SantaMonica

They will help you heal faster

Got to love a living filter.

If that is just silica sand, then not really, for pH anyway. Might help with bioload though. Calcium carbonate based substrate, such as crushed coral, would help more directly with pH.

Is it in the LA Pet Fair ?

Without a substrate a tank can have larger fluctuations in many things, like pH.

About the vinegar... "cleaning" vinegar is stronger and might give faster results. And, vinegar powder can be even stronger, if you mix it with little water.

Maybe forego the idea of plants for now, and keep it simple. A small tank like that can be re-setup later for plants easily.

Nice border wall decoration. Not seen that before. Glad to see you have the outdoor room for this too. No bird problems?

Too much and quietest method to bleed air off ? Meaning, too much air, and, what's the quietest way to bleed?

Nice pics of plants inside and plants outside

Divide is a neat name for a town.

Sorry for the delay; did not see the emails. Depending on the year and what I'm testing, I'll keep various thing. Been more SW that FW but am wanting more FW. I'm fishless currently since moving to UT. Yes that's one of the reasons for coming here. Have not used local water though; I now use only distilled for everything. I think the local reef club probably uses RODI mostly too. Not sure of the local FW folks though.

Used to be from Santa Monica, CA, but now am in the Rockies :)