[White plaque (?) on cryptocoryne leaves]

I see, does the staghorn only grow in a certain area or all over the aquarium? It could be related to excess light as well. 

You have great names for your fish by the way haha 

[White plaque (?) on cryptocoryne leaves]

Hi @PaigeIs, I am not too sure about the crypts, usually crypts look waxy/ glossy but given that you can wipe it off, I am not too sure what it could be. Hopefully someone else here can help you with that.

However, I wanted to mention that the algae on the leaves looks like it could be staghorn algae which can be caused by excess iron. It may help to reduce the amount and/ or frequency of your iron dosing. 

[2 Options... need help deciding]

I would go with the 5 gallon. My best reason for going with the 5 gallon is that if you ever want to do something different down the road, a 5 gallon will be much better and could handle more than a 3 gallon. A 3 gallon will be very limited. 

[Isaac’s Aquariums]

Very brief update, will do one that is much more comprehensive as I find the time. However, we can start with the 10 gallon aquarium. The neon tetras, guppies and blue dream shrimp now have some more friends, 10 corydoras habrosus! My girlfriend gave me a gift card for Christmas last year and I have always wanted to keep this species so I jumped on the opportunity. They have not disappointed either, they are incredibly social and active. Once again, Corydoras are my favorite! Haha 

For the 40 gallon Corydoras Riparium, I just wanted to document the size of some of these leaves. The anubias has now broken the water surface and grown leaves rivaling that of the pothos.  

Also, the crypts are in grand need of a trimming but boy have they gotten massive, for scale, here is the largest crypt leaf next to a pothos leaf (also an adult cherry shrimp in the bottom left corner for scale):

And here are all 3 leaves next to each other:

I have also been experimenting with feeding live baby brine shrimp every day, especially because of the reef tank inhabitants. However, I only have one hatchery and my shrimp hatch every 48 hours. Plus, I am feeding twice a day and only have so much time. With a little research, I found that they can be refrigerated and they will stay alive. The colder temperatures cause their metabolism to slow down which is great for preserving nutrition. Once they hit the warmer aquarium water, they begin swimming again like normal.  I keep mine in these little deli/ condiment cups and run the shrimp through a sieve before I feed them to the aquariums. It has worked out great. 

[How do I predict how Easy Green will effect nitrate levels?]

Hi @memorywrangler, I did the calculation a while ago (not 100% is correct but the number matches with the number @Mmiller2001 got from an email from Candy) and attached the screenshot below. Ultimately, 1 pump (1 mL) of Easy Green in 5 gallons of water should increase Nitrate by a little over 6ppm. However, it could be slightly more assuming you have things in the aquarium displacing water (substrate, rocks, etc). I hope that helps! 

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

@Guppysnail haha yes I remember when we came up with the idea to use the jar you had and the brine shrimp sieve! 

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

@Guppysnail wow, thank you for your kind words, it means a lot to me! Wow look at all those plants, I cannot wait to see how amazing this jungle is going to look a year from now. It is going to be impressive for sure. You are inspiring me to redo some of my riparian planters as well haha thank you for all your consistent updates, I always love to read them! 

[Red emergent plants]

Wow @Guppysnail! Those look so beautiful!  The Monstera (I think?) looks like a massive anubias 😂 Your aquariums are going to look amazing! 

[Led flood light]

@Jeffreyb sounds good, please let us know the results! 

[Red emergent plants]

@Guppysnail that sounds like a great list, usually the reds look nicer, well at least in my opinion, when they have a nice lush green background to contrast against. 

I will be adding some riparian plants to my 55 gallon so I will do some experimenting and let you know if I find something colorful that works. 

Hahaha I love the mousepad! That is one way to get a clownfish for sure haha I need to update my aquarium journal but I have quite a few new fish. You will be happy to know that my clownfish now has a best friend that he hangs out with all day, here is a video of them eating live baby brine shrimp together:

[Led flood light]

Hello @Jeffreyb, the led flood lights @Patrick_G mentions that I use can be found in the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B074H62XML?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I have really enjoyed my experience with these lights as I was able to grow plants very well, they are supposed to be waterproof (never tested this myself haha) and allowed me to save money. I only use 2 for my 40 breeder but if I wanted to grow higher light plants in the 75 gallon you are planning, I would probably go with 4. Here is the progress of my 40 gallon with the floodlights:

Good luck with your aquariums! Experimenting is part of the fun! 

[Red emergent plants]

@Guppysnail yeah unfortunately it was not me, but I appreciate you thinking of me! The only plant I have ever grown above water with any red in it was Hygrophila Corymbosa that was getting a lot of light. Other than that I have no experience with riparian plants that are not green, however here is a list of plants that I have seen others succeed with or say that have succeeded with: 

-Red Ludwigia species

-Rotala (I have only ever seen it get a red stem with green leaves though) 

-Scarlet Temple 

-Fittonia 

-Prayer Plant can have some red in it(I am growing a all green variety that grows well)

-Dragons Tongue has some purple underneath the leaves 

-Pilea Mollis Moon Valley is green but has some cool texture and darker colors to it

-Tulip Anthurium is green but has some colorful blooms 

-Callisia Repens Pink Panther 

I know some of these are predominantly green but just wanted to include them just in case. Again, I do not have a lot of personal experience with these but others claim to be successful. Good luck and have fun at the plant nursery! 

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

@Jawjagrrl I agree, I believe it contributed a lot to my early success with plants as I had no idea what I was doing 😂 regarding the easy green, you will get 3ppm of nitrate for each pump in 10 gallons of water. I do not know how big your aquarium is or how much you dose but you may need to dose more if you want to register some nitrates. However, if your tank is doing well currently, there is no need to change anything. 

I agree with @Minanora, crypts can grow in normal plain gravel, I was just saying that they typically grow better with easy access to fertilizer at the roots. Here are some examples from my personal tanks:

Plan gravel 29 Gallon, No fertilizer. Crypt Wendtii in the foreground. 

Here is the same aquarium a year and a half later as it is being torn down for an upgrade and you can see how much the crypts have grown: 

Here is a 11 month time lapse of my 40 gallon breeder with organic soil + some additional fertilizer below a sand cap. Started as a Crypt Purpurea tissue culture: 

 

In both cases, they have grown well and I think they are beautiful plants which is why I recommend them. With the care you show your aquariums @Guppysnail, I have no doubt that you will be able to grow strong beautiful plants of all sorts! 

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

@Guppysnail for crypts I would highly recommend root tabs or organic soil or some sort of enriched substrate. They can grow in plain gravel too but they just wont grow as great. If you are worried, I would go with bolbitis or even a different kind of anubias, there are some interesting ones out there (coffeefolia is easier to find but also really beautiful!). 

But I understand, it took me a long time before I got comfortable doing certain things as well, using organic soil in my aquarium for example took some bravery on the first try haha 

If it makes you feel any better, my tap water is similar, higher tds and around 15ppm nitrate. I think it has helped with growing my plants! 

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

@Guppysnail well crypts in general are easy to care for, they just do not like changes, thats when they melt. However the common crypt wendtii is always easy to grow and easy to find. Crypt lutea has been hardy for me as well. Crypt Purpurea is the one I have in my 40 gallon corydoras tank but it grows taller in low light it seems. As long as you give it time and some fertilizer in the roots, it should do well.  

If you want an epiphyte though, bolbitis is a gorgeous plant in my opinion. 

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

Also, I would recommend a crypt in one of those clay pots to fill in that gap. 

On 3/11/2022 at 7:44 PM, Guppysnail said:

Yes I also have hoardes of cherry shrimp in there. Glad I took a picture 🤣

I do not have a great picture but this is one of my old tanks, you can see what the flower looks like if you wait too long to take the picture in a tank with cherry shrimp 😂

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

@Guppysnail the anubias flower is beautiful! I have only had cherry shrimp eat an anubias flower like corn on the cob 😂

[Nitrate spike in established planted tanks-Im stumped]

Hi @Steve-B, first of all, beautiful aquariums, I especially love the carpet of staurogyne repens. Anyways, how large of water changes are you making? And do the aquarium inhabitants react in any way to the nitrite? Did you test your tap water with or without the dechlorinator? 

[Isaac’s Aquariums]

40 Gallon Corydoras Tank Update:

The tank is looking cloudy from missing a few weeks of squeezing out the sponge on the powerhead intake but the fish are still doing great, matter of fact, the pygmy corydoras are still spawning which is awesome!

The crazy thing though is that the anubias is starting to compete with the pothos for the biggest leaves in the aquarium, these anubias leaves are now measuring 5 inches long and are at the point of breaking the water surface!

 

[Plants above water to reduce nitrates]

I have done the following: 

-Lucky Bamboo

-Pothos

-Peace Iilly

-Areca Palm

-Ponytail Palm

-Prayer Plant

-Bacopa

-Pennywort 

I hang sponge holders made for kitchen sinks from the rim of my aquarium and fill them with leca as the growing medium.

[Best Light For Plants 6 Gallon Nano Long]

@The Goatee

Here is the link to the canvas:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KHAYGJO?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

[Isaac’s Aquariums]

@Guppysnail thank you very much! The shiners are so beautiful, I can only imagine what they will look like when they fire up! Thank you! I still love my aquariums, do not get me wrong, I was just down because I could not figure out the problem. I am here to stay! Haha 

@xXInkedPhoenixX thank you! Yes, it was not a fun experience, luckily it never hurt any of the inhabitants too bad. Mostly the corals were not as vibrant and happy as they should have been. 

@Torrey I do not heat any of my aquariums. I had an incident with a heater that failed on me and I do not want to take that risk again unless I can trust the water heater. None of my aquariums drop lower than 68 degrees however. I haven't seen any negative effects on the fish either. I even have some fish spawn in those conditions. I would not recommend this with german blue rams, discus, etc though. Fish can thrive in a wider range of conditions than I think we give them credit for. 

[Best Light For Plants 6 Gallon Nano Long]

Hi, given that you already have some lights that you can use, I would say use what you have. If you are concerned about it being too much light, I actually will reduce the light intensity by adding plastic canvas to the bottom of the light(or it can be added to the top of the aquarium cover if you prefer). Here is a finnex light I have over a 5 gallon that I added plastic canvas to:

I mostly covered the sides because I would get a lot of algae on the glass. I cut the middle open in the portion of the tank I wanted the full intensity on. 

I hope that helps! 

[Isaac’s Aquariums]

Quick update on 55 Gallon & Rainbow Shiners:

The pothos growing on top of the aquarium got too crazy and blocked out all the light so I trimmed it back heavily and gave away a bucketful of all the trimmings. So now we can actually see into the aquarium haha 

We also are having some peace lillies starting to flower:

The best development however is that my rainbow shiners are finally starting to develop their color and boy are they living up to their name:

 

Update on the 40 Gallon Reef:

I will be very transparent here, I have not posted much in general and especially about this tank because I have been having so much trouble with the health of this aquarium. Especially with the corals. It has been a big struggle these past 7 months and it has taken a toll on my enjoyment of the hobby. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. I have kept reef tanks before and I do not ever remember it being this hard, especially for only a soft coral/ zoanthid reef. However, I think we have an answer now. I am using Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt and recently they have put out a statement saying that their salt from a plant in Turkey is being recalled. My salt was from that plant and part of my salt has now been replaced by the company with the rest coming at a later date. Anyways, I will say that I feel much more optimistic now and my enjoyment is coming back. I am currently doing daily water changes to get most of that salt out and replaced. Hopefully the aquarium and its inhabitants begin to respond to this change and can regain their health. 

[Pygmy Corydoras Breeding Journal]

@Irene tubifex worms are really long and skinny, the pygmy corydoras slurp them up like spaghetti haha it is also one of the foods that is highly recommended by Eric Bodrock in the Cataclysm 2017 corydoras presentation  video on the aquarium co-op channel which is where I learned it from. Anyways, good luck with your pygmy corydoras!