OnlyGenusCaps

And the real Dr. Oz is a cardiac surgeon and professor at Columbia. He is still well known for spouting crap. If it is formal titles that concern you - I hold a PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and have done post-docs in ecosystem ecology with a focus on N community level metabolism. Though, I don't think that should really matter. The argument and support should speak for themselves, regardless of the source. I'm not a planted tank enthusiast, so I couldn't possibly speak to that assertion. The point I am trying to make is that much like Dr. Oz, Dr. Novak has useful information that he provides. However, both also tend to wander into the fringe that has little to no basis in scientific support, and in some cases is directly contradicted by the data that exists. I think the general approach you seem to be taking of cautioning against dogma is a good one. I just think it should be applied to Dr. Novak's as well.

From a scientific standpoint, there are number of dubious claims the good Dr. makes. I've been reading the thread and hanging back. No point in ruining the good time of anyone having fun playing with their tanks. But there seems to be a bit of confusion between a couple of folks trying to do the same thing, so I thought I'd see if this bit of information helps. I think there is some confusion stemming from the fact that laterite is not a fired product. It is a high iron, largely tropical soil, typically very clay heavy. Once you fire it, or another clay product for that matter, you dramatically reduce the iron, or anything else, that is labile. When you fire it the minerals become part of the glassed matrix. Like I said, loads of shaky claims from the good Dr. He's a Dr. like Dr. Oz is. But I'm glad people are exploring what works for them.

I love that we have a resident UGF evangelist! They clearly work and their falling out of favor is simply up to fashion, IMHO. That said, it appears the paper you linked suggests there is an inverse correlation between grain size and plant performance for the species studied. Because they made no mention of UGF, as you point out, there is no way of knowing how that addition would impact the performance of the plant a priori. Indeed, what would be known going into studying the interaction of UGF and substrate size is that smaller sizes yield better growth for this species. Can UGF change that relationship? That's unknown from this work, but it would seem a reasonable guess that aeration and nutrient delivery to the roots are not limiting factors for this species given the preferences exhibited in this work. None of this is to say that UGF don't work with, or potentially even benefit some submerged plants. Just that I'm not certain the reference you included supports your assertion. Keep up the good work with the UGF. I'm glad someone is taking upon themselves to tilt at that windmill!

I think it all depends on what you are after. I have a number of what seem to be quite good LFS around, but I don't really frequent them. I plan setups for very specific fish, and then I am patient and track them down. Like when I wanted Endler's, I wanted N-class Endler's with a known lineage I could track back to a collection point. So, I waited until a specialty breeder had them available and bought online. Even if I lived across the street from the Co-Op, I prob ably wouldn't get fish there because the next ones I am after are African cichlids, and FWIK they don't do African cichlids. Great store. Great focus. Just don't carry what I am after. The things I am grateful for are the local parts suppliers. I'm driving distance to Midwest Custom Aquariums, and I'm 20 min to Bulk Reef Supply. When I order from BRS stuff gets here faster than if I got it with Amazon Prime! All that, but I don't think I'll be a regular at a local place. I just have eclectic interests I suppose.

Great. There are a few options here. I'm tossing our ideas, and you can let me know if they all stink. I have a similar setup on a rack of tanks for drainage for an AWC system, with one of the tanks having Endler's. I've been able to avoid issues with loss by jamming 10ppi Poret foam into the PVC. I keep it about flush with the top so no one get trapped in the top of a dry tube. Your tubes won't be dry, but same principle probably applies. A cheaper option would be to use pot scrubbies, but recognize the flow rate will be lower (in my experience) that with the coarse foam. This should keep the material away from your turtle. But it does lower flow rates (though very little with the 10ppi) when compared with the foam on the outside of the overflow. This won't work if you have floater plants in the tank though as they will rapidly be pulled toward the overflows and clog your now "netted" overflows. If you have floating plants and your turtle is airline safe, then you can also create a bubble wall. This is just placing an air-stone beneath each of the overflows. The upward current then pushes material away from the overflows that can't swim well, including fry. Downsides though include that you lose surface skimming as part of your filtration, and thus get more rapid mulm build up, and it may mess with the look you could be going for. However if you have floating plants, it also serves to push them away from the overflows and prevent them from clogging them. Hope one of these might be useful. If not, let me know why, and we can keep running through possibilities if you like

What type of overflows? For example, are they weirs or drilled directly into the back back using screens?

What wonderful news! Wow, O2. That's so incredible! Protein skimmer. Make your bubbles work for you. I love it!

Hi @NanoNano. Thanks so much for the thorough replies! You clearly have more experience with various snails than I. I am starting to try to get a bit more advanced though. I'm beginning to view snails as a feature of an aquarium rather than just a clean up crew, though I still want that function too. Funny you mention rabbit snails as I now have a few on order, arriving tomorrow if the USPS can be believed. I also got a few Colombian ram's horns (Marisa cornuarietis). Not sure how well these will do with algae, but they sure look interesting! I might hit you up with snail questions later. Thanks for the offer!

I'm so sorry for your losses! But, it is interesting that the O2 saturation might have been the issue. I wouldn't have expected that necessarily despite knowing the relationship between O2 solubility and temperature. A learning experience for sure! When this pandemic started, I wanted to keep dart frogs again. I even started getting materials together. Sadly, it became apparent as summer hit that living in a house without central A/C meant I simply couldn't keep the temperatures down to keep the frogs happy. I had to abandon that. But, that has lead me to revitalize my aquarium efforts. Which led me here. In the end I think I am going to be happier with the aquariums than I would have been trying to keep darts again. I know you have great plans in place to do this biotope properly. I suspect this is an unfortunate bump in the road. I imagine with a few projects I have in the works there are some coming my way too. 🤔

Oh, it's all good. You kindly replied, and were very helpful. I attempted to explain that I understood aspects of what you were saying. Against all odds, for me anyhow, it seems like I might have possibly accomplished that. I'm quite appreciative of you caring enough to try to help people out, no matter their level of experience! I see you.

No need to apologize for anything. Thanks for taking the time to reply! Seems they offer quite a challenge! Perhaps more than I'd anticipated. Correct. I understand that very well. I do appreciate the link though!!! I would not have assumed so. I live where it can regularly get to -30C in the winter and while Pinus resinosa grows quite happily here, despite their relatively close phylogenetic relationship, I would not anticipate that Pinus tropicalis would do particularly well here. Wonderful! I look forward to that.

Depends on the diameter of your air stone versus the diameter of your lift tube. If the air stone is relatively large it can actually block some of the flow. I saw a really good test of this somewhere on YouTube, but because it is on a video platform, it's impossible to reference back to unless you recall the exact video. If I stumble across it again, I'll post a link here. I suspect this is why the old Lee's air-stones had a slim profile; prevents blocking the lift tube. So, you can get good flow even without an air-stone. I prefer them though because the bubble sounds don't drive me nuts then.

I finally built my circular saw guide according to @madmark285's instructions so I can cut nice straight lines on plywood for a tank cabinet. Yes, Mad it took me that long to get to it. 😛

I find slipping a bit of duckweed into someone else's tank is a great way guarantee that person will never wish to speak to you again. That has its uses. 😉

There are so many great salt water fish out there! I sometimes feel like people get stuck into a rut of what an aquarium "should" be and what an aquarium fish should be. This project is such a wonderful exploration out side our little glass (or acrylic) boxes! As I too begin to think about making a more diverse aquarium community have you found predation to be an issue? Might this flounder eat your previously added shrimp? How are the amphipods doing with the new predators?

Thanks for the tips! Given that I've not landed on knowing exactly what I want, any ideas can be helpful. As the apocryphal Henry Ford quote goes “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Maybe in this case I am trying to build a car (something entirely new) and in this case a faster horse (the known entity) would actually serve me better. Thanks again!

I'm driving myself to distraction with this. I'm building a sump. The design will require 3 tub/buckets/containers of some kind. I'm aiming for about 20-30gal each. They need to be self supporting, and it would be great if one were back or otherwise opaque. I'd also prefer them to be square so I can get a good bulkhead fit. The issue is I am having trouble finding containers that fit the bill. I've looked at: Totes, stock tanks, loaf tanks, RV water tanks, roto mold tanks, hydroponic buckets (actually some decent ones in the UK and Oz), garbage cans, open top batch tanks, and the list goes on... But I haven't found what I want yet, and I'm out of ideas. So, I am hoping the community here can help suggest something I haven't thought of yet. And no, one big aquarium won't work. I suppose I could do 3 aquariums, but that sounds pricey and I've been focused on plastic or fiberglass containers. Does anyone have an ideas? Thanks in advance!

Great tip! Thanks! I'll see if I can find a copy. I'm not doing a biotope per se. I'm certainly not looking for Malaŵi (I've decided I like that accented w!) snails for instance. But I am absolutely hoping to create something the evokes that deep rock reef look in the lake.

I've always wanted a big tank. But one thing or another has always stood in my way. Cost (that's a big one!). Space. Structural support. The prospect of moving in the near future. You get the idea. Well finally the stars have aligned. I was able to get a decent sized tank! My plans are to make this into a deep, rock reef à la Taiwanee Reef in Lake Malawi. I now have the space to do this and do it right. The tank is about 72"x30"x30" and about 280 odd gallons sitting on a powder coated steel frame. There are decent sized openings to allow for scaping with fairly large rocks. This project will be a slow burn. First I need to do some plumbing. The wall behind the tank is my boiler room - with a drain in the floor! So, I'll be setting up an auto-water changer system. Fill will be in the tank, and drain via a bell siphon (that I'll need to build) in the final sump reservoir. I'll also need to put in the PVC lines for the air from a linear air compressor in the boiler room as well. Then I'll need to get at least the back and one side wall for the "cabinet" done before moving the tank out and then back into place. The tank alone weighs 275#, so it'll be a project just getting the cabinet backing on. The cabinet will be plywood that I''l paint black and hang from the steel frame with counter sunk magnets. Once that is done, onto the sump filter. I'm having long conversations with some incredible folks about the design. I think it's going to end up being an innovative sump design. Stay tuned for that! Then I'll have to add the acoustic paneling, which I add to all of my sump builds to help keep everything quiet. After everything under the tank is done, then I finally get to worry about the tank. The current plan is to use some local limestone to build a reef in the tank with some granite derived sand in between. Flow will be a challenge, but I suspect reef pumps will be involved. I have lighting plans. They involve soldering my own COB LED lights and running strip LED lights to attain a deep water shimmer with loads of blue saturation. For stocking, I have only one fish in mind: Chindongo saulosi (syn. Pseudotropheus saulosi). I hope to get fish from at least three different distinct sources and get a genetically diverse breeding colony going. Why? Because I like having colonies of a species. Sorry the justification wasn't more interesting that that. Anyhow, I hope at least a few folks will be interested and follow along with me on this journey. Thanks for looking!

As always, I love the sound tracks! That's the Barry White of jellyfish. I was waiting for an "oh yeeeeah" to pop in at any point. Smoooooth.

Sorry I missed your introduction thread - but welcome! Getting to be quite a few Sotans here.

Sorry @Connor Elliott , at this point I sort of feel like I accidentally killed what could have been a fun thread. I feel badly about that.

A quick update: Looks like the ACO definition has reached 500 up votes. Crushing the other definitions!

Very cool concept and interesting experiment! Seasonal response perhaps? I know this is a widely occurring species, but there are a number of aquatic plant species with tropical and temperate "forms". In those species, the temperate ones often go, and in some cases even require, a seasonal dormancy, while the tropical strains go merrily along, and even seem unable, in some cases, to be able to form the dormant structures. That said, I don't know if this is the case with Val, or if it has even been studied. It was just a guess.

I'm also in Minnesota. That's a very nice setup! I look forward to seeing how it comes together.