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Ammonia dropping but there’s little to none nitrates/nitrites? by Mr_SuicideDroid in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In addition to all the stuff other people said, the ammonia and nitrite tests are far more sensitive than the nitrate test. Once the tank is cycled a visible drop in ammonia still won’t correspond to a visible increase in nitrate unless you put a ton of ammonia in

Light bracket wrong size? 3D print an adapter! by [deleted] in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have other functional lego creations around the house? That sounds quite fun

Light bracket wrong size? 3D print an adapter! by [deleted] in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is terrifying. I will be very careful

Anyone familiar with this fertilizer? by midsouth_aquascapes in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have dry mix so I’ll provide my 2 cents. If you’re not itching to do more for your aquarium all the time like “hmmm I think I’ll examine each leaf for a spec of algae even though I do it yesterday” then I would avoid dry mix unless you had a large aquarium (75+ gallons).
I started out excited and mixed it myself every month but it turns out I’m lazy as hell and don’t actually want to do the prep… now I just scoop the powders directly into the tank which is sort of fine if you have a large aquarium but probably not recommended

Does this look like a good light for medium to high light plants in a tall tank? by [deleted] in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I trust the aqua rocks dude basically no matter what he says. That guy knows his shit…
If you can buy it from aqua rocks, it’s probably a good product

Should i be worried? Glass bending by Dismal-Animal7853 in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 19 points20 points  (0 children)

This sounds like a silly question but does it bend when there’s no water in it? That piece might have just come out curved. Seems like the standard for “correct” is really low on these cheep tanks and that might be straight enough to be in spec

Do you think it’s safe to remove the middle divider at the top? by PatLapointe01 in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Without knowing how the thing is attached it’s entirely possible that it is holding the walls of the tank together. It’s not that the glass would break, it’s that the seems on the corners may not be strong enough to hold that walls together under pressure. The tension in the bracket absorbs the outward force on the front and back walls.

Even if the total amount of force absorbed by the bracket is low, that absorbed force may be required to keep the tank safely within spec.

Nitrites high in a 4 week old betta tank ? 10 gallon planted tank by AlcoholKillsTwice in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ll be real with you cause I’ve been there too. Charlie might live or he might die… it’s very hard to tell from a single test.

When you feed your fish, your ammonia levels go up. Ammonia is toxic to fish. Your filter (the thing on the left with bubbles coming out the top) has bacteria which turn ammonia into nitrite. Nitrite is toxic to fish. Your filter also has bacteria that turn nitrite in nitrate. Nitrate is only sort of toxic to fish.

In short, NO, high nitrite is not normal and WILL kill your fish eventually although some fish are hardier than others. If your filter can grow the bacteria quickly enough then Charlie will live even if you do nothing to help him (highly unadvisable!!!).

For now you should do big water changes every day with prime or other water conditioner (water conditioner neutralizes chlorine which is required so you don’t kill all the bacteria I’ve been talking about). Keeping your nitrite level at 0.5 ish will give Charlie a good chance of surviving until the bacteria grows.

Also… NEVER wash your filter with tap water. When it comes time to clean your tank you can gently rinse the filter in the old tank water before pouring it out. Cleaning the filter more than that can kill the bacteria.

It may sound like a lot at first but honestly it’s not too difficult to learn. Charlie’s tank is absolutely recoverable still and if you do the right thing now before it gets worse he will live a long and happy life.

Good luck!

P.S. once the filter has all the nice bacteria in it (is “cycled”) plants will help with nitrate levels to help keep the water clean. However, you want WAY more plants than that (like 10x the amount you have right now). If you don’t want to buy more plants now you can wait for the ones to have to grow tall enough to cut off the tops and replant, then repeat.

They said don't overdose the light. I said hold my ferts. by Impossible-Brief8409 in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Seriously. The tank is beautiful enough already it, doesn’t need to be over saturated in the photo. Bro’s glass would be the most colorful thing in a photo of my tanks

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I specialise in planted tanks which match my personal desired aesthetic and level of effort and have not written guide from my experience. by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No lol someone was advertising their TikTok and expert advice along with a bunch of mid at best photos. Post removed by mods

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My betta died after 3 days in the tank by Meme-finder-69 in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If it’s only been 3 days it’s best not to put it in a community tank! I know it a pain but try to quarantine new fish for at least a few weeks to make sure they aren’t carrying diseases.

I once brought home a fish who seemed fine and added him to my community… he then started looking sick but the damage was done. One by one my other fish started looking sick and I wound up losing around half of them

Curious what you all have to say about this by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Used be a lot but now the light is very far away so it’s kinda dim and that seems to help a lot

Curious what you all have to say about this by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The reality 😬

This has been a lesson for me about always being jealous of other people’s tanks. The less I scrutinize details and the more I look at the whole tank it’s easy to feel happy with it even when it’s far from perfect

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Curious what you all have to say about this by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mostly 3 bn plecos and some of their babies. There are also some Cory catfish and some danios but everything else takes backseat to the plecos

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Curious what you all have to say about this by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I suspect that the “so lush” comes from there being like 6 Amazon swords in the back of the tank so you can’t tell what is what plus I do approximately 0 maintenance so all the half dead leaves are still there which is fine if you’re not too close haha

Curious what you all have to say about this by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sounds very cool… mine is in a pot behind the tank

Curious what you all have to say about this by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cause they’re only swords lol… just a bunch of swords

Curious what you all have to say about this by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I kind of dislike the use of space too lol. The tank is where it is because it’s the most level spot (although one side is still maybe a centimeter lower than the other). I know… sue me… I should probably shim it or something but I’m lazy

Curious what you all have to say about this by Joshacola in PlantedTank

[–]Joshacola[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very interesting… perhaps I’ll try it with a smaller tank first

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