PonyPlantedTanks

I would trust the drops to be more accurate for sure, especially if the nitrites are at that low of a level. But I don’t know wether or not to trust them for nitrates bc my drop test always reads at least twice as high as my strips (and I’m quite sure my nitrates aren’t at 80ppm). But @j2Raptor still definitely do a couple extra water changes and add prime as an extra precaution, as @Tony ssaid 🙂

I would just give them time. If they don’t smell, they’re still kicking. After a week or so they should be back at it, doing all the snail things😉 Also, mine goes up to the waterline all the time. He sometimes likes to hang up out of the water, too. If you have a lid with no gaps in it, they won’t escape. Best if you don’t touch them!

Did you check to make sure they were really dead? A lot of times snails almost “hibernate” when added to a new tank. You can easily tell if they’re dead by picking them up and smelling them. If they smell nasty, they’re gone. If they don’t have a smell, they’re just taking a long nap!😂

@ScaperGirlwhat are you feeding those white clouds?! They look stunning! Their colors are amazing!

I don’t think that’s a bad thing necessarily! Could be really fun to have all the photos brought to you by forum members.

My nerite is the only thing that was able to get GSA off my Anubias leaves and he did a dang good job of it!

If you want minnows, I’d probably set up at least a 10g for them. Pretty active fish that appreciate more room to zoom. I really like Chili Rasboras for a tank like this one! They’re so tiny but have tons of bright color!

I’ve heard good things about the Aquatop Forza I think it’s called. Very affordable and adjustable output so your betta doesn’t get blown around the tank! Or you could always try a sponge filter if you’re interested 🙂 I have the co op sponge in my betta tank and it’s been fabulous!

Exactly! Just moving up in tank sizes and trying to decide what ‘footprint’ is best for someone who’s never owned anything except a 10g😂 The ‘bigger the better’ approach definitely makes sense, but I also wanted input from you guys because I feel like it could be a huge learning curve jumping straight into huge tanks. That’s why I’m starting with nothing more than 40g bc I think it will give me time to figure out how all the things work.

Sorry, what I meant to say is I would put the new filter that you got for your 20g and put it in your 10. Usually I do that well before I get the tank so it has time to seed up nicely. Then move that filter to the 20 so it has all the good BB in it. Definitely don’t take out the only cartridge you have for the 10g 🙂 It will just make things a lot easier!

Oh believe me, it’s so easy to go down a rabbit hole in this hobby! There is so much information out there. Who knew throwing some rocks and plants in a glass square filled with water could be so complicated! Geez!

There’s probably something out there that does it, but I’d honestly just have your brother do it if he can. It’s give you the peace of mind knowing you it’s getting done right instead of having to fiddle around with a gadget😂

I wouldn’t overthink it! Bettas are so easygoing, they pretty much tolerate all the water parameters under the sun. Increasing your alkalinity isn’t necessarily going to help him - in fact bettas like low alkalinity and soft water anyways. And Easy Green should do the trick for all your plants. I add Seachem Equilibrium to my tanks but that’s only because I have soft water and snails. Not sure if it really does much to help my plants - probably, but not that huge of a difference! I would stick with what you have, keep dosing your Easy Green and don’t keep worrying about everything on the periodic table lolz😂

Looks like a great list! Just fair warning, if your Val takes off, it will take over your entire tank.😂Jungle Val is especially tall and your tank is not very tall, but it will also give it a cool effect when it grows tall enough to fold over on top of the water, if that makes sense. Most all of your plants are rhizome plants so they should do really well for you with a little bit of liquid fertilizer! The Val will want a couple root tabs but the other plants don’t use as many nutrients from the substrate. Excited for your new tank!

Sometbing that also might help would be adding a couple more fast growing plants (something like Water Sprite, Hornwort, Guppy Grass, Pogo Stellatus Octopus, and probably the best, floating plants). I’ve found that the more plants you have, the less “food” there is to go around, meaning the algae will be outcompeted and die. I had your same problem - so much hair algae. It’s a pain, but I actually increased my light and it helped a ton. If your lighting and fertilizing amount aren’t basically “matching up”, that’s when algae starts to take advantage. Id probably increase your lighting period, add more plants if at all possible, and go from there. And when you water change, try to manually remove as much of the algae as possible! Best of luck!🙂

Just sharing my experience - as you know, cycling from scratch takes several weeks. When I cycled my second tank I plopped in some old filter media (sponge) as in I literally sat it on the substrate. The tank was literally cycled in like a week. I didn’t add fish in a week but it really does speed up the process. You can still use the bottled ammonia and bacteria to help even more, of course 🙂 And you should go to your LFS and get some plants in that bad boy! That’ll also help the tank get more established and grow some algae for future inhabitants!

I think three would be your best bet. They really are murder beans… too many and you’ll have a pea battle zone😂😂

Why have I never thought of this?! That’s so smart!

Ain’t that the truth! Those dang plants over here breakin my bank!!🫡 Thank you to everyone who has given their two cents so far!

I haven’t tried anything except Pothos but it is thriving! And there’s so many different varieties of pothos out there, you could have a really cool tank with just a bunch of different pothos varieties 🙂

Looks like just regular old brown diatom algae 🙂 Diatoms rub off easily and are very common when setting up a new tank. Black beard algae is very stubborn to get off and looks very fluffy, usually in tufts. Usually they go away on their own after a little while. Algae eaters like Otocinclus, plecos and hillstream loaches love to snack on it. Diatoms pretty much always come with a newly set up tank so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just focus on getting your plants to grow and the algae will starve out and die!

Agree that snails and other inverts like shrimp really don't need to be quarantined. I honestly have never heard of any stories of them carrying diseases into tanks or passing them to fish🙂

Fair enough😆

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far. For me, it will finally be a step-up summer! Meaning I'm getting things ready to set up my second tank (and moving out of the singular betta tank world). My tank right now is a 10g. The new tank will be going in my Dad's home office, so I really want it to be a tank that's got a lot going on and is something cool to look at. We'll see how much of a scape I feel like putting together, or if I'll just let it be a jungle of plants lol. I haven't thought a whole ton about stocking, but I think I'd like to have a decent school of cardinals (my dad likes them and LFS always has them), panda corys on the bottom, and a gourami centerpiece (likely honey gourami). Ideally it would be fun to have two schools of different fish - cardinals and then something else with a little more personality, but I'm unsure on that one. My question for you is: What size tank would you recommend for someone ready to step up? These are what I'm thinking - 20 High - Open to thoughts on this one 20 Long - Can't decide if I really like the look of the length on this one or not😂 29 high - Probably the size I'm most interested in. I feel like I've heard a lot of people say this one is a tricky size, mostly because its narrow and tall. I guess it's harder to scape? But I feel like it opens up more options to have 2 schools of midwater fish. Kind of a fan, but I want to hear what you guys have to say. 40 breeder - I feel like this seems a tad much for not owning anything bigger than a 10g, but hey, what do you guys think? I'm willing to put in alllllll the maintenance so I can enjoy this bad boy to the fullest. I appreciate it, nerms!

My LFS is an RPP with the Co-Op. A couple months back I really needed some root tabs, so I kept calling them like once a week asking if they’ve gotten their shipment of easy root tabs in yet. Legit I went in so many times - I really wanted to buy from them (and also not pay for shipping lol). Anyways they did finally get them in and I stocked up needless to say! Haha and now every time I go in the store owner calls me “Root Tabs Girl” and every time I walk in he goes “you back for more root tabs? How many freaking crypts do you have?”😂😂