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If a cfl setup wouldnt work ive seen lots of people use all sorts of lights like shop lights flood lights for outdoor use whatever as long as the k rating is 5000K to 6700k daylight rated and provides enough lumens your good. With red plants its not so much about light as it is CO2 and high...

I actually use CFL bulbs in just regular clamp on desk lamp. I have a 20 gallon tank i use 4 bulbs 6500 K bulbs at about 600 lumens each for 2400 lumens which gives me a little over 30 lumens per liter. If one can find CFL bulbs theyre relatively inexpensive. I got a 4 pack of bulbs for around...

Yeah the white bulbs are 10,000 k I wouldnt worry too much as it will still grow plants with the RGB bulbs. Yeah i tried looking up your light online couldnt find it. If there is a number on the box or a website call or go there and ask about lumens.

Im not sure about angle of light. Directly above is most common;)

Cool. Root tabs should help!

Color spectrum is the same as Kelvin rating.

10,000k is good for marine tanks and growing coral but lacks red and green light in it that plants need Plants mostly utilize RGB red green and blue. The higher K rating like 10,000 K the more blue and white light. A lower K rating like 4000K will have less blue and more red. Full spectrum...

No worrirs, algae is just the worst so good luck, hope you figure it out!

Alternanthera with not enough light will grow green instead of red your plant though is showing signs of nutrient deficiency. From the black spots on leaves magnesium deficiency and from your water readings of 0 nitrates nitrogen deficiency. Planted tanks should have nitrates of at least 5ppm...

watts/ gallon is a bit outdated especially with the advent of LED. Whats more important is lumens and spectrum. Plants do best with light that replicates natural sunlight or full spectrum lighting. Spectrum is expressed in K for Kelvin rating. K rating between 5000K and 6700K are full spectrum...

Its a type of hair algae or brush algae. Algae is always a sign of an imbalance in the tank between light and nutrients. Try decreasing amount of time light is on. Algae needs 8 straight hours of light any light to grow. This includes any outside light including indirect window light, over head...

Even tv light can contribute to algae. I put a towel over the front glass of the tank when tank lights are off and tv is on. As for the rest doorways that lead outside can cause drafts when cold. Also want tank against an inside wall not outside. Outside wall xan effect temperature of tank...

The plant pictured is a crypt and crypts are heavy root feeders, the liquid fert isnt being used as much by the crypts so the algae use it. Get some root tabs for the crypts. The algae is black brush algae. Easiest way to get rid of it is turn off light for a few days, do a water change to get...

I would forgo frogs with fish not just for the reasons already mentioned but they also need sand not gravel. Gravel is too rough on their tummies plus the cracks in gravel trap food and waste in the crack which harbor bacteria that can lead to bacterial infections in the frogs who are always on...

Not really. The alternative would be loaches but they also require sand.

if you just switched the substrate could just be oxygen trapped under the substrate. If the bubbles dont smell like sulfur theyre most likely harmless. If they last for longer than a few days could be an issue

I wouldnt add any chemical product that claims to get rid of nitrates. You could always feed every other day rather than once a day. Fish are opportunistic feeders and will eat when food is presented. Unless one is breeding or feeding fry fish can go days without eating. Other than that one...

Most commercial super glues can be dangerous for fish tanks and the ones at fish stores are pretty expensive take a look at this one. https://fishlab.com/aquarium-glue/

5 gallon for 1 betta is fine. 10 gallon for 1 dwarf gourami is fine. Recommended gallons for one fancy gold fish is 20 gallons. 20 gallon standard or high is preferable as gold fish need taller tanks not longer tanks. If it makes you feel better you can tell your parents i said all your tanks...

Like Byron said, corydora need sand. Most bottom dwelling fish fare better with sand.

Im not a big fan of aggressive fish, just one more thing to worry about so i tend to avoid them, having said that mbuna can be very aggressive so i would lean more towards peacocks. I also think peacocks are prettier and have more variety. Just my two cents. Good luck have fun!

I do EI dosing but i dont use CO2. I have a C02 tank but it ran out of CO2 and i didnt refill it and my plants are doing great, ive found CO2 is only useful when trying to grow really hard to grow plants with red in them and when one has really high light. Tomm barr who is the founder of the EI...

I use easy green for my liquid MACro nutrients( NPK) i use seachem flourish for my micro nutrients( everything else) i use aquarium concepts root tabs for my macro (NPK)root fertilizer and flourish root tabs for micro root fertilizer. I dose flourish and easy green at water changes and flourish...

Looks like a phosphate deficiency to me. Leaves that are deficient in phosphate grow darker than normal. The leaves also look a little wrinkled to me that could be a calcium deficiency, also keep in mind that calcium and magnesium work hand in hand. Crypts are heavy root feeders so require heavy...

If your tank has a lid then all the heat that goes into the tank even minimal amount from led lights gets trapped just like it would in an enclosed terrarium increasing temperature. Tanks with open tops will have more air flow, increased water circulation will also dissipate heat.

Id never use salt with corydora it can be deadly to them, shouldnt effect the guppies though. Why are you using salt? Were the fish showing signs of disease/ stress before addition of salt. If so did the addition of salt was the stress in fish increased or decreased?

Most slow moving Tetra do fine with dwarf gourami. Cardinals/ neons are often with dwarf gourami. Also distilled water still needs to be de chlorinated as the chlorine is removed but not the chloramine the amine in chloramine is ammonia, which could be causing cloudiness. Dechlorinator will...

I dont know about temp causing aggression. 80 is a bit hot for most SA cichlids but not horrible. While GT have a reputation for being aggressive all fish have different personalities as well, seeing as the GT is smaller and getting bullied hes obviously not the aggressor. If just chasing then...

Large cichlids like ACara and GT dont school or even shoal. They form territories and defend them for resources and breeding. Honetly id be more worried about the convicts especially once breeding as they are fearless and hyper protective. If the GT was added after the other fish then the Acara...

Im saying if you al ready have the plants put them in stop using the ammonia and go buy some more plants and then simply add fish. Your plants wont fare well in buckets for the 1 to 2 weeks it takes to cycle a tank. If there are no fish in the tank and there are plants there is no reason to...

betta belong in tank by themselves not in community tank. Dwarf gourami are territorial a 20 might be a little small for them and they may get aggressive with each other and other fish. Id only get 1. Agree about the ottos, super cool fish they are also super sensitive and usually starved when...

Good rooted or stem plants for beginners are most hygrophila species, they are fast growers and be grown in lots of different warer. They do well as most stem plants with root tabs and a comprehensive fert for water column like seachem flourish. Hornwort can be planted or floated and is easy...

Cry? 92$ for two fish? I havent spent that much for two fish dinners at a fancy restaurant. Did you at least get a complimentary dessert??? 92.00$ is steep!

id get some RO water to lower the PH and GH or i wouldnt get tetras other than silver tips, but i dont like silver tips, nippy little buggers. Either way if one drops GH too much than its too low for live bearers. Either way one or the other water parameters arent going to be suitable for one or...

Im not sure how water hardness effects breeding i dont nor never have bred any fish. Having said that, fish have evolved over 1000s of years to adapt to their natural water ways. Most tetras come from the amazon where the tributaries they are found in have very low hardness levels and are soft...

Welcome to the non lurking part of the board Newbie!;)

If you choose to do any rooted plants like a sword also purchase some root tabs. Floating plants of course wont need tabs and usually grow failrly quickly. If you dont want to use plants to cycle then just add plants after tank is cycled. Personally i always use plants to cycle a tank but to...

In the past ive boiled the wood and then baked it in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour or two. Putting it in the oven will dry it out. Dont use any chemicals like bleach, no soap obviously. Keep in mind boiling and baking will break the wood fibers down a bit and may cause it to release more...