DavidR

The more digging into this the more I keep reading that at home nitrate reading kits aren't accurate and shouldn't be relied on to maintain a healthy fish tank. I don't even test it, I know I have adequate filtration to perform water changes every other week, I typically do a 30-40% water change weekly anyway.

I'd suggest that you need a bit of patience with the tank. It will take some time for the plants to root and really start to take off. To add to this, fertilizer. Make sure you are following the Easy Green instructions, it shouldn't be a once a week event to add it. Many say root tabs every 3-6 months, maybe on the more frequent side with the sand as your base.

The way Dean has his fishroom setup is a masterpiece. We all aspire to add a bit of his ingenuity. One of the reasons we all love his fishroom tours. I find myself noticing something else each time.

I run matten filters in several of my tanks. I like them quite a bit. I find the maintenance to be a pain, but it doesn't need to be done often at all.

I picked up some rainbows about 3 weeks ago. These fish are still a bit skittish and never eat while I'm around. Has anybody else had fish like this? Could there be something that I'm doing to spook them? I've never had rainbows act like this. They hide every time I approach the tank. Tank is heavily planted with plenty of cover.

Sounds to me like you need either new tanks or larger tanks.

I just finished setting up a sump and learned a lot! I'm certainly no expert, but in general I'd agree with the thoughts shared above. As to a return pump size, the variable flow pumps have really come down in price and certainly worth the cost to have that adjustability rather then buying several pumps till you get the right one. I added a Jebao DCW pump and found it to be much better quality then expected as an example.

I feed daily, sometimes twice when I'm trying to fatten up some fish. I have a ton of shrimp so I feel the need to feed a bit extra to ensure they get some. This is something I've been contemplating lately though, I plan to try once a day and add in a fasting day as this is what Gary Lange does and it seems to work for his rainbows (I keep rainbows mainly).

I wanted to piggyback a bit on this question as it seems related. What is a healthy amount of KH if your PH is around 7.0? What would be the minimum you would want in this scenario?

Thank you Cory. Based on what you were saying I assumed this product would be coming, just a matter of timing.

@Cory mentioned Coop heaters may be coming soon. Anybody with inside information on this? I happen to need several and would prefer to just wait if it won't be that long, otherwise I'll need to get them somewhere else.

Am I the only one that is constantly trying to find the most efficient way to perform water changes? I have decided that a fully automated system like what Cory uses isn't right for me as several tanks I have can't be drilled and are spread across a couple rooms, but a semi-automated version is what I'm working towards. Seems I have been in a constant state of refinement to gain efficiency with some automation being added.

I had a similar situation. My sink wouldn't work, but not all was lost. I got myself a cheap pump from Amazon and threw it in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. I drained the water into the tub as I found this to be quicker anyway. I'd fill the bucket with water the temperature I was looking for and pump it to the tanks using this cheap pump. Just make sure you buy one that is large enough to pump the water quickly and for any head height you have. Hope this helps someone, it is the method I used for quite a while.

That seems odd indeed. Hard to tell for sure without pictures what is going on. I'd buy a quality CO2 system with dual stage regulator, it really isn't something to mess around with on the cheap. Could lead to gassing your fish. Running a small amount of CO2 all day isn't the same as running the proper amount during the photosynthesis period for plants. You need to get the amount right during that period and really isn't needed the rest of the time.

I believe the temperature may be the issue.