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This is where I started.
Thread 'What am I doing wrong?' Help - What am I doing wrong?

A new plan is formulating.
I have 50+ lbs of washed BDBS ready to go in.
I also purchased a new Aquael Ultramax 1000 canister filter.
The plan is to let the filter run for a month. Then at some point swap out the existing gravel with the BDBS. I'll continue to run the new canister as well as the existing HOBs for another month after the substrate swap and then retire the HOBs.
I have to wait at least a month to let the new canister develop a bacteria colony and also the BDBS is in 5 gallon buckets in my shed and it's currently frozen into a solid block.

After the tank is stable, only then will I add plants. I plan on going the CO2 route this time. I'm looking at adding a GLA or a CO2 Art inline diffuser.

Which bring me to.my first question. I've tried to think about this logically. Due to space my canister filter sits on the right side of my tank, not underneath.
What side do I want to put my intake and output? I was thinking of putting the inlet on the right side since it will be almost a straight shot via gravity directly into the filter. The outflow, which will be a spray bar, would be on the left side. That would give more contact time between CO2 and water after the inline diffuser, however that longer output length would likely also slow flow some as their is a longer run of hose and more head height. But I think the more contact time the more the CO2 diffuser into the water before going into the tank. Am I thinking about this correctly?

Hey all!

Perhaps you guys have some ideas for me. I'm looking to upgrade a couple of my current lights, which are Fluval Aquasky 2.0's.

My first attempt at upgrading was getting a Twinstar 1200EA V. But with that light I ran into a problem: it made my tank very disco-y! The separated-out colors (somewhat of a defining feature for twinstar lights) didn't properly blend in my setup, resulting in colored dots of light dancing around everywhere. It looked very unnatural.

I have plenty of surface agitation, so having a shimmer effect is expected. But under these circumstances the fluval lights (which are RGBW) never gave me problems with color separation, while the twinstar did.

So what could be some good quality lights (mid segment and up) that work well for tanks with a lot of surface agitation? I assume that color blending plays an important part here.

It will be for a low tech tank that currently doesn't require too much in the way of PAR. An overpowered light I can dial back is fine. I prefer a mostly natural look over heavy color boosting.

I'm currently considering something like a Skylight Entriq. A bit on the expensive side, but who knows. Appreciate any input!

Long-time lurker in the hobby. I’ve been chewing on an idea for a website (maybe a weekly newsletter too) that’s focused purely on curated aquascape inspiration — not another feed to scroll, but something with an actual point of view: why a scape works, what makes the hardscape/planting choices interesting, styles worth studying, that kind of thing.

Before I build anything, wanted to ask people who’d actually use it:

• Where do you currently go for aquascape inspiration — Instagram, YouTube, forums, contest archives?

• Does that already fully scratch the itch, or is there something missing (context, explanation, curation vs. just a feed)?

• Would a smaller, curated site/newsletter add anything for you, or does it feel redundant with what’s already out there?

• Would you ever visit or subscribe to something like that regularly, or is it a “look at once, forget” kind of thing?

Genuinely trying to figure out if this fills a real gap or if I’d just be adding noise to a space that’s already well served. All takes welcome, including “this already exists” or “nobody needs this.”

Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @Cool81!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?

My wife and I agreed we'd ideally be moving in the next 6-12 months. There's the possibly it could be sooner if the right place pops up, and could possibly be longer, although not ideal. This has made me pause and reconsider setting up my 120p in this house (and a 20 gallon too!). The thought of having the tank up and running for possibly a short period of time before having to break it down and move it sounds pretty terrible compared to moving all of individual components. I currently have my 75p, so I'm not tankless and would need to move that.

Location would still be in the same general region (20-40 mile radius) and we'd likely maintain overlap between homes for a 1 month.

What would you do?

Started a new tank with the idea of show casing Lagenandra meeboldii which I have not showcased before. Wanted to feature Hygrophila lower Hlaingbwe, but I removed it later as I think it would be too large for this tank.

New substrate, new filter, squeezed filter mulm from the other matured tank, then ran the tank one week day before planting. 100% water change after planting, then 100% water change every other day since then. Dosing 1ml APT3 after water change day, and remineralizing to 5dGH using APT Sky. Trying out the low water column dosing approach for the initial period.

Filter: Oase 250
Lights: Week aqua a430 80%
Substrate: APT Feast

Was going to Journal about startup issues, however, it seems like the tank has already stabilized, skipping diatoms and green dust phase.

Freshly planted for a couple of days:
13/2/2026


Replanted the tops for Myriophyllum roraima, Cut and replanted Rotala blood red to begin building up the bush form. Trimmed old leaves
Foreground seems a bit blocky for now, so I think I'lll move stuff round again. Probably when the BV grows out some more.
Pic on 23/2/2026

Readings at this stage:
Potassium: 2.3ppm
Ammonia: 0.1ppm

reduce water changes to 2 times a week.

Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @JoshEm!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?

Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @LeoBubux11!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?

Over the last couple decades, many aquarium products have become "smart". every decent light these days seems to have an app. Filters have apps now. Dosing pumps. Even simple plug in timers have apps. Some of these products come from companies with long-standing reputations (Aqua Illumination, Fluval etc.). Some come from new (at least to the USA) brands with limited presence outside of China or their home countries. And these are often the best products that are either completely unavailable or significantly more expensive from the established brands. But what happens if X Lighting Brand ceases to exist, or stops servicing their apps, or their app has a security vulnerability? What happens if a company pulls out of the US market because of tariffs or simply market uncertainties? What are the chances you pay $500 for a light that is rated for 50,000 hours, but stops working in a year because of some software issue? What happens if a company changes the app into something worse?

I'm not trying to pick on foreign (to me in the USA) companies. I recently sunk a lot of money into AI Prime lights that started making awful high pitched whining noises. Sent them back and forth to the company for repair, finally they told me that it was a firmware problem that they didn't really understand, so they authorized my app to rollback to a previous version. Fixed the problem, but now I can never update the firmware unless they fix the issue in a future update, but I will never know when that happens, or if a future update will create a new issue. (Side note why does a 6-year old product need regular firmware updates?). Plus, it took over a month without my lights as they were in shipping and diagnosis.

Are you concerned about this issue? Do you have brands you trust? Are there workarounds to use a product without the app?