Macready

A pvc pipe like you described with some course sponge on the outside at the bottom, with an airline and an airstone might work just fine. Perhaps a small diameter pvc pipe with a course pre filter sponge at the bottom. Don't forget a check valve if this is going in your kitchen 🙂 I'm no expert, but I think you want a pipe of some sort and not just an airstone to get the water movement you want. I think an airstone by itself isn't bad, but it'll be better with some sort of pipe. Airstone by itself is more "make sure we've got surface agitation" and less "be a filter". IMO my .02...

I went back through my notes. I've got a 20G high and I use ACOOPs light appropriate for that size. I set the tank up in February and started at lighting intensity 2 (1 up from the lowest setting). I had lots of plants in the tank and in March (1 month in) I increased to intensity 3, the next increase in intensity I made was in May and I went to intensity 4, I also installed a riser I found on Etsy to pull the light away from the lid a bit. I've been at intensity 4 since. I started out at 6 hours of light a day in February and I'm up to 10 running hours split throughout the day 5 hr on, 4 hr off, 5 hr on. I dose Easy Green once a week and Easy Iron approximately once a month. The plants really didn't take off and start growing big time until I went to intensity 4 and had the lights on for more than 9 hours. I've got lots of stem plants and a huge mass of floating water sprite. TLDR, I brought my lighting up really slow IMO over months. Hope this helps! I should mention, I went so slow so I could monitor algae. I really don't want to battle that if I can help it. I get some brown diatom (?) stuff on the walls and a little bit of algae here and there but so far it's been manageable.

I'm excited for these to be generally available. Thanks for the post.

Lots of variables there. Very interesting. I might be tempted to try and hold one of the variables (ferts/light intensity/light time) stable while I tinkered with the others. Given the depth of the tank I'm thinking I'd probably hold the light intensity stable first at your best guess as to what would be needed given the depth. Plants are likely going to melt back at first so maybe consider going a little slower than what you've mentioned. Bump the light duration by half hour every week, let the plants tell you when to fertilize. Just my .02, interested what others have to say.

I emailed support and ran the situation by them. They suggested I look for snails in the heater, they can get stuck in there 😞 To my knowledge I have no snails in the tank but I took a look. I unplugged the heater, waited a bit then shook it and inspected it out of the tank. I couldn't find anything inside the frame that didn't look like it shouldn't be there. The mystery continues.

My .02: If you can't test for ammonia as @Chick-In-Of-TheSea mentioned consider treating for it, add appropriate amount of water conditioner just in case. If you can test awesome, may not be ammonia. I also wonder about what @dangerflower mentioned, disturbing the substrate causing issues, water changes and water conditioner might help. I ran into that early on with my tank and I believe I caused a new cycle by heavily disturbing the substrate. The PH increasing feels significant to me but I don't know enough to be sure. I'm relatively new to the hobby (Started my tank in Feb this year).

Hey @Lucyn, thanks for the reply. Definitely a high-pitched sound when it is actively heating, 100%. I understand what you are saying about the power across the heating element. I'm just confused because this didn't always happen (it ran quiet for a month or two after installing) and when I contacted support about the original heater they offered a replacement right away stating it shouldn't be doing that. Really wish it wouldn't happen, the heater isn't throwing any error codes or anything, Is there a type of heater that might be less susceptible to this?

Update: I cleaned out the air stone yesterday, I couldn't find the replacement felt discs, and I've got some serious flow now after cleaning out the air stone and going to level 3 (from 1) on the air pump. I did a water change today and dumped out the bubbles from the water heater again, immediately after dumping out the air bubbles it turned on and started whistling again. I can hear it whistling now as I type this. So, given that there was more flow in the tank for 24 hours or so and the fact that I keep dumping the bubbles out of the heater, I'm wondering if it is an issue with the heater itself. Thoughts? I wonder if the ACOOP heater just isn't a good fit for my tank, wonder if I should try something else. Thanks.

I will take a look at that. Thanks. I'm excited about this once it is available: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/easy-flow-sponge-filter-upgrade-kit I'm hopeful that the "bubble ring" (whatever it is called) will not clog. That seems like a really cool product.

Hey @nabokovfan87, thanks for the reply! I have increased the pump from level 1 -> level 3 to see what happens. I'm going to monitor, I don't see a massive increase in bubbles, I've been battling an airstone that seems to want to clog. Will report back!

I've used these in the past: https://www.amazon.com/Frost-King-V73-9H-42-Inch/dp/B000AXSVJ4/ref=asc_df_B000AXSVJ4/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198093463189&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2354910876836631583&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9017216&hvtargid=pla-367513431106&psc=1 Adhesive around the frame, apply plastic, and then use a hair dryer to shrink the plastic so it is taught. Works great! I wonder if redundant lower-wattage heaters would be best, instead of one big 300w.

I am using a ACOOP 100w heater and have this same (or very similar issue). Heater whistles for a while after kicking on, but only for a while, eventually it will be on and not whistle. I have talked with support and they sent me a new heater, the new heater does it as well. I have tried positioning the heater lower closer to the substrate and it hasn't helped. I have also tipped the heater on an angle to see if it helped. Heater is set to 76 and the tank measures between 76 and 77 with the laser thermometer. Given that this is the second ACOOP heater that is doing this should I replace it with something else? Talk to support again? 20G High ACOOP 100w Heater ACOOP Medium Sponge filter with Airstone, pushed by ACOOP air pump on lowest setting. Lots of plants and 9 RummyNose, 8 Ember Tetra's, and a bunch of cherry shrimp. Thanks!