CT_

They usually sit still for a couple hours before molting too. I guess they're working stuff loose before they pop out

Oof. I didn't know that. That's crummy that you need ro+di. Worth also noting that 1ppm of ammonia may not be toxic unless your ph is high. Smaller water changes is probably the cheapest option.

I admire your setup. My new shrimp tank is unheated, but other than that I couldn't get away without a heater.

yeah. most fish and plants like at least some gh and kh. exactly how you get there is up to you. my water is REALLY soft so I use crushed coral and seachem Equilibrium as needed. shrimp people don't like equilibrium because it adds a lot of nutrients (mostly potassium) for plants that don't "count" as gh.

I think that's generally about what the heater sizing recommendations are designed for. I wouldn't oversize unless you anticipate your room temps dropping even more over winter.

Worth pointing out that convection (flow) will prevent hot spots around your heater. I still think a couple of smaller ones is better for not accidentally cooking fish with a failure. Whats the total temperature difference between your tank and your room? That and the size/shape of your tank should determine heater size. My tank in the kitchen is 14gallons with a 50w heater but it only runs at about a 25% duty cycle (so about 12watts on average).

Distilled or RO water is always an option, but you'll probably want to remineralize it. If you go that route it'll probably be cheapest to buy your own reverse osmosis system. The cheap ones, which work fine, are a couple hundred I think. maybe less. I think what others are saying is that even know prime et al. "neutralize" ammonia the assay has an even stronger affinity for the ammonia so it still shows up in tests. TBH I'm skeptical any of these neutralizers work since no one can explain* how they work and the formulas are all "trade secret". There is a LOT of anecdotal evidence that they do work though, and while "skeptics" usually discard that, its not nothing. *explanations I've read to date have all included incorrect logic or chemistry.

You don't include a time stamp but I'm going to assume yes. fountain pumps and power heads are the same (motor and impeller) a pump may be optimized for more head pressure, but from the ones I've seen they're all very basic. I'd just use what you have.

I have some ugly stem plant clippings that I want to see if I can grow out submerged so they'd be ready to transplant in an aquarium when I need them. Right now they're in a coffee cup under my lamp, but is there a way to do with without also creating an algae farm?

This is fantastic! Pro tip. coroplast grows naturally in lawns and road sides. It usually crops up around election time and can be harvested shortly after elections.

you could also try to partition the tank with some egg crate panel like this stuff. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Plaskolite-4-ft-x-2-ft-Suspended-Egg-Crate-Light-Ceiling-Panel-1199233A/202025149

I've got a lot of dust on my glass from the fluorite in a new tank. are things like papertowels aquarium safe? a clean terry cloth? What do people use.

if you have a HOB or canister you can put CC in there. There's probably a black calcite mineral rock out there too, but it would have something else to make it black. I wonder if a table spoon of CC in the center of a sponge filter would work too. I'd be curious to know if anyone tried that.

Also it might be helpful to define "high" ph. You may have to do nothing.

I did exactly this with 1/4 PET "ice maker" tubing as the siphon tube. I trickle water change my 5.5g through a filter that takes the chlorine out so i never had a flow issue. I used white PVC that I spray painted black. you have to look for ABS drain pipe usually if you want black. at least in the USA.

I've got some brown culls and my rice fish breeders in the bathroom. why not both!

TY :). This is certainly a good omen for the great repopulation!

the move triggered at least one to molt. I think I saw the precursors to mating. photos in this thread: I saw all four out and about at once so everyone else is still alive.

I came home to this. I left for dinner and came back: And if there's any doubt I found this after looking around.

I've never rebuilt a tank but PDMS (silicone) will covalently bond to glass so I think the most important thing is to make sure you clean both surfaces REALLY good and if there used to be silicone on the joint I'd also sand the mating surfaces and wipe everything with acetone.

I found this. page 9 has a climate map. prettymuch all of the US except parts of texas and FL are score a 0 on matching. So it sounds safe. but it also sounds like its probably not possible to breed out doors here.

yeah. its the same water but my main tank hardness is a lot higher because, i presume, the coral has had more time to dissolve, and the co2 acidifies the water more. I did acclimate them for about an hour before introducing. I've also been adding tiny scoops of equilibrium (about 5ppm change worth) twice a day to bring it up since I realized the difference. I'm trying to minimize the meddling I'm doing but its hard as fiddling with stuff that doesn't need to be fixed is hard wired into my brain.

Last summer my tub grew CRAZY amounts of random snails. I don't hate them. in the tub I rather like them, but there were a TON. I'm wondering if I could "breed" higher value snails in a summer tub in seattle. I guess I need to know 1) are they invasive 2) will they survive the temps. I didn't monitor too close but I think even in summer my tub got down to the 50's in temperature. Internet says they like high 60's. but the internet says the same thing about the rice fish that survived an inch of ice in this tub.

I think cory's said on his live streams that they come in when they come in and it happens multiple times a week. IDK if that's still true to this day though. They are agricultural products too so s*** happens and sometimes you order things and it doesn't come 😞

I ended up spending too much time yesterday watching fish dissections. really interesting and after watching about 5 of them I have a much better idea of what to expect. I suspect it would be fairly difficult to dissect a tetra though.