Mmiller2001

I use a 1:1 bleach water solution for 3 hours. Then rinse and let dry. I use gloves so I leave no oils behind. It should be cleaned when you start seeing any build up on it or every 3 weeks. I also have multiple diffusers so I can swap it while cleaning the dirty one.

Leaving phosphates at 2ppm is fine.

Do you have plants?

If 5 gallons costs 14 bucks, and you only changed 5 gallons once a month; that's 168 dollars. If you need 20 gallons to start, that's 56 dollars up front. Hydroponic stores have RO systems starting around 150.

Hmm, not sure how this would go. I'm kind of stuck in a waiting game watching emersed growth rot and convert to submersed growth. I guess I'm learning patience right now. I mostly think about my tanks more than I watch them. I'm constantly trying to disprove "bro science" with my relentless reading and digging. I actually enjoy this process more than watching and enjoying the fruits of my labor. Weird huh? To satisfy the rule of this post, I'm looking at my tank wondering where my SAE is and how he/ she is about to get fired. I'm also delighted how many new Trident I'm going to have shortly as every leaf is exploding with submersed growth. I'm so excited I spent all that time attaching them to the hard scape to now discover it was pointless. I get to scrape off a large tube worth of super glue and reattach the submerged plantlets. I'm also sitting here reevaluating what low, medium and high light actually means. I'm coming to the conclusion that low actually means really low. Medium actually means low and everything above low is high. My Hygrophila is doing amazing with much lower light. Interesting! My Fissidens is looking like she's ready to make me happy so this is encouraging. All of my Crypts are responding well and the tank, though looking rough, is showing signs of good things to come. But where's this damned SAE. Get to working! The 40 is just a holding spot for plants I don't want to throw away. Not much care is going into it other than dosing and water changes. There's a reason, so I will announce here that the wife and I have decided to sell the 40 and 75 and all of our equipment. We will only be keeping the Chihiros 120, maybe the 90 and buying a second 90 and selling the 120. But I'm leaning towards just keeping the 120. Right now, we are in a 4 month holding pattern. My goal is to get these plants growing submersed so I have plenty of well behaved fona to use in the " 1 tank to rule them all". No more canister filter cleaning, no more pipe cleaning. No more skimmer scrubbing. We can't wait. One large water change and done. 70" x 22" x 16", glory! I almost forgot, my QT tank has about 300 shrimp. I need to figure out what to do with them. I kind of need to refresh the genetics in the tank at the very least. Also very neglected. Here's a few shots. And my tag @gjcarew

Which Aqua Soil?

Sounds like you are good to go. Keep us updated.

Think about a mint plant. We like mint, but it's organic waste/byproduct of plants. Aquarium plants secrete many compounds into our water. You have some more research to do, but here's a nice link explaining a few things at least. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/so-what-is-organic-wastes.50661/ You will never dial this in with high light and CO2 injection. Walstad method are low bioload, low light systems that allow these processes to work. You need foaming action to get this to work, freshwater doesn't foam so well. Thus an expensive air stone.

Didn't see this. Still doubt it would work. I think a continuous water change system is the better answer. I think you are over estimating the speed at witch plants can pull ammonia from the water, let alone other organics. Would a protein skimmer pull out necessary nutrients the plants need? Did a quick look into protein skimmers in freshwater aquariums. Looks like they need the foaming action which salt water can create. Basically, they are very expensive air stones. A very slow process and luck. Plants poop, they don't utilize every waste component. You do water changes to remove unutilized soluble an insoluble organics and to control nutrient totals as well as replenish some nutrients via Ca, Mg, carbonites/bicarbonates and traces. Depends on the source water. Can I see thier tanks? This takes time, and the fish load you are proposing is significant. Maybe I'm wrong, but a continuous water change system is still better (more efficient) for this purpose.

You will still have waste in the water and ever growing TDS. Plants don't consume everything.

Are you talking about a refugium system?

I agree, RO is a good route and doesn't have to be expensive. Just getting the water down to 20TDS is more than sufficient. Also, building the water back to the desired parameters is dirt cheap if you are willing to do a few extra steps. Check your local hydroponic store. With legalization in many states, prices are way down on grower design RO systems. You don't have to get a 7 stage system. Also, completely ignore pH, it's mostly meaningless. Get the GH and KH right, and all will fall into place.

Zero ppm. Just dose a dechlorinator and it's no problem.

Awesome, thank you all. Paying 72 bucks for 18 pounds was not on my to do list.

Sold from home improvement stores aquarium safe? And is it inert?

The loose top debris is fine to gently vacuum, but don't jam it down into the substrate.

I don't run any type of air in my tanks, I just make sure to have very good surface agitation; which a bubbler does pretty well. O2 and CO2 are independent of each other. You want to have as much O2 and CO2 (without gassing fish) as possible. When lights are off, CO2 is not needed so you can turn off CO2 during that time. Turning CO2 on 2 hours before lights on will return the tank to optimal CO2 levels. The optimal surface agitation gasses off CO2 at a high/optimal rate and is the preferred way to maintain stability. Here's an awesome article explaining this process. https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/choosing-co2-why/how-to-push-the-limits-of-co2-safely?_pos=3&_sid=5597932da&_ss=r

Is this a new tank?

I've found that they all make terrible noise and my cheap bio wheel HOB was the most silent. I do remove the wheel.

It really comes down to how well it's distributed throughout the tank. But if you are running it in the sump,.the return chamber is the best position.

That's the ideal position. Yes.

L. Vietnam is one of my favorites. If you need some L. Aromatica, I can send you some in a couple of weeks.

Spot dose h202.

Staghorn algae.

Wow. Is this just 4 plant species?