Martin

Since picking up this addiction hobby, I've found myself gambling purchasing driftwood and rocks online through Amazon and the like, just to see what kinds of pretty pieces of hardscape I might get. I can't even use it all, but it's all so pretty! It's like buying packs of baseball cards! Anyone else do this or do I need to get help?

So... to my wife's horror, I bought a 20 gallon long. 🤣 This time around, I wanted to utilize sand for the aesthetic, however I'm not fond of it as a plant substrate. I've seen some folks recommend zones and barriers to have distinct areas for the sand separated from areas of other substrate (in my case, Fluval Stratum), however I tend to like to pack in plants EVERYWHERE and zoning really doesn't work well with this. I've seen some folks put down a layer of substrate with mesh on top before placing sand, but I will be actually transitioning everything from my established 10-gallon over to the 20 long, so some plant roots are already really long. I know I need to expect there to be a mixing of substrate over time, however do you guys have any good suggestions?

I accidentally came to find that a turkey baster actually does a GREAT job of sucking patches of stuff like that up. I was having difficulties getting my tetras to eat early on since they were column feeders and wouldn't come to the surface for food, so I started using the baster to put food mid-column, but in doing so, I found it did a better job doing the opposite: sucking up scum or leftovers that were sitting on the surface of the water.

Mystery snails can take long naps (up to several days) after they have eaten. It's not unusual, but definitely made me very concerned the first few times mine did it. Had a lot of "um... u ded?" moments. Unfortunately, it does make it difficult to tell when they are actually dead sometimes.

Hey gang, Had a couple questions about using superglue to attach plants. I did it once before but had to go back and chip away the excess due to that bright white look... 1. Does that white look only occur when it is exposed to water before drying completely or does it dry like that regardless? 2. Assuming it only dries white when exposed to water, how long does it need to dry before being "safe" to submerse, thereby avoiding it turning white? I had wanted to attach the plants to the wood and let it sit out until it was safe to submerse, but I don't know how long that would be and didn't want to risk drying out the plants. Thank you all in advance! Martin

I would be fine, though I can completely understand how others could feel differently. It's a little world that you built and maintain. I'm sure it provides some feelings of control over the sometimes chaotic nature of our daily lives. I only have a little 10-gallon tank, but I can get lost just watching it for an hour and it would not be wasted time.

Good morning all! I was wondering if, when testing chemistries, do you need to monitor for ammonia specifically? I just know that most testing strips go for nitrites and nitrates only. I understand that nitrate tends to be the end product when you have a heavily planted tank, but I just wasn't sure if NH4+ needs to be on my radar. I ask because my little 10 gallon is PACKED with plants and animal life. I can't keep count of everything due to there being so many hiding places and, I'm always wondering if there is a dead fish or shrimp somewhere. There's nothing going on that makes me suspect that, but just a ponderance. Thanks in advance!

Thanks guys, @Guppysnail I had considered starvation but I don't THINK that was the issue. I had a diatom issue as well, which is what prompted the addition of both the amano and the nerites. The amano died off quickly (within a few days) and the nerites followed suit about a week later. I noticed the nerites displayed behavior that my prior nerites way back when never displayed. When introduced to the tank, they scouted out a spot and didn't really venture far from it. Two of the nerites parked themselves on the front wall of the tank and I only ever saw them within about a 3-inch radius of their original spot. One parked on the heating unit and stayed there. My old nerites lived forever and they would go all over the place. I also considered ammonia because of this behavior, but the fish in the tank are happy as can be and swimming all over the place. Also, I would feed per my usual fashion... crab cuisine for the shrimp and algae crumbles for the snails (though in all my time in the hobby, I never really figured out how they would find the crumbles at their rate of movement).

Thanks guys... well, an update: 1. No copper in my tank. Zilch. 2. All 4 nerites are now dead with bodies accounted for and removed. 3. It appears there may be one lucky amano still alive somewhere as I found a small molt in the tank this morning. So, based on the thread so far, should I be thinking of a bacterial issue? After being part of this community for some months now, I've noticed there is aversion to 'nuking' with antibiotics. I do have a package of Maracyn Two that I never had to use in the past (tetra got sick but died before the medication arrived). Any advice? Again, thank you to you all.

Thanks @ARMYVET, I don't suspect any such problems with aerosols. My aquarium is in our kitchen counter and only my wife potentially uses hair products and even then, it is rare. @Trish, so truth be told, my test strips only test for nitrites (0) and nitrates (20). I had always thought ammonia was converted into these molecules, so I didn't really fret over it. I'm semi-newbie, so feel free to correct me if I have misunderstood. If there is a nitrogenous waste problem the fish don't appear to be showing it. They have been happy and vibrant since day 1.

Thanks everyone... sounds like I have a lot of reading to do. I really appreciate everyone's input. I'll update accordingly. I was actually wrong about the nerite count, only 2 out of 4 are dead. That's what I get for having a black background with black substrate in a low-light tank and using nerites with almost all-black shells lol.

Thanks all. I had private message that also suggested to test for copper and also to consider bacteria if copper is negative. Is there a copper test kit that you guys recommend?

That's kind of the weird thing. The deaths have occurred over the course of about a month with water testing each time. Parameters are always the same. No fry either.

Hmm... Is there something off in my original post? You're the second person asking about the parameter details, but I had them posted above. Can everyone see them? Just in case something is wonky: pH: 6.8-7.0KH: roughly 1.8GH: 6.7Nitrates: 20 The tank is roughly 7 months old with healthy plant growth. In my estimation, my tank is moderate to heavily planted (amazon sword, crypto luteo, crypto green, 2x marimo, windelov fern, dwarf hairgrass, and 3x very long susswassertang vines. Also, the surface is mostly covered with amazon frogbit and redroot floaters. Okay, after spelling all that out... maybe it's flat-out heavily planted. 😁

@Jollypop4321 My parameters are noted above and haven't budged for some time now. I did a routine change of my hob filter 2 weeks ago. I keep up with my tank maintenance pretty consistently. Not sure what it could be. @Colu do mineral blocks do the same thing as Wonder Shells? If so, I'll drop another one in and check.

Thanks Colu, I'm was feeding the shrimp "Crab Cuisine" and the nerites small algae crumbles. The tank also had a healthy amount of diatoms, so I figured they were okay in the nutrition department. Now that you mention it, my GH is somewhat of a mystery to me. My water is relatively soft, so I had added a small Wonder Shell some time ago that drove my GH up to what it is now. That was literally about 4 months ago and the GH has never come back down, even after my routine water changes. I have nothing else in the tank that would be contributing minerals to the water... strange.

Hey all! I've recently been facing an issue with dying invertebrates without any clear cause. My tank is a 10-gallon that has been pretty well-established and moderate to heavily planted. The water parameters have been consistently stable for months (tested weekly) at: pH: 6.8-7.0 KH: roughly 1.8 GH: 6.7 Nitrates: 20 I've lost 5x ghost shrimp, then 7x amano shrimp, followed by 3x nerites. The ghost shrimp died shortly after the introduction of some glowlamp tetra, however I watched them closely and never observed any foul play. The shrimp themselves never displayed any prey-like behavior and would never go into hiding either. In addition, the shrimp were a good size (roughly 1" or larger) so I wouldn't expect tetra to harass them. After I lost the ghost shrimp, I replaced them with the amano. Admittedly, they were very small (half-inch or less). While I never observed any foul play either, they DID go into hiding and I would randomly find a dead one out in the open. The puzzling thing to me are the nerites. I added 4 of them and 3 of them are now dead. The fish (combo of glowlamp and neons) have all been happy throughout their course in the tank without losses. Anyone know of any unaccounted factors that I may be missing? I know the glowlamps may be a potential culprit, but it's just odd, and I don't know that they would account for the dead nerites. I've never had this issue before and I'm rather bummed about the ghost shrimp as I had them for a good long while. I like diversity in the types of animal life in my tank, but at this point, I'm hesitant to add anything else. Thanks to everyone in advance! Martin

Thanks @CalmedByFish! I didn't think some hornwort and a pothos would be enough plant life, so thats good to know. I've used stuff from my main tank as well so hopefully everything sticks. @Patrick_G, those look great! I hadn't considered usage of several vessels together for a unified look. Awesome job! After some consideration, I may need to consider a different jar since the mouth is only big enough to fit my hand through but the base us rather wide by comparison. That's one of the big factors as to why I'm uprooting everything just to make adjustments or add root tabs.

I purchased a few small mesh bags and basically filled them full of coral and placed them behind things like rocks and such to hide them out of the way. Alternatively, I also used Wonder Shells to great effect. EDIT: Sorry I read and gave input on your original post, not realizing how much your conversation had changed. I had a similar issue with my pH, but didn't want to push the GH too much as the Wonder Shell had already done it's job. I ended up just using a SeaChem pH regulator (sorry they have so many products I always forget the names) only as needed to push the pH back up if it was dipping lower than I would like.

Hey all! So... I bought some preserved peaches from Costco and it came in this big oval jar that was too nice to just throw away (roughly 0.6 to 0.7 gallon). So naturally, I do the logical thing all of us do with empty containers and imagine what it would look like if I stuffed some substrate, plants, and animal life in it... Jarquarium! I want to do full biological filtration as the jar isn't big enough and I am not handy enough to rig any mechanical filtration devices. I know you would need a lot of plants if you go this route, but I don't know what "a lot" would constitute. I've got a small sword, an anubias nana, and some baby dwarf tears already present (thanks Coop!). I'd like to add some sort of animal life to the jar, but I don't think I would be able to sustain anything more than maybe one shrimp or a couple of snails. Can anyone give me an idea of your own experiences with such a set up and what level of plant life you used and the corresponding amount of animal life you were/are able to sustain? If needed, my wife grows a lot of sweet potato vines and I could always plop one of those on top as well. I just don't want to snuff out any critters due to lack of O2. Also, if you have done this, any tips on how to put in root tabs without absolutely tearing up the mini-scape? Those root tabs are so light and airy they break out of the substrate and float to the top, but to get them deep usually ends up uprooting the plants. 😥 Thanks to everyone as usual!

Wow, so many beautiful options... I'm gonna need a bigger tank. 😈 Wow you are right, that bad boy is a really beautiful, (seemingly) low lying plant.

Thanks @NanoNano! I'll have to check out the spiralis, that sounds like it has potential. I was also looking at some red root floaters, but am undecided on those.

Thanks all, I forgot to mention, my tank is a 10 gallon. I read up on the repens and understand that it can get quite large. Given I already have the aponogeton, I'm not sure how well it will all hold up.

Thanks guys! I will do some research on all of those to see what parameters/light they need. That scarlet temple melted and melted and melted and just never came back, not sure if it was the high light requirement.

Awesome! I'm wanting to learn more about Walstad method, but I have too much going on in life to read through that book! So many things to do/learn in life, so little time!! EDIT: Oh BTW, what is an "invert" tank?