laritheloud

That sounds like a great start! If you see you still have enough algae after having the three snails for a few weeks, you can think about adding the thorned nerites. 🙂 Just stock in stages and you can see how the snails do and make sure they're getting enough to eat. Love your snail stocking, by the way. I adore my snails (mystery and 2 nerites right now, along with bladder snails) and want to get more!

Oh wow!!! I'll just let it be then!

Oh, this is really helpful. I wasn't sure if planting it now was appropriate or if it would rot if I attempted. I'll let it be after all. It looks GREAT so far, I would hate to kill it with a novice mistake!

My worry about all those nerite snails in a 16 gallon is that they won't have enough food to sustain themselves. They are biofilm and algae eaters, and I bet two nerites would be more than enough to clean your tank. You might want to slim down your nerite snail population. I'm not sure about the other snails so much as I don't own any of them myself, but if they will eat supplemental food, then they are probably safer to keep than a lot of nerites in a 16 gallon.

I've seen that! But when I tried to do that, my snails keep unearthing it...... I'm doing a water change this evening so I'll see if I can anchor it a bit better in there.

My dwarf red aquarium lily has sprouted really well, and I'm starting to see roots shooting down along the sides. This is probably a silly question, but do you continue to leave it on top of the substrate, or should I 'plant' it at this point? I'm an utter gardening/aquarist newcomer, as you can see. 🤣

Not meaning to hijack this post, but this is really interesting and the first time I've heard this advice. I haven't commented on many of your posts yet but I've been learning an awful lot about growing aquarium plants and CO2 injection from you, and this is a really provocative and interesting approach. I had no idea I was at risk of over-saturating my eco-complete with root tabs, or that this was how eco-complete was engineered to function. I won't try to fish out what I already put in, but I'll see if I can go several months without using them at all. I already have a pretty stable gH and kH so I won't be too concerned about it, but it's definitely something I'm going to try.

Truly I feel insane. I've been looking at these tests for so long that I question what I'm seeing. Are these Zero readings? I swear there's a slight tint in person but I'm also concerned I'm driving myself nuts.

Hey @Betsy just thought I'd check in on how your tank's doing! My ammonia finally cycled back to zero today, so I'm feeling much more relaxed. Hope your cycle (and your fishes) are recovering well!

Definitely doesn't hurt. I'm just relieved my ammonia is back to being in control, and I can move on! 😉 Let my mystery snail have a little blanched zucchini this morning as a treat. Thank you for your help, Colu!

My fish are doing well, and ammonia has dropped back to zero with once-daily feedings. Nitrites are just barely elevated (the color doesn't match a straight 0 but it's too light for 0.25 ppm), but I'm thinking since Ammonia is 0 again that should cycle out pretty fast. Hopefully that's that, I can let my quarantine tank cycle, and everything is getting back to an equilibrium. Does anyone know when or if I should panic and do another water change with regard to nitrites? I have both test strips and the API master test kit, and the test strips say 'stress' levels of nitrite start at 1. Is that accurate? Should I dose with Seachem Prime again tonight just to be safe, or let it go?

Whatever the water is that you have access to. I don't have any RO systems, and I don't buy anything other than driftwood, tons of plants, and catappa leaves to decorate my tank and mildly soften my water. I keep some hardier soft-ish-water fish in my tank right now, and all of them are doing fine. GH 10, KH 10, PH 8.0. As long as the fish are acclimated properly it's usually fine.

I only have a 29 gallon so far, but I have big dreams of sizing up for my next one.... This thread sure is giving me ideas!

I have a 29 gallon and this seems overstocked to me. I do think 2 bristlenoses is too much, I think you can maybe fit one blue acara but no more. Hill stream loaches weren’t compatible with these fish when I was researching them which is a shame because they are so neat!!! also I have a smaller species of corydora for my tank ... I’d go with something the size of a panda Cory or smaller. Sterbai would be fine in the tank but they are on the heftier side for a corydora! Kuhli loaches would be great, though. Not sure about the neon tetras. 20 seems like a lot to go with everything else you want. Maybe start with 12?

https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-2-4-epistylis/ It might be epistylis if the ich treatment isn't working...

Nevermind, I chickened out and dosed Prime just as a safety net. I don't trust ammonia with my high Ph! Fingers crossed that ammonia will cycle out soon.

It's been a little less than a week and my ammonia levels have dropped to between 0 and 0.25 (not quite matching the green of .25 but not quite the yellow of 0). I'm holding off on dosing prime and I'll check levels again before going to bed, but I'm feeling optimistic. Levels were steady at 0.5 ppm for the majority of the week, even after water changes! I water changed last night, fed rather generously this morning and this is where we're at. Hoping we're nearly back to a stable tank. Fingers crossed! Out of curiosity, I did check my water hardness levels and they dropped 2 degrees each, 10 dGH and 10 dKH. Interesting!

https://streamable.com/mixmp0 Just a quick video of the tank that makes me really happy. I got some cheap 'fake' decor for the fish and snails to hide in while the plants grow out. I hope to remove them (at least the fake rock cave on the left) and let the plants speak for themselves as they grow out. 🥰 I had no real 'plan' in mind, I just picked plants that made me happy and tried them out. What works will work, what doesn't will teach me to try a different strategy in the future. I can always change the scape later! Current residents are: 6 Juvenile Diamond Tetra 6 Juvenile Corydora Elegans 2 Nerite Snails (1 tiger 1 zebra) 1 Golden Mystery Snail Bladder Snail Hitchikers Tons of Plants!!!!!!! All the plants!!! The crypt tropicas in the middle are my favortes, followed by the dwarf aquarium lily that's sprouted very well and hiding in the back right corner. My water sprite is already a monster.

Snails also love eating that gunk. My 2 nerites and mystery snail feast on that stuff whenever it pops up.

It's a beautiful tank, I can't wait to see how it grows. I'm trying to teach myself to be patient, too, but it's so hard, especially when you have to bite your nails over a mini-cycle/cycle crash after attempting to do everything the 'right' way! Live and learn, right? I got my quarantine tank set up, too, after this experience. Are you sure the dwarf lily wasn't going to sprout?? That's such a shame. Mine had a thick layer of biofilm but after two weeks it's taking off, and the snails make feasts of the film that keeps growing on it.

I treated my tank with Maracyn, finished up the round on Saturday, and I'm struggling with the same issue. Nitrite appears to be solidly fine (and I'm seeing Nitrates rise after every water change). Ammonia never rises above 0.5ppm, but I dose with Prime and do every-48-hour water changes. I've been adding bottled bacteria all week and PRAYING it'll come down and sort itself out soon. I'm on the edge of my seat trying to ensure the health of my fish! Let me know if you can get yours down and steady again.

What a beautiful planted tank! I hope mine looks this lush once it grows and matures!

I would caution you to keep an eye on your water parameters through treatment regardless. Maracyn wasn't said to have an affect on my biological filter, but it definitely disturbed my bacterial balance in my tank. When you are working with antibiotics that's the risk, and it sucks. I hope all goes well with your treatment, and hang in there! Try not to get discouraged! It's so easy to but the best thing you can do for your fish is to stay calm, be proactive, be patient, and take bumps in the road as they come. Good luck!

Hey there! My water out of the tap is as follows: PH: 7.6 out of the tap, closer to 8.0 when allowed to sit (about 8.0 in the tank)Ammonia: 0ppmNitrite: 0ppmNitrate: 0ppmGH: 12 dKHKH: 12 dKH I haven't had too many issues. I have staghorn algae growth on my Java Fern that I'm struggling with, but it's not too bad otherwise. I'm experimenting with light and fert levels to see what it'll do. Good luck!

Also wanted to add: I have a quarantine tank set up now in a different room, with all plastic decor and a sponge filter bubbling away. I'm letting that cycle concurrently with my recovering display tank. Live and learn, hopefully once I get through this I am now set up to not let it happen again!