Peaceful Fish

I converted 3 tanks to planted tanks about 3 month ago. I bought a lot of Anubis and 75% had rizhome rot and died. Ironically, only the ones I bought from Aquarium CoOp survived. I know Corey stopped selling them because they were seeing rot issues but his were the only ones that didn’t rot for me.

I prefer White Clouds and Cherry Barbs over the smaller tetras.

Can you set up a tank and put him in by himself?

I personally think adding an air stone is a very good idea. I really like white clouds and cherry barbs for nano fish.

Yep. Your crypts will definitely melt. Just trim off the dead leaves and the new ones will grow. The pogo will likely be fine. They seem rather bulletproof in my experience and transition easily.

Cheap way to polish the water is add a cheap $15-20 HOB stuffed with polyfil. Keep the sponge filters for biological filtration. I run two sponges and one of these in my 55 gallon. https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-78002-Whisper-Gallon-Filter/dp/B01NB1GCQY/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3M95SUZ0CLN7I&keywords=whisper+iq30&qid=1689214726&sprefix=Whisper+iq30%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-2

Odessa barb Neon rainbow White Cloud Cherry barb Reticulated Hillstream loach

Agree with redfish. I bought several Windelov plants that were not grown submerged and they all did the same thing yours is doing. The old leaves die off and you start getting new bright green leaves growing typically as their root structure starts growing.

I’ve kept red eyed tetra in a community aquarium and never saw aggression to other species. They will chase each other around to establish a pecking order. I’ve never had a community fish fin nip a Bolivian Ram. They are surprisingly fast unlike a beta.

ACs are expensive for such an old design and cheap material. Out of the box, it looks absolutely cheap.

For the IQ 30, I removed the bio grid and the media chamber is 2.75” deep and 4.5” wide and about 5” tall. I just bought a semi coarse sponge off Amazon that was 2.75” thick and cut the width and length. It flows from back to front so sponge and filter floss would work well. Bagged media is probably not ideal. I think sponge is the best media personally because of the mechanical and biological filtration. If I ever needed to run carbon, I’d just pull the sponge and run a big bag of carbon. The filter isn’t really set up to run multiple types of media at once like a AC or Tidal that flow up from the bottom.

I recently bought a Tetra IQ 30 HOBjust to add a little more flow to my 55 gallon that has a sponge filter. The Tetra IQ was $19 on Amazon. Pump is in the aquarium and the lid design is tight. It’s super quiet. I’m just running sponge in it. I like it so far. I’ve had ACs but they do rattle and you can get a leak if you don’t stay up on your maintenance. I had a Tidal as well and I hated the surface skimmer.

If you aren’t using an aqua soil, you probably have it cycled if it’s growing algae. If you are using an aqua soil, I would definitely get test kit and make sure you are testing for ammonia and other water parameters before adding fish.

I’m sure it works great. I don’t care for the potential of a leak or restart failure with a canister filter. I’d rather use an air pump with filtration inside the tank (sponge or UGF) and eliminate any potential for a leak on my hardwood floors. I sleep better with simple and low tech in my tanks. Certainly everyone is different. I’ve run almost everything and now prefer simple and minimalist in my set up. A gravel vac or sponge rinse is easy for me to do with a water change.

20 gallon works fine with a sponge filter, under gravel or hang on back. I would not consider a canister on anything smaller than a 75 gallon.

All manufacturers will produce a turd every once in a while. Vast majority of ACs probably work fine when maintained. Had a buddy that had some water damage from an AC because he didn’t clean it for many months but that was on him. Some of the other designs of HOB will allow bypass for a clogged filter so as not to flood.

There are plenty of other filters that work. In fact, most filters work fine and will keep water healthy. Many people get too invested in certain equipment or brands. In reality, you could almost throw a dart at a list of filters and it would be fine.

I didn’t boil my cholla wood. I superglued a rock to the bottom to keep it from floating. It produces tannins especially at first. I think it would take massive amounts of wood in the tank to noticeably lower PH. I think you will be fine.

Agree list is good. I would probably not do the Tidal 35 but another small HOB, sponge or UGF. I just don’t like the surface skimmer on the Tidals or their price.

I’ve found java moss, java fern, Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus and crypts very easy to grow. The java fern and crypts will die back at first and then grow in fine. Java moss just grows as does the Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus. I’m not using any CO2 and just a stingray 2 for light. I’m not even dosing ferts. I use gravel substrate in all 3 of my tanks and they are all planted and doing pretty well. You shouldn’t need co2 for the plants you named. JMO.

How dirty is his filter?

I just pull a little Java moss off and superglue it to another rock or piece of wood. Even a little bit will start spreading and growing quickly.

I’ve kept them. I just traded in a pair to a fish store that wouldn’t stop breeding. I would not add a Firemouth to any of my tanks. I’ve kept them before and they make every other medium/small cichlid in the tank miserable with their territorial aggression. I would recommend Odessa Barbs with the lone blue acara. They are big enough not to get eaten, don’t fin nip and provide a great color contrast to the EBA.

Mopani wood has always worked well for me. It will release a lot on tanins and won’t mold. I’ve also used Cholla wood and it’s been good as well.

I had Tidal filters and did not like the skimmer. Just collected food before the fish can get to it. I recently put a Tetra IQ 30 to add a little water flow to my 55 gallon running 2 sponge filters. I like the IQ. Super quite. I just don’t use the cartridge or plastic grid that comes with it. I just run it with sponge in the media compartment and intake. The Tetra IQ 30 was only $18. Has the motor in the tank which is what I prefer.