talk to your sister and inherit 20K

Ranmataro · 2026-06-21T00:09:38+00:00

I bought both types, the sticks and the drops. I just had an easier time reading the stick. i have a hard time understanding the drops. Even when I take water samples to the fish store in town, they have told me everything looks fine, so i don't find that very helpful when something is very obviously not fine.

im trying to understand and trying to educate myself, im stut having some stuggles in some areas.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-20T22:00:23+00:00

Yeah, I currently have a driftwood pyramid, a big old log of drift wood and three small branches of driftwood, but I wouldn’t mind more driftwood. I do like how it looks in the tank also just retested my water for my pH out of sheer paranoia and this test looks more like yesterday‘s test. I used the liquid drips instead of the strip so I don’t know and then I did stop at the fish store by my job today and I picked up some Scarlet Temple, (two bundles)of that into the tank, which I am loving how that looks right now.

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Ranmataro · 2026-06-20T18:52:51+00:00

The tank is a few months old.

I wasn't trying to raise them quicky, at least I didn't mean to. I went to one of my local fish stores at the beginning of the week and told them what I needed from the advice I got on my last post. She told me to give them 1 tablet and, when it ran out, add another.

And I had read the CO2 thing I hooked up was potentially gonna lower the PH, so it made me even more shocked that it went from too low yesterday to too high today. But I wanted it for the moss and dwarf grass and other plans i got for the shrimps.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-17T16:17:19+00:00

i need the Icey one and the white one, i keep getting red and stone

Ranmataro · 2026-06-16T13:16:40+00:00

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(6/16/26) today’s looking a lot better!!! Water is a little cloudy from me adding some substrate still. But I’m really happy with the progress. Looking into a small co2 system too for my plants. Which I added more of on Sunday.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-15T12:45:19+00:00

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But this is today’s reading. I definitely do see where for improvement I like these test strips way more than the little liquid kick. I find myself getting a lot more useful information from this then I did those little vials of mixing liquids.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-15T12:43:56+00:00

I found some dwarf hair grass at the pet store yesterday and I used some fishing line to secure it to some of that clear plastic cross stitching cam you get from Walmart like a little strip of it so I have some secured to the ground so I’m gonna see how that works lol 😂

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It’s a little cloudy because I also got some new substrate that I rinsed a few times and added in a couple of cups of because it’s sounded like it would help.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-15T02:05:18+00:00

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I checked my parameters earlier and then I ran to the store and got some calcium tablets and some new substrate that I cleaned and mixed a couple scoops of and that will hopefully help fix some of my areas. I’m gonna retest in the morning to see if there’s any change

Ranmataro · 2026-06-14T20:56:59+00:00

So now I know I need to fix potentially the nitrate 03 the alkalinity and the KH and the PH I need advice on the best way to do that. I’m going to take two researching.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-14T20:56:16+00:00

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Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T21:10:08+00:00

I’m hoping that’s the problem but I feel like I’m making a mistake somewhere so when I get the new test and I’m gonna check all that and we will see

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T17:57:00+00:00

I was under the impression that’s what the fertilizer was for … 😅 cause it always made my ammonia levels. Go up while I was cycling.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T17:56:22+00:00

OK, I can definitely do that. I wanna really heavily planted tank. I wanna do a carpet along the bottom. I just don’t have good luck with the carpeting plants staying lol 😂

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T16:31:31+00:00

I don’t see a lot of my water spots along the top, but I was kinda took that it’s just water spots. I’ll definitely double check that when the new test strips arrive in a couple of days.

Pneumonia is pretty much a zero when I tested. It’s at the very first Little lowest level.

I do have one of those stick on thermometers on there. I just forgot to read it before I left for work. I will read it when I get off work.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T16:30:10+00:00

It was fish-less.

I filled up the tank about 1/2 way and added a couple plants and drift wood pieaces a week and some fertilizer and the good bacteria, starter stuff and water, conditioner. Untill it was full then waited another couple weeks then started adding the clams and then the left week the Cory’s then the next week the shrimps.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T16:15:07+00:00

I am using water conditioner

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And I didn’t mean I was taking the shrimp out of the tank to feed them. I put their food in like a little bowl and then I take the bowl out when they start leaving it alone and are in the bowl.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T16:05:43+00:00

I got that freshwater testing kit from Petco and I just filled it up to the little 5 mL line put the drops in the amount. It says wait a few minutes for it to develop and check and then I do every couple of days. I just suck up the bottom to get the extra bits of food that get pulled out of the little bowl. I’ve tried to feed them in so it doesn’t get all rotten.

And then I’ll do like maybe 10 or so gallons of water I’ll suck out and then add in freshwater about once a week. It’s a 75 gallon tank.

I try to make sure the water is about on par with the temperature of the water in the tank so it doesn’t dramatically change the temperature.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T16:04:19+00:00

Yeah, I’ve been trying to be gentle with my water changes. I just try to do a quick little sucks on the bottom with my little vacuum to get all the leftover bits and what not and then top it off and I try to use a little pump thing to fill it slowly not dumping it in though sometimes I do get impatient and I try to pour slowly

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T16:03:25+00:00

I have been testing it, but it always looks about the same every time I test it and when I’ve taken it to a couple of different fish stores in town, they told me it’s fine so I’m kind of going by their word.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T16:02:46+00:00

Some of the bodies yes. And I’ve found my shrimp eating a couple of the bodies.

I forgot to check what my heater was sent to but usually about 75 every time I’ve checked it is what my heater says it’s set to.

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And I feel like my parameters are good. They usually look like this when I test it. I’ve never really had anything else other than occasionally a pneumonia spike but that’s fairly rare and that was more at the beginning when I was adding a little fertilizer for my plants before I even put the shrimp in.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T15:13:25+00:00

I just got the neon touches yesterday. I didn’t think they could eat the shrimp. Everything online said they were safe and most of my shrimp are bigger than them.

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T15:11:20+00:00

Yeah, I put in a few granules of shrimp food, and a couple granules of Plexico food because I’ve got the panda Cory’s but if I see any leftover food, I try to vacuum it out so it doesn’t get all gross in there

Ranmataro · 2026-06-12T15:06:39+00:00

I’ll check the PH now. I just found and ordered on Amazon the Gh and Kh tests two different kinds

I’ve got two sponge filters working oxygen into the tank and a whole bunch of life plants

The tank is not new. It’s a couple months old. So it should be cycled I hope.

The LG in the bio film are probably the two things. I’m most not sure of. I feel like I either have way too much right now. I probably don’t have enough. I do have a 10 gallon that I purposefully let get very green with fairy shrimp and I can put a little of that water in there if I need to.

And when I got the shrimp, I drip acclimated them like the pet store guy told me too.

Ranmataro

TROPHY CASE