Rube_Goldfish

I can't help with the molting problem, and I'm sorry to hear about it. I'm only about a week and a half into keeping Neocaridina shrimp myself, and I don't think they've melted yet in my tank. But the parameters you got testing the store's RO don't make sense. RO is supposed to be very close to pure water. It'll vary RO unit to unit, but even a cheap Amazon filter ought to take out something like 95% of everything. So if your tap water is 400 ppm TDS, you should expect the RO output to be more like 20 ppm total. So either you and the store had some sort of misunderstanding (the charitable scenario) or they have something very wrong with their RO system. (Or your testing kit or testing procedures didn't work for whatever reason. Reagents do expire after a while.) That's a great looking tank, by the way!

The picture just shows up as black on my screen. That said, that all seems like it should be growing plants better than mediocre. Hopefully some of our plants experts have some good ideas for you. My outside the box idea (assuming tou have no animals in the tank): could you do what would essentially be a dry-start method? Lower the water to the substrate level, wrap the tank in plastic wrap, and absolutely blast it with light? Or would it defeat the purpose to have emersed growth that would then have to convert? Or, if you definitely want to grow them immersed, could you lower the water level to just at or slightly above the plants' height? That would mean less water for the light to have to penetrate through.

If it's an LED, you could try blocking some of the light with black electrical tape. Just maybe see how hot it gets before putting tape on it. Floating plants could also shade the tank some (or a lot) and soak up nutrients, but depending on your surface flow they may not work.

Not only did I not know that this was the difference between pond snails and bladder snails, I didn't even realize that there is a difference! I thought bladder snails were just one variety of pond snail! Can you clarify, though? Bladder snail points swirl left from which perspective? Is that clockwise if I'm looking straight at the snail?

@Simi Whatever happened with your club? Were you able to make any headway?

That's a great idea, and could be part of the relationship of the store and club, too. I forgot to add, my LFS has a discount for club members, too. Between that and meetings and events hosted at the LFS, you'd ideally have a symbiotic relationship.

And stems for the background and epiphytes for the wood, @NickD! Probably takes a lot strain off of the lid, too, not having to hold all that water in!

I've also had success either wafting my other hand or the gravel vac itself above the mulm, so it lifts off the sand, then the siphon takes it away and leaves the sand. That said, as often as not, I lazily say/rationalize to myself "it looks more natural!" and just leave it. If your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate numbers are still fine (0/0/depends on your planting and stocking), then I think it's mostly an aesthetic thing.

More experienced folks here than me will likely have more insight, but you'll want to think about, then secure access to, a suitable venue. Even if you start off mostly online, you'll eventually want some place to physically meet for auctions and trading, and in-person socializing. I know dues for membership can seem off-putting to prospective new people, but you might need at least some revenue for the venue space, a website, speaker's fees, maybe eventually merchandise. I'm lucky enough to have a local, long-running club, and in addition to annual dues, they sell merchandise, have sponsorships with local (and some national!) brands, and split auction revenue. After that, you'd need to start spreading the word: social media would be the first place to start, but also see if any of those three stores would let you put up fliers (and see if any of them will donate money, plants, fish, or equipment). @Simi had a thread from 2021 about starting a new club from scratch, so maybe there's some insight there: Good luck! I'm really rooting for you because clubs are an awesome experience, and I know how lucky I am to have mine and want that experience for everyone else in the hobby, too.

And airline can be used for other stuff, too, @Little Guys. Other than delivering air, I've used it for drip-acclimation, water changes/spot vacuuming on small tanks, as a boom to "corral" floating plant, and as a sort of inner tube to float DIY breeder boxes (made from coffee filter baskets). So it's always good to have some lying around.

I agree with @Tony s; if it was the wood, it likely would have acted much quicker. And even if it was some sort of slow acting toxin, it would likely be affecting the other fish in that tank. How do they look?

Haha, okay, good points! I guess I was just, I don't know, jealous? That's probably not the right word, but I see people confidently say things about the scuds or the copepods in their tank and I'm over here saying "huh, I've never seen a sesame seed swim that well before"!

If I'm looking at the correct things here then the small white specks I have are not seed shrimp, because I see them swimming in a smooth but somewhat erratic way, as if they can swim smoothly but they just don't know where they want to go. But they don't really "walk". But also, love cory fry! Very cute, and thank you!

Plants do preferentially take up ammonia as a nitrogen source, if I'm remembering Diana Walstad correctly, but there is an upper limit where ammonia becomes toxic even to plants: "As a base, under neutral conditions it exists as ammonium ion, which, at low external concentrations is a preferential nitrogen source for most plants but at higher concentrations it is phytotoxic." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235984189_Importance_of_ammonia_detoxification_by_plants_in_phytoremediation_and_aquaponics Unfortunately, I have not been able to turn up an LC50 for ammonia for phytotoxicity.

I have such a mixed feeling about it. I've pulled a bunch of damselfly and dragonfly nymphs, but otherwise I've gotten pretty lucky with the small hitchhikers, and I think they contribute to the overall health and balance of a tank (and provide grazing opportunities when I miss a feeding day). That said, yeah, there are absolutely some little beasties I don't want in any of my tanks!

Thanks! (Sorry, out of reactions for the day!) Carolina Biologicals sounds like a good resource. I'm normally pretty good about looking up individual things but I've been at a bit of a loss on how to search "small white speck that moves kind of funny" and they're too small to get photos of to show and ask here, at least with my cell phone camera.

I have a planted 10 gallon tank with a half dozen Neocaridina davidii, some bladder snails, and a very young ramshorn snail. The filter and substrate have been running in one form or another and in one tank or another for months now, bit the hardscape and about half of the plants are new. Since there are no fish putting pressure on them, I see some very small organisms moving around in the tank. I see references to copepods, seed shrimp, scuds, isopods, rhabdocoela, and all manner of microfauna, but I never really know what I'm looking at when I see small things moving around in my tanks. Is there a "beginner's guide" or an "illustrated guide" to microfauna in freshwater aquariums anyone can recommend that I might start learning about these things?

Here's a good primer (apologies if you know all this already): https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

I use a tap:RO blend and remineralize with Equilibrium. It's designed for planted tanks; it's got calcium and magnesium, the two elements that make up "general hardness," but it's got some other things, too, added for the benefit of plants. But it's a good, stable, repeatable product. Crushed coral will raise your KH in a slow, gentle sort of way. Baking soda will raise your KH, but it's very fast and strong, so be very careful with it if you're going to use it. I'd advise crushed coral over baking soda, for what it's worth.

I assume that @Guppysnail is right, but any chance you can get a photo? Or are they too small?

I've only ever heard of using Purigen in a filter. Maybe you can tuck it into a media bag or nylon hose like you can with peat moss or crushed coral, but if so, I've never seen or heard of it. Sorry that's not a more helpful answer.

Depending on your filtration, you can use Seachem Purigen to remove tannins, though I don't know if it also absorbs liquid fertilizers. Otherwise, you could just water change your way out of tannins.

If not your local fish store, any of the big box pet stores (Petsmart, Petco) will have them, and if you don't mind cleaning a used one, you can likely get one cheaply from Facebook Marketplace, Offer Up, Kijiji (depending on your area) or my favorite, your local fish club auction (and you can find a map of those here).

One squirt is 1 mL. You could always get a pipette or dropper and dose 0.5 mL. But I also agree with @lefty o that you look pretty dialed in at the moment anyway.

I cut mine with a utility knife (though it might end up using up all of a new blade).