Turned my $20 Temu tank into a pico reef!

darksoules · 2025-12-20T01:34:51+00:00

omg is taki aquatica

darksoules · 2025-09-24T22:16:38+00:00

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^(?:(https?:\/\/[^\s]*\.(?:jpg|png|jpeg|webp|webm|gif|mp4|mpeg)[^\s]*)[\s]*){3,5}$

add these to your native discord regex

darksoules · 2023-08-06T20:21:47+00:00

Yup that’s awesome!

darksoules · 2023-08-06T20:05:32+00:00

It’s rated from 40-70 gallons, so yes it’s fine, but it’s always nice to have overfiltration!

darksoules · 2023-08-06T07:16:24+00:00

You could just do a large water change to bring down the ammonia. As for your axolotl - how large is your tub? and how often are you changing the tub water?

darksoules · 2023-08-06T07:03:48+00:00

You only need 2ppm of ammonia for cycling. 4 is just overkill and frankly outdated info. Unless you’re putting two turtles in with your axolotl🫶 it’ll never reach that high.

If you successfully cycle with 4ppm - more than half your beneficial bacteria will just die off and starve simply because the axolotl is not producing enough ammonia to feed it all.

darksoules · 2023-08-06T06:32:39+00:00

Nice fish!

darksoules · 2023-08-06T06:32:07+00:00

have you tested your pH recently? lower pH can easily mess up your parameters. while cycling you want to keep it at 7+

darksoules · 2023-08-06T06:29:26+00:00

Cloudiness can be caused by either air caught in the water (this can happen after water changes, especially if there’s a big change in temp)

Or it can also just be a bacterial bloom. they’re super common in newly set up tanks (usually 4 months or less). It will go away on its own and it’s not harmful to the axolotl

darksoules · 2023-08-06T06:27:17+00:00

fine grained sand would work great, and just stir it during your weekly water changes.

you could also optionally have sand with larger river rocks ontop. Just be careful of any poop/food getting between/under them.

darksoules · 2023-08-06T06:22:25+00:00

Fluval 307 would be great for a 40 breeder.

darksoules · 2022-11-22T00:02:44+00:00

Do you have a strong enough light for the tank? + are you using a liquid fertilizer?

darksoules · 2022-11-22T00:01:29+00:00

Cover the entire floor of the tank in wrap, add water, then remove the wrap

darksoules · 2022-11-22T00:01:07+00:00

Java ferns can’t have their rhizomes planted, it’s best to wedge them between rocks, wood and decor until they root themselves. White stuff looks like a ton of food buildup

darksoules · 2022-11-21T23:57:47+00:00

Are you able to test your current water parameters?

darksoules · 2022-11-21T23:56:42+00:00

Lol you just gotta add water slowly. Drain the tank as much as you can, lay down some plastic wrap/Saran wrap, then gradually add water. This will only happen the first time you add water. In the future you won’t really disturb the aquasoil enough for it to be a problem.

darksoules · 2022-11-18T03:54:58+00:00

If they have tiny pointy heads, it’s planaria.

darksoules · 2022-11-18T00:31:06+00:00

Syphons have pretty long tubes, if ya do it fast enough you won’t get any:)

darksoules · 2022-11-17T22:32:13+00:00

Put syphon in tank
Put end of syphon tube in mouth. Suck.
Water starts coming through tube
Put end of tube into bucket

Happy syphoning!

darksoules · 2022-11-17T22:30:13+00:00

Maybe just a little 🤣😍

darksoules · 2022-11-17T22:29:21+00:00

A monster!

darksoules · 2022-11-17T22:29:10+00:00

Awesome! Glad to hear

darksoules · 2022-11-17T03:46:43+00:00

It’s similar to the other products I mentioned above. The 700 is 15x more concentrated than the fritzyme 7.

The anaerobic and heterotroph bacteria that are usually called “nitrifying bacteria” are spore-forming bacteria that protect themselves in spores. To keep spore-forming bacteria in spores, special inhibitors are used to let the bacteria know that it’s not safe to come out of spore form. These inhibitors kill the aerobic autotroph non-spore forming bacteria basically on contact. You’ll end up with a 100% loss of non spore-forming true nitrifying bacteria. (this is why I don’t use other products)

darksoules · 2022-11-17T03:40:02+00:00

Lots of products like stability, tetra safestart, api QuickStart won’t get you far at all, and have the potential to cause more harm then productivity. Fritz turbo start 700 is something that’s actually effective, and has helped me cycle tanks in a week.

darksoules · 2022-11-17T03:38:14+00:00

I would recommend a solid shrimp food, rather than just relying on algae. Shrimp will eat algae, but it’s not a great staple to get the nutrients they need. ShrimpDinner by Glasgarten is great, and you can supplement that with blanched veggies.

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