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Do lots of reading about tropheus, they are very hard to keep after they get to breeding age. They are also very aggressive fish and have very strict feeding requirements.

I am not really breeding these guys, but I do capture some fry from the tank and I usually have a small group for sale of the following: Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (formerly known as Melanochromis "maingano" or misspelled as "manigano") (F4) Pseudotropheus flavus (was initially classified as Ps. elongatus sp. "dinghani") (F4)

Adding C02 really depends on how much light you have and how fast you want to grow. If you are over 3wpg (watts per gallon) you will need a carbon source and CO2 from a bottle is the most consistent way to keep C02 levels up. If you keep fish in the same tank, I recommend a pH controller to shut off of c02 to keep your pH from dropping too low (happens sometimes when bottles run out) and killing fish. With a pH controller, you don't need the AquariumPlants.com's Electronic Co2 Regulator, just use an normal regulator. The Electronic Co2 Regulator is just an fancy, but easy to set bubble counter. With the pH controller, the bubble rate doesn't matter much. I took pictures of the setup of my CO2 system when building my last tank... 60 gallon planted

The plants that have worked in my mbuna tank are giant val, tiger val, giant duckweed, Naja grass, Egeria naja, java fern, Hygrophila, and anubias (small leaf version, I have never tried the large leaf anubias in this tank). I really have never had a plant eaten by these fish, except the giant duckweed. Once the plants get roots, the fish can't dig them up. Get used to re-planting until the root system can hold them down. fish: Pseudotropheus saulosi Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos Labidochromis caeruleus Pseudotropheus flavus Synodontis lucipinnis Soon I will be thinning out the giant val in this tank as the leaves are almost 5 feet long. Let me know if you want some more val and hygrophila.

The Glo lights have been hung using a Coralife aqualight pro hanger which had to be modified to fit the Hagen lights. I have 2 hooks in the wall so that the lights can be swung back and held away for working in the tank. I also added 8 LED moonlights on top of the tank and 8 LED lights under the cabinet. The are controlled by the Coralife digital timer which switches them on as the main lights go out. There is a DIY thread HERE for the moonlights if you are interested in building a set for your tank. One thing I really like about this tank is no center brace! It is nice to be able to move from one side of the tank to the other without the brace getting in the way. A few of the fish have been added and in another week there will be 50 more ready from quarantine tank. Completed, but waiting for more fish... Moonlights... Stand moon lights

This site has helped me through various algae issues... http://www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/

I am always looking for new ideas for materials to mount the LED bulbs into. If anyone has any ideas for long (48 inches) and thin (3/4 inch) strips to drill out holes for the bulbs. A strip of wood works, but then I have to find a way to hide the top part where all the wires are run. The best I have found so far is Canadian Tire sells aluminum strips (C-channel) to cover the edges of plywood. This still leaves the top open though. What about a nice curtain rod cut to fit. It might be hard to install the lights but it'd sure be allot nicer than plain wood. Lisa Thanks for the idea, but I found some metal strips at Totem, so lucky me didn't have to wander through the curtain rod section. :tongue:

Fill up the auto feeder, clamp it onto a mug or something, and play with the settings for a few days before sticking it on the tank. I found that the first time I filled it up and it turned the first revolution it did not work as good as a few revolutions later. It seems the food comes out better after a few tumbles.

I hope the instructions are clear enough to follow. Use the pre-wired lights for 12 volt DC and it is easy. If you have any questions just ask

Some pictures of the LED lights at night. 90 gallon planted mbuna tank (the giant Vallisneria across the top blocks most of the light). 60 gallon planted community tank. 60g stand lights 60g- fish Both tanks Fish watching should be 24/7 :smokey:

Now I will build a set of moonlights for my 90 and 60 gallon. Parts: 28 - blue 8mm LED pre-wired with resistor (13 volt) bought at <a href="http://www.plasmaled.com/" target="_blank">http://www.plasmaled.com/</a> 1 - Transformer (12 volt DC) 1 - 1/2 x 1/2 inch x 8 foot channel 1 - 1/2 x 1/2 inch x 8 foot angle (bought at Totem or Home Depot) 20 guage wire Heat shrink tubing (Active-Tech--Calgary or Edmonton) Pipe cleaners (great for holding lines or cables together) Solder 8 mm LED bulb 7000 mcd 465-470nm I drilled 5/16 holes into the channel and pushed in the bulbs. Pieces of heat shrink tubing (air line tubing would work) help hold the wires together. There are 8 LED bulbs on each 4 foot strip. A few wires to hook together... If you hook up the wires in reverse, the lights simply will not work, but it doesn't burn them out. I have soldered in a long wire to go to the transformer with heat shrink to protect it near the ends. The angle steel fits nice inside the channel and a few zip-ties hold it together. Well you were not watching, I installed these wooden light strips under the stand. One of these light bars will just rest on the top of the tank, so I used double sided tape to attach these angle irons to keep it from sliding off. There are many options when it comes to transformers. Wall wort These are those annoying square transformers that come with almost every thing that plugs in to a wall. Cell phones, razors, kids toys, etc Computer power supply: If you are building a canopy and want 12 volt fans as well, this will have enough power to run both. Uses a lot more power than wall wort. Outdoor LED light sets (Noma) have a 12 volt transformer that also has a photo eye to shut the lights off during the day. Fairly expensive. On line stores that sell LED bulbs also have volt to 12 DC transformers for LED lighting. They also can be dimmed but then the cost ramps up fast. Here is a photo of a few wall worts. The one with the silicon smeared on the back is the one I will use to power this setup. 1 transformer will light all 28 bulbs (about 600 mA or 0.5 amps). If you use a bigger transformer than needed, it will use more electricity. A 15 amp transformer draws 15 amps even if you only use 1 amp. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THE TRANSFORMER PUTS OUT IN DC VOLTS... NOT AC VOLTS You also need to test the voltage that comes out of the "wall wort" type transformer. The transformer that I will be using is rated for 9 volts DC at rated load. When checked with a multimeter, this transformer puts out about 13 volts with no load. Finished... I will post a few pictures of the moon lights after dark

Spencer Jacks had them 4 months ago when I ordered. http://cichlaholic.com/pdf/Feb25.pdf http://cichlaholic.com/index2.html

Turn off your CO2 and filters (or anything that moves the water). It is probably the CO2 bubbles that are floating in the water. Use extra lights on top of the tank if possible or move existing ones forward. It helps if the tank is the only light in room (no light coming in through windows, etc) or after dark is best. Clean both sides of the glass before the photos and you may have to adjust the ISO setting or try Night mode. You can see the little bubbles in this photo as well.

Micro sword requires high light, but they grow fast and spread everywhere. It will even root into the prefilter sponge.

Standard window glass is thick enough. Would a large house window be thicker glass than a small window (like aquariums)?

It might help to feed the CO2 into the bottom of the Elite filter so the bubbles are smashed up by the impeller. To get a real fine mist, use a ceramic? bubbler like shown. Low or fluctuating CO2 levels will bring on algae. Be careful using any ceramic bubbler-diffusor with the DIY bottles as it might increase the back pressure in your bottles leading to a big mess... :boom: Bad photo, but you can see the CO2 line going in the bottom screen. I had to cut a small piece of the grate away to get the line through.

Find some used house windows and buy a glass cutter ($5) from hardware store. It is really easy to cut glass.

I am always looking for new ideas for materials to mount the LED bulbs into. If anyone has any ideas for long (48 inches) and thin (3/4 inch) strips to drill out holes for the bulbs. A strip of wood works, but then I have to find a way to hide the top part where all the wires are run. The best I have found so far is Canadian Tire sells aluminum strips (C-channel) to cover the edges of plywood. This still leaves the top open though.

I am going to build LED light bars for my 60 and 90 gallon aquariums for night lights. I have a coralife 4x65 CF light that came with 4 LED moonlights installed in it and I really like the look of them at night. Here is 16 blue LED lights (8mm) on my 60 gallon tank. They are just drilled into a wood stick, but I hope to find an aluminum bar to mount the lights into soon. I took a few pictures but they do not show the real brightness very well. This picture is way brighter than it appears to me. I will try 8 led lights on each tank, and also a few underneath to light the pH monitor and filter. The lights cost about $1 each (pre-wired with resistor) and a transformer is about $10 new. Here are a few different LED lights. They are available in 9 different colors, many sizes, and some are even tri-color (red-green-blue). All LED bulbs are also waterproof, but I have never tried it. The bulbs run cool to touch and are very power efficient. They look like glass, but they are clear plastic so breaking is not a problem. The top row all operate at 12 volt DC. They are easy to use for auto or home. The arrow shows where the resistor is installed. The bottom bulb is a bare LED. It needs a resistor of the proper size to limit the voltage to the LED or they will burn out instantly. These run about 2 volts, but that varies by color. If you don't have good specs on the bulbs, they are hard to use. These bulbs have the specs needed right on the package Forward Voltage=1.9 Volts Diode forward current (mA)=20mA These bulbs come with the numbers needed but some companies (RS) like to sell the bare bulbs, but without the much needed information. Now I will make a flashing red light to put in my truck dash. The LED will only flash when the truck is NOT running so it looks like there is a car alarm protecting the truck. To figure out the resistor value for a bare bulb, use a wizard like http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz The resistor value must match the LED bulb and voltage you are using. In this case for a LED (part number RL5-BR2020), the truck runs 13.4 volts (source voltage), Diode forward voltage = 7 volts, Diode forward currant= 20 Specs for this bulb are HERE: <a href="http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/br2020_specs.htm" target="_blank">http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/br2020_specs.htm</a> Here is a picture of the assembled LED. The heat sink is a good idea to protect the bulb when soldering. Here is the bulb and mounting bezels. To get the LED to flash with ignition off, wire the positive to 12 volt battery power, and the negative lead to +12 volt ignition power. Now you know how to assemble a bare LED. If you buy the 12 volt pre-wired bulbs, they are easier to work with

Here are a few ideas: Ceratopteris thalictroides Pennywort Hygrophila Egeria naja or densa Tiger Vallisneria hornwort

Single sided razor blades will remove the paint. UG filters use a powerhead to move the water through the gravel. I don't think they are used much anymore... If you go to Hagen's webpage, they have the manuals there... or click HERE You would not need the eggcrate if you use the UG filter. Find eggcrate at Home Depot, etc, (lighting department used to cover large lights in ceiling). I don't think the eggcrate is needed if you have a layer of gravel on the bottom of the tank to break the fall of any rocks. Yes

Hardware store 5 blades = $5 NAPA store 100 blades = $10

Wow... Is that 80 psi on the secondary side of your CO2 regulator? Might have something to do with blowing the diaphram... I thought I ran mine secondary side high at 20-30psi.

Time to start planting... Some of the plants may be mis-labeled or even be unknown to me so if you see an error, please let me know. Plant List Tiger Vallisneria Micro sword Giant Duckweed Hygrophila corymbosa Narrow leaf chain sword Egeria densa Hydrocotyle (Pennywort) Narrow Leaf Chain Sword Dwarf Sag Dwarf sword Ozelot sword Aponogeton crispus? Cryptocoryne wendtii Java Fern Anubias Limnophila aromatica +3 types of unknown plants 54 watts of T5HO at 11000K. Not really the ideal bulb, but it came with the light. Added a few more plants and fish to the tank and added on the 2x54 watt light (6500K). The plants on the left at the front (thin, tall, small green leaves) are unknown to me and also don't know the names of the two reddish colored plants. Had time today to stick a few more plants in and clean up a tree for the tank. Added most of the big plants today. Running out of room to plant... Driftwood and you can see the CO2 bubbles in the water.

DAY TWO: I will have to break this into smaller posts due to limit of nine pictures allowed in a single post. 10 pound CO2 cylinder Permaseal brass seal CO2 regulator/solenoid with dual needle valves and bubble counters Milwaukee SMS122 PH Controller Elite In-tank filter for C02 mixing ($12) C02 tubing KH STANDARD / 4 dKH CAL AQUA "Double Check" Drop Checker After 8 hours the dust and muck have settled. Time to add some Seachem Flourite (root) Tabs to the substrate. If you ever need to remove gravel from a tank with water in it, try a lenght of 3/4 auto heater hose like shown. It will fill a 5 gallon pail in no time so you need a helper to move pails. Put your finger over the end in the tank to stop the flow. First I start to label the cords to help sort out the maze of wiring with a Brother label printer. Next the pressurized CO2 will be added and luck has it the cabinet is tall enough for a 10 pound bottle. There are many types of washers to seal between the CO2 cylinder and the regulator. I switched all mine over to the Permaseal brass O-ring type after losing a tank of CO2 to reusing a fiber washer. I had been told you should replace the fiber or plastic seals every time you change the cylinder. Installing the permaseal onto the cylinder. Not all CO2 bottles have the inner threads for these types of washers! The pH controller will turn the CO2 solenoid on and off to maintain the set pH. My tap water is 7.8 pH and by adding CO2 it will drop the pH to 6.7. It is recommended that you do not let the pH probe dry out once it has been used. I have tested the unit with a store bought 7.0 pH test solution. I will be using a glass diffuser and an Elite In-Tank filter ($12) to dissolve the CO2 into the water. I was running the filter without the ceramic air stone before, but adding this really made the CO2 bubbles into a finer mist. It really is simple to add the CO2 with this filter, all I had to do was cut a small piece of the grill on the bottom to push the line through. The foam all ready had a hole cut out the size of the ceramic CO2 diffuser. A drop checker will also be used to monitor the CO2 levels in the tank. The solution will be blue when CO2 is low, green when CO2 reaches about 30 ppm, and yellow when CO2 gets really high. This CAL AQUA "Double Check" Drop Checker has two "bubbles", one contains a pre-mixed solution of 4dKH solution and Bromothymol Blue pH indicator solution which changes color with CO2 concentration, and the other is a reference color to compare with. The instructions that come with this drop checker say to use aquarium water in the drop checker. Not a good idea as then drop checker may or may not work right depending on your water, any buffers used, etc. You can make a 4 or 5 dKH solution of distilled water and baking soda, but the measurements are tough to do without graduated cylinders to measure the water and a centigram scale to measure out the baking soda. The instructions to make 4 or 5 dKH solutions are HERE The CO2 system is now installed at 2:15pm. CO2 rate set to about 4 bubbles per second. I have super-high GH and KH so it takes a lot of CO2 to lower the pH. One hour later the pH has dropped 0.1 and the drop checkers are still blue. At 6:00pm the pH is at 7.5. By 9:00pm, the pH was at 7.3 and the drop checkers are blue-green color. At 1:00am, pH at 7.2. There is a fair amount of surface agitation with H2O level lower than usual. Bumped up CO2 to about 6 bubbles per second. Time to figure out how much dry fertilizers to dose. The Ferti-lator at APC (Aquatic Plant Central) is a very handy calculator used to find dosage for fertilizers. Link to Ferti-lator at APC For a 55 gallon (US) tank KNO3 >1 teaspoon >15ppm KH2PO4 >0.0625 teaspoon *1 Pinch* >1.1ppm K2SO4 >0.5 teaspoon >17ppm Flourish Iron >2ml >0.1ppm *Dash-Pinch-Smidgen measuring spoon sets can be bought at Canadian Tire.* Dash=1/8 tsp Pinch=1/16 tsp Smidgen=1/32 tsp That doses the N-P-K and iron, I also added Seachem Excel, Stability, Trace, and Flourish Comprehensive. It is best to dose Iron by itself to prevent problems. :shifty: Hmmm... have substrate... have water... have ferts... have CO2... plants next :smokey: