darkG

Cheap ways to make things work are often actually not bad at all 🙂 see if you know someone with pothos or spider plant or any other enticing shoots to give. (I don't know if there are also outdoor plants, wild or planted, that can be tried? Good thing with free: We can try and fail without any regrets.)

In some cases an "off-line sump" or planted tub might be useful, depending on your keeping and living conditions. I mean a largish (or maybe small will do) planted tub to precondition water used for water changes. Your plants in your proper tank will prefer the ammonium and leave much of the nitrate (or so I'm told), while the tub plants will have little choice but to make do with the tap nitrate. Some waste water back to this tub (hence "sump") may keep nutrients adequate so we don't waste a lot of fertilizer. I don't know if this setup is a thing, but I don't see why it wouldn't be considered, if it is practical in your home. Apart from scrubbing nitrates, it will bring the water to room temperature. Maybe it will passively dechlorinate as well?

Small tank news. I used JBL Sansibar sand (I don't think that brand is a thing oitside Europe?) and needed more. But I couldn't find a deal, and the colour (black but kind of glittery) was so-so. Instead I topped off with their gravel Manado. I had this idea of blacks and white and grays. Java fern are on pieces of wood so they can be relocated easily. I don't love it, yet. The lights didn't turn out great after all. One thing made me smile though: A young shrimp somehow made it in there from the big tank! It's surprising.

The extent to which I thought Opal in the first image was a flower is worrying.

If the tank is pushing the pH up or pulling it down, each water change to compensate will be a disturbance, but if the tank is largely inert (not trying to raise or lower pH) the water change water could be conditioned to fit. If you water change by the bucket, a predetermined amount of a suitable acid could be added. This is just armchair reasoning though.

It's probably alright either way, especially for a (long) time. I think I just prefer replanting. I don't like the rock wool.

I agree, I think activated carbon isn't routinely helpful but not harmful either. Some people leave it to age and become a biofilter. There are suggestions that some toxic stuff it does pick up may be released eventually.

The roots (ime) really stick to the rock wool. But they can handle a fair bit of damage.

For several days or weeks, a few water changes will suffice IME.

I think that's the common Physa aka bladder snail 🙂

I am happy to hear that many of you do not experience any problems from excess copper in your tap water! If you have nothing to worry about, you should indeed not worry. Invertebrates are rather sensitive and tap water does occasionally contain unsafe levels and copper piping is a main factor. Larger scale installations will benefit from negligible percent stagnant water.

Whether copper levels is an issue isn't easy to know. New pipes does mean a greater risk. Letting the water run is helpful if the leaching is indeed a problem. Copper ppm will depend on temperature, time stagnant and pH. Letting the water run obviously nulls stagnant time and likely removes all potential danger. A large water change after a holiday without flushing out the maybe high-copper water in the pipes is probably unwise. It might be perfectly safe, no way of knowing unless you know. There are copper tests, maybe use one and be better informed! I think Seachem may have the best one (please get a second opinion on that).

It is. It will eat some time though, be sure you have some to spare!

Maybe A. barteri var. Glabra..?

Some source of ammonia is needed. You may have a rich substrate or plant fertilizer for example. When I did it, I put in some fish food and some human food. It didn't quite cut it, or I was too moderate, so I (calculated and) poured some pure ammonia and that did it. (I still add a drop or two, for now I have only a handful of cherry shrimp and small snails, so there's not a lot of food going in, and plants seem to thrive without much fertilizer [other than that ammonia]). 6-8 weeks sounds about right I think. I didn't add BB as such though, it is reported to speed things up somewhat.

Nothing much to report; several shrimplings shrimpling about, five of the six females are berried. The alleged MTS don't burrow but kind of plow the sand at times. The Lobelia in the foreground was a surprise gift when buying other plants, it was said to more or less require CO₂ but it seems alright. The other tank is cycling, pics pending.

Aphids, I think.

Imagitarium Resin Rustic Cube ☺️ looks good IMO.

I have irregular hours, I mean yeah but the tank light is irregular too, anyway I begin to notice certain plants closing up when they have had enough, especially my Rotala rotundifolia seems to signal distinctly. So keeping an eye on plants may be useful in these kinds of investigations.

Yep, pH. Must be considered.

I found sculpting and glueing styrofoam, then painting / spackling with watery fast setting concrete, similar to Stephen's #2, really doable. I would do it again. I didn't use a coat.

I am trying d-c-fix adhesive vinyl on the inside in my small tank. Not yet wet:

I finally managed to give away the random fish. The existing lamp isn't bad, I'd say, but it's short. I found three low voltage spot lights and added them thusly: They are rather weak and warm-colour, but I'll just decide to like this and the asymmetry. 🙂

Yeah, Anubias I know need other individuals to cross pollinate, and I think some messing around with the fruits and seeds to make it all work. I know nothing about Cryptocoryne flowers. Good to hear that nutrients are not an issue 👍