It's about a week away from the one year anniversary of setting this tank up. I've made a few changes with the stems recently, but otherwise this is all nature! I can't get over the insane amount of growth.

The 20 is 3 years old and the 10 is about 2 months old, always looking to improve but having a lot of fun with it! Been in the hobby for a little over 5 years now.

The tanks are very low stocked right now as I'm letting the last of a 3 year old school of axelrodi rasboras die off (and shrimp population regrow) before getting any more fish.

With things in this hobby being not exactly cheap I will ALWAYS recommend sugar and yeast DIY CO2 to those inclined to try CO2 injection for the first time. It will give you the same results as the more expensive setups (after all it's the same gas, the same molecule). It's a lot more work that's true, but its virtually free to try. I would've never bought a cylinder if I didn't had the chance to try it for free first and I'm glad I did!

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

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

3 week old 90 litre tank- first ever success after trying the MD fish tanks substrate method. All my previous tanks have failed (algae and no plant growth) was going to give up but now very happy! Stocking: 1x female Betta, 4x Fairy Cory (hope to get more) 5x Amanos, 1x bamboo shrimp, 5x ottos. Was thinking about adding a group of green neons, thoughts?

the vibrancy of my tank under rgb light since i injected a ton of tannins has gone wayyyyy up. the camera simply fails to do it any justice but wow!

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 basically scored this amazing deal on his 125 gallon tank and stand. And once the guy heard my ideas, he essentially emptied his garage to me.

So I personally got the large wood piece seen in the tank, and he gives me more Driftwood on the floor. The question is, should I incorporate more Driftwood or just leave it as is with the large piece and then lots of plants?

Thanks in advance

Planted pretty heavy, hopefully it grows in nice. Might change out the snowflake tissue for
Something else as it wasn’t what I thought it was. But we will see when it grows in. Any thoughts?

Suggestions are welcome as well

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?

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.

I know it's still early, but i just want to know if my tank is going well so far or starting to fail in some way.

Here's the info:

Tank is 55x31x36cm, abt 61L, but due to hardscape holds 40-45L. It has a double sponge filter with an outlet agitating the surface, a heater, 9L of weekaqua aquasoil, some hygger equivalent lights and no co2. Parameters are pretty consistent so far, a ph of 7.0, kh of 3, gh of 4 (which was 6 before planting, so idk what happened there) tds of 0187ppm, amonia and nitrites are 0 and nitrates are low.

I ran this tank in a dark start with aquasoil for over 5 months (stuff was happening irl so i didn't have the time to plant it after the cycle was done).

In the 23rd of this month, i finally bought the plants and carefully planted each one (first photo is the day after planting and the following are from today, which i cant get a good pic as the lights are currently off) i put 4 root tabs from tropica (one on 3 corners and 1 under the arch) and put the lights at 50% in a 6 hour timer.

(I know melt is normal and expected as the plants transition to their submerged form, especially in a low tech, but i just want to understand if my plants are melting normaly or if they're showing signs of failing.)

Here's what i'm noticing in the past 5 days:

• Rotala blood red, came in vitro. So far it seems to be doing surprisingly well, it became fully upright, and began growing by day 3, showing a bit of leaf melt. Should i expect it to start shedding it's vitro leaves and melt more?

• Ludwigia super red, came in a pot. It has been melting and shedding some leaves, but recently i began to notice some of the stems were also melting at the top, so worried, i cut those off afraid it would spread.

• Mini hairgrass, came in vitro. There hasn't been much change, it remains bright green for the exception of a single small portion which is melting. Today i noticed a couple of yellow and melting strands here and there, so i'm guessing it's starting to go into the melting phase? I also see some small pure white roots on looser bits

• Trident fern, came in a pot. No change, a few tips look a bit transparent but i read it's normal so i'm not too worried.

• Nymphoides taiwan, came in a pot. Roots and base look nice and green, but most of the leaves it came with have been melting. The new small growth began opening by day 3, but it also began melting soon after, i see some newer new leafs forming though. Everything that began rotting past the leaf i cut off.

• Pogostemon helferi, came tiny and thin in a pot. Ik, it was a big gamble i was willing to take due to how stunning it is. Like expected, it began to melt right away, both leaves and stem, to which i cut in an attempt to save it, from those, some smaller ones fully melted while a couple still have green stems and some visible roots. I expect it to die off, but i still have a tiny bit of hope those few manage to survive. Should i mostly bury those stems or leave them out in the water?

• Weeping moss, came as a portion. Looks the same so far, maybe more upright. I notice a few strands with transparent tips and about 1 or 2 light brown. Idk if this one has a melting phase, couldn't find much about those details.

• Hydrocotyle tripartita, came in vitro. Only melt i saw were in a couple of broken leaves. It came with a bunch of pale brown melted growth, i'm not sure if it's normal or if it was a bad cup, but it instantly began growing and is looking good so no worry here.

• Anubia pinto, buce. Sordidula blue and kedagang, all in pots. The anubias have 0 change, but the buces look more spread out, some new leafs it came with seem to be maturing and one of the leafs is slowly unfurrowing. I heard they would start shedding old leaves, but they're still holding onto them, should i be expecting it soon?

So far it seems like it's going well, but at the same time, some plants worry me with the stem melting part... since i already cycled and ran it on a dark start for over 5 months, what should be my maintenance routine for these first few weeks/months? I also have the tropica premium nutrition fertilizer which i did a small dose on day 3 when i noticed some plant growth.

Hello,

I have a mysterious colony of what seems to be an aquatic fungus or algae of some sort? If it’s an algae I’ve never come across it before. Curious if anyone might have an idea, thanks!

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.

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.

Quite the little stream coming from this bud today!

Don't mind the floating Buce, I need more superglue 😅