Scapexghost

Green water happens when their is a great excess of light and/or neutrients. The more heavily planted the tank is, the less likely you'll have an excess in these areas. So yes, a heavier planted tank is less likely ti get green water. The way to prevent green water would be to eliminate the excess light and neutrients. This may mean decreasing the light intensity, duration, increasing water changes, or increasing the plant mass in the tank.

Choose wisely, since whichever one you pick youll never be able to get rid of. But like @castiel said, just get both if you cant decide. Both are beneficial.

Thats all true. The biggest issue is that everyone wants an easy answer and in fishkeeping there rarely is. Often people will ask "How often should I change water," but that is something they have to determine themselves, all anyone can do is guide them through the process of finding the answer. Even if someone doesn't use my formula, the main takeaways I want people to get are: -doubling water change frequency is the same as doubling water change volume, halving water change frequency is the same as halving water change volume, etc. -assuming nitrate build up is constant, nitrate levels will plateu given a consistent water change schedule.

Thats true, fish can breed and die, fish can grow, food can change, all affecting nitrate build up. Plants are even more complicated. A tank with few plants will process few nitrates, but a tank full of plants will process few nitrates bc there is no room to grow. So, a tank half full of plants will process the most nitrates. If the blue line is plant mass, the red line is nitrate consumption. Still, it is simple to adjust water changes if you are keeping track of your nitrate build up. If nitrates are plateuing at 60 instead of 40, increase water changes by 50%. If nitrates are plateuing at 20 instead of 40, decrease water changes by 50%.

They should make an app that can determine the exact ppm based on the rgb of a picture of the test tube. Most of the time i just think "orangish good, redish bad"

You got it

Oh yeah that was rough. I didnt find linear algebra to bad but the ODEs were killer.

Calc 2 is one of the hardest math courses I've taken. In Calc 2 you basically learn all the calculus and in calc three you just apply that same math in 3 (or 4, or 5) dimensions. The equation for the graph is y=N-Ne^(-wx) with w being the percentage of water changed as a decimal. Certainly similar to a radioactive decay formula.

Would a graph help?

The power just went out so it seems like as good a time as any to talk about water changes. First, let's determine if a 25% water change every week is equal to a 50% every other week. At first, some may think that they are the same, while others will say that the 50% change is greater. In the case of the 50% water change, 50% of the original water is replaced. In the case of the 2 25% water changes, 25% of the original water is replaced, and then 25% of the 75% remaining original water is replaced, meaning the 2 25% water changes is only equal to a 43.75% water change. However, there is more to it. This is because the nitrate levels in the tank are changing. So, let's map this out. Let's take 2 tanks, both producing 10 nitrates per week. The first tank we'll do 25% weekly water changes while the second we'll do 50% bi-weekly changes. At week zero, both tanks have zero nitrates. At the end of week one, both gain 10 nitrates. In tank one, we remove 2.5 nitrates, leaving 7.5. In tank two, we remove no nitrates, leaving 10. At the end of week two, after the water changes, tank one now has 13.125 nitrates and tank two has 10. After week three, tank one haa 17.34375 nitrates and tank two has 20 nitrates. After week four, tank one has 20.5078125 nitrates and two has 15 nitrates. Let's stop for a moment, as two things are becoming appearant. First, it shifts back and forth between the two tanks as to which has more nitrates. Second, both tanks are increasing in nitrate levels despite the water changes. This is concerning, as it looks like the nitrates will keep increasing forever regardless of how many water changes we do. But will they? Let's see. In tank one, the nitrates are increasing by 10 every week, and decreasing by 25%. So, the change in nitrates is equal to 10-.25N, with N being the number of nitrates in the tank. If we set this equal to zero, we can see what the nitrate level will be once the nitrates no longer change. So, 0=10-.25N, and N equals 40. So, the max nitrates in this tank are 40, and the nitrates will never pass this amount. So, what about tank two? Well, the formula for this tank is 20-.5N, and N will once again equal 40. So, in terms of maximum nitrate levels, a 25% weekly water change is the same as a 50% bi-weekly water change. We can also use this formula to determine the ammount of water changes we need to do in any tank. Lets say n is the ammount of nitrates produced per week, N is the max ammount of nitrates we wish to allow, and x is the % of water we need to change to achieve this. So, the equation is 0=n-Nx. Solving for x, we get x=n/N. Hopefully this helps answer the age-old question "how much water should i change," and clear any confusion around more, smaller water changes versus fewer, larger water changes.

Cherry shrimp can go down to the 50s no problem but ideal is around room temp. I think removing the heater and just letting the water cool naturally would be fine. After all, when shrimp are bagged in stores and people take them home, theyll experience much faster temperature fluctuations. When people float bags to temperature aculamate fish, the temperature swing will also be much faster. I see no issue in letting a five gallon tank cool from 78 to 72 degrees.

Are these cherry shrimp? If so, you might want to lower the temp. 78 is on the higher end, and since you don't have any fish in there, might as well decrease the temp and save on electricity. That said, if it was a water quality issue, the shrimplets would've died first. If the shrimp are breeding, they are probably doing quite well. Shrimp don't have terribly long life spans, about a year, so don't make to much out of a single death.

It should be fine. If it's your only plant, you will probably have algae issues. If you have a bunch of other fast growing plants, the java fern might get out competed. Outside of those, it should grow just as well under high lighting if not better.

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In general you should try to avoid getting pairs of fish. It can work but its safer to get 1 or 3+ due to aggression. 2 honey gouramis is probably ok bc theyre such a docile species but if you do see aggression pick up a 3rd. For the dwarf cichlid (ram/apisto) i would recommend one. Two males would fight for territory and a male/female pair may breed. Breeding is a lot of fun but breeding fiah can be very hostile to other fish. German blue rams can be very difficult to keep so Id lean towards the apisto or maybe a bolivian ram. Bolivian rams arent as pretty as german rams but theyre much hardier. I agree with the others that cories would be a fun addition. If you are looking for an algae eater, i would recommend one albino bristlenose pleco.

Try floating foods. Neons won't usually eat from the top.

A betta or gourami

Three suggestions: -get more females -increase cover -introduce a more aggressive fish

While watching the livestream live youtube will ask you if you want to be opted into a chance to win a free membership. Say yes and you'll have a good chance of winning. I did it last live stream and won one in less than 5 minutes.

I've never had a saltwater tank but i met a woman once who had both saltwater tanks and freshwater tanks. Her passion was for cichlids, especially africans. She said her saltwater weren't difficult to keep. They were very lightly stocked, especially compared to her cichlid tanks. She was an older lady too, probably in her 60s or 70s, so if she was able to maintain several saltwater tanks along with several cichlid tanks (all very big tanks) i don't think anyone should be afraid of trying saltwater if they're interested.

Interesting. Always looking for an excuse to go to a fish store. My lfs carriers replacement parts for a hob filter they don't carry lol. If I could add something, i think people should post the rarest fish they find at their local fish store. My favorite part about going to a fish store is seeing something ive never seen.

I think platies are the fish that can go into the most communities. I guess it might be mollies since they can go into salt water communities too. Platies are one of the few fish that can go with both aggressive and docile fish. I have some with my tiger barbs are some with my betta and I've never had issue with either. I really like the short body ones, mostly for aesthetic reasons but also because they can go into smaller tanks. For a third ill go bn pleco. I have one in all my tanks.

Cory has been talking about making a member-only trade forum. This is a fun and exciting idea and im glad Cory found a way to make it work. However, i have a suggestion id like to propose. That is, instead of completely locking out non-members, make posting member-only but allow non-members to still view and replay to threads. Basically, only allow members to sell but allow anyone to buy. That way, non members can still get fish from other hobbiests and make it so members have more people to sell fish to. I get that there might be some huge problem with this that i might not realize, and i respect that Cory and the coop are taking on a huge risk implementing this at all. I am a member and a don't plan on selling fish anytime soon, so im not suggesting this for my own benefit. I just wanted Cory to hear this idea if he hadnt already.

Peppered cory is the cool water one but that might still be to cold for them. It is pretty difficult to even keep a tank at 60° unless room temperature is in the 50s. What kind of fish are you keeping that need those kinds of temperatures?

Long enough. It might melt back a little but assuming the root tabs come within a few weeks i wouldnt worry.