AdamScott

I am trying to remove this hair algae that is starting to spread over my substrate. I attempted to remove by hand but it latches on to my substrate and I end up losing a good deal of gravel. Looking for best ways to remove and prevent hair algae from returning. Nitrates at 10ppm. Lighting on fixed schedule 7 hours a day. Afraid to increase nitrates any higher to avoid stressing out neos. Weekly 20% water changes. Maybe Easy Carbon?

Reds and blues sell like hot cakes around me

1. Ottos! 2. Red cherry shrimp! Reason I got into the hobby in the first place. So peaceful, good cleaners and fun to watch! 3. Vallisneria. Seems to be the only plant that really thrives in my tank. Spreads like crazy and super easy to trim. I'm going to attach a photo of what it looks like in my tank currently. 4. 75gal is my first and only aquarium. 5. Really enjoy using and working with CaribSea's Eco Complete. My rooted plants all seem to be doing well. The initial planting is a bit tough but as long as you have patience it wasn't too bad. 6. Driftwood, rocks..anything that looks natural. 7. Fluval Plant 3.0. Only light I have experimented with and it's given me 0 issues. 8. Tidal 110. Only have great things to say about this filter. Quiet, easy setup and seems to get the job done. I also have a fluval cannister filter for my turtle tank which I love as well. 9. A good set of aquarium tweezers and scissors. 10. Easy Green products all the way!

I'm going to try option number 2 by placing a power head at the left rear facing towards to the right side. I was thinking of picking up the Co-Op's powerhead and placing a medium pre-filter sponge on the intake to act as a filter for the left side as well. Hopefully that does the trick, thanks! I was thinking of simply using a sponge filter on the left side with an airstone and while I would get surface agitation, I think i'm going to go with a powerhead and a sponge filter on the intake to satisfy both filtering the tank and sufficient water flow.

Hi all! My 75g has been up and running for a few months now however i'm starting to notice a deadspot in front of my driftwood as seen circled in the picture attached. I'm thinking of purchasing the Co-Op's Powerhead to provide more water flow to the area as my HOB filter is located on the right side behind the guppy grass wall and not providing the appropriate amount of water circulation. I'm primarily trying to breed shrimp so I steered away from adding extra flow in the past but there has been algae buildup in that area so I'm hoping this could relieve that. My question is where would be the best placement to add a powerhead in my tank to have consistent water movement/flow throughout?

Has anyone seen this before? Looks to be the only one affected in my colony

I am receiving my first batch of RCS this week but nervous about water changes. Prior to owning shrimp, I would use a python and do 30% water changes every 2-3 weeks. I understand RCS are more susceptible to death and disease with larger water changes. To those RCS owners out there, when would you recommend on changing water and what is the safest method using tap water/dechlorinator?

Hi Patrick, that sounds like it would make sense as it is only affecting the bottom leaves and some in the middle of the plant. The stem plants shown in my pictures are going like weeds as I provide plenty of root tabs and new growth is bright green. I saw on Aquarium Coop, Cory recommends 2 Fluval 3.0's for a medium/high light on a 75g - I know what i'll be asking for Christmas! Hopefully this will solve the issue and provide more light to those lower leaves. I was originally only doing water changes when nitrates reach around 20ppm because I'm preparing for RCS which I will be receiving next week. I read they don't appreciate change much so I was trying to practice keeping water changes as infrequent and little as possible while keeping nitrates low..this might seem to have a negative effect on my plants however.

Hi yes, 75g. I dose 8 squirts of EasyGreen/EasyCarbon once per week. Only do water changes when nitrates get around 20ppm, no set water changing schedule. Lighting is a single Fluval 3.0 which is maxed (except blue light) with 1 hr ramp up, ramp down..9 hours total a day. Filtration is a large sponge filter and a Seachem Tidal 110 set to low. Parameters are as follows.. PH: 7.2 Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite: 0ppm Nitrate: 10ppm Hardness: 100ppm KH: 50ppm Chlorine/Copper: 0ppm Livestock: Ramshorn snails 100+, MTS snails

Bumping this to hopefully find an answer!

This is my full setup. I have one 48in Fluval 3.0 that I keep on for 8 hours a day. Not sure if the light is insufficient?

Does anyone know what is causing this to the bottom of my pogostemon stellatus octopus plants? The top of the stem is growing rapidly but after awhile the bottom of the plant develops a black sludge and begins to droop. I just recently placed plenty of root tabs in the substrate and have a consistent light cycle.

Some of my plants seemed to have melted/turned brown due to lack of sufficient nutrients. I’ve since corrected the problem and new bright green growth seems to be growing again at the tops of each plant. My worry is that all of the melted leaves will stay that brown color. Is it best to remove the melted plants and just replant the tops that are green or hope that the leaves will correct themselves in time? Any help is appreciated!

Hi all. Recently I've noticed my blue ramshorn snails have been dying off over the last week or so - all that's left is empty white shells as shown in the pictures below. I also have a few nerites, pond snails and MTS snails in the tank as well that seem to be doing fine. I feed 2 algae wafers every 3 days because i'm already dealing with slight overpopulation with the pond snails. No fish or other species besides those snails in the tank. Tank has been established for roughly 4 months and has grown quite a bit of algae on the glass and on the plants. Any idea what could be causing this? Water parameters below: PH: 7.5 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0.25 Nitrate: 0 Hardness: 100ppm KH: 80ppm Water temp: 81 (maybe a little too high?)

Hi all, I bought crushed coral off of Amazon and was sent a bag of aragonite by mistake. I am looking to raise my PH from 7.0 to 7.5. Would aragonite do the same thing as crushed coral? Interested in what you all use and if you ever tried using aragonite before. Thanks!

You don’t ever notice them eating healthy plants, do you? Was thinking of getting some myself and I know they eat decaying plant matter but wasn’t sure about healthy plant leaves

After 2 years of research and planning I'm proud to say I've finally set up my first planted aquarium! 😁 HUGE shoutout to @Cory for all the instructional Youtube videos, blog posts and advice on aquariums. And thank you to you all for the insight and motivation to start my own underwater ecosystem!! All the plants pictured came from the Co-Op and have a few more on the way from LRB Aquatics. Below are my tank specs: Aquarium Size: 75g Lighting: Fluval 3.0 Substrate: 160lbs of Eco-Complete Plants: Pogostemon stellatus octopus, Anubias, Val, Crypt Wendtii, red dwarf lily bulb, (pearl weed and rotala rotundifolia coming soon) Filtration: Sponge filter, Tidal 75 (on low flow) Fertilizer: Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green and Root Tabs I've been seeing conflicting responses on when to best start fertilizing a new tank. Plants were just planted today and not sure if best to wait a few days to acclimate or begin fertilizing and planting root tabs immediately. I am also looking for lighting settings based on my Fluval 3.0 and depth of aquarium. Any advice is appreciated and glad to officially be part of this amazing community 😄

Leila (all brown) and Lemieux (brown and white). My fiancée and I rescued them a few months back. They're 6 months old and came from the same litter. They're looking forward to daddy setting up his 75g next week so they can watch the fishies swim around.

I've heard this has a tendency to peel off. Have you experienced anything like that?

Absolutely will be back to post something when I'm up and running, thanks for recommendations!

Honestly this sounds amazing. I've had guppies when I was younger and was completely unaware of all the beautiful guppy species and colors of this beautiful fish! My plan when I start up my tank is to buy as many plants as I can. Let them grow and develop along with my tank for a few months. Once my tank has fully cycled and my plants have grown in, I plan to start off with as many cherry shrimp as I can afford (probably around the 20-25 range). Once they start breeding and established a massive colony it won't be until then where I look at guppies. So many options and so much color! Like you said, provided you have plenty of hiding spots, there shouldn't be an issue. Bristlenose are also an option as I believe they would all live happily under the same water parameters. Can't wait!

I looked into the Seachem Tidal series but was nervous about the surface skimmer. How would you cover up the slots? The intake can be covered up with a sponge so that shouldn't be an issue.

Hah! You're absolutely right. The goal is to establish a high populated shrimp population but after accomplishing that..i'm not sure what direction I will go in in terms of finding other species. I know it is not recommended to keep fish with shrimp but i'm sure some nano fish shouldn't decrease the population that hard, especially with plenty of hiding spots.

Thank you for the insight. You would recommend one large sponge filter for a 75g? Interesting.

I just did some research on mattenfilters and while it would create tons of surface area I don't think I could tolerate the look of it. This tank will be displayed in my living room for everyone to see and I don't think i'll be able to hide it well enough. While I am losing an opportunity for tons of surface space, I will have many plants in there which I hope the shrimp will enjoy.