nabokovfan87

correct. paracord awesome tip. I like that.

The anubias is definitely hurting, but looks beautiful. If you're having issues staying motivated, I would encourage you to literally set a time each week to sit there and stare at the tank and just relax for a moment. Having that connection will help you to see it for what it is and to let the value of that moment gravitate towards the care your provide. I find myself always doing this now. I did have a spurt where the tank was there, but it wasn't something I invested myself in. Maybe that makes sense... The point is just that I think it's a common thing, and it's something where trying to make time, makes you see the value, and you decide what you want from this tank.

It's very likely not worth the hassle. Pretty much every pump you have is the same thing with slight variations. That burning smell is likely water on the board inside the pump itself. Probably something on the magnet or one of the other electronics and that's causing the short. That short led to voltage going where it shouldn't have and overloading a component, which is the burning smell you had.

If you could have one fish added to your tank tomorrow, without any issues, why would you choose the one you chose? It'll sound weird, but either a rubberlip or a horde of otos to my tank. I have some in there now, but they could use some friends. I just want something to clean a little bit of the glass and to help out with some of the other surfaces in the tank. Twist my arm and make me choose something else.... Some really nice white clouds. They are small, eat the foods I feed, would do well because my tanks only have bottom feeding fish, and I would have something to eat food at the top of the tank.

OH.... ok. I took this as... the stuff the store never has but you specifically went out of your way to find! I have 2 clowns, I see them every day for about 2 seconds before they scatter when lights pop on. Such cool fish. I'm right there in the same situation as you. I don't have the tank up and running for them, but even if I went to the store.... I could probably list the 20-25 fish they do have and about 30-50 that I've seen elsewhere and I just don't have access to. A lot of things that aren't around, aren't available to me. Online is mandatory just to get fish now. Bumblebee catfish. You typically won't ever see them once you get them.

My local petco had zebra loaches. I'm so annoyed I didn't pick them up. I got the yo-yo loaches, they didn't do well (weren't healthy) and went back to get the zebras and they were gone. 😞 I know it's silly, but literally I can't even get 95% of the barbs, tetras, or rasboras most people have access to.

Very interesting stuff. You can see the difference in the new growth on the moss.

might be a dead spot on the flow. If you can, toss in a few more shots of this or make a thread and let's see what people can do as far as making things more appealing for you. It would be good to know or try to understand what you don't enjoy about it right now. I forced myself to clean out my tank today. It's been on hold because I have been waiting to go to the store to get parts for a filter test. I'm also waiting to drop meds as well as letting the new plants get hold in their new environment. So far so good. I did a pretty intense gravel vac and I went out of my way to rescape the substrate. If you have an arched substrate I would recommend that when you siphon, suck in some substrate and toss that where you want to keep some of those high spots. I basically uprooted all of the Hygro Pinnatifida and then cleaned that spot of the tank really well for worms. I re-planted what need be. A few hours later, I went back in and added some root tabs for the plants and hopefully that helps out the Dwarf Hairgrass perk up a bit. I just dosed the tank yesterday, so I'm going to need to re-dose it tomorrow slightly as well. I took out my moss rock, cut off 1/4-1/2" sections of moss that I had glued that were a bit too long for it to look natural and then I went ahead and glued that to a few spots on the wood. I took the anubias that was in the wrong spots on the tank and moved those to better spots elsewhere on the main bit of hardscape. I also had a variety of anubias that was doing well and then was getting blocked out because the wood was leaning against the front glass. I moved it slightly off the glass now so it has a better chance to get some light and some room for growth. Another day of fun just hands deep in the tank. I'll probably dose meds next week, but still trying to keep an eye out for worms and monitor the situation.

you can use AQ advisor as a decent tool to try to determine stocking. Keep in mind most loaches like aeration. You're running an undersize filter, so I'd recommend 1-2 airstones as well as the HoB if you stock those.

Do you have any idea what the parameters are for the well water? Some stores sell the 5G water bottles, you can just refill those manually with the machine. That's probably the easiest way to do it. The water is typically RODI in some capacity as well. I would think they all do or could if they were hungry enough. You can always setup an indoor pond? I apologize that it's been so difficult for you. Take a breath and try to just do one thing a day or every few days. Take it slow and slowly you'll get there. One step at a time is how I try to focus on things when life gets a bit too tough. Stay strong, focus on the positive as best you can.

I vote confucious.

Amano shrimp

My condolences, I'm very sorry about your loss. This is how I would handle it, depending what you have available, even unscented trashbags might be a way to handle it. 1. Take a tub and remove all of the rocks and wood into that container. If you have wood with plants or rock with plants, those go with the rest of your plants. 2. Take a tub / bucket and put in ALL of your plants with an airstone. Make sure all of the plants are wet and submerged. 3. Take another container and then place all the fish in that container with an airstone. Make sure you have a dark towel or a lid on the container and set it away from noise or traffic so the fish can relax for a few hours. Any of your filter media, sponge, ceramics, would go into this bucket. 4. Take your hand and heavily disturb ALL of the substrate as much as you can to get as much junk into the water column. 5. Drain the tank as much as you can with a siphon. Gravel vac, but the main thing is to get the majority of that mucky water out. 6. Fill the tank and repeat this process. If it's just as bad as the last time you might need to do so again. 7. Gravel vac the substrate and try to make sure you don't have issues with anaerobic pockets or mulm/waste in the substrate. The water you siphon out should be "clean" and you should be able to see that you're not removing waste. 8. Add your hardscape back, replant. Fill the tank, dose it with your dechlorinator and test parameters. Verify at this point that water is safe for fish. 9. Add the fish back and keep monitoring the water parameters for minimum, 1 week. I've literally used the python and hosed out a tank when need be. It's a great way to handle something like this.

I definitely would. Also add the old media from the filter to the new tank either in the water or in the HoB itself. No, I wouldn't recommend that setup. If you were worried about flow, I'd recommend something with fine adjustment like the marineland pro series. I would recommend starting with a 40-50G filter so you have room for flow when the pump slows down due to muck. If I had a 20L or 20H tank I'd run a Tidal 55 or a Tidal 35 x 2 as my filtration. I run pretty high flow tanks just to try to make sure there isn't dead spots. the 20H is taller, so I'd recommend something with a 40-50G+ rated pump. Can you send me a photo of both sides of the pump? I need to show how it's built and it's difficult to get photos of the sealed side. I need the photos to reference for a post in my Seachem Tidal Experiments thread!

I would suggest trying to double or triple the air output. Not sure what pump you're running, but I don't think it's enough output from that video.

Floating plants took up nitrates but the tank is still processing the other stuff into nitrates, essentially. Awesome book. I love the name.

Did you ever see the guy that pets sharks and gets them to stop swimming and stuff? One of my favorite moments I've seen. He went free diving in south Africa where the GWs hunt seals and torpedo above the water. He had 3-4 surrounding him and if he swam up that would've been it! He was trying to build up the technique and courage for getting the sharks of multiple sizes into tonic immobility. Very amazing to see.

LOL, that definitely doesn't help. I apologize for the PTSD triggers. I definitely can relate now.

One of my favorite things to find some cool stuff you'd never find anywhere else. This is what I just got. It's "tangentially" related to the hobby and it talks about a lot of related topics, sustainability mostly and how that goes down the chain towards the consumer and all the products we use day to day.

Amanos? I'm very happy for you and your snails. Please enjoy them 2x as much for me! I had a nerite once. That's about the extent I'll go to.

Next time I go to the store, will be doing this finally! It's been in the works for a while, but just been a hectic day to day.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSeaBecause you LOVE to make fun of me about my worms. These aren't them, but all I can see is worms now! A slight update on my tank... Added the new plants, final attempt to push out this algae and so forth. There is a lot of good things happening, still some struggling plants, but it'll get there. I want to see some more before / afters! Let's see what you got!

Super minor update. This is the same plant, 1 week and some change later. This is what I mean when I say I have new growth and then things take over and then I have more new growth and things take over. I moved all the anubias that was too close to the lights, and I opted to move ones that were too close to the glass / flow to try and reduce this specifically on the anubias itself.

Need to get to the store, lol. Waiting for a ride. I have that liquid bandaid stuff. would not recommend. Because of the worms I have gloves / bandaid and do everything one handed. I don't recommend trying to eat a taco left handed. Don't ask why. LOL.