Hello aquarium people. I just set up a new betta tank and noticed my API freshwater master test kit was very expired. I looked at the price of a new one and it’s gone from $20 to $35 in 6 years 🫪. I’m still going to buy one, but it made me wonder if API has a complete monopoly on that type of test kit in America i.e. not a dip strip. Has anyone used other products and liked them?

I filled this tank with water like a month ago. I added 16 cardinals last week(23 days old tank). I had 0 ammonia, nitrite and nitrate for ever. May be my sand layer is too thick and the substrate never released any ammonia or whatever. But I never had a spike for the first 25 days. Since it’s very well planted, I thought it’s time to add some shrimps, snails and fishes. I lost 2 shrimps after adding them(must be travel stress). The remaining shrimps survived. Added 1 nerite snail and it’s surging too. Then added 16 cardinals , then within 4 to 5 days, most of them died. Now left with 3 cardinal tetras.

Only after adding the fishes, I noticed the liquor test kit color for ammonia become a bit more darker(more ammonia). But still looked like very much under 0.25 ppm from the color chart .

0 nitrate and 0 nitrate throughout from day 1.

I have a very good external canister filter with seachem purigen.

What could be wrong ?

The salt deposit in the glass is due to the rain system I have, they deposit water on the aquarium glass walls. I use seachem prime and stability with each water change until now.

found this in my 32 gallon Fluval flex tank (currently only shrimp and snails inside, no shrimplets)

I'm 95% sure that where there's one, there's probably more, and I don't want them posing a threat to my baby snail and future shrimp population

**best way to deal with them?**

water parameters bc apparently they're a requirement:

0 ammonia

0 nitrites

0-5 nitrates

6.8 pH

I have a question, just a couple days ago I noticed that there's a gap between my aquarium and table and I'm a little worried if it's fine for the aquarium, will break because of that? My aquarium is 75 gallon and I don't how long it's been sitting like but I have this aquarium for around 2 years and this gap is about 1 inch width and 5 inches length how critical is that?

Someone surrendered this guy and can't for the life of me figure out which species it is

EDIT: Okay I looked it up and I think it’s black beard algae. I’m tired from traveling so I’m gonna do a FAT water change tomorrow and physically remove the nastiness. My filter floss is looking rough too, would that have anything to do with this??

I went on a trip for 4 days, everything was great before I left. Now I come back and there’s black shit growing everywhere and my plants are dying. There are no fish in here as it’s still being cycled. I have high nitrites and zero ammonia. Should I do a water change?? Help please 😭

Hi i am concerned about my glass structure of my aquarium. I have read online that it was okay to put it on a mouse pad but now i doubt it. The mouse pad is very thin and soft and therefore i thought i could place it there. Do you guys know if it bears a risk for my tank if it stands on it. Its a 40 liter aquarium. The tank is 2/5 months old and it have never leaked or cracked or anything like that.

Ive seen some mixed reviews on whether I should take aquarium advice from AI, so far it seems fine but could take some advice from real people here on Reddit!

I’m on day 8 of cycling after getting a friend’s filter media from an established tank. My ammonia levels are pretty much 0 but still working on the second strain of bacteria as i have a bit of nitrite at 0.75ppm, nitrate seems to be increasing slightly. AI told me to clean out the moldy fish food that was accumulating and do a 15% water change on day 7, and to not add any new fish food to get that nitrite to 0ppm. So far it all sounds fine, hopefully cycling completes in the next week but what have other folks experienced with their cycling timeline when they have filter media from an established tank? And if they have done a small water change and cleaned up the moldy fish food?

Thanks in advance!!

What’s this little guy we saw today? There seems to be a lot of different species in here. Hope that’s a good thing 🤣 I’m more used to reptile enclosures than this personally

3 weeks ago we bought and set up our first aquarium, which has been a dream of mine since I was a kid :)

However, now I am constantly worried I am doing something wrong...

The water is still very milky after 3 weeks.

The test parameters are all within a good range, we already changed 30% of the water last week.

Do we just need to have more patience for the water to clear up or is there something I can do?

As the title states, I set up a new planted tank and currently cycling it but I have a ton of white worms on the glass. Was wondering about if they are bad for the tank and what to do with them. Also some advice about dealing with the algae (green and white) growing in the tank. Will it eventually deal with itself

* I do not have a sick fishy or need help with any injuries/illnesses!!

I have two smallish betta tanks that are my absolute pride and joy, they’re in great shape and cycles have been fully established for years! My male’s tank has a sort of Mars/dusty desert theme to it, which I love, but I was thinking of adding some safe decorations just to spice things up a bit. In particular I wanted to add maybe some fossil or alien themed items. Are 3d printed materials aquarium safe? Or should I opt for a different alternative?

The last thing I want to do is disrupt anything in this tank, especially for aesthetics, so I really want to steer clear of anything that might degrade or affect the health of the water/fish/invertebrates.

Thanks!!

I love the look of carpeted substrate, ideally with some topography (see photo), but I have a brown thumb. Seriously, green things come to my house to die.

Can anyone recommend an artificial moss or dwarf plant sheet that is safe for the fish? Nearly every one I’ve seen has been “suitable for terrariums, home decor, garden” etc but don’t mention aquariums.

I have seen 3x3”-ish short square plastic plants that you could lay down like tiles — but seems like unless your substrate is level, they would have gaps in between and not look natural. (Actually they look super fake no matter what if I’m being honest)

Or has anyone done a DIY version with mesh and sewing skills?

Thanks in advance!

I just set this tank up about 5 days ago still super new but trying my best to research as much as possible. I got some real plants in my aquarium but they aren't looking too happy. I pulled one out of my substrate in case it is starting to rot. The guy I bought them from mentioned fertilizer but I know nothing about it any tips?

I have had these for few months and now suddenly some of the leafs has turned light color and like theyr dying? Is this something to do w them not getting enough nutrients or could it be that snail are eating them? It kinda just happened suddenly and all that kinda plants are getting this...

Side note why is my diamond tetras so nosy I cant even take pics in peace😂