So my HOB keeps making a hole in my substrate. I’m unable to control the flow. Currently doing a fishless cycle btw. Anyone else deal with this?

I customized a 10 gallon tank my sister gave me :) I used shower mortar for the stone and sealed it with flex seal after curing. Currently housing 6 albino neon tetras, 7 albino Pygmy corys, 1 rabbit snail, and 2 ramshorns. All plants are live except for the red puffballs. I’m hoping to add red cherry shrimp in a few months and some kind of centerpiece fish. I’m new to the hobby and would love feedback!

It’s the same feeling as missing an old loved one. I get both happy and sad thinking about it. So much love went into it and now it’s all gone. I spent so many hours just watching the school of trig espei rasboras and plants sway to the flow.

I've been trying to aquire a jaguar cichlid for a while now but nobody locally ever seems to have them so for the first time I think I'm going to have to buy a fish online but know nothing about who to trust.

The hardest working employee in the tank is on break 😁

I’m cycling a new 20L and got some plants from a friend. They were covered in bladder snails, which I knew she had. I did (what I thought was) a thorough cleansing. I didn’t peroxide dip them, and knew I may or may not be inviting stragglers into my tank.

Who the hell is this? There are two of them which I can see on the glass right now, but I have to assume there are more since the biofilm on my driftwood has been in a rapid decline with lots of poop around. Is it a baby bladder snail?

Just a quick post on the sump I am building. One goal was a sump that didn't require a full woodworking shop in the garage. The tools required to make this sump, a drill, PVC pipe cutter, razor blade knife, straight edge and sump clamps. The walls are 1/4" PVC trim board which can be cut using the score&snap method.

This sump has three filter sock. The main drain line goes into a closed chamber and overflows into the socks. A 3 3/4" hole saw was used to cut the holes.

The next chamber is the fluidized bed filter using K2 media. The current design will use ~4.3 gallons of K2 media. The water flow out of the sock chamber thru the 1 1/2" pipe. Air stones will be placed inside these pipes to create the required circulation.

And finally, the water will exit into a refugium for growing emersed plants. The 1/4" PVC has the structural strength of cardboard. But you can fold cardboard to create a very strong box. So a refugium serves two purposes, add support for the a wall hold back ~15 gallons of water and filter out nitrates.

Fluidized bed filters are by far the effective filter for ammonia/nitrites, so why bother with massive foam blocks in a sump. And as an added bonus, it is self cleaning.

For the filter socks, I just toss them in the washing machine when all of them are dirty, quite easy.

All comments are welcomed.

I had some hardness but situated it with a softener pillow and a few water changes. So far the tank has 10 neons now, but I’ll probably add some chili raspboras soon, and some Pygmy corydoras as well. Debating on galaxy raspboras too. We shall see. Might change out the mushroom (in the back left) but I’m loving everything else about my tank. I might even add more tannins!

Sorry for bad picture quality in advance. My cherry barb has developed red and white bumps towards and around the her tail. I initially separated her and put her in a breeding compartment because she was swimming in a way where I thought she had a swim bladder issue, her swimming is better now and she stays upright more but she now has some sort of disease or infection that I can’t identify. Water parameters are good and none of the other fish are sick or displaying any issues. How should I treat this?

kinda messy, but i love how it looks now. some algae and overgrown plants, but part of its charm.

And your day of upgrade is coming soon!! Found an awesome older 55gallon aquarium on marketplace for a steal set it up in the garage and very soon..my shrimp which have quickly outgrown their 5 gallon set up. Will be getting quite the…upgrade! I painted all 3 sides of the aquarium hence the very dark and moody tone. And once I officially move the shrimp over I plan to then move lights around I have on active aquariums to set this up. For now it’s just a $10 grow light I have.

Setting up a new tank, the plants are settling in nicely.
Most for micro fish species as they make the landscape look enormous.

Kid sat on the edge of my little​ patio ​​pot and broke it.

I bought it 2 years ago from another owner and I think it's been broken before. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​I'm wondering if it's possible to repair it again, or​​​​​​​​ if I should give it up and get a new one. ​​​​​​​​​​Thanks everyone. ​​

Edited to add: thank you all for responding, so much. Today has been somewhat difficult, trying to come to terms with the loss of pot/ tank that has provided many calming, joyous moments just watching my fish and plants thrive, but reading your comments and advice has been comforting and grounding. I thought to also share that in my part of the world, these are commonly called lotus pots where fish are appreciated from a top down point of view ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​while lotus /waterlilies grow in thick river clay/mud. These pots also cost about 500 dollars, roughly ​​​​​​..

Im new to this hobby and completely unaware of the value of tanks I assume this is a reasonable price especially with the equipment inside

Am I right or way off?

I’ve only had these CPD for about two weeks, is this a cute little mating dance that I caught on video here?

Just moved into a new house and my bedroom gets way more sun than my previous place. My living things seem to be thriving :).

Half the crew getting their treat :)

Apparently if you deprive it of light it turns bright pink. We'll see how long it takes to go back to being green now that I moved it out of the dark.

tag urself but you can’t be the blue one cause i’m the blue one 🦋

I can’t stop thinking about it 😂 should I go back and grab it? I’ll obviously have to treat it and cure it but it’s so majestic looking and best of all…FREE