nabokovfan87

How much do you enjoy having those feeding dishes? Aesthetically I really like them, but in practice I'd imagine the flow just stomps the food all over depending on the setup you have. What has been your experience with them?

Yes exactly. And I wouldn't go over 100% the fish and load definitely increases over time. The AC is 200 GPH but has more sponge. The Tidal can handle more sponge but it's 250 GPH

The AC55 --> Tidal 55 All it really does is take the pump GPH into consideration. There's some other stuff but that's the main one.

You can use an aquaclear as an equal measure.

Upgrade to the 55. The 35 won't move enough water for a 29G Depending on personality, the angel might go after fish with that body shape. Rasbora / narrow tetras like that, they might end up getting picked on. Aq advisor is a great resource for stocking and to see what you can put in the tank. I wouldn't take it to 100% but maybe 80% based on their tool.

I knew of the forum for a while before I ever joined. I had a specific question / issue and that ultimately was why I made the account and started posting. There's a lot of great info you can find without ever needing an account! I asked for some help, got some, and the reason I enjoy this forum over others is because the focus and rules dictate that people treat one another with respect, focus on helping, mentoring, and not putting down one another for any mistakes they do make!

I am pretty sure I have more. But these are all I think I have. 😕

We should make these into some Pogs and have collectible co-op slammers we can order in. I really enjoy the art and I'd hate for it to just disappear. Willing to buy sticker packs for fun. I hope that happens eventually.

Mine already looks like it's dissolved out all of the calcium. Update on this. I got the pump I needed to replace the dual outlet with a single outlet (finally) which will also let me reduce the flow ever so slightly in the tank. I finally got the stupid media bag in the right size for the use. I have just over 1/2 lb in the media bag now, and I have 1 lb of crushed coral ready to go to add to the ziss. I'll let you know how well it works or doesn't work and keep an eye on parameters. I also got some of the alkaline buffer, so I might end up going that route instead of buying more crushed coral. Edit: It fits very close to 1 lb of crushed coral, potentially slightly more if you stuff it in there. The downside.... it's very loud because the air basically goes around it, not through it. Very likely will end up removing it back tomorrow, but I'll give it a chance.

Noooooo Amanos!!!!!!! Haha.... I feel like everyone needs to have a tank with 20 amanos and then you have the wonderful appreciation for how well they destroy algae. Then get into the cooler shrimp with the fancy colors. 😉

It looks like you're using the default setting for the light. Be sure to head to the info/schedule thread and check out the tips and advice. Bentley also has a ton of useful videos on the planted 3.0 lights. This was my first assumption when seeing the photo.

I found this.... I have no idea how "accurate" this recommendation is, but it's a good starting point I would think for anyone who wants to add it to their HoB or filter.

OH. MY. GOODNESS....... Literally giggled, but I also totally am afraid of seeing one. I loved the nerite I had, but got really annoyed when my tank had egg casings all over. My biggest issue, hands down, is just being so frustrated that I feel like there's no point to certain things. Algae in my QT tank is INSANE right now and it got to the point where my anubias was just a host for it to woft in the wind. After a month I stopped trying to save the plant and just pulled all the leaves that were struggling. Some success, but when I see the algae taking over as fast as the leaves would grow, the amano shrimp ignoring it, and seeing so much imbalance in the water quality..... I get annoyed and just let it stew. You wake up one day, turn into a MLB in the NFL and I kicked the algae off of the filter and I've been fighting it back ever since, again. By no means is the fight even close, but at least I'm back to trying. Algae kills me, and makes me want to just toss it all away and start over. "it's all contaminated now" mentality. You discover the wonder of amano shrimp. Bamboo shrimp.

Yep, hormones in the water, they are trying to get somewhere in a hurry. Could be a variety of reasons, but it's definitely "normal". When they get in that mood, they tend to jump, so just keep an eye on small holes in the lid and make sure they don't go too far.

Maybe make a sleeve for it to act as a baffle? Or you add on more holes on the output to diffuse it that way. Let's say the pipe going out is 1/2". You'd buy some 1" or 3/4" and slice it up similar to the way an intake is (or drill holes) and then the water would have to go out of one outflow then out of the next outflow and be slightly diffused. At the end of the pipe, you'd cap one end, then on the other end just have a narrow pipe that matches what you have now for the OD of the pipe. If need be, use a reamer bit or a hand tool and slightly open up the hole so it press fits onto the output.

Agreed. Need to lower PH, but raise KH. Getting the KH up to 60-80 is where you want to be. (right now it's 40-50). That will let your PH be a bit more stable long term. That's the goal. what do you mean by this? Shrimp need calcium (GH) to be at a certain level to survive. KH is all about buffering the water so you don't have PH crashes. Your losses are likely due to starving, and due to PH swings or incorrect temps. Please be sure to check this out. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

Tannins definitely could benefit them to be a bit more relaxed. Usually shadows might spook them and they will dart off. Otos do this a lot too. Usually they get really active like that when the lights start to go out. During the day, mine tend to just chill on hardscape and eat all day long. At night, they are at a party or something and running all over the tank.

All of these questions are the best questions! Would be too funny to see a part two of this story ^^ and hear what happened with the tank and stuff. I remember a few times, I was at the big box store and the guy running this particular one is awesome. We would talk briefly, and he was always very professional, helpful, knowledgeable, and was really good at guiding people. There were a few times when a customer would walk up and I'm the type to just observe and if I actually have a way to help make life easier I might offer advice. Like someone who was in there asking about a giant pleco for their "pond" that was nothing more than a tote with some goldfish. We all hear questions like that, but one of the few times, ACO had just dropped a video, I'd go to the shop and then hear someone asking a question that referenced a really awesome video. There was a few of those moments. Someone asking about tiger barbs and I point them to the 800G video. Someone asking about glofish and making a tank, I would politely help them decide on adding 3-4 of the same fish on their list and explain why. It's always nice when you know that the person you're talking to really just wants to ask a question, and they are really happy and relieved to get a decent answer and not have to wonder if they are doing the right thing. One guy, he was shopping for a filter, I was in the shop getting some sponge to cut up and a net. He didn't know what to get, so I explained to him my setup and pointed him to a few of the videos (just so they could see it and know that it's good knowledge). Again, instead of buying something he was unsure of, the person was able to look it up real quick and made it so much easier for them to enjoy the hobby just by having something to point to as a common piece of knowledge.

I'd recommend the 73-74 degree range. Depending on what else you want to add to the tank this may limit some options, just keep that in mind. I absolutely love the tank! It looks like the corys are already looking for a place to spawn and eyeing your sword plant leaves. If it were me, I'd do a 15-20% WC daily until you see 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite. You're mid-cycle, but your nitrates are also high. You do have plants, but they aren't going to go crazy consuming those from the water. I would try to keep nitrites below 20 at worse, and at best in the 5-10 range as a maximum. This also helps with algae issue to keep it pretty tight/low. They definitely are omnivores. For mine I stick to spirulina brine shrimp (frozen) as their "favorite" in my tanks. On treat days they get bloodworms, but the ones I have now are slightly too big for them. Second to that, they love nano sinking pellets, spirulina tabs (from sera), hikari algae wafers, hikari vibra bites (back to the worm thing) and easy to digest flake food.

Yep! With a big piece of mopani like that you should see something though. I wouldn't expect much, maybe .1-.3 reduction over time.

I would repost or maybe a mod can move this to the diseases section. Is there something in the tank that would be possible for him to get a fin stuck on? If you have it handy, I would add some salt / treat for bacterial.

Yep exactly!

Ok so. You're going to end up needing Seachem acid buffer and alkaline buffer and you end up dosing then in a ratio. Your other option is adding crushed coral and botanicals/wood/peet. Fluval sells some peet balls for their canisters you might have available locally. The idea being..... You need to get KH up by about 20 which will stabilize PH in between water changes. Then you'll either be happy with the slight bump in PH or add something to drop the PH down. Your water parameters look just like mine, except my PH is crashing from 6.8 down to 6.0 I did 4 in my 29G. No idea if it's right. Alder cones might be a better option because they are smaller and easier to add more of. I was keeping an eye on your other thread to see what the response was. My issue adding the leaves is they block out the plants. I was using a clip (for kelp and such) to attach them to the wall. Or putting them by the filter intake where there's less plants.

I don't know the situation, so we need a few details. Can you please test your water out of the tap for KH, GH, and PH and report back. (usually KH and GH is only available on a test strip or if you have the other kit) Then, with that same water sample, Aerate the water for 24 hours with an airstone and repeat those tests. This blog post will give you an idea of how it's related. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh Let's say your tap has a PH of 7.5-7.6. After 24 hours some parts of the water are unstable and your PH may change naturally. This is where some people will "condition" there water to avoid pH swings. Then you're adding the wood, and then you're seeing that lower PH. I wouldn't expect the wood itself to dramatically affect the water until 24-72 hours after you have it soaking. You're going to see a lot of color at first, but eventually that will fade away. Usually, you'd soak the wood, replace the water every day or every other day until it runs clear a bit longer. At that point, you would soak the wood for 3-5 days and test your water to see where it's at. There's a lot going on, especially if you're just testing water out of a bucket, with/without aeration, how long the wood has been sitting.

Very cool. Tank looks awesome.