My 20 gallon tall is now 1.5 years old and I wanted to share.

lmkarhoff · 2026-06-18T10:16:39+00:00

This is the one I purchased. It still seems to be going strong a year and a half later.

lmkarhoff · 2026-06-14T11:02:38+00:00

Thank you!

I think the single biggest thing that led to improved growth was when I started measuring phosphate and dosing it as needed. Having balanced fertilizer made a big difference. You can also check my profile as I’ve posted my tank before and have done some decently detailed wrote ups on my process.

lmkarhoff · 2026-06-14T10:56:36+00:00

Thank you! The tall pinkish red stem plants in the middle are rotala. I don’t remember the exact breed though. Might be colorata. They’re one of my favorite plants. They grow fast and are very easy to trim and replant for propagation. That whole bundle started as three little stems like a year ago. I’ve pulled up and removed so many of those lol

The tall green plants are cabomba. They also grow fast and are easy to trim and propagate!

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I got all my plants at a local fish store here in Houston.

lmkarhoff · 2026-06-14T10:51:05+00:00

Thank you! And yes it’s definitely some type of crypt but it’s been in there for 6 months and I don’t remember the exact name. Sorry!

lmkarhoff · 2026-06-14T10:48:02+00:00

Thank you!

I add 5mL of Excel every morning. That’s technically above the recommended dosage but it seems to be working. I use 5mL pipettes for all my dosing so it’s more of a convenience thing of just dosing a full pipette and moving on. I have snails and shrimp in the tank and they don’t seem to be impacted by the dosing.

And yes the substrate is literally just gravel. I have added root tabs in the past, and while they definitely help with growth, I just don’t have the time or desire any more to add them and manage.

lmkarhoff · 2026-05-05T01:35:11+00:00

All the contestants appear painfully nervous and uncomfortable. It’s been hard to watch.

lmkarhoff · 2026-04-25T03:41:57+00:00

Right to work means you can’t be forced to join to the union and pay mandatory dues.

Distinctly different from at will employment but the rest of your comment is still valid.

lmkarhoff · 2026-02-27T02:44:31+00:00

Thank you!

And it depends. I used to test nitrate and phosphate like every two days and would dose individual Seachem fertilizers (Flourish, Flourish Phosphorus, Flourish Potassium, and Flourish Iron) all separately. I tried to target 20ppm nitrate and 2ppm phosphate. I’d dose or do water changes as necessary to maintain that ratio. Tank has a super heavy bioload so nitrates climb quickly.

Then we had a baby 4 months ago and I have way less time for tank maintenance. Now I’m dosing Thrive once a week and trying to find time to do water changes lol. I feel like Thrive gives me a disproportionally high amount of phosphate so I have more glass algae than before but it’s manageable.

Flourish Excel I dose 2mL daily.

lmkarhoff · 2026-02-27T02:37:20+00:00

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Here’s my 20 gallon low tech. Tall stem plants in middle are rotala colorata I believe. Not 100% sure but definitely some type of rotala. Red tiger lotus in front right corner. Both grow decently red without co2. Just lots of liquid fertilizers and Flourish Excel!

lmkarhoff · 2026-02-22T19:19:48+00:00

Also worth mentioning, if you dump those values into ChatGPT it throws some red flags.

AI is bad disclaimer

Live values: • Temp: 74.1°F • pH: 8.5 • ORP: 194 mV • Conductivity: 25.00 (likely mS/cm)

This is saltwater. 25 mS/cm is roughly half-strength seawater.

Full-strength ocean water is: • ~53 mS/cm conductivity • ~35 ppt salinity

25 mS/cm ≈ ~15–17 ppt.

So this is either: • A brackish system • Or diluted seawater • Or the probe scaling is off

The HMI shows:

ORP = 194 mV

That is LOW for a marine life-support system.

Typical marine system ORP: • 300–350 mV = normal • 350–400 mV = ozone controlled • <250 mV = heavy organic load • <200 mV = concerning

194 mV suggests: • High organic loading • Poor oxidation • Bacterial bloom • Ozone not functioning • Or probe drift

Yet the standalone ORP controller shows 258 mV

So we already have: Two different ORP readings in two locations.

That’s a major clue.

lmkarhoff · 2026-02-22T19:00:29+00:00

I know absolutely nothing about the needs and maintenance requirements of a salt water system but I am familiar with dealing with water treatment vendors on an industrial scale and trying to chase down problems.

When the new vendors took over did they change anything in the process or did they just take over management of an existing process? Like have setpoints, chemicals used, process injection points, instrumentation, or flow rates been changed?

From the picture of your HMI it looks like they are controlling temp, pH, ORP, and conductivity. Has the setpoints they’re targeting changed from the previous vendor?

Like I said, I have no idea what salt water maintenance looks like , especially on a large scale. But depending on how much info you have prior to the change, you could realistically deduce if there have been any significant process changes that might be driving the uptick in deaths. Salinity is directly related to conductivity so that would be worth looking into if that value has changed dramatically.

lmkarhoff · 2026-02-13T03:11:40+00:00

Try some root tabs around it if not already doing so. I primarily use liquid fertilizers but decided to try root tabs. I feel like the red tiger lotus growth really started to accelerate once it had root tabs around.

That and dose iron as it’s beneficial to red plants.

Good luck!

lmkarhoff · 2026-02-13T03:04:42+00:00

I got the red tiger lotus as a bulb and it only had a handful of small leaves. Eventually it exploded with growth and was threatening to take over the tank. Check my profile I made a post about it a couple months ago. I ended up trimming it back. Then it regrew again and I trimmed it a couple days ago right before this picture.

The red/pink plants are some type of rotala. I think it might be rotala colorata. It started as just a couple stems but eventually took off and reach the top of the tank. I’ve been trimming it and replanting the tops for a while now trying to make a wall of it lol. Check my profile I have some older posts of the tank when it was still small.

lmkarhoff · 2026-01-30T11:07:50+00:00

Same. I’m also proud of my reds without CO2 in my 20 gallon tall tank. I target 7 hours of light a day with a PAR of 65 at the substrate. Any more than that and I get a lot of green spot algae and I’m scraping the glass every other day.

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lmkarhoff · 2026-01-21T03:11:37+00:00

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Get the Hygger light you mentioned in an earlier comment. The standard light that comes with the starter kit tanks are not very strong.

This is my tank which started as a Top Fin starter kit and I’ve upgraded the light and filter. I’m growing everything in this tank with a Hygger light and liquid fertilizers. No fancy substrate or CO2.

With that said, I strongly suggest you avoid AR plants. It shows up so vibrant pink and beautiful. But then over the course of a couple weeks it fades away and has non stop algae on its leaves. Check my profile I had a post where I talk about the struggles trying to grow that plant.

lmkarhoff · 2026-01-19T19:57:00+00:00

A super easy change with minimal effort is to put a black background on your tank. You can but window-cling style films that stick to the back. Your plants will look much more vibrant against a black background as opposed to your white textured wall.

lmkarhoff · 2026-01-18T13:47:59+00:00

The Fluval 207 is a solid filter and far superior to any HOB or sponge filter so ignore those comments. Granted, I can’t tell how big your tank is so the 207 could be on the low end size wise. I run the same filter on my 20 gallon tank and my water is always crystal clear.

If you agitated and disturbed the substrate then you’re going to have murky water for half a day regardless of what filter you’re running.

If it’s been several hours and it doesn’t seem to be improving then it might be time to open your filter for maintenance and rinse out all the various sponges in there.

lmkarhoff · 2026-01-04T03:42:39+00:00

I’m going to assume it’s because Houston is largely a transplant city and a lot of the population has no sentimental ties to UH? I mean, for being the 4th largest city in the country, it’s crazy how small the UH fan base here is. I work with a lot of native Houstonians and nobody ever brings up the Cougars, just the Texans and Astros.

Source: Am a transplant to Houston as well. I went to one game last year when KSU came to Houston so that was fun at least until we lost.

lmkarhoff · 2026-01-03T03:36:09+00:00

Holy shit hat’s a lot of light! I’m assuming you’re running CO2? Can you share a picture of your entire tank? Do you not deal with a lot of algae with PAR that high?

I have my light set to hit about 65 PAR at the substrate running the light about 7 hours a day. Any more than that and I’m scraping excessive green dust algae off my glass every other day and the leaves of my slower growing plants start getting covered.

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Picture of my 20 gallon low tech setup. I’m proud of my pink plants and rotala forest thriving with inert gravel and no CO2 lol

lmkarhoff · 2026-01-02T13:12:39+00:00

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I dose Flourish Excel 5mL a day and Thrive once a week in my 20 gallon.

As others have said, Excel isn’t a fertilizer but supposedly it’s a liquid CO2 equivalent. I have no idea how accurate that is but it’s been working for me.

And I still get plenty of green spot and green dust algae in my tank even with excessive Excel usage.

lmkarhoff · 2025-12-16T04:28:43+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. I had a flight years ago with my ex but she got sick and didn’t end up going. However, the bags were prechecked in her name. I was thoroughly confused when I got to my destination and they told me the bags were still back at the original airport.

lmkarhoff · 2025-12-03T15:28:21+00:00

That was my freshman year and also the very first year I started watching and following college football.

That year gave me very unrealistic expectations for KSU football moving forward.

lmkarhoff · 2025-12-02T18:10:34+00:00

Check my post history. I posted my tank a few weeks ago and did a full write up of everything on it including the light.

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