nabokovfan87

They love hard water!?!? Just not crazy 8.0 PH.

Yep. Just playing in the flow. They may have smelled something and one went to look. It's basically just shoaling behavior.

Yes the tubing is the 16/22mm size. Pipes (lilypipes) would be 17mm

Use a cup of hot water on the tubing and then you can get it over a bit further on the CO2 diffuser tubing. That being said, also make sure you're using proper CO2 tubing as the neo diffusers are specifically designed for that internal hole size. This is the one I run now, same company, just a slightly different shape on the end. 90 degree bend instead of 180. Tubing is the same though.

That makes it a bit difficult. Shrimp can be more nocturnal in that scenario as the fish will be sleeping when they are out trying to find food. This means that trying to feed them once the lights go out might be critical long term. Having the fish in there means that having a lot of hides for baby shrimp is going to be one of the only ways to ensure you have juvenile and adults that can avoid the fish. Your other issue, for some lines, can be a sensitivity to nitrite. If you're feeding the fish and nitrites go up pretty quickly, that might lead to stress in the shrimp. I only mention it as a thing to keep an eye on. I do have cull shrimp in my 75G and there's not a lot of fish. I have a few adults, but I also have tried to add ways for the shrimp to have intricate hides for the baby shrimp where there's no way the fish can get them. I haven't worked out feeding, I am yet to see a baby shrimp, but the adults are doing ok. The one thing I can say is that as long as the tank is heavily planted the shrimp should be ok. Water changes can be a weird thing for shrimp. Some people say that you should drop water in, while I've also seen others who treat it like a normal fish tank without issue. Again, I just mention it as something to keep an eye on if you see something like molt issues. Method for feeding would be a little different that's all. You would essentially feed the corydoras and the shrimp would eat what's left. That's pretty much it. You might directly feed a complete food at night (mentioned above) 1-2x a week.

Compared to API, it looks like the fluval kit is slightly more sensitive. 1 drop = 10ppm as opposed to 1 degree. I've also seen some that use one drop to equal half a degree of hardness, but I could not find which one it was.

Is this an existing fish community tank?

There's a lot of videos on youtube where shrimpkeepers use it for the sake of treating planaria. It might get you on the right track as far as seeing success stories and how to methods visually.

I've got a link in my signature with my algae battle notes. I've been fighting the BBA for years at this point and ultimately there's a few things you can do that help and some that don't really matter much. In terms of iron, I started dosing it regularly again about ~6 months ago. I started dosing it based on a post from Roy and realizing that I just wasn't giving the plants that nutrient specifically. I have some plants that needed it and it's helped a bit. It really helped out the moss I was growing. That being said, BBA is a bit of a pain and I understand the concern there. Water changes remove the spores and that's where you might be running into those long term issues.

Good to know. Yeah, I wanted to go check the other one, but didn't end up making it there. Honestly it's one of those channels or things that is so difficult to search for a video from months ago, let alone years. I'll try to find one though.

This one is the water wisteria. It's planted appropriately. The other plant you asked about is the el nino fern / bolbitis species that needs to be above the soil (on the hardscape).

The one thing I would start with is upping the water changes. You're not changing water nearly enough for a tank with that many plants and it might just be seriously struggling. That being said, your testing looks perfectly fine. There could be "something" that has built up in excess that is causing a bit of an issue and whatever nutrient the rotala is needing isn't quite there. You can try something like adding iron, as a lot of the plants you have do use iron (ferns, suss, etc.). Depending on what fertilizer you're using you could have some micronutrient that is missing as well. @Seattle_Aquarist any ideas for this case in particular? I would definitely use root tabs, but there are those that say the stems only get nutrients from the water column. Out of curiosity, which tabs did you try out?

It all makes sense to me and I have seen front drain setups. It's definitely just a preference thing and being able to "work around" the plumbing. Aquarium adventures (Graeme) on youtube has his front drains and drilled in that way. I've also seen it from Mark's Shrimp Tanks too in some of his setups.

I'm very excited to see how all the plants do for you. For java ferns you don't want to plant them buried in the sand. They are an epiphyte type of plant and they are usually tied or glued to hardscape. You can bury the roots, but not the part of the plant called the rhizome. Moneywort is a great choice. It should do well in that tank with the liquid ferts (easy green). You just plant it like normal. The java ferns would do well if they are towards the back of the tank where something like the moneywort will do great directly below the light (stronger light). Welcome to the forums and to the hobby! It's great to see new hobbyists and hopefully we can help you in any way to set you up with success!

I do have some that I got, but it's not something I've ever used. I hear a lot about it being used in BCB plenum type of setups.

@The endler guy looks great!

I use a product called alkalinity buffer for mine to raise up KH. Second to that you can use, probably advised, to have some crushed coral or aragonite sand type of substrate. That being said, you might just keep caridina shrimp and enjoy it! 🙂 There's always something that enjoys whatever water parameter you have. It'll be interesting to see what you do.

Definitely true! Once you get ~20+ of a species the behavior really changes and they tend to not be nearly as timid. Once they get to 30 in the group they really do just do their own thing. I would start with 12-14+ and go from there. Let them breed to the size they want and just enjoy that process. The brochis always look a bit funky to me, I'm not sure why. They are really, really big compared to other corydoras and so you just have to be aware of that. Barbatus are one of the ones that I would love to have one day. Very unique and seem like they'd be great to watch and enjoy. Pretty much all of the ones you mentioned I think you'd enjoy. If you may not like the look of the lasers, maybe from the same lineage.... check out orange venezuela or the standard schultzei (non-black form). Welcome to the forums. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! 🙂

It basically will always leech tannins. It's just what wood does. Water changes will help. If the tank gets too dark for your liking you can also run carbon in the filter. Welcome to the forums @Kit Craft and @Natalie is new !

The first one is a type of fern. I think in the store it's called El Nino fern. It's looks like Bolbitis heteroclita that may or may not be aquatic. It's one of those plants I keep buying to try it out because I enjoy the look of it when it does grow. It's an epiphyte plant and you don't want to bury the rhizome when putting it in the tank. (roots are fine, but not the rhizome). Normally you would tie it or glue it to the hardscape in some way. The second one looks like hygrophila difformis, also called water wisteria.

I can't imagine seeing my fry with big ol' orange bellies like that. Very cool!

Yeah. the stuff you're looking for should just say 100% silicone sealant. Caulk usually has some stuff mixed in there. https://www.homedepot.com/c/ab/types-of-caulks-and-sealants-for-your-projects/9ba683603be9fa5395fab90d0b119c3 In fact, the terms “caulk” and “sealant” are often used interchangeably, since both are used to fill joints and seams. However, the biggest difference between caulk and sealant is elasticity. Caulk is more rigid than sealants when dry.

Orange Venezuelan

It looks great. Given the "ground movement events" that might happen here it's not something I think I'd trust myself in this location. There was a stream we had where we had discussed ways to help / strengthen the structure for things like that, but ultimately it may not be just worth the cost or worth compared to other methods. Steenfott also has a big fishroom he built with a very similar method.

I've learned about leeches make their way into tanks today via snails. I cannot imagine seeing it and @Chick-In-Of-TheSea can attest to how much I don't enjoy the worms in my tank. That being said, you can try pulling snails to a tub or QT or something and allow you to use the no planaria on the tank itself. It might take a long weekend of pulling snails or it might result in some losses, but I hope that in some way you're able to resolve it!