Torrey

Cyanoacrylate cures (chemical reaction) in the presence of H2O, whether it's humidity in the air or water misted onto the surface. With really high humidity (like dunking it in the aquarium) it can cure so fast it turns white. So use the smallest amount needed to secure rock, wood, or plants. In the past I have used barriers (watch SerpaDesign or MD Fishtanks) of hardscape to help reinforce the slope. I did my first attempt without significant barriers last year... and it did not end well once I had to catch fish (see my Walstad Inspired Journal). At the high end of the aquascaping experience, Jurijs has great tutorials. My personal favorite for teaching how to scape, and how to effectively use substrate, requires a great sense of humor to keep me entertained and to help people I am introducing to aquascaping concepts learn by having fun. Josh sim has a great video for his workshop with Green Aqua:

Thank you @Streetwise! Still figuring out how to make the slope more stable in the 4' build, after I discovered trying to catch fish + relandscaping thanks to MTS = flat substrate and sad plants in my Walstad....

Spouse's 4' paludarium grows a 5 gallon bucket's worth of trim every 2 weeks. Luckily, the hardscape guarantees at least a few open swimming areas stay open as swimming areas. Your tank is gorgeous!!!

I did water testing, topped off tanks, installed a couple of new filters (including my newly arrived Co-Op sponge filter) and measured for a UGF to lift eggs into a breeder box/net/or homemade breeder box (still examining what I need to do, to make breeding the longfin zebra danio easier).

Biotope Biologist thank you for the ID!!! @Cinnebuns I was incorrect on the potential for them to be an issue, I apologize. Biotope Biologist, would the H2O2 approach be the best method for eradication, since nothing is left in the tank?

your current nitrite, nitrate and ammonia readings are due to active substrate and root tabs leaching a little into the water column. You have a mix of light feeders and heavy feeders. Mmiller shared the best resource for better understanding ferts on another thread: Fertilizer dosing guide I would be looking for any algae growth, if not planning on adding CO2 I would use a siesta in the middle of the photo period to reduce the chances of getting an algae bloom (prevention i easier than clean up), and if plants get long and spindly, or overly light foliage, increase the length of time of each photoperiod. My shop lights (cheap tank set ups) are currently on from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, and then back on from 4:30 pm to 9 pm. Because my Fluval Aquasky has better controls, my Walstad comes gradually starting at 6:30 am, hits 100% at 8:30 am, starts fading down at 12:30 pm, hts 0% at 1 pm, and starts ramping back up 5 pm, hitting 100% at 6 pm, and starts ramping down to red lights at 10 pm (stimulates my brain to want to go to sleep) with total darkness at midnight. Fluval light sounds complicated, because of ramp up and ramp down times. The key part is a 4 hour siesta gets the CO2 levels up to maximum passive saturation levels for the plants to use, and by turning off after 4 to 6 hours, is turning off when plants have maximum efficiency utilized CO2 and light for growth... and before algae starts utilizing the light (due to plants having utilized the CO2).

I saw tillandsia for sale at the large blue box store recently, and someone had put them in soil🙄I wouldn't be surprised to find out you got an orchid with a tillandsia in it from the same store. https://www.airplantcity.com/pages/air-plant-care I'm pretty sure that's what you have.

Snails are even more susceptible to ammonia than fish. 0.5 ppm ammonia is sufficient to burn fish gills and reduce the fish's resiliency for future water quality or de-oxygenation events. For mystrey snails, I imagine it's even more of an impact. Even my pond and bladder snails would have a higher risk of death with 0.5 ppm ammonia, and the higher the pH/temp of the water, the more damage even low doses of ammonia cause. Here's a great chart and expalantion regarding toxicity... but it doesn't fully cover how events that aren't toxic immediately can still damage lungs / gills/ slimecoat or external tissue in in snails.

Fish Folk addressed most of it. I think this video from Cory explains the difference between a seasoned tank and a cycled tank, and why seasoned is more beneficial. I do recommend testing for ammonia for the majority of fishkeepers. Cory doesn't test for ammonia because he has dozens of tanks and ponds in his fish room, plus the store, and he knows what any ammonia showing up in the tank is going to look like. I have to say this explanation has helped more people whom I have introduced to the hobby, more than any other explanation I have found out there. I've been keeping tanks for decades, and I noticed a trend: First couple of weeks, heavy white biofilm growth, especially if I am using bacterial supplements (FritzZyme, etc) Next, diatom algae Green dust algae Eventually some hair algae followed by satghorn or blackbeard How noticeable the algae is, seems to be determined by which nutrients are not balanced to the plants in the tanks. I call it the "awkward teenage stage" in seasoning tanks. Once the algae is balanced out by the plant growth, and no more tweaks are needed, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your seasoned tank will et much easier to maintain (and it's easier to add a few fish at a time).

So glad I am not the only one who does that, lol

Even the betta imbellis can't be counted on to be 100% compatible. Personalities are widely variable... so if you really want a betta be prepared to have a single inhabitant, or possibly a horned nerite plus a betta. For a 15 gallon, I personally prefer a larger school of nano fish for both tank health and visual interest. I also prefer to have a really healthy ecosystem with microfauna before adding fish to a tank, which is much easier to do with a more heavily planted tank. You are off to a great start! Here's one of my pico tanks I have been working on since Feb, it isn't quite ready for inhabitants yet: From back at teh end of Feb, after a little growth (excuse the wax paper background, this was my scape from scraps, and I didn't have backing window film left) Natural light last week. Right now. It's much easier to move things around and fine tune the hardscape and the plants before the fish go in, especially with smaller tanks. What are your tank parameters? I tend to choose fish based on the parameters the tank stabilizes at, as hardscape, quantity of plants, and ferts needed to keep the plants happy can change the water parameters.

Thank you Mmiller! I'm ORD, and this is a very helpful link. Especially this part: "The tank below is grown using the ADA approach (APT Zero). EI users will be surprised how well plants grow on a leaner nutrient cycle. Lower plant mass scapes such as Iwagumis or nature style scapes with many slow growers such as Anubias and Java ferns are especially suited to this style of dosing. Slower growth and lower maintenance means that it is easier for many aquarists to achieve tank stability, which makes this one of the most popular commercial methods to easily achieve success." My health makes EI too labor intensive to maintain when I have a flare, and between you and Roy I am finally understanding where mineral deficiencies have created most of my problems, especially wiht how hard my water is interfering with uptake. THANK YOU!!!! That explains the formula you have tried to explain so many times to me, yet his explanation of ppm = mg/L was exactly what my health care worker brain needed. Minerals are medicine for the plants, and now I understand how to dose the medicine. (Yeah, my brain can be a bit slow sometimes, lol)

Bucketlist fish... some I have already kept, and others I have only learned about due to the Co-op's YouTube channel: 1. Discus (did that, bred that, it was fun in my 20's too much work now) 2. Betta macrostoma (I need to find a way to get them sufficient humidity, so not any time soon) 3. Four Spot Splash Tetras (want!) 4. killies 5. Gobies 6. NANF 7. Purple fish (most rare color gene in majority fish species, I have had lavender/purple bettas I used to breed) 8. CT guppy 9. Farlowella 10. Moapa Dace 12. Devil's Hole Pupfish (they are so cute and a beautiful blue!!!) 13. Akihita futuna 14. Diamond darter 15. Damba mipentina 16. Pitbull pleco 17. Queen Arabesque pleco 19. Zebra pleco 20. Malaysian Rainbow shrimp #10 though #15 I probably won't ever get to breed. They are critically endangered, and require a special license and enrollment in a rescue breeding program... which is sad, as we used to catch diamond darters as children... Probably won't ever get the plecos, as I no longer keep heated tanks, but this is a bucket list, right?

I just snortled on the "fish-missiles" as that is soooo accurate!!!! I'm not sure I would add any wood, and I *love* wood in the tank. I scavenge and soak, and add so much wood to most of my tanks it lowers the pH and is awesome for adding tannins. Your sand, plant configuration, and the fish you have don't really instill a drive for wood to be added.... I agree with BeardedBillyGoat's recommendations regarding plants for the left and potential stocking increases.

I wouldn't really change anything. Of course, I love the rainbows, so I might be biased, With more plants coming, I would plant on the left to obscure the view (but not the function) of the poewr head. While I was at it, I would probably put a Co-op sponge filter on the bottom of the power head. Possibly add some cories, or some other bottom tank swimmer to keep the sand turned over and make tank maintenance easier. Beautiful tank, and very soothing and peaceful to look at. Jealous of your archers, they have been on my bucketlist.

You have a gorgeous tank. At first I thought they were blackworms (lower video) as blackworms will move like that and filter feed in the water column. But the still photo up top doesn't match any live foods I am aware of, and I suspect you are legitimately asking for identification. How long has the hardscape been in the water? Do you feed live foods (if yes, what)? And I agree with Guppysnail, your pleco is gorgeous!!! Are we seeing windows out the other side of the tank? How magical looking!!!!

I know I had an ammonia spike, because I had a fish die. But I have enough beneficial bacteria that the spike of a plant death, a fish death, or food fouling the water (happened when I got covid, and wiped out my shrimp) can be dealt with by the beneficial bacteria before I can test. That has been my experience at least, especially in smaller tanks. Due to the tiny amount of water, a spike can be really high, sudden, and disappear almost as fast. Only time I catch it is if I have test strips and I am home to test every hour around the clock (I was actually compiling data for 24 hour nitrate fluctuations, and test strips are easier than shaking my arm off with API, so I got more data... no clue what intuition made me decide to also test ammonia), so I know it does happen... and livestock suffers when it happens. Part of why my smallest tanks house amphipods and small snails instead of anything that can produce noticeable waste. An hour after I fed my tank, I had an ammonia spike.

You can always set up a couple of buckets, lol. Allow the guppies to have their way, and deposit them into a bucket while you catch your harlequins. Second bucket of tank water will be available for your harlequins. I have found Dean & Cory's paint strainer to make sorting fish, and prepping fish for shipping so much easier!!! In fact, that's where the endlers went, so I could sort breeding stock I am keeping, males that needed to go in a slow grow out tank, breeding stock to sell, and feeders for Karma and my LFS.

I wouldn't start the tank over, because it will rest everything at the beginning. I revamped my 2.5 gallon corner tank in February, it still isn't ready for any more livestock than snails. I have had some sort of enclosed water since 1972, and to be 100% honest, pico tanks have been the hardest to get stable and to keep stable. I would recommend go planted with the little tank, and once you have some algae growth and a seasoned tank (2 to 6 months, minimum) get a snail you like. For fish, I would recommend looking at a 10 gallon, or a 20 long. More water gives you more flexibility. Instead of ammonia hitting lethal levels 12 to 24 hours after the fish are a little overfed, as long as the tank is lightly stocked (and not stocked at all until it is seasoned) you will have a good buffer for any learning bumps in your aquarium journey. Plus, if you do a nice scape on your Aqueon Bow, you will have **plenty** of plants from trims for your larger tank. Is there anywhere in your apartment/house where you can set up a larger tank? A 75 gallon barely takes up a little more depth than a 55 gallon (like 6" deeper) and is (in my opinion) the easiest beginner tank to start with: 1. The number of gallons make the water parameters more stable 2. Adding a dozen zebra danios to a 75 gallon tank is barely going to raise nitrates from waste, especially if the tank has properly gone through the nitrogen cycle 3. Larger tanks are easier to keep balanced once the cycle has been completed and adding a new school of 6 to 12 fish every other month after they finish quarantine will easily allow the beneficial bacteria to catch up... especially if the tank is planted. If a larger tank is not an option, I would buy the submersible Aqueon White LED light you see in my video above, or the nano light from the Co-op (or somewhere similar) and focus on plants for a few months. Once the plants are successful, the tank will be ready for some fish (white clouds, or a half dozen male endlers, or some other nano-fish). Quarantine the fish so you don't need to risk killing your cycle in your Aqueon. I would send my tap water off for a professional set of tests, to find out if there's iron, calcium, copper or lead in my water supply that harmed my fish, as well. I would add a snail to the tank before I added any fish, and see how the snail does for a month before adding any nano fish as well. There are also other options for small tanks, if you decide the fish are not your cup of tea. Again, water quality and water stability (in other words, test daily or every 48 hours and keep the data in a spread sheet for best results, for at least first few weeks, and then test weekly once you have seen the ammonia spike, followed by lowering ammonia and a nitrite spike, followed a couple of weeks later by climbing nitrates and ammonia and nitrites stay at 0 ppm). Once you have achieved stability, any of these recommendations from Cory are good to go. I kept my Back to the Roots tank with just plants for an entire year before I added animals.

Welcome to the nerms!!!! I've been inthe hobby for ~5 decades now.... Realized during the Scapes From Scraps that I haven't been without some form of water feature in my life since 1972😲 whether a pond, a wet plant, a naturalized water feature for snakes/amphibians/turtles/ducks I have had aquatic plants / aquatic livestock non-stop since 1972. This can easily become an addiction, if one isn't careful. So I recommend checking in with yourself regularly and having honest conversations with your partner regarding the enjoyment level, the amount of time required, and whether it's negatively impacting any relationships. As long as you and your partner are both enjoying, you are doing it right! Over the decades, I have had everything from two entire fishrooms and a breeding operation, to a single small water feature on a plant table with no fish. The sound of water is soothing, and I explore different ways to pay with it. Love your axolotl, I went swimming with them in Mexico. I love the little aquatic dragons! Currently I am all about the plants and fish that don't need heatrs, because heaters don't last like they did when I started in the hobby (or maybe my memory is bad, lol and I'm overly glamorizing the past). I currently have several tanks with endlers and am breeding cool acclimated endlers for specific tail features and color. I also supply my LFS with longfin zebra danios... and for the first time in my life am successfully growing pink and red leafed stem plants😅. I even have a plant only pico tank! I have amphipods, and a wide variety of beautiful snails that tank dogma has labeled "pest snails". I'm more of a "I want to create a balanced environment that is healthy for inhabitants" stage of aquarist, and I work with a lot of unconventional materials fro tanks and hardscapes. Great to have you join!

Not detritus, and definitely not planaria. @Biotope Biologist or @Odd Duck do either of you recognize the movement? @Cinnebuns I doubt they are responsible for the snails death, though. .. and I understand your concern because society trains us to be suspicious of the majority of things that naturally occur in nature. What were your water parameters? How long had you had the mysteries? What were the mysteries eating? Most problematic parasites either cyst up to survive long periods of time without a host, or they die off without a host. They rarely swim in a more active fashion without a host, so I am not inclined to think these are parasitic worms... I'll defer to a specialist in that regard. If you don't feed the tank, your beneficial bacteria colony will crash, and if you do feed the tank regular fish food there's a good chance the worms will reproduce. So I would get some plain ammonia and dose the tank with a little ammonia every other day, leave the tank empty, and observe for a few weeks. That will keep your cycle going, and not feed any critters in the tank. That will give you time to hear back from more people, and see if anyone has a solid ID and best path to take forward. If no ID, and if neither Odd Duck or Biotope Biologist say you need to nuke the tank, in 4 to 6 weeks anything that contributed to the mystery snails demise should be gone, and I would look for plants that meet my tanks parameters, scape, and start restocking after a few weeks of it being scaped. Of course, I recognize not everyone likes plants like I do... If you don't feel comfortable with that approach, you can drain the tank, wipe the sides with H2O2, fill just high enough to cover the filter, and dump in some H2O2 and run for an hour (or even overnight). that will kill anything left in the tank. Siphon/stir the bottom up really well once the H2O2 is in the tank to eliminate the worms if they are concerning you. Then drain the tank and refill, and restart your cycle before adding any livestock. I'm sorry about your snails, it's hard to lose any pet, and especially hard to lose multiples at once.

When I had mine, blanched kale, blanched spinach, blanched squash, and blanched carrots were a hit. Take blanched foods out before they foul the water (temperature determines the time limit). BugBites shrimp food was also a hit, and I would cut a piece of blanched kale, sprinkle with the BugBites, roll up like sushi, and skewer with a bamboo stick, and lower in the water. Rarely had much left after 2 hours when I would remove the stick. BacterAE would foul the water, no matter how well I followed the directions... however... I learned to dose a 5 gallon bucket with a sponge filter with the BacterAE, and I would drop the bamboo skewers and bamboo chopsticks in the bucket to grow a great biofilm. Probably equivalent to the reaction @Guppysnail's shrimp give the Repashy. Takes about a week for a good biofilm, so I just kept 2 buckets going once the colony got big enough. Move a skewer into the tank, replace it the next day and drop the "used skewer" into the "used bucket". Once the "new bucket" was empty, and the "used bucket" was full, the bamboo was well seeded and I reversed the process. Never had any problems with water fouling after that, until I got really sick with covid.

It's definitely not in the same flavor category as thyme... It's a great protein source and is best in stirfry, soups, and mixed in with other veggies.. with excellent seasoning! Alone? ummm... 11 out of 10 do not recommend, and steaming it alone makes the house smell... interesting. Not quite fishy, not quite green.... almost like wheatgrass grown in a goldfish pond, with a whiff of algae, lol

Do your harlequins like frozen food? I caught 200+ endlers with my brand new Co-op net by dropping a frozen cube of baby brine in the net, and allowing just enough space at the bottom edge of the net (tilt the net, so the top part of the net is barely above the water) for the fish to swim into the net to get the treat. Took me 3 minutes of patience, and not moving the net until it was full of fish eating the frozen baby brine.... Literally, only one dip of the net. There are probably about a dozen or so fish I missed, and I'll get them out this coming weekend to finish sorting.

Those mica lines, if used so the lines are horizontal, can easily help you create your river feel. They will change a little when wet, and will need to be partially submerged to generate the visual effect of a flowing river. May need to glue some plants to soften the sharper edges (visually), and you will have found the secret to success. Try looking at the rocks partially submerged in the gravel with half-closed eyes, it's easier to get them arranged that way for the longer term visual after beneficial bacteria, algae, and water movement reshape the rock and gravel. I recommend looking at the aquarium science site, as a lot of the "dogma" regarding rocks and aquariums has turned out to be hogwash. I keep a couple of "reactive" rocks in my aquariums: some give the inverts a calcium source to glean, others are purely for aesthetics, and nothing we find on the surface of the earth is going to harm our water. Deep veins of iron oxide could potentially leach too much iron into the water, leaving a reddish effect.... plants will generally prevent the potential of actually damaging any inhabitants however. It's shocking just how much is actually needed to do damage, when in solid, rock state. In fact, two of my tanks are finally stabilized at 6.8 pH now that I am using as much Zero Water as I am... and they have rock that reacted strongly with acetic acid (so lots of calcium). Snails and amphipods are thriving, so I am pretty sure I found the balance between humic acid from plant matter, and calcium from rocks, and Easy Green, and livestock... because **everything** (except algae and cyanobacteria) are growing like crazy! I think the handles are perfect, and as a wood snob I honestly cringed at the idea of painting. Teak is such a gorgeous wood, and having grown up on teak decked sailboats I am a huge proponent of a proper seal over stain or paint. Painting or staining the rest of the wood to complement the teak? Absolutely! I would buy a quality stain for the teak, however, and truly allow your cabinet to shine. Especially with the wood elements you already have planned. Pretty sure the artist's heart in you will sing when you complete this project, that teak block was a true find! If you need any inspiration now that you have boat cleats and teak doors, ask @Streetwise for some video links or pictures. He's another sailor in our midst. Honestly @Jawjagrrl, this is coming together beautifully. I know you wanted things to move more quickly, but if they had you wouldn't have found some of these perfect "extra" touches. Patient Spouse™ / Furniture Manufacturer™ and yourself are really raising the bar on well designed aquarium cabinetry. Might be a worthwhile sidehustle😉