nabokovfan87

Thankfully the goal on the forums here is to encourage good conversations! I don't think anyone would be harsh towards you for trying something new. 🙂 I had an issue in my old tank where I had sand and after a few years I wasn't happy with the nutrients I was feeding to my stems. I ended up scooping all of the sand into a bucket and then trying to add a layer of aquarium soil substrate. I capped it with the sand and then I wanted to see how the tank did. Well... The fish didn't really dig too much (I keep a lot of corydoras) and what ended up happening was the sand got pushed back my the filter where the waterfall hits the front glass and then that ended up exposing the soil pellets and pushing that all over the tank. Call me frustrated, but it's something I don't think I'll ever really get over and feel comfortable trying again just because of how badly it went! In the new incarnation of the tank I have tried heavier size sands. In the big tank I have contrasoil capped that with a heavier substrate (seachem flourite) and that worked a lot better. I can clan the tank, the filter isn't pushing things all over. In my sand only tank, the filters didn't push the sand back at the output, thankfully, either. Ultimately, every time I put substrate into a tank I learn something I use moving forward. I tried to strain the sand the same way you were mentioning, but after one cup the sand broke the cheap strainer I had and I was pretty much left with not being able to salvage it. My best advice would be to get as much of the sand out that you can that isn't contaminated with any layers, and then remove the mixed sand into a separate container. Maybe you have a way to sort it, but most likely it ends up in the garden or compost.

When I filled mine... the math was about 1/2-3/4" per bag. When I filled the tank it was about that 1/2" depth. This was with a big bag of the UNS contrasoil. Feel free to compare that size / volume to other substrates. I would recommend something like 3 bags per 75G as a bare minimum. How do you "fill the space"? There's usually a few methods. 1. You start the base with cheaper, substrate that is often of larger pore size like gravel or lava rock pieces. (ada power sand is similar thing, but I believe it's pumice covered with nutrients) 2. You can cap the soil with something cheaper to give you the depth you want, again, this is often a gravel or sand. 3. There is different pore sizes for the soil. Usually the base is the larger diameter, having a bag (for a 75 maybe two) of the fine substrate is probably going to be helpful if you want to have just a soil substrate only setup. The fine substrate on the top ends up giving the plants a bit more of a "grip" for those fine root, carpeting style plants. Another common tactic is similar to what @Pepere mentioned where you fill mesh bags with lava rock to avoid having to fill those spaces with soil. Pecktec does this a lot on his videos as well as Asu on youtube. This is also common in paludarium and terrarium builds.

I understand. If you don't mind, what does the tank look like? I am really impressed with contrasoil. I had stratum before, I went with a smaller grain size stratum and I'm doing ok with it so far. Capped with seachem flourite black.

ORD. I think it's a beautiful tank. It's well done and it's great to see all the enthusiasm around the setup!

It could just be the plants getting nutrients and melting off to encourage new growth. Adding in the soil also changes your GH/KH which I have seen cause a lot of stress on the plants and melt back. Once it's stable, hopefully they all pop back! What did you mean by "stretch out time between water changes"? What was the old regiment, what was the new regiment?

@OrangeBlossom the real concern is going to be flow and water movement. Betta really can get over stressed in certain kinds of flow. With a 75G you'd be pushing a good amount of water in the filtration, potentially leading to a stress issue.

Clean the filters both times. Now. then again in a few days! Start with easy green, one dose per week. The easy carbon you would use daily during this time just because you're really trying to attack the algae. You can also use it as every other day if you're concerned with the algaecide affecting sensitive species. I have not used Easy Carbon in my shrimp tank, but it's clearly labelled on the bottle that it is safe and it indicates use directions for "sensitive species". I have started to use the Easy carbon externally using this method: Yes, there is no reason to alter anything, just treat it like a normal tank. Laser focus on removing that algae! 🙂

We're gonna have to call this guy nemo. Come on little dude.... Hunt those snails!

For large pieces I've seen it done. Serpa design does a lot of unique stuff as well with foams and other materials. I've seen aquascapers in other countries use a glob of stuff, mix it with soil, then use that as a type of filler to bond all the rocks in place.

The video was too perfect. Really excited to see how they are doing together.

The tidal cannot fall out. It's mechanically attached with threads. Ah I like this! It is often an issue when using a bigger filter on smaller tanks. It's basically a product of trying to design the interface for a rimmed tank. With everything, just be careful not to add a single point of stress. The weight of the water in the back might do some flexing or spot loading on that inside bit of glass. The mod though, wonderful idea I think. Using something across the length of that spillway or the length of the HoB shouldn't cause any singular stress points and give you that room, Nice!

When I soak wood I change the water either daily or weekly. After a certain amount of time you should feel confident it's leeched out anything, but given the scenario of what's going on, adding in that movement and chemical media to absorb stuff wouldn't hurt.

One of the biggest things people don't really understand sometimes is what is available. 95-99% of the "top 5 fish for" or "top 10 fish for" videos you see online, I literally do not have them available locally. I was right where you are and I was someone who would buy poor quality / sick fish and treat them with meds and get them healthy just for the sake of trying to get something fun. I would drive to the local store weekly and just try to find out what on earth they had available from the shipment that week. Weeks, months of checking in, even after the pandemic, I still see the same few fish species and it's extremely rare for me to find something that is of interest. It's bad when "variety" comes in terms of the number of glo-fish species and the tanks themselves are lack luster. One of the shops I have locally that is what I consider to be the top tier show consists of something like 15 tanks. half of those tanks are salt, and then of the remaining tanks 3-4 of them are feeder fish with another 2-3 of them glo-fish. this leaves betta cups, a snail tank, and 2-3 tanks with actual fish of interest to me. And I'm not asking for the world, but I can't even get a barb or a tetra sometimes. I can get so many different cichlids and it's the same ones you see all the time, but that isn't a fish I want to toss in a community setup. Long story short, I have zero issue paying the cost of shipping to get a fish that I am happy to have. I would rather have quality, selection, and even a cheaper price at times for the sake of having what I want as opposed to the time and energy hoping the local shop has something that one random time. The one time they brought in SAEs, man, I swear it was Christmas. 😂 If they are DOA, that is the sellers issue and they usually will make it right. The main concern is your setup on your side to receive the fish and get them acclimated and comfortable.

This guy is a genius. Sometimes you just gotta 3d print a thingamajig and it's this useful.

I used a 3d printer to basically finish a design project for an airplane seat. There's a ton of little things that go into printing for production... meaning, taking a design from a printed part to an actual production model, and I just wanted to reply here / follow the thread. Nice work @TheDukeAnumber1 and Cory and I'm excited to see what comes of the projects. You have my curiosity piqued. If you need anything, please feel free to let me know.

The lennie is the only I know who has even had them before. Maybe @Cinnebuns has some experience? @Beardedbillygoat1975 If (moreso when) you have success with the shrimp, I'm buying whatever I need to keep them and getting a tank setup for them! 😂 Given everything going on with the shrimp in their natural homes, that would be a really cool journal / thing to see someone have awesome success with. Those shrimp need good homes and need to be kept going via the hobby.

I just realized.... I had the thought to go check the tank, see how the plants are doing that I moved yesterday. I split up the Hygrophila Pinnatifida into a few stems and gave it some space. I planted some of the S.Repens that hasn't rooted in quite yet. But, then I realized I don't have to worry about the plants being stuck in the skimmer. If anything they are stuck to a prefilter or just floating. It's a small thing, but that is a really nice feeling to have.

That's wonderful! Congratulations. I am yet to try that species, but I am looking forward to it when I can get my hands on it.

They are doing a little better with the flow changes. Injured male is doing what he's gotta do, he's got his lady friend and they hang out. I have no idea how long until I see fry, but hopefully any day now. I swapped CO2 on the tank today. It was a bit of a mess trying to do that when being half asleep, but job is done. I'll check on stuff in the morning. I did get to wake up, enjoyed them doing their thing. 🙂

It's not like you're taking care of exodons....

They are one of the few fish in the hobby that should. I can't guarantee any fish will cure a tank of any algae. I've been dealing with BBA for years.

15 or 20 minutes in on this, they hit that point where I am now... It is validating in a way to see the conversation about enjoying your tank as opposed to trying to figure out the puzzle or solve something. It takes so much work to actually feel at peace in some ways when things aren't perfect. It's a toughness that this hobby brings out in you. I highly encourage everyone to pop this on and just observe the conversation between George his friends. Ultimately, he's very good about discussing this topic and it's interesting to hear the details on how he got to certain perspectives.

Correct. Spectrum and temp are the same thing. The main body of the light is 48" long and it has some slides on the light that allow it to fit up to that 55" range. It's a rating for phones and for electronics that has to do with durability testing. IP67 and IP68 are the main ones we see for aquarium lights.

It looks like a type of BBA/Staghorn to me. Mostly leaning towards BBA given the shape and how it's growing. Can you give us an idea of all of your water parameters, light settings, and dosing regime?