Twenty litre tank, neocaridina, set up in July. I have been scraping the glass and the hardscape clean every weekend because I assumed that was the job, and the shrimp seem less busy than they were. Meanwhile a friend's…
Three years of pressurised CO2 on a 60 litre. Regulator, solenoid on a timer, drop checker, the whole thing. It grew plants like nothing else and I am not going to pretend otherwise. It also meant trimming twice a week,…
Set one up for a fraction of what the hobby usually costs and it has run well. The saving is not in buying worse versions of everything, it is in knowing which two things matter. Spend here Light. The one component…
People buy a cleanup crew expecting it to solve algae and get a mixed result, because the animals are specialists and the label is not. Who eats what Nerite snails. The best general glass and hardscape grazers. They…
Set up a ten gallon about three weeks ago with a piece of driftwood I soaked in a bucket for four days first. The water has gone a distinct yellow brown. It is clear, not cloudy I can see straight through, it just looks…
Hard little green dots that will not wipe off, and they are exclusively on the anubias, the crypts and the java fern next to them are clean. I already cut the photoperiod from eight hours to six a month ago and it made…
Twenty gallon low tech, set up 22 days ago, inert gravel with root tabs and a cheap clip light on eight hours. Everything is covered in a soft brown film, glass, plant leaves, even the heater cable. It wipes off with a…
Bought a decent sized sword six weeks ago, it dropped nearly every original leaf within ten days. New growth is coming but the leaves are half the size and a washed out yellow green, with the veins staying darker. Inert…
Ten gallon on a shelf, inert pea gravel that I am not tearing out, and about 20 dollars a month to spend on this hobby total. Planting is mostly crypts and a couple of swords with some floaters. Everyone online says use…
Planted about 15 small clumps of dwarf hairgrass eight weeks ago, spaced roughly 3cm apart in sand with tabs underneath. It is alive and a couple of blades have got longer but I have seen maybe two runners total. No CO2…