AndreaW

Welcome! If you are using Prime with every water change you should be fine as far as chlorine and chloramine. With few fish in the tank, your bio load might be low so it could take longer to establish your nitrogen cycle so be very patient. At this point, you are working on keeping your water habitable and you will primarily do that through water changes as needed. You also might need to add a fertilizer like Easy Green to make sure you have enough nutrients for your plants. While you are patiently waiting, keep browsing and researching. One thing to read up on are the different types of algae. As your tank matures, it will go through different stages. Knowing the types of algae will help, as well as understanding what is developing so you can embrace the changes and welcome the algae.

Yes, it should be different every time. Were you signed in for both orders or did you have an account when you placed your first order? That might affect their records of your "first" order. Or they could have had a mistake in placing the right sticker in the right box. It happens. I bet if you contacted customer service, they would be happy to take care of you. They are seriously the BEST!

I glued my little plantlets to pebbles and dropped them in my tank (with substrate) and am just letting them do their thing.

Hair algae is often the "teenager stage" of newer aquariums and usually will clear up on it's own -- but cutting back on lighting, food and nutrients, making sure your plants have enough nutrients (macro & micro) so they can grow and outcompete the hair algae will help.

I swear I've seen that somewhere on the forum earlier today.... now where? I'm off hunting... Scroll down to December 31st: @TheDukeAnumber1 ~ Is this like the colony of bryozoan you discovered on your heater?

Welcome and beautiful tanks, I also love your spiderwood! I have a tank behind/next to my desk to help me destress during the day. My Plakat Betta "Cosmo" is a great distraction when I need it!

Welcome and beautiful tanks! I love Farowellas, but don't have any currently.

I looked back through my order history and can't find it so I'm not sure. It was many years ago though. I think they did come all the way from China. They were small and two kind of disintegrated, but I still have one left that rolls around my 46G tank and it's pretty cute. It's probably less than dime size.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/blue-green-algae https://fishlab.com/blue-green-algae/

@clovenpine I don't know if this is too late in the game to be any help, but I'm super excited for you! I recently attended a club auction and signed up as a new member after a 15 year absence to our local fish club. The last auction I attended was 15 years ago and I remember it was run well then, and it was run well this time. They are very experienced (2 auctions a year for all these years) but there were still some hiccups and problems that arose, but they handled them the best they could. Before the auction, they posted reminders on preparing live fish for auction (don't feed 24 hours before, separate ahead of time, wait to bag fish, water to air ratio of bagged fish, etc.). They were given a time to arrive, check-in and set up their items. They had papers for the people auctioning that they could list their item number (given at the door) and description. There were three colors of papers (pink, yellow & white), and each paper could list 5 items. Each person could have one pink and yellow paper (high/medium) priority, auctioned off in the first/second batch, and then as many white papers (all auctioned off after the pink/yellow. This allowed everyone to have 5 items auctioned off at first to potentially get highest views and bids on their items. It also spaced some things out where you had multiple of the same item. In years past, you could pay to move certain items to the front of the auction. I felt like allowing everyone a chance to have items up front was a better idea. The club had tons of supplies on hand, bags, markers, rubber bands, tape, scissors, etc. for the sellers. It seemed like they had tons of spreadsheets recording buyers, items, etc. They had two people at the check-in desk, two people recording during the auction, and the auctioneer, as well as 3 people in the back moving items back and forth. Before the auction, you could browse the tables and take notes of the items you were interested in. They were organized by the color. Bidders were given a cardboard with a number on it and you raised it to bid. It was a calm, relaxed environment and people could call out questions or if the auctioneer didn't see a number raised, he would go back and restart the bidding where he left off. Having it calm and low-key was great and it felt like a friendly atmosphere. You could set a minimum bid price if you wanted to. Otherwise the auctioneer would ask the audience the value or guess at the starting bid. He was pretty good and knew his stuff. If he knew the seller, he would ask a quick question about the item, and some members would pitch in if they had seen the item locally and about what price they were going for. They did have a projector up and had a person googling the fish and plants as they came up so we could see pictures or get some info. That was really great, because some fish didn't have much interest until the picture went up and then became a hot item once people could see better. As soon as the item was won, they recorded the item number, your bidding number, and wrote the bid amount on the item. A crew took the items to a brown grocery bag with your number on it in the back, so you could pay and collect it all in the end. They were able to figure out payment and process it during the auction for people who came for one item and was ready to go. There was a mix up where someone bid and won a certain fish, but it accidentally was placed in the wrong bag and unfortunately he didn't get his fish he bid on. I know the club kept records on all the bidders and the items they brought, so hopefully they were able to put this guy in contact with the person to see if they had or would be getting any more of this specific fish. We had 70-something bidders and hundreds of items up for auction. It lasted just over 4 hours and toward the end it had cleared out quite a bit, but I think everything except one or two items with a specified starting bid sold. They were Axolotl and unfortunately there wasn't as much interest in them. One thing as a bidder I noticed: Items that had great descriptions, and even care info were deemed more valuable than things that were not labeled or simply labeled. Also, you could tell who took the time and effort to package their items and that was appreciated. I think at the club, they had bags and items available to buy to package your items as some people brought their fish/plants in buckets and prepared them for auction there. Sample of packaging, labeling, item number and the pink/yellow/white (high/med/low priority) bid papers: And the auctioneer with the projector ready to go, explaining how it works: How they labeled the items after you won the bid, with your bidder number (#55) and the price you bid: Hopefully this is helpful information and not too late. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. It was a very well-run auction but even then, it did have hiccups -- and they've been doing this over 15 years! I was still impressed with how well it all worked out.

I have two planted tanks that I use Prime for water changes and dose EG. One has almost no nitrates, and the other has pretty constant 30-40ppm Nitrates, so I don't think the Prime is the culprit of the low Nitrates. My tank with almost 0ppm Nitrates (10G) only has a Betta and three Nerites and tons of plants, and the plants seem to be consuming the Nitrates faster than the inhabitants and EG provide. My tank that usually sits around 30-40ppm Nitrates (46G heavily stocked) gets EG for the other micronutrients they need, because Nitrates alone aren't enough. This larger tank also get water changes more often, because of its stocking, so it gets Prime dosed more often. If Prime were the culprit, then I think I would have noticed a drop in the usual Nitrates. As it is, I haven't noticed any change in Nitrates in this tank since I began using Prime instead of the water conditioner I was using before.

I have a digital thermometer in all my tanks for reassurance. I can see at a quick glance if things are looking right. After my last water change, it only took me an hour to figure out I hadn't plugged the heater back in. I've never relied on a heater to tell me what the temp is, even the ones you can calibrate, since they are only telling you what they think they are heating the water to. I also like to put them in the opposite corner of the tank so I can see what the temp is across the tank and if the water is circulating enough to evenly heat the whole tank. This is what I use, ordered from Amazon, but you can also do the glass ones from ACO like this one.

Bettas can live in a wide range of pH, as long as it's not constantly fluctuating. Also, if you are gradually raising your GH in the water, your betta should be just fine as well.

It's hard to choose, but I love Bettas, Cories and Plecos the most probably. I can't narrow it down any more than that!

@Widgets ~ Thank you. I did find the links you suggested very helpful. I just couldn't remember where I had seen it with all the research I was doing. I'm fine with the Erythromycin (at least currently) and I know it will probably affect my BB, but so far everything is looking really good and there is no trace of BGA in my tank. Inhabitants seem happy, and I think my Java is enjoying more light now the floaters are gone. I did see some reviews where people said they had to do multiple doses and that makes me nervous, especially if it has that high a calcium/magnesium content. On the other hand, I've heard of some people having BGA come back after using Erythromycin and having to dose again there, so...? Who knows? My biggest concern is my tank inhabitants. I've gotten quite attached to my Betta and the Nerites. I can deal with re-establishing my BB in this tank with the low bio-load; it has been pretty easy. I think antibiotics have their place if used sparingly and properly. It's been over 10 years since I've had to use any medicines in my tanks, so it did make me a bit nervous. I added a tiny bit (maybe 1/10 the packet) and watched for an hour and kept gradually adding more until it was a half dose. Then added the next half the next day. Probably silly, but I had a hard time finding information about antibiotics affect on snails.

I'm seeing the flatworms already mentioned, but are there also skinny long white worms I'm seeing? If so, you could have detritus worms as well. Harmless to tank inhabitants as well, and will be reduced by feeding less and gravel vacuuming.

I'm sorry! I hope there are no lasting effects besides the Nerite.

Right! I should have saved those links! This is very interesting. I guess technically the calcium/magnesium might be more beneficial for snails in the tank, long-term, but I wonder what a quick increase like that would do? I don't know which would be a better solution... Shocking or antibacterial? Ultimately you fix the underlying problem...

Found these on Amazon if you want to try. I bought some many years ago to add to my mature tank and unfortunately they came with BBA which I've had since then. Luckily, it's never gotten out of control, but I know some people dread it, so I just thought to warn you. Sometimes they can bring something in with them (just like most plants) so you may want to quarantine them (I don't know if quarantining mine would have changed anything, since BBA usually doesn't grow in new tanks, and my quarantine tank would have been a new setup). I know you can sometimes find moss that has been tied into a ball shape, but that's not quite the same.

Nice! Journals work the same way as posts do. Just go into the "Photos, Videos & Journals" section and create a new post just like you do everywhere else on the forum. Then you can link it to a signature if you want to so you have a quick link back to it and you just keep adding to it each time you want to.

@Jawjagrrl ~ Thanks. I've seen that somewhere before but unfortunately couldn't find much on it when I went looking. Since I've already dosed the Erythromycin, I'll just have to stick it out and remember this but hope I never have to deal with it again!

I'm actually pretty lucky with my 46G bowfront tank (AllGlass brand) that I bought 20 years ago. The hinge is toward the front so my light can be centered over the tank and the hinge has been sturdy enough I've never had to replace it. It does have the plastic backstrip I've replaced twice. I did have to adhere the handle once because the adhesive got old and the handle popped off. I do have to open it and pull it forward to access the power filters in the back, but there again, I have dealt with it for 20 years, so I don't consider it a problem. It's even held up accidentally slipping and slamming shut (sorry fish! I seriously didn't mean to startle you!) and my cat has jumped up on it countless times without any mishaps *knock on wood* but... I would love a soft-close lid! I know that's not very practical with the space and water and mineral build-up, but wouldn't it be nice? Or maybe one that didn't collect mineral deposits or fog up? I know I'm asking too much, but there you go! I've been pretty lucky to have not had to deal with problems. Phew!

Cryptocoryne Wendtii has a reddish color.

Have you contacted ACO to ask about the testing boundaries of their strips? I bet if you emailed them your photos they might be able to help give you an idea what is going on.

I have the same thing happening in my Betta tank where the water flow was reduced and water lettuce was floating at the surface soaking up all the light. I did a water change/ gravel vac to remove as much as I could, and then treated the tank with Erythromycin (One dose of 200mg/10G) and will do a water change in a week. So far, I'm not seeing any new growing. I also removed my water lettuce to keep the flow up and increased bubble in the tank. Both should increase circulation and distribute light to the other plants. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/blue-green-algae