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Dang,, I like those red moorii's GregL . I wanted a tropheus colony but my only tank big enough for such things filled up with plants before I found some. From what I understand in 90 gallons one would want around 15-20 tropheus. Have you ever measured the Nitrate? Does that filtration system hold the NO3 at bay? Speaking specifically about the true completion of the nitrogen cycle ( yes, right down to the last surface seeking bubble) I am will go out on a limb here and say, so far as biological filtration is concerned, it would be the accumulative volume of the saturated media ; and not the speed @ which the water passes through it .--- a long and drawn out way of agreeing with CORVETTE The Rift lakes are low oxygen content,,, correct?

Dude thats alot of Co2 I find a Ph test is the best way to discover CO2 saturation. :kiss: In his book "The New Aquarium Handbook" Ines Scheurmann claims "Green thread like algae grows only in clean, well-fertilized water where every thing is as it should be" :eh: As it should be? Its the beegest

Not so rare in this tank. I think its closer to two dozen :welcome:

Sooo much water changing! But I do admit I had the least algae earlier on when I was diligent with, & getting carried away w/ W.C.'s. Since then I have planted in organic substrates. Some things are (easily) measurable and some are not. Shortly after the new organic set up all tests remained constant. P2O4 started @ 4 and within days dropped to 2ppm, then has now leveled down to where I think I may begin to add it back. From information gained on this very site I managed to clone over an established aquarium by deploying a new set up complete with a heavy planting. I measured no indications of re-cycling. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate where e measurably low for the entire jumpstart. I will find who claimed that in the future. I will then congratulate them publicly, and they will be famous,,,even if only a little more famous they they were already> Before I moved and tore it down, the substrate was inert , in-organic AP.com litter w/pellet injections. Tell ya what worth every cent and works A OK . Although few months down the road I decided the plants were not keeping up. I went back to old School and tried to read alll of the kribs early debates on N K observations, and the lack of the dreaded P. the leaves of my plants would eventually yellow off and decay from the edges in. This I took as a supreme compliment; for once I had actually seen the entire lifecycle of a leaf! For the first time my plants were not being consumed by a helll fire of black stubble-like algae.!! Still I knew there was more In the natural course of how things get carried away, Before we moved I separately pre- soaked and circulated one supperstore bin - pre historic humus/peat/coal (closest I could find to laterite) one sack O- vermiculite two sacks O- "Shultzs" pond, fullers earth onesack O- Canadian sphagnum one sac - o good Ole Medicine hat worm casings Top it off with AP's again because I like the look. I layered it in for kicks, aesthetics, and good old superstition. I'm laxed enough now to let the enviroment do its own thing but I still am unsure and uncomfortable seeing zero Nitrates everytime. After a bit I would add a few grams of Kno3 to bring it up to less than 5ppm, and this would disappear in less than three days if I stopped. I did this microincrementaly for weeks, It was a riot. Be that as it may I never beat the slimys brown stuff that was growing neck and neck with new plant growth. Thats when I decided things were looking a little scorched. Tooo much o this and to much o that I got brave and stopped it all cold turkey. I am out . Just for gips and siggles. No testing. No stump remover. No mixing. No Epsom. No Phosphate. No KCI. No nothing ... 50% percent water change (first in six weeks) And I am out.... O K may be a little dollop of nutrifin plant gro...one cap three times a week. Brown dust was replaced immediately by tha longest stringy green algae I ever did see! You would think it to be truly a string of beauty and a joy to behold,,,if you were into that sorta thing. Its an indication of something. I haven't even looked @ the PH for weeks. Its killin me. As will my wife if she catches me sniffing around the test tubes again. I have reduced the photo period as the bulb is new, and the string is longest under the brightest locales. so I still don't know. Easy answer and it makes you correct... E I. Mr. B would further scold me for a non-scientific approach. That Dude ain't afraid to mix it up. But in my own situation, how much Boron was there in that worm turd? who knows? I am afraid to double dose anything for two reasons One - I am lazy and may miss a weekly WC for a month or two; and also dont want to constantly dump 175 litres of water and expensive trace down the drain all the time Two - I am double adding something that may already be, all to present to begin with. Take K-potassium specifically. In the old set up I could fine tune K addition by testing N. If N uptake has leveled off then cut back on the K. If N acumalates try upping the KCI! Not so easy any more. Is it possible that even though I am only testing minute amounts of P2O4 in the water colon, that it exists in ample or possibly abundant supply, unmeasurablely confined within the substrate just waiting to be loaded, exchanged, or taken up? That aquarium used to eat 8 grams of stump remover a month. Now I have built a monster. No,,,wait.. its more like the milks mans kid, I don't now how it was made, or what makes it tick!

I have had some good luck with a pair of (a.k.a.) knife livebearers. She dropped nineteen about a week ago and has yet to lose one fry! The pair get along great and he is an ever attentive spouse, often giving her eyeball messages with his pect. fins. Twenty a time is fine by me, 200 fry a month, and my killi's would be as fat as a house!! Will soon post pic

I am trying to break off my long enjoyed relationship with testing kits. I remember reading once, there are plants that will readily indicate (by colour) elemental deficiencies, and; for the life of me I can not remember where to begin, It seems like there was there was a stem plant out there that would pale right away without NO3. Or was it iron? Alternately, must I just sit back and wait for the algae? What other tricks do you folks have for "plant whispering" as my wife calls it.

As a few sages have mentioned, regard the age of the bulb. I had a 430 HPS that became incapable of sustaining life in a 30 gallon. With a new bulb in the same fixture over a 75, its now to much

I bought an aponogeton from "that place", it went gang busters. It showed a fresh sprout in the store and took off right away. The photo is slightly misleading because the plant from that store is in the centre. I geuss I would call that a flower. The other stalks are Nymphea and the green is some sword. I once bought a lace plant that showed no sprout , and it never did

Is it possible to gauge the effectiveness of a filtration system by measuring the accumulation of NO3? Considering the three filtration genres -- MECHANICAL--CHEMICAL --BIOLOGICAL. If the water is satisfactorily turbid, and Nitrates are held in check,,, can we assume its all good?"]

Operating this electric system would be way to expensive in the long run. I agree. Even more so if the unit fails. Sounds like a good price for contents, Degrassi. I pay more from praxiar

Terrestrial plants are often hybrid and will not produce viable seed. Try planting some of the seeds from your corn on the cob, wont work. If this is a mix or a hybrid I really don't know!

Thanks for the links Degrassi! This works out to near even math. The consumables last about 2 months for $80, or $40 dollars a month. Original investment plus one block, gets you four months of CO2 for $380.00 or 95 dollars a month. My pressurized system was $130 plus -I bought the bottle rather than renting. I think its a five pound bottle that goes about two months on a forty dollar fill. So the first $240.00 provided one month of gas and twenty a month thereafter. original investment plus three months of gas =240+(3*20). Three hundred for four months.$75.00/month This could be argued either way I enjoyed going to the weld shop and building my unit. I am constantly fiddling with the equipment anyhow; whether it needs it or not. On the other hand anyone could buy this electric unit drop it in the water and be done with it -simple as pie. One thing that warrants mention is life expectancy. My Father is using the original oxy/ acetylene regulator he purchased thirty years ago. I could be wrong,,, but no way is that electric unit going to be around in year 2038! I think I will stick with pressurized. I will be glad I have the gas, the day all those lights I have stuffed under that hood catch on fire, and I have all that CO2 to put it out the flames with :shock:

We have had a pair of gold barbs for more than two years now,,,and just realized they were mates! When moving earlier this summer, I set up a 90 gallon first in the garage and used it as a half-way house while we settled in. Although I have never seen an egg "drop" three days after vacating that last occupants I spotted a little guy wigglin' about. Barely bigger than one of those inchworm looking, copepods things, and certainly smaller then hydra. It took a full month for them to get big enough to identifry!! Which of course was complicated by the fact that every other fish in the house had swamin that tank @ some point during the transition. Im thinkn the only reason we ever got them after two years, is the fact that they were alone. You mention getting home and taking "the big fish out" and I think that may be key. With the right conditions and fertilized eggs the only other thing needed is time.

That is truly a spectacular display!

I am no link master: but take a look on e-bay. A seller named "killipark" is advertising an electric CO2 system. Is this for real?

Consider the cost of replacement tubes. Every eight months replacement = three sets of lights every two years. This adds up in a hurry. Twentyfour inch depth is quite a journey for the red spectrum

That is a odd shape. It may take much more light than a florescent fixture could economically provide. Three t-12 U-tubes would only get you 120 Watts, and thats about all you would fit in there. Look @ a metal Halide pendant light. Cut a hole in the bottom of a metal garbage can, flip it up on there , and your good for a year or two.

Naja's? Guppy grass ? I bought a cup full 'o Naja grass @ Pisces a few months back. To much light was not a good thing. It will root eventually. Makes a striking; not tooo dense, ground feature

Does dwarf hygro stay short and dwarfed? Or does it just get wider? Whats the deal there?

First let me say I have never had Anubias. I wont argue in the face of the evidence it seems like Amecas are the culprit Although I do have a bit of first hand knowledge involving plants and Amecas as I have had a colony now for nineteen months. Amecas dont want your plants. They are happy to graze off of them ( and very delicately I may add). They are even happier to eat like pigs @ the surface and soon learn to beg. I have learned they can be very effectively used as tools in a planted tank. I keep mine with only a nine inch p* in a 30gallon Feed them a lot, they only fight and beg. feed them a little they will graze. Feed them even less a watch out --your 'scape will look like a million pesos. They will keep it spiff! Here is a list of all the plants they haven't touched, no wait a minute, forget it, thats a big list. I have not seem them actively enjoying any plant I have mixed them with; save Cabomba, I may remember them picking at that. I know it kept ahead though. They WILL NOT TOUCH, duck weed, swords,vals, hygro-sricta or nymphea lotus (excluding the roots , they love those). Other plants they will pick at ONLY if it is detached ,decayed or dying

After rereading this entire post I would like to further add that spontaneous appearances of hydra in my case may indeed trace their origin to over feeding. The aquarium I set up was clean glass and a mix including 12 month matured substrate. This was pulled up through a garden hose in a top down vacuuming motion. I transfered a two month old D.I.Y. bubble filter from the same overstocked, grow out tank. For plants I used only hygro stricta ( which by the way I believe would grow under candle light) and completely covered the surface with duck weed. The whole set up is near a glass door so I added a heater to keep it even. I figured this would get things off to a rolling start. I watched for a couple weeks with no detectable ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. With all the top cover I was starting to get a little of the brown dust. I figured it was time to pull back the carpet and get some swimmers in there. Little did I know it was abundant with life already ! I have never seen hrydra before and I watch my tanks ---and by that I mean I WATCH MY TANKS The population exsplosion was due to competition. With the substrate and generous helpings of mulm the low populations of hydra tagged along and found them selves in an environment in which they flourished. I have no ideas what they live on but i am sure it fit in their mouths and was in good supply at the time. This however presents a mathematical quandary, what factor now is missing? They are still present and increasing in numbers . I am thinking what differences exist that allow the survival. There is no P* in there ; although I have other tanks without plecos or hydra. I have never used a bubble filter in a set up th at big before, although I have seen retail ones boasting much larger capabilities. I am confident in my dual chamber design as ist allows for aerobic and anaerobic flow.The filter will and plants hold the Nitrate down to zero; I now am adding it. Does this indicate ample filtration? Or is this not directly related? On the topic of filters a bubble filter does not create a lot a current, could this be a factor? I don't want to get to carried away but I am curious. I am a live and let kind of guy ( there's even some algae I don't completely dislike) but it would be to ironic to wait two years to have cloud fry appear only to have them devoured by some creature that looks like it ascended up from the bottom of a miniature ocean! Maybe this has been going on longer than I realize Possibly for thousands ond thousands and thousandsd and thouasndsthousandsds

Fantastic Thank You, for replying to my query. Even as I reply to this post, below on the left it tells me "attachment space used 757.5k of 1 MB" and on the right "max single upload size 266.5k ,,,so I again, never seem to understand " the tank is only so big" I now understand I should use a bucket to hold more photos which should not be a problem as I see the world through 3/8 inch glass and have managed to accumulate quite a fine collection of 5 handled gallon pails, Culligan bottles and various lengths of tubing and to finish this incredibly long sentence I will thank you because I would love nothing more than to siphon off 18.9 metric litres of dank water, mulm and photos into this PContraption , so that we all may benefit. :thumbs: I enjoy reading on this forum. I find it full of reliable, candid information based on real observations. Thats the reason I enjoyed that particular post so much. Even on this old machine, a dude like me has no trouble viewing photos, moving avatars, and icons. Its a two part compliment - The site its self is very successfully communicating with my computer; I can even follow posted links which is a sign this decrepit siliconical fire hazard likes you folks--a lot. Secondly to the participants. It reads like a great story with characters, a plot, a story line, intrigue, suspense ..the beat goes on. Having the personal observations supported by verifiable facts also contributes to the personal experience of the reader. Including photos creates a completely inclusive topic. " Hey, I have those plants, that could happen here!" Fantastic

I know this question is redundant,,, Byte has several huge pictures posted right now in the planted tank section I managed to post one wimpy sized photo on the community section, now I can't post any more pictures, even on a new post. My attachment manager says I have used 7 hundred something, leaving about 250 open space I R REALLLY jealous of those beautiful photo's how did Byte do it?

I set up a twenty gallon with mature substrate and filter material. Two weeks later with no food and no fish. Hydra everywhere!! I am not sure now what to do as I have a few white clouds that breed from time to time. I spotted two of the little guys and separated them on Oct. 11th. This is the longest I have had white cloud fry as I have never separated them before. Two weeks now and they are still smaller then new born Ameca fry!

Thanks for the offer Firestorm!! I would take you up on that! There is a Petland, and a Petcetera here in the Hat, but thats it for chain stores