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Isaac M

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Isaac M last won the day on June 28 2021

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  1. @Lennie I think a cardinalfish can get a bit too big for a tank of your size but a smaller goby can definitely work. Pipefish require too much specialized care and wrasses are definitely way too active. I would also stay away from an anemone as you said, they can move around and damage the rest of the corals in the tank. I would start out with beginner level soft corals. I do not know about the different clownfish variety and their temperament but the maroon clown that was given to me was aggressive in the other persons tank but perfectly fine in my tank. The current clown I have that I show in the picture is the nicest creature I have ever seen, he tries to be friends with each fish I put in there (blennies, royal gramma, bangaii cardinal). Starfish can be tricky and can grow quite large. I have a brittle sea star in my 40 gallon and it looks huge, my fiancee actually nicknamed her “GG”, for gentle giant haha I would definitely recommend the fire shrimp though. Beautiful creature.
  2. Hello @Lennie, for the size aquarium that you are going to use, I would recommend something similar to what I did with my initial setup and go with the firefish, a clownfish and maybe shrimp, few hermit crabs and some snails. Here is a picture except I had a maroon clownfish with gold bars that was given to me. In this picture I had a blue green chromis though instead of the firefish. Given how shallow your tank is, I do not think you will have an issue growing basic soft corals (mushrooms, zoanthids, etc.) I would also add that given how shallow your tank is, make sure you keep some sort of lid or netting to keep the firefish from jumping out as they are prone to do that. Also, this is my clownfish that @Guppysnail was referencing haha
  3. Hi @BeeGryphon, looks like a good start for your first tank! My first tank definitely did not look anywhere near as good as yours! Haha That is so cool that you live close to the ACO retail store! It is a goal of mine to visit it one day. I love your choice of pygmy corydoras! I have them in my 40 gallon and also have a school of cory habrosus in my 10 gallon. If you are going to keep the new plant in this tank, I would definitely suggest an anubias as that dwarf aquarium lilly will grow big and shade the plants below. An anubias would be ok being in the shade. Anyways, I cannot wait to see your tank progress. Thank you for sharing!
  4. Next morning after the partial water change, still have some work to do to clear up the cloudiness but it looks much better now: Also took some shots of the Bolivian Rams and the Amano Shrimp in the 55 Gallon:
  5. Hi @AquaWaifu, what kind of plants do you want to grow in the 55 gallon? If you have only stem plants, you can probably just forego the organic soil and focus more on fertilizing the water column. However, if you have a lot of root-feeding plants like swords, crypts, bulb plants, vals, etc. then it would be helpful to have the organic soil. If you have just a few root-feeding plants, then you could even just plant them in small pots with organic soil in the pots, then hide the pots by covering them with the substrate. That way you only have the soil where you need it. For my experience with organic soil aquariums, I have only done a thin layer(one inch or less) of organic potting soil (sifted to remove a lot of the wood, clumps, etc) capped with either gravel, pool filter sand or black diamond blasting sand that is either the same thickness of the soil below or thicker. They have all done well, here are some photos of those aquariums: 40 Breeder with organic soil and Multi-R Root Fertilizer capped with pool filter sand: 55 Gallon with organic soil capped with black diamond blasting sand: 55 Gallon with organic soil capped with pool filter sand that I did for a family member: 10 Gallon with organic soil capped with gravel, used pressurized CO2 to help speed up the plant growth process:
  6. I would not necessarily call that over-stocked but hey, I think that is just the corydoras enthusiast in me loving the choices you made haha For reference my 40 breeder has around 20 pygmy corys, 10 sterbai corys and 5 corydoras eques, along with a large colony of cherry shrimp haha But yes, that is pothos! Pothos works really well as a riparian plant. It can grow underwater but if you can get the roots under water and the leaves above water, then it will really take off. I would recommend using a stainless steel wire wrapped around the rim of your aquarium to hold it in place (some people also use the hang on back filter to hold it but I like seeing the roots grow in the aquarium, plus my sterbai corys have spawned on pothos roots before). This should really help bring down those nitrates and potentially reduce your water changes. However, you will still need to dose more easy green if you want to grow any water column feeding plants (stem plants, floating plants, etc) or use more root tabs to grow plants that feed at the roots (crypts, swords, bulb plants, val, etc).
  7. @sweetpoison I have tried many different backgrounds, they all have their pros and cons. Ultimately, I choose my background based on what look I am going for in that particular aquarium. Here are some examples of my aquariums. The start of my reef tank with the Current USA Serene Background Light. I mostly use it in blue now as the corals and fish look extra colorful with it. 10 Gallon with the same Serene Background light except I am using window film meant to look like rice paper instead of the light diffusing background that comes with the background light, here it is in various colors: 40 Breeder with a Universal Rocks flat or slim type of 3d background, I easily installed this by using the sand substrate and the aquarium rim to hold it in place.
  8. I do something similar with the planters except I use stainless steel wire instead of the suction cups(much stronger, especially once you lower the water level and they do not have the help of buoyancy) and expanded clay balls for the substrate. I also use black canvas as it helps hide the planter with a black background and helps keep smaller substrate in and smaller fish out haha
  9. Hi @PaigeIs, it is a little difficult to tell in the photo but it looks like shoots to me. With dwarf aquarium lillies, I have always placed them in a cup and waited for them to sprout, then I would plant them only after I could tell which side was up.
  10. Hi @CorydorasEthan, I am interested in what your water parameters are out of the tap, do you happen to know? It is odd to me that your nitrates are that high with weekly water changes and the aquarium not looking too overstocked. Especially given that you are only getting a little over 3ppm of nitrates from easy green a week. If this were my aquarium, my initial thoughts would be to get the nitrates you have in there lower and replace them with nitrates from easy green (this will help give the plants all the other nutrients it needs other than just nitrogen). I would do this through water changes and/ or the help of some riparian plants. I do not know much about the nicrew lights however. Assuming it can grow plants decently which I imagine it can, I would go with the above. Also, I have never had issues growing plants in sand. As long as the plant is being fed where it prefers to be fed at, it should do well. Keep us updated and good luck!
  11. The aquarium is looking great! The shrimp definitely appreciate all the biofilm on that driftwood haha some of that moss you have there would look awesome on that driftwood as well!
  12. Time to give this aquarium a water change to cut down on the cloudiness! I love looking at this aquarium from above, red cherry shrimp from above against big green leaves is underrated! Haha Also, these anubias leaves are huge! Haha
  13. Thank you so much @Georgiapeach88! I hope your tanks have been doing great as well! Quick update on the 40 Breeder, I removed all the pothos from this aquarium as it grew too fast and too thick, it was hard to get into the aquarium and it was up to my ceiling in some areas haha the tank is a little cloudy but the corydoras are having fun while I work at my desk and the Sterbai Corydoras are spawning on a weekly basis. Here is a quick video:
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