L-183 starlight bristlenose pleco care?

@ happypoet, sweet! I'll find it and subscribe!
@ TTA, thanks!
@ SM... Pm sent lol
Sweet! :) ok... So now that I've got a plan, I'm curious... Will my other fish be ok with the black water? (see stock list on 1st page) also... A bit OT, but ties into the theme I suppose. How would I cut a terra cotta pot in half without breaking it?
 
YW

I have always purchased or been given caves. They are so cheap and easy to buy I never considered trying to cut flower pots etc. I would imagine a tile saw and maybe a Dremel tool if you are a diehard DIYer.

Aside from poking around on Aquabid (not my favprite thing) you can also look at:
http://store.valueweb.com/servlet/southce0/StoreFront
or
http://plecocaves.com/
 
Ok... Answered my own question again lol. I've decided (after researching the ph ranges for all my fish) that I probably should shoot for 6.0. That way it's the bare min. For the Molly, barbs, and tetra (which are all hardy fish so there shouldn't be any issues) and it'll be in the middle for the rams, pleco, and cories if I decide to add them. (and they're more fragile... So it'll be good for them) Also discovered an interesting tidbit. Did a Ph test on both tanks... Really glad I did. Ph in the ten was 7.0, whereas the 29 planted was 6.4... Plants and wood do make a difference!!! Lol. Here's my plan... (please critique if nessecary!) Hopefully, severum's leaves will get here tomorrow or Wednesday, so I'll have time to fiddle, but it sounds like one-two leaves in the 29, and one leaf in the 10 aughta do it for starters. I'm going to let the leaves leach slowly (aka don't cut them up lol) and It should (in theory) adjust it slow enough for the fish not to go into shock correct?
 
pinkertd said:
As far as I know, Mopani is a very hard wood and does not leach anything. It's the softer malaysian driftwood that leaches a lot of tannins.
Click to expand...
If I'd been drinking something when I read that it would have come out of my nose. Here's a couple pix of the mopani wood i got for my 125, wanted enough big chunks to cover a fair part of the bottom:
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They were all soaked for weeks before I even set up the tank, the water changed a number of times. I finally got tired of waiting, and set the tank up. Here's a 5 gallon bucket from a partial water change a couple weeks after the tank was up and running:
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I moved several pieces into the 90 to try to lighten the load in the 125. Soaked for over a month already here, and still going strong:
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After quite a lot of carbon I finally managed to clear up the water; partials didn't seem to make much of a dent. I just received a 500 ml jar of purigen. I figure using that should maintain the clarity well enough now.
 
I LOVE mopani for how much it leaches, it made my tank a very very happy place for months without having to use leaves or anything.
 
Now Todd, now need to choke on your beverage! LOL! My experience has been this.....I've been using very large pieces of malaysian driftwood for probably 20 years. It gets soft on its surface which is good for rasping, and to this day, they still leech some tannins. I keep some in all my tanks. A couple of years ago when I needed another large piece, there was none to be had in my local area. I picked up a piece of mopani from a chain LFS. Perhaps it had been prepared differently prior to selling, but I had absolutely no leeching from that piece of wood at all. Nada, nothing! I actually gave it away because it didn't leech. When I saw the color of your mopani water I couldn't believe it. Maybe what they sold to me as mopani wasn't really mopani after all. Relax....drink slowly now!;)
 
I'm glad you got your L-183!
 
Alright... Leaves have arrived! (thank you SM!) I put one in each tank. That should do it on the ten (it'll be QT for the plec, and I found out bettas do really well in black water) and I'm going to see how much one stains the water (and more importantly brings down the Ph) in the 29. I knew the change wasn't going to be dramatic or anything, but how soon till I start seeing a tint/Ph drop?
 
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