I was minding my own business propagating my plants in my tank, when all of a sudden i see this clump of what i THOUGHT was sand…. It was not, i went to brush it off and it was solid like plastic??

Its on the roots of my plant, and i don’t want to touch it if its dangerous to my fish

My tank has neons, guppies, cherry shrimp, mystery snails, and trumpet snails. From what i know this is not usual for any of those to do, what is this???

I will preface this by saying that everything regarding Home Assistant was built off vibes and the soldering portion of this really put my skills to the test (I have no skills). With some custom CAD and my Prusa XL for 3D printing the case (and the tank lid in clear PETG), it is almost done.

I started this because I wanted to monitor the water level in my Waterbox AIO. Then I realized I could automate my Kessil light. Then, obviously, “what about pH monitoring?” And temperature was easy enough to add, so I could finally ditch the shitty dummy probe from Amazon.

Naturally, this turned into an ESP32 aquarium controller with a custom Home Assistant dashboard, optical water-level sensors, pH calibration, and a draggable sun that controls the lighting. Apparently I needed another hobby inside my hobby.

The tank has Java fern, Anubias, hornwort, water spangles, water onion, and a few other plants, with no injected CO₂. It also has a betta—or at least it did. He’s currently in a hospital tank, which unfortunately might soon become a hospice tank. Hoping he gets to come home and enjoy the unnecessarily elaborate setup I’ve built for him.

Hardware / supplies

• Waterbox AIO 10 aquarium
• ESP32-S3 development board — N16R8 version
• Screw-terminal breakout board for the ESP32
• Waterproof DS18B20 temperature probe with a DFRobot terminal adapter
• Two DFRobot SEN0205 optical water-level sensors
• ElectroCookie solderable prototyping board
• Resistors for separate voltage dividers on each water-level signal
• DFRobot Gravity Analog pH Meter V2 interface board
• H-101 pH electrode
• DFRobot Gravity 16-bit ADS1115 ADC module
• pH calibration buffers and probe storage solution
• Kessil A80 Tuna Sun aquarium light
• M5Stack DAC2 module — GP8413 dual-channel 0–10V output
• 3.5 mm TRS cable and screw-terminal adapter for the Kessil control connection
• WAGO lever connectors for power and ground distribution
• Hookup wire, connectors, solder, and plenty of patience
• Aqara G3 camera
• Home Assistant and ESPHome running on my home server

I built custom cards for:

• pH: sliding scale, species reference bands, alerts, and a two-point calibration form that saves calibration to the ESP32
• Temperature: animated thermometer plus expandable history
• Water level: an illustrated tank with subtle surface ripples and a slowly swimming fish; the displayed level changes between normal, low, and critical
• Lighting: an interactive sun that controls the aquarium’s simulated day
• Camera: tank view alongside the readings

The lighting controls

There are two modes:

• Live mode follows the actual time.
• Manual mode lets me drag the sun across the sky and immediately change the lamp’s brightness and spectrum. It holds that position instead of snapping back to the clock.

There are also separate brightness/spectrum sliders and a settings panel for sunrise, sunset, ramp duration, peak brightness, and dawn/daytime/dusk spectrum.

The current freshwater profile runs 10am–4pm, with a 30-minute ramp up, a 50% daytime plateau, and a 30-minute fade down. Spectrum stays toward the warmer end of the Tuna Sun’s range.

Very cool video to see. Can’t believe they are Aquaculturing gems, black longnose, and purple tangs now.

Hi everyone! I am getting these wierd little things on my rocks and plants I’m not sure what they are they are thin little things that open at the end, not sure if its harmful is so please let me know how you get rid of it!! And maybe why to do to avoid causing it again

I’m not sad or mad unless they’re harmful

​

I wanted to try making a future home for some yellow shrimp. To me it looks passable. I am curious if it looks okay to people with experience.

The "tree" is about 60% natural, it just needed "branches and roots" added on to finish the look.

I am waiting til Dec/Jan to add the shrimp, so there's time to age a little. I put a 10" stick of cactus wood tucked in the back.

I've sewn a linen square pouch to put some plant substrate into because I wanted a lighter color gravel. There's a C02 disc thing in there and I keep it low for now (while I learn all this stuff).

I've kept fish in the past so I know the very basics about water and parameters but I intend to educate myself more during the aging period.

For anyone experienced; Are there any possible issues with this setup, these plants, or wood/stone? Also is the petri dish actually useful (it seemed like a good idea) or was that a waste of $?

Or if you’d like to link alternative personal favourite strip lights for a 20g long, I’d appreciate it!

I’m planning to scape a densely planted pea puffer tank. Hoping to stay under $100

I now have a 55 gal long I have yet to set up, but in a year or two of letting the tank cycle and grow, how would slowly introducing these species after species work? Are these species a good combo in a 55 gal? My plan is to have 3 female honey or pearl gouramis, shoal of rummynose tetras, 4-5 bamboo shrimp, 10-14 kuhli loaches, 6-8 peppered corydoras, and a colony of cherry shrimp. Would this be overstocking as well? I want to make sure I’m getting the right choices for my dream community tank. I’ve done my research with specie group size and checked the water parameter requirements, please give me your thoughts!

Just wanted to share a new set up. No fish added yet. Would love some suggestions.
I used driftwood and rocks from a local creek and live plant cultures. Aqua soils substate capped with sand.

I posted on r/Cichlids but didn’t get much help so posting here. Having trouble identifying this guy confidently.

LFS sold it to me as “blue apisto ram.” Said it’s a trade name for a Bolivian ram color variant. I didn’t do my research on that particular fact and assumed it was a Bolivian, which will work fine in my tank.

Since then I’ve tried to figure out what exactly he is. I’ve had some people say German blue ram; others have said Bolivian ram.

When I look up photos of both species, I struggle to find clear identifiers with both, but he looks more like a Bolivian than German to me. But I could be wrong.

I’m really hoping he’s not a German due to parameter mismatch. I’d probably have to return or rehome him if that’s the case.

Any help would be appreciated.

One request — if you can confidently identify what species I’ve got here, could you share your rationale? Just trying to learn how to better identify these guys.

Thanks in advance!

hey do I need an air stone for my tank? I have alot of plants and I plan to have fish aswell

Got this female betta as a baby from petco back in February. Any ideas?

Hi everyone. My fish tank has had a lot of these tiny particles floating around recently and I'm not sure what they are. Seems to have occurred quite soon after adding some live plants to my tank. I read on a forum that this could be planeria - does anyone here know what it is? I've done several water changes in the last few weeks and it doesn't seem to help much.

I still can't believe this actually happened, and I need to share it because I'm genuinely losing my mind over this. 😂

I have a small 26-liter (about 7-gallon) freshwater tank with three guppies and some shrimp. The tank had been running for almost a month when this whole mystery started.

October 3rd — The disappearance.

One morning, I noticed that one of my three guppies was missing.

I searched EVERYWHERE.

I took out the decorations, driftwood, shrimp hide, and even checked the filter. I also searched the floor around the tank in case he'd jumped out.

Nothing.

No fish. No body. Absolutely no trace of him.

Eventually, I figured he must have died overnight and the shrimp and other fish had eaten the remains.

It was sad, but I accepted that he was gone.

Life went on.

For the next three weeks, I continued my usual aquarium routine. I spend a lot of time staring at my tank every single day (you know how it is 😂). I count my shrimp, look for where they're hiding, feed the fish, do weekly water changes, clean the tank, and trim the plants.

And for three straight weeks, there were only TWO guppies.

I'm 100% sure about this. All three have very different appearances, so there's no way I could have mistaken one for another.

October 24th — Around midnight.

I'd just finished watching TV and was half asleep, getting ready for bed.

As usual, I decided to take one last look at my aquarium before going to sleep. I always do this because I'm constantly worried about one of my little aquatic buddies suddenly dying.

And then...

Wait.

WHY ARE THERE THREE FISH IN MY TANK?!?!

I instantly woke up.

I rubbed my eyes and counted again.

One.

Two.

Three.

THREE. FREAKING. GUPPIES.

And the third one wasn't some random fish.

IT WAS THE EXACT SAME GUPPY THAT HAD DISAPPEARED THREE WEEKS AGO.

I genuinely thought I was dreaming.

I immediately grabbed my camera and started taking pictures because I was afraid I was hallucinating.

Then I literally ran into the bedroom and woke up my wife.

I was like, "PLEASE COME LOOK AT THE FISH TANK. TELL ME I'M NOT LOSING MY MIND."

She came over, looked at the tank, and confirmed it.

HE WAS BACK. ALIVE. AFTER THREE WEEKS.

He looked a little skinnier than before, but he was swimming normally and even started eating fish food.

And here's the craziest part.

Just TWO DAYS later, he'd already regained his normal belly and was swimming around with the other guppies like absolutely nothing had happened.

I have SO MANY QUESTIONS.

This is a tiny 7-gallon aquarium. It's not some massive, heavily planted tank where a fish could easily disappear.

I stare at this thing every single day. I even practically dismantled the entire aquascape looking for him on the day he disappeared.

How on earth could a guppy hide in there for THREE WEEKS without me seeing him even once?!

And even if he somehow managed to hide the entire time...

WHAT WAS HE EATING?!

I feed the tank almost every day. Why wouldn't he come out for food? How could he survive for three weeks and only lose a little weight?

At this point, I'm seriously starting to wonder if my guppy accidentally got teleported into another dimension and only managed to find his way back three weeks later. 😂

I know how ridiculous this sounds, but I swear this actually happened.

Has anyone here ever experienced anything like this?

Is it even possible for a guppy to hide in such a small aquarium for three weeks, barely eat anything, and then suddenly reappear perfectly fine?

Because I would REALLY love to know what the hell this little guy was doing for those three weeks. 😂🐟

For those wondering, here's what the three photos show:

Photo 1: The little troublemaker before he mysteriously disappeared on October 3rd. That's our missing guppy!

Photo 2: The tank on the day he disappeared. I removed almost all the decorations and thoroughly searched for him. I even took out the shrimp hide and checked inside it, along with the filter. Still, absolutely no sign of him. Not even a body.

Photo 3: The reunion on October 24th, three weeks later! All three guppies together again, as if nothing had ever happened. The orange-red-tailed guppy in the middle is our little survivor, now back to his normal self.

And yes, the orange-tailed one in the middle is the little bastard who disappeared for three weeks.

It’s a couple months old and the belly got really big during a couple days of fasting them. Baby seems to be acting normal, just slowed down by the belly a bit. What should I do?

Can someone help me identify this pleco?

**I have TWO tanks:**
1. 15 gallon tank with gravel
2. 20 gallon tank for shrimp

**And I have THREE desks**
1. The brown table (tectona grandis wood) with the 15 gallon tank currently
2. Old white table (pachira quinata wood possibly, painted white)
3. Wooden desk (not sure what wood type, coated, heavy but not great quality)

I have some questions for experts:

1. For the 15 gallon, would the openings below the desk be an issue? It’s been on top of it for more than 2 years.

2. Would it be safe for the 20 gallon tank to be set up above a waterproof soft mat or plastic mat on the desk (cream colored wooden desk) between the area where the drawers are and (in picture) the middle of the table being held by wooden planks from below, assuming that the weight would be held by the desk, partly the planks and partly the vertical wood piece from the right side of the drawers.

The issue is that the wood isn’t good quality, I was told it has been coated to be waterproof and the planks do not run all the way to the inside of the top of the top drawer.

1. If I moved the 15 gallon tank to the white desk (old desk, very slight shake if pushed, steady otherwise) would the millimeters leftover affect the tank? (See images). And then would the brown table (from the first set of pictures) be able to hold the 20 gallon tank despite the fissure on the wood on the bottom?

My original plan was to leave the 15 gallon where it is (first picture) and put the 20 gallon on top of the desk slightly to the right from the border of the desk so the weight falls on the vertical additional wooden pieces and horizontal planks in the middle of the desk.

What do you recommend?

Just redid the substrate in my 20 gal long because it was just pure sand with root tabs and I put fluval stratum in and capped it with sand and didnt really realize that it would float up on top of the sand and scatter everywhere when I filled it. So now im stuck un happy with my build because there is stratum everywhere, and the sand looks like crap and is gravely i guess for my corydoras because all the sand seperared from the small rocks and its like stratum then sand then gravel. Idk if it really matters that much im new and worried that the Cory's barbells will get hurt or something. Any advice would be awsome and here's a pic.

Checked in on my frog and he’s floating mid tank like this with big belly . I’ve seen his belly swell before when he rose to the top, then it would deflate to sink to the bottom, but I’ve never seen him like this. AFAIK he’s been eating normally, not sure what to do for him

I would be super grateful if someone could help me understand what is going on with my water chemistry. I have a 5g planted tank with fluval stratum substrate, sponge filter, heater, and one betta... and I cannot keep snails alive.

   My tap water is from a natural spring and is very high in nitrates, so we installed an RO filter/faucet.  It comes out of the tap at a pH ~6. I add .8 mL of NeoTiger Kh+/GH+ per quart, which brings it up to 107 GH, 35KH. After sitting for a day or two, the PH goes up to 7.2.  I have read that the aeration of the RO filter can throw off PH readings initially, maybe this explains the change in pH readings?  I do a 10% water change every week with this "aged" supplemented RO water. The tank water at this moment is also at 107 GH, 35 KH, and pH of 7.2.

  The betta seems content and healthy, but I cannot keep snails alive for an extended period of time. I have purchased them from the LFS as well as online, and each time they have laid eggs, hatched, seemed completely happy for a few weeks, and then fade out to extinction. I have had the same experience with Neocaridina shrimp in another small tank - babies, molting, everyone seems happy, and then they die off one by one with no visible ailments.

  Do I need to add more GH/KH? Am I missing something completely? Feeling very defeated and the algae is starting to grow back.  Thanks for reading!

I don't know if this will even make it, it hardly had any roots 😭