Travis

@TheDesktopAquarium I had great success with frogbit in a low flow outdoor pond to the point it was trying to choke out the pond. I have had mixed luck inside aquariums. Is there a lot of flow in the tank? Many floating plants dont do well if their top surface gets wet routinely like overspray from an air stone. Could also be the water or nutrients?

@rotor there are a variety of companies that sell plants with the base inserted into a ceramic ring similar to what you are suggesting. It should work and help keep the plant anchored until it gets rooted. Be aware that once established it will be near impossible to remove the ring without uprooting the plant and it can poke up out of the substrate and be a bit of an eye sore. I prefer to loosely wrap a piece of soft plant weight around the base of plants that im stuggling to keep in the substrate. If you are handy with tweezers this can often be removed once the plant is established or it will sometimes just sink down into softer substrate over time. Something else that has worked for me is is using gel super glue to attach the plant to the side of a small rock. The rock acts as the weight until the plant is established but allows the roots to be planted into the substrate and the rock can be removed later if needed. This works really well for establishing something like anubius where you want the rhizome to remain above the substrate. Glue it to the top and then shove the rock into the substrate

@Galabar hard to tell what the flow is like in your tank but in my experience Chili Rasboras prefer less flow. That spot in the tank has plant cover for them to hide under and it could be a low flow area of the tank. Or it could just be their favorite spot. I have a group of Cardinal Tetras that spend 90% of there time in one area of the tank and only venture out when feeding. They are fat and happy and doing this for multiple years.

@Pepere Due to these type of plastic pails failing over time I decided to switch to a heavier duty bucket from a farm supply store with a thick stainless handle and much thicker plastic. The one I have is flat on one side for hanging it up against a horse stall etc. but that also makes it easier to walk with when its full. Worth the extra money 100%. Picture below is an example not sure if it was this brand.

@mynameisnobody @Gannon I couldn't find a load rating so I would be very cautious. However if the welding is solid and good screws were used I would think the capacity could be decent. On the one I posted pictures of reviews stated that the screws that came with it were all but useless. Of course for its intended use not much would be needed. @GannonWhat I really want to know is where they found the perfect 2x4s for that picture lol

I saw these brackets online for building an adjustable firewood rack and was wondering if anyone has attempted something similar for an aquarium stand? Could be a simple way to piece together a diy stand for someone with fewer tools etc. Though I wouldn't want to test it with something larger than a 40 gallon to start with. Or maybe something like the brackets that are used to piece together wooden dock sections 🤔

@redfish it's going alright. Quite a bit of die back on the Lemon grass after putting it back outside. Not sure it will make it. Ive added some mosaic plant that seems to be taking off. Pond still looks a bit rough at this point.

Moved the tub back outside today. It overwintered pretty well in my apartment with just a overhead lamp with a LED plant bulb in it on during the day. Its looking pretty scruffy at the moment will add pics when it grows back in. I pulled all the Amazon Frogbit. It was doing so well that if I didn't pull a bunch every week it would choke out the pond. Switched over to Salvinia minima for my floating plant this year. Something I didnt share last year was the build for my air pump. I didnt have a safe place for an air pump to sit so I made a housing to protect it from the elements. The outside is a small plastic ammo can I picked up at Harbor Freight. The lid has a seal so it is normally air tight. I drilled small holes in the bottom to let air in and notched a hole for the power cord back near the hinge. I drilled two holes on the latch end just big enough to press fit some plastic air fittings. Inside there are a couple double sided suction cups to cushion and keep the pump centered. In the back is a suction cup bracket from a tube heater to hold the excess cord in place. I run two lines off this with check valves to operate the air stone in the lift tube and a 2nd airstone that just hangs inside the pond for extra circulation/aeration when it gets hot.

They also added a link to the schedule under buy tickets on the main page of their website a couple days ago

Aquarium Co-op has been adding a few countries outside of the US recently so its possible their eggs may be available in parts of Europe in the future. While I am not familiar with some of the products I found I did see some Brine Shimp eggs available on Amazon.de if the hatch rate is as good as the description implies they should work well if you are looking for something sooner.

Welcome!

Enough of the new air pumps to swap my tanks over to battery back up

Im planning to attend my first Aquashella in Chicago this year. Has anyone seen an event schedule posted anywhere?

Great looking tank! From my experience keeping Honey Gourami they tend to pick a territory and chill there most of the time outside of feeding. They might like the left side because of the cover and if the flow is slower there it could be a spot for them to create bubble nests. The less colorful ones could be female but its rare to find females at most stores. They could be males that are not dominant. If they have a clearly rounded anal fin its a male. Hard to tell from your photos but how much flow is in the tank? These fish originate from mostly slow moving waters excess current could be keeping them from moving around the tank as much.