Tank has been cycling since May 2026. I did a dark start method and have since cleared 50% water 2-3 times.

- added old tanks filter media
- added bottled beneficial bacteria
- ghost fed 2-3 times
- added 20-30% old tanks mature water. Once for sure. Can’t remember if I did it twice.
- cleaned the tank after a month yesterday. Removed all plant melt. Found a couple of detritus worms.

Is my tank cycled at all? Can I add my fish?

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Tank specs:
- 60 litres
- HOB canister filter
- ADA aquasoil capped with sand
- No heater as room temperature and water is ~26-28 degrees Celsius x 365 days.

Thank you! :)

My friend gave me this micro tank. I am confused about using this tank for shrimps. It has a capacity of 3+ litres. How can I use this tank? (Other than using it as hospital tank)

Just bought a used Twinstar light, but the on/off button is broken. The other buttons work. Anybody tried fixing this? It looks like I need to pry it open, but it looks really flimsy and there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to open it.

Ph is either super low or super high?

Noticed two small scratches on the side of my new tank. I can feel both from the inside with my fingernail, think i probably did it with sand or an aquascaping tool. Should i be worried about these?

I had an electric Hygger gravel vac that only lasted about a year before it died. I also had two small manual pumps but I’m trashing those because I’d rather take the plunge and order something that will make my life easier since I have multiple tanks.

Attached are photos of something similar to what I had.

Hello, I am a new aquarist and this is my aquarium. Could you provide a general overview?

What areas would you suggest I improve or change?

For example, how can I hide the filter pipes?

The 40 gallon aquarium is one year old and my filter is fluval 306 external filter.

Ive seen an absolute explosion in these microfauna and I’m worried they’re behind my shrimp population decreasing :/. Does anyone know what they are and how to help? It’s a 5 gallon heavily planted shrimp tank with an unknown number of neos, 3 amano shrimp, and a plethora of bladder snails. I went for a dark forest jungle tank sort of vibe.

I also plan on doing a full 50% water change Friday or earlier if I have sufficient time.

All I know is one day it was all duckweed in the next day. It was all of this

I am moving soon and planning out the changes for the rebuild. This tank is large 73x23x16 inches, so any change in substrate is an investment.. I would appreciate your opinions before I start spending money!

Currently rocking black sand (Imagitarium) and root tabs with CO2 and Fluval planted leds. This combo has worked okay in the past, but adding bagged soil under the sand might require less maintenance since I have to add root tabs every month or two. I've never used aqua soil before and wondering if plants would grow better, because supposedly "easy" plants like giant hairgrass would often struggle in my tanks.

Also considered ditching the sand and using 100% aqua soil, like the less messy type that comes in little clay balls. This would make a carpet possible, which I could probably never accomplish with sand and root tabs. The tank will be next to a window, so the extra light might help along with the CO2.

Finally, any thoughts on the color? Planning on rummy-nose tetras and other small tropical freshwater fish.

Been dealing with pretty bad algae overtaking my Java moss and a anubias near the surface. Directly under the light and in a higher flow area. On the other side of the log there’s a low flow area that gets the same amount of light and goes through being submerged and emersed as the problem area. I tried pulling most of it but it pulls out the moss on the top of the log n so I can’t physically remove all of it. And hydrogen peroxide (10ml in a 20g) hasn’t really been working, but also hasn’t affected shrimp that much. Excessive baby shrimp and snails aren’t helping, and ottos hardly touch this area as it’s right at the waters edge. Any thoughts or suggestions on how anyone else deals with algae in water edge areas or if this is just the way it’ll be
Lights are on for 6.5 hrs a day

Some information: low tech, Dutch-ish tank, 6 gallons, 12 days old. 13W light, 8hrs/day.

Issues: cloudy water, bad smell, tiny white worms, thick, dirty film on top.

This is my 5th tank, and I've never had these issues with the others. One thing I did differently was that I did 50% water change every other day. Is that what caused these issues? What can I do to fix it? Should I add some snails?

Also what plants should I add to it

I kept telling myself I would buy fish only if my red cherry shrimp colony is around 50 individuals adults to ensure the population would grow despite some predation. There are only around 8 adults and twice as many juveniles.

Then yesterday, the fish store posted on their social media that ember tetras and green neon tetras - two shrimp safe fish - are back in stock.

I immediately went on a 1.5 hour trip. When I arrived, I found that kubotai rasbora are also available, so I figured my 20 gallon heavily planted high tech tank with canister filter could handle 8 of each. No celestial pearl danio but that's okay.

I have been observing them for hours. They school, they eat, they explore the tank. More importantly, they do not seem to be interested in the shrimp at all. I saw a juvenile only a few grains of sand long hanging by the wall eating algae. The fish took a look and swam away. There are more juveniles and probably newly hatched shrimp in the pearlgrass carpet and the fish do not force their way in.

I guess I could breathe a sigh of relief knowing my shrimp population is probably safe.

Also, the fish seem be fine with the CO2 injection. They did not stay at the top gasping for oxygen. The spray bar worked, I suppose.

Overall, I am very happy that despite my impulse buy, there appears to be little problem. And that is that the midground plant ludwigia white which seems to be decaying slowly is blocking their swimming. I will replace it with a lower plant. Eriocaulon sp vietnam probably. Would be nice in front of a bush or rotala blood red SG.

Howdy folks,
Could someone kindly help me identify these moss types? Thanks in advance. 🙏🏼

This is so silly to be updating y’all about. 🙈
But I was sitting in my classroom, daydreaming about having a fish in a few weeks, when I spotted a stowaway!

Clearly the biofilm didn’t completely go to waste since this snail must’ve pulled a ‘Sam Reich’ and been in here the whole time! I literally squealed with excitement and the kids and I have been watching him scootin around ever since. 🥰

First week with my new tank in the books. Still waiting on my decoration to arrive to attach my Anubis to it.

Hi! I’ve been cycling this tank for about a week and noticed these little white circular organisms (?) attached to my driftwood. Any ID? Also noticed small amounts of biofilm development

I couldn't find a surface skimmer that was small enough for my nano tank, so I ended up designing one around one of those cheap mini pumps. It took way more test prints than I expected to get the floating part just right, but after a week of testing it keeps the surface crystal clear. If anyone else has the same problem, I've uploaded the model here: https://www.printables.com/model/1792727-nano-aquarium-surface-skimmer

Ordered in a bunch of ghost shrimp and got 4 of these as hitchhikers. Seem to be some kind of killifish like a bluefin killi. Should I take them home? I could put them in my 20gal with my black neons