Scaperoot

We currently have a tank with diamond blasting sand, one with pool filter sand, two with eco complete, and one with aqua soil. The one that has thrived the most, incredibly, is the one with the pool filter sand. I set it up with various stem plants, as well as Anubias and Buce. The only reason Kant that didn’t do well was Hygrophila Pinnatifida. Everything else is thriving. The tank with black diamond sand is doing well, except for the back wall of Ambulia, but I think it’s the strong flow that’s hurting those plants. Otherwise, crypts and other stem plants are doing well. I have a hate/hate relationship with the Eco complete. My hands are too big to properly set up stem plants in there, so I often ended up snapping stems in my efforts to plant. My wife helps me get those in now lol. I also don’t like the look once the mulm really settles. My favorite look is the black sand with the green contrast from plants and other colors from the fish. I’m not sure why the white cloud island tank with pool filter sand is doing so well in comparison to the rest. Might be because it’s the one I set up for my wife and planned the longest. I have root tabs in both sand substrates, and I dose easy green. I’m going to be rescaping two of the tanks, and can’t decide whether to go with the black diamond or pool filter. Not sure my wife wants me to copy hers lol. …third and fourth pics are eco complete.

I got scolded on Reddit for asking this question. I was told NOT to raise the temp on my Minnows, because they need to stay in colder water. Our female Betta shares a 20 long with Golden Minnows and CPDs, at 76 °F with no issues.

Sounds like a plan. Thank you🙏

I forgot to ask about water temp. There's no heater in this tank. I can add one, but would that be a problem for the fish that have been in there for months at a lower (72*) temp? The guppies are all males.

Has anyone had success adding a male Betta to a stocked community tank? We have a 20 long with white cloud minnows, 4 Julii Corydoras, and 4 yellow/orange guppies. I was able to introduce a female to a group of 10 CPDs in a different tank, but I'm wondering if a male could adapt as well.

This is how his tap tested. By the time I read the recent replies, he had done a 50% water change. This is how the tank is testing now.

It turns out that my FIL had not done a water change in 2 months. Aside from that, does he need to physically remove this from plants and decorations? Should we consider using Excel?

Can anyone identify this substance on these plants and decoration? This is my FIL’s tank. He just started adding real plants in November. Nitrates are high (pic posted). He’s not overfeeding from what I can tell.

We have several (at least 3) LFS within a 20 minute drive, in addition to two fish farms Cory has been to (Summerland and Neighborhood Fish Farms). I get most of my fish from the fish farms. I try to support the LFS when I can, so I'll drop in to check out their plants and frozen foods. I still end up getting most of my plants from ACO and APF, online. I try to only go to the big box stores for their $1 per gallon sales.

I've been told, on separate occasions, and at two different LFS, NOT to treat new fish with any meds. They claim that the fish will develop a resistance to those meds and would prevent the treatment from working properly in the future. I know ACO's med trio regimen, but I want to know where they get this from. How much would you need to treat for fish to develop a resistance to it? I wouldn't give it much thought, except for the fact that I was told this by different people. Ironically (sadly), I no longer but fish from one of these stores because none of the fish (Betta, pea puffers, guppies) have survived.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I got a few plants from ACO and some from APF. The fish have already dug them up a few times so I added weights. Hoping they’ll be able to develop strong roots.

Thanks for the suggestions. Not sure when I'll be able to buy a better light, but I'll try Crypts. I forgot to mention that I also use root tabs.

I'm using a Hygger 20W full spectrum light. Substrate is black blasting sand, and tank is low tech. I dose Easy green weekly.

I’m hoping to get some recommendations on plants that would look and do well in middle, open area of our 40 breeder (pictured). I’ve never had much success with things like Monte Carlo or Staurogyne Repens. I don’t want anything that would grow tall either. The only thing I can think of is dwarf hair grass.

This is something I have doubts about, since you get different advice from different sources. Many will say you should change water weekly. Others say once a month. You see videos like the one with the owner of Ocean Aquarium, where the tanks are thriving with little to no maintenance, in contrast to much of the popular approach. I try to focus on what works best for my tanks, but when something goes wrong I come back to this. Ironically, I was going to post a pic of our 'neglected' tank. It's a 10 gallon, which was meant to be a grow tank for plants. I've set it up with a sponge filter, but I've never done a water change. It's about 3 months old. It has some wood, a coconut shell with moss, some small stones, duck weed, and various stem plants. There's one mystery snail, bladder snails, assassin snails, and a handful of cherry shrimp. The plants are totally thriving, and the duckweed covers the top layer completely. Even the hygrophila pinnatifida is going strong, even though it died in 2 other well maintained tanks. Aside from giving the shrimp and snails some food every few days, I'm completely hands off with this one. It's not pretty to look at, but the plants couldn't be happier. This makes me wonder whether I'm doing too much in my other tanks.

I found the video. It's a quick question/answer he addresses at 38:17. He says "stop changing so much water and then dosing easy green." I change water on our tanks each week, about 15-20%. Plants seem to be doing well, but our nitrates are always low when I test during the week. I'm wondering if that's something that would cause a problem down the line. Most of my plants are doing well with a few exceptions.

This morning I was listening to a stream Cory did about a year ago, and someone asked about dosing easy green and water changes. @Cory said that if you dose Easy green after a water change, you're working against yourself. He didn't elaborate, and I'm really hoping to understand what he may have meant. I thought dosing fertilizer after a water change would be the best time, from my limited experience. Does anyone know why this would be the case? My thinking is, if I dose fertilizer a few days before a water change, I'm only giving the plants a few days of food. What am I missing? This was the Spotify episode entitled 'Does a dirty filter mean bad water quality? February 2, 2022.

1. Goldfish. My wife and I had 5 in a 40 breeder. We eventually gave them away to one of her coworkers who had a 75 gallon tank. 2. I put together a 20 long island-themed tank for my wife a couple months ago. I'm very proud of the way it turned out. It was my first time working with pool filter sand. I love the collection of fish we chose; 15 white cloud minnows from Aquahuna, 5 fancy guppies, and 4 Julii Corydoras. The plants and fish are thriving. 3. I watch and listen to Cory's streams every day, and I got tired of the indifference I found with what I posted on Reddit. I'm new to the hobby, and live 2 hours from the nearest club, so I wanted some sense of community. It's been great! 4. Something I do is always ask for help, opinions, recommendations. To anyone starting out, ask all your questions, don't wait for things to go wrong. 5. I wish I had more examples of the plants I love thriving in different low tech setups. I've lost so many plants since starting out. 6. Dark Knight, our common Pleco. We had him for about a year, but one morning my wife found him on the floor near the tank. I still kick myself over that for not being invested enough in caring for that tank at the time. 7. I do weekly water changes, 15-20%, depending on which tank it is. 8. Not sure I can say better, but our 40 breeder is much more forgiving than our 10s and 20s. It's definitely more stable. 9. The last time was a few weeks ago, when I rescaped the 40 by adding 50 lbs of blasting sand, new wood, and switched out plastic plants for live ones. I just stared to make sure the fish were ok. 10. Favorite food is a toss up between frozen baby brine, and Xtreme krill flakes. They go NUTS for those flakes lol.

I've been listening to quite a few of Cory's older podcasts, and there's been a few times when someone asks about downsizing, or burnout. His advice of simplifying things made me think of one of my tanks, a 20 long where I keep a female Betta, golden minnows, and cpds. I have a love/hate relationship with this tank. I love it because it was the first scape I truly planned out and took my time putting together, from the substrate, to the driftwood, and full layout. I decided to use Eco complete on this tank. At the time I thought it would be perfect for growing plants while providing the dark contrast to the fish and plants. I've added 2 images; the initial setup with a Red tiger lotus as the featured plant, and a second scape with my favorite plant (at the time) Hygrophila Pinnatifida and Ambulia. With the first scape, everything looked great for about 6 weeks. At the time, I was using Leafzone weekly. I had Rotala, Staurogyne repens, cardinal plants, anubias, and Java moss on the wood. Only the anubias and cardinal plants survived. Everything else died, including the beautiful Lotus. Around that time, I set up an island themed tank for my wife, using pool filter sand. Everything I've planted there (with root tabs) is thriving, except for the Hygrophila. I have three other planted tanks which are thriving. But my 20...it's become a thorn in my side tbh. Last week, I lost 3 Anubias there. I only started adding Easy Green in that tank in December. The moss on the wood is mostly brown. I battled BBA for months, until I added frogbit and became more proactive about catching it early. I don't want to use eco complete ever again. I've had such a hard time with stem plants. The substrate is so hard, and the tank is so shallow, that I have now gone away from fast growing stem plants. I have Anubias on wood, and a couple windelov ferns on the right side. The left holds the driftwood, and various anubias and cardinal plants. I'm trying to decide whether to keep the tank as is, while not enjoying it much, or move the fish to our grow tank and starting over. I would use sand this time, and remove the media bags I have in there for depth. That was a mistake I made. I wanted depth, so I added several media bags with lava rock under the driftwood on the left, and ran it across the back of the tank all the way to the right. It left me with very little room for stem plants to grow. I'm just wondering if it's worth the stress to the fish to move them. Has anyone done a total rescape and NOT regret it? Any tips on growing Hygrophila Pinnatifida would also be appreciated:)

I would say, find someone (locally, preferably) who can guide you. I had someone on Reddit (of all places lol) offer to guide me along and it made such a huge difference. I'd ask tons of questions and he was very patient. I didn't know about this forum back then, and my interactions on Reddit were not very encouraging, apart from this one individual. The nearest local club is 2 hours away, so I was leaning on this person for weeks. I hope some day I can be that for someone else. I try to find posts on Reddit where someone isn't getting any replies and I try to encourage them. One positive insight can make all the difference. I would add, don't compare yourself to others, especially on social media. There are so many people posting these immaculate looking tanks on IG, who never post their failures or show what Algae has done to their systems. Enjoy your tanks for what they are, as you slowly learn more and more as you go.

I was really looking forward to going to Aquashella in Orlando next month, but it seems like things didn't work out for that venue. November seems so far away🙁 At least it will still be in Florida.

Hi everyone. Just wanted to post an update. The water has finally cleared up. I’m definitely glad I made the change. I’m keeping a few plastic plants for the LOTR ‘look’, but I’m very happy with how the live plants are doing. Our Pictus finally settled in and is behaving normally again.

Doing well! Still trying to figure out how to avoid overfeeding. She shares the tank with CPDs and golden minnows. I tried distracting her on one side of the tank while I fed the others, but she didn't fall for it lol. I do believe the Daphnia helped her get over some constipation. I appreciate everyone's input:)

Just wanted to post an update. I’ve given her Daphnia for a few days. She fasted yesterday. I’m seeing a difference in her size. Her behavior is still normal. My wife noticed a white spot on her belly/underside. I noticed what seemed to be a bubble nest a couple days ago, but it was pretty close to the filter and didn’t last. Is it possible she’s carrying eggs in a grabid state?

Hi @Any Huit Sorry to hear about your Betta. 2 days ago, I thought our issue was overfeeding. Now I'm wondering if it's as bad as has been suggested. I'm holding out hope that it's constipation, since I can't remember the last time I saw her poop. I bought Daphnia yesterday after work and began feeding her some last night. Her behavior is perfectly normal so far. I hope we can each see our fish improve in the coming days. Keep us posted.