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nabokovfan87

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Everything posted by nabokovfan87

  1. nabokovfan87
    It's a water butt! 😂 I assume that's local dialect or something for the EU?
  2. nabokovfan87
    I'll never run a tank without at minimum an air stone and water changes. I've got enough experience and I do understand the deep sand methodology, but I simply don't enjoy that style of tank. I much prefer a biotope or natural style with high flow.... Meaning pumps.
  3. nabokovfan87
    Just depends on what you plan to keep. Neos you might want an inert substrate. It's all depending on what that tap test comes back as. (Unless you're planning to go RO). There is a million ways to do it, but it's sort of hard to say "do this" without knowing specifically where the finish line is. Your goal is an easy tank with plants, stratum should do just fine and you can keep a variety of species that will fit that range of PH. The soil will buffer down and absorb certain ions, resulting in a lower PH and hardness at first.
  4. nabokovfan87
    Just be careful with what you're mixing. You don't want to take higher grades and mix them with poor quality ones. Red cherry shrimp has basically been replaced by expanding on 3-5 different forms to replace grades and quality terminology. The more fully red the entire shrimp is and it's legs would be higher quality (painted fire red).
  5. nabokovfan87
    Found this, one really good tip at the end.
  6. nabokovfan87
    Seachem. Because it's cheapest for the volume. (More concentrated) Especially safe. ^^ this is of course what is available to me locally. Without shipping cost.
  7. nabokovfan87
    If you can manage it, I do believe a 20L tank is a good starting spot and what I would consider a small aquarium. It's not nano by any means, but it's small enough to have versatility with placement. It's also big enough to give you enough room to work day to day and plants don't have vertical height issues. The main thing, regardless of tank, is to get things setup and to get your substrate set, plants going, hardscape, etc. Some of that can change based on what you're keeping, but for the most part it may not. You may end up adding something like a piece of wood for cover. I would recommend getting some method of testing your water and going from there. This might indicate a need for crushed coral, buffering in some other way, or may lean towards species that make sense (inverts and fish). Tetra test strips, the ACO test strips, or API liquid tests would be a good place to start. You can also take water from your tap down to a fish shop and they can test it for you. To start, here is the basis of what I was talking about above. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh
  8. nabokovfan87
    I do have one, it's from a zero water thing, it's new, but there's no way to calibrate it. The funny thing is @AllFishNoBrakes is that it WAS 400-500 range. it's been slowly decreasing for over 6 months. I am testing stuff to steadily track how bad it's decreasing. California with soft water.... not fun! We like our minerals in our water here 😂 Me too. I see the test and to my eye it's below 150 ppm. Whether thats 80-100 or 50.... I just don't know the scale enough to know. I wish there was a "pro scale" that had every 25 ppm or something for clarity.
  9. nabokovfan87
    Can you post water test results? Any photos would be helpful. Different solution for different algae types.
  10. nabokovfan87
    I ordered some GH buffer to have on hand and a test kit for KH/GH so I can get a better feel for what the strip test is indicating. One step at a time. Going to check on the tank now and hopefully it's good things.
  11. nabokovfan87
    Took him out this morning. He passed last night. 😞
  12. nabokovfan87
    Algae is back. We all expected that to happen. I modified the direction of the spraybar. It was blowing right into the Hygro and that was causing too much algae to show up there. I'll spot treat it and go from there. Amanos being feisty (egg release day).
  13. nabokovfan87
    I'm guessing it's right at 100? @jwcarlson @Tommy Vercetti @Ninjoma Or 400.... 😩
  14. nabokovfan87
    That's what the norm is/was for me. Very well could be. I just don't recall anymore what that shade is. I did a forum search and someone had a 400+ test and it was definitely a vibrant and bright purple. I'll end up getting some equilibrium just in case I need it one day. Right now all I have is neutral regulator and seiryu stone. I used a colorblind website to try to shift the image scale to make it easier to see. This is the best I can do. It's very hard to capture it in person. I'll take another test and repeat it using daylight as the source. If it is indeed low, then I do need to get an order on the way and get some GH buffer going for the shrimp. Why it isn't part of the default kit.... I'll never understand.
  15. nabokovfan87
    According to that website, fast growth.
  16. nabokovfan87
    Definitely should go to the jar. Yeah. Black form.
  17. nabokovfan87
    Not yet. There are plenty in the tank, not the eggs yet. Yeah, they look like they are doing ok. I think I got the current right. All we can do now is wait.
  18. nabokovfan87
    I'll let him sit. The eyes look ok. Might be stuck / paralyzed. I just don't know. I feel like I should've left all of them in the tank and not removed them. The female this morning was for certain passed.
  19. nabokovfan87
    Found a dead male now.
  20. nabokovfan87
    I am always struggling to read this pad, so please feel free to take a look and let me know what you think. For clarity, the cut strips: L is from the tank R is from the tap. I had to retest which is the complete strip you'll see in the third photo. I'm torn between 50 and 150 and 450 ppm.
  21. nabokovfan87
    You can cover it or put it on top of a towel. I have rubber pads I use as well as a folded up hand towel. All you have to be sure is that you have a piece of something hard/flat for wherever the air filter is so that it doesn't suck up lint. Or there's this..... Some are louder than others....
  22. nabokovfan87
    Quality looks great! Much more vibrant than the ones I had. Best of luck!!! This will be fun.
  23. nabokovfan87
    Could be different sets, but they do grow at different rates based on gender and living conditions. One shrimp might have chosen a "better spot" so to speak and got more nutrients. When I first say mine they were very, very small. After about a week they were gigantic by comparison. They grow fast!
  24. nabokovfan87
    So hard to decide. I think by default I have to say corydoras. As much as I struggle to get spawns, I do really enjoy them in so many ways.
  25. nabokovfan87
    Depends! You have space to fill, but you also have to ensure you're happy with it. Size is one thing, texture is one piece, but what is very interesting with that style is what you focus on to separate your tank from the rest. I found this website, it's in german, but their plant database is really awesome. (you can translate websites with google translate). Sidenote, "water plants" in german is also very fun to say. https://www.flowgrow.de/db/wasserpflanzen I saw this one yesterday and instantly wanted to see a fancy dutch scape with it. Staurogyne sp. "Bihar" If you can get it to flower: (I assume this is above water growth). There is always something new and interesting to try. I would say given your skill, start with a list of plants that make sense, and find a few that you want to try that are considered difficult. Make sure they fit your parameters (temp, CO2, etc.), but try a % of new plants (easy or hard) as well as a % of easy, medium, hard plants. Maybe that's 5% or maybe it's 15% of the tank being hard. Tier it out.... then pick your goal.... crush it!
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