Corbidorbidoodle

Ugh... Math is hard. Does anyone know how much potassium is in Easy Green? There's one ingredient that says"potash". Is that potassium? I'll attach a picture of the label. Also, sorry for having the deductive abilities of a child. Wait, I get it now. I just read the chart. And my daughter told me that "potassium" is "K". She's much smarter than I am...

So, it looks like Sechem Potassium has about twice the potassium that Easy Green has Nitrogen. (Per dose) so I'd probably dose it half as often?

I've finally realized that I need to dose additional potassium. Currently, I'm dosing easy green daily to keep, like, any nitrates in the water. Should I just start adding potassium daily as well? Or should I start, like, 2-3 times a week?

I've been using the Aquario Neo CO2 Diffuser from ACO. It works really well. And it's pretty economical. I'm using it with a Clscea DIY generator.

So, you know how when you move watter lettuce to a new tank and then the roots fall off and get all over the place... I just learned that you can cut off the roots and they'll grow back way better! I know that's nothing new, but I'm really excited about it. It's going really well in this 6.5" bookshelf tank. They were totally stagnant and now they're almost to the substrate.

The tank is 43 gal. There's probably at least 10 caves in between various rocks and wood, spread out around the bottom. I only have some khuli loaches on the bottom, and they don't seem to have too much trouble. The kribs don't seem to like the gouramis though, so I'm going to move them. The substrate is much deeper at the back, but it's mostly lava rocks, so probably not great for digging. I'll give the kribs quite a bit more time to get to know each other then.

I started a Krib tank a few weeks ago. I asked the LFS employee to try to get two pairs. He said they were a little young for positive sexing, but he'd do his best. They're still chasing each other around and there doesn't seem to be much romance. There's one that's definitely the alpha. He's got the best cave (bottom right) and the best color. There's another one that hangs out at the bottom on the left. And the other two sort of hang out mid water or at the top. One's tail is kinda torn. Is this typical behavior? Should I change something? Maybe rehome some? How do you get the love going in the tank? How do I get some ladies if this is all dudes? Or are they all ladies already? How do I tell? Thanks!

Thanks, Candi. I hope this thread doesn't feel tattle-y. I just wanted to find out if it was broken first. I'm still kind of a newby nerm. Cuz, like, I'm not sure how Tiger Lotus es work.

Well, it's a really good idea. Looking forward to it. Lemme know if you need testers.

So, once, in some video, I saw Cory messing with these 3D printed collars for aerating sponge filters. It looked like they hooked on between the housing and the up-tube. Then you'd run the air line to it and it'd diffuse the bubbles evenly into the tube. Is there something like that currently on the market? I've been trying to google it, but maybe I'm not using the right words. Or maybe it doesn't exist... Seems like it'd be a great piece of kit. Have any of you seen anything like that?

I just sent them a message via the website. I've never had an issue with anything from ACO, but their whole deal makes me think they'll be all about making it right. Pretty much love 'em to pieces either way. I love that dirt smell BTW. I just squeezed the floss from a couple canister filters in to a new tank. It smells like camping.

Oh, yeah. This one is stanky. Like, I had an involuntary flinching reaction when I caught a whiff.

So I bought a Tiger Lotus at ACO yesterday and when I got it home to plant it, the leaves and roots had separated from the bulb. Is this normal? Can I still plant just the bulb? If I plant the leaf/root part will it grow too? Oh, and the bulb stinks like crazy, but that's normal, right? Or does that mean it's busted?

Sometimes I see the internet talk about keeping the their tiger lotus short so it'll grow longer. (Like, for a longer period of time) But how do you do that? I've been cutting the long stems, but it's still trying to get to the surface.

Would y'all mind taking a look at my plants to help me diagnose what's going on? I'm thinking Potassium Deficiency. A couple weeks ago, I raised the light a few inches to get better coverage. The Val was growing better before, but this doesn't look like a light deficiency to me. Parameters... Ph 6.8, buffer 80, hardness 300+, nitrite 0, nitrate 25-ish, about 14 hrs of lower light (Aquaneat 30" about 4 inches above) I use Easy Root Tabs, and I'm pretty sure I've dosed them recently. I've been doing Easy Green twice a week. Some of the pics make the Val look yellow, but they're bright green. (Potassium Deficiency should be yellow around the holes, right?) The Java Fern has yellow spots though. Also, I meant to put this in the plants room. How do I move a post?

I have this weird little split tank I got at the thrift store. It's dinky, but I kinda like the compact set-up. I'm going to try doing a different color shrimp on each side. For substrate, I've got pea gravel sprinkled with Osmocote Plus and covered with pool filter sand. I want to put something kinda reedy or grassy along the back. Something like miniature Val would be nice. I've seen Dwarf Sag, Miniature Hair Grass, and Chain Swords. They all look nice. But I'm using the included light in the lid and it's just three little LEDs on each side. What do you think would grow well in this setup? (Oh, and I'm going to frost the back.)

So, I have 4 little Diamond Tetra fry with the grownups and a few other fish. I feed all my tanks fresh hatched brine shrimp a couple times a week. So these little guys are getting fast. I dumped in a shot glass of shrimp water, and they were really zipping around gobbling up tons of shrimp.They ate so much they looked like they were going to burst. Like, really bad looking to me. Will they stop eating when they are in danger of hurting themselves?

Yeah, that all sounds good. Maintenance wise, I was thinking more of trimming the plants. People talking about having to trim CO2-ed plants every week or more. I just like doing it every month or so. I was thinking the passive CO2 would be just enough they they grow better, but not super fast. Like, just a nudge. And I imagine I'd go through less CO2 as well, right? Or does it use about the same as a typical diffuser? Is that the right word? Typical injection? You get what I'm saying. And I figured regarding fluctuating CO2 levels, this passive type system would be a little more forgiving since there's not that much going in.

FWIW, I'm not super geeked about stuff I have to use my phone to control. I have a couple of bluetooth lights I've picked up at thrift stores. They're neat, but I prefer just having an on/off switch. I'm not even totally in love with my Feit smart outlets, cuz at least once a week I have to unplug/replug one it cuz it's offline for some reason. If these new heaters had some kind of connectivity, like programmable via the phone I probably wouldn't have bought them. Actually, who am I kidding. I'd probably buy anything they put out. But this heater seems like a good balance of tech.

I was at the CoOp a couple days ago and I saw they're using a passive CO2 bell in their big display tank. I didn't even know that was a thing! I'm really in to heavily planted, low-tech tanks. I don't really want the expense of a CO2 injection system. And I definitely don't want the maintenance. It seems cool that the plants are brighter and fill in quickly, but I only have to trim about once a month. I've also read that fluctuating CO2 is real bad (good?) for algae. And I know I'd be terrible about getting the canister refilled. Are any of you using a passive system? How do you like it? What size are your tanks? I'd start with my 55. That's the one I battle a little algae in regularly. Do you guys fill up in the morning or the evening? Can I stop using CO2 and not have my plants die? Do you still use an airstone for oxygenation? Sorry for so many questions. There are a lot of answers on the WWW, but people here are so helpful and provide personal experience rather than just something they read once.

Thanks, @Cory. So kinda like testing the water parameters. Cool beans.

I'm used to the tube type heater with the dial at the top that's only accurate to about 15 deg. Are these new heaters heating to what the display says? (Roughly) do I still need a separate thermometer to tell me what the water temp actually is?

I'm just gonna let them grow up and join the tank community. Unless there's too many. Then, I guess, share them with other aquarists. I was just excited to share the discovery.

Just found a couple new little buddies in my tank! I have a 29 gallon with Diamond Tetras, Bolivian Rams, Emerald Cory's, and White Clouds. The other day I noticed a tiny little guy swimming around in the Jungle Val. I'm pretty sure they're Diamond Tetra fry. I saw two at once. I've heard they're not super easy to breed. Musta had just the right conditions. Such a fun little surprise.

Okay, soooo... Turns out everything is good. Great, really. I just didn't give the tank long enough to cycle. I'm terrible with estimating time. I don't think it had been very long, but I thought it was at least a month. But now everything is settled in and the readings are great. 0 Amonia, 0 Nitrites, like, 10-20 Nitrates. It's going better than root-tabbed substrate. I can't even keep 10 Nitrates in those tanks. Stuff is starting to grow really well in these new tanks. Oh, and I used "Osmocote Plus". I've seen a bajillion people online using that stuff for their DIY root tabs. I should have been more specific about that. So, I guess the experiment was a success!