jvision

To clean their guts, you can just leave the worms in a container of water over night. Or, I suppose you could keep them in a clean substrate - so you know what they've eaten. Some people use soil, some use peat w. eggshells, some use cardboard chips.

I break 'em in 3rds, and place them under the plants. 1/3 for a big feeder like most swords. 1/3 at each end of a large stand of Crypts or Valisneria, pygmy sword. Basically just space them out amongst your root feeders. Don't worry about stem plants or ferns; however, Anubias love to have their roots fed!

I've never actually painted a tank, myself. I was just going to use normal paint on the 10 gal I just picked up. The tank I was talking about I bought at an ACE auction about 8 years ago - it has the metal frame, too! The paint has never chipped or worn out - looks great! It was painted black. I was going to paint my next one blue, like the bar where it says "Enter your Post".

From the pic, I don't think your fish had ich. Ich spots are raised and white, IME, not just a lighter colored spot on the scales. Oh, yeah... just in case I wasn't too clear about painting, make sure you paint the outside of the tank only.

Painting the outside and bottom might help, too. I have a 10 gal that is painted on all sides except the front. Have used it as a hospital and breeding tank - easy to keep clean, and fish show off colors nicely.

I lost 2 nice stands of Val by slightly overdosing Excel. The Tiger Val has since recovered - it was getting much more substrate fertilization. The Corkscrew Val is just now starting to send out some new plants. This happened back in late Oct!

Hmmm.... I'm sure that's where I got my last pack. I big double pack, too! Maybe it was Wal Mart, then. I know I used to get them at HD all the time. Most Garden centres will carry what you need. It doesn't have to be Jobe's, just something with a lower NPK level - with P being the lowest.

Jobe's are great for Macronutrients - NPK. You can pick them up just about anywhere - Home Depot, Wal Mart, Nursery. Flourish Tabs are great for Micronutrients. I use a combination of the two. Roots on stem plants is normal. If you don't like them, you can just trim them off, or plant the stem on it's side and watch it send up new plant stems at each node.

My wife just went to Home Depot today. They have a type of TC pot on for $1 b/c they're discontinuing it's shape. It's just a plain pot. Bust it in 1/2 and you have 2 great caves!

Do you have substrate ferts - like Jobe's? If so, be sure to get the old tab out, or burried, ASAP. And do a sizable WC - it'll let loose a whole bunch of NH4. If you don't catch it, look forward to some algae. :grr:

WCs and more CO2 will probably cover it for you. Keep us posted. Watch out, Excel can kill Valisneria at doses more than recommended.

You'd be surprised to know that the earth is actually banana shaped.

Almost all algae problems are a result of not enough CO2. That being said, you are adding Excel, which isn't CO2, but works the same. If you're already dosing with Flourish, you don't need to dose with Flourish Iron - that is if you're using city tap water. I too, use the Estimative Index for keeping planted tanks. Here's how I dosed my 35 (I used past tense b/c it's now a 55!): Pressurized CO2 at 1-1.5 bubble/sec. 90W T6 lights on timer for 12 hrs/day 50% WC each week on WC day, dose 1/4 tsp KNO3, 1/8 tsp KH2PO4 on day after, 10mL traces (Tropica Master Grow) Dose ferts every day - macros one day, traces the next. Do 50% or more WC each week. If the tank is planted well with fast-growers, this method will work wonderfully for your tank. If you have moderate or slow growing plants, you don't have to dose as much, but still dose as often. Keep CO2 as constant as possible. Run 2 (or 3, if you want to be real sure) DIY breweries at a time. Upgrade to pressurised when you can, as it all gets a lot easier then. HTH.

I agree with Toirtis if you're planting them below the substrate. However, if you're keeping a bare-bottom, or not planting them below the gravel/sand, then you can leave them in the pots with the rockwool. But, if you plan on planting them in the substrate, get rid of the wool. If you don't want the plants to spread, use tera cota pots with a substrate mix (some use soil, some us peat, some just plain gravel). That way, you can choose to move them in the future.

If you're going with just a few plants in a fish tank, I'd stick with 'slower' plants. Many of the plants mentioned would be great. Stem plants tend to get leggy and spindally if not looked after, but most roset and rhisome plants will last and last. Here's what I have to offer: Ozelot sword Java fern Anubias nana var. bartari Tiger Valisneria Red Tiger Lotus Incidentally, I've read that the Madegascar lace plant - an Aponogeton sp - does better in cooler temps. Not our typical temps of 78-81F, but in the 72-75F range. Never kept once myself, so YMMV.

You can trim the roots, but it will mean it'll take a bit longer for your plants to get going full tilt again. Two things that I do when replanting: 1) wrap the roots around the end of the plant or 2) use forcepts to plant by the root. That is hold the plant with the forcepts by the end of the root, and pull it into the substrate. I believe the main reason for not cutting the root is that most of the root hairs - where the plant easiestly (nice grammar! ) takes in nutrients - are at the ends.

No, I wouldn't expect Rudy to do anything like that. I was just mentioning that he's a source... Maybe getting an LFS to get something from him. Or, maybe he'll take a bulk order from a bunch of us???

I believe Rudy Kerns is a Tropica importer - I think he's speaking at this months ACE meeting. Henry at Nature's Corner recently got in a bunch of plants that I haven't seen around for a while - some I've never seen!

For "real CO2 tubing" I'd check the welding supply shops - or any industrial-type store.

It's been a bit - I think they're in the photo section. Here are some from about a month ago: These pics were taken when I was selling the Red Tiger Lotus (top pic) and Tiger Val (bottom pic). I am needing to thin out the Val again - go to the Buy/Sell soon. This pic was taken last week, I believe.

Looked like a raw leaf to me. Yummy!

I suppose that's why this guy was created --> :cuss: And him --> :banned: Some people just make you want to :boom:

Tragic

Or, plant the heck out of the tank with lots - I mean no more gravel showing - of stem plants and other fast-growers.

I currently have a group of 7 Yellow Labs w. 6 Melanochrimus cyanearohabdus. They're still small - largest Mel is just over 3" TL - so they are still getting along fine in their 29 gal.