Flumpweesel

I do water changes when I have time the inclination and the garden would like a dirty fish water boost. I have heavily planted tanks and they can go months without a change in the measurable parameters . I personally think its is better to be guided by the changes in the water than to stick to routine as you will help you build in a better crisis buffer. I know that if something happened and I couldn't get to my tanks they would cope well over 6 months with moderate feeding ( easier to find a feeder than a cleaner) that is very unlikely to ever be the case but when my mains water had boil notice one summer it saved a lot of worry and money. It is your tank do what you want but I do say find your stress points they are useful when life gets in the way. you may also find that the plants do a bit better if they get a bit more Nitrate

Mine was in 1999. nearly every talk show and newspaper had instructions on how to make viewers from cereal boxes.

😂 never underestimate the ignorance others

Great pictures, I think it is true goose bumps of an experience.

Just curious - I watched one once a very long time ago and silence that accompanied it was quite spooky. The birds all stopped singing it was the strangest hush. Obviously it wasn't visible for me this time not that we see the sun very often in this soggy corner of the UK.

I've had a of a think on this and no idea's at all on cultures but the best way to grow one in to my mind would be to only fill the tank a couple of cms deep light it well so there are no dark spots and add fertilizer. If you try and grow it in a full tank you will get algae forming every where and nearest the light source first so you will be forever scraping it off where you don't want it. Also no matter what you do you will probably get more than one sort of algae so you will need to manage that manually. You will get some dieback if you later add plants and décor as these will compete or add shade

Just keep in mind that as the plants are part of your cycle any drastic plant removal may cause a short term wobble in the tank balance but it should recover fast.

https://visdeurbel.nl/en/the-fish-doorbell This is ruining my productivity. But let's help the fish through the lock

Just something to think about is to make sure your hardcase can't topple this could cause scratches or at worst a crack.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68402386

I've used them as a temp fix ( I used plastic canvas) no issues with flow this was for female bettas They could see each other but as they couldn't chase the bullied fish soon worked out it was safe.

The biggest difference between plant and aquarium ferts in gernerally the amount of ammonia in them, keep testing your water and water changes if you want to speed things along and when things are back in the safe numbers you are back to normal. If you have any plants in this tank they will be loving it

The most important part of treating for ammonia burn is keeping the water parameters as good as possible, this is the same as any burn of cut you get keep it clean while it heals. Guppies are pretty good at getting over these thigs once the cause has been removed but it will take time to heal Adding meds to a tank you having to water change that much will be very expensive so I would caution against it. Make sure you are testing for ammonia and keep it as low as you can, you are in a "fish in cycle" now so vigilance is key . It can take a while to get a tank out of this stage because to keep the ammonia down you are keeping the nitrates and nitrites very low so the bacteria count doesn't build very quickly. If you haven't already I would recommend watching Cory's presentations on cycling.

I've never used RO water but my understanding is that it often needs minerals adding, obvious we are working with what you have here so I would suggest doing minimal water changes just to manage the spike rather than a large change to prevent your parameters going all over the place. Hopefully people who you use RO normally will chime in soon Cheap bottled drinking water is often recommended

Thanks Larry is awesome

Glad to hear you have found a balance, I had been wondering where you have gone but due to a change in my job I've not been on here much this year either. Life is full of things that we can control and things that we can't. So with what we can we must keep it as stress free as possible.

just watched that is it loyal to the books ?

Don't panic, if it seems happy it probably is and as Tanked said either spat it out when you weren't looking or its just done it no harm. Just watch it eat and poop and if everything is normal just relax.

I am also avoiding strong emotional attachment to fish the heartache when I lost my old goldie was horrific

The dirty fish idea is a misnomer in my opinion but it is a simple way to explain that some fish will need more attention than others. If you fed one tetra the same volume of food as one goldfish in the same size tank ect you would probably see the water behave very similarly. Although a hungry goldfish will trash your decor. This is why if you ghost feed to seed a tank you need to do it to match the planned population

I love goldfish but they are a lot of work, my main tank when housing 2 goldfish was a water change and gravel vac very 2 maybe 3 weeks, same tank with less filtration and tropical community water change at 3 maybe 4 months and mainly because I feel like rearranging rather than urgent keep them alive maintenance. So I understand the dilemma you are in, I say try some "easier" fish you'll probably enjoy it and you might find the reduced stress of not having to manage a population a nice change. My egg layers do breed but never get out of control as I do nothing to protect eggs or fry aside from feeding fine powder foods every now and then and lots of hiding places due to my plants and hardscape. The joy of the hobby is with the right tweaks tanks can be set up and stocked to provide joy without being a burden on time and strength. However its the breeding you enjoy the most maybe get into shrimp their bioload is so low they rarely crash tank so you can leave it be when your body needs you to and no harm will come to them. You will probably always have guppies though but maybe not in every tank

I did this in my 60 US Gal tank and I don't believe they ever saw each other its heavily planted. I will say though that I had two Betta's and the first one I put in the big tank really didn't like it and just sat in a corner for days until I gave up and moved her back to the 20litre but the other girl was fine from the the get go. I think that was just agoraphobia though nothing to do with my Apisto she rarely goes more than a few inches from the tank floor.

My SAE's are egg eaters Garra rufa is a good algae eater that doesn't hunt eggs and pretty easy to keep. Bladder snails feel like an easy option

Has anything been changed either in the tank, new fish, filters or lights? Or in the room tv or lights casting shadows?

The new season of foundation is out soon to on Apple, I might have to buy in for a bit