Oneiroid

Greetings from Canada's suniest city! Every greenhouse around here has a Co2 bottle on it - - Ten feet high and Twenty feet long! I'm confused... is the greenhouse 10x20, or is the CO2 bottle 10x20? For small-scale applications, I've had no problems growing hardy to really-not-so-hardy plants emersed without additional CO2. A lot of the research I've done on the subject also suggests that injecting CO2 into emersed cultures is overkill and even wasteful. I'd be interested if anyone here were to document a controlled study on this topic (small scale, like using a couple 10g). Emphasis on 'controlled'...

> i have a bowfront 5 gallon tank This will be okay for smaller plants (HC, some crypts, micro swords, etc) but you are going to run out of space fast if you want a lot of diversity in your emersed tank. I went from 2.5g to 5g to 10g to 25g to 45g for my emersed culture in the span of about 5 months. If I had the space, I would have gone straight to a 90g from the 25g. > it had about 2.5 wpg. Emersed plants aren’t particularly picky about the intensity or spectrum of light they get, but it is still important to keep a consistent schedule, so hook it up to a light timer. > it is sealed pretty good but not completly, so humidity should be good? You’ll have to keep an eye on the humidity for the first while after you set it up. More humidity is normally better. If you are losing too much of it, you can easily seal up the tank with saran wrap. Keep your spritzing bottle by the tank - you’ll be using it regularly. > i have a 1-2 mm gravel in the tank. This should work well, especially for your first experimental emersed tank, but you may want to consider mixing in some peat. There are two typical emersed substrates you should consider: 1) soil based, and 2) hydroponic. Personally, I use a soil substrate made up of 50% sand and 50% peat. This can get a bit messy, but looks really natural, and I like that. The hydroponic method usually involves potting individual plants in their own containers filled with clay pellets, and placing the containers on the bottom of the tank (filling the tank with water just below the tops of the containers) or suspending the containers in a higher level of water either by floating them or physically attaching them around the edges of the tank so you can use the central water column for other purposes. > i am planing on keeping the water level to the top of the gravel. The idea with a soil substrate is to keep it saturated - this is not the same as keeping the water level at the same height as the top of the substrate. If you have excess water pooling on the top of your substrate, you risk uneven growth, algae, fungus, and bacteria problems. > what do i need to do for fertalization? A general purpose garden fertilizer (like 20-20-20) will satisfy most of your plants. You will have to balance the amount of ferts you use with the type and quantity of plants in the tank (just like aquatic plant dosing). You’ll have to experiment a bit to get it right for your setup. An advantage to the hydroponic method of keeping emersed plants actually allows you to perform water changes which may help you control your ferts better... but this is personal preference. > the gravel is still dirty i never cleaned it, so there should be some ferts in there. Don’t rely on your dirty gravel for ferts. Your substrate shouldn’t have anything bad in it by any means, but you should start your ongoing ferts regime as soon as the tank is set up. > will the leaves melt off and new ones grow? will the plants grow faster? different? Yes, yes, and yes (typically). > can i grow ludwigia or pogostemon helfri in there? or is there any other plants that would work good? Most aquatic plants naturally grow in emersed environments. I could go on and on to list great species to try emersed, but again, this is a personal preference thing. With your 5g, stick to smaller species, and just try different kinds of plants out as you get the opportunity. > If you have CO2, it wouldn't hurt to pump it into the tank, as well. I would definitely advise against this. Additional CO2 dosing is excellent for aquatic plants, but is not necessary for emersed plants. There is already enough CO2 in the air naturally for your plants to metabolize, and you wouldn’t have a prayer of keeping the levels at all consistent anyway. Good luck!

I've used krazy glue to stick all kinds of moss to a lot of various structures in the aquarium with excellent success. I would go this route over putting any kind of metal pieces in the water (staples, tacks, etc). What do you glue your moss to, to create the wall, just the cork? Sure, glue it to your cork, glue it to your coconut huts, glue it to your hardscape and driftwood, glue it to your snails and fingers. Krazy glue and the coral glues use the same adhesive compounds so both are safe, but Krazy glue is krazy cheap. Also, you can get Krazy Glue 'pen' and 'precision tip' applicators for strategic placement of fissiden leaves. oh yes...

I've used krazy glue to stick all kinds of moss to a lot of various structures in the aquarium with excellent success. I would go this route over putting any kind of metal pieces in the water (staples, tacks, etc).

This method might send the same pressure to each tank, but the resulting bubble count would ultimately depend on the resistant pressure (i.e. placement/depth of the CO2 output, length of tubing, etc) from each of the target tanks. Regardless, it sounds like the question was about independently controlling the rate of multiple CO2 outputs from a single CO2 source...

Here are some options: http://cgi.ebay.com/6-way-Brass-Co2-splitt...34.c0.m14.l1262 http://cgi.ebay.com/2-way-CO2-Diffuser-Spl...34.c0.m14.l1262 http://cgi.ebay.com/2-way-Brass-CO2-Diffus...id=p3286.c0.m14 http://cgi.ebay.com/3-way-Brass-CO2-splitt...id=p3286.c0.m14 Personally, I've used Lee's pliastic airflow screws and line splitters in combination which have worked great for extended periods of time. A little finicky to initially configure, but works surprisingly well for a 75-cent option.

Picked up a bunch not too long ago from tntaquatica. Easy plant to grow in almost any conditions. In contrast to other live plants, this Shinnersia cultivar looks almost fake and plastic-like... but a nice addition for variety nonetheless.

Nice! So can I place my order now? Haha... Looking forward to more photos.

How are your little zebras doing? Any more pictures?

Just a quick thought... did you add any prime to the water? If you've got stucco and drywall floating around in there, the tank might also have gotten a good dose of chlorinated water from the firehoses.

Fast rising temperatures are normally less stressful than fast dropping temps. At the auctions, I worry more about the fish whose bags get stored right on the concrete floor under the buyer's chair than if they'll survive coming back up to temp when they get floated in their new tank. Let the tank come up to room temp by itself. Then think about adding a heater after a few hours if you think it needs to be warmer.

The microscopy-uk.org.uk article is one that I found previously, but still doesn't provide much information. I also had checked on algaeBASE. A good source, and an inquiry isn't a bad idea. Since it is apparently quite rare to have this algae thriving in an aquarium, I am tracking down as much data as I can to figure out what I am doing right, and then I'll know to keep doing that! Another interesting thing about this algae is that it is seasonal. But given that I've been able to keep many varieties of aponagetons from turning dormant for several-year-long stretches, I should theoretically be able to keep this algae from breaking up... I hope.

So I think I have an ID on the mystery algae, but I am still pretty far from knowing much more about it. I believe it is a freshwater red algae from the Batrachospermum genus. Until I got scope pictures taken, I was almost certain that this was a well organized cyanobacteria, but the close-ups revealed detail I wasn't expecting to see. It continues to grow beautifully on my hardscape and otherwise minds its own business. And because this is an algae and not a BGA, I don't have to worry about various toxins being produced in the tank. I'm off to track down some texts and learn more about this stuff - info online is scarce. In the meantime, I will leave you with more photos:

Very nice... hope it turns out you got a pair! If you get the opportunity with these guys, you should try to knock out their normal growth gene and limit their size to only an inch or two. You could write a new masters thesis on "the cutest pleco ever".

The shrimplets like to hang out inside it, but I've never noticed any shrimps munching on it, if that's what you mean.

That's a real nice Freudian aquascape. Hey, I thought this was a family forum! :smokey:

Nice shot of the uro!

Nice shots! The alpha male in the second pic (bottom right, I think?) looks stunning.

The same thing happened to me a couple years ago, only it cost me 6 beautiful discus. Shrimp are tough little buggers - they were probably just wondering why you shut off the light so early! I think 'electric greens' is definitely aproproate.

Okay, I thought I had mentioned something about this earlier. I just tried posting in an archived classified thread, but couldn't. Again. I understand that there are differing views on a points-type feedback system, but can we at least leave the archived thread open to post followup comments? The suggestion to post classified-related 'thank you's in the Water Cooler section seems odd to me (and totally disconnected). Since the classifieds archive is there for user research (item price, availability, etc), wouldn't it be beneficial for users also to see related post-transaction comments [in the same thread] (about item quality, seller reliability, general "woohoo!" statements, etc) instead of hiding them in the Water Cooler? There doesn't seem to be any admin issues with posting these kinds of comments in a Water Cooler thread... so why not be allowed to put those comments where they make the most sense? I'm stepping off the soapbox on this issue now. If I am one of only a few who feel that this is important, then I guess don't worry about it. I certainly won't speak for anyone else, but the admin is welcome to invite comments from other users if they think it is worth while. Thanks for listening! Just had to grrr out loud

Depending on the size of the AC, you can trim down the circumference of the plastic 'tube' and tape the one edge fairly close to front edge of the AC lid. This way, you will not have any excess plastic sticking up, and the tape (and start of the plastic) may be mostly hidden by your canopy. A couple that I have which are on tanks with glass lids actually get vertically compressed a bit because I haven't cut the plastic strip on the glass any wider to account for the plastic attachment on the filter; this actually seems to stabilize the units a bit more, so I haven't bothered widening the gap.

This question has been cross-posted to the Barr Report forum. I will relay any significant information here.

Hey hey hey, what's all this "we" talk? :boxer: You just sit tight while I figure out what this stuff is. Then we'll see if you really want anything to do with it!

It's a great suggestion. The Planted Tank and Plant Geek forums are also quite helpful for planty things. I'll try there tomorrow and post back any findings. All suggestions still welcome from the locals here, too!

Staghorn algae: