McNubbin

Not that I can see. The tank was well scrubbed before getting set back up and I've only been feeding algae wafers since setting it back up. I'll try to get a better look when I do the water change this afternoon.

I believe @subramnis referring to the white stuff growing in and on the dark substrate.

Hey everyone. I recent purchased 5 siamese algae eaters and 5 Mollies for my 20 gallon and 75 gallon display tank, respectively. I set up my 15 gallon quarantine tank, dropped in the cycled sponge filter and some 5 gallonsish of water from the 75 gallon. I've been doing 50% WC everyday (day 5 now). Nitrates are less than .25, nitrites are 0 and ammonia is under .25 before the water change I've been keeping the tank at about 80°f as thats what my other tanks are at for the Julies. I don't have a light on the tank, light reaching the tank is a small window shining into a small room indirectly. Why on earth does my tank smell like a swamp!? I had some API fungal guard in the tank previously with one of my Julies. After the treatment I tore the tank down, cleaned everything with hydrogen peroxide and let it all sit dry for over a week. Then I set it up with all the trimming and within a day the water started to tinge green and get a smell. I've been doing water changes and dosing with some starter bacteria. But always within a day it gets swampy again. My assumption is the the sponge filter alone isn't enough filtration for the current number of fish and some sort of algae or bacteria is starting to bloom. The fish don't look any worse for wear at the moment. I drop an algae wafer in for food and they tend to eat most of it before I change the water. With no health issues and not crazy parameters, I assume it fine to drive on until the cycle starts in earnest?

Yeah, the wood will definitely decompose over time. Boiling would likely soften the wood more and make it fall apart faster as well. And honestly, boiling won't do much for the algae either. My suggestion, get more oto's. 5 or 6 will do a great job taking care of the algae. I let my 75g tank season to a point that my background wall composed of slate tiles were very well algaefide, in less than a month 5 oto's darn near clean it free of the stuff. I've come to understand mollies are really good for cleaning algae too. I just bought some lyretails to give it a try. Good luck though!

Add in a second test either on Monday, or on Tuesday before adding your fertilizers. Add more more test on Friday as well, or just before doing the water change on Friday. This will help pinpoint the fertz as the cause and show if the ammonia and nitrates are being consumed properly by bacteria and plants.

Algae i think is going to grow regardless right? I've certainly never had a tank that was algae free, definitely not planted. I think consider some fish that feed on algae to help reduce it all. Things like Chinese or Siamese algae eaters, otocinclus, etc. They tend to be smaller, so are fairly inconspicuous, so long as nothing else in the tank is big enough to eat them. Shrimp and snails both are good algae eaters. However, snails in particular have a tendency to explode in population when food is abundant.

Gotcha. Yep, your best bet then is definitely going to be getting some kH buffers then.

What's the reason for using RO in the first place? If you're using it because you have hard and alkaline water, you can mix the RO with your water to get the parameters you want.

There are some oto's in the tank, but they go nowhere near the moss. There's a Masked Julie in there so no crustaceans. I'll definitely look into the SAEs or Mollys though. Thanks for the tip.

I've been collecting rain water for this purpose. Ill be looking for a cheap 10-20 gallon to setup for the bananas and some other soft/acidic loving plants and fish. This winter I'll collecting everything to put gutters up on the pole barn before the winter thaw hits.

All the way yes! Man, I wish my bananas would grow like that! The leafs on mine tend to want to melt after a month or two. After reading @Daniel post about Banana plants and their water parameters, I am thinking my water is far to hard and alkaline for them to thrive.

The powerwall would be there to store excess power and act as a capacitor. Solar and wind would be the main continuous power sources. Out here in farm land Michigan, there's generally some amount of wind. Typically, if it's not windy, its a sweltering hot sunny summer day. The generator would really be a worst case Ontario back up. Between wind, solar and creative use of energy mechanics I think we can achieve a net zero Consumers Power consumption.

Watch some green aqua videos in youtube. They talk almost exclusively about planting tanks and bring in a good number of pro aquascapers to talk about their methodologies. Great info to be found there that should help you get started.

Any idea what is causing my Christmas moss to become so fuzzy? I am guessing algae or fungus. What might I be able to do to clear off the fuzz that won't kill the moss? Its gotten to the point that I am considering pulling the bridge out and tossing it as it really isn't that good of a look.

My bulb did the same in the first week. Not to that extent though. Just a touch of fungus. I pulled it out and cleaned off the fungus from the surface as soon as I noticed it and it didn't return. As bad as yours looks, I am thinking it might be too late.

I had been thinking of using some form of UPS to keep heat and air going in my tanks. Unfortunately due my main 75 gallon tank that is filtered by a canister and heated by an inside heater, I would need a fairly large UPS to power it for any amount of time. Friday before last we had a storm blow that took out power for about 5 hours. I have a feeling that will be the norm when we lose power. Given the previous owner of the house installed a generator hook up, I am guessing power goes out with some sort of regular frequency. As we haven't lived here a full year yet, time will tell. With that in mind, the wife and I have been discussing a 2 stage, three source power setup. The idea being we build something akin to the Tesla Powerwall in the pole barn (thats where the mains feed into the main breaker box). On top of the pole barn will be a solar panel array, as well as a wind turbine or two. That will be the "first stage" of power. When/if that isn't enough to meet power demands, we are thinking of getting a Generac that can run off our propane tank. That would be the second stage of power. Being out in the country we definitely want to be a little more self sufficient. We are hoping this setup will help us get off the power grid, or at least help significantly reduce our power costs.

QNice! Just ordered some pearl weed myself to start carpeting my 75 gallon. I got a lily bulb as well. Mine took about a month to really start taking off. But boy, when it does start growing, it goes! These are just about 1 month apart. And this was a few days later. Today, another couple of days later and that lily is nearly half way up my 75 gallon. enjoy your purchases!

I am not really quite sure yet. Where my 20 gallon is now is a cubby that is 24 inches deep and 52 inches wide. I am going to build a cabinet for it about 30 inches tall. On it I was thinking of either a 40 gallon breeder set up for shell dwellers, a series of nano tanks, or making a custom tank that fits the spot. I just worry about the weight over time with a custom set up. 800 lbs+ is a lot of weight for a second level floor.

Having just gone through a bout of ich and fungus, I cannot recommend a quarantine tank enough. Having a cycled tank isn't that important with a quarantine tank. One way or the other, it fish shouldn't be in the tank for long and some of the meds you are likely to use generally require daily or bi-daily water changes. Adding water from the tank and a cycled bubble filter will certainly help not stress out the fish with a big change in and reduce the risk of ammonia spikes. As for it being dropsy, I unfortunately don't know enough there to be of help.

So, I did get the fish into a quarantine tank. He's been in the tank for 4 days today. I noticed yesterday that the spot of fungus on his eye was gone. I am finishing off the whole of the treatment. Tomorrow morning I'll be moving him back to the display tank. All in all, this was quite the learning experience. I'll certainly be more confident moving forward. Thanks for the help @Cory

Ich is a parasite that presents as white dots. I'll digress to more knowledgeable members, but this looks fungal to me.

I just got a dynaflo 150 with a 15 gallon tank I bought recently. Pure 80s nostalgia right there. I was thinking of setting it up with some lava rocks. However, after a test.run I found it to be a bit to loud. The inlet tube is getting a bit dry rotted too. It does work though, and only need to dump a couple cups of water into it to get it primed and running. I am a big fan of the 3 r's though, so I may look into reusing it somehow.

Ok, a quick update, the new tank is bought and is currently getting up to temp. The fungus cure does now seem to be having an effect. Its definitely reduced and just a small bit remains. I'm still planning on quarantining him and giving one more treatment though since it's still present.

Went and picked up a 15 gallon aquarium today to use as a quarantine tank. It came with some accessories, like a filters, air pump and heater... but check out the vintage of these things! Dynaflo Power filter 150 Penn Plax XP 440 Air pump Penn Plax Therma flow All seems to be circa 1979-1980. All of it seems to be in working order as well. I must say, not a bad snag for 20 bucks. Prefect I think for a quarantine tank as well. It also came with what appears to be a "betta tank" though, if I use it. It will be to temporarily house fry. There also appears to be what might be some form of "sponge" filter. I am going to pick upnsome lava rock soon, so I think I'll also get some batting and fill this with those too use in a set up at some point.

Same as everyone else. I get a lot of enjoyment out of watching fish do their thing in this little bubble of an ecosystem I keep in my house. I also enjoy the fact that my 3 year old is getting an appreciation of nature out of it as well.