PonyPlantedTanks

Wow, you had quite the day! Get some good sleep tonight! And I’m so sorry for your loss of all those embers. I’ve never kept them but they look like super cute little guys. Your thought of the ammonia/ammonium buildup sounds quite reasonable - I think I’ve heard that before (and that’s why a lot of people shy away from drip acclimation). I don’t have enough experience to really put in my 2 cents, but I’m just so sorry 😞

Basically, the seeds aren’t meant to live underwater. They’ll grow since you’re doing a dry start it seems, but after a while of being underwater they’ll start to all die off. It’s an unfortunate thing because they look great for a while but are basically a scam in this hobby 😞

I have a 10g betta tank so thr bioload is basically nothing in there lol. I do have to keep on top of root tabs and fertilizers but it works out. Stem plants generally don’t need a ton of root tabs, just good water column fertilizer (Easy Green). I think you could totally make it work! Plus, more healthy plants = less algae Dosing a little easy green won’t cause an algae breakout. As long as you don’t go to town on overdosing it like crazy you shouldn’t see any algae 🙂

Good plan!

I wouldn’t necessarily believe that iron deficiency is the issue here. (Although since you are running CO2 you’ll likely have better success with it). If the plants are new they’re going to melt back as they convert to living underwater and their new tank. An excess of iron can lead to a lot of algae (especially hair algae which is an absolute pain to get rid of). So I would just be careful to not dose more than you need and watch for algae. Tank looks great though! 🙂

I would hang them outside the tank. I suppose you could do it inside the tank as well but I think adding water from the tank will help them come to temperature anwyays. Keep us posted on how this goes! Hoping for 10 fat and sassy little chilis🤞

From the pictures it doesn’t look like enough algae for me to be concerned. As long as it isn’t prohibiting plant growth, I’d say your algae eaters will take care of it before too long. And if any plants get covered in algae, just snip them off so the plant can focus on growing new leaves!

I don’t have experience with chili’s (although they are #1 on my bucket list) but the advice given above sounds solid. Another method I’ve seen people use is to pour all of the fish (including the water from their bags) into a catch cup. Since you have two it may be easiest to split 5 chilis into each container. Then you just add a little water from the tank they're going in into the catch cup. Wait 15-20 min and add a little more. Then repeat until there are equal amounts of bag water and new tank water. It’s basically a simple version of drip acclimating (which I have sometimes heard can end badly but I’m unsure what to think). If I was receiving chilis today that’s probably what I would do. But I have heard fabulous things about Dans so I would expect your chilis to be fat and healthy!

I’m a hermit on prime day. If you need me I’ll be at the computer. Give me alllllll the deals!😂😂 It’s looking amazing! You are a trooper for doing all of that. Moving that many tanks down stairs sounds like a lot of work! But I’m sure it will be well worth it in the end 🙂

I believe nerites to outcompete mystery’s in the algae eating department. Mystery’s are more interested in dead plant leaves and leftover food from other fish. But they also get bigger and seem to have more personality compared to the nerites. Just depends on what is most important to you in a snail, lolz.

Exciting times for you! I believe that luminatus and gertrudae have pretty but the exact same care requirements so it’s really up to your personal preference in that department 🙂 Personally I would pick luminatus, just because I feel like they have more color compared to the gertrudae? You could probably add a group of Corydoras to dwell on the bottom, or something else like kuhli loaches or hillstream loaches! Then I would pick a centerpiece fish. I haven’t kept any that you mentioned, so I’ll let others pitch in here on if they’re compatible. But from my little knowledge I believe any of those would do alright. I think you’ve got a great stocking list going! Best of luck!

I’d first trim off the dead leaves on your Anubias so it can focus on growing new leaves rather than trying to save dead leaves. Just remember this is a new tank - it takes time to balance itself out and get established. Don’t worry too much!

So weird. Especially since it’s not like the amount on nitrate you have is undetectable. I can see if it’s at like 1-5ppm and the test strip can’t pick it up when the liquid test can. But 10-20ppm? Weird that it doesn’t show on the strip!

I’m in the same boat with nearly everything you said - mostly about it being so dang annoying! Usually I don’t have a problem with the strips versus liquid kit when testing ammonia and nitrite. I stick with the liquid test kit to do those because it definitely seems more accurate and is easier to read. Nitrate, however, has caused me so much trouble. On this Co Op strip Nitrate seems to be right around 25 (looks that way in person, at least). When I go to test with the liquid API kit, I get this: Like, what the heck??!? In person it seems impossible to tell if it’s 40 or 80. I’m assuming it’s 40 because this tank gets dosed Easy Green 3x dose once a week, sometimes twice, but with a crap ton of floating plants. I also get this when checking pH - doesn’t match up with the test strip at all. The two things that do seem to match up on the strip and the liquid kit are my GH (20ppm - yes, I’ve been slacking on dosing Equilibrium) and KH (140ish ppm). Basically, I’ve got super soft water with super high pH which doesn’t really make sense to me, but I’m not very good with science. I thought usually high pH = high GH and vice versa, but maybe that’s not always the case. At this point I kinda just go along my merry way water changing once a week and dosing with the strips to make sure anything isn’t completely off, same as you. I’ve kinda just decided, hey - it’s an ecosystem. I dose the fertilizer and put the light on a timer - nature takes care of the rest. If plants are dying or anything is crazy out of whack, then I evaluate. Doesn’t make testing water any less annoying! I apologize for the long response… that didn’t need to be that long, lol

Why do they remind me of a guppy version of an Agassizii Apisto??😂😂 So fun!

I personally think it is. 6 panda Cory’s shouldn’t add too much bio load so just test for ammonia and nitrite daily, doing water changes as needed. I would do a big water change before you actually put the pandas in. Just to make sure you’re at 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. 🙂 And your new plants will help! Plant jungles for the win!

Something I like to do is go to a website that sells a lot of fish (such as Dans Fish or AquaHuna or AquaticArts) and look at their list of schooling fish. Gives you lots of ideas!

Chili Rasboras or other similar boraras species are super cool and stay TIIIINY! Clown killifish are also super cool but they’re jumpers - if you can cover the gaps on your lid they would do quite well.

Sounds like you’re doing everything right! If you take out the sponge filter and keep it in some water while you drain the tank and put sand in (I’m assuming) then you should be able to just plop the sponge filter back in and let it sit for a week or so. But the bioload of a betta is so small you shouldn’t have any water quality issues. Best of luck 🙂 You could toss in some floating plants, if you have any! My betta loves hanging out at the top in the roots of them!

Fair enough😂thank you!

I love the idea of a guppy pond! They will be so happy out there. If you plan on moving the guppies to the pond, are you going to put anything different in the 5g?

One thing I just thought about - is it important for water to be moving through the sponge while it’s sitting in an established tank getting seeded with BB? Aka, does the sponge filter need to be running with an air pump attached or will it still get seeded effectively by just sitting on the gravel?

@beastie that is absolutely nasty. Excuse me while I go gag in the corner. Just kidding😂 but you seem to have all your tanks spread out in the most convenient places! Sounds like a great layout to me😉

I agree with what’s been said that adding live plants from the beginning is the way to go! However in my experience adding fish food as a source of ammonia is a very tedious process. I found that I had to add a ridiculous amount of fish food to even be able to measure ammonia. Do you have a local fish club or local fish store that can give you some filter media from an established tank? That is definitely the quickest and easiest way to start a cycle. If not, I would opt for bottled ammonia versus fish food. With the cycled filter media, you boost the tank with tons of beneficial bacteria which makes it easier to add a couple fish right away. Then you can just feed lightly and keep testing water, and doing water changes whenever you see fit. 🙂

That’s literally my dream tank. Chilis have been on my bucket list ever since day one of this hobby!