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Thanks Garhan! I may indeed take you up on the offer of more E. tellenus! I dunno about glosso though... not sure I wanna be futzing around THAT much! :P What is newzelandaie??? Got any pics?

Sorry about your cat Jennifer Without a picture it is really hard to diagnose... however it sounds like Septicemia to me which is probably a secondary infection to something else... I know a lot of people swear by Mela-fix but IMO it just does not have the anti-biotic properties necessary to fix serious diseases... all I've found it is good for is to promote fin growth after a bout of fin rot. I would hesitate to just start throwing meds at him withot a proper diagnosis... you could be doing more harm than good, what makes you think it is parasitic in nature? Having said that it does sound bacterial and if it was me I would use Jungle Fungus Eliminator, or Maracyn and Marcyn 2 in combo or Seachem's Kanaplex. Just my 2 cents though...

Hmmm... not sure why it labelled me a guest... I was logged in...:well: Anyways that last post was by me!

Aww thanks guys!! It truly means a lot to hear such kind words from people I have such respect for. LOL @ Garhan... yeah I just went home last night and planted all that in less than an hour!! :P For Nat... in the left and right back corners there is Rotala Wallichi, in the front left that is Echinodorus tenellus aka dwarf hairgrass ( I need more!), in between the rotala and the hairgrass on the left is Ludwigia Repens, next over is java fern on the driftwood and the big red plant is I BELIEVE Alternanthera reineckii ''lilacina'' I say believe because although it is pinker than my other red plant the leaf shape looks more like the purple variety, likewise the other red plant on the other side is dark purple/red but leaf shape is more like Alternanthera reineckii ''roseafolia'' or the pink variety...:well: there is also some Vallisneria americana var. biwaensis in the back on the left side but it is not doing so well for me. In the middle back is Hygrophila polysperma and in the center front is Anubias nana petite and Anubias nana 'regular', next is the HUGE clump of java fern on another piece of driftwood, beside that is the other red plant which I already mentioned, the plant in front right corner is a Echinodorus uruguayensis it doesn't do as well as I'd like it to either... but has improved since I started the CO2. I don't do anything to my water except use CO2 which drops the pH from 7.8 to 7.6, and my water is very hard as well. I can't wait to get that new light fixture hooked up!! and get going with the ferts... THEN I will be growing some mean plants!! :smilebig:

Here are some pics of my 55g, it has 2.5watts/gallon right now... soon to be upgraded to 4.3 watts thanks to freshmike!! :thumbs: I just recently hooked up pressurized CO2. Keep in mind that this is my first planted tank and I still have lots to learn... and this is after a MAJOR trim... Thanks for looking!

Heh... I did the exact same thing... bought the wrong one from Big Al's... Same size even... We had some sorta miscommunication... Can you say ALGAE??? Luckily for me they were nice enough to swap me a bulb!! Basically with that light your plants can only use half of it, so it's really not a good choice. HTH!!

*nod nod* Yup, I've used Chris's method too and it works great! I highly recommend it... for anyone worried about getting the 'wrong' kind of ammonia, Safeway Brand labelled general household cleaner is the stuff you want... ingredients are water and amminium hydroxide. None of that other crap in it (detergents or chelating ingredients). The first time I did this I had a heck of a time finding the right stuff...

Yup, Henry rocks!! :smilebig: I actually haven't had a chance to discuss ferts with him yet... was planning to maybe do that today if I can find some time somewhere... I agree DIY CO2 can be done... with great results... just not by me!! :P I actually have my pressurized unit hooked up to the diffuser that came with the Hagen system... do you mind explaining why you've found it sucks Garhan? I've been thinking about switching to something else... not sure what though... although not for the reason you might think... I've found that I've had to keep rescuing fish that have gotten stuck in it... anyone else ever have this problem?

Unfortunately those are all high light demanding plants... Garhans suggestion of getting lights from Home Depot is a good one, I've not gone that way myself, but I know others who have and it works great at a fraction of the cost. Oxquo, it is interesting that you've found Rotala doesn't do well in harder water... my Rotala is my number one performer... I can't keep up to it!! :well:

I tried DIY CO2 on my 55 last year... I used one, then two, then 3 of those Hagen thingies, I found for me it was just not working... it was too hard to keep at a stable level. Now I have a Sera pressurized unit that I got from Henry and the difference is AMAZING!! My plant growth has exploded! And soooo much less work, for me it was defintely worth the $$$. Good thing Henry does layaway.

IMO based on my experience you need at least 2.5watts/gallon of light. Preferably 3 or more watts per gallon. And something in the right colour spectrum as well, 6700K is good, I have Coralife 6700K CF's on my 50g. And GE's 9325K CF's on my 55g. I like both. The bulbs that come as part of a kit, to put it bluntly, suck for growing plants. Wrong colour and too little wattage. Rotala and bacopa require lots of light. water wisteria is supposed to be more tolerant of low light but that has not been my experiencewith it. If you want to grow plants you're going to need at the very least a 65watt fixture for your 29g. The bulb you got is probably 15 watts if you're lucky... sorry to be the bearer of bad news... I found all this out the hard way too, a couple years ago... there are some lower light plants like java fern, anubias, java moss and some crypts and swords that you may be able to grow with your bulb. I would try some of those.

Just curious what everyone's plant set-ups are, like lights, ferts, filtration, substrates, CO2 etc... My 55g has pressurized CO2, 3.2wpg(110w GE All-Glass CF fixture and 2 Life-Glo's), Aqua Clear 300, natural gravel substrate with layer of laterite under it, Flourish tabs, currently no ferts added to water column except for what the fish produce... that's most likely about to change though as soon as I decide on what to use... My 50g has a 96w Coralife CF 50/50 fixture on it that I don't like and a Life-Glo bulb. Aqua Clear 300. No Co2, no ferts 'cept for laterite under the gravel and Flourish Tabs. Now... what's everyone else doing?

In my 55g: Java fern (2 kinds, plain and Phillipine) Anubias nana Anubias nana petite Rotala wallichi Bacopa monnieri Alternanthera reineckii (not sure if I have 'purple' or 'pink'... the colour is deep pink/red but the leaves look more like the purple variety) Echinodorus uruguayensis Hygrophila polysperma (Big Leaf and Sunset) Vallisneria americana var. biwaensis Vallisneria spiralis Sagittaria subulata In my 50g: Many swords and crypts... I'm new to these kind of plants and I'm not really sure what I have! I know for a fact that I have... Echinodorus osiris Echinodorus x barthii Cryptocoryne crispatula var. Balansae Cryptocoryne beckettii Cryptocoryne wendtii ''green'' I only know these ones 'cuz they still had the Tropica tag on them. :P For the rest, I find them all to look so similiar I really couldn't say what they are... sorry! I also have anubias nana petite and java fern in this tank. I think that's it...

Awww your babies are sooo beautiful....*sigh*

Ooooo your bettas are gorgeous!! Xue is stunning.... pastels tend to be my favourites. All your girls look so healthy and um... rubanesque. Whaddya feeding those little piggies anyways?? Machiko is to die for...*drool* My bettas are all pet store rescues and I haven't been lucky enough to stumble across any CT's or DT's yet.. Thanks for posting pics of your betta babes...

Just wanted to say that I think it is an excellent idea to add a plant forum, it's so hard to find people who are into plants. I don't have any q's YET... but you can bet I will... I just hooked up pressurized CO2 in my 55... wheee! :P It's only been a week but the alternanthera has grown about 5 inches already and everything else is pearling... never seen java fern and anubias do that before... I'm currently not fertilizing... but I know I'm gonna hafta start, I just need to figure out what's best to use for my params. Am a little afraid of an algae explosion as well... I've had problems with BBA and hair algae in the past. Currently I have a small thread algae prob but it's easy enough to manually remove...

Sorry... I meant MY plants have pearling algae... LOL

That's called pearling... and it's a good thing... if it's the plants that are doing it... right now it's the ALGAE on the plants that's doing it!

Welcome from Snowy Edmonton!! :blink: Haven't checked your forum out yet but I definitely will...

Ooooo I wish I lived in Calgary!!

Thanks for the welcome Spinal! Yep... I love my bettas! Did you check out that link I posted in your thread?

I'm sorry but I find that kind of offensive... it's alright for the 'cheap ones' to get killed but not the CT? And there is no guarantee that the 'cheap one' won't be the one doing the killing... females are also just as likely to kill or be killed as the males. All my bettas are death cup rescues, I have 11, and they are all great little fish, with great personalities. AND they are all kept in separate tanks... to do otherwise is very irresponsible IMO. Sorry just had to get that off my chest. CC

Ryan his tank was already cycled by the method known as Fishless Cycling... you can find out what that is here: http://www.aquamaniacs.net/cyclingsafelyfishless.html or http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycling.html If you are too lazy to read all that just know that an ammonia source IS used... pure ammonia. So there is no stress to the fish, because there are none. I personally love this method and have cycled all my tanks this way. My last 2 were done in less than 2 days. Seeding was involved. What were your nitrates at dither? How much of a wc did you do before putting the fish in? I have seen nitrate levels get freakishly high on me doing this method. Oh never mind I just read that you said 80%... LOL That would be a fairly heavy load to add all at once though... but everything stayed zero... hmmm... nitrates too? Sorry I don't know much about rocks and which ones alter pH levels. Maybe your test kits are old? Anyways, just trying to be helpful... maybe some of my ramblings will help jar something lose for ya... And I'm sorry about your fish. Angels and cories are 2 of my all- time faves. CC

I don't know if linking to other forums is allowed but there is a TON of good info on betta breeding here... http://p076.ezboard.com/fflippersnfinsfrm28 The people there are really nice and more than helpful, I was absolutely amazed by the wealth of info and great quality pictures. HTH CC:)

Yep, plants are great!! Well the aquatic variety is!! I have a real brown thumb when it comes to terrestrial plants... prolly 'cuz I forget to water them! :P I don't have any good pics at the moment and I lent my camera to my brother... if I ever get it back I will post some... promise! CC:)