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You mean 40psi probably? I had a fizzing noise on some in-tank diffusers without showing any leaks, most likely it's just the gas passing through the porous ceramic.

I can almost guarantee the root cause is too much light. None of the plants you have require that much light, so lower intensity to 30ish% (or lower even, the WRGB2 is powerful and looks deceptively mild to the naked eye) and go from there.

I shouldn't have assumed that by "good" you meant "strong" flow, my apologies. It makes sense that flow all over the tank is beneficial, I think we can agree on that. But in this medium-energy system, just how much benefit would it bring over my less than optimal flow distribution? My guess is...

Strong flow is probably essential if the light levels are very high and you need 30ppm CO2 throughout the tank. At least, that's the main purpose of strong flow as I see it. I don't enjoy having a very bright tank personally so I don't see the need for strong flow. Would it be beneficial for...

I've been using the spin outlet since setting up the scape, and stuff grows. Granted, plant health is not perfect. There is some hair algae and stunting. But this could be due to so many other factors such as light intensity, low CO2 or nutrient levels. I'd blame any of these before lack of...

Great suggestion, always had a soft spot for black phantom tetras. At the moment there is 1 WCMM, 3 Green neon tetras and a pair of Apistogramma Elizabethae in the tank, all from the previous setup. Tank itself is a ADA 120-P (120×50×50, 300l) filtered by Fluval 407 which delivers a staggering...

Long time no update, I'm bad at keeping journals. It was a rough start, had staghorn algae growing on the plants that came from the low tech, some plants refused to grow altogether (I blame the ADA soil). Green hair algae still present in small amounts but it's manageable. After around 5...

Hardscape complete, ready for planting.

I was going to link you to a small spotlight that I bought 10 years ago, looks like they upgraded it and it looks pretty good to he honest. But as it is a newish model I have no experience with it: Lominie Asta 20 (amazon link)

Sorry for the late reply, haven't checked in in a while. It's a very cheap DIY, basically a box with 4 L-shaped brackets. The construction hangs on the lamp, which may seem a bit counterintuitive but it works. I mitered the corners and used glue instead of hardware, and then sanded the edges to...

I'm using 8 of this type from Amazon but with stronger screws on a 120p and they're still holding up (I did wedge some wood boards under the frame in case the feet gave away). If you mount them on the inside of the cabinet they're literally invisible and they allow you to go as low as a couple...

What plants do you have and how is their growth rate? Are you topping up the water to account for evaporation if you're using an open top?

I use somewhat of a similar method in order to keep TDS very low since I have blackwater fish. Here goes: since I use a dosing pump I know how much ppm of salts is being added per week (13ppm at the moment - still lowering from starting point of 30ppm). If my TDS increases by more than say 5ppm...

How much and how often do you change water?

Perhaps the quality is not so consistent? It's otherwise a great little pump at an affordable price.

Is there a way to keep this plant dwarfed? Ideally without uprooting. Should I pinch old leaves, cut off all the leaves or is it a lost cause?

I had a SLW-5 and it was too noisy even after a week so got returned.

You can try plants that do fine submerged and use them as floaters such as Brazilian Pennywort (Hydrocotyle Leucocephala) or Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides).

Yes, I encourage all low tech folks to give the Duckweed Index a try, all you need is some floaters and complete fertilizer. Add in a cheap TDS meter and you have pretty much all the information you need about your plants needs. It is like the opposite of EI, genius nonetheless. I'm pretty sure...

If you do decide to get one, do yourself a favour and don't buy any RO system from an aquarium brand. They are exactly the same as any regular RO sytem, only 2x more expensive. How much water would you need to make? Bear in mind that without a booster pump and/or double RO membrane your unit...

I think in general it is beneficial to run a surface skimmer. But in the end you have to weigh the pros and cons and decide if you want to run one or not. This is how I see it: Pros Increases O2 levels in the water Gets rid of surface scum Extra flow if needed Cons Potentially dangerous to...

The thing is the drop checker doesn't care about the ph of your water. Whether you have a ph of 8 or 5, if you have 30ppm CO2 your drop checker will be yellowish. If you have close to 0ppm it will be blue, again regardless of ph. Ambient air has no access to the air pocket in the drop checker...

Drop checkers show the amount of dissolved CO2 in your water. The colour of the 4dkh solution changes according to how much CO2 "escaped" from the water into the tiny air gap in the drop checker, the one separating the water and the solution. Neither aquarium water pH or ambient CO2 levels play...

Thanks for the replies everyone. Anyone knows if there are some plants that shouldn't be used?

Thanks for the detailed reply @Tyko_N and wow, what an amazing Echinodorus! Which variety is it? Would you say it requires high humidity? Do you regularly trim its roots or let it grow wild? At the moment I'm trying to get around 10 species (basically every houseplant and some from the...

Are there any plants that one should avoid growing emersed with the roots in a sump? No fish would have access to the roots so I'm mostly worried about toxins leaching into the water, or something similar. And of course any recommendations are welcome! In my case the water is very soft and...

Alternatively you could slowly reduce the amount of Ca and Mg you add until you reach a value you and your livestock are happy with? You'd have to keep an eye on your plants of course but from personal experience we need much less GH than usually advised. My tank is currently at 40tds and...

@Zeus. meant they don't do it for nothing, as in they do it for reasons.

I don't think you mentioned the tank dimensions. Looking at the first pic on my phone, thought your tank was absolutely massive. But then spotted the drop checkers... the discus must have been juveniles?

I would avoid planting in the slime, you really want to provide the best possible condition to your plants, moving from tank to tank or changing from emersed to submersed is already stressful enough.

Couldn't agree more. Sorry that your thread is being derailed like this. So please, if you're not interested then don't post. If you feel the need to post, just do so and move on. I'm pretty sure @MichaelJ can read, so if you let him know that what he's trying to achieve is nothing new and...

OP wants to use a single head dosing pump. I make an all in one solution with potassium sorbate and citric acid. I know others use ascorbic acid or vinegar. There is no precipitation that I can see or unexpected plant deficiencies, so I guess it works.

Well, will be interesting to see how @MichaelJ 's experiment goes, considering he's using inert substrate. @MichaelJ are you planning on using root tabs? What about epiphytes? They often get little love when it comes to this sort of discussion. How much nutrition do slow growers like Anubias...

Would be useful to know the water parameters on this tank. You mention it is ultra lean but that is still quite vague, at least for me. Dosing regime and substrate info also welcome ;)

No need to worry, just use cuttlebone, hardscape with seiryu stone or use less CO2. On a high tech tank keeping snails alive will probably be the easiest of your challenges.

Can't help but feel like you need a bigger secondary stone. That or move the main stone so it's more central?

I'm sorry about your snails. How much baking soda did you add? The sodium is probably the reason your snails died, rather than the ferts. Baking soda, aka sodium bicarbonate, will raise your ph. It's in the name: sodium bicarbonate. It could also be that your baseline ph increased due to the...

It is quite late in the year but you can still find dry leaves hanging on beech trees and perhaps even some oak leaves.

Looking good. Are you planning on using Fissidens as your only moss? As it looks like you'll want a mossy scape, you can look into making moss balls (not the cladophora algae balls, "real" moss balls). Basically bind/glue any kind of moss you like on a small stone or slate chip. Once grown in...

I think some broad leaf Anubias, such as Hastifolia, would look great and different than the usual overused epyphites. For the background there is also Eleocharis Montevidensis, tall like the Vivipara but without the offshoots.

I've done it before and did add the fish as soon as I was done. Fish were temporarily in a storage box with the filter attached to it. I think it can be risky if you're stirring up the soil so my advice is try to leave the substrate undisturbed if you can. Pay extra attention to your fish...

Flashing could be from flukes, you could always use a treatment to be sure? How often does it happen?

I'm running it full blast for 7 hours now that everything is grown in (95-80-100 RGB). It was running at around 20% for a start up that lasted a very long time. Somehow all my plants were melting (including floaters which should rule out co2 issues?) so I took it really slow. I suspect some...

Thanks, it is a Chihiros WRGB2 90cm with a custom made wooden shade. Thank you, it is looking quite cool at the moment. You can blame nature for the beauty, I just try to provide good conditions for the plants and let them do mostly what they want. It always ends up looking decent even if in...

Awesome, I really like the hardscape. Just doubting if your light is strong enough for a 50cm deep tank... Should look really cool when it's a bit grown in 👍

Make a pile of lava rock and stuff the cracks with peat moss, you could plant cryptocoryne straight in the moss? Just an idea...

In regards to water chemistry, my cryptocoryne species don't do well in water with 0 carbonates and 0 hardness. Is that really what their natural habitat is like? Also, have you considered making a bank to have cryptocorynes growing fully emersed?

I agree but daily water changes on a big tank are also not my definition of fun.

I would recommend floating plants as well. It is easy, foolproof and brings many immediate benefits. You'll be able to tell if you are nutrient limited by looking at your floaters. Since they can get CO2 from the air, if they are not healthy it means you have a nutrient issue. And, in my...

If it's cloudy (as it looks from the picture) then it's a bacterial bloom, not unusual in new setups, just your bacterial colonies developing.

It doesn't get you 10x turnover per hour but it should be enough to make your water clear. Do you see suspended particles or is the water hazy? Could be a bacterial bloom?

That's a nice calculator, thanks for the link. In order to change 50% of the water per week, dripping some water every second, you'd use 40% more water (so 20% of you tank's total water volume) than if you'd change it in one go. So roughly 140l instead of 100l on a 200l aquarium. Not too bad...

You're running the RO water directly into the tank? Or you have a water butt and a way to fill your aquarium from there? If it's the latter then I would just prepare it the day before, around 20 to 24°C is not a big difference.

I prepare my water the day before so it has time to reach room temperature, roughly 30% water change on a 25°C aquarium. What temperature do you plan to run your tank? Do you run the RO hose straight in or first into a reservoir?

What is your well water like? What do you feed your fish? It really sucks to have sick fish, I hope you can find a solution.

I'm using the Jebao doser 3.1, it's very precise regarding dosing amounts and timing, bought on aliexpress for around €40. Can't speak for reliability though, the first model stopped working after a few months for unknown reasons. I sent it back and got a new one for free since it was on warranty.

Adding CO2 allows you to run your light brighter which in turn makes your plants grow more compact and full. Stem plants get shorter internodes and bigger leaves, mosses look less straggly and more bushy, etc. Are you using the WRGB? You can dim it as much as you need to.

I'm like you and much prefer smaller lily pipes. On my high tech 60cm I used 13mm tubing and a poppy style lily pipe with a Oase 250. While it may have reduced the flow, it ran without issues and I had great plant growth. It ultimately depends on the amount of flow you think is necessary. As a...

Yes.

Do you have a before and after pic? Would be great to be able to compare the Fluval with the WRGB.

Nice tank and I love the hidden AI Primes. Sounds from the rest of the post that you are not averse to some tannins, why would you want to keep the staining down? It won't be harmful to your plants or fish. Regular water changes will keep the water from turning too dark and even if it does, you...

Microsoft has a cloud storage service (similar to iCloud or Google Drive) called OneDrive. You need a microsoft account to access it, outlook or hotmail accounts are also microsoft accounts so you may have one already. Download the IFC file and upload it to OneDrive. There you can open and use...

You can open it with Microsoft OneDrive from your browser.

One of my Dicrossus Filamentosus, this is the alpha so he asserts dominance over the others. He doesn't bother any other fish but he does go after cherry shrimps.

Stomach contents found on wild Apistogramma Agassizii: From this paper on Apistogramma agassizii diet in streams of the Western Amazon. Just thought it could be interesting, make of it what you will.

Regarding oxygen levels, if you have some surface agitation you should be fine without a skimmer - provided you have plants growing in your tank. I always get a oily layer so I use a skimmer on the filter inlet regardless. I can’t live without a crystal clear water surface. I suspect the dust...

If you want something that could pass by a stream in the Orinoco you could use these: Myriophillum Cabomba Ludwigia Hydrocotyle Echinodorus Sagittaria Eleocharis Utricularia And you can use Frogbit, Red root floater or Water Lettuce as floating plants. If going for a biotope style tank...

I'm sorry but your list is far from accurate. Many of these plants come from Africa and Asia, not South America. It is easier to find a location first and do your research about which plants grow there.

If you're going for a biotope you'll have to be more specific about location, the Amazon is quite a big place. If you don't know yet which river/lake you want to recreate then it may be better to do some research on the habitat of the specific fish or plants you are interested in.

The longer you let it grow the more satisfying it is to scrape off, talking from experience :D

Where did you get that foggy film you're using on the sides of the tank? I can only find in white, not green...

You can lure them out with live daphnia, would be perfect since they stay in the water column. Could also be flukes from the travel stress. I would make sure water quality stays optimal and spoil them with live food. Do you have plenty of hiding spots, holes and caves? Leaf litter, sand...

That's it. These snails are practically indestructible.

Basically all the plants that stay small are "the best" for Nano tanks. My personal favourites are: small varieties of Bucephalandra small varieties of Anubias such as Bonsai or Pangolino Myriophillum Guyana Rotalas from the Rotundifolia variety Fissidens Fontanus moss Eleocharis mini...

Definitely, but there has to be a point where running more and more undercover ads simply becomes detrimental to their business. I used to watch their videos pretty regularly but nowadays I only do if there's a guest (other than Brian from Seachem) since such a big time share of their videos is...

Looks like you're on the right path. Keep up the maintenance and most of all be patient. There's no need to keep co2 on longer than your photoperiod, most people turn it off 1 hour before lights off. You can get a separate inline needle valve such as this one from amazon or this one from...

Weekly values I assume? If so you went from 1ppm Fe to 0.1ppm, are the plants not showing iron deficiencies anymore?

I'm not familiar with your tank but Are the other glass panes not being held on "only" by silicone? Sounds like it could be a brace of sorts. A picture, tank measurements and glass thickness would help. Cheers

It may be difficult or undesirable to achieve high co2 levels to go with high light intensity. However, it is easy to lower light intensity to go with low co2 levels. I'd do the same. Or even lower intensity but same/longer photoperiod. Increase intensity later on if you wish when algae is...

If you're like me, rule number 1 would be "DO find all the old towels and a good place to let them dry" ;)

Unfortunately he left out all the important bits in my opinion, such as: How does it actually look in person? More natural now with the white leds? Does it feel more powerful than the wrgb2? How are the yellows and oranges? Hopefully he'll go more in depth next video.

Thanks for the details. Even with the plants being adapted to low oxygen levels in the substrate, wouldn't an increase in oxygen levels be an advantage? After all, the goal is to provide optimal conditions for plant growth. I'd think every little bit would help. But even using a venturi, a...

Have you taken any measures in particular in order to keep plant roots oxygenated? I believe that is key in promoting fast and healthy growth. From my understanding in the nurseries they constantly cycle the trays between "nutrient solution soak" and "dry". Same method is used in modern bonsai...

How fast do your plants grow - how old are the decaying leaves? Have you changed anything recently?

I got one of those for around 5 years now, still working fine.

I doubt a betta fish alone will produce that much ammonia. If in doubt just add some floating plants and you will be fine.

To be honest I don't notice much of a difference between here and other countries, from my experience living here for 3 years now (what is in "frikandel" anyway??). Perhaps in Holland&Barret (yes, we also have that!) I can find some KCl, I know for sure in my local supermarkets there's only lame...

Yes, of course, it makes sense. Since adding NaCl is never mentioned when talking about ferts I thought perhaps it wouldn't be an option for some obscure reason.

@MichaelJ I'm adding NaCl, your paper about Amazonian river water parameters convinced me. I mean, even a blackwater river with 8 microsiemens EC has 0.4ppm Na so what could go wrong? Apart from me miscalculating and adding way too much salt of course...

I don't think this exists here in the Netherlands?

I guess adding NaCl would surprisingly be the perfect solution then?

Yes, I guess the question here actually is "at what levels is Na problematic"?

That would be ideal but I'd rather not buy more powders and pay delivery etc when that's the only I need. Thinking about it, I have a lot of CaCl2 to use in those dehumidifier boxes but I have no idea how pure it would be?

Hi all. I'm using 100% remineralised RO water with CaSo4 and MgSo4. My fert mix doesn't contain any chlorine. Since I'd rather not add any tap water, is adding a miniscule amount of NaCl (as kosher salt) a good idea? Say up to 2ppm Cl? I know other chlorine compounds exist but that's one more...

I, as you, am keeping blackwater fish in a high tech tank, and since using only remineralised RO (with CaSo4 and MgSo4 to total 50 tds) my plants are not as happy as they were in tap water and full EI. I'm still in the troubleshooting phase since it may be due to low CO2 or higher water...

Thanks. You're running with 0 kh then I assume? Or are you adding any carbonates via fert dosing?

It is quite standard to place larger plants and hardscape in the foreground and smaller elements towards the back. Pretty much everyone who does contest scapes does this already since it creates a sense of depth (in the photo at least). Most tanks here are not for contests and thus don't follow...

I'm curious about your water parameters. Do you have any idea what your gh and kh levels are? And what is your fert dosing regime? I'm interested in lowering my tds and it looks like you've struck a good balance.