anewbie

The prudent thing is to not get the cory but changes are pretty good things would be fine. Cory don't like confrontation so the smallest amount of poking by the rams will send them on their way. I tend to leave the room lights on when they breed so there is a little bit of incident light in the tank (i have dimable recess lighting in the room). One concern you should consider is which species of albino cory you purchase (there are several) as some can't handle the heat. Rams breed best with soft water (~70tds or lower) and the frys are quite small so you will need to consider how you will feed them...

When people talk coarse and fine sponge it would be helpful to talk in terms of ppi - to remove ambiguity. I presume 20ppi would be fine - 30ppi is not too bad but most folks would consider that fine. I would think 10ppi would be too coarse for most people but these are my presumptions....

The brown holes are typically potassium deficiency. Also for many of the micro nutrients a bit too much won't cause any harm (obviously an extreme overdose is bad for the fishes but they won't harm the plants or cause algae growth).

I'm not an expert but i would check the following - if the java fern is planted too deep (the rhizome has to be above the substrate). Also java fern does have problems with too much light and given that it is a 3 gallon tank is it possible the light is too bright ?

One of my mystery snails crawled from 3 rooms away to the fridge and then sat there until i put it back in the tank. I had a kili fish mysterously show up in a tank one day (probably from an egg on a new plant) My angels strongly object to my cleaning their tank at times and have no problem expressing this displeasure with a nasty bite. The first time it happened well it caught me a bit off guard.

I would think after the first year they will be room constrained. A full size discus can get up to 8 inches which doesn't leave a lot of room in a 40B due to lack of height. Also you said your water is 'perfect' but that seems a novice explanation of the quality of your water. There are a lot of factors beyond nitrate, nitrite and ammonia that determines the quality of the water and therefore i would question the 'perfect' nature of your water. Having said that it might turn out fine.

Sounds like you have a standard 29. I think in the inexpensive department the common options are beamworks, hygger 957, finnex, fluval aqusavy (about 2x expensive). If you are willing to spend $$$ I'd recommend chihiros wrgb 2 or alternatively fluval 3.0. For medium light plants in a low tech tank I think the finnex, beamworks, hygger 957, ... will work fine and these lights are a lot less expensive - ~$50 vs $200.... From readings these inexpensive light have quality control issues and sometimes you will get a dud so buy from a place where it can be exchange or returned. The fluval 3.0 have a history of being extremely reliable but they are quite expensive for what they offer. I personally have wrgb2, fluvals and onf flat+ (not a good for for a 30 inch tank). I played with the less expensive fluvals and have not liked them - this is a visual thing as they lack the fuller spectrum range of the 3.0 but i prefer wrgb 2 over the 3.0 - again this is a visual thing though the wrgb 2 is also abut 1.5 brighter which works well on my 120.

I would not raise the ph with baking soda - it is kind of pointless as long as the ph is above 6. Adding buffering maybe but not in the tank - the fishes don't like sudden changes in most cases (esp sa fishes which love soft acidic water) and adding baking soda to the tank has the potential to shock the fishes.

They can but if it is truely getting darker the problem is more likely with the power regulator (the part that changes the ac current to dc current). Unless it is really dim i wouldn't worry about it too much given your plants as they all will grow in next to no light.... However it might be that your light will eventually need to be replaced. On the bright side (pun intended) there are a lot of options available now that are not terribly expensive including an updated model of the beamsworth.

Flow is not likely an issue with hornworth - flow is a problem for stuff like frogbit, water lettuce and similar. I've found hornworth to be rather picky - as a simple example I have two 29 side by side. They have different substrate and fish population but otherwise identical. In one tank hornworth grows without bound to the point of being annoying and throwing away yards of the stuff weekly - in the other tank - it refuses to grow and slowly melts into nothing.... - I will say that hornworth seems to do better in a mature tank and one with slightly elevated nitrate level.

I would be more concern about the change in kh than ph and if kh is changing than ph would likely follow. Also i would test your tap as a baseline. Last but least I would try the API liquid test for kh. Those liquid are a pia but they tend to be more reliable.

How long have they been in the tank ? That hardness is a bit on the extreme level for angels - i'm not an expert as to just how hard the water can be for angelfish but it is certainly far harder than my tanks which are gh 7 kh 3. - Yea i would start with the water change but a bit concern something in the water is making them unhappy...

Did you add anything recent to the tank or did things go on as normal for years and years and suddenly they started flashing out of the blue? I know i had a yoyo that use to have an itch and would scratch itself for while - but after a period it just stopped and I haven't seen him do it for at least 6 months. While it could be a parasite as others mentioned it could be well just a change in water condition or decaying decoration that is irritating them.

The plants are not the cause of your high nitrite. Your tank is not cycled. You should not squeeze old filter media into the tank - you should at min squeeze it into your filter so the bacteria gets into your media or better place it in your media - still without food it will die. If you do a bit of searching the vast majority of the beneficial bacteria will be found in the filter sponge or media (depending on type of filter). Substrate has some but not nearly as dense - though you do have a lot more substrate. - Thrive adds a bit of nitrate but NOT nitrite. If it added nitrite it would poison your fishes rather severely every time used. The most likely reason you don't measure ammonia is because you do not have something producing a measurable amount of ammonia. - personally I think the best way (or easiest way) to cycle a tank is to find a sponge filter with live bacteria (any friends with cycled tanks?) and put it in your tank iwth a couple of fishes.

It depends on your tank size, setup (landscape) and specific species. I had nij and after a while the male died but now a year later the female is still alive. I put some hongsloi in the tank - she tolerates them as long as they stay out of her corner (a relatively small area) and even then she threatens more than actual attack. Naturally some species are far more aggressive and some less caring. I can't find much about Mamore or if it is a true species as oppose to a colour morph of another species. I would certainly not buy something that is similar that might cross breed but beyond that i cannot give you advice. You might ask this question on apistogramma.com as there are some true expert on that site who might have more experience with this specific aspito. - As to why i did not replace my male nij - a truely wonderful fish - i'm waiting till i move and can use ro water to dilute the tap water which i cannot do in my current residency. I have learned a bit more about the species since their purchase and they lean much closer to blackwater than some of the other aspito or at the very least very very soft water.

Depends on the size of the angle. I suspect it is not an adult. I have treated my angles in a 5 gallon pail before and had them fully recover when they were around 1 to 2 inches. I would definitely keep him on the warmer side of things - at least 80 (if the temp is cooler then raise it very gradually) - also do frequent water changes with prewarmed water - as long as it is eating there is a good chance of recovery. If they stop eating then it is time to panic.

I just left the old bulbs in my tank when they went dormant and for a while i had no lily and then one day poof they sprouted everywhere about 6 or 8 months later and now i have 10x the lily plants i originally had. Given this experience i see no reason to remove the bulbs from the tank (maybe they will resprout faster that way?) as leaving them in the tank they will eventually re-sprout.

Well one must also factor in what fish you are feeding and what they will eat. I switch around between tetra flake, warden shrimp pellets, northfin krill pro, omega-one shrimp pellets, nls thera+ with garlic .5mm and 1mm pellets, hilarki tubix, spirunlia 20 flake (ok these only go to my guppies) and last but not least fluval bug bites. My fishes have express clear preferences (whether it is good for them or not) on what they prefer. I weened my angels off of tetra flakes for about 4 months but put some in the other days for the tetra (which find the flakes easier to eat) and clearly my angles remember their love for the flakes and swarm them. I have one angel that pretty much refuses all foods but warden shrimp pellets. My apisto pretty much reject nls and will only eat fluval bug bites. My clowns seem pretty much willing to eat anything as well as my various pleco. The krill and nls are a mix bag - some of the angels will eat them but others refuse and the apisto won't touch either one.I like to keep my angles well fed so they don't get tempted to snack on the cardinals so simply forcing them to eat something they refuse to eat is well difficult. The omega shrimp pellets are hard and the loaches don't mind chumping on them but the angles hate them. I am surprise they don't go for the krill pellets. - My swordtails and guppies (third tank) will pretty much eat anything they are not picky which makes it difficult to leave algae wafers out for the pleco since they tend to swarm them. -- Forgot to mention i also feed them repashy green from time to time - it was intended for the pleco but the clown loaches love that stuff. Also the aspito and a few other folks will nibble at it.

Depends on condition of your tap water and the fishes you wish to raise. There are quite a few fishes that require near blackwater condition and most tap (at least where i live) is not near soft enough. - Of course if all you have are swordtails and guppies it is hard for me to imagine a justification for ro water regardless of tap water condition.

Both CO2 and almond leaves will drop the ph - the thing is that when the CO2 goes off the ph will rise. You should measure or have your kh measured. If the kh is low enough the tank can crash. If your base ph is 7.2 and you add enough co2 daily to drop it to 6.4 (which would be normal) then the almond leaves might have contributed to the additional drop and there really isn't an issue. - The calcium you add should increase the kh (same as adding coral mentioned by @Frank); so it is unlikely anything odd is happening and all is normal. - One thing you should do is measure the tank ph BEFORE the co2 turns on in the morning to get a baseline. You don't really want to measure it when it turns off in the evening because you don't know how long it will take for the co2 to gas off and while the co2 is gassing off the ph will rise.

Red Tiger Lotus and dwarf lilies ( Nymphaea stellata ) but they have the disadvantage of flooding the top with leaves. Two lower growing plants are melon swords and red crypt wenditti - both of these will grow easy enough though slowly without co2. A third option is red flame sword but i tend to prefer the look of melon swords. You can try prinz kleiner sword (not to be confused with prinz bar sword) but i have found it doesn't produce rich dark red leaves without co2 but your luck might differ.

First I'm not 100% sure that is ick. There is a disease that is often confused with ick but the white spec are not uniformed. Sadly I cannot recall off the top of my head the name - if i remember later I'll update my post. Second clown loaches are extremely tolerant to warm water and you might try a heat treatment rather than medication if it is ick. If you do a heat treatment the key is to gradually raise the temp over a day or two then keep it stable so the entire tank is above 87 (entire tank); vacuuming daily to remove the dead ick and making sure the new water is at the same temp as the tank water. conversely if it is ick you can continue with rid-ick for a while longer but i'm not 100% sure it is ick (I said that didn't i)

First do not add backing soda until you figure out why the ph is dropping. Having it drop and then suddenly raising it is worse than just leaving it alone after the drop if the bottom is 6 (which is not bad for the fishes pictured). More details would need to be provided - a few things that might help include: age of the tank type of substrate kh any additives being added on a regular basis is this a hi-tech tank (are you adding co2)

Check the instructions on the med - some of the meds will kill beneficial bacteria. Fish death would not be immediate but over a day it can be quite serious. I would be less concern about the nitrate test level (though it seems odd it would be 0 even if the cycle crashed); but focus on nitrite and ammonia test as those are the substances that are deadly for the fishes. If ammonia and nitrite were also 0 then that would not be the cause of the fish death.

No. It isn't that simple. CO2 will lower the ph - the typical expected drop is around .6 to 1.0 (1.0 is consider the max that is safe for the fish). Btw if you were to lower the ph by dumping acid to drop the ph by 1 you would likely kill the fish but when you put in co2 your not really changing the chemistry (I've forgotten the details of what is happening here but I had a similar concern when i switched to hi-tech tanks and studied the issue and confirmed that co2 will lower the ph you measure but not change the chemistry).