#(anyone who knows their stuff more than some hobbyist (me) feel free to correct any of this if it's wrong btw.)

[walugus-grudenburg]

I'm hoping megacorps stop using shitty mass gathered data for their ML algorithms (Machine Learning, sometimes known as AI, which I will use for brevity but is a poor choice of words for it as while perfectly Artificial it is very functionally different than Intelligence.) The current trend of unlabeled zero QA datasets are horrid and often cause severe stupidity (use Google Docs or similar and you'll see what I mean.) It is extraordinarily expensive to get curated quality-tested datasets that you own to train an AI on. But, it not only solves 99% of moral issues with AI (if you own what it's trained on the "is it stealing" debate goes from a very subjective and contentious battle to pretty much vanishing entirely!) but it also increases the quality to an incredible degree! (though not necessarily a cost-effective one) Now I'm no machine learning scientist or businessperson, but surely at some point going that route's worth it to these companies just to get the courts off your back, right? Sure it's immensely expensive, but they're megacorps. They have the funds. They already spend so much on compute for these, surely they can afford some big data. (An additional benefit is since the data is better, it won't take as much of it, so less compute per quality. This helps decrease long-term costs some (though not as much as it costs to build the datasets unfortunately) but also helps the environment some by spending less power.)

[hella-free-space]

Hello, I would like to try a planted tank, but i have no clue how to start. I've been doing some research but i keep coming across terms like root tabs, water collum and substrate that I dont know. I have a 10 gallon tank that will have a betta after everything is planted and good. Any tips or help you can offer?

Hey @justanothersortasmartfangirl​! :p Hopefully these explanations of the terms ‘root tabs’, ‘water column’, and ‘substrate’ help you out! :) If you need/want further explanation or need/want me to explain them to you in a different way, please let me know! :)

Root Tabs: small tablets or capsules of plant fertililzer that can be put into the substrate, under plants, that slowly release nutrients. Usually they’re used in tanks with sand substrate, but you can add them to any substrate! You can buy them commercially, from hobbyists, or diy them yourself!Water column: the water in your tank, basically….usually we refer to the tank’s water as the ‘water column’ because there are different levels of the ‘water column’: top, mid, and bottom. Some fish occupy the top level of the water column (like hatchets), some occupy the mid level of the water column (most school fish, like neon tetras), and others occupy the bottom of the water column (like corydoras). fun fact: you can usually tell what part of the water column a fish generally inhabits by looking at their mouth! Usually a fish’s mouth position determines where their food source is, and therefore where they spend a good amount of their time :) superior = top, terminal = middle, inferior = bottom. Another place that you might hear the term ‘water column’ is when people talk about cycling. A common myth is that beneficial (nitrifying) bacteria live in the ‘water column’ (aka the water in your tank), when they actually live on the surfaces in your tank!

Substrate: the ground cover at the bottom of your tank. Sand and gravel are ‘substrates’! There are also plant-specific ‘substrates’ like Fluorite or Eco-Complete or ADA Amazonia. If a tank has no ‘substrate’ then it is called a ‘bare-bottom’ tank :)

Planted tanks are awesome! I keep at least a few live plants in all my tanks! They help to take excess nutrients out of the water and look fantastic imo :)

Tidbits for Planted Tanks:

If there’s a specific substrate that you want / prefer / need: pick plants that work with that substrate! (ex: don’t get dwarf hair grass if you want gravel)

If there are specific plants you want: pick a substrate that will work with them. (ex: if you want amazon swords, pick a nutrient-rich plant substrate)

Some plant substrates leach ammonia for a few weeks. I believe that this is supposed to help your tank cycle and to give your plants some extra nutrients. If you use a substrate that leaches, a fishless cycle is recommended.

If you’re on a budget: sand is going to be your cheapest option, root tabs optional (depending on the plants you want to put in your tank).

Not all plants need to be planted: Marimos and banana plants don’t need to be planted, and sit on top of the substrate. Mosses can be left floating or tied/glued to things. Frogbit and duckweed float on the surface of the water. These kinds of plants do well in any tank, whether the substrate is gravel, sand, plant substrate, glass stones, barebottom, etc.

Some plants are ‘ root feeders’, meaning that they take most of their nutrients from the substrate. You can grow root feeders (like amazon swords) in sand (though they seem to prefer / grow larger leaves in plant substrate) they’ll just grow…really long roots lol when i put swords in my sand-only tank, they used more energy to grow roots than leaves! i had 12″ roots on a 3″ sword after a month or so! Adding root tabs to sand is a good idea if you want plants that are heavy ‘root feeders’.

Some plants are ‘water column’ feeders, meaning that they take most of their nutrients from the water in your tank. These plants can grow floating (like duckweed and frogbit) or be left floating or planted (like anacharis: you can stick it in the substrate or you can let it float).

Most root-feeders do best with a plant substrate, such as Fluorite

Most water-column-feeders aren’t picky and will do well with any substrate

Some plants have ‘rhizomes’, which is like a big fat horizontal ‘root’ that the smaller roots grow down from and the stems/leaves grow up from. Anubias and java ferns are popular rhizome plants! These plants can be superglued to stuff, tied to stuff, or planted. If you choose to plant your rhizome-plants be sure to bury only bury the roots, burying the rhizome may kill the plant.

Mosses can be left floating, superglued to stuff, or tied around stuff. Moss-covered driftwood is pretty popular!

Not all plants require fertilizer, but it usually doesn’t hurt to have some! Seachem Flourish is what I use, but there are probably quite a few more liquid fertilizers that are popular in the hobby. If you add inverts like shrimp to a tank, make sure that your fertilizer is safe for them!

Not all plants require CO2 (a tank that has CO2 (and usually high-lighting and lots of fertilizers) is referred to as a ‘high-tech planted tank’, a tank that has no CO2 (usually low to medium lighting, ferts optional) is referred to as a ‘low-tech planted tank’), but some plants (like dwarf baby tears) require CO2. Plants that require high light and CO2 aren’t usually recommended for beginners, but if you find that you really really really want a tank with a nice ‘carpet’ (some plants stay small and spread until they cover the whole layer of substrate; these plants are referred to as ‘carpeting plants’. popular carpeting plants include s. repens, dwarf baby tears, and dwarf hair grass.) and some other high-needs plants then do a ton of research and go for it! :)

Some plants require lots of one specific nutrient, like iron! Red plants and swords usually need more iron :) You can buy nutrient-specific supplemental fertilizers like Seachem Flourish Iron or Flourish Potassium.

Plants are usually labelled as ‘high-light’, ‘medium-light’, or ‘low-light’. Plants that grow under nearly any standard bulb or low-output LED light are usually ‘low-light’ plants (anubias, marimos, most mosses, anacharis). Some plants prefer a brighter light (like amazon swords), like a plant-specific light (like a finnex stingray or something like that). Others require very high light to survive and thrive. 

The rating of a light (low, medium, or high) is usually measured in PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). 

You may also hear about a certain light fixture’s “temperature”, which refers to the color spectrum of a light (some lights put off more blue or red light), which is measured in ‘Kelvin’. 

You may sometimes hear lighting in terms of “watts per gallon”, which was a popular standard of measuring lighting output when most people used T5/T8 lighting (those long tube bulbs). As we’ve moved more and more into LED lighting, PAR has become a much more accurate way to measure light rating! 

Handy Dandy Linkeroos:

Sand vs Gravel, pros + cons

Flurite vs Eco-complete

Getting the most out of aquarium plants

Plants melt and that’s okay

Big list of aquarium plants

List of low-light aquarium plants

Planted Tanks for Beginners and So Can You

Comprehensive Planted Tank Guide 

An ask that lists some easy aquarium plants 

How to superglue plants to stuff 

How to set up a low-tech planted aquarium

Making your first foray into planted tanks

Plants 101 - How to set up a planted tank

Aquarium LED Lights (priced low to high):

Nicrew

Beamswork

Finnex Stingray

Finnex Fugeray Planted+

Finnex Planted+ 24/7

Fluval LEDs

Aquarium LED lighting reviews

Liquid Fertilizers:

Seachem Flourish Line (Flourish, Flourish Excel, Flourish Iron, Flourish Potassium, etc.)

Aquarium Co-op’s Easy Green (i’ve been wanting to try this out for a while…it’s on my aquarium wishlist! i’ve heard great things and another youtuber who grows and sells plants and was developing his own fertilizer formula said that the Easy Green Formula was quite close to his. If anyone has tried it, please leave a mini review!)

API Leafzone (I’ve seen some people on here who use it, but I haven’t personally used it. If you use this, please leave a mini review!)

Brighwell Aquatics’s FlorinMulti (I have some, but I haven’t used it yet. If you’ve used this product, please leave a mini review!)

Hopefully this info helps you out! :D Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to clarify further! :) Feel free to share how your planted tank turns out!! :D

If anyone else has anything to add (posts, corrections, helpful tidbits), please do!

[hella-free-space]

This one’s for you, Kahlia!

dope name btw (please let me know if you’d like your name removed from this post, tho!) note: words that are underlined are links! click them! :D

“When I first started DOZENS of people here told me the only way to cycle that didn't take months was to put already cycled filter media from a different tank into my filter. I finally have access to that so I did so, and now I have people telling me that doesn't make any difference and I'm wasting my time. I've also had people tell me conflicting info about using bottled bacteria - some say it's useless others swear by it.”

- Seeding a filter vs Instant-cycling: Using seeded media from another tank! On the bottled bacteria debate, this snippet from this post explains it pretty short and sweet:

“Bottled Products. Ok, more sorta complicated stuff ahead. Most bottled products do not contain nitrosoma and nitrobacter, but instead contain heterotrophic bacteria, which have a reasonable shelf life and much higher reproductive rate than true nitrifying bacteria which are autotrophic. Their drawback, however, is that they are not nearly as good as breaking down ammonia as true nitrifying bacteria so it takes much more of them to do the job. Many if not most of these products do not work. Either they do not contain the right kind of bacteria or it is dead.The only products that work to my knowledge are: Biospira (Now Dr. Tim’s One and Only and Tetra Safestart), SeaChem Stability, and FritzZyme TurboStart 700. Keep in mind that heterotrophs cannot truly cycle an aquarium and should only be used as an aid to deal with ammonia spikes.”

“Also water changes. Some have said take out 20% every day, others have said leave it because the tank won't cycle if I'm doing water changes.”

- What water changes are and why we do them Now that you know we perform water changes to remove excess nitrates from a *cycled* aquarium, you need to know when to do water changes during cycling and when not to do water changes during cycling. There are two types of cycling: fishless cycling and fish-in cycling. With a fishless cycle, you start out with a non-cycled tank, but then add the ammonia source manually. The ammonia source could be liquid/bottled ammonia or it can be a panty-hose stocking full of fish food! You have to keep manually adding ammonia and checking your tank’s parameters so that you can track where your tank is in it’s cycle. You don’t want to do water changes  because you’ll be removing ammonia and nitrite. if you do that, you’re removing the things that your nitrifying bacteria eat, which may result in some of the bacteria colony dying off (if done regularly/frequently) and increasing your cycling time. - Fishless Cycling from Dr. Tims (i hear a lot of people use dr. tims ammonium chloride) - Fishless Cycling from Aquariumadvice.com - What is cycling? How to cycle your tank by @scalestails - How to fuckin do the thing by @lokittyofcatsguard - Cycle your tank! by @jayce-space With a fish-in cycle, you start out with a non-cycled tank, add fish, and the fish acts as your source of ammonia that feeds nitrifying bacteria (there are 2 kinds of nitrifying bacteria that help keep your tanks cycle going: one turns ammonia into nitrite, and the other turns nitrite into nitrate) as they colonize. Because ammonia (and nitrite) are toxic above 0ppm, you have to do toooons of water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites as low as possible (usually .25ppm or below) until you start to see lots of nitrates but no ammonia or nitrite (a cycled tank has parameters of 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite, Xppm nitrate). - Fish-in cycling explained here!

People have told me to use Indian almond leaf for my fish's health. But then others have said the drop in pH caused by the leaves will inhibit bacteria growth.

Indian almond leaves produce tannins, which are great for bettas! The tannins do help to decrease the pH (great for someone who might live in an area where the tap is 7.8+) and they do have antibacterial properties. Alder cones and driftwood (especially malaysian driftwood holy frick) also produce tannins. There are different types of bacteria, and many people have “teawater” (i believe they’re also called blackwater? someone let me know if thats wrong) tanks where the water is so brown from all the tannins that it looks like tea! These tanks can still hold a stable cycle, tho, so I’d assume that the antibacterial properties of the tannins won’t harm the nitrifying bacteria that perform the nitrogen cycle in your tank! :D (if anyone has anything to add to this section, please do! i dont have time rn to look into which types of bacteria are affected by tannins or how much tannins have to be in the water for there to be any major antibacterial effect, etc.)

Some people have urged that I use Prime. Others are saying not to cause my tank won't cycle with all the "extra chemicals"

Why we all love prime: it lasts forever and its more than just a conditioner! it removes chlorine and chloramines (most dechlorinators remove chlorines and some heavy metals, but I’m not sure if all dechlorinators also remove chloramines) and neutralizes ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates for up to 48 hours! To those saying that prime will stall a tank’s cycle because of all the “extra chemicals”: they may believe that because prime neutralizes ammonia and nitrites, the nitrifying bacteria that are growing in your filter may not be able to “eat” any of that ammonia or nitrite...since its been neutralized (kind of like equating using prime during a fishless cycle to doing a water change during a fishless cycle). however, prime doesn’t break down these substances entirely, it just binds to them until the bacteria in your filter can “eat” them! Also, you have to use more than the recommended dose (prime is safe to dose up to 5x the recommended amount) to ensure that it binds to excess ammonia and nitrites in the tank. (this forum post and this forum post discuss this further)

I feel like everything I do, I'm being told I'm doing wrong despite it only being under the advice from the same groups telling me that in the first place.

Yeah, i feel that. big mood. it’s really hard being a beginner especially, or researching a new species because there will always be conflicting information out there from hobbyists and even between well-known websites. there are just sooo many fishkeepers out there with sooo many different experiences that don’t explain the advice they give out. what works for one person may not work for another because one person may be keeping cichlids and large tanks and another person may be keeping nano species in very small heavily planted tanks -- and even just between those two situations, their tanks will cycle differently (partially because extremely heavily planted jungle tanks may go through a “silent cycle” but that’s a whole other thing). they just give out advice on this or that without stepping back to consider what their personal fishkeeping background is, to consider what your fishkeeping background is, to ask for more details about your setup or your situation, etc. i think that a good rule of thumb is to ask questions to anyone who’s giving you advice. if they can’t tell you why they’re giving you a certain piece of advice, then they might not know exactly what they’re talking about. ask them for more information if they give a one word answer. bonus points to anyone who provides scientific evidence, articles, etc. to back up their claims!

SO WHAT IS THE TRUTH? because I've tried almost EVERYTHING people here and on other fish forums have told me and NOTHING has worked. I have spent hundreds of dollars buying countless products and 5 months of my time following confusing and conflicting info. And my tank is still not cycled and my fish is still dying. My next step is to just buy a whole new set up or give my fish away and forget about it

hopefully the links i gave and the things i explained above helped to clarify THE TRUTH for you somewhat~ if you EVER need ANYTHING, please don’t hesitate to message me, either through this tumblr blog (hella-free-space.tumblr.com) or through facebook! 

Also, i definitely encourage you to make a tumblr and join #fishblr and/or #bettablr (tumblr communities involved in fishkeeping and betta-keeping!). Everyone here is pretty much on the same page about information and advice we give out to less knowledgeable keepers and share amongst ourselves. We’re big fans of providing “whys” to the advice we give and quite a few blogs here regularly cite scientific studies or research during discussions! We’re a community who cares deeply about animals (especially our fish!) and we do our best to put their needs first! Lots of people post regularly about their own fish / aquariums and get help from the community. Our community includes both hobbyists and professional aquarists (those who have experience with conducting research and/or working at an aquatic facility) and we all love to learn! 

-- If anyone has any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment or reblog below! If I’ve made any mistakes or you feel that corrections should be made to any of the information give in this post, don’t hesitate to leave a comment/reblog or send me a message to discuss it! --