Why do I stay in this hobby????

[MaloK]

Thanks for the encouragement. Short of a canister, what filtration would you or anyone suggest? I’d ultimately like to incorporate frogbit or water lettuce down the pike, but this flow in my HOB is ridiculous

You are right, it's more difficult to have floating plants with a powerful HOB in a small tank.

Most of the time, some kind of support or at least a water barrier for the plants is beneficial and installing the plants on the opposite side of the filter output when using floaters or near output when using stem plants. There are some that will cover a tank quickly and thicken by the week. If they are planted near the surface in baskets they will grow incredible roots and block the surface and have to be regularly pruned.

I'm a big Fan of HOB's filters and peculiarly Aquaclear, They bring a lot more natural water movement. As stupid as it can look like, nearly all the water you filter comes in contact with the surface before returning to the aquarium. That never happens with a canister. That is a tremendous loss of gazes exchanges. The only way to compensate is a spray bar, and they are a burden.

I go AC, with a 20x and over turnover. And once the media starts to be broken in, this is the grace period loll, the flow is going to lower a lot and you should be able to keep the tank cycled by not having to replace your media for years. I run an AC600 that is rated for 30x my tank. After a year on breaking in, the flow is just perfect now and remains that way for months between maintenance.

I fishless cycle my tanks with plants and most of the time the flow already reduced before I add stock.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Some good advice here--you've come to the right place. Plants can remove your ammonia for you, but only if you have a lot of plants and not a lot of fish. Looks to me like you have a lot of bioload for the amount of plants. There are some floating plants that will stand up to the current, hornwort being one of the toughest. If you can, get a whole bunch, enough to cover 30% or more of the surface. It will help with the ammonia. But you should still keep up with the water changes--the plants won't do it by themselves with the large fish load.

HOB filters drive me crazy, as they're noisy and make it really hard to have floating plants. I like canisters myself. Each kind has its pros and cons. I would definitely advise keeping the HOB going for now, since it is currently holding whatever beneficial bacteria you have. But it would be a good idea to add more.

So: More filtration; huge daily water changes until the ammonia goes away; more plants, especially floaters; Prime or similar product to detoxify. And a contingency plan to rehome some of your critters when aggression becomes an issue.

Also, I doubt the fish care, but the colored gravel is stressing me out. In case you were wondering.