JimOp

I am not familiar with it however I did look around for similar products and it appears to be correct. I am assuming that is your output flow from the canaster. If it is not that is the line you want it on. If it is on the intake side (water going in the canaster) it could kill your good bacteria defeating the purpose of having a canaster filter..

My Hygger light brightens up slowly, like sunrise. The light gradually brightens to 100% over the span of 20 min. I did not have to do anything special to make it work that way but I think there are several ways to program it. You may want to read up on programing it here and see if this helps. https://www.hygger-online.com/product/led-fish-tank-lights/#:~:text=Step 1%3A Press the M,to set the lighting time.

He said he has a canaster of it, not just in the auto feeder.

Gold fish are carp and basically eat anything, as long as the food hasn't gotten wet or moldy it should be fine.

If your fish are gasping for air, then everything is not fine. Plants breath co2 and release oxygen during day cycle and breath oxygen at night releasing co2. Water flow even a air stones agitates the surface of the water. it moves water around releasing co2 to the air and brings oxygen into the water. You may want to add a drop checker in the tanks you are seeing this in to get some kind of idea as to how much co2 is actually in the tank.

You need water movement in a tank 24/7. CO2 and oxygen exchange happens on the water surface. You should use sponge filters at minimal in tanks to help break down waste and aerate the water. With out water movement of some kind in the tank the fish, and at night the plants, will use up most of the oxygen, very little co2 can escape stagnant water. Stagnant water is also a breeding ground for Bacteria, fungi and biofilms that will eventually get your fish sick and probably kill them.

In a 20 gallon a canaster would be overkill especially for Betta. Betta are slow water fish, normally found in shallow slow moving waters like rice paddies, swamps and slow streams. They can also breath air and can survive in stagnant water, it's why they survive in the tiny cups. As stated previously a sponge filter would be fine. It is both mechanical and biological filtration and will provide sufficient surface agitation for oxygen exchange for any other fish you may add to the tank. You being here and asking questions puts you miles ahead above someone new that gets all their advice from someone from Petco or other stores. Keep up the good work.

Here is how much the tank has grown since March 15th even with trimming the tall ones.

Thanks for the reply, The drop checker is green now. I changed some things up and invested in a better co2 system. I was originally using the fluval co2 kit and that was a mistake. The leaking tanks and the temperamental valve caused me to blow out a hose more than once. I was going to do a CO2 tank but could not find anyplace that sells co2 near me, so I went with a DYS co2 generator with duel valves that uses citrus and baking soda. A solenoid valve on a smart plug to put it on a timer. I have not had any CO2 issues since. I may be on the track to beating the algae as I think the plants are starting to win the battle. while the plants have been exploding, the algae hasn't grown any longer but it has showed up in other plants. I just now finished some trimming and cleaned all I could off all the broad leave plants. Lets see where it is in a week or so.

Night cycle is no lights, however I leave the blue light on for two hours after day cycle mainly for aesthetics. My wife wanted Glofish and so some tetras and the constantly breeding cories are glo fish, also the reason why I don't want to raise the fry. One cool thing to note is the cory eggs are fluorescent too. I attached an older photo of the eggs one the glass. I did notice the alkaline as a significant issue once I posted it. Low alkaline can be pretty dangerous for fish lowering their natural immunity. I was shocked when I seen it so low as I do test the water several times a week. After I posted and seen the alkalinity level was so low and that that was a problem itself I added a bit of baking soda that night to raise it up slightly then did a 25% water change the next day. As far as water hardness. The water in my area is extremely hard, with KH somewhere between 180 and 300. GH above 150 with very high PH above 8.4. I now use peatmoss in a small internal filter to soften the water, that way I can remove the filter and peat once water conditions (softness) are where I want them. But, it puts me in a dilemma when it comes to big water changes as that can wildly swing the water conditions. I had been leaving the peatmoss in my canaster filter, but then it is in all the time and that was the likely cause of the very very low alkaline. This is a water test Just taken. It is in night cycle, no lights and no CO2 being injected: Nitrate between 100 and 250, ph 7.8, gh 75, kh 80, alchalinity between 80 and 120, Nitrite 0, Iorn 0, Copper, 0, Chlorine 0.

Updated picture, No new plants these are are grown in tank. There is moss in the tank so what looks like algae is actually moss in the middle sections. I need to do some trimming soon.

Tanks been up since mid march, It is a pretty established tank at this point. Still battling the hair algae. I have been manually removing it from the broad leaf plants, trimming any thing else attaches too. I tried a few things like Hydrogen Peroxide but thats not done anything. The algae on the glass I leave as grazing food for the snails and pleco. That's where the CO2 defuser is and the only place it grows. I have a bristle nose, snails and shrimp so thats about the best I can do for now. Algicide would kill shrimp and snails. I could get mollies to try and help for the Hair algae or but the tank is pretty populated and they breed constantly.

I just tested it now, It is 2 hours into in night cycle. Day cycle is 8.5 hour days on a Hygger timer light 100%. The test strip test I have for water parms ph 6.8, cabonate 40, total alkalinity 0, hardness 25, chlorine 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 25, iron 0, copper 0. Dose twice a week with easy green once a week with flourish iron I am also running co2. It is due a water change currently.

It isn't really long enough to twirl aroud a toothbrush. It mostly grows on those wide leaf live plants on the edges and looks like matted hair. It is very strange and it's that icky dead color I was thinking it may be a CO2 issue because I have never gotten the indicators to turn green. But everything in the tank is growing fairly quickly. I been mostly going hands on and pulling it off the plants. Now I do have moss growing in the tank that kind of looks like hair algae, but that is by the ornaments and not the issue. There is some algae on the glass there and that's a separate issue as well. That's the side with the co2 defuser. Snails get to that eventually. *edit* I wanted to add thank you for your response. I was suspecting hair algae myself. After reading more about it most of yesterday and today I read that bleached white could be dead algae since I been adjusting co2 rates. I will manually remove everything off of the leaves and then see how things go. Thanks again.

Hi, Haveing never made a planted aquarium, I decided to do so with my return to aquarium keeping after 5 years or so. I set the tank up with no intention of doing live plants then changed my mind. I have only gravel substrate and just got 3 different plants and some moss. Don't ask me what plants I never paid that close of attention. I have MS and wouldn't remember if I tried. I started out just with the plants. Knowing nothing else. Later i learned i should have picked a better substrate. Opps too late now. Then i started learning about planted aquariums, fertilizers and lighting and the balance of the nutrients. I used fertilizer and started getting an algae issue the pleco was small and could not keep up so I got a mystery snail and freshwater shrimp. As I learned more I wanted to try introducing CO2 into it. And once i started that i started getting the growth in the image. I am assuming it is hair algae. But to be honest it is a guess. Now I know that there is something wrong but what exactly i am not sure of. My CO2 is all new to me and I started out with one bubble per sec now i am up to 5 bubbles per sec. I have a co2 drop tester, 2 infact in the tank and they have stayed blue. I worry about adding more because it is a 40 gallon tank. So not real sure what to check.

I find that for many cories it is a water condition thing. They like to spawn when the water is cooler, it is why water changes can sometimes cause them to spawn. I keep my community tank in soft water with the temp at 72 degrees. My cories spawn every 2 weeks or so. I don't try to raise the fry, but if they live they live kind of thing. I have 3 big females and 4 males. Due to how they mate, Cories need multiple males (at least 3) for a female so if you don't have enough males they may not spawn either.

Beaumont area of south east Texas. 100 miles east of Houston. Our tap water is over 300 carbonate. So i use zero filter water to do my partal water changes and drinking water. But initial fill and large water changes the peat moss is a better aid to combat the hardness. I like the look of tannins in an aquarium too. My goal was to make an easy to maintain schooling tank. Nothing special just nice to look at. The plants added enexpected complexity to the tank that I am really enjoying learning about.

Thanks for having a place to go with questions. My name is James and i have kept fish for a little over 40 years. My very first aquarium I purchased I was around 12. I found a 55 gal at a garage say for like 5 or 10 bucks. I ballanced it on my BMX bike and wheeled it home. My hobby grew and shrunk over the years. I got heavily into breeding to the point I had over 300 tanks. But flooding basicly killed my breeding hobby. While I still kept aquariums. I never went back into intentionaly breeding. Because raising fry and planted Aquariums really don't go together. The planted aquarium was never really something I included in my hobby. For the past 5 years i did not have any aquariums at all. I decided a couple months ago to pick up a 40 gallon breeder and wanted to try a planted aquarium. First problem is my water is very hard and i was having extreme difficulty lowering it. So i used Peat moss in the filter to get the water quality under control. Now i have a thriving planted community of tetras, danios and corydoras who spawn ever 2 weeks. I also have an albino bristle nose, reproducing freshwater shrimp, a mystery snail and an infestation of unwanted rams horns. It is not with out issues because in typical fashion I went in blind and made several mistakes. But that's ok too, it is why it is called a hobby.