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I’m often out and about working in the field and stumble upon breathtaking examples of often overlooked and under appreciated slices of nature that Florida has to offer.

My neck of the woods is filled with marsh/wetlands ripe with both native and invasive wildlife of all flavors; I want to start a thread where I can document and share.

I’ll update this thread whenever I capture something noteworthy. Much of what catches my eye is aquatic flora, but I try and document anything captivating. I hope you find this as beautiful and fascinating as I do.

Santa came early this year with a new 75g tank. I've never owned a 4' tank ever been stuck on the normal 30" wide 29g and 20g's forever. I wanted the uns 90u 36x22x22 but 750.00 is nuts to me I don't have that much in all tanks and equip I own so went cheap route.
Saw the 75g at PetSmart the imagitarium brand for 150 on sale. Those cheapos have bad reviews on leaking and I believe it as I actually picked up a free leaky 75g imagitarium at petco last week and sold it for snake terrarium for 40.00. Went to petco they also have the 50% off sale on marineland and aqueon. The tank was 159.00 out the door. Got lucky the manager said take this set of new glass tops for free, were a return they cant sell it.I assume the made in USA marineland is a better tank than the other cheapos and I actually don't mind the black silicone.

Went to Lowes today for some wood 4- 2x4x8 and 2- 2x4x10 and sheet if 1/2 osb for top and bottom shelf and for extra strength. When I get done I'm sure it would hold a 300g tank. Will wrap the tank in either bead board wood paneling or 1/4" plywood with some nice moulding on corners. Def gotta make a lip to hide the bottom plastic rim as well so its not so ugly. probably build a hood to why not hide some rims! Just gotta build or find a pair of doors on something else I can steal and use for this stand. I don't plan on getting it setup for few weeks but want stand base 1/2 done now so I can try some diff dry scapes with wood and rocks in it. This will be replacing my 20long I was scrapping in other journal its now a plant farm full of ludwigia and plants for sale.

Wrapped up my AGA submittal a few weeks ago, and I just can't seem to bring myself to take care of my tank right now I think I'm experiencing burnout. I go through these cycles where my tank is all I can think about for a few weeks/months, and then I need a break, and I can't bring myself to do my usual water change and trim schedule. The good news is my tank has so much healthy plant mass that algae doesnt grow even after a few weeks of neglect.

Any tips on fighting this tendency? I think my first idea is to slow everything down, lower my nitrate to more of a zero-bound system and try to reduce my stem trimming frequency. My second idea is making my water change easier. Right now the hardest part is siphoning detritus into buckets that I walk to the toilet. After that I pump the tank down the rest of the way. How do you guys do this? I would siphon straight to the toilet but I'm bound to accidently send a shrimp to their doom that way.

Sometime in Nov 2024, I bought a 60G Aqueon tank at the 50% off sale. I already had a 75 gallon stand and tank, but I wanted a shorter tank so I could look in over the top. The 75 gallon was relegated to the garage in case I want it again, and I painted the stand black. I also put black vinyl on the back.

My goal was to make a hillstream environment, based on the long-running tank of Rachel O’Leary. I had looked at other options like the river manifolds, but I liked Rachel’s better. I set it up with an fx6 filter, a horizontal spray bar on the left side, and 2nd modified spray bar situated vertically behind a corner Matten filter on the back right side. Glass strips were attached with silicone to hold it. I cut the Matten filter horizontally a few inches from the tank floor so the top part could be easily removed for cleaning. I also cut a small vertical groove from the inside so it wouldn’t constrict the holes so much on the curve.

This was how it looked on Dec 20, 2024:

This month's theme is: plant, hardscape and fish

This one is going to be tough but I hope some of you take up the challenge. Take a picture that captures a plant, some hardscape and at least one fish in the same picture.

Be as artistic and creative as you like.

The rules:

• Submissions are allowed between October 7 and October 23.
• Voting will start on October 23 at 12:01 am Eastern time.
• Voting will end on October 31 at 11:30 pm Eastern time.

The prize:

A $25 store credit from BurrAqua thanks to @Burr740!

Hey guys, needing some expert insight on my 90P build regarding the Yugang reactor. I’d like a sanity check on sizing.

System

• Display: 90 × 45 cm outside, 10 mm glass, so ~88 × 43 cm inside (~3,780 cm²), rimless, lidless.
• Sump: 20-gallon long (76 × 30 cm, ~2,280 cm²), 3 chambers, loose lid.
• About 220 L total water.
• Return enters below the surface; no deliberate surface agitation.
• BeanAnimal overflow, with the main draining underwater (no cascade).
• Currently cycling on tap water: KH 13, GH 12. The plan is RO remineralised to KH 3–4.

Reactor

• Horizontal Yugang, 3" Sch40 PVC (ID 77.9 mm), 46 cm long.
• Outlet rotated to near the limit of what my plumbing allows, so the pocket is much smaller than half-full.
• CO₂ flow meter at about 9 mL/min. That’s slightly over what it dissolves, so it gives small occasional burps.

What I measured

• Plateau: pH 6.80 at KH 13 ~ 60 ppm (pH/KH estimate). Degassed baseline pH at 8.2.
• Overnight decay after CO₂ off: k ≈ 0.12/h (half-life ~5.7 h). That implies a CO₂ exchange rate of ~4–7 cm/h, i.e. a calm surface.
• Working the 1/17.7 rule backwards from my reactor area (~180–358 cm² depending on rotation), my effective loss area is ~1,100–2,200 cm², against ~6,060 cm² of real water surface (display + sump).

Am I just way off on my surface agitation? I have mild ripples, but nothing overly agitating, but even without taking the sump into account, I should be seeing way more loss right? I'm planning on keeping neocaridina, so aiming for a 30-40ppm max, but even on my min setting I see ~55-60 ppm.



View attachment y2.mp4

Hello Everyone,

So, 2 years ago I attempted my first Dutch aquarium that some of you may remember from various other forums.
It was this 10gal:

Unfortunately life got busy and this tank became a disaster a few weeks after this picture was shot.

The good news is today starts a new Dutch aquarium. Taking what I learned 2 years ago and hopefully applying more patience this time around for this 40gal:


This was literally setup today. And wanted to share my journey navigating the Dutch aquascaping scene.

Equipment:
Tank: 40gal breeder (36in x 18in x 16in)
Light - Fluval 3.0 Planted (Set to 80% for 6 hours with a ramp up and ramp down time of 1 hour total)
Filter - Aquaclear 70
Heater - Eheim Thermocontrol 125 - set to 72F/22C
CO2 - 10lb tank with Co2Art SE Pro regulator with intank diffuser (On 1.5 hours before lights on and off 2 hour before lights off)

Ferts:
Following @Unexpected fert numbers from his tank of the month post as a baseline to start. These are all front loaded besides the Micros:
NO3 30ppm
PO4 10ppm
K 40ppm
Fe .45ppm
Ca 24ppm
Mg 8ppm

pH and pH drop is currently unknown as I have tested it yet but will tomorrow after work to see numbers as the diffuser and check valve came in about an hour before lights on.
I am using a RO/DI unit that I have setup about 5 feet from the aquarium.

Plants:

1. alternanthera reineckii var. 'roseafolia' TC
2. bacopa carolina TC
3. bolbitis heaudelotii difformis TC
4. cryptocoryne lutea
5. cryptocoryne Crispatula TC
6. elocharis montevidensis
7. hygrophila salicifolia
8. hygrophila pinnatifida TC
9. hygrophila lancea araguaia TC
10. lobelia cardinalis TC
11. ludwigia repens
12. ludwigia palustiris
13. rotala H'ra TC
14. staurogyne repens TC

I am extremely excited to be able to start up another Dutch aquarium. and am looking forward to this journey. This aquarium is about 10ft from my desk in my mancave of the basement so it will get a lot of viewing from me.

Ive reorganized the order of my tanks so I can better keep track of them ie. Tank 2 moss tank is now tank 3. This helps in any confusion I had when tracking tanks they are in a sort of order now. Rather than taking time editing my old journal id rather create a new thread. Pics will be current (for the most part) as they are posted. I am not aquascaping. I am just farming.

If you've been in the aquarium hobby for a while, I'm sure you've created or picked up so valuable hacks that fall into the tips, tricks and time-savers categories. So, in an effort to compile and share them, let's post them here.

This site is about sharing knowledge and experiences so don't be shy, no hack is too small or silly.

Please post yours.

This is the future home for the announcements when someone obtains an achievement badge. Let the games begin!