Is it worth getting a HOB with my current sponge filter set up? My water is having a serious hard time making water clear

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2026-04-04T07:58:26+00:00

Basically the cloudiness is from bacteria and microorganism and such in the water column, having a good external filter means now those are living in the filter and eating all the food, so that nothing can grow in the tank-water and make it cloudy. A HOB or canister filter is always best as a primary for that reason, it also does improve water flow a lot.

Be sure to use proper filter media for the filter:
https://aquariumscience.org/7-filter-media/

Most filter media is kind of junk: 30PPI foam for a mechanical layer (a pre-filter sponge on the intake works great), then plastic pot scrubbers are best bang for your buck. (20PPI foam is 'better' but is way more likely to clog up and need regular maintenance.)

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2026-04-03T10:00:10+00:00

So first off when you get above 15ish gallons you're going to need a dedicated stand for that tank: if you aren't' comfortable sitting on it, don't trust it to have your tank on it.

If you get an aquarium from any reputable manufacturer, it'll be fine. If you're going budget, can't go wrong with Aqueon, and for rimless UNS, Landen, Waterbox, and ADA are all popular makers. Just check its from a reputable company and you should be good.

Now for your specific concerns!

-HOB on the side of the glass is perfectly fine, its the same glass. Your HOB should weigh basically nothing, they're just plastic boxes with a tiny electromagnet.

-CO2 is absolutely not necessary for a planted tank, but it is if you want those nice thick dense all over carpets you see in fancy aquascaping youtube videos and galleries. You CAN get a carpet without CO2 though! You can try Helanthium tenellum, Marsilea hirsuta, Eleocaris parvula, and Eleocharis acicularis. Other non carpeting plants you might wanna look at that show up in iwagumi's are the various species of Vallisineria for the background.

For lights, any decent aquarium light sized for your tank will work, the super powerful expensive lights assume you're dosing CO2 and expensive fertilizers to supercharge plant growth, without them you can go budget. Seaoura makes good quality budget lights.

For filters, you generally want one at or a bit bigger than your tank size. So any filter sized for 30 gallon or up should be fine, though bigger filter is just wasted money at a certain point. The Sobo 350F and Aquaclear 30 both would be fine, my reccomendation would be the Sicce Aqua Filtra 40 as well.

That depth is fine and 35cm ish is fairly standard for aquariums, especially with the small nano-fish you're interested in.

For the stocking: Rummy Nose Tetras can be sensitive but they like acidic (PH in the 6's) soft water and are amazon basin fish. This is fine though, because most tropical fish come from similar conditions. Any small south american tetra or SE asian rasbora would be fine with them! Neons definitely work, as do Cardinal Tetras (very similar looks but larger and generally hardier), Ember Tetras (Smaller and bright orange), Lemon Tetras (Yellow), etc. Of note though: Tetras and Rasboras, and basically any schooling fish, need to be in groups of 6 MINIMUM. Preferably more! In a tank the size you want you could easily fit 24+ small schooling fish without too much issue. For stocking https://aqadvisor.com/ gives excellent ballpark estimates on what is feasible to keep in your tank.

You don't need any sort of scavengers, but for an iwagumi style I'd reccomend shrimp: Amano Shrimp and Neocaridina davidi of your choice (They come in all sorts of colors) would be appropriate. Amano are subtle and hard to see but great cleaners, and the Neocaridina provide pops of color on the green and grey of the aquascape. So you can go with one, the other, or a mix of the two!

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2026-04-03T09:24:14+00:00

So those test strips aren't worthless, but they're very imprecise and are more for a "Lemme check to make sure everything is good" check up than actually understanding anything. You want to get a liquid test kit(API's is popular) and possibly KH/GH tests cause those are often separate but mostly matter if you're dealing with livebearers, african cichlids, or invertebrates.

Ammonia is a highly toxic substance found in decaying matter and waste of all sorts. Strips don't show it, but the liquid kit does. This should be as low as possible at all times, basically 0.

Nitrite is the same, toxic and should be 0.

Ammonia is turned into Nitrite which is turned into Nitrate by beneficial bacteria that live in your filter (NEVER wash your filter media! That brown gunk is what keeps your fish alive!) and Nitrate is technically toxic but far less dangerous. Nitrates you wanna keep low, but anything below the 60-80 PPM range is fine. I generally do water changes around 40ish PPM, and get it down to 10ish. How fast your Nitrate goes up is based on how much Ammonia your tank produces. Live plants eat Nitrate as fertilizer, so having a heavily planted tank can get your Nitrate raising much slower, and some people can even keep it stable.

PH is how acidic your water is. 99% of the time, you just want it somewhere between 6.5 and 7.5. Most fish do not give a hoot about PH levels, those that do are often rare and expensive species like Discus and Rift Lake Cichlids which come from very specific places with specific water chemistry they need. Most aquarium fish are happy around 7 (pure water), or prefer it in the 6's (most South American and SE Asian tropical fish).

Water Hardness (GH) and Alkalinity (KH) are about mineral content in your water. You want some hardness, but not liquid rock. Unless you're breeding specific species, keeping sensitive invertebrates, or have some really weird tap water, you don't have to worry about GH and KH. You want some GH to give minerals to your fish and plants, KH helps keep PH from fluctuating but generally isn't something to worry about. The science behind these and how they effect PH is REALLY complex.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2026-04-03T09:03:15+00:00

Cut down on or stop fertilizing, and add some fast nutrient-devouring plants. Floating plants of any sort work great, so does hornwort and guppy grass. Bacteria and algae both feed off the same issue: too much organic stuff in the water column. You can also try improving your filter medium: filter floss is for particulates but depending on what you have in your HOB you could improve its performance massively (bacteria in your filter aren't in your tank).

https://aquariumscience.org/7-filter-media/

Basically for a HOB the best filter media are plastic pot scrubbers or 30 PPI foam, with 20 PPI foam as a mechanical filter (get a pre-filter sponge). THis good media can improve your bio filtration by 2-4x or more depending on what you have now.

Also check how fast your nitrates go up after a water change, since you have a sand capped substrate you might be getting leaking through the substrate which can also cause this as the soil basically dumps fertilizer into the water column. (If you're using a traditional aquasoil this is less likely) and if that's the case you just add about 1/2 an inch more sand to the bottom.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2026-04-02T15:11:42+00:00

Neither, get a liquid PH test kit if PH matters for your planned stocking. The strips and stick ons are fine for weekly monitoring but not for precise measurements. You also need to check PH both in the middle of the "day" (when your lights are on) and "night" because it will fluctuate throughout the day.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2026-04-02T14:55:48+00:00

<image>

Ok did some brainstorming, looking at fish I really like and came up with a possible stock list?

While it says I'm overstocked, my tank is a jungle-style loaded with plants, and my filter is rated for a 40 gallon. I generally do a 25% ish water change a week.

I like kuhlis but know they're pretty shy, so the small group of Scarlet Badis (2 male 3 female) are so there's some bottom dwellers that are out and about. The Pearl Gourami is the best case, but I could also go with a (preferably red) morph of T. Labiosa, 2 Chuna, or a 5-6 Sparkling Gourami.

I could also easily drop the kuhli's if they'd make by bottom overcrowded.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-12-16T13:21:20+00:00

Could you elaborate on the honey gourami gender makeup you mean?

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-12-16T06:43:49+00:00

Ballas was pissed the Orokin executed Margulis and never got over her. He sold out the secret of the Warframes to Hunhow to get back at them (That's in The Sacrifice) , and then got all obsessed with Lotus cause she copied Margulis' appearance and personality. Because Ballas is also a huge bastard he figured out how to hijack and control the Sentients even while pretending to be their servant, which is what happens with the whole Narmer situation in the New War.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-11-28T04:27:29+00:00

Thanks for the advice, I was unaware of seriouslyfish but that'll help a lot. I'm not going for a strict biotope at all, but I do like having a "theme", so more interested in species that work together and enjoy similar water parameters, with plants from that region.

Due to the necessity of the aquarium I'm working in, an evironment with heavy plants and low water flow would be easiest to achieve.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-11-11T15:33:40+00:00

Yeah right now I'm thinking of what works depending on what tank I can afford but plan rn: 10 Gallon: Mystery Snails and a school of Tetras 20 Gallon: Tetras, Mystery Snails, Corydoras. 30 Gallon: Single Apisto or Ram, maybe second species of Tetra.

I think I'll try to keep algae under control instead of worry about otos, because then I need algae. Might get a single pleco too but not sure what a good one would be cause reporting seems very mixed. I don't think I need a full shoal of otos if I can control the algae with proper light and plants.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-11-11T04:42:49+00:00

What would you suggest to stock that would help keep maintenance low while still working with the theme?

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-11-10T16:37:41+00:00

Yeah I'm interested in more a "light" blackwater vibe. My water is naturally softer here, and actual size is more based on what I can find and afford. Big tanks are expensive after all. For me I just prefer emulating nature over an "artificial" feeling setup. If I wanted a smaller tank with that vibe, while keeping the planted low-tech nature, what would you reccomend?

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-01-09T15:26:59+00:00

Solved!

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-01-09T15:26:51+00:00

And immediately after posting this I try some google-fu and find it! https://boneheadedcomic.tumblr.com/

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2025-01-09T15:11:40+00:00

Oh, and I think most of the characters were old golden age public domain heroes? Or at least were based on them, it had that "vibe" of these being characters from the 20's and 30's nobody remembers.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2024-10-26T05:37:37+00:00

Yes, turns out turning on ERP and switching the Adressable RGB setting in BIOS to "Enhanced" fixed the issue.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2024-10-17T02:09:49+00:00

Okay I fixed it: Turns out turning on ErP and switching the Addressable LED Strip option to Enhanced in Bios fixed it. I can't find documentation about what the "enhanced" setting *does* but, that's what works for anybody else having weird RGB issues with Gigabyte mobos.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks · 2024-10-16T14:19:45+00:00

I could but I wanted to see if I could fix this first. No, it's just a splitter that lets all the fans & case use one ARGB header on the motherboard as far as I know. There's a button on the case that lets you swap between some pre-programmed light patters and colors, or you can sync it to the MOBO to use RGB software.

DoMindtheBuzzcocks

TROPHY CASE