TheAdmiral

Yea, so I am using the same manifold and the never-clog stones and they are giving me nothing but issues, per OP.

So same thing I am doing, but with better results. What air stones are you using? What manifold?

Thanks for the confirmation. Theoretically adjusting the ball valves on the 4-way valve should allow me to compensate for the other factors but It's never that easy. I am probably going to swap out the airstones with standard ones to eliminate those adjustments as well as making sure the hoses are the same length.

I have 2 20g longs each with a matten filter, running off a single Tetra 77850 (60g-100g rated version) via a 4 way valve. I keep having weird flow issues. I'll have them dialed in great, then the next morning, flow on one has greatly reduced, culprit being crappy flow coming from the no-clog air stone. So I loosen the airstone, flow great again, then maybe a few days later, same thing. Loosen the air stone more, play with the air valves, everything dialed in again. Then in a few days, similar issues, maybe from the same tank, maybe from the other. I just can't figure out why they don't stay dialed in. I'm guessing it has something to do with air following the path of least resistance so any difference in caused by different air hose lengths, adjustment of the airstone, depth of the water, etc will result in differences in pressure. I guess running multiple items off a single outlet is futile? It's maddening. Any thoughts?

I set up my first one at the very beginning of the year. Easiest tank I've ever had. I have 7 or 8 "regular" tanks with various filtertypes (HOB, canister, matten, sponge) and 1 40g Walstad. All I do is trim the plants and add water due to evaporation loss. Here is a link to my build log:

+1 to composting!

+1 on supporting your LFS! You can find some amazing bettas. Here is one of my beauties:

It's extremely dense and reads like a science textbook, which is incredible if you are into all the research, experimentation, and discoveries she's made over the last 25+ years. She really has done an incredible job. But the book does lack "in depth" step by step instructions for setting up a tank using her eponymous method. On the other hand though, it really is that simple. 1"-2" dirt, 1-2" small gravel, heater, good lighting, and tons of plants. I also have a small powerhead to keep water gently circulating and a UV sterilizer to help me sleep at night. I posted a build log on reddit when I was putting it together:

Ya, my next planned tank is a small neocardinia walstad.

This picture is a month or two old, but this is my first Walstad and its doing pretty well. The only issue I've had is trying to keep the green hair algae under control. Stock List 5x Pearl Gourami 5x Assorted Platy 5x Amano Shrimp 3x SAE 3x Otto 1x Bristlenose Pleco 2x Nerite Snails Infinity pond snails

Sorry for your loss, We've all been there. Absolutely was the sunscreen. It's hard to overfeed in a heavily planted (I'm assuming low-tech means heavy plants) tank and you are right, overfeeding is not what kills, it's the resulting NH3 spike from decaying/uneaten food, and even that takes longer than a day. Chemical sunscreen on the other hand, (which even humans should not use), is shockingly toxic to aquatic life. Not saying that a mineral sunscreen would have been safe, as they are shown to be harmful in larger quantities as well (but you and your family should only use mineral sunscreens!) I always wash and dry my hands before going into the tanks (again, after learning the hard way)

4 in a 100g seems reasonable, especially if heavily planted.

15+ years of aquarium keeping has taught me that stable pH is far more important than a specific pH. 6.4 is not all that low (unless you are keeping certain cichlids that really need 8+). But trying to maintain a pH that is outside what your local water allows is a nightmare (for you and the fish). I use a lot of crushed coral myself (in substrate generally but also occasionally in the filters) as a buffering agent against pH swings which as a side effect keeps my pH around 7.8. My city water here in metro Atlanta comes out of the tap around 8+. Having the crushed coral really helps keep the pH stable and protects against swings caused by overfeeding or decaying plant matter. So really it depends on your tank set-up, If you are running a Walstad, then you don't want to vacuum or add fertilizer. If you have a traditional gravel/sand bottom tank with mechanical filter, then you will likely want to supplement with fertilizers and gravel vac the surface (so as not to suck out your root tabs). More plants = more ferts. Easy Green says one squirt per 10g but if it's not heavily planted and or not high light, you may only need 1 or 2 squirts a week. It's trial and error really until you get the feel for it. Long story short though, I personally would not worry about any pH between 6 and 8. And if you find your equilibrium is in the mid to low 6's, get yourself some discus and revel in my jealousy.

I have 2 in my 20 high and 3 in my 40 breeder. The largest is about 3" currently. As they start to outgrow the tank, I move them to larger tanks. 20g is honestly going to be too small for a full grown adult, but if you plan to move them to larger tanks, it's ok to start with a few. If you don't have larger tanks to migrate them to but want amazing algae eaters, get a fleet of Amano Shrimp!