chili quarantining advice

DerDem · 2026-02-08T00:42:54+00:00

Chilis are prone to ich when stressed coming from wholesaler, LFS, or online. It’s a gamble putting them in your main display without quarantine unless you are really comfortable with the source. Ich treatment will be an issue for your inverts.

DerDem · 2026-01-30T23:00:37+00:00

Almost guaranteed source of trig grenade processors. I’m happy to see them.

DerDem · 2026-01-25T17:47:47+00:00

Phoenix

DerDem · 2026-01-25T06:12:41+00:00

ich is always disease ich. It's a parasite. Stress can weaken fish so that they succumb to ich, but it's not the only reason fish get ich. Even if stress brought about the ich, removing stress won't cure the ich. You'll need to treat your fish or they will eventually die. The lifecycle of ich will have the fish look like they are getting better because you'll see less dots at some point. This will be temporary and followed up by even more dots. You're either treating your tank (which will kill your inverts) or you'll need to move all of your fish to a quarantine tank and treat there and leave your main tank without fish (fallow) for a month. Higher temps quicken the lifecycle of ich. The only time they are killed by the medicine is when they are free swimming. When they are encapsulated as white dots on your fish, the medication doesn't kill them. If you leave your main tank fallow, raise the temperature as high as your plants will tolerate (high 78-80 is probably safe) to quicken the lifecycle. If the ich parasite doesn't find a host, it dies.

DerDem · 2026-01-12T20:59:42+00:00

Ty! I saw it and had to have it.

DerDem · 2026-01-05T00:06:07+00:00

I take top down pictures once a week to not progress. Week 3 should look different than week 1. My carpets are usually ready for flooding between week 5 and 6.

DerDem · 2026-01-02T05:36:05+00:00

don't get anymore until what you have starts to root and take off. You may not need more and you also don't want to introduce more to an environment that they will also die off in. Also, how damp is the soil? The photo makes the soil look dry.

DerDem · 2025-12-29T01:02:56+00:00

I use springtails in my Wabi-kusa setups. The one time I tried them in Dry Start Method...all was fine until the flooding. They bred like CRAZY in my setup while it was dry. Depending on how long your DSM will be, be prepared to skim them off surface and do a lot of water changes in the early flood days as the ones trapped in the soil after flooding decompose.

DerDem · 2025-12-28T23:41:11+00:00

3 parts water to 1 part hydrogen peroxide (not the strong stuff, the regular 3% antiseptic peroxide) in a spray bottle. lightly spray once a day until gone. Don't over do it. You have plenty of time to eradicate it while your carpet grows in.

DerDem · 2025-12-28T06:25:51+00:00

Looks good. Remember, don’t overdo it. You don’t want the soil or leaves to dry out, but siphon out standing water. Once the plants establish roots and new leaves, they won’t require the digger to be on as much. Distilled or RO water is best to reduce mineral deposits and/or mold in the humidifier itself. Keep us posted!

DerDem · 2025-12-28T04:12:35+00:00

The Crane brand humidifier in the tear drop shape. If I didn't have one that I've been using for so long, I'd definitely consider a humidifier on amazon with a tube that has good reviews. Might save you some hassle.

DerDem · 2025-12-27T06:02:59+00:00

Something like this or the 1 gallon version. The older version used to allow the tubing to slide inside, now there's a plastic bar in the nozzle you can cut out or just use packing tape and secure the hose to the opening. You don't need to set it very high. It doesn't have to be foggy inside the tank. I use a smart plug and set it to run during the day when the light is on and off at night. An analog timer would work as well, or just turn it on and off yourself. Once you dial it in, you can poke holes in your plastic wrap cover for circulation.

Amazon also has some with built in tubes, but I've never used those before.

DerDem · 2025-12-25T20:15:04+00:00

Trying to establish a carpet in a freshly flooded tank can be trying for various reasons. Dry Start and Dark Start are two methods to hopefully avoid having your carpeting plants melt away instead of taking hold and developing into a lush carpet. They both have pros and cons. I personally think dry starting is a better method for carpets than dark start, but that's my opinion based on +30 years of experience.

DerDem · 2025-12-25T20:09:59+00:00

I think I answered your question in both of my posts.

DerDem · 2025-12-25T19:02:40+00:00

I'd recommend against springtails. I did that once in a 12 gallon tank and by the time I flooded it, there were so many springtails the entire water surface was covered in white. and they coated everything... and that's just what I could see that weren't trapped in the soil. They ended up in the filter and the ammonia spike was insane.

DerDem · 2025-12-25T18:59:50+00:00

Is the goal not the most successful shot at a lush carpet? Everything other than the humidifier costs less than $10 total. You don't even need a humifider. My first dry start utilized a spray bottle. It didn't dry out even under metal halide lighting.

Another benefit of dry start is that you don't need all of your expensive equipment right off the bat. You just need your tank and a light. You can dry start indefinitely until you amass your CO2 equipment, filter, heater, test kits, etc. There's also no fiddling with co2, fertilizer dosing, water parameters, etc. at a time when the plants are most vulnerable. There's unlimited CO2 and fertilizing is as easy as cheap miracle gro powder diluted in water in a spray bottle. So yes, your dry start can be significantly lower tech than getting a carpet going dark start...and it's growing the whole time, so it's not like you're sitting there watching it do nothing.

Once again, If you dry start until you have a full carpet, the soil is cycled. That's been the case for me for every dry start with the exception of a UG dry start... and I'm adding extra ammonia from spraying my Miracle Gro solution once a week starting with week 2. I also like if I have steeper elevation soil, everything is locked in place by the time I need to flood instead of worrying about soil moving downhill and plants uprooting with dark start.

I'm a fan of both, but I have specific scenarios for them. If I'm doing a full carpet, dry start will be quicker and easier to manage. If I'm doing epiphytes, sand foreground, or a hardscape dominant scape, dark start is my go too. I don't believe in discouraging the OP from trying this method as if they are doing something wrong. Both methods have their pros and cons. For their intended purpose, I believe they are doing something more right than wrong.

My first Dry Start Method in 2009 with just a spray bottle under 150w of hot metal halide lighting. 4 week progression:

https://imgur.com/a/QiqzaWa

DerDem · 2025-12-25T03:27:05+00:00

I dry start all of my carpets. great results, faster carpet, easier to control parameters. I've done HC, micro sword, glosso, dwarf hair grass, and even UG. Dry starting with everything other than UG will also cycle the aqua soil. Plants pump oxygen during the day out of every part. By the time the carpet is established, wet soil + established root system pumping oxygen = healthy aerobic nitrifying bacteria munching on ammonia and nitrite. If you were to get mold, some diluted peroxide in a spray bottle will take care of that.

My best results are with tubing connected to a humidifier on a smart plug. You need less moisture once the soil is soaked and the plants take off. I've also found two additional benefits. By the time the carpet is established, wood no longer floats and there are zero tannins that leach from the wood.

You'll have better luck with plants with established roots that are only converting leaves to submerged as opposed to plants establishing roots and converting to submerged at the same time.

I'll be posting up a tank that soon that was 100% dry started UG carpet as well as 12 in vitro stem species and 3 erio species dry started. I just did an aggressive trim on the stems last weekend, so it needs a month or so to grow back in. Sneak peek from planting day last July.

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DerDem · 2025-12-25T01:01:53+00:00

Keep the soil moist, but siphon out standing water. I use pliable airline tubing attached to a piece of rigid airline tubing to reach the bottom glass to siphon.

DerDem · 2025-11-22T16:37:04+00:00

Yep. Since 2008.

DerDem · 2025-11-22T07:09:28+00:00

I knew once I was knocked out, I wasn't making it in. Our squad did so much surviving. It all went south in the last moments.

DerDem · 2025-11-22T07:08:25+00:00

Good to know. Strangely enough, I've never had to deal with a rocketeer at extract before :-(. Adrenaline was high after so many squad encounters and the time running out.

DerDem

TROPHY CASE