New plants.

Marks69, thanks so much for the idea. I'll give it a shot. A couple questions though...One, how much yeast do you add to the mixure of sugar and water? A teaspoon? A cup? Two, how long do I leave that in? Three, how many times a week? Four (and finally), what does this do to the water? Aside from the ph dropping rapidly (how long should I let that go on?) is there anything else to watch for?

Djlen, thank you also for the ideas on lighting. I lied though...I didn't make it down to pick up my light bulbs today. So I'll check out some of the more 'industrial' type of lighting setups and see what I can come up with. (I can always paint them) A question though: if I have low light plants, and they recieve a lot of light, will this harm them? Or will it be even better for them?
 
Ahh, thankies Cap'n :)

I just realized something interesting. My paradise fish got moved to a more agressive tank, so that leaves me with only one fish that isn't from south america (or thereabouts). And he is getting a little too big and fiesty for this tank. So I'm thinking of going with strictly south american plants since I'll have only south american fishes. And since I'm not too educated on plants...I've got a lot of reading to do. However, if anyone has any idea's for decor (plants/rocks/wood/roots?) for a 'south american' tank, I'd love to hear them. I've never been underwater in the amazon river, or any river/lake/pond/slough down there for that matter, so I have no idea what the end product should look like.
 
DIY CO2:
Take a 2ltr. pop bottle and fill it 1/2 way with tepid water(they say 109° is ideal).
Measure out 2 cups of sugar and pour it into the bottle and shake well until totally dissolved.
Add to that 1/4 tsp. of yeast(brewers yeast is said to be best but any fresh yeast will do) and fill bottle to 3/4 full and shake some more.
I have very soft water so I add 1/4tsp. of baking soda as well, to buffer the solution up.
Take a small cup and put a 1/2 tsp of sugar and another 1/4 tsp. of yeast. Then add just enough tepid water to that to dissolve the sugar and stir that cup well with a spoon and set aside for 10mins.
The small cup that you mixed up will act as a kick starter for the 2ltr. bottle and get it up and running quicker.
After 10mins. add the small cup to the 2ltr. bottle and bring the mixture up to about 2" of the top.
As marks69 says, if you drill the cap of the bottle just big enough to tug and pull your airline(CO2 proof airline is best) through and then silicone it in place and run the airline into a reactor(best) or the filter intake, you're good to go.
The end of the air line that goes through the top of the bottle must not touch or be submersed in the liquid mixture. The gas will form in the space between the surface of the mixture and the top and go through the tube and into the reactor/filter intake.
You should start to see bubbles from this mixture coming out of the airline into the water, easily within an hour.
Depending on the quality of the yeast, you will get approx. 7-10 days of CONSISTENT production.

This process will add carbonic acid to your water table which will drive down the pH. You should know the kH of your water before adding CO2 to make sure it is in atleast the 3-3.5 range.

Len
 
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Thank you, Djlen. That's precisly what I needed. I appologize for being so ignorant, but I sometimes need things spelled out like that. Looks like a trip to the grocery store is in order :) I got some mt dew to drink (for the 2L bottle).

Again, thanks to everyone for the help. You've all been wonderful.

:D
 
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