MBStevens

Yeah I've tried every different kind of nerite I can get my hands on. When I buy them I make sure to only buy the ones that are actively munching on walls. And I'm always watching when I have them for if they've overturned themselves so I can help them back over. I've done a lot of research on them to ensure I'm pulling out all the stops, but I'm still not successful.

Hungry amano shrimp, true siamese algae eaters, and panda garra are what I have in my tanks that I've seen nibbling on or chowing down on my bba. The SAE are the true BBA eating champs. They'll be mowing the lawn even as I'm feeding the rest of the tank some delicious bug bites or something. The panda garra I've seen eating on it but only after I've withheld food for a day. The amano shrimp are kinda lazy bc they get a lot of food in other ways, but they definitely will if they're hungry.

I have very hard water with a kH of 22 (which is pretty extreme) and gH of 8. My rams have not lasted longer than 3 months, and a couple lasted one or two weeks. I have a feeling that the hardness was the source of our issues. I know they're supposed to be somewhat adaptable, but I think my water was just too much. I'm waiting until I move to another house with (hopefully) much softer water so I can try my favorite fish again. So, that said, I'm curious what your kH is as we know your gH. I really hope you have the best of luck with your rammies! They're so wonderful.

So I have successfully kept multiple mystery snails in my 20g for over a year now with no issues. My dream though has been to get some Nerite snails to work on some green spot algae and just because I like them. However, I've NEVER been able to keep them alive! They inevitably die a couple days after getting them into the tank, even after acclimating them which seems a bit over the top for snails. No predators in the tank. Have tried getting them from multiple sources, reputable LFS's etc. My water is liquid rock, basically. kH of 22 (!!!) and gH of 8. I have softened well water. pH of 8.3 but I have co2 running so it fluctuates down to 7.6ish through the day/night cycle. I don't know much else about my water's chemistry other than that it does have a lot of iron. Do you think my extreme carbonate hardness could be the issue? Extremes make for trouble in aquariums as I have learned. I know nerites like harder water though so it is confusing to me.

The finnex should be fine. I have a 20 high and a fluval 3.0. It's considered "high" light if on full strength. If you were to want to experiment with high light plants in the future, fluval could do that for you, but also can do low light when it is ramped down. That said though I would probably go for the cheaper option of the finnex.

What a lovely job!! Almost any fish would love to live here. :) I think the cories have plenty of room. And they are weird little boogers, I think they like to glass surf.