theokie

Thanks everyone, I actually got some A. Australe eggs from KilliKarl and now have a 2 gallon tank teaming with babies, but not to keep all my eggs in one tank, so to speak, I went to Big Al's and picked up 3F and 1M today. And not even an hour after introduction my older male and one of the new females are already spawning, but then again he has been trying to spawn with a female betta for weeks. Now the only problem is that I saw the Blue Gularis male at Big Al's, I left him in the tank as even though he would be an awesome showcase fish in my planted 20, I'd really want a trio, so I happened to bid on some eggs on Aquabid, wish me luck.

I bought three Lyretail Killifish, Aphyosemion australe, at Big Als a few years back and now I am down to one lone male, I was wondering if anyone has seen these fish at any of the Edmonton stores, as I live out of town and don't get into the city as often as I should to look for fish. I'm also looking for Clown Killifish, as once again I haven't run across them in the city in a year or so. Any leads would be greatly appreciated Thanks

I wasn't part of the group buy for the trees, but I have kept a group of Trees in my freshwater aquarium since late Febuary, I bought them as propuals, so no leaves or roots, as I read that they adapt better this way. I also read that once they have leaves and roots its very difficult to adapt them to differing water conditions, which could account for the difficulty that some people are having. I think a big key to there growth is light, I am growing them in an LED lit tank running running nearly 70watts of cree leds. There growth was rather slow until about a month and a half ago when they started to get closer to my back set of lights, once they got within 8 inches of the lights, there leaves became a much lighter green, there leaves became bigger, closer spaced together, and some of my trees are even starting to branch out. I go follow the estimative index fertilizer routine as this is a densely planted tank. Untitled by MechEcub, on Flickr Untitled by MechEcub, on Flickr Untitled by MechEcub, on Flickr Untitled by MechEcub, on Flickr Untitled by MechEcub, on Flickr This one is the same age but in another tank on the other side of the room, same fertilizer scheme but lower light, I just changed my light fixture two weeks ago to try and get it more light so I'm hoping this little guy will catch up to his siblings Untitled by MechEcub, on Flickr Just for reference, the larger tank is a 20L with Flourite Dark, Play Sand, Kitty LItter and Peat for substrate with the bottome of the propuals aobut 3 to 4 inches above the substrate rooted into it. This is my second go around with Mangroves as my trees last year were doing well but then a small kitten decided they tasted good and literally broke them all in half.

I am on day two of the no planaria from Canadian aquatics and it seems to be working great, I just vacumned out lots of dead planaria and no ill effects on my shrimp or my nerites

Why the XREs? I'm am considering adding two RBG clusters to each of my pendants. It would help fill in the spectrum and also add to the colour rendering. I've heard the royal blues do some interesting things to some plants... as in make the reds pop but I have no personal experience. You can really do whatever you want with DIY builds. Mine will be Arduino controlled. I'll have four 1000mA drivers for the XPG/XPE and four 2000mA drivers for the XML. All eight drivers are PWM dimmable. The LEDs will come on at around 2% of max current and dim all the way to off once they warm up. I'm planning, when I have the programming worked out, to have sunrise/ sunset, moonlighting, lightning, and cloud cover. I'm also planning on staggering the times the leds turn on so its more like a real sunrise. Warm glow to start and slowing build up and hopefully the brightness will 'rise in the east, set in the west'. I'm planning for the intensity of each pendant to vary slightly throughout the day so it is like a sun is moving overhead. This all sound complicated but it's pretty simply if you plant out your build well. I ended up with XR-E's as I bought them about 18 months ago when the XPG's where just coming out, the price was right, though I am finally getting everything assembled now, due to budget issues, so using the XRE's since I have 100 of them for the bulk of my light and using the XML's to help penetrate the deeper water of a 30inch deep tank

I'm currently running 6 CREE XML's on my 8 gallon, I believe they are cool white, the colour really makes the greens pop in the planted tank, so far after about 6 months I have excellent growth in the tank, though I just wished I had put in a dimming circuit as it was just a test for a larger tank I am building, so I didn't go all out with it. My 150 gallon is going to be running on XML's and XRE's all in cool white, though I am running Red Green Blue on that tank as well to allow me to tune the spectrum and eventually have a sunrise, sunset moonlight set up. I really like the lower profile of led fixtures when it comes to maintenance.

I'll do that, as i read on a site that a willow branch was helpful in treating green water, though it was a UK website, so our willows and there willows may be different, I'll take it out when I change water today

Thanks for the suggestions, I will be heading into town today to get a test kit for iron and for copper, I know our water does have a higher level of iron, as it discolours the shower curtain and will leave a red ring in the toilet, also talking with the city earlier in the week, our water does have a very high flouride content, though i don't know how that would effect fish. The Diana Walstad article I found very interesting as that is the soil I used for my base layer, but instead of sand I capped it with the fluval stratum as thats what the tank came with. I'm just still very puzzled as to why any new livestock has such a violent reaction to the tank while the established inhabitants are fine, as if there are any metals in any concentration shouldn't it kill the Amano shrimp and the snails as well? On a posiitive note the wood shrimp have recovered and are happily filtering away in the other tank. and the Clown Killie is an Pseudepiplatys annulatus very interesting and colourful fish

Thats what my other half suggested, just leave it with whats in there right now, since they appear to be doing fine. But then again he tells me the tank is boring with out colorful fish, so I guess there is no pleasing him, then again the red flame sword is turning out very red under the led lights.

Thanks for the suggestions, as for the nitrates the only time I ever detect any is about 2 hours after I dose after that it drops off quickly as the tank is very heavily planted, full glosso carpet, 6 inch flame sword, cabamba background, a few other medium sized foreground plants, I am also rooting a few plant cutting in it right including a willow branch. For Filtration I am running an ehiem 2213 that has an inline diffuser for C02 which is checked in a drop checker with 4dkh solution prepared with distilled water. What ever it is in the tank, the shrimp recover as soon as I move them to the other tank, as I awoke this morning to find the wood shrimp happily filtering away in the other tank.. The tanks that I have used with Flourite and play sand have always been fine, so I am beginning to think it is the dirt layer under the stratum. How would I go about testing for metals like copper? Though shouldn't this be effecting the amanos and snails as well? as I use the same tape water for water changes on both tanks. I think I will give it another day and then tear it down to remove the substrate, go with the tried and true flourite or sand.

I have been using API brand kits, less then 6 months old

So it appears I need some help, My 8 gallon flora seems to have the unholy ability to kill any new shrimp I add to it in under an hour, well except for Amano shrimp. Three weeks ago I added 3 Whisker shrimp to the tank and within 3 hours they were upside down on the substrate and twitching, I quickly netted them and moved them to my 20L where they managed to recover. I thought it was an ammonia spike or something as I was starting to get a hint of green water, so I changed 75 percent of the water and watched the remaining inhabitants for any signs of stress, I have 8 Otto's, 10 Amanos, and one Clown Killie as well as about 6 horned Nerites in the tank. Ammonia, Nitarte and Nitrite all test at 0, PH reads 7.2, drop checker is nice and green. So three weeks later and all appears well, so I attempted to add 3 Wood shrimp and within an hour the same thing was happening, so I quickly netted them out and hopefully they will recover in the other tank, once again, all test kits are reading fine, so I am completely stumped. I am doing twice a week water changes on this tank using tap water treated with prime, and doing EI with seachem products for now, and injecting Co2 to 30ppm. The only conclusion that I can come to is that the Miracle Grow Organic potting soil that I have as base substrate with FLuval stratum caping is leaching something out, though I am completely stumped as to why none of the Amano shrimp are effected. Any suggestions anyone can give would be greatly appreciated, as I'm about to tear the tank down and start fresh, losing the glosso carpet and really upsetting the plants that are just starting to pearl nicely. Help!

Lobelia cardinalis 'Small Form' is the purplish one I believe Bolbitis heteroclita is the larger fern in the back left Anubias nana 'Petite' on the rock and drift wood Lagenandra thwaitesii in front of the driftwood on the right, looks like a crypt Bacopa myriophylloides background left, just peeking over the driftwood and of course the glosso all over the place and some Christmas Moss attached to the tallest driftwood Everything except the Christmas Moss and Glosso came from the recent Aquarium Central plant order

Freshly flooded full tank shots, hopefully will clear up in a few days. As for the MTS under the fluval substrate, just took about an hour of screening the soil to remove the large solids, was more of a waiting game, keeping it damp and turned over in a plastic container for a few weeks this past winter

So when I was adding water to my dry start/emersed start glosso in Fluval flora, I noticed what I thought was white mold on the leaves, upon closer inspection I noticed that they were infact white flowers all over. The glosso has been growing for about a month under 6 Cre XRE LED's driven at 1amp, with MTS covered by Fluval Stratum. I couldn't find any threads anywhere concerning glosso blooming so I thought I would share some pics before I flood the tank later in the week.

Thanks for all your words of wisdom reguarding the substrate issue, and I do think I will be leaning towards the Flourite for the heavily planted areas and will be using playsand with tabs of some sort, for the sandy area that the spouse and the discus will like. As for the acrylic divders, I have seen a few of the pourly terraced ones and hope i can do my best to avoid it, I'm thinking a divder no higher then .5 inches below substate max. just to keep the bulk of the sand at bay. I plan on bending it with a torch so I can get some more organic shapes out of it. Drawing much of my inspiration from This tank, though modifying it for my larger tank, and the moss wall that the other half demands. The way I see it, if all I have to do to keep the other half happy is, 1. Have an area of white sand, for the sorta path/stream between two hills look, 2. Have a moss wall instead of a cheap background, and 3. not have hoses all over the place for water changes. and then I can have my 150 gallon planted discus tank, it is a compromise worth doing. Cale262, I'm totally inlove with your Lace Plant, I had one years ago that complete filled my 42 gallon bowfront, sadly the bulb was consumed by a BN that didn't like the driftwood, algea wafers and zuchini I was offering him. I would love to do one in this tank, but I don't know how they would stand up to the higher temperatures of a discus tank or if I could even work it into the "approved" landscape plan

Before I moved to Alberta I was living in Denver, though before that I have lived in IL, OK, TN and then CO. My family moved often due to my dad's job, my SN comes from being "the okie" to all my friends back in IL, and well have had it since we moved back in 97, guess you sorta get attached to SN after awhile.

i was planning on using the ADA range of product to do the substrate in my new planted tank but was unable to find much information on how to get their line of products in Canada, so I'm left with choosing Flourite or Eco complete as I can get both locally. I'm planning on using 2 to 3 inches of substrate in the planted areas of my tank and using acrylic dividers to keep the non planted sand area seperate. Eventually planning on a few discus but will outline that in more detail in another thread. As far as plants that will be planted in the planted area, I'm planning on using Gloss, as my foreground plant with mainly swords as a background and one tiger lotus off to the side. I'm planning on growing anubias on driftwood, as well as a Christmas moss wall, though these are not really substrate dependent plants in a 30 inch tall tank. I plan on using fertilizer tabs under the swords to give them a help and most likely will be dosing fertilizers and of course pressurized CO2. My main concerns with the substrate are: Eventual break down, I've read that some substrates basically turn into mud after a year or so, something I would greatly like to avoid. And basic overal balance of nutrients when paired with our local water. Over on planted tank it appears that apart from the ADA line of products, eco complete and flourite appear to be tied as second runner up as the preferred substrate. I've also seen on aquariumplants.com that they have their own line of substrate, and when factoring in with shipping and the amount that I need for a 150 gallon tank, is in the ball park of the other two. Has anyone ever used their products?

I've actually put both the next meeting and the auction in my schedule. As I found this forum, and ACE, the day after the September meeting, so I'm hoping my production schedule at work will cooperate so I can make it on October 5th, if I read the website correctly. If I do I will be the guy looking completely exhuasted and strung out on coffee, since I start work at 5am, so I usually crash by 8pm, but I think making it to a meeting will be worth it. As for the auction I plan on attending.Hopefully I will be able to find some Christmas moss and some Glossostigma there, to start getting my tank ready, rather then having to mail order it in. Just have to get my light array built and running before then.

After being fish free for nearly six years do to university studies and immigration, I'm from the US, married a Canadian, its time to get my hands wet again. I've always had fish tanks all my life as my mom always found them a great source of fertilizer for her African Violets and other house plants. Tanks have ranged from 1 10gallon set up most of my younger years to 3 55 gallons when I was a teenager, one housing a breeding colony of P. Demonsoni, one having a group of Buffalo Head Cichlids (Steatocranus Sasuarius), and the Final one Having Jade Eye Cichlid Cichlasoma sajica Archocentrus sajica and Red Parrots. The sale of the numerous offspring from these tanks kept my parents happy as my hobby was funded and offset my contributions to the power bills, As all tanks were moderately planted with 1.5 watts of light per gallon. So after having luck for so many years with just weekly water changes, java moss, java fern, water sprite, swords and Aponogetons and never testing my water for anything, I think its time to delve into the realm of High Tech planted tanks. So here are my plans, ideas, criticism and suggestions are greatly appreciated, I have a 150 gallon show tank with a 45 gallon I plan on converting to a sump. I plan on using a DIY LED lighting array that I have seen used to great success on reef tanks, and plan on adapting the lighting to provide more red and blue light to more accurately produce the 6500K and 10000K color temperatures. I will using an arduino to serve as a control unit to provide various light levels through out the day, along with giving me the ability to adjust the colour spectrum as needed. I will be using CO2 injection with an inline reactor and a Milwaukee controller. As for my sump it will have an auto water changer/top off, as my work schedule has me working really odd hours at times and I would like to be able to maintain consistent water parameters, in between weekly vacuuming and trimming. As for plants and other aquatic lifeforms its still in flux of sorts, I would eventually like to introduce 5 discus into my set up, but only after the tank is well matured and stable, so some time next summer most likely. So stocking will probably be rather light with rummy nosed tetras, cory's, and cherry shrimp. My focus for the next six months is to get the tank running and getting the plants established, as this tank will be far from my old routine. In order to try and succeed I'm planning on starting a foreground carpet emmersed after I do the hard plumbing next week. As well as growing a moss wall, though growing it out horizontally in a shallow container for a few months to get it lush and established. Hopefully having the lighting ready in the main tank so that I can be lucky and get the foreground plants and some moss at the Auction next month, though that may be pushing my timeline and my credit card a bit much, but we will see. Since I do live south of town and am a work-aholic, I haven't really found the time to go and explore the various stores in Edmonton to figure out which ones are the best to buy what so to speak. So I am hoping this forum will be able to help me out greatly with that and really help me out on this endeavor I am undertaking, as my mom put it, "[my] first adult tank." I have many more details worked out and many more questions to ask but I figure I should keep this initial post shorter, rather then lumping everything into one rather large basket. Many of them are supplier related as coming from the US I have found many of the usual mail order routes I used in the past are cost prohibitive up here. I'm looking forward to getting to know the people of this forum and making contact with other Edmonton area fish keepers.