Search results

That's great that the GN came out for pictures. I bet it loves that wood.

I think Red Phantoms are probably tops in my book. They are fun to watch and truly have an amazing color. I feed them a wide variety of food, including FD Blackworms, FD Bloodworms, Spirulina Flake, assorted Frozen foods, and NLS Small Fish Formula, which I think helps make the colors pop...

Turface and SMS are very light, so if your complaint about play sand is that you have a hard time planting in it, then you won't like Turface. You'll have a hard time getting things to stay put and until a good root system develops, any bottom feeders will uproot your plants. It's a good...

Yeah, no problems. That's how I've always plumbed.

Plants need co2 regardless of water chemistry. The need to inject additional co2 is necessitated by light intensity.

Well, it's been long enough without an update. Everything's pretty much growing strong. The 2 hour midday burst is doing wonders for the crypts and narrow leaf java fern. A little gsa here and there. I'm still dialing in co2, and may decide to reduce the 6 x54w midday burst to a 4x54w midday...

Well, many substrates and driftwood can drop KH. Plants utilize calcium, but more as a trace. It's not a big problem for KH to drop, but know that if it's dropping several degrees in a week, it's because of something else, not the plants. It's not really a big deal. Soft water is good for most...

Awesome.

There are some plants that will not tolerate that pH, but by and large most plants readily available in the hobby will be fine there. As pH/TDS continue to rise, more plants have problems. Over 8.0 you'll start to have more problems. Crypts do really well in hard high pH water.

Plants do consume both. They consume great amounts of Mg than Ca. You can see this my monitoring the levels of GH and KH, and comparing how they fall over a given period. The GH will fall at a great rate than the KH. Edit: that is, all other things being equal.

Prob. a 46g bow, I've never heard of a 48g bow.

Pick up some RTV 108 silicone. From this thread:

I find that the $1 per gallon estimate breaks down the farther above 100g you get...as in, $120 for a 120g tank is unlikely, but $150 for a 120g is a good deal. If you could talk her down to $120 it would be a great deal. Lights, hood, and stand can all be purchased or built for cheap if...

it looks like a 4x2x2 120g tank. Look at the sofa behind it, those are probably like 24" sections(plus or minus) making the tank 4' long....and if it's 4' long, then it definitely looks to be 2' deep and 2' tall. I'd buy that in a heart beat. Offer $120, but even at $150 that would be a steal...

SMS will suck KH out of the water for up to a year. If you feel like it's a problem, baking soda or crushed coral. For most SA fish and a lot of Asian fish it's not a problem and quite beneficial.

I never pay for that $50 for a used 350, and usually closer to $40.

I don't get what the big deal is...he's talking about not gravel vac'ing...he's not talking about ditching water changes. Like I said, I quit gravel vaccuming years ago. I've kept many sensitive species, never had any issues.

I'm with Sploke, I quit vacumming my substrate YEARS ago, but all of my tanks are moderately to heavily planted. I'll occasionally do a lite pass over the substrate in young tanks that haven't filled in yet, but once the plants take over, I never worry about it. Victor...as long as there...

Well, things are slow going. The A. ulvaceus didn't care too much for the large trim, but it was HUGE. It's doing fine, but it was unhappy there for a minute. Given that most of the tank is crypts and anubias, not much has changed. I ordered 7 pots of Lilaeopsis mauritiana and 2 Red Melon...

Excellent suggestion/idea Tom...it's definitely a lot easier to drop some osmocoat into an ice tray than it is to fill up gel caps...and cheaper too.