sparklymoonshrimp

Awesome, thanks for the responses everyone! So the consensus is that the plant looks awful but it's not completely dead? And it should recover with care and a trim??

Am new to a high tech planted tank and underestimated how much fertilizer the plants needed, so when I came back from vacation many of the leaves were brown and disintegrating. I had a lot of beautiful Java moss growing on a branch, but it's about 99% brown now, and it's been about a week and a half since I started dosing fertilizer again. My other plants are bouncing back and have new growth, and the Java moss has small spots of green, but on the whole it's almost entirely brown and I'm worried it's not coming back now. Should I remove the branch so it doesn't raise the ammonia levels? Thank you for your help!

Ah, I tested my water for ammonia right out of the tap, before putting in conditioner. Should I test the tap after adding conditioner, as well? Or would that be redundant? Thanks for your help! The test I took today was about 4 days after a water change. I've never seen the ammonia down to 0ppm in this tank. ☹️ I think at this point, I should just take the water in to get tested. I have added some more plants to my tank, so I'm hoping that they will help it balance out a bit. Do you think it's unsafe to put my betta in there?

Oh, you know what? I think I actually do have ammonia in my tap water. When testing my tank, I decided to "test" my tap water, expecting it to show 0ppm ammonia, and I was going to use that true yellow color as a comparison for my cycling tank. I was shocked, though, because it did show about 0.25 or 0.5ppm, it was notably chartreuse. When I refilled my aquarium, the water I added was about half tap, half RO water. Shouldn't the ammonia levels be lower? Wouldn't the ammonia quickly go down because it would be fixed by nitrates? I have the API Master Test Kit that I got about 2 years ago, and the bottles show that they are good until 2024. I thought this was a highly recommended kit, and that it was reliable? Or are LFSs going to be the only places that can really provide me with reliable readings?

I started cycling a small, 5.5g aquarium back in May or June of this year, with the intention of making it an experimental planted tank. After 3 or more months, it STILL was not cycled, and I was barely getting any register of nitrates; I think the amount of nitrates even lowered at one point. Cycling this aquarium was really not working out for me for some reason, so out of frustration I stopped testing it since I didn't have livestock in it. I've since put plants in it, and I have some bladder snails roaming around, as well. I also just added a mystery snail today, too. I tested my water parameters--ammonia is still present at around 0.25ppm, my nitrites are 0ppm, and my nitrates are around 5ppm. Is this because I haven't added ammonia to the aquarium, so nitrates haven't had a chance to form? But.. I still have ammonia present in my aquarium, too, even if it's in small amounts. This is even after a large water change; a few days ago (Sunday) I replaced almost all the water in the tank when doing maintenance (I had also added a clay gravel on top of my planted substrate, to keep the dirt from floating around in the tank). Again, this aquarium has been running for nearly half a year now. It has a filter, light, heater, planted tank substrate, plants (for at least the past 2 months) and I have occasionally used water from my cycled aquarium. Why is it not cycling? How can I fix this? Is it unsafe to add my betta fish to this tank? He is in a cycled and healthy aquarium at the moment, but I would like to eventually move him to this planted tank. I added the mystery snail to it because I figured it would help with adding nitrates to the water over time. Should I wait until the ammonia level is registering at 0?

Thanks so much for your response! This is a dumb question, but I'm not a very technical person and I have not yet set up my CO2 tank (waiting on parts). Would this screw onto where the bubble counter would normally go? And, I'm guessing this particular hardware does not fit onto paintball tanks, right? Still very good to have for future reference, though.

Thanks for your response, I will definitely look into this! I only have 5.5g aquariums right now, so hopefully it will last me for awhile... Fortunately the place I can get it refilled at is only 15 mins away, but if I find it to be a hassle I might end up buying another set-up. Totally would want a larger system, but I think this is probably most practical for my small tanks and apartment haha

I am setting up a CO2 (paintball) system and am wondering if I can use a T Connector to provide CO2 for two different tanks? I think I would probably have to increase the amount of CO2 that comes out so that I can get the right pressure? Thanks!

I've used the Fluval Stratum for Plants & Fish but it's so messy, it breaks down quickly into a fine powder that coats every thing. I'm wondering if there is a good planted tank substrate that is a bit more solid?

That's okay, what you were able to tell me is really helpful still! 🙂 Maybe I'll try using one of those cheaper, basic blue aeration stones you seen often, I think even Aquarium Co-Op has them. Thanks for your help! 👍

Hi! So this is the diffuser I got for it (not the same brand I don't think, but is identical): https://www.amazon.com/Rodipu-Transparent-Diffuser-Durable-Aquarium/dp/B08R943ZW4/ref=sr_1_47?dchild=1&keywords=diffuser+co2&qid=1628959357&sr=8-47 I had a suspicion as well that there simply might not be enough pressure in my small bottle to push gas through this type of diffuser, as I usually see it used in fancier set-ups. Here is a picture of my bottle and check valve: http://imgur.com/a/rnwTmcd

Hello, I planned on making my 5.5g tank a planted one, so I wanted to experiment with DIY CO2 as a way to save money. I followed the instructions of this article here: https://www.buildyouraquarium.com/diy-co2-reactor/ .... Despite following these directions, there are no bubbles whatsoever appearing from the diffuser, and after 12 hours the CO2 indicator shows no change and sits at blue. Since my tank is smaller, I went with a single bottle with a size of 15.2 fl oz and so halved the ingredients (sugar, yeast, baking soda) when preparing the mixture. I think this part might be okay-- I can see that the bottle has been reacting for about 12 hours now, bubbles are fizzing up towards the top of the bottle. I think something might be wrong with the physical mechanics of how the bottle was set up. Initially I had been fiddling around with the tubing and inadvertently pushed several inches of it into the bottle without realizing it, straight into the liquid mixture, so I think that might've made it to where the gas wasn't entering the line properly. Liquid also entered the tubing, and is scattered around different parts of it as well as a bit in the check valve and diffuser. I poured about 1/5 of the liquid in the bottle out and pulled the tubing further back out (the silicone for the lid was still wet, and I re-applied more afterwards) so that gas could rise to the top of the bottle and go cleanly into the tubing. I also wonder if the placement of my check valve is incorrect. In the article, it states to insert the check valve to where the arrow is pointed in the direction of CO2 flow (from bottle to tank) but the check valves I have do not show an arrow. The picture supplied in the article makes it look like at the tip of the arrow is also the tip of the the piece inside the check valve, so that's what I used to base the check valve insertion off of, but now I wonder if this might be wrong, too... Does anyone know what might've possibly gone wrong with how I did my CO2 system? Please let me know, I'm eager to get plants in my tank! 😭

Cool, thanks! 🙂

Hi Roy, thanks for getting back to me. So I think my ammonia is sitting around 3.0 - 4.0 ppm-- would this be too dangerous for plant tissue? Also, I know that plants will lower ammonia levels, that's why I'm afraid it could disrupt the cycling process because the ammonia is needed to build nitrites/nitrates. Should this be a concern? That the plants could lower the ammonia to where there is not enough to continue feeding nitrites/nitrates? I'm not sure if it would matter too much, but am worried because I've spent a bit on aquatic plants in the past, only to have them fail ☹️ And I don't want to disrupt the cycle as it's already taken so long lol

I'm currently cycling an aquarium that I plan on making into a planted tank. I've been cycling this aquarium for a long time now (over 2 months, due to some issues on my part) and am finally starting to get nitrates, so I'm a little paranoid about adding plants to the mix if they will be consuming the ammonia in the tank that is needed to cycle it. I might just be paranoid, but figured I'd ask. Is it okay to add plants in the aquarium even though it is still cycling? Would this mess with my parameter test results? Thanks!

Thank you everyone for your help!

Oh, good point. Should I do a large water change in general, as well, like two-thirds? Would it help if I used one of those bacteria/cycling-boosting products?

Hello Everyone, I started trying to cycle my second aquarium, which is a 5.5g with two of the Aquarium Co-Op nano sponge filters (cycling two sponges so I can downsize a sponge filter in my other aquarium), on 04/24/21 but as of right now, over two months later, the parameters are sitting at: Ammonia = 5.0ppm, Nitrites = 0.25ppm, and Nitrates = 0ppm. I was able to detect nitrites starting in mid-May, but the concentration has literally sat unchanged as well as the concentrations for Ammonia and of course Nitrate. The only difference I can think of between cycling this tank and cycling my last one is that the last time I tried cycling an aquarium, I had a shrimp/planted tank substrate so perhaps that gave more porous surfaces for bacteria to grow on. I didn't think that would be necessary though, especially with an extra sponge that could help nitrite colonize, but I'm wondering if it's maybe due to my area's very hard water? Please help if you can! I'm anxious to get my next aquarium going. 😭

Thank you for all of your responses!

Hello Everyone, Was testing my water parameters this evening and was unsure if I was detecting ammonia or not, so I decided to add the testing solutions to tap water to see how yellow it appeared, assuming it would be at 0ppm. To my surprise, the bottle turned green. Thinking perhaps my test tube was dirty, I rinsed the one I had used to test my betta's tank (which had originally appeared yellow) and tested the tap again, getting the same results: http://imgur.com/a/PV7HrMl Looks like it's around 0.5 - 1.0ppm? Just wondering if this is normal, if anyone else's water also tested for ammonia?

Thanks so much for your comment and the reference to your previous forum post; I'll have to look through it when I get some time. Your issue sounds like mine; out of curiosity, have you ever considered doing RO water for your planted tank? I don't know too much about how that works, and I don't have the means to do all of that now (in a 1 br apt atm) but one day I'd like to do different planted tanks with a lot of diversity, I don't really want to be limited by my area's natural water parameters.

Hi! I really appreciate your informative response. I'm at work atm, but can get water parameters later. Quick question-- I live in an area with VERY hard water, like mineral build-up appears on everything, like in the toilet and anything with standing water in it. Do you think that could be linked to the issues I have with my planted tanks? So far, the only plant I've had long-term success with is Java moss. 😐 beautiful, but even my anubias plants looked poor shortly after I got them. It's hard to tell by this picture (I know, I should've taken more) but the leaves on these seem to get.. tough or stiff looking? Similar thing happened with the anubias plants..Eventually looking kind of crimped with brown speckles on it, slowly losing its green vividness? I just can't believe how poor my results with planted tanks are. 😐

Hello Everyone, I purchased a Banana Plant here from Aquarium Co Op a few months ago, though I can't say exactly when. The plant seemed to be doing fine: I had it sitting on a sand substrate, with root tabs and liquid fertilizer, so it's been sprouting new leaves and roots. Unfortunately in the past few weeks it appears to be getting sickly. One of the "bananas" (if you will) has turned yellow, but the biggest problem is that the leaves are turning brownish-red and are disintegrating. I'm quite exasperated by this. I had attempted a planted aquarium over a year ago and had the same issue: the leaves would slowly turn translucent and disintegrate, despite using liquid all-in-one liquid fertilizer and having appropriate plant lighting. Picture: http://imgur.com/a/xQ4rOAQ I'm not sure what could be causing this issue. I've tried researching it, but can't find anything describing what's happening with my plants. I really want to have a planted aquarium, but I can't keep spending money on plants only to have them die... Please help!

What if your house isn't level? 😅 I'm moving soon, but the apartment/house that I'm currently living in is slanted (it was built in 1880 or something like that). We live on the top floor and realized that the floors were slanted when our office chairs wouldn't stop rolling across the floor (while we were sitting in them) unless our feet were firmly planted to the ground. In my 10g aquarium, the water level is noticeably higher on the right side.

They do have rims, fortunately, and the weight capacity for each shelf is 350lbs which is great. I thought I read that uneven surfaces could cause leaks in your aquarium, so I wanted to make sure that I wasn't potentially damaging my tanks by doing this. Do you mind if I ask how the tank being rimless affects what surface they should be on? That way I know for future reference. Thanks for your help. 🙂