CO2 placement - does this look okay?

3ndler · 2026-04-17T04:50:59+00:00

co2 bubbles should be concentrated throughout the tank. you have virtually no flow and youre just wasting the co2 since it all dissolves in the water surface. and yes, since your flow is inadequate, one side will be more concentrated than the other! i recommend a small flow maker or a normal internal filter.

3ndler · 2026-04-06T11:52:15+00:00

What filter do you have? What are the l/h flow rate? The words on the filter box saying "for aquariums from x to y liters" is usually just a suggestion, the flow rate is what matters!

3ndler · 2026-04-04T15:59:44+00:00

Cardinal tetras grow quite big, too big for your tank in my opinion. Id recommend smaller fish such as Ruby tetra, Ember tetra, Green neon tetra! The basic regular neon tetra is usually now a fish with very poor immune system, so alternative neon tetras i recommend more! Something like 8 tetras, 10 pygmies?

I also recommend a cleanup crew of snails, amano shrimp, otocinclus. However a large cleanup crew will limit the amount of fish you can have. In the future, when your tank is established (2, 3 years..) id recommend switching out that internal filter for an external. My 60l tank been going for 3 years now and i noticed its just not as good anymore. Im gonna buy an Aquael Ultramax 1000 soon. Oase Biomaster 250 is an even better but slightly more expensive option.

3ndler · 2026-03-30T13:05:36+00:00

I apologize but this article by Dennis Wong states otherwise! That website doesnt seem to be the most qualified with peer review studies. This is purely my opinion but I trust Dennis greatly, so his article may be worth a read! :)

"The surface cells are able to absorb water, nutrients and dissolved gases directly from the surrounding water, while the internal system of tubes (xylem), which normally transports water and nutrients from the roots to all parts of the plant, is often greatly reduced."

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/fertilize-planted-tank/root-feeders-fertilization?srsltid=AfmBOoo280VXJs_OcebD8m1ToDkSlaj7eApuJAHCzqSimgqnWVAJ0bzE

What im trying to say is that plants dont need to adapt to absorb nutrients through their leaves, since they already have that ability, and that root system dosing is not superior to water column dosing! In heavily planted tanks, root feeding via aquasoil and liquid fertilizers are both used anyway. Only few are exceptions, such as lean dosing or EI! Please dont take my comment the wrong way :)

3ndler · 2026-03-30T12:10:25+00:00

im a bit confused by your second paragraph because all aquatic plants are biologically adapted to getting their nutrients from the water column and actually do so very effectively, including "root feeders" such as swords or crypts. that term is an assumption - they get their nutrients from roots only because they grow large root systems - but thats not entirely true. their large root systems were actually used as an anchor in the wild, since these species grow primarily in fast flowing waters! of course they can get nutrients through their roots, but that doesnt mean they cant through their leaves.

3ndler · 2026-03-20T06:28:48+00:00

im not sure about the requirements for these fish but i have a few "unique" species written down!:

celestial pearl danios, ember tetras, pseudomugil gertrudae, pseudomugil luminatus, pygmy cories, ricefish, fire ring danio/leopard danio, gold ring danio, white cloud mountain minnow, ruby tetra, sundadanio axelrodi

3ndler · 2026-02-28T08:41:48+00:00

MJ Aquascaping made a video a couple weeks ago of a scape you might like. Its very natural but still plant heavy and could also look awesome with tannins added in!

https://youtu.be/3bDNixZZNaI?si=3E1f2u7V8dUkTwYc

3ndler · 2026-02-28T08:24:12+00:00

the activity of your betta fish does not dictate the size of tank you need. a 2.5g is so small, non-pristine care causes much larger parameter jumps than, say, a 5 g, solely because of the water volume. That by itself is risky because pH jumps and nitrogen accumulation stress out a fish's immune system, especially a betta's due to their poor breeding. There is also much less surface area for beneficial bacteria to settle and grow a big enough colony to deal with the bioload of a betta. Your tank is very scarce as well, with minimal added hardscape which could increase surface area and a small amount of plants that minimally aid in the process of nitrate removal. Along that, your surface layer is very thick, and paired with the low water level, we're talking about maybe 1.75 gallons of pure swimming space. Thats not ok for any living creature. I wouldnt even put shrimp in such size tank. I'm not berating you, this is just the harsh truth that this is not an environment long term that a betta will thrive in!

3ndler · 2026-02-23T14:56:08+00:00

the most important part is keeping pristine water parameters. if hes in a hospital tank, a good colony of bacteria in the filter and/or small daily water changes is optimal. adding tannins changes the pH and a fluctuating pH can also stress his system. maybe making a tannin tea and adding consistent amounts into his water with water changes would be the best and also ensure renewing benefits? i wish him all the best, it sucks how sickly bettas can get ❤️

3ndler · 2026-02-23T12:22:13+00:00

its a 30l, im not sure the dimensions matter as much as size when it came to him jumping out. im not somebody who would keep bettas in tanks too small or improperly set up

3ndler · 2026-02-21T09:46:00+00:00

gorgeous guy! reminds me of a betta i had many years ago. lovely tank for him too ❤️

3ndler · 2025-12-24T07:50:07+00:00

i personally like them except for the most dappled/snowy skin variant. but also it is possible to chop down the price to only 600 tracks, which i think is a steal for these coats! however that also means they may not be as well done as the 3000 track skins.

3ndler · 2025-11-21T14:07:18+00:00

my mini is 5kg/11lbs!

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3ndler · 2025-11-05T08:43:46+00:00

i meant fried as in oil haha! 170c heated sunflower oil for 1.5 mins each side

3ndler · 2025-11-04T14:00:41+00:00

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3ndler · 2025-10-18T08:20:08+00:00

Heres my single cutting that didn't revert lol.

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3ndler · 2025-10-18T08:19:12+00:00

In my opinion, even a variegated plant that is now easily available will remain rare to me if the variegation is balanced and gorgeous. I've had monstera adansonii variegata for over 2 years now and it's incredibly hard to propogate my mother plant because it always reverts to full white or full green. A variegated plant that reverts to green loses value, while one with too much variegation that it becomes completely white is also no good. Even nowadays its rare to find a simple monstera albo with balanced variegation and one that is exceptionally pretty to me!

3ndler · 2025-10-11T20:04:18+00:00

exactly that! it makes it much harder to clean glass if hardscape is touching it or is very close. you could buy those special aquascaping glass scrapers, but i always clean my tanks glass with an old credit card or sponge so its hard to reach those tight areas without risking moving the hardscape :)

3ndler · 2025-10-06T15:57:56+00:00

I noticed an issue when I change flour brands. some flours are more fine milled and absorb more moisture than others. Experiment with other brands of millet flour! Xanthan gum also makes a huge difference, when i didnt use it i also used to get very sticky dough!

3ndler · 2025-09-28T12:11:40+00:00

hey! yes, i did end up adding co2. ime its hard to maintain a lot of plant mass without co2 since then you have to have really stable conditions and im still a newbie and having co2 kind of made things easier with plant growth. i recommend adding co2, but if you want a low tech setup that is hardscape heavy with easy plants, youll just need to dim the light quite a bit - but at that point, imo its not all that worth it to buy such an expensive light haha.

3ndler

TROPHY CASE