u/One_Guarantee1653

I’ve gone through 3 different bulbs already, trying to find the right one. I’ve decided to use the Philips par38 smart wi-fi led light now, but in these photos, it’s dimmed to 50% brightness. My rooted plants are looking great and growing well, but my floaters look bleak. I’m thinking of removing the red root floaters and having only frogbit, but the frogbit seems to be growing out with some brown streaks on them? Is the lighting still too bright, or not bright enough? They’re also on a siesta schedule.

I have one Nerite snail, neocaridina shrimp, a few of least kilifish. The fish do a good job of keeping the ostracod population in check. Parameters are okay, no nitrites, no ammonia, 7.4PH, GH/KH are in appropriate levels too. Nitrates fluctuate from 10ppm to 20ppm but I haven’t had it gone higher. I usually do a tiny water change otherwise, to not stress the shrimp out. My pothos was growing super fast so I actually had to trim and propagate it haha.

I finally got a hold of the master test kit at retail and immediately tested the water. Vessel is over a month old now. I have one mystery snail and a few shrimps.
I did a few water changes over the month to keep the water safe for the creatures, but I think the soil has stopped leaching now.

I plan on putting a few least kilifish in there, but I wanted to make sure of the PH.

My tank is almost 2 months old now, and I’m thinking I should just cover the vessel floor with cuttings of the limnophila sessiliflora. What do you think? It’s not fully cycled yet, nitrites and nitrates are high but zero ammonia.

I lowered the grow light to be more closer to the surface of the water and growth is so much better.

I turned the inset lighting into a pendant light using a grow/flood light (it’s par38, not sure if I should go higher). My pothos and monstera are growing great, and my limnophila sessiliflorq growth is exploding. I have to cut and prop every time they get too long. I’ve also added red root floaters that are growing quickly as well. I just put in a red tiger lotus, pennywort, and hydrocotyle verticillata at the bottom of the vessel yesterday and hopefully they grow well too! It’s so fulfilling seeing the growth, especially after changing the lighting situation a few times. Still not ready for livestock but patience is everything!

(I want to change the holder for the monstera but I haven’t found one that’ll take less space and look less obnoxious, so fingers crossed I find something soon)

This is a little over 5 gallons, and I’m using this grow light (4500k) in the inset lighting — the height from the light to the bottom of the vessel is 45”, and to the top of the vessel is 33”. Should I be concerned about how much light is actually getting inside?

I just started this, so there’s only 2 snails, driftwood, and plants (Ambulia, rotala roundfolia, pennywort, red root floaters, water spangles, water lettuce, monstera cuttings on top). So far I’ve already seen growth on the ambulia but I’m not sure if the light is sufficient overall. Would there be a better option? Maybe a regular 6500k bulb?

I received a really pretty fishbowl as a gift that fits 5 gallons, and decided to try out the walstad method. There’s nothing inside yet, just the floating plants, rotala roundfolia, limnophilla, driftwood, and the monstera cuttings. I filled it up with water from my hose outside (we have hard water here and reverse osmosis indoors). This is my first time doing this so I’m sorry if I sound like a newbie. Thank you in advance!

Also, should I add more plants? Any suggestions?