nabokovfan87

I moved her wood around and rocks last night. She's got 3 pieces weaved together and two rocks and all these plants just for her little hide. I will keep an eye on, but I know she'll dig some PVC if / when that's available. Considering her age, Really tempted to let her back in the 75 this month. She was eye catching when she was young. Probably arrived the day we got her and couldn't say no. She's husky for sure! lol

Looks really good. Nicely done.

I would be very specific with my choices here. I'll break them down one by one, but there is two sides of this. Making it easy day to day, but more specifically is making it easier when you get into maintenance. I actually would go against a sponge filter here. First, you need an air pump. While you can have one, and it's beneficial, I actually thing having to explain check valves and all of that make things a bit too complicated. More points of failure, so to speak. Explaining to someone how to clean the filter is pretty easy because of Cory's videos. However, I have seen new hobbyists struggle to get sponge filters opened up and be able to perform maintenance effectively. In my own tanks and with others I have seen cloudy water or cycling issues dependent upon which foam is on that filter. I would go for either a Tidal 35 or a marineland pro of adequate size for sake of ease. I would mod it beforehand with aquaclear foam and call it a day. For the tidal, you need 1 of their pre-cut foams as well as a single piece of scrap to cover a hole in the basket, but beyond that it's easy and works for stocking below. I don't recommend it in terms of a community tank or other things, but in terms of features and this specific application it works well and will be easy to use if you set it up right. Marineland filters have good impellers (sorry aquaclear) and can easily be adapted with sponge to work well. At minimum I would add a bag of AC30 biomax and some sponge to the marineland. That's all you need and it's a bit easier to cycle, to maintain. Eheim Jager, and a secondary thermometer. I would actually go with the ACO heater right now, but in terms of ease of availability some of the fluval / aqueon heaters have issues and I would opt for the eheim just because it's so easy to adjust and track. Personally I would opt for a "darker tone" natural gravel. Something like this: Specifically for this tank however I would get a bag of caribsea crystal river sand. More on why later. More on this later, but Moss of some kind, usually christmas moss is the go to for me. Second to that, Bacopa Caroliniana as well as micro sword. Root tabs here is a must as well, but that to me isn't too complicated. PSO get's too crazy for me too easily and crowds other plants as a result, other stems are slightly more.... manageable. I would grab a piece of mopani and some Seiryu stone. Those tones work and do really well. A single piece of mopani is perfectly fine as well. Second to that, you can do Marimo balls if available as well as lava rock if you prefer that look. Just be sure to clean the edges so it's not razor sharp. I would do a Bolivian Ram tank for anyone who wants a "single fish" starter tank.

Maybe this helps I don't know if this is the same species, but maybe we can get a scientific name from @Fish Folk https://tropicalfreshwaterfish.com/species/Crenicichla_notophthalmus.html

Hard to hear with other noise and movement. Not a big deal or anything, can you record a segment longer and then show the light off, then on so I can try to isolate the noise. Honestly all I heard was something touch the lid, phone moving, and then I heard what sounds like a fan or AC or something.

Could be rust on the pipes or copper? Have you looked into a whole home filter? cc @KittenFishMom You're basically wanting a good size (again, whole home) membrane filter + Carbon block filtration setup.

1/2 cup per 10G is what I use. As Colu mentioned above, I would start by lowering nitrates, 50% water changes every 24-72 hours until they are low. A healthy siphon on the gravel if need be as well and clean everything. Might take 3-4 water changes with things that high. When they get above 40, I tend to opt for increasing WC volume. Sounds like it might be an anchor worm @Colu

I use the cheapo "long handle" nets. Similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Infra-Reds-Invisible-Aquarium-Quick-Net/dp/B004K7ZLNU/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=long+handle+aquarium+net&qid=1672984023&sr=8-7 Or the "fancy one" Seachem 5" long handle, fine mesh nets.

check, check, and.... check. Definitely works. Ultimately others can elaborate but think of it where the loudest mouse gets the cheese. PSO can grow fast, so it will grow fast and may out compete other plants. Anubias will be fine in just about any tank as an accent. It's not the type of thing where you need to have a "low demand" tank for anubias or anything. I don't think of plants in terms of demand, each plant has it's own needs, but I try to think of plants in terms of growth rates. This means that as your PSO grows, then it has the ability to use more nutrients in the water and that would then starve out or present issues for other plants. PSO does really well with light, grows tall to get that light, and then grows so crazy it practically has bark. (I just mean really robust growth, thick stalks, sturdy plant. Having some fast growing plants actually helps out compete algae. It just means that when it comes time to trim, keep that in mind. Trim those plants so that other plants aren't blocked out. Just keep an eye out to make sure plants at the substrate level and plants at the mid level can get their light. Of course, as mentioned above, then you can dose a little more if you need to.

Upload it to YouTube as unlisted and then link it here. 🙂

Woot woooooot!

75G - 48" long 40B - 36" long 10G is either 20 or 24. I'd probably say get the 24 so you can use it on a 20L. 🙂 Welcome to the forums!

Perfect! @Chick-In-Of-TheSeawwhat are.yours at? (I forget who all else has em)

Hopefully this posts right. Having a huge issue with mobile and the Android keyboard. I really enjoyed your tank @PineSongaand I totally feel the morning check for things and then go about the day. It's something I'll have to incorporate and one of the main reasons why I really enjoy single big tanks compared to a bunch of small ones. I am tempted to always have two, but that's plenty for me. Thank you for sharing! (Great music choice too)

There was a "part 2" so to speak that comes up as him doing maintenance on the tank. He's yanking out heaps of plants for the trim and he discussed reasons for trimming. Not in depth, but mentioned why. I think it was about a year prior, I'd have to check the date, but it was before allmot his work got hectic and algae issues flared up. He is definitely injecting CO2 from what I know, might not be, but that's how he usually runs things. Only fert is substrate, root tabs, and easy green. In the other video he mentioned wanted to remove everything and completely replace all of the substrate. One of the biggest things I like about the tank is that it's the right depth and a lot of length. It doesn't feel tight and it works so well to give the plants room (i.e. dutch style) and to go ahead and have a picturesque 21:9 ratio. Mine started to finally grow. Propagating it is probably the right move. Trim it, more tabs, put more stems outward. I'll grab some photos to try to demonstrate. It's about 3-5 inches tall, I'd like it to be a focal in the front with the hygro pinnatifida or stems behind, downward slope as it goes to the center of the tank. If I can get it 6-8" tall, I'll be fine. Just a little bit of height to it.

It looks like it's started to die off. Are you dosing the tank with easy carbon or anything like that? Keep rotating it, make sure the tank is getting enough light / ferts and then let us know how it's doing in a few weeks. The fish are pecking at the dead plant matter, so that's just food for them. It should recover a little bit, give it time, check your water and all that. I would also try to give the substrate a good siphon in that area of the tank.

Very closely related species 🙂

Hello everyone! I have a pair of questions and I want to ask those with much nicer tanks that I one day hope to have! I think it's an interesting question and would be fun to hear some perspective. I would genuinely love to hear from @Seattle_Aquarist @Mmiller2001 and @gjcarew on this first question if at all possible. First, simply put, please talk to us about this tank in this photo / video. How do you view it? I mean to say.... a lot of us look at a tank like this and go "wow, that's amazingly well done and beautiful." What sort of things goes on when you look at it? Do you start to perform some maintenance in your head? I won't say too much as to ask for an honest reaction, but I think it's something that might actually be helpful for some of trying to get from a box with plants to an "aquascape style" tank. Here is the link to the video itself, he does zoom in and discuss the tank further. Fuzzy photo intended! Alright, serious question now though. I have some S. Repens and one of the talking points in this video was the stargrass in the foreground. He mentions that it's long and he's going to trim it. My question is specifically why? I want to get a longer portion of S. Repens in one corner for Oto eggs and fry, then have a carpet in a section of my tank. Bush style, but just something where it's a bit easier for some species in the tank to interact with the plant itself. I have a certain light setup and let it grow, it'll get some height. What am I missing? Is there an issue with that mindset of having a plant like S. Repens (or stargrass) and wanting to have it a bit longer than most people normally would? Is there an advantage to plant health by having it longer? I appreciate it. Thank you for the time!

Interesting! Take a scoop of substrate from the big tank, toss that into a media bag in the new tank. You can later remove it as you need to. This could bring along "critters", but that's not necessarily a good or bad thing. Bioballs.... YES! Add a decent handful of them to the substrate of the new tank. Enjoy the shrimp grazing on them and using them like some sort of gladiator challenge prop!!! Water, I wouldn't mess with, but yes, you can do that. Make sure the new tank has an airstone and just verify any parameters you need to (PH, KH, GH, etc.) Drip acclimate them to the new tank over a few hours, then move them in. (if you already have, all good, just keep an eye on things very closely the next few weeks). I would also add in some botanicals if you can. Alder cones, IALs, etc. Just a few right now so the shrimp have that added medicinal help and food source. Any moss or anubias would be great too in the new tank. Some plants on rocks, always good! For your sponge filter, my technique would be to take the old filter, run that in the new tank for at least 2-3 months, and then add a new sponge to the bigger, established tank. (Old filter in new tank, your new tank is now cycled)

Adding a little bit of aquarium salt might be all that you need. Can you show us a video and describe your setup? (Sponge filter, Airstones, etc.) Cc: @xXInkedPhoenixX 🙂

Starting to get this back under handle now. Tanks are calmed down, everything is flowing, and I'm done with the rough patch I was in. I'll give myself a week to prep / research and then we'll hit the reset button. I'll re-post (edit OP) or add a post below with the full details of my new changes. I also wanted to add this here for posterity. It's part of my process for research, seems like a good resource to talk through algae issues! I am going to have to check out a lot more of his videos than I have previously to see if there's anything more specific.

@Bev C ☝️ ☝️ ☝️

For me, I would break down one tank, get the 75 setup, and move everything into there with some added plants. 3-4 pots of scarlet temple. I would like to get it setup and see how it does this time. I've never had success with it, but want to. Tiger Lotus: I need one of these for my non-HoB tank to provide some vertical cover. Red Dwarf Aquarium Lily: Same as above, would like to try both, never have kept either. 4-6 pots of Bacopa Caroliniana: One of my favorite plants when viewed from above, both tanks would get at least one pot, with a big bush of this in the 75. 1-2 pots of Abonogeton Crispus: I would like to try it, never have. 6-8 pots of Micro Sword: More on this choice later, but I want a short, grass like plant, for the use with shrimp and fry. 1 pot Crypt Parva: Small enough where I think I'll like it, would like to try it. 8-10 Dwarf Hairgrass: Yes please, I need a good amount of this. I have tried several times to get a carpet, finally have all the knobs right and want to give it another try. Majority of this goes in the 75 with 1-2 pots into the other tank with the pandas for the sake of trying microsword vs. DHG to see which works best. Hydrocotyle Tripartita 'Japan': 1-2 pots, I would like to try it. I have a big rock I'll wrap with this stuff. Crypt Pink Flamingo: 1-2 pots. I want to try crypts, this one looks nice so it makes the list. 2x Java fern: For the low demand tank, I have some ferns in there now, they are slowly recovering and adapting, but I have never kept java fern before. 6-10 pots of buce black pearl: This would be one of the main features of the tank, I would really like to scape this and see what I can do with it. 1-2 pots of Ammannia Gracilis: Never tried it, I like the design, would like to see how it grows and what it looks like in my water. ANUBIAS TIME. -4-6 pots of Nangi: I love it, love the shape, want to get a feature of this going. -7-10 pots of Coffeefolia: Isn't that the dream right there? I just enjoy this plant and would like to get it back, thriving. -6-7 pots of Hastifolia. One or two of these in the low demand tank with that vertical cover mindset. The rest would be a focal in the 75G. Never kept it, one of the plants I wish I could have tomorrow any day / any time. -3-4 pots Nana: Just a great size and variety of anubias. This is for scape details. A lot of mine has died, and so I'd like to get it replaced and thriving. -5-6 pots Nana petite: Same as above, amazing plant and perfect for scape details. I would really like to get a bush of this going or make this plant a visual focal. On my last scape I used nana ass a focal, but I had petite as an accent. Both work really well for either. Having more time with this plant, I appreciate it a lot more. Wish / Request: -Hygro Pinnatifida: 5-6 pots. Again, a massive visual focal and I need to get some more of it, Especially if we are talking a good scape in the 75g. -Nobilis moss: Used to be in stock, but it hasn't been in quite some time. I would have to have a tank set for this (done) and it would have to grow on it's own with just shrimp. Then once it's a bit bigger I can use that to add it to the display tank. -PSO, but not as big. I like Pogostemon as a species, but the specific octopus variety is so easy to get to overrun the tank. I would like one of the smaller varieties. (see video below)

@Jurrian Hering Record a video of the noise. Please email Co-Op support as well. I would be curious as to what is going on. You might be hearing electronics, might be something else.

She'd be very excited for that 🙂