They can get the drop checker green and plants respond.