TravisN

I've only had my aquarium (planted 40G breeder community tank) for a couple of years now and still consider myself an amateur, but thought this was an interesting topic for discussion. How do you decide on the type, direction, and rate of flow for your aquariums? I have a canister filter and it occurred to me that I have the option of using a distributor nozzle, a spray bar, using steel pipes, etc. On top of that, I could decide to direct the flow from left to right, front to back, or diagonally across. I could have a vertical spray bar in a corner creating a cycle effect. What things do you take into consideration when deciding the flow in your aquarium or what are the pros/cons of the different methods? Edit: Thanks for the replies so far! Just wanted to clarify that I'm not looking for help or advice. There's obviously no one way to do this. I thought it would be interesting to hear different perspectives.

Thanks for the input, everybody. I retested to day using the towel method above and got more or less the same results. Just for a point of comparison, I dipped a test strip into a bottle of store brand "natural spring water" and got a similarly not-on-the-chart purple color. The results from the bottled water are attached.

I've been using the ACO test strips for a while, and I've always kinda ignored the hardness reading because this color doesn't look like any of the colors on the side of the bottle to me. I've never tested it any other way, and my house have other symptoms of hard water, but I've always wondered. Might be hard to see in the photo, but what do others think?

So over the weekend I moved my spray bar toward the front of the tank which I believe increased the flow in the front, decreased the flow in the back, and also reversed the flow in the tank from clockwise to counterclockwise as you're looking down into it. This has changed the behavior of the fight a bit I think. The danios like swimming against the current or turning and gliding with it in the front of the tank. I have noticed a little more activity from the cories that I think this is contributing to. They're still skittish and hide in the back during the day, but I see them pop out in to the back center of the tank every once in a while for very brief periods of time. I think it's partially due to the danios swimming down where they hang out and chasing them around a bit. It's not a lot, but is more often than I saw them before.

That's a good point. They definitely are running for cover, not just "away". Sometimes they'll try to wedge under a rock or something. I say they go to the back, but that is also behind hardscape and under the most densely planted part of the tank where the pogostemon stellatus octopus is growing wild.

Thanks for the input. I haven't tried increasing flow with a powerhead or in the front of the tank specifically. I may give that a shot when I do my water change later today. Thank you, I've thought about that as well. Are you recommending 8 of the same species or a different species?

First, stats: Tank Planted 40g breeder estblished early October 2021 (first fish added mid-November) Located in my office where I sit at my desk about 6 feet from it all day long most days. Room is usually pretty quiet. pool filter sand substrate layered on top of some aquasoil and gravel Oase BioMaster Thermo 250 (I know it's overkill) NICREW SkyLED Plus Aquarium Light Stock: 7 corydora punctatus 2 otocinclus (bought 4, two died) 12 leopard danios 4 cherry shrimp lots of plants Tank parameters: 75F pH 7 0 ammonia 0 nitrites ~25 nitrates (usually between 20-50) Weekly ~30-40% water changes Currently fighting off a bit of an algae issue Feeding daily pinch of xtreme krill flakes for the danios and sinking pellets for the cories occasionally frozen brine shrimp or frozen blood worms Hello! Looking to get some help on my first real aquarium. I did research for months before buying anything and ran with only plants for weeks before buying fish, making sure my cycle was established. The Problem My problem is the cories which I bought 8 of back in November (have lost 1 since). The reason I got them is because I thought they'd be active and fun to watch. The first week or so I got them, they did what I would have expected, hanging around together, glass surfing every once in a while. But within a month they became very very shy and have remained that way. They stay in the back behind the rocks and among the plants all day long until it is completely dark. I mean the sun is set, the aquarium light is off, and all of the lights in the room are off. If I come into the dark room with a dim light to try to check on them, they may hang around for a few seconds, but most of them will quickly dart to the back and hide. In addition to that, they're terrified of me. If I'm at all close to the tank and looking in, sometimes I'll see one that's in the back dart away to somewhere more hidden. And sometimes when I do a water change, if I do anything to scare them, sometimes one of them will completely freak out and swim for their life all over the tank. Things I've tried, with seemingly no effect: I had hoped adding the danios would help them gain confidence, but it did not dimming the aquarium light or leaving it off during the day changing to a horizontal spray bar changing to a vertical spray bar lowering the flow raising the flow feeding them at different times of the day and in different places in the tank Is there anything else I can do? I was really excited to get what I thought were going to be really active, fun fish, so it's disappointing that I hardly see them. In addition I'm worried that this behavior is because there's something about the tank that isn't good for them.