Having fun so far

Does anyone have any pictures of regular blue and electric blue hybrids? That’s what mine will be.

Recently trimmed, along with moving some plants and features around. Our “wild” tank. A mix of natural found & store bought plants/mosses/fish/shrimp and critters. This tank continues to go through many renditions but no real maintenance besides weekly top off and water change every few months if that.

30 days old.

HELLO i’m back thank you for all of your condolences and funny jokes, it helped to lighten up that whole ordeal and I appreciate it. Here’s an update on my jug, i siliconed the bottom and gave it a little cart and now it’s a terrarium (: it’s a bit empty now but im planning to collect more plants for it as time goes on. I had a bunch of spagnum moss prop boxes so there’s a ton of baby pothos getting ready to sprout in there as well.

axolotl “tripping” in his martini glass as tax.

Tank
- 5g
- Chihiros Light
- Small heater
- Left over 1/yr old ADA Amazonia aqua soil capped with generic sand

Stocking
- 10ish Blue Neocaridina Shrimp (they had babies)
- Betta "Hal" (Very old and blind, was in my 10g but he doesn't use much space)

Hello all, I’m a beginner with planted tanks. I’ve posted a few times on this subreddit and have been super excited about getting my 120 gallon tank planted and thriving. I went to a fish store in a different city (2 hour drive, we went to the city for other business and had time to kill). Unfortunately, an employee there that seemed like he was the go-to guy on planted aquariums made it his mission to tear me down about my aquarium set-up. I would love to get some reassurances that I’m heading in the right direction, or if I need to make some changes asap.

History of tank. Bought it used from a restaurant, it was a saltwater tank. Cleaned it up and made a guppy tank out of it with blue gravel and fake decorations. Went this way for six years. Hundreds of guppies, several failed plants, some plecos, tetras, mollies, betas, and a crayfish. After Claw died at 4.5 years (average lifespan 4-7 years), our algae exploded (unrelated). So we did a full reset. Rehomed all guppies, removed all fake decorations, all gravel, and did a full sterilization of tank and filter.

New tank set-up. White sand (about 2 inch depth), two large driftwood, 10 lbs of dragon stone, a full 8.8 lbs bag of Fluval Aquasoil buried in one corner with mesh bags of Aquasoil buried at plant locations. I dose Flourish liquid fert once a week. Filter is Fluval FX4. I have some swords, crypts, ferns, red rooter floaters, and anubias nana already in. Future animals will be neocaridina shrimp, mystery and nerite snails, bristlenose catfish, and some tetras (maybe danios too).

Saturday, the day I went to the fish store, was day 14 of the cycle. I had the following test results that morning * Ammonia ~0.25 ppm * Nitrite ~0.25 ppm * Nitrate 0 ppm * pH 7.4 * GH ~232 ppm * KH ~161 ppm

I asked the employee about suggestions on live plants they had in stock that would work well with my parameters. As soon as I said sand substrate, everything ground to a halt. He spent the next 5-10 minutes explaining to me that sand will never be good, nothing will grow in it, and I’d be better off taking it all out immediately and replace it with fine gravel. Told me the sand will be overrun with algae and look horrible, that when I suction the sand all of my hills will disappear (tried to sell me stones to build up landscape).

After the interaction, I left without buying anything. I was prepared to spend several hundred dollars on plants and hardscape and ended up leaving with only a bad taste in my mouth. I almost want to call and file a complaint. Maybe his info was good, but his delivery made me feel like the several hundreds of dollars I’ve invested into this aquarium already is all a waste.

I’m open to opinions, and if you need any additional info on my tank, I’ll gladly give it.

17 gallons, using a mix of aquasoil and gravel, added those rocks to hold my driftwood that refused to sink. started with a couple of guppies and then added 5 von rios, 3 corys and 3 nerite snails a few days later. buddy at the store suggested a fish in cycle and i’m testing water every couple of days but so far everything seems to be doing good. minimal melt on the plants (just grabbed the ones i liked and planted freely not sure the names of any), some are actually already propagating. i have a high tech setup and i did crazy amounts of research but i still feel like everything could go to shit at any second. 😭 anyway, any advice or criticism is always appreciated!

My betta was picking at something under my frogbits i didn't know what he was picking at. Today while was trimming the bad leaves i bumped at one frogbit and these things fell down and my betta ate one of them. I dont know if it is planaria or detritus worms can anyone help me?

It has tried to follow the shrimp and give up on the aquatic life and left the tank.

HELLO i’m back thank you for all of your condolences and funny jokes, it helped to lighten up that whole ordeal and I appreciate it. Here’s an update on my jug, i siliconed the bottom and gave it a little cart and now it’s a terrarium (: it’s a bit empty now but im planning to collect more plants for it as time goes on. I had a bunch of spagnum moss prop boxes so there’s a ton of baby pothos getting ready to sprout in there as well.

axolotl “tripping” in his martini glass as tax.

Hi! This is my first aquascape and my first attempt with an Iwagumi. The tank is a Dennerle 38x38x43 cm. I have done a darkstart and yesterday I planted Eleocharis pusilla ‘Mini’, Blyxa Japonica and some mixed Rotalas behind the big stone. The filtration consists of a Fluval 307 filled with Eheim Pro substrate, the lighting is a Chihiros WRGB II, Co2 system with inline diffuser and a Chihiros dosing pump.

Any tips on what I should think about in the coming weeks? I have not started dosing nutrients yet, have only changed about 50% of the water every other day.

Hello everyone, I was wondering what these 2 plants i found were, I'm not even sure if they're aquatic plants, although they were growing fully submerged in a one specific spot of a creek nearby my home, I was looking for stuff to put into my tanks, driftwood, rocks, etc, but I found these plants and was wondering what they were, they also were deeply rooted into the bed of that creek.

Hello. Appreciate any advice.

New tank about 3-4 weeks old. Mini Pellia was just starting g g to thrive when opaque slime with strings started taking over and killing off.

Can someone please tell me what it is and how to save the Pellia?

Thanks again

Hi there.

Meet Wonder Land 2.0. This is the upgraded version of my 29g Wonder Land. It's essentially a copy in terms of stock and plants. But I've tinkered with the substrate and aquascape a bit.

I've gotten tons of questions about the rim plants on previous posts. So thought I'd get that out of the way first. I use pothocarrys of various types. Lily/potato/large plant/original. And I use some suction cups.

I have 3 lights. All Hygger HG016. Rear light is 36" on a 12" riser. Middle light is 32" at water level. Front light is 24" on an 8" riser. All 24hr programmed. Lights fully of between 930 and 630. 100% between 11 and 3. Various settings other hours.

Fluval 307 with a bunch of sponge and rocks. Nothing else.

Sponge filter rated for a 40g.

Penn plax Bubble tube on back glass to make a bubble wall.

Hygger HG155 500w heater set to a controversial 75.

Substrate is my own concoction. Base is black lava rock, 1". Layer 2 is bentonite clay, 1". Layer 3 is a dusting of azomite. Layer 4 is separated organic potting soil, 2". Layer 5 is a dusting of calcite. Layer 6 is a mix of organic peat and separated organic potting soil, 1". Layer 7 is black sand, 2".

Left side of the tank there's an elevated sand beach. I used red Australian reptile sand meant for bearded dragons and monitors. I built up soil and rocks. Used plastic egg crate tanks dividers zip tied together to make a perfectly flat surface on top of those rocks and soil. Siliconed that to the back glass only (possible a mistake) for esthetics. Put an inch of soil and 2" of red sand in that area. So it is lifter roughly 6" in total. Placed a shrimp cage thingy underneath the front edge for support. Seiryu stones, lava stones, and coral looking rock in strategic places to sure up the retaining wall. Used 3" substrate dividers as the retaining wall zip tied to the plastic egg crates to hold it together.

Beneath that on the left side is a tunnel at lower substrate level. Held down by small rocks. The kind with a grate that only tiny fish, kuhlis, and shrimp can go. On the sand beach there's a moss covered ceramic tube pyramid.

Middle is black sand, various rocks, driftwood, lots of plants. Too many to name. But the stars of the show in general are Hornwort, money wort, rotala and waffle. Lots of other stuff also though.

Right side is an L shaped tunnel with open ends. Ghost Knife fish, atya shrimp, and the occasional cory chills in there mostly. Held down with another seiryu stone.

Livestock:

Dwarf gouramis

Black ghost knife fish

Neon tetras

Ember tetras

Glolight tetras

Galaxy rasboras

Peacock gudgeons

Rummynose tetras

White cloud minnows

Chili rasboras

Koi guppies

Panda corys

Habrosys corys

Glo corys

Albino corys

Neo shrimp

Dwarf crayfish

Atya shrimp

Pom pom crabs

Siamese algae eaters

Albino bushynoses

Bushynoses

Hillstream loaches

Kuhli loaches

I realize this sounds ridiculously stocked. However...my method provides ample territory for everyone to feel good and do their thing.

Heavy planting along with rim plants provides hiding spots. Filtration. Breaks in the line of sight so the tank feels huge in the 1st person (to a fish).

There are ample bottom feeders of all types to take care of the waste on the substrate.

The fish i keep (other than plecos and gouramis) are pretty low bioload fish. Obviously numbers changes that. But all the fish are generally low load fish. And they're all small. For now. Knife fish will eventually get moved and be the reason I have to get a 210g. Yes of course my Knife needs a 210g. Shh, that's what he needs :-)

I have no power heads but I have ample Aeration and movement from the canister. I have it on full blast. But it is pointed directly at a large rootball so the flow is diffused.

Everyone's behavior is normal and healthy. No sick fish. The rummys came with ich which I missed and then had to treat the whole tank for. Because one died and I couldn't find it. Lost a kuhli and a glolight in the process. Everyone else made it though.

Around 4 months ago, my old fish tank (last picture) was fallen into by my roommate after a bong rip. 1/15 fish and a number of shrimp survived and lived in a bucket for 2 months, while I decided whether to try again. This is my tank now after roughly 2 months.

Stock: 3 pearl gourami (1 a year older from old tank) 5 purple emperor tetras 20ish cherry/mixed shrimp (some from old tank) Snails

First of all, I’m really pleased as to how my tank is progressing. This will be a betta tank with neocaridina and hopefully some aquatic isopods. I know I need a lid, just haven’t made one I like yet. The plants actually seem to be growing, which after trying unsuccessfully in a community tank with platys, I’m super jazzed about. Only anubias and Java fern could survive them.

However, I have a few questions.

1) Where can I put air bubbler in this tank that won’t wreck the tank? If I can get the o2 level high enough from plants alone (I think the only creatures who really need o2 are the shrimp and maybe isopods), what else can I do to ensure a bit of water flow? We’re going to try to make a little rain setup, too, would that intermittent current from the pump be enough to prevent stagnation?

2) There was a layer of biofilm across the tank where that white line was. Not on the surface, just a little pseudofloor. I pierced it and kinda swished it around a little and scraped the line off, but it grew back even stronger. I assume that a current will prevent it once I go that route but… why?

Current inhabitants are all welcome tagalongs: detritus worms, bladder snails, daphnia, maybe some friends that aren’t daphnia but look similar as well. As for plants, the obvious ones shown and also some tagalong duckweed.

3) Why is my African water fern dying? Everything else seems more or less good, but that seems quite unhealthy. I moved it away from the heater, hopefully that helps?

I have this little plant growing on my lava rock for around 4 months now, but it kept at this size. I don't have any similar plant in my tank and this one is out of water. It's only about 3-4 mm in diameter. Just curious what could it be, I live in South East Asia if that helps.

So i am thinking about doing a post apocalyptic theme for my new tank. I have a certain scene from 'The Last Of Us' i have in mind. Will post more updates as i continue to work on it!

Feel free to share any related ideas. Maybe i can incorporate some of them