Tony s

@Abby one of the things to remember when looking at those types of guides. They apply mostly to wild caught animals. Most aquarium animals are raised by farms with vastly different conditions. Usually in whatever water is available. 85 % of the water in the US is hard to very hard so most fish are already adapted to harder water. Unless they say specifically wild caught. There are certain sensitive fish that have a harder time adapting. Thing like apistos, discus German rams, but even those can successfully be raised in hard water. @jwcarlson raises his discus in this type of water, no issues. So that’s not the problem. I’m wondering if it’s not just an illness of some sort. The head of the fish looks kind of leathery and worn down. We have to ask our resident expert @Colu This is actually very correct. Stability is everything. Animals have a degree of plasticity in which they can adjust to their environment. As long as it’s stable

That would help immensely. But it doesn’t have to even be in daylight hours. Several of my tank run 6 hours, starting at 5pm , that’s what time someone is around. I usually see them after work until 12pm. Then the light goes off. Set their schedule to yours.

Do you have measurements of your tap water? Gh kh ph. That would help figure this out. Treated how. Softened? Could you get a gh kh ph reading before it gets treated. That gets us all the information. We’d hate to give you bad advice without knowing all the information. and your shrimp type would be good too.

Sounds like it’s going to be a great tank😃

Not as far as I’m aware. I have several working just fine. I don’t really rely on them to accurately read the temperature. Almost all heaters are off in that way. Better is an in tank thermometer used to calibrate the heater. Better than that is a controller with an in tank temp probes used to control the heater. Lucky for you, there is one that does. Unlucky for me, I forget the name. Someone else will fill in the details. The system works really well, especially when keeping dual heaters in the tank. I’m a bit confused as to why you want to rush the process. I get that it takes a few weeks and sometimes patience is impossible. But the weeks will help to determine what you really want to do with it.

Too much light will cause excess algae. Best is to pick an 8 hour block (or less) when you’re around to interact with your tank. When that is depends entirely your schedule. Your plants will like consistency in hours. Your fish won’t care about the light at all. It’s mostly there so you can enjoy your fish.

If you have your fish picked out, when the nitrite reaches zero, you’re ready to add a few. The bacteria should be just fine for a few days. You’ll want to start with a small group, depending on size. This will allow your bacteria to adjust. Have you decided what you want?

I believe I've seen either dan or bob steenfott use beta cups until they hatch. just changing water daily. but the tumbler can raise you're viable fry count.

You're probably good. just give it another week. half the cycle is done, now the other side needs to catch up

Ha! My snails would disagree. Sometimes they’re faster than the corys 😂 @AllFishNoBrakes would know better than me about what to feed embers. But I believe you’d need 2 different foods. Embers would need more protein.

Yes. Exactly. There is a wide range of tolerances depending on the plant wanted. As there is in the fish wanted. Research needs to be done by the keeper. But most plants as well as animals carry a decent amount of plasticity and can adapt to less than their ideal situation. Especially if they have already been started in a man made environment. Wild grown plants and animals can be harder to adapt

Best place is probably dans fish. That and aquahuna are the only places we’re allowed to discuss due to forum rules Other than that I’d check your lfs

Erythromycin and kanamycin are old livestock medications. As are things like virginiamycin and the tetracyclines. The effects are known and quantified. The first 3 are no longer in use for meat production. Virginiamycin is off the market to protect against antibiotic resistance. It’s too close to other useful human medicines. The tetracyclines are still in use because they’re some most effective antibiotics we have for livestock. Even then, their effectiveness is diminishing due to resistance. It really is a huge deal. but as I said, we don’t use the first 2 at all anymore. They are just not effective anymore. Meaning everything we have is resistant to them. But, fish diseases haven’t developed it yet. which is good for our swimming animals 😁

It should be. But I would watch carefully. They may need something else to eat if the tank doesn’t grow enough algae. I’m not sure they eat the flat algae on the glass

In all likelihood, the angel was probably a surrender from someone no longer able to care for it. apparently, they had done a very good job for a long time. Our lfs had a huge blood parrot in. Someone's long term pet. the owner was older and just couldn't do it anymore. If I would have had the room, I would have taken him home right then.

Weekly water changes will not do anything to your cycle. your bacteria are surface dwellers and don't live in your water column. but 20 nitrates is almost perfect for your plants. they will have to have some to live, so no changes needed yet. you don't need to add bacteria every time as you're not removing a lot by water changes. most algae is beneficial for small fish. it's just the humans that don't like it. depending on your view it can be considered unsightly. you can even just do the front and side glass leaving the back for your animals. whatever looks best to you. not sure what's up with your hair grass. it may be converting to submerged growth. most plants are grown in air and need to convert to underwater forms. or it may just be dying, time will tell. 5 amano shrimp is fine as they have a very small bio load. actually, may be too small to keep your cycle going. and they are going to need some form of food supplement in a new tank as there may not be enough algae to keep them going. you may actually want to introduce a few of the fish you want to keep your cycle stable. I don't use active substrates, someone else would be more help there It looks like a very good tank. love the depth your background gives it. and with the background, you could leave the algae alone on the back wall for your animals

Yeah, been doing a lot of research on that today. It seems to be that severums are at least half vegetarian, and will go after plants, even chewing on anubias. If you keep them well fed it reduces their desire to go eat plants. and being juveniles may help at the moment. assuming we're talking about the same species -heros species

or even mix your unsoftened water with RO water and you could be sitting at near perfect water. and that would open up a whole range of possibilities. although @jwcarlson raises discus and rams in that exact water. actually 85% of the US does. It's just the east coast and northwest and some of the gulf coast that has softer water. I think for your shrimp, they need the calcium and magnesium that was being stripped from your water. and trust me, i know what you're dealing with. I have your exact water, thought i had serious problems with it. Put in a bunch of money converting my drinking water RO system to something I could use for the aquariums. Now my head hurts and my mind is spinning. I do not know what to think about the softened water anymore.

or as she pointed out today. water softeners have a bypass. which leaves you with very hard water but in the right proportions. and you wouldn't need to do much else.

most pet stores. it's actually made for pet birds. to give them calcium. you have to take the metal clips out and place in your hob (if you have one). she says it wants to float. which shouldn't' matter in a hob i'm thinking

it does. but the cuttlebone is @Guppysnail's idea, and I'm currently fascinated by that. I believe it may be cheaper as well.

Yeah, most plants are as variable as the fish for the most parts. plants actually prefer to have more available carbonate in the water. There is one youtuber who is a big plant grower from Kentucky who raises all his plants in hard water and they do just fine. It really depends on the plant species just like it depends on the fish species. you can google plant care guides and they will give you a best kept at range. for most beginner plants it usually ranges 6.0 to 7.5 ph. from 1-6 kh. from 2-12 gh. these values are for pogostemon stellatus. jungle val is 6-8 ph, 2-21 kh. and that doesn't include the inherent plasticity in most plants (the ability to adapt). 8.2 is a bit high but not excessively so. you just have to decide what you want and see if it's an option try this site for help https://www.learntheaquarium.com/ there are more sites with this info but can't post them via rules (no compete sites that sell ) yes, that is true, but higher ph water has more dissolved carbon that is ready to use without conversion. CO2 must eventually be absorbed and converted into a usable form.

Sorry I can't go by views or personal opinion for that matter. When the USDA inspector come to look at my records, they must be exact and precise. and following the labels exactly. A label being the law to USDA. so, it's mostly ingrained in me now, follow the label. That's to prevent future antibiotic resistance in human populations. Meat packers are doing continuous test on any antibiotic residue in the food supply. mostly in the parts per million or parts per billion range. Although nobody in my industry uses these antibiotics anymore, the same principles apply. Yeah, I know, bit of overkill here. It's just aquariums and some fish. But did you know you can tell the health status of a city by measuring the amount of antibiotics in their water supply? Okay, time for me to climb down from my soapbox now. sorry I do get carried away sometimes🤣

If I'm understanding what i've heard about the med quarantine. it was for less than full strength treatments. that's my issue. it should be done according to label, or better yet, when symptoms appear. from the coop website- Do not dose according to the box instructions. Instead, add 1 packet of Maracyn, 1 packet of ParaCleanse, and 1 U.S. teaspoon of Ich-X for every 10 gallons of aquarium water. (Ich-X does not stain aquarium decorations in our experience, but be careful not to spill it because it can stain your skin or clothing.)

I think everybody feels that way from time to time. I think you need to figure out what you really love about doing this. Me, I love to be shoulder deep in my tanks and doing the maintenance. It feels therapeutic for me. Understanding that we raise large amounts of regular livestock, and the maintenance here doesn't feel like work. I've been know to do maintenance at 2 am after a stressful day. I don't do show tanks of any sort. I am not trying to impress anybody. I just want happy animals. Sometimes just the feeding is enough for me. Although I have a large male marble angel pair breeding now, I think that's my next adventure