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Welcome, There is a saltwater forum further down the page, id suggest introducing yourself to that crowd for questions regarding saltwater tanks, good to have you though!

You could also go with a smaller Aacara the laetacara curviceps dwarf smiling flag cichclid. Or the dorsigera curviceps or red breasted acaraThey both get about 3 inches and arent as aggressive as blue acara but more aggressive than rams and apistos

Ive tried growing saggitaria sublata as an " easy" carpeting plant as well as sturogyne repens and they both died and i have medium light but what i didnt have that both those need is 30PAR at the substrate and a heavily fertlized substrate. Carpeting plants like sag sublata need more than low...

Acara are to aggressive to be kept with tetra. Some people keep red headed tapajo with tetra, they are a geophagus and need to be in groups they get about 6 inches each and are pretty community friendly but in your size tank would really leave you pretty much a shoal of tapajo with one shoal of...

Id never buy any chemical to remove algae. Algae is due to an imbalace of light and nutrients, tomm barr says the two largest causes of algae are ammonia and co2 either too much not enough or inconsistent amounts. If this liquid kills algae it either removes nutrients from water or does...

Could someone explain this iron thing to me. Ive heard and read so many conflicting thoughts that im so confused. I have a 20 gallon. Two rosette swords a bunch of bronze crypts frog bit java fern balanease crypt no co2 i use root tabs and flourish comprehensive i use pure RO water and...

If none of the bulbs are 5000K-6500k whether room light or tank light they arent going to grow plants well morw likely theyll just grow algae. Get a bulb in 5000K-6500k range and your plants will do much better.

Nope not over a period of exposure. If the lumens are that low im going to assume the bulbs arent 5000K to 6500K bulbs. 5000K-6500k bulbs simulate natural daylight and are brighter and normally have more lumens.

Yup ive used 6500k cfls over all my tanks as well, they have always worked well and with the advent of LED CFL are cheaper than they were 10 years ago!

Yup. Make sure its between 5000k and 6500k Though a bulb with that many watts should have more than 350 watts, odd. Like i said i woukd try to get a bulb with more lumens.

If you are using desk lamps the easiest thing to do is get a 13 watt compact fluorescent bulb 6500K they usually have around 800 lumens/bulb

Total. 10 gallons is about 37 liters so 37×20=740 So shoot for at least 740 lumens to grow low light plants closer to 30 lumens/liter for medium light plants and over 40 lumens/ liter for high light red plants. All your plants are low to mid light.

Guppys are hard water fish corydora are sift water fish cardinal are really soft water fish and cardinals like a much warmer temp than corydora and guppy. Your water is pretty hard and as such you should stick to live bearers, guppy, platy, mollies.

From what i understand from my limited readings is that the common misconception is that red plants need more iron yet those who grow and sell red plants will decrease iron to bring out the red in the plants. Im not exactly sure how this works biologically but apparently thats how its done i...

i wouldnt keep dwarf corydora in a 5 gallon, the smallest id go is a 10. Dwarf corydora swim around alot more than other corydora species as they will glass surface and also be seen swimming in groups mid tank. I had a group if 10 in a 55 and they were always swimming all over where as a had a...

German blues need too warm water for neons but bolvians and apistogramma will be ok. One can always mix a bunch of similar sized fish from same general area with same water parameters. Corydora, dwarf pencil fish, hatchet fish bristle nose pleco and other similar sized tetras. Mixing dwarf...

How many liters or gallons is your tank? Most low light plants need around 20 lumens/liter. So lets say the tank was 20 gallons that 75 liters×20= 1500 lumens and the bulb needs to be 5000K-6700k to be effective for plants.

Wow 9 bristlenose? Bristlenose plecs are territorial id have no more than 1 in a tank your size maybe 2. Theyre also incredibly dirty fish. Angel fish are a shoaling fish that need to be in a group of at least 6 or a bonded pair in a tank by themselves and a group needs a far larger tank than...

Anubius has always grown well for me without heaps of light as its a low light plant. Most aquarium plants are grown immersed above ground and not submersed til in an aquarium which why alot of times they melt because the leaves developed out of water which is why bought plants going in tank...

Flourish comprehensive liquid fert is good for basic needs and easy to dose.for root tabs I use planted aquarium concepts root tabs. Purchased on line. They have more in them than the floirish tabs. Id steer clear of osmocote tabs as they are messy will float and get into water column.

Amazon swords are heavy root feeders so will need root tabs. Java fern needs calcium/ magnesium so if you are using really soft water make sure whatever fert you use has calcium/magnesium. All the other plants should do well with liquid fert. Make sure your light is 5000-6700k and low light...

Yup and there also different types of iron EDTA wont be absorbed at ph above about 6.5. Where as DTPA will be ok with higher PH and then there is iron gluconate which is " easier" for plants to utilize but if they have too much like Byron says it will just accumulate in the water and cause...

Ive kept ADF with fish and in a species only tank. In a tank with fish they are reclusive and shy and hide all day. They are also very social creatures and need to be in groups. As others have mentioned fish will outcompete them for food. They have poor eyesight and find their food by smell off...

Get rid of the ammo lock its killing your beneficial bacteria by starving it.

Amazon sword are high ammonium feeder so yes, good.moss balls eat lots of notrate

More than 20% isnt going to hurt anything. Not only will the new water limit algae but the fish will appreciate it so its really up to you go as high as 75% 20% is about the lowest id go. Good luck!

Ruby red peacocks get around 3 to 4 inches and are really pretty and blue neons get about 4 to 5 inches both are beautiful fish. You are correct about substrate and plants. They dig so small gravel or sand is ideal i wouldnt try any plants other than what you can tie down to rocks like jave fern...

Doing weekly water changes will dilute the excess nutrients from feeding and waste that algae feeds on. Try doing weekly water changes and decrease feeding and see if that helps. Also be sure there is no other light hitting the tank from a window or over head light as even that minimal amount of...

Cool, i actually use rotala calculator for dosing my RO water its a very useful tool as well as their light calculator. As for Iron i dont worry too much about it because of the studies of iron inhibiting other nutrients from being absorbed in plants. Any thoughts on that would be welcome? Also...

Ive seen worse but still that sucks :(

If your nitrates are zero then your tank isnt cycled which is why i asked. Test strips arent always reliable either but uncycled tank would be my first guess.

Gourami might be fine with danios, danios arent generally nippy but they are so hyper active they stress a lot of slower fish out and gouramis are slow moving and both danios and gourami inhabit the top of the tank so would be up to you.

See if the pet store will take them back. Clown loaches get pretty big and need ti be in shoals i wouldnt put them in anything smaller than 100 gallon look for smaller loaches. Zebra loach ,Yo yo loach,botia loach, chain loach all 6" or under.

Where in NZ? I lived in Aukland and rotorua for 2 years.

86 degrees is pretty warm for snail and shrimp. Higher temperature also leads to decreased oxygen and creates better breeding grounds for bad bacteria. Turn the temp down to around 76 instead of 86

Storm Parliment with your military rifle and demand they open fish stores for business...oh wait youre not in the U.S. never mind;)

Some other fish that may do well with zebra danios in that big if a tank. Tiger barbs are adaptable and can do well in your water., also a shoaling fish so buy a group. 1 rainbow shark or 1 red tailed shark. White cloud mountain minnow and rainbow fish. Maybe smaller loaches or even corydora...

Pet stores dont care about much except your money either that or they dont know or dont care. Also your water hardness at 150 is almost 9DGH which is on the harder side of water danios will be ok with moderately hard water but tetras need DGH around 6 and below so id stick with hard water...

Neons and zebra danios shouldnt be kept together. Zebras are fast erratic swimmer while neons are peacful slower swimmers and erratic swimming patterns of the danios will stress the neons out and also the zebras will out compete the tetras for food. Id stick with either similar sized tetras and...

Hmmm...under gravel filters usually have a grate that lies on the bottom of the tank with gravel on top. These grates have been known to get clogged with junk which could be contributing to high nitrates. Cleaning would entail removing the grate which would mean removing gravel which would mean...