After a long time away from the hobby, I decided to jump back in, teaming up with my 10-year-old. It’s really her tank (y, I just work here). The idea is an Iwagumi style, lower tech tank. The hope is it will be less of a balancing act than my last effort (which was a high-tech Fluval edge with CRS). Tank: 14.3g peninsula style rimless AIO Filter: built in, sponge + fluval biomax for media. Will probably add chemi-pure green in the chamber with the sponge after cycle is complete... Arya's low tech 14 gallon Iwagumi style AIO ..read more

So I accidentally got three male swordtails at the LFS last week. I asked for platies, and they brought me to a tank labelled "assorted swordtails". I didn't question it or look up swordtails, which was obviously a huge mistake. Live and learn. So now I have three 2.5 inch males and if course one is bullying the other two. The LFS says they can't exchange any fish for me, because they don't have a way to quarantine, but they said I can fit 2-3 females per male into my tank. I have a 37... Swordtails ..read more

I set up my CO2 system with a reactor, with a pump feeding water to the reactor in the sump. A hose from the reactor then is placed in front of the return pump intake. The CO2 is coming out in burst. Not sure how to fix it to where the CO2 comes out even and you cannot see the bubbles. any ideas ..read more

I have a rio 180 which I want to set up as a planted community tank withgood lightingno co2. It has a juwel bioflow 3 m filter with a juwel 600l pump/ powerhead. I used to have African cichlids and it was always dirty in opposite end to filter. I want to keep threadfin rainbow, cardinal tetra, swordtail, Cory's, and shrimp. Maybe a few chain loach. Should I upgrade the pump to 1000l or would it stress those fish. I don't want to be changing anything when fish and plants are in ..read more

6 months in (besides when I was a kid many moons ago) love all things but passionate about shrimp and plants ..read more

After the disappoint realization that a sycamore root i had collected was likely going to take a much longer time than I had thought in order to become aquarium safe, I’m back to having no hard scape ideas or materials. I’m going to Aquashella in Chicago August 3rd and 4th, and am hopefully going to see lots of nice driftwood pieces, but I’m certain that I’ll be overwhelmed and not know what type of piece/pieces to look for. So I need some ideas! This is specifically for my 40 breeder, but... Looking For Hardscape Ideas ..read more

So,I got some DWH from aquarium co op a week ago. I live in Utah, and it took 3 days to arrive. It was brown and mostly dead . I was rather naive and didn’t return it. I thought that that is how it looks normally. Only when I saw pictures from other people on aquarium co op that I realized it was supposed to be green. I just wanted to ask you all if it can still grow and become a carpet eventually. My ph is 7.2, co2 injected with a green drop checker, 8 dKH, 20 dGH. 15 nitrates, 0 nitrite or... Dwarf Hair Grass Very Brown ..read more

I have a 2-month-old 37 gallon tank in my preschool classroom. pH is around 7.4, temp 78°. I don't know the GH/KH because I don't have that test kit yet, but the water here in San Diego is "extremely hard". I'm trying to keep my water changes to a minimum because the tap water here has high levels of ammonia and nitrite. Currently we have five three-stripe cories and three male swordtails (in case you're wondering, the all-male group was an unhappy accident and it's not going well). We... Fun fish suggestions ..read more

(image taken today 7/26/2024) please bear with me. I am very thorough. I used to be a vet assistant and asking for healthcare advise outside of my aquatic veterinarian is very new to me… though he has become more unreliable and he is currently in Spain ? he is not that experienced working with pet fish owners and or betta fish. He is very adamant about not using any store medications specifically because of the misdiagnosing process that... white patch(es) on betta fish ..read more

I have a Reverse Osmosis set up in my basement with a 40 gallon drum to collect the RO water. I plan to pump the water to my tank using a 100 foot hose. The tank is about 80 Gal. Should I pump the unheated RO water which is around 68 F directly to the aquarium and add chemicals like GH booster, acid/base buffers into the aquarium itself or would I need to move the RO water into a holding/mixing storage drum (which I will need to buy) and pump the reconstituted water to the fish tank? I... Mixing GH booster, acid/base buffers: need a separate tank ..read more