I'm upgrading/condensing my aquariums - I live somewhere that has incredibly soft water, so I use aragonite as a substrate to harden the water a bit and help with pH stability.
I also have a school of corys that I would like to make happy with a nice comfy substrate. black diamond blasting sand over black aragonite or stratum over some aragonite?
I'm also interested in trying to maybe make at least a smallish algae scrubber for my nitrates, to decrease the amount of water changes needed, as I live in a drought-prone area and feel guilty about water changes, even though I do try to recycle some of the water into my plants. Is this crazy for a non-expert?
Filtration is going to be by canister with supplemental sponge.
I have 2 electric blue acaras, a school of smudge spot corys (7), and a variable number of guppies. I would also love to try and figure out a way to make it possible to keep some shrimp in there too, instead of having a separate shrimp tank. If I can't make that happen, I might try and make a nano tank for shrimp.
Planting is going to need to be limited as my EBAs are diggy little friends :D I've been able to grow subwassertang (which I love) with them though, by kinda keeping it cornered with a piece of driftwood (which is what I was thinking for shrimp - basically giving them an area where they could live where the acaras can't get them, but I don't trust the shrimp to be smart enough to stay in that area LOL)
I would love to have salvinia cuculata and maybe red root floaters on top, I'm going to try desperately to make it a duckweed-free tank.
Any input, thoughts or criticisms welcome.