Before I start... I want to say what an excellent forum this is!
I have been successfully running this tank for about 6 years with no plants. Just recently, I almost lost all of my fish due to an unknown cause and eventually did a 7 day treatment of Melafix and Primafix.... long story short, I added 8 new Neons and a Blue RAM and they all seem to be thriving for the past 2 weeks, just added some activated carbon to filter out what's left of the medicines. Here's the total stock right now:
29 Gallon long
(I also noted the approximate time I've had the fish for)
11 Neon Tetras
3 Rosey Barbs
2 Skunk Cory Cats
1 Peppered Cory Cat
1 German Blue Ram
1 Singapore/Bamboo shrimp (similiar to amano shrimp as it's a filter shrimp with fans, but can be a bright orange/red color. Other amanos I've seen are grey/dark brown).
Fliters: Emperor single bio-wheel external AND undergravel Reverse-Flow.
On to my plant questions:
This past weekend I decided to buy some plants to offset the amount of algae that grows in my tank. My tanks are in the living room and plenty of light gets in... I have to clean algae at least once a month. From all my readings.... I figure some plants can "hinder" further growth of algae in the tank. I do not expect plants to totally stop the algae growth. I'm on the verge of buying this shopping list, but don't want to "overdo" it, nor do I want to "underdo" it. here's also a list of the plants:
(I threw away the bags that had the labeled names of each, so this is as accurate as I can get)
1 Amazon Sword
2 small Vals
2 crypts
1 Penny "something"... I looked up pennywort, but what I have doesn't look like it.
couple of driftwood pieces
am about to buy:
- Flourish tabs
- Floursih iron ?
- New light fixture, minimum 60+watt bulb? I currently have a single 25-30W fluorescent, haven't changed it in a few yrs. Should I get one of those dual-bulb jobs? Another thing confusing is that I'm not 100% sure about whether the new fixture would fit unless I limit my shopping to a LFS rather than online.
Reading about CO2 scares me as I don't want to overdo it and drastically mess with the PH levels. I certainly want the plants to thrive, but I also don't intend to win any aquaflorist contests.
- Can anyone make further recommendations to the shopping list?
- I have one of those 5 in 1 test strip kits that measure: ph, nitrite, nitrate, hardness, alkalinity (is that dh or gh?). Am I able to calculate CO2 levels from these measurements? I see this being discussed quite a lot, but haven't seen the formula. My levels are typically: ph on the low side, alkalinity low and soft is what I measure. I can provide actual measured amounts when I get home tonite.
- I had a bubble-bar and an airstone that I eventually turned off as I've read they help CO2 escape. Then I recall reading somewhere else that the air bubbles are beneficial to plants.... so I'm not 100% sure.
- My Emperor external filter does agitate the surface as it's like a mini watefall pouring out of it. Even keeping the water level high, I see small bubbles it creates on the surface. Am I seriosly depriving my plants of CO2 with this filter?
I have been successfully running this tank for about 6 years with no plants. Just recently, I almost lost all of my fish due to an unknown cause and eventually did a 7 day treatment of Melafix and Primafix.... long story short, I added 8 new Neons and a Blue RAM and they all seem to be thriving for the past 2 weeks, just added some activated carbon to filter out what's left of the medicines. Here's the total stock right now:
29 Gallon long
(I also noted the approximate time I've had the fish for)
11 Neon Tetras
3 Rosey Barbs
2 Skunk Cory Cats
1 Peppered Cory Cat
1 German Blue Ram
1 Singapore/Bamboo shrimp (similiar to amano shrimp as it's a filter shrimp with fans, but can be a bright orange/red color. Other amanos I've seen are grey/dark brown).
Fliters: Emperor single bio-wheel external AND undergravel Reverse-Flow.
On to my plant questions:
This past weekend I decided to buy some plants to offset the amount of algae that grows in my tank. My tanks are in the living room and plenty of light gets in... I have to clean algae at least once a month. From all my readings.... I figure some plants can "hinder" further growth of algae in the tank. I do not expect plants to totally stop the algae growth. I'm on the verge of buying this shopping list, but don't want to "overdo" it, nor do I want to "underdo" it. here's also a list of the plants:
(I threw away the bags that had the labeled names of each, so this is as accurate as I can get)
1 Amazon Sword
2 small Vals
2 crypts
1 Penny "something"... I looked up pennywort, but what I have doesn't look like it.
couple of driftwood pieces
am about to buy:
- Flourish tabs
- Floursih iron ?
- New light fixture, minimum 60+watt bulb? I currently have a single 25-30W fluorescent, haven't changed it in a few yrs. Should I get one of those dual-bulb jobs? Another thing confusing is that I'm not 100% sure about whether the new fixture would fit unless I limit my shopping to a LFS rather than online.
Reading about CO2 scares me as I don't want to overdo it and drastically mess with the PH levels. I certainly want the plants to thrive, but I also don't intend to win any aquaflorist contests.
- Can anyone make further recommendations to the shopping list?
- I have one of those 5 in 1 test strip kits that measure: ph, nitrite, nitrate, hardness, alkalinity (is that dh or gh?). Am I able to calculate CO2 levels from these measurements? I see this being discussed quite a lot, but haven't seen the formula. My levels are typically: ph on the low side, alkalinity low and soft is what I measure. I can provide actual measured amounts when I get home tonite.
- I had a bubble-bar and an airstone that I eventually turned off as I've read they help CO2 escape. Then I recall reading somewhere else that the air bubbles are beneficial to plants.... so I'm not 100% sure.
- My Emperor external filter does agitate the surface as it's like a mini watefall pouring out of it. Even keeping the water level high, I see small bubbles it creates on the surface. Am I seriosly depriving my plants of CO2 with this filter?
