nabokovfan87

I'm working on putting together a video that might be interesting for your project 🙂 . I stared at the corydoras for a solid ~30-45 minutes this morning just watching them wake up. Do you happen to have any moss handy?

Hopefully the inflammation goes down. Feel better! 😞 Have you ever used those "spring scissors" before?

I use my hand to feel how intense it is. Essentially on mine, I get about.... 4" of output flow on my tank. Yours is pointed up a bit, maybe things will even out if you modify it to a 30degree or lower angle (force the water to ripple the top of the tank). If you need it at all I can record mine and show you. Secondly, you are running the "prefilter" of sorts but if you have any other issues, take some photos or a video showing how you have everything together and maybe there is something we can see. To get "less flow" all you really need to do is add more holes. Maybe something like this will work to calm the flow: Right now you're running I think 5-6 holes. Diameter looks pretty good. You can add 2-3 more holes in that line and that would further diffuse the output without much affect on your setup. Secondly you can slightly (and I do mean slight) modify the holes themselves. Adding 5-10% to the diameter is at the most I would go before getting too frustrated with the thing. Lastly, if all else fails, add 3-4 holes on the back of the bar, these would push flow directly into the glass but it would cut your output on the main side by about 20% I would think.

If you are interested at all about keeping shrimp, there is a lot of interesting conversation revolved around methodology and what to advise for certain species of shrimp. Please check it out! What was your favorite thing you learned? For me it was about the difference in protein feeding for caradina vs. neos.

I knew you'd remember! 😂 Thank you 🙂

I will write this and ask for @Seattle_Aquarist to clarify for us here. I think your issue might be too much light more than anything else. Let's take a step back and see what's going on. Leaves marked in blue are where you see "high light" in terms of plant placement underneath your light. They are at a spot where the light is most intense, at it's brightest intensity. That being said, those plants are also very slow growing and can be prone to getting burned out when it comes to the light requirements, usually resulting in algae more than anything. This also happens when the leaves are in higher flow sections and something like otos or shrimp opt not to go and clean those leaves off. You can see the leaf in purple marked also, where it's doing quite fine. THAT SPOT is the optimal position for what most anubias want. They want to be on the side, or shadowed in your scape. Direct like can do more harm than good, depending on a variety of factors.

Welcome to the forums 🙂 If the 20L is doing well, I would leave it and let it do it's thing. If you see issues, then look into changing or adjusting the lights.

Sounds like my tank. I'll have to get some photos and stuff together for you and explain what's going on with mine. One tank is literally crystal clear, the other is a cloudy mess and has been for some time. When you say "capped it with black sand" what kind? I've used seachem clarity, works fine. I've had the same bottle for a long time. Only ever use it on new tanks. works just fine.... for tanninns I use carbon / water changes. purigen is kind of a hassle for me.

I forget who, but someone around here is pretty awesome with some gel and some fish food. @Guppysnail help us out!

It always amazes me how pumps intended to be attached to the side of your tank don't really have any real output. You're lucky to get a duckbill but even then, that just takes a tube and makes it widened. Lock line, dual duckbills, mini spraybars.... you're talking literally 15-45 minutes of actual work to design those parts and it's literally 30-60 minutes for the drawings. Not much, but what a difference it makes! What did you end up using for your endcap? Nicely done 🙂

On this past week of testing the setup I had ~5-6 days before the maintenance indicator went off. I still don't think it's possible to run it for more than 5 days "without incident" so to speak, but I am running one final test. I want to put together an FAQ post for this thread as well as work on my final thoughts here shortly. I need to compress / compile everything into a nice clean format. I took some photos of the cleanout today, but based on results I don't really think it's a valuable comparison. What is interesting is that based on where you find the muck when cleaning things, it can be an indication of how well the filter is running. If the prefilter is really clogged up with muck, that's an indication to me about how well the pump is doing. If the sponge internally has more gunk, it's a sign for me to go ahead and check the pump for any issues or reasons of low flow. (or to just make sure the pump isn't turned down too low) I did see some surface scum, I'll continue to monitor that for the next couple of cleanings.

One step forward, two steps back.... Well, some filter testing stuff going on, but I'll post that in the appropriate thread here shortly. Not going to test anything this week because I really don't feel a need to. I just tested and I can tell the tank is doing ok. Filter was generally clean and seems I am past the worst of things for the algae battle. I lost a fish today. 😞 I think it was just one that was crushed when I was trying to remove the prefilter sponge, got pinched on some wood or against the glass or something. I saw a white belly and knew what it was right away. I feel really bad because this is the second of the fry I've lose purely by my own fault. Never good and always very disappointed in myself when mistakes / accidents like this happen. I have really, really enjoyed watching the fry in the tank and issues like room to work just make me really want to push that 75 into place and get it setup. It's gotta be what.... 6 buckets during a water change? Frustrating. I wanted to take time to record a video, show some things off for the sake of posterity. I have good growth since swapping out the diffuser. I am tempted to go in with some root tabs tomorrow for a few plants. The hygro is again, just stagnant and not really growing. I have one piece glued to wood, might end up putting the rest on the same section. It's the front glass / save a plant section of the scape. Not great to look at when nothing grows, but it's the type of thing where I can really, really monitor those plants every morning. I will keep an eye on things, but I am glad maintenance is done, on schedule, without too much hassle. That's the way it should be! It's so nice the filter actually works, tank is doing fine, and everything is just on a sit back and enjoy mode. The hardest thing is deciding what food to toss in! 🙂

I think the best choice here is going to be amano shrimp 🙂

When I first got back into the hobby and discovered planted tanks, stems were the ones I always gravitated to. That being said, there was a massive issue of having bare stems that had leaves at the top but nowhere else. I honestly didn't know what to do, similar to your post about asking how to propagate them properly. I found this.... and it's a great guide on showing how to handle your plants. Also, Welcome to the forums!

Were you able to get rocks like that pretty cheaply or? I need to find about.... a few 1000 of them.

I use the same thing, I can have it clean by the time the tank is done with it's water change. The issue being some diffusers hold in water. This is what I do. You go through a lot of dechlorinator this way, but it is what it is. I try to clean it when it needs it, and try to keep the algae on the diffuser from forming. Easier said than done. I would imagine this is a great use of safe too because it's just going to always be a small scoop and let a pump run or something for a second.

it's a night and day difference on the flow, if you run CO2..... I would encourage it. I wish I had a canister, I use the kit on a pumphead. The aquario stuff is really cool though, I totally understand!

Awesome fish, what a nice thing to wake up to. Congratulations!

People do some really awesome things with that stand. I would love to get some nice wood and turn my 55" one into a bookshelf. Currently it's a box shelf. 😂

Odd_Duck uses BDBS. I have used it (same brand and everything) but the batch I got was heavily contaminated and severely impacted my fish (negatively). Depending what you're keeping, keep in mind this is not intended for aquarium use and it is a recycled product. I would argue to avoid it, but yes, many people use it without issues.

Depending on the output, yeah it could make sense. If you have something that isn't hitting the surface in the same way you don't off-gas as much. More flow = better circulation (input and output is modified) which means that the CO2 is getting around the aquarium much easier. Best thing to do is to knock it down a little and monitor, among other things mentioned above. I highly recommend purchasing the x07 spraybar kit.

levamisole is fine to use. (expel-p) for the worms. Black out the tank for 24 hours, then do a heavy siphon on the substrate to remove them. For the other issue I will tag in @Chick-In-Of-TheSea . The med you're looking for is salt, kanaplex, and jungle fizz tabs because of the snails, you can remove them, but you would omit the salt in that case.

Bury it to keep out the algae?

looks like some form of roundworm. If that's the case you'd want to treat the tank with levamisole (expel-P), blackout the tank for 24 hours. Then heavily siphon and clean the substrate. What do you think @Odd Duck EDIT: For reference. here is a blackworm Here is a list of roundworms https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA091

Looks like leeches of some kind.