RennjiDK

An airstone is not required to provide adequate gas exchange, and most people do not use them. The filter alone will provide enough breaking of the surface tension to allow off gassing of Co2.

Caribsea special grade is the largest grain size you can find in sand.

Turning the air pump off will drastically reduce ph. The reason it is high is most likely due to the amount of gas exchange in the tank. Turn it off for 24 hours and test ph again. It's my guess that you will be pleasantly surprised. 😀

There's a bunch of captive bred ones sold online now. I try to avoid wild caught fish as well, whenever possible.

The otos were chosen specifically for algae clean up. Would a single SAE perform this task better?

Thanks for the advice. I'm not a fan of "center piece" fish, as I feel like they through off the sense of scape. I'm a big fan of single species, small shoaling/schooling fish. I will be adding more to this thread in the near future. My next step is building the aio corner sump.

HARD. TDS are around 650 and PH 7.4-7.6. I was thinking of a big group of neon tetras (25-30) and then 6-8 otos plus shrimp.

TDS on it's own doesn't mean anything, it's just the amount of dissolved solids in the sample water. A lot of the US has high TDS because it sits on a massive limestone deposit. This in and of itself isn't problematic. Now if you had say 200 TDS and 199 of those were copper, you're going to have a bad time. Either way, his source water isn't the issue. He's mixing alkalinity, magnesium, and calcium supplements into his source water, mistaking them for only "trace elements".

Salt mix supplements other parameters besides "salt" (NaCl). You're dKH, Mag, and Cal are now through the roof, far outside anything a FW plant would ever encounter. Great for a stony skeletal corals, not so much for plants. This is why your tank is crashing. You've induced a massive alkalinity swing, which at the very least, is enough to make most plants melt.

It is possible you're stuck, but more likely that your testing method is faulty. How old are your reagents (they do expire)? What is your source water nutrient level (test it)? What is your NH3/4 source? Bottled bacteria are sensitive to storage conditions. You said it was expired, and the UK just had a record heat wave. It's not a stretch to believe that the bottle sat in a warehouse/truck and cooked before you took possession. Not to mention the stabilizers added to the bottles to make them go dormant (which is why they expire in the first place). I'd purchase a fresh bottle for good measure, wait a day or two, and consider yourself cycled. The amount of acid as a limiting factor to prevent nitrification would be hard pressed to replicate outside of a sealed gallon of distilled/deionized water.

You cannot break the reproductive cycle of nitrifying bacteria due to lack of nutrients, except for several years in a sterile environment. They will feed off of the decomposition of other dead bacteria and continue to reproduce until they go dormant. As far as an adequate bioload for your planted tank, I cannot comment, as it's beyond my knowledge.

As long as it's fine enough to hold it, I don't. I buy media bags in bulk from Amazon for all my systems. Just look for something labeled "ultra fine" and search the reviews/q&a for purigen specifically, then match the physical size needed.

NH3/4 will always be present in our aquariums. Depending on the testing method and its accuracy, I would WC at anything over 0.125.

This is correct I buy in bulk and just toss it every 6 months. A $25 container from Amazon will last you a couple of years when measured correctly, unless you have a massive tank.

If you want to actually test ph, you'll need actual ph testing equipment. I'd recommend a Hanna Checker (not the pen). ph is primarily affected by the amount of dissolved Co2 present in the water, not substrate though it can add some buffering potential. If you really want to increase ph, run an airline from an outside air source and diffuse it into your tank.

I tried to shop around for a decently sized low iron rimless tank. Everything I could find under $800 was in the 24", 12-20 gallon range. I have my old IM Nuvo 30l reef tank which I've been trying to sell forever and decided to just go with it. The dimensions are great, but as an AIO, It's only 9" deep, so out come the razor blades. Cutting out this false wall and half wall was the majority of the work. These parts were very seriously sealed in. I broke several utility knives trying to get through all the silicone. The baffles were much easier, as they were basically free floating on the back wall afterwards. A few scores and some generous thrashing got them free. Here's what I'm left with, a 36"x15"x13" low iron rimless for about $300 ($450 retail). I still have a good bit of clean up and painting to do (see the refugium light cutout in the back coating). I'll be updating this thread regularly as the build progresses, if you'd like to follow along. In the next few weeks, I'm building a solid pine dresser/bedroom stand, setting up a diy Co2 system using commercial welding equipment, and may or may not be adding a custom acrylic corner sump. As for right now, I'd love some stocking ideas. I want to do a single species schooling/shoaling tank with some ottos and shrimp for clean up. The original tank from the thumbnail

I was thinking 3 at first but didn't want to over stock. I'd be more than happy to have a 3rd.

As much as I like spooky noodles and cory gangs, I would end up having to spot feed them daily as my betta consumes all the food before it hits the bottom, so I was looking for herbivores. I wouldn't mind just dropping in a hikari wafer every now and again to supplement.

I was thinking about a couple Otos and Mollies (maybe 2 of each), 4-5 Amanos, 20 Neocaridina, and maybe a single Japanese trapdoor. Would this be a good stock for a 15g?

Sorry, I didn't realize that wasn't a common abbreviation in fresh. "Clean up Crew." Your utility inverts and fish.

I've kept a few, but I'm not big on FW snails because of.......the eggs 😱

Any Cuc suggestions for a 15, besides shrimp and snails? Any Cuc suggestions for a 15, besides shrimp and snails?

Could I do anything other than shrimp in that size? My betta does not bother them, FYI.

The display window volume is 35x9x13. The sump is not included.

Tank display is 35"L x 9"W x 13"H. With such a long area to work with, and not very much depth or height available, which style of aquascape do you think would work best aesthetically?