Mmiller2001

You 100% don't need root tabs to have a beautiful planted tank.

Wow! That almost prices me out lol. I'll give it a go. I broke it down and scrubbing it tomorrow. Pictures of your suggestion after.

Here's the the different pieces.

No, it's two separate pieces. And the darker wood is old spider wood I had when I first started. I see what you are saying there. I will go back to the store and see if he has anything with more girth. 30 bucks a piece though...ughh.

I'm kinda liking this one to be honest.

It might. Not 100% sure to be honest. But if it's just plants, going over 30ppm is no problem. There may be a point of diminishing returns, but it's worth testing!

Sand has been purchased. I think next week is swap day. I'm looking forward to getting rid of the Eco Complete. Lessons learned.

No rocks. I'm looking to try and create this type of look. I may have gone overboard with what I have lol.

@nabokovfan87 Unfortunately, all that Malaysian wood are small pieces. I just placed them together to form what you see. Also, all that wood is pretty much going to be covered in epiphytes. I'm hoping you won't see it at all eventually. I probably need to go wood hunting. I do love the log look. Did you see this picture, just shifted them right a bit.

?

Hmm, like angled up off the back wall?

Opinions? This piece can be shifted up more.

I've dropped many a drop checker and have not had problems. You should be okay there. You could do a small water change if your concerned. If you want to drop TDS, I would pre mix the new water to the exact TDS you want and do small water changes with that new water over a week or so. By premixing and doing small changes, eventually the tank will equalize to the premixed parameters. If you are injecting CO2, I would temporarily back it off while the colony adjusts. Once they start successfully breeding, take CO2 back up over a month.

Might be just in transit damage that it can't recover from. The bacopa is a pretty easy plant and should do fine in most tanks. I do consider any AR type plant as CO2 required. Without suggesting major changes to your water, I will fall back to quoting my favorite aquarist. "Sometimes, it's best to only invite those who like the soup you serve". I would move on from plants that struggle in your aquarium and try others. A similar looking plant can be found almost every time you go looking.

How much potassium are you dosing (in ppm) and what's your water change schedule? Are you sure they are holes? I don't see any. I see what looks to be GSA.

It might be a good idea to invest in some type of RO system with your water source.

You will need some calcium and magnesium for both fish and plants. Most plants like little to no KH.

Awesome all, thank you so much! I now have many options to think about.

Wow, very different with each light. I need to go up to Ace before I get ripped off by caribsea.

And is this picture accurate? I didn't get to Ace, so if that HTH is that color, it's basically Sunset Gold.

I was able to get out and look around at substrates. I think I want to go with Caribsea Super Naturals Sunset gold. I like the color alot and the price is right. Have any of you used it? If so, will it take a bit of washing?

This is dependent on the live stock chosen.

Yes, and also remember that a TDS meter measures soluble and insoluble organics in the water. To alleviate dosing questions, I've found that dosing the RO water coming in is easier to calculate. If you have a 4 liter bucket, dose the 4L bucket of RO with your GH minerals and fertilizer. This way, no matter the amount changed, you maintain your target ppm in the tank. If I have a tank with a GH of 5 degrees and KH of 2 degrees, I dose the RO storage to those parameters. I can change any amount of water while keeping the exact numbers inside the aquarium. TDS meters are incredibly powerful when you know what you are dosing. I dose my 0 TDS RO water to 85ppm, that a ratio of Ca and Mg that's about 4.5 to 5 degrees GH. Many times I will get distracted and forget if I dosed. If I drop my TDS meter in, see 85ppm, I know I dosed it correctly. You can do the same for the fertilizer also. After the RO water is fully dosed, that ppm should be recorded. Do the water change and the tank TDS should be close to the ppm of the new water coming in. If suddenly you test the tank, and see a TDS much higher or lower, you know something is wrong and you can take measure to correct the problem. Disclaimer: I typed this before having coffee.

No clue honestly. And I've never experienced anything like that in my tanks.

My experience; that just having more plant mass is an excellent fix for algae. Have to dose nutrients, but just more mass. Looks better too!