Tamitha

I had the same problem, super hard water clogged my never clog air stones fairly quickly. Once I ran out of replacement pads I went back to what I use to use. I really liked them but they just didn’t last very long.

@Tihshho thank you! Your information was very helpful and reminded me why I wanted to use egg crate in the first place.

Is it a good idea to put egg crate under the substrate if using large stones in the aquascape? I have seen this done on videos and bought some thinking it was a good idea but I got to thinking. I'm using sand as a substrate so how do I keep the sand from working under the egg crate possibly causing pressure issues? Stupid question I know but I was moments away from setting up my next tank when this thought hit me and now I'm worried.

I'm setting up a 75. The only fish I've settled on so far is electric blue acaras. On todays Co-op video, Robert mentioned the Dwarf Petricola Synodontis catfish and since I'm still looking for a non-corydoras bottom dweller, they caught my eye. Several sites have mentioned catfish as a good tankmate for EBAs but haven't given specific catfish names or ideas. Has anyone tried this combo?

I used a generic organic soil I found at home depot in one of my tanks, it has worked out great. I capped it with sand from a sand pit on my property. The tank is about a year old and is by far my most successful.

Thank you both for chiming in. I thought it would be okay but I had a 55 with a broken center brace that started to bow really badly with the sides pulling away. This one is different because it's the bottom trim piece and the center brace is fine with no evidence of bowing.

I picked up a 75g used tank with stand. The stand has a trim piece that covers the plastic tank trim so I didn't realize the plastic trim on the bottom of the tank is cracked in three places until it was moved to its new location. The tank holds water fine and looks pretty new. Do I need to worry about the broken trim? The braces are not broken.

I had lemon tetras in there but they were so boisterous my gouramis did nothing but hide so I swapped the rainbows and lemons around which made both the gouramis and the rainbows happier. The lemons now have their own 40b and the rainbows have more horizontal swimming space. I’m not worried about my gouramis picking on anything but rather them getting nipped or chased, they really have been rather shy and reserved. The rainbows have brought them out of hiding. It’s why I’m trying to be really careful of what else I put in there.

@FungusOnPinkyToeSee what I mean!?! Never heard of that fish, will check them out. Thank you!!

I have a heavily planted 55g with three pearl gourami and a small school of dwarf rainbow (“Skull Creek”) who all hang out in the top third of the tank. It also has 5 corydoras and a couple of kuhli loaches but I’m slowly catching those out to move to a sand bottom tank. I have super hard water and a ph of 8.2. I’ve been looking and looking for a colorful, active fish that will hang out in the bottom half, not the bottom. I’ve considered Bolivian rams or Kribs, with my water I’m leaning more toward Kribs, but I know there must be a plethora of fish I haven’t even thought of or come across. Apistos are a no go. Please! thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions, I invite and welcome them all because I’m really tired of this tank looking half empty. Thoughts on the Kribensis idea?

Rainbows. I just couldn't understand the attraction until I finally saw some at my lfs that seemed a perfect fit for one of my tanks. After speaking with the store owner at length I went for it. They've quickly become one of my favorite fish.

I've had two reticulated hillstreams in a 40b for a little over a year. At first they quarreled with each other to establish their own little space but as time went on they stopped and now hang out often. They do occasionally chase their lemon tetra and panda garra tankmates, who, for the most part, completely ignore them. Interestingly they seemed to really hate the panda garras when I first added them but just the other day I say a pile of garras hanging out, all piled on top of a hillstream. Knowing how much they didn't get along at first, it was quite the sight. Snails are ignored. I think your guy will settle down in time.

Being vertically challenged, the 40b is perfect for me. Having said that I’m currently working on setting up a 75, hope I don’t fall in!

I know what you mean, these little guys are nothing but huge eyes for the first week or so. Looked like little aliens had invaded my tank. Congrats on your angel fry!

There be babies here! I know it’s just endlers but it’s my first ever fry and I’m really excited. Years of fish keeping in the past and now again in the past two years since I started up again I never expected fry as my water is just terrible.

Looks just like mine when they were getting going and they flowered shortly after so I think you’re good.

Mine love zucchini. I recently put both a raw piece and a blanched piece in at the same time. The raw piece was preferred. I have panda garras who also love the zucchini so I cut the zucchini in long strips to cut down on bickering.

I wish I could remember the name of my sword plants, all I know is they aren’t amazon. I tried amazon but they died. I got these from my lfs. I have more success when I can buy locally grown plants, thankfully my lfs is excellent at bringIng in locally raised plants and fish.

I have water with high iron (iron ore was mined here), extremely hard (so hard I can’t find a test that goes that high), and high ph. In two years I’ve successfully grown dwarf sag, swords, corkscrew val, jungle val, crypts, guppy grass, frog bit, salvinia, subwassertang and dwarf aquarium lily. Anubias and crinums survive but certainly don’t thrive or even grow. I gave up on mosses, my marimo balls were the size of ping pong balls two years ago and are now the size of baseballs. I tried about ten other plants that just melted away to nothing, roots and all.

I can only tell my experience with kuhli loaches, sand, gravel and UGFs. I have 15 kuhlis in a 55gal with smaller gravel and an UGF. I've had no problems whatsoever. I have 9 of them in a 40 breeder with two sponge filters and sand, again with no problems whatsoever. I have totally different observations than the general info posted on line. I have never ever had a kuhli bury itself in the sand tank. They move it around a bit as they swim but never do they bury themselves. They have buried themselves into the gravel. I was blown away the first time I saw them do it, fast as lightning, little rocket noodles they disappeared in a nano second. LOL My advice would be set your tank up however you like. If you want sand use sand, if you want gravel use gravel, your kuhlis will be fine with both. Same with filtration, use what will work best for you. I like both therefore I use both. Kuhli loaches have a smaller bio load than other fish and since they do best in larger numbers I would get more than 6. Also remember they hide a lot during the day so larger numbers will increase your chances of seeing them.

Have you tested your water source? I would suspect it's also high in nitrates as a result of all that happened. If it is high then water changes will do little to help. What do you consider crazy high nitrates? I ran a tank for over a year with nitrates anywhere from 140 to 160ppm. My fish were fine but it did grow algae. I added fast growing plants to get my nitrates down and once it was down I removed the excess plants.

I’m using an under gravel filter for a heavily planted 55 gal, going for two years now. I can see the underside of my tank and so far there is no buildup. I also run one on a lighter planted 40 breeder, going on about 18 months or so. Neither tank has any other filtration.

Me too! I have the fluval 3.0 light on that tank set at 60% which seems perfect for that plant both for growth and looks.

I already have 5 kuhli in that tank with no problems but the larger body mass of the corys has me wondering. Thank you for the lily info!!

Anyone have experience with a nice sized school of corydoras in a dirted capped with sand tank? I'm wondering if they will cause too much of a disturbance in the sand cap. Also, the tank in question has many plants like val and lilies covering the surface, will this affect the corys ability to dash to the surface for air?