[Lovely day in the aquarium]

On 5/7/2023 at 10:59 AM, Guppysnail said:

That is beautiful!  This is where all the hard work you put in pays off. Congratulations 🎉 

Thank you. A lot of trial an error, I went from sponge filter, to HMF, to HOB with certain media in it. I realized my well water is just completely different and what works for some won't with me. 

Started with a 5 gallon, then 10 gallon, and my friend gave me this 14 gallon cube. Took some patience to get the algae down. 

[Brown Algae blues]

It would be helpful to share your lighting schedule, fertilizer schedule, other plants, water parameters, etc...

Also, it doesn't look that bad. Some algae is healthy. I can't name a stream, river, or pond that doesn't have algae

[Lovely day in the aquarium]

Wanted to share a lovely aquarium morning. 

Thanks to all in the forum and aquarium coop for helping me get to this point. 

 

[Co2 Diffuser Placement Importance and Corner Matten Filter Flow?]

Looks beautiful! I actually really like how you did the planting around the filter. I just received my kit today and installing it tonight. 

I bought some plastic to keep the gravel out of the way, do you think that's necessary?

[Tap water for my tank has 8.4 pH can I have cherry shrimp?]

Hi there,

I also have high pH, hovering around 8 and hard water. I successfully have one cherry shrimp, 2 died. I acclimated them very slowly using the drip method and dumping water, over the course of a few hours. Again one made it. 

[Co2 Diffuser Placement Importance and Corner Matten Filter Flow?]

On 9/29/2022 at 8:41 PM, DjangoAqua said:

Hi Matty,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my somewhat convoluted post after it started to reach the depths of the forum. 

I was not happy with the PVC pipe aesthetically and performance wise and mostly because the pearling really only occurred on the plants closer to diffuser. Along with this, I'd have to really blast the BPS to get a green drop checker or > 1.0 pH drop.

I decided to experiment by removing the PVC + airstone all together and replacing it with a combination of water pump behind the corner filter, inline atomizer, and a lily pipe (the upgrade costing about $75 all together). With this and about 1-2 bps, I am able to get the 1.0 pH drop and a green drop checker with a much stronger flow (adjustable as needed), the fine most of co2 per at the atomizer, and plants throughout the tank pearling (with the carpet showing the best improvement). I have a lone rotala behind a rock in the far corner opposite to the lily pipe and it is now pearling even while almost basically hidden. 

I keep the benefits of a corner filter for the shrimp, a somewhat improved aesthetic, and now a fully pearling tank. 

I'm sure you can picture how this looks but I'd be happy to upload a video. 

Hey there,

Just took advantage of the sale going on petco. I ordered a side matten filter for my 10 gallon and looking to do a similar setup as yours. Would you mind posting a picture of your current setup?

Thanks and I hope it's going well.