HelplessNewbie

I love this idea! I covered mine with black vinyl hose split lengthwise, but I might redo one or two as you described, @Sammy

Thanks Mmiller, this reactor is so cool! I love creative DIY stuff. Horizontal CO2 Reactor - Yugang 鱼缸 Reactor Interesting notion! Wait, so how is this different from a bell jar with current (for instance, from a powerhead) flowing past the bottom? The article mentions a way to prevent gassing fish. How can this be achieved?

I cleaned more, pulled stem and epiphyte plants out for reverse respiration soak at least twice, reduced my lighting time, fertilized more regularly and floated a lot of hornwort, making sure some if it shaded some of the affected areas. I also just decided there is always going to be some, so just trim affected plant portions and replant. I know my 9 month old tank is still seeking balance, so, I waited 2 weeks each change. I will have to try spot treatment with hydrogen peroxide sometime.

Guppy grass stays suspended in midwater for me, not like hornwort which stays afloat. It certainly doesn't shed but, in my tanks, algae attacks it more than hornwort. Dwarf sag took 6 months in my low-tech, low light tank . It died back but eventually returned. I do feed with root tabs. My pennywort likes to eventually uproot itself, floating to surface. I might give in soon. Pearlweed didn't survive the low lights of my tanks. I knew the requirements beforehand but wanted to see if it could make it anyway. I understand that red tiger lotus may be similar to dwarf aquarium lily. My lotus did well with root tabs, in spite of low lights.

Our 20 gal long is in the bedroom. Because I am often bedridden, it made the most sense to have it near me. We have a lid and quieted down the sponge filter and air pump. Additionally, we use a mini water pump in a jar as an additional diy filter. That one makes no noise. The tank is at the perfect height for me to view it from my bed; not so good for visitors standing.

Oh, I would love to see a picture or video. I hope this will be in a topic I can search.

Oh, duh, why did I have to complicate things by making a bottle trap?

I got these two tricks from someone else's topic (sorry can't remember whose): how to feed freeze dried foods to bottom dwellers. These foods tend to float directly to the water surface, so I put them in a weighted upside down cone feeder with a string, or in a diy trap from a water bottle. The trap is the kind with the top half inverted, then fitted into the bottom half. The bottom half has a hole and the space between them is where you place the food. Fish enter through the funnel and eat the food, then exit through the bottom half's hole. I perforated with small holes to allow the trap to sink better. Plug the bottom half's hole and it converts to a trap.

My next tank, if hubby will allow, will be a shallower one. I thought I was average height but apparently my arms are still too short to reach in this tank. I have some long tools, but sometimes one just wants to get in there with good old "digital" tools.

Thank you, @Lennie

These 3 are temporarily in this tank for sexing. None of them have prominent breeding tubes, so, I cannot tell what they are. Can someone help? Based on the tail streamers, I think they are all male. https://photos.app.goo.gl/iBicq5d8FefamSgg7

Can you PM me, if interested in shipping it 5o me in Georgia?

I do like the diy and problem solving aspect of keeping aquariums. Here are some detailed photos of the "black vinyl tubing" project. - side view of "sleeve" that partially covers ugf uplift pipe on left, and of feeding tube on right (both made of black vinyl tubing): - front view: - top view showing the feeding tube protruding past the tank rim: We learned from this forum that red tiger lotus roots tend to take over the substrate, so we potted ours in a recycled seltzer water bottle bottom: The Bolivian ram seem to be settling in now and have been sorting out territorial disputes with some lip locking. This piece of real estate seems to be a hotly contested spot: Here's the tank this morning with wisteria being floated. The yellowed anacharis in the front left corner melted away and any leftovers eaten. The middle third is a demilitarized zone for the Bolivian ram. I noticed the fish gasping for breath the day after I doubled the plant volume and at the ugf: replaced one air pump with a water pump, so I threw in my diy sponge filter (all black) and hid it with java ferns in the left rear. Fish were all happy after that. Phew!

Thanks for the encouragement! I didn't know how complicated things could get in this hobby. The plants are a challenge for me.

If it helps, I watched a video where a turkey baster was used to stir up detritus in the vicinity while vacuuming. I imagine this makes it easier to clean up the tight spaces. Not sure we would be able to do this on our tanks, since two hands are already occupied: one to direct the vacuum, and the other to pinch the hose when pausing the vacuum.

I just realized we could use black zip ties (instead of stainless steel wire) to attach the feeding tubes alongside the undergravel uplift tubes. Waiting on that delivery now. Waiting to add 2 more Bolivian ram to the tank.

Doubled the plant volume. Scared the Bolivian rams with all the planting. Stuck the yellowed (due to weeks delayed shipping) anacharis in the left front corner, even if it is likely these will melt away. All plants underwent reverse respiration/seltzer soak. Also covered the uplifts with diy sleeves made from black vinyl tubing that was split lengthwise, to disguise the biofilm and the white collar. Also added same black tubes for sneaky-feeding of bottom-feeders. Waiting on black-coated stainless steel wire to attach them straight (currently curved from coiling). Added peat granules in a media bag to the output of one of the uplift's minipump; the big coral is sending kh of my soft tap water too high. Added black sand on left corner, to give the other unmated Bolivian ram a refuge.

@ohwhen Yes, I do! I am counting on the bladder snails and amano shrimp to clean up. The mystery snail is too big to enter.

This is very elegant looking. Nice work! I don't have frogs but bottom feeder fish that get outraced to the food. My plan is similar: to install 4 black pipes spaced evenly along the back wall of the tank. The top ends will be just at the rim of the tank. Will go with black so the other fish won't see the food falling through. I tried clear pipe before as an experiment, but they simply followed the food down to the bottom end. At feeding time, while the fast fish are distracted at surface feeding; I will randomly pick a pipe to drop food into. The hope is the fast fish cannot predict which pipe the food come from.

Tank front and side views yesterday. Very little done to the tank. It is recovering from hair algae and minor bba, which is why the lighting time was reduced, and some areas shaded. This is the family's oldest tank, with our oldest wet pet Terry, the green neon tetra, at 10 months. This is the only tank with rotala rotundifolia and Windelov java fern still growing. I like how the anubias nana petite took to growing inside the clam shell to which I glued it.

Moved out all male endlers, since we have a bunch of fry and juveniles. Placed one bully ricefish in quarantine timeout, and an injured ricefish also to separate quarantine for recovery. Two new otocinclus, Bill and Ted. Red tiger lotus is getting big, so trimmed a few of the taller leaves off. Madagascar lace plant melted back and is so tiny right now. Still fighting bba in a few places, but reducing the lighting time and adding hornwort to shade certain areas appears to be helping, though I understand it will take time in this low tech setup. Banana plant is doing all right. Java ferns are growing back.

Yesterday, before planting next crop of plants. The val is still recovering from initial melt, thus the hornwort. The hornwort is also disguising the minipumps atop the UGF uplift tubes. I had to re-soak the 2 types of ludwigia via reverse respiration for bba. Also temporarily switched off the right side light and adjust the lighting schedule, since green dust algae was forming on the back wall. Two of 4 Bolivian ram have paired up! There are 3 otocinclus now, also.

Yesterday, I decided to plunk them into the big tank, and see if a pair forms. https://photos.app.goo.gl/yzPwaowV1ZEGGiiD6 Is the above showing nesting behavior? I think the one hollowing out the sand is a female, based on the wider breeding tube. We don't have flat stones in the tank. Is that a requirement for spawning, or will they just spawn in the sand?

We think the holes in the amazon sword are from the snails. But, I guess it is time for more root tabs.

Tank as of Mar 27, 2024: replaced broken lid with shelving glass at thrift store and added a used clip-on led light to replace the built-in ones. The wall was painted in December. As of today, the blue-black panda guppies are going strong. A couple of the juveniles are showing orange coloration due to one fancy guppy dad that had long passed. Two female platies: 1 blue wag and 1 blue coral, are there for population control because apparently these panda guppies of ours don't eat their young. The jumbo XL sized amano shrimp and a small bunch of bladder snails are doing a good job at cleanup.