Koi

I think a linear air piston pump is a little overkill for your setup unless you are planning to add a lot more tanks in the future. I'm running about 8 sponges off of this one right now and its rated for 45 L/mn. I even attached three more sponges just to see if it could handle it and I haven't notice any struggling. I will mention I have shallow tanks (10-20 gallons) so I'm dealing with less head pressure. I would recommend a pump like this, Ive seen a lot go for around 20-30 bucks. I will mention the pump isn't that quiet, its not unbearable but you can definitely hear it vibrate. If you have time to shop around, go check flea markets I bought three of these for like a buck each

There are certain stones that I would really love to buy but I feel like I would atleast 100-200 pounds worth so I can pick and choose the right stones that match each other. I spent $100 in rocks before and I still felt it wasn't adequate for my 10 gallon. If I I try to scale that for my bigger tanks it just becomes a hard pill to swallow. But everyone finds value in different things, there are probably a lot of things I overspend on that you would consider crazy too haha.

I wanted to share some videos of my main tank "pearling", I will mention they are after a water change so I am kinda of cheating haha. But I just wanted to show the difference of pearling of after my water change and after dumping nutrients in the tank. This is after I dumped some phosphate in. I'll note that there is a powerhead in there as I'm trying to knock off all the bubbles off the plant. Nothing really to show besides that. Most likely I will do an update in a few weeks when everything grows in some more.

Most people just boil or pour boiling water whatever they find. I wouldn't bleach if that was what you are considering. I'm usually never in a rush when adding rocks or wood to a tank. What I do with both rock and wood Is I soak em in a trashcan full of my pond water outside for weeks. maybe every week I'll flip around the wood if I can't fully submerge it. Then I let dry it out the sun for weeks and repeat this process 3-4 more times or even longer till I have a use for them. Often I just collect certain pieces I find and let the elements go to work on them. When I find little critters living in that water then I break off some and test it in a tank with a few fish. But as far as knowing what kinds of wood or rock are safe, I can't really help you with that. I always thought it was crazy the price stores charge for sticks and stones but maybe I'm just really cheap haha

Sure, you'll definitely see more improvement with supplemental co2. I personally couldn't stand having to mix the bottle every week or two but knowing that you use that small gravel vac, this should be a walk in the park for you. Try putting your diffuser under your filter output so that the water helps push the bubbles around the tank. And something to consider, your sponge filter might off gas any co2 that dissolves in the tank. Other than that that my main warning with diy co2 is that its a slippery slope to going full on injection haha

@Seattle_Aquarist Thank you so much for clarifying that for me. Boy am I glad I included the full photo with the close up haha. I actually started adding 5ppm magnesium this week. I bought an 8lb bag 2 weeks ago because I was seeing similar symptoms in my bucephelandra and anubias but I wasn't confident in my diagnosis. Your description definitely helped me and clear some of my confusion. I actually noticed the new leaves on my crypts have come out alot nicer since adding epsom salt, its a more even brown and almost red to it. I must say the arrows was a nice touch, it made it a lot more clear for me. I might not have been sure what you were talking about without it haha. I'm definitely gonna steal using the arrow for pictures Could this be part of the reason why the older leaves on my rotala are unhealthy? Or is there something else causing the necrosis? Really good to know. I cut off using equilibrium some time now which might explain alot now. Again I appreciate you taking time out of your day to help me, you cleared up a lot of questions for me. Definitely will update this thread when I see some progress.

Hi @Seattle_Aquarist I recognize your name from other forums, but I'm assuming thats you atleast haha. All three are based on my dosing levels, I used a nutrient calculator but I wrote the wrong one KNO3, I meant to say 10-15 ppm KNO3 The 30-40ppm is off of a test kits so not sure how true it is. I'll mention that this is the dosing Ive been doing for about 3-4 weeks before I was putting in around 25 ppm KNO3

Not really what I'm asking, but thanks

So water hyacinth is kinda of a weird one in CA. I thought it was illegal as well but I also see a lot of shops still sell them and water lettuce as well. Being that you have a pond on a balcony as long as you compost or throw the plant in the green waste bin, I can't see you contributing the issue especially water hyacinth cause that stuff is everywhere already. Try regular pond lillies or the dwarf varieties. I personally like the bigger ones because from spring to summer they shoot up a big beautiful lotuses and the bulb might be able to survive through the winter. I put my bulb in a pot with dirt and cap with sand or gravel but make sure the pot you use doesn't have a hole in the bottom or you'll leach dirt in your pond.

Thank you for the research topic @Will Billy. I should have prefaced that I am a dummy with science and I have a very general understanding of what is going on haha. But you did remind me of a video I need to review that talks about ferric and ferrous iron but I was under the impression that plants could use both but preferred fe2+ Could you explain your idea with the excel? I'm not sure what excel would do.

I've had times when moved I moved buce and it didn't melt and I've had times where it all melted but one leaf. I even had a time where it was growing and losing leaves at the same time so assuming that you are providing good fertilization (consistently too), you should be good. My buce was getting gigantic holes in each leaf one by one for a little longer than a month. It probably was in very different water so the leaves it has now isn't suitable for your water/lighting. Keep an eye out for new growth and when you see that, you're golden. When I see new growth thats when I go and trim off all the ugly leaves to help push it along faster.

Dang it made it al the way to that corner?? Nice

It could be other organics like your plants but I can't imagine it being anything else but fish waste. I keep guppies and even the babies poop all day so I must imagine your glofish will have substantially a lot more. If you ever keep a bare bottom tank you'll be surprised how much fish poo in one day hahah you're right I totally forgot I'm talking about dwarf hair grass, if anything it will probably be an inch or two most. If you completely given up on the hair grass you have now, I say cut all of it to the substrate now and see if any comes back by the time you buy more. Couldn't hurt to try and I imagine at least a few strands will make it. This is where sharp curved scissors will come in handy cause i always pull stuff up if I use straight scissors for any kind of carpet. When you get your new hair grass give it like 2-3 weeks maybe to really settle in before cutting. I wouldn't even bring the gravel vac close to those plants for the next few weeks until you're sure its stuck there. And then as I said before just keep cutting every few weeks and it should grow thicker. I will mention I haven't done hairgrass in a while or without co2 so I'm not sure how this timeline will work for you but if you have good fertilization and a strong light, I can't see why you shouldn't be able to pull this off. Keep updating this thread I wanna see you come out on top of this!

Hi guys I've noticed a lot of people on this forum that either have some kind of chemistry/science background or are just incredibly intelligent. I've come to ask anybody that could fill in the gaps of my research or show me what I'm misunderstanding. To keep it short I am injecting co2 into my 65 gallon tank and I am using dry salts for fertilization. I have been creating solutions for a couple weeks now but have since reverted back to dry dosing since I suspect I am making a mistake in creating my solutions. Among other nutrient deficiencies It seems that I am lacking in iron. This is the part hopefully someone could better explain what I'm doing wrong or missing . I've been dosing 1/4 tsp Plantex csm + B 3 times a week. I've read that EDTA precipitates iron at ph of 6.5 and my tap water degassed is somewhere from 8.2-8.4. I have since stopped creating the solution and made two changes. I dose plantex dry 30 minutes before lights come on and my ph reads somewhere from 6.6-6.4 (the api test kits are kinda hard to read and probably not that accurate) and I supplement with .2ppm 11% DTPA fe. Ive included some pictures with closeup to show what I'm seeing Here are some of my tank parameters: Nitrate: 30-40 ppm most of which comes from my tap water and livestock I do add about 5-10 ppm with KNO3 Potassium: 25-30 ppm from KNO3,K2SO4 and KH2PO4 Phosphate: 4-5 ppm KH2PO4 GH: 7 dGH KB: 6dKH The ph of my tank is around 7.6 before co2 comes out When the light comes on ph stays around 6.6-6.4 the whole day As I said earlier I'm not sure how accurate these readings are since I usually watch my fish response but this is the lowest I can go before stress I'm noticing chlorosis and I see pinholes in older leaves of rotala hra. Because of how much K I'm dosing Im starting to think its because of poor substrate since I ran out of root tabs a month ago. I use eco complete The rotala macrandra is starting to look better, before I started adding DTPA it looked similar to the hra

I forgot to mention once you plant the hairgrass, try not disturb it too much so it doesn't comeback up. Once it grows a few inches cut it back so that it will spread quicker. Do that a few times and the hairgrass will pretty much have a good hold on your substrate. By constantly cutting it you will eventually train the grass to grow low and sideways. Sometime later this week I can make a quick video or take some pictures of the planting if visual aid will help you since its tough to fully explain the process in writing. But spectrum in lighting will help bring out the colors of plants and use of a background too. I am injecting co2 so I am kinda of cheating. Not to say that you need co2, it can be done without it just takes a little longer. Since your tank is already in place plastidip might not be as feasible but lately Ive been using privacy window film as of lately for ease. That probably wont work for you either as you will need to move the tank and stand so cutting out cardboard to shape and taping it might work to. I do notice your tank seems to be in front of a window so maybe all these suggestions might not be of use to you. I have to say you are a trooper if you do maintenance with a nano python vac on that tank haha. You are pulling up mulm it probably is newer fish waste that hasn't started breaking down. At this point since your plant stock is low go ahead and pull it out if you want as long as the gravel isn't being tumbled in your gravel vac. I will mention that newer tanks tanks require a little more attention in maintenance at the start but don't get discourage. At around 6 months or when plants begin to fill out more you can start backing off on the water changes and you don't necessarily need to pull all the mulm from the substrate. Personally I still like to clean the top layer of my gravel but it is not out of necessity its more of people trying to keep my water polished.

Sorry if it came off as ranty definitely wasn't my intention. Root tabs and cutting off the runners will help that plant spread more. Please keep us updated your progress.

I wouldn't say putting the input and output being on opposite ends is the best way just visually for me I know water from one side of the tank is reaching the other side. Your filter might be strong enough to do that already i'm just going off a picture. For something like hairgrass I personally need tongs not sure if you have that. But I like to break apart little chunks (probably an amount you can pinch with your fingers) and plug it into the substrate to the point where almost none of it is showing. Pretty much bury it with just the tips showing. This part might sound a little confusing but before you release your grip on the plant shake the tong a little so the gravel will settle around the plant. Then loosen your grip slightly and pull the tong away. Ill also mention that I don't plant with my tongs pointed straight down, its more of a 45 degree angle or even parallel to the substrate not sure if that matters too much This is a different plant but I plant it in the same style just to show you how close to the substrate. Here is another plant that I completely buried and it started to grow up and out. Don't worry too much about your tank, it will come to shape in time. Once you find success in one plant, it becomes a lot easier to figure out how handle other kinds. You just need to find that one plant that really works for you first. It all is a matter of time really. I won't push this on you but maybe reconsider dwarf saggitaria, you only need one of this plant and it carpets pretty quickly too. And it's a lot of easier to plant into the substrate. I have a love hate relationship with this plant because it tends to grow out of control but it might be the problem you want haha. This is an old picture of my 5 gallon with it in the middle

You could try vacuum sealing some food if you intend on using them later. I buy big bags of koi food take what i use in 2-3 months seal the rest and keep it in a cool dark place in my garage. I usually give my oldest food to my snail tub I keep outside but you probably aren't doing something like that haha.

It could be there is algae on the roots or maybe some kind of microorganism on it. As long as the plant stays afloat I wouldn't worry too much. It can always grow more roots.

I run most of my tanks unheated but I shared this picture in another post. This is the most barebones kind of setup I have besides the bucket of plants I harvest snails from outside. It runs with just the air stone and light but I don't really need air for this system but since I have an air pump lying around why not use it?

My general rule for stocking is find out how many times you want to change water in a week then find the number that fits that haha.I personally find that guppies display better color with a mix of female and males but I understand you may not want to deal with fry. I'll mention if you think the males are ruthless then you definitely don't want a big female.

Thats a really nice tank, is that 4 feet long? It looks like its gonna be real fun planting. Your bacopa is definitely salvageable, the you should be able to pull the hair algae off by hand. For each bacopa I would cut 2-3 nodes from the last leaf and just replant. I think I see some roots coming out from them so those should be fine. As for the ludwigia, no real hurt in trying to cut the tops off and see if it grows but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. That one looks like it will be a tough one to bring back. And I'm just gonna say right now you got some crazy tap water haha. So this last part maybe just take it with a grain of salt and sorry if it's of no help. Ive never experienced that kind of water so any plant I mention is totally speculative, I have no idea if they will work but they are plants I choose If I want immediate success. All your plant choices are good, most of them are my "go-to plants". I think they are good mix of fast and slow growing plants. For the water sprite If its big enough try splitting it in half do some floating and do some in the substrate. That and the pogostemon stellatus are both pretty fast growers so they should help with your nitrates. I love crypts, they are super easy and hardy but keep in mind they will take a little time to get settled in your tank. Don't be scared when it melts, thats totally normal, be sure to give it a root tab and space and it should fill out nicely. Amazon sword as well is a nice big plant that will fill out space (look up red melon sword as well) I think really good red plant would be a red tiger lotus if you can get a hold of some. I personally like that over dwarf lily but both kinda serve the same purpose. both would need root tabs as well. Both jungle valisneria and dwarf sagittaria are fast growing as well. It may take a little from them to grab hold but when they are happy they will shoot runners all over the place. A lot of the plants I chose tend to do well with root tabs. Because of your water parameters I feel like other plants might require you to buy separate bottles of potassium or phosphorous. I picked plants that would use the kinds of fertilizer you already have so you don't need to spend more money on these nutrients then try to figure out how to use them. I think thats a pretty good list that should give you success and once you get those down and you wanna take on another challenge then maybe look into the stems you mentioned. But don't listen to me, if you like the look of those stems, get them and try. Who knows, maybe they'll work out for you the 2nd try. I'll mention scarlet temple is a rather slow grower compared to ludwigia and rotala I just remembered, one last thing. If you can try putting the intake and output of your canister filter on opposite ends of the tank for circulation. Btw early apologies for this being so all over the place I usually try to organize my writing but I had a long day haha

I'll start by addressing your question about the iron. It could be that the extra iron is the culprit so I would say hold off on the easy iron for now. You will need a little extra when your scarlet temple is doing better but easy green should offer enough since it sounds like most of your plants are still struggling at the moment. Another concern I have would be looking into if you have adequate flow within your tank. As long as you see all or most of the leaves from your plants gently moving around, that should be good enough so that we can rule nutrient export out as a possibility. I'm guessing you are mixing ro water for gh/kh . If your gh is somewhere between 3-10 dGH and kh is 3-8 dKH, it shouldn't be a point of concern. Those aren't really set numbers but I have tanks within those parameters I haven't had any specific issues in that regard. As for you general plan of attack overall I think it's a very good start. I'll suggest a few options you have or possible things to look into. 1) trim back the stems like suggested to get rid of thinned out areas, very few salvageable survivors at this point I think If you have some pictures of your whole tank or at least the stems it would give me an idea of the severity. But I would say if you have new growth cut the tops off, replant, and throw out the bottom. If you see aerial roots, cut below that. But before you do that send a picture if you can because your tank didn't look that bad and a lot of your plants may still be salvageable. 2) get additional plants to help consume some of the nitrate down to 20 ppm Definitely, this will probably be the funnest part. Look into fast growing plants like hornwort or elodea( if you like the look). Another option is getting floating plants. They will help disperse some of the light and since they are on the top with the most light they will eat up a lot of nutrients. Be sure to not let them fuly cover the top of the tank because that will choke out your plants from light and even gaseous exchange. Just make sure there isn't an oil film on the surface of your water Some floaters are water hyacinth, water lettuce, or duckweed( warning on duckweed, if you never had it, some people find it quite intrusive and a pain to get rid of) If you like the look, growing pothos out of the tank is an option. 3) keep dosing Easy Green 6 pumps weekly You could even do half of that but be sure to slowly add on more once you start seeing new growth. 4) do 25% water change weekly with less gravel vac disturbance of mulm (I like that turkey baster idea!) I would say try to fit some 50% water changes here and there. Looking at your stocking you shouldn't really have that high nitrates which leads me to think this has been building up over time. 50% every now and then will help reset your parameters so nutrients don't creep up on you. You could hover your gravel vac over the substrate to pull the waste and dead leaves out just try not to pul the gravel up. 5) decrease lighting intensity to 50% but increase duration to 8 hrs with 1 hr ramp up and 1 hr ramp down I really like this. I think this is a solid baseline you should start with for a few months. It shouldn't be too much and it allows you room to either increase intensity or time in the future when your tank fills out. I would say once everything starts growing well, you can incrementally start raising the intensity or duration, but if you like where its at just keep it. 6) try replacing root tabs every 2-3 months You could do that or just put it near the hairgrass. You could actually just put it all over the tank but for a money saver just place them where plants are. 7) try add a large sponge filter with airstone (to replace just the airstone) to add to my canister filter no problems here 8 ) continue spot treating algae areas with liquid CO2 If you don't mind the hassle sure. From the pictures you have it doesn't look like its really necessary. I usually do spot treating for plants with bigger leaves or slow growers. For stems I usually just remove the leaves or cut out any part cover in algae. For you hair grass at least, once you start seeing runners or it a decent amount of new growth, just trim it to the substrate but be sure that its good a decent hold/roots in the substrate. This part is a little more difficult to gauge so I would do it in sections. Try trimming one clump of hair grass and when you start seeing it grow back, trim the rest. I would section out all my plants like that just so you don't cut everything and they all die. If you have a picture of the tank/plants I could try to be a little more specific but if you are ever unsure what you're doing just try some of your plants so that way you don't lose everything.

I never thought a movie reference would teach me so much in one day

@Will Billy summed up mostly what I was getting at. Especially the money part haha. Now I'm not experienced in raising kh but I'd like to mention just out of safety if you do raise your kh, you should probably raise it incrementally over a few weeks, months might be better. So lets just say for example 35ppm( roughly 4 dKH) I would try to slowly raise that by 1 degree (5dKH or about 90ppm) with water changes in the timespan of a month. And I could be wrong and it might not matter just adding it all at once but usually when I enter newish territory, I do it in baby steps. A failsafe I would use is mixing the water separately in a bucket before adding it in so that you can test the kh just to make sure you're not overdosing. Another thing is you might need to calculate how much kh you need to add according to how much water you take out due to dilution. It might be easy, I'm just a dummy to that kind of stuff. This last part is more so a research topic I wanna offer since a few people mentioned they were looking for options. I will preface I have never done so take this last part with a grain of salt, but baking soda was an option Ive seen thrown around along time ago. And again I'm not saying it is a solution, I just know people have done this so please research thoroughly,