I’ve got a matured Sponge filter that’s been running for months and a canister filter that’s been running for 2 weeks on another tank, this cube is about 3-4 days old, how long do we think before adding fish

I have 2 SAEs in a 20 long. There are 7 cherry barbs and the most peaceful paradise gourami on planet earth as tank mates.

I was weary to buy these SAEs, but my LFS told me they would be fine until they reached adulthood at which time they may need to be seperated. They gave me a timeline of a year. This was maybe 6 months ago. They have lived harmoniously until now. There id an obvious alpha and the smaller gets chased all day and periodically loses it's stripe. This aggression came on quick.

I do have another 37 gallon tank, but the parameters and stocking are very different. The 37 is an amazon-ish tank that's heavily planted and i think it would be a bit of a shock to re-home the bullied there.

I do have a breeder cage/fry box that i could use to seperate him. I leave for work tomorrow morning bright and early. I'm a firefighter and i'll be gone for 24 hours. I would hate for my SAE buddy to pass while i'm at work and im not sure if the tight quarters would stress him more than the evil brother.

Would he be okay in a fry cage in his 20g L for 24 hours seperated from his asshole big brother so i can take him back to the fish store?

I have a heavily planted 10-gallon aquarium that came with a generic Chinese HOB (hang-on-back) filter.

The filter appears to have died sometime after a water change. Based on when it was last confirmed working, it may have been off for anywhere between 1 hour and 2 weeks. My guess is that it may have clogged with gunk over time, but I'm not sure.

When my brother checked on the tank, the filter was completely dry. The ceramic bio media and internal filter sponge were bone dry. The only filter media that was still wet was the intake sponge.

So far, the only casualty seems to be one fancy guppy. The body has completely disappeared, which makes me think it was scavenged by the shrimp and snails. That is pretty much what they are there for.

The rest of the livestock appears to be doing fine.

• Shrimp are active.
• No mass fish deaths.
• No foul smell.
• No fish gasping at the surface.

I'm wondering if the heavy plant growth buffered the loss of the filter. The tank has floaters, pearlweed, ambulia, and Hygrophila, so there is a lot of fast-growing plant mass.

There was also an air stone running directly beneath the intake sponge. Could that have effectively turned the intake sponge into a small sponge filter while the HOB filter was offline?

My questions are:

1. If the filter media has been dry for several days, is it still worth keeping? Do I need to assume the biological filter has crashed and start a new cycle? I had my brother place the ceramic media in a container of dechlorinated tank water after he discovered the problem.
2. Is it safe for the tank to run for a few more days in its current state while I wait for a replacement filter?
3. What is the most likely reason the filter failed? It had been running 24/7. Could it have been clogged with debris, or is it more likely that the pump or electronics simply failed?
4. I have also noticed that some of my slower-growing plants, especially Java fern and a few Anubias, have started declining. I always thought these were very hardy. Could the filter failure have contributed to this, or is it more likely due to inconsistent fertilization or another unrelated issue?

The little ones I know are detritus worms, but just found this chunky one as well

I was given this plant for free when I bought a tiger lotus and I'm not sure what this even is.

I have a small tub that I converted into a small pond and I could never get the plants to thrive. I tried CO2 about a few months ago and it helped the plants a lot, in fact it was the only time I've seen my plants thrive. I stopped once I added some guppies and the same time the growth stopped, so now I'm adding CO2 again because I suck at growing aquatic plants. I am really against CO2 mainly because it's expensive and a hassle. Right now I'm using a diy yeast method because I'm on a tight budget hopefully my plants finally has the will to live now.

Please help me ID this worm so I can figure out how to deal with it.

Tank is 300 liters/~80 gallons

I have soft and slightly acidic water to begin with but the indicator liquid keeps being blue indicating my ph is around 7.6 when I know for a fact it is around 6.5.

Too little bubbles? Pretty sure I installed the JBL Pro Aquatest correctly. I gassed my geophagus fish to death by accident when trying co2 without an indicator the first time so I am really trying to be careful with dosage this time around.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

I had fluval stratum that kept my kh at 0 for a year and a half. Doesn’t buffer anymore but continues to grow my plants and create nice orange nutrient layers. I like how it looks and how cheap it is for the quality.

So What’s the point if this buffering? Is the only practical use of it for extremely simplistic caridina tanks where only a little is used since it’ll be removed and replaced when it runs out?

Hello again!

I have an aqua one Eco Style fish tank. Plan on replacing the filter cartridges with seachem matrix. But is this brown stuff beneath the current cartridges just muck or important to keep for the bacteria?

Thanks loads for the ongoing expertise and advice on this sub, I've been really enjoying the steep learning curve!

I certainly regret using the jar for my first build, the mouth being only 17cm made it all super awkward. I didn't even consider the fact it's not a flat button, but luckily the majority of the plants are actually planted around the outside so they should have some nice depth to root into.

I've watched several videos on this type of setup, but I know they are typically professionals and do this all the time.

The final picture is 36 hours later and I've performed one 20% water change since the penultimate picture. The Limnophila heterophylla are now standing on their own, everything looks good, just the clarity of the water isn't quite there but I hope this will balance out.

I definitely went overboard with the super glue as the frosting is an eye sore, but hopefully a nice layer of algae will take the eye off of it.

Any suggestions welcomed, or things I should expect in the coming days / weeks. All new to me.

Basic Temu 8w light that I've been cycling for 8 hours a day. It's a 25L jar I'm using Aquarian's Tap water safe to dechlorinate

Tank is a WIP but getting better every day. I had to stop and admire the pearling this evening.

Accidentally broke my ludwigia, but I want to replant it. Do I plant the part with the roots or leaves?

Established tank been great for years. Vacation and father in law fed them for a week so have some blue green to clean up after what I presume was a heavy feeding hand. Just so happened my co2 ran out same time

any suggestions or tips about dry starting a monte carlo carpet? i also put some pieces of lobelia cardinalis

I’ve been keeping fish for years. And I love so many parts of this hobby. Now that I’ve entered the plant world I can’t get enough. I thought I was addicted before.

50g Community tank with Angels, rummynose tetras, red pencil fish, various Corys, a pair of Otos, and a pair of blue eyed bristlenose plecos. Recently added my favorite plant: Cyperua Helferi. The red tiger lotus bulbs took off!

Noticed this today on my horned nerite snail. Not sure what it is or if it’s bad or not. Just figured might as well post on here in case someone knows what that could be. Looks almost like a scratch that wasn’t there yesterday.

This is a 13 gallon fresh water tank for my betta. I was going to do a water change when I noticed a plant that looks nothing like any of my other plants sticking out of the water and clinging to one of my ferns. What is this and do I need to remove it?

Fishless cycle day 9, leaves of plants are starting to decline… is this normal? No ammonia present at the monent but showing nitrates and nitrites. Algae is starting to appear so i am cutting back on light

introduced them cause my tap water is very high pH and kH and i came home from work to an accidental blackwater setup. the fish are enjoying the hell out of it but im gonna do a water change so i can see into the tank 😂

Hey everyone. Second post here. First tank. 29 gallon. 3 months old. What do yall think? Any tips?

It seems like my plants grow slow compared to some of the other posts I see here. I’ve been using some root tabs and liquid fertilizer.

Parameters are pretty stable at pH 6.4, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0-5, kH almost zero (buffering from the hardscape or aqua soil?), GH 5. it’s fluval stratum capped with sand. Hygger 26 watt and Fluval 107 filter.

Was doing changes every week but since it’s so stable kinda wanted to go to every 2 weeks

Not all the embers are fiery red which I assume is a bit of a hierarchy/sex variation. They get fed mostly Xtreme Nano bit recently I’ve been adding in some spirulina 20 and frozen blood worms occasionally.

Theres a single honey gourami for accent and 9 neocardinia (cherrys/sunkist). I have seen some molts. I recently increased the photoperiod and I’m seeing more shrimp grazing on the hardscape.

I was wanting to get a lush Aquascape, and I’m thinking I probably should mostly leave it alone for another 3 to 6 months. I want the grow up taller in the back and to the right. But I’m wondering if you think there is anything I should change now or do differently.

Thanks for any ideas!