Mmiller2001

I took a second and decided not to get one. They are so awesome, but yeah...too risky. Thank you both.

Routine routine and read read, that's most of what I do

Will a Paradise fish kill cherry barbs or Harlequin Rasboras?

I don't know. Bought it from GLA. That's how it was labeled. It was a tissue culture.

My only and wimpy C. Wendtii Brown Indo

One of the most beautiful Crypts around. I need to get one.

You and me both. It's a lot of work. A combination of both for sure.

Watts per gallon is an old thing before the introduction of LEDs. So it's really hard to judge. If you see green dust algae, back it down by just a bit, say 5%. You will get a feel for it eventually. I would hold off on root tabs for now, use the EG first and let the tank get reestablished. Filtration should be okay, just keep the filter clean and in good working order.

I really pump my CO2 and have my CO2 off 1 hour before lights off so I do my water change around the last 30 minutes of light. My CO2 turns back on 2 hours before lights on. It takes me about an hour and a half to complete all my changes and will keep the lights on at about 20 percent so I can see throughout the process.

You balance it by dosing a complete fertilizer, not having too strong of light and keep the tank clean with good flow and water turnover. Basically, with the disaster it was, you reset the tank and the initial algae cycle is starting over. If your plants have deficiencies, then that is contributing to algae. You will never solve an algae problem by starving your plants. All you are doing is killing the plants, and algae loves that. I would also try to get more plants in there. The single best defense against algae is healthy plants and a healthy plant load in conjunction with larger and regular water changes. Once the tank stabilizes, if you choose, you could try reducing water change frequency. But you have a ways to go yet. You are on the right path. The tank looks a 1000% better.

Hmm, and you may think I'm weird. Of all the fish I have or had, Cherry Barbs are my favorite. They are stunning and a classic. If I couldn't do Cherry barbs, then next on the list would be Red Beckford's Pencil fish.

Mechanical, doesn't snow here enough 😁 Or rain.

In the summertime, my water is warmer, and I top off with RO that can be much cooler than the tank. I will also water change without heating the water. I think that triggered the spawn. I think I posted a video of it somewhere in here.

Get in there and scrub what you can. Lower light intensity way down and do large water changes weekly. 50 percent weekly. Start dosing the tanks with an all in one fertilizer of your choice. Keep up on water changes. Clean your filters and keep an eye on ammonia and nitrites. Might be advantageous to pull that fish out and the plants. Do a 100% water change to kick things off. If you gravel vacuum, do it lightly.

I don't, but randomly have more harlequin rasboras and cherry barbs. And I started with 3 Apistos and now have 5 even after losing my prize male. So I guess I have 2 of his son's.

I'm thinking that's Limnophila Aromatica, and might be the mini version.

Awesome advice here. Life is too short to keep hammering away when things are too far gone. This also allows for big changes when needed.

Beautiful. I can't wait. Yeah, my Christmas moss dose really well,.even more so now and is starting to become the plague honestly. I'm almost ready to remove it 😂

I got back into the hobby right at the start of COVID. I had this some months later. Then about a year later I was able to pull this off. And then not too longer, my almost AGA submission. And now I'm coming up on my third year. At this point, I understand water to a point I can set any number in any ratio and can recognize changes or problems pretty quickly. Interestingly, I can recognize now how I'm understanding what these masters are saying about certain things I'm reading recently. Cool stuff really. So I will say 3 years to get a solid understanding on what's happening and to be able to manipulate factors that have positive results. That said, I'm no genius and certainly other people will learn faster. Best advice, look for a tank that blows you away. A show case tank, find out who did it and try to follow their journal (if they have one). Then immulate everything the do. Greggz's journal really helped me get to the point I'm at. I still have a long way to go. I read it takes 10 years of daily involvement to master something. Any truth? Maybe.

Here's mine, in low tech and don't fertilize. I completely neglected this tank. Only feed the shrimp and 2 gallon water change every couple of weeks or more.

@anewbie Has quite a collection.

Ordered the fontanus and an African water fern.

It will shoot up in no time. I have it in my qt tank and I only feed the shrimp and it still grows.

Awesome. As mentioned, almost identical. Sweet, thanks for posting this.

Can you post a picture of it? Geppi looks like it has a bit taller growth.