AllFishNoBrakes

My only comments are: @Mmiller2001 Has a gorgeous, award winning, planted tank. Take their advice when it comes to maximizing plant growth. The only thing I can really add is that if you’re in it for the long haul with CO2 consider upgrading to a 5lb tank. I too started with the citric acid/baking soda canisters. They’re fun and it’s a good way to test the waters, but over time I was spending more on citric acid than tank swaps and eventually phased out the canisters. Just my $0.02.

Those look like snail eggs. Either Bladder or Ramshorn.

@jwcarlson maybe I misread, but I don’t believe they have dosed with Expel P yet. I think they said they believed Paracleanse resulted in the cloudy water. Regardless, good to know about the dose volume per packet. Thanks for sharing!

Sorry you’re going through it. I can’t speak to the issue with the Archers, but I can speak to my experience with Expel P. I used it to treat Camallanus red worms in a 55 gallon tank, and it worked as intended. No issues with oxygen that I was aware of, and I didn’t lose any fish. I was specifically treated my breeding pair of Panda Angels that are in 1/3 of the 55 gallon tank, and on the other side of the sponge wall (or the other 2/3 of the tank) is a grow out for all their fry. Not a single fish lost, not a single additional issue that I was ever aware of, and the red worms were eradicated. For Camallanus red worms specifically, my experience with Expel P was great.

Snapped a couple of pics from my tanks. Anubius Nana Petite. Kinda like a bush. Susswasertang. (Forgive my spelling if it’s wrong). This one reminded me of a bush, too.

Acclimating them might be “best”, but all my tanks are basically the same. Close in temp, soft water with little to no buffer, and lower pH. All tanks get the same things every week. I focus on consistency rather than chasing arbitrary numbers. Because of this, I felt confident not acclimating between tanks, and I haven’t had an issue in the 4 years I’ve had all my tanks.

I move fish all over the place, especially when I’m raising fry. I hatch in one tank, move them to another tank, and then eventually move them to the final grow out tank until they go to the LFS. I’ve never acclimated them. Just netted them out and plopped them into the next tank. Same goes for fish that are done with quarantine and going to the display tank. Just net out and plop into the display. FWIW: I’ve never had issues doing this.

Not crazy! All depends on your budget. Personally, even though I can afford 2 lights, I would probably buy one and play around with it. Then, if I decided I needed the second one I would pick it up. That’s just me, though. I’m frugal even though I don’t have to be

Add an adjustable valve to the line that had more air. Turn it down a bit, and even them out. Restricting air to the one will push more air to the other.

Should be fine. RO/DI basically leaves you with just pure water, so remineralizing, bringing it up to temp, and then doing a water change is what I would do.

The tank looks great! Sounds like you’re doing everything I would. I have 14 tanks, and honestly most of them have some sort of algae. Not to where it’s necessarily a problem, but to have 0 algae is super hard for me. The exceptions to the rule are basically my Blackwater tanks, and my 6 gallon cube. Those are basically algae free, but the other 11 have some kind of algae on something. I think there’s a difference between balanced, and completely algae free. I also think it’s going to be hard to find a ton of temps that will handle the temp for the discus. Also, time and consistency are a big part of getting to algae free. Keep things consistent, and then give it lots and lots of time. Over time, your plants will grow to a point that they out compete all the algae. And then you do a trim and algae comes back 😂

Interesting. Considering they’re a wholesaler, I’m curious what that’s going to look like. Will it be multiple pots/bunches? Will they be converted? Only time will tell!

Ditch the cartridge, and replace with a coarse sponge. You’ll never have to replace that sponge (or, maybe in like 10 years you’ll start to think about replacing the sponge). Add Poly-Fil for water polishing if you’d like.

With the fish all being that small, I would use the 10. If something does show up and you need to treat, no need to use twice as many meds.

Any cyanoacrylate (super glue GEL) would be aquarium safe and should do the trick.

Glad you enjoyed the 150. For the compact size, the noise level, price point, and performance I really enjoy those bad boys. If one ever goes out maybe I’ll have to try the 10w you got!

I’m no Betta expert either, but I don’t see an ovipositor. Keep an eye out for that as the fish develops and that will tell you everything you need to know. If it ends up being male, just change the name to Iggy, like Iggy Pop

Agreed that if you let the Cory’s grow out and then get a juvenile EBA you should be good. Cory’s do take a while to grow out like you mentioned, but patience is a virtue, and it’ll all be worth it. Over the lifetime of the tank you’ll forget all about having to wait to grow out the Cory’s

Word. While I can’t say for sure that the ammonia is coming from the dirt, I think it’s a good possibility. With enough patience, the bacteria colony should eventually grow to handle what’s coming from the substrate. Just takes time. If you’re set on redoing the dirt I would definitely recommend removing anything you can out of it. I used a fine mesh screen on mine to be left with just dirt. I would also recommend using only a 1/4” of dirt. I did that in my cube, and 2.5 years later that tank is going super strong.

Have you tested your tap water for ammonia? Are you only seeing ammonia after a water change, or all the time?

You can post the video to YouTube, and then post the YouTube link.

Or, you’re just experimenting with the next best thing!

Mostly a myth. I run sponges on all my tanks (now with the easy flow kits) including the 3 tanks I run CO2 on. I personally would run both. Here’s the drop checker on my Pea Puffer tank. This tank has a medium sponge filter with an easy flow kit, an internal filter with a spray bar, and CO2 at just over 2 bubbles per second on a 29 gallon tank. Obviously getting a drop in pH on the checker with air running in the tank.

Just going for extra fast drainage on water changes!

It might seem counter intuitive, but I would up your nitrates with fertilizer to 20ppm at least, and consider root tabs for the plants that prefer to eat from the substrate rather than the water column.