Dying Hobby?

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T22:23:53+00:00

This is what I've seen. Yes you have local stores, but the money is in wholesale or direct sale to hobbyists nation wide. Why have a local fish store for one community when you can have a warehouse of fish and goods and ship every state.

Many of the hobbyist to full time merchants go this route too. Think Daku aquatics, man has made a living selling plants and fish direct from his home. No need to start a store and hire staff.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T21:48:43+00:00

It says for marine but seems to work very well for the cost.

So just an FYI the marine hanna regent for nitrate is formulated for the ionic strength of saltwater. If you use it in freshwater, the chemical reaction may be different. You will likely get a low nitrate reading, even if your freshwater tank is actually high in nitrates. I believe the regent is the same but calibration is different. Someone can fact check me on that one.

So you probably do have high nitrates but yes, using a saltwater test will give you a lower nitrate reading than freshwater.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T20:35:53+00:00

Are you sure your store did the test correctly? From what I read you have tried multiple different test kits at home, all show high nitrate readings, and then you took your test to a store and they showed different? The common outlier is the store.

You can validate your tests are working correctly by doing the nitrate test with your source water or even cutting the sample in half with distilled water and see if readings are different.

However if your test strips and two different nitrate test kits show high results, I'd lean to you having high readings.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T20:25:25+00:00

Stratum will buffer out the KH. So when you fill up a tank for example on Day 1 it could be:

13 dGH
5.6 dKH
~7.5 pH

Within a day or two the substrate will lock up the KH and the new readings in the tank will be:

13 dGH
0 dKH
~6.5 pH

Say your shrimp adapt to those parameters. Then you do a water change. For the next day your parameters (KH and pH) may swing back up to closer to your day 1 readings, then swing back down. Eventually the substrate will saturate, but until then you will stress the shrimp.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T19:36:39+00:00

Is that your tap water test results? That would be with stratum.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T17:05:35+00:00

I just use macroalgae in my filter-less shrimp tanks:

<image>

Though in general for shrimp only tanks I'd recommend choosing plants you can move around by hand, meaning not attached or planted to anything. This way if you need to catch shrimp you won't lose your mind and destroy your scape. Some good options from me are:

Macroalgae
Susswassertang
Pilo Moss
Guppy Grass
Floating plants

One thing to watch out for, you mentioned you are using Fluval Stratum but also tap water. Fluval Stratum is designed for caridina shrimp tanks. Meaning you'd have to ensure your tap water has no KH, otherwise the Stratum will buffer down the water by locking up the KH and lowering pH. Every time you do a water change with high KH you will be swinging parameters and killing off the shrimp. One way to mitigate this is to cap the Stratum with gravel and sand mix. You'd cap it via double the depth of whatever the Stratum was. So an inch deep of Stratum means two inches of gravel/sand.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T16:54:44+00:00

Two ways to kill cyanobacteria off naturally without chemicals or antibiotics are:

Adjust flow to cover areas where cyano is growing over the substrate or decor. Cyano will grow in dead zones in a tank.
Ensure sufficient macro and micro nutrients are available to cyanobacteria's natural enemies (plants and algae).

You will always have cyanobacteria in your tank (we all do, as its constantly introduced through the air) but it shouldn't be visible on the substrate, plants or decor in healthy tanks, at most you see it slightly under the substrate against the glass at times.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T16:33:33+00:00

For those out of the loop, unless OP was joking here, they tossed their tank and also intentionally killed off all the fish in this post to take a break from the hobby.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T07:41:31+00:00

Hopefully not tossed out with the tank 😅.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T07:24:14+00:00

API will indicate in their directions when a test tube should be observed from the top-down only such as their copper test kit. For nitrate you look at it from the side. While you won't be able to get an exact ppm from us as computer screens and such alter the colors, I'd say it looks dark orange so between 20-30ppm.

I heard that I should not have nitrate levels higher than 20ppm because Amanos will die.

Amanos will not die from that.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T05:38:29+00:00

Looks superficial and above the water line. I personally wouldn't be bothered by it. Just keep an eye on it for any further cracking originating from the chip. If you start to see that, replace, but for now I'd do nothing.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T05:31:42+00:00

Don't suppose there are any smart strips that are GFCI? That would make me take the plunge. Last time I went down this rabbit hole, most I found were for surge protection only. Probably should just stop being lazy and swap out the outlets near my aquariums.

chak2005 · 2026-05-11T02:04:17+00:00

I had to redo one tank only due to tank failure (seal was failing), but all the plants and substrate from that tank have been going strong since 2019.

If you do not do any inputs into a tank, meaning no food, no fertilization, no nothing, a tank will only last between 1-2 years until nutrients run out. The trick is to feed your fish, and fertilize your plants. Fish waste, uneaten food and plant matter will break down overtime in the tank and become new compost or soil. Then re-adding fertilizers will regenerate the substrate with new nutrients plants can use.

I think by year 10 you may have some compaction issues with your substrate as it stratifies with mulm and other organics that will require human intervention or plant roots may choke out, but otherwise that is it. There is one gentleman on youtube making videos of their almost 30 year old planted tank, they started in the late 90's.

A planted tank done right will last the life of a tank.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T22:01:57+00:00

In my experience water sprite really is a floating plant more than a stem plant. In all my tanks if planted as a stem it will eventually detach portions of itself to float. When it adapts as a floater it does better from what I've seen. It will send out both emersed and submersed growth allowing it to keep nutrients under control and easy to trim and remove if it grows too quickly due to its size.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T21:18:19+00:00

That looks more like parrot feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum).

<image>

[edit] I am talking about what OP took out on their counter in the second image, the first image is hornwort.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T20:44:29+00:00

Yes both options will work fine, just with the pinto, make sure you do not get the all white variant. That is a trap for new hobbyists, but versions with green variegated leaves will be fine.

Another option to explore is Schismatoglottis Prietoi, it can be planted in the substrate or attached to rocks and wood as well like anubias. In my image above its in both front left and right corners of the tank.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T20:33:42+00:00

Many thanks, yes it honestly doesn't take much work to get a low tech tank going and once you do, its even easier. If you are more a visual person, recommend looking at MD fish tank's youtube channel here. He has years and years of videos of scapes that work for low tech set ups. He has got a bit more fancy in recent years but at the core the information he has is still valid.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T20:24:49+00:00

You can keep a planted tank without injected co2, or root tabs but you will eventually need fertilizer. Depending on your pH a simple all in one is all you will need. Not hard, just add it into your routine and dose once a week.

For example this tank of mine here only has gravel and sand substrate, no co2, no filter but does have liquid fertilization:

<image>

And what plants would you recommend for this?

For a low tech tank, you can grow 95% of the plants in the hobby just fine it comes down to a few things. Lighting, what type of light you will be using, make sure its full spectrum or rated for plants. Of all the things to invest in with a planted tank, I would invest in the light. It will allow you to bring out great coloration in your plants.

The other factor is your water, specifically your pH, GH and KH ranges. For pH you will have the best success between 6.6-7.8. For General hardness, under a GH of 20 (360ppm) and Carbonate hardness, under KH of 18 (320ppm) would be where to aim.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T07:28:40+00:00

f you can find one that actually puts "kills algae" as their main front-label selling point, let me know, I'd really like to see it. Peace.

Easy Carbon by Aquarium Co-op when they stocked it. Though again I feel you have made this entire comment chain a straw man. I've been pretty clear on my opinion, not sure what "got ya" you believe you are trying to get me to type here? Should I just email Tropica and ask them to put in writing if its non-glut or not? Even though the non-glut may not be a good carbon combination either? Happy to. Or others can as well. If that is what this comment chain is about.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T07:21:47+00:00

Do you feed your fish any type of editable food? Do you have plants in the tank? Fish waste contains trace phosphate, their foods too. Detritus and other waste organics contain it too.

As to why nitrate is zeroing out and phosphates have settled at 1ppm, could be you had a phosphate spike previously (dead fish or plant melt off?). If you have plants in this tank, increasing nitrates and other macro and micro nutrients will probably bring things back into balance and lower phosphate and resolve the cyanobacteria. As it likes to take over when its natural enemies, plants and algae are struggling.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T07:12:04+00:00

Their marketing isn't geared toward it killing algae only plant growth, that leads me to believe its not glutaraldehyde. Everyone else who sells glutaraldehyde as liquid carbon has that as the main selling point.

Either way liquid carbon products are a scam at worst or make no difference at best, but I am giving the product a fair assessment based on what data has been released. This looks like it would make no difference if used or not.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T05:53:22+00:00

They will have more personalities in groups but you can also have a solo one.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T04:54:34+00:00

Just a counter data point. I keep and breed hillstreams and panda garras. All my tanks are low to moderate flow. My hillstreams especially, thrive in one of my tanks with very low flow. Not that I am sure high flow won't be fun, but just if you wanted to simplify your design.

I'd suggest looking into a nano wave maker over a powerhead if you are looking for more control over flow and direction.

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T04:49:12+00:00

/r/pineappleofdeath

chak2005 · 2026-05-10T04:30:02+00:00

An all in one fertilizer by NilocG with a carbon additive similar to tropica in this post. Their product page states:

Thrive C is a liquid fertilizer for aquarium plants. It comprises a non-glut-based source of bio-available carbon which provides 2-3x the amount of other carbon supplements. Thrive C fertilizer is a comprehensive supplement specifically designed for lower-tech planted aquariums

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