EricksonAquatics

The co op algae sponges have always gotten stubborn GSA off my glass. Just put in a little elbow grease and you’re good to go, and you know they won’t scratch your tank 🙂

I’ve always been curious about dirted tanks, but I’m definitely too scared to try it😂 The convenience of never having to plug in root tabs sounds reeeeeeal nice, but eventually you’d have to redo the entire tank which I don’t love. The thing that I don’t like the most is the thought of disturbing the dirt whenever I try to stick plants in it or uproot anything. Releasing that into the water column is not a nice thought for me😂 If I was going to do it, I’d do it in a nano tank and I’d probably use Fluval stratum (versus actual soil) and cap it with gravel. That’s the other problem, I feel like people like to cap theirs with sand to hold it in better, but personally I don’t like using sand. I think I’m just paranoid, but for me I’m fine to plug in root tabs every once in a while and target feed my heavy root feeders lol. Maybe someday I’ll try a dirted nano scape!

I’m pretty sure that just means you have high pH and hard water. I remember Cory mentioning in a video that if the GH reading was purpley pink like that it just means you’ve got hard water! If you followed the directions on the back she checked it at 1 min that should be the most accurate result you’re going to get 🙂 I haven’t seen that KH reading before but it also looks like you just have really high KH as well.

I’m smitten with these guys! My very first club auction I went to there was a bag of these and I don’t know why, but they were so interesting to me. I’m a sucker for more rare-type livebearers. Someday I for sure want to keep these guys!

@Ryan1988Just curious what your stocking is? I’m wondering what that schooling fish in the pictures is. I recognize the Acara in the back😍

That is awesome that you’re trying to upgrade your new Bettas tank! Good for you! Some more plant suggestions would be floating plants. Something like dwarf water lettuce, Amazon frog bit, or guppy grass all can grow floating at the top and Bettas tend to love hanging out in their roots. like @FLFishChiksaid I would recommend getting a bottle of Fritz Zyme 7. It’s a bottle of beneficial bacteria that will kickstart your cycle and help it get going faster! For tank mates I would also agree and start with a mystery or nerite snail. Nerites are great little algae eaters and bettas usually don’t bother them. Shrimp can be super fun but depending on the betta, they can pretty easily become an expensive snack😂so be cautious with that. One last tip to keep your betta healthy would be to have a variety of foods🙂 A staple pellet like Xtreme Betta pellets are great along with the addition of some other foods (such as Fluval bug bites, Hikari vibra bites, frozen or freeze dried bloodworms, etc). It looks like you are taking this seriously so kudos to you! Have fun with your new friend!

If your budget can allow it, the co op light truly lives up to the hype. You’ll pretty much have it forever and it’s grown everything I throw in the tank! Adjustable and fits a variety of tanks if you ever wish to upgrade or something. 🙂

The Aqueon pellets are a little on the bigger side for betta pellets, so it could just be a preference issue. Some bettas will snarf down anything, some are picky. If he continues to not eat, you could try a new kind of pellet (I like Xtreme Betta Pellets, they’re fairly small and bettas seem to love them)!

I wonder if this is my problem. I feel like I’m doing it pretty accurately but it must not be for the readings to be sooo off from the test strips. The strips may not be precise but I feel like they’re closer to the truth than the api kit may be at the moment😂

A little hard to tell what the ones in the back are. The ones in the front look like dwarf Sagittaria or dwarf chain sword. Could you get a closer picture?

That would make sense. The API test obviously seems more precise I just can’t believe there’s such a huge difference lol. Would the API test be reading high for some reason or is the test likely accurate? Now I feel like I can’t use the test strips😂the stress! Haha

I still can’t figure this out. I’ve recently been using the test strips to test water because it’s so much quicker and more convenient. But today I decided to pull out the liquid kit to test nitrate. Test strips said nitrate was nearly 0 (take note this was right after a water change) and what the heck, the API kit says nitrate is anywhere between 40-80. Like everyone suggested, I followed that thing to the best of my abilities shook the poo out of bottle #2. To me it’s just confusing bc the first time I did this (at the top of this thread) the co op strips were reading way higher than the test kit, and now I’ve got the opposite readings going on. And I don’t know how on earth my nitrate could be 40-80 after a 20% water change. I hadn’t dosed any ferts or anything, and this tanks bioload is extremely small (one betta and one nerite). I guess it’s possible, but how, I have no idea. I’m still not sure which test to trust! Ugh! here’s a picture of the tank so you can see what we’re dealing with. It’s got Anubias, an amazon sword, crypts, Val in the back, and a few straggling dwarf water lettuce floating on the top (and one dying stem of Pogo Stellatus that we don’t talk about😂)

Great idea. I’ve seen people do this and it works quite well bc most floaters don’t like to be blown around or splashed by the filter!

Mollies aren’t any more aggressive than platys, just a tad larger. You’ll see the same sparring between males for a female as you would with your platys 🙂

They are such darling little things😍 If I had the time to feed frozen every day I would have a pea puffer tank in a heartbeat!