creekbottom

You mean something like Laterite? I think that stuff is clay. Any fish store in town. Saw some at Petsmart on the southside the other day.

That is a great tutorial, thanks for the suggestion. Where did you get those handy fittings? And the check valve? I'll have a better idea of what I need as things appear. I always need to see the stuff first and then I can visualize what kind of fitting I need.

Victor regulator SR 250C. We were using it for CO2 tanks at work as well. And Thanks!!!

I've been doing a ton of reading over at TPT about CO2, regulators, reactors, atomizers, blah, blah, blah... my eyes hurt. It's been an interesting read and I feel that I have learned something and things aren't as confusing as they once were. So I'm wading in about as fast as the wimpy kid at the lake on May long weekend I've already got some parts that I managed to wiggle out from work cause we were never going to use them again anyway. Just maybe not 100% sure about them. I've got a Victor single stage regulator with appropriate gauges and even a 320 connection! Single stage is good enough for me, especially if it was free! Just not sure about the low pressure gauge, is there supposed to be oil leaking out the top? The little nub on the top of the rubber was cut off and oil comes out when you turn it over. Hmmmm. So far, that's all I've got, the tanks at work were too old otherwise I'd have 2 - 5lb'ers!!! Been looking at solenoids, needle valves, bubble counters, check valves, on and on... I think I'm set on a Burkert solenoid if I can find one, a parker needle valve, any kind of bubble counter with a built in check valve. Although I hear they aren't really reliable so I'm looking for a seperate check valve too. Then I'm going to put it in the tank!!!! Oh wait... I've got to get a cylinder first lol. That will most likely be the last thing I get. Currently I'm using a yeast setup for a 20g and 10g, run through an internal filter to chop bubbles. The noise is driving me up the wall as I sit here on the couch typing. The water sound is soothing and relaxing, puts me in a zen state.... cha cha cha cha bubbles being chewed up. I feel like mangling something now lol. So to alleviate that problem, and I'm pretty excited about this, I'm going to use a Cerges reactor!!!!!!! And cause I get to do some DIY stuff too :w00t: not that I'm handy or anything. I'm a musician, the staff at HD or Lowes or Rona are going to get to know me lol. My whole thought process behind this: One day I will have a tank big enough to lay down in and I'm going to need this stuff anyway, so I might as well start now. That's what I'm telling myself anyway. Thanks for reading!

Are brass fittings safe to use for shrimp and fish?

Thanks for the advice. It is a conundrum though. I tested my TDS last week, it was around 200, pretty much what it is out of the tap. And that was before a water change. I do regular water changes on this tank, but hardly any ferts. The water test last week said everything was 0. I'm sure 0 nitrates was helping. I'm not keeping this tank running much longer, in fact if I didn't have to get rid of the BGA it would already be dismantled. Since I'm moving all those plants into another tank I don't want to take IT too. Could I manually clean them and then H2O2 dip them? Either way I'm going to be keeping a close eye on things in the new tank, just trying to lessen my chances.

It's a ZooMed 501, with spray bar. There looks to be lots of circulation.

The medical route sounds kind of sketchy. Starting a black out. How persistant is this stuff on things like: tweezers, water change hose? I'd rather not move this into another tank.

I remember my University biology classes when we studied this stuff, and it reeked! Or maybe it was just that strain of bacteria? I'll have to pick some of that up, I know I've seen it in some of the pet shops around here. Any other tips about getting rid of it? I'll treat everything in the 5 gallon, but I am going to be tearing it down and moving all those plants into other tanks. Hopefully I get it the first time. Is Erythromycin shrimp safe, leave any lingering tidbits in the tank to come back and haunt me? Thanks for the diagnosis!!!!

I thought Cyanobacteria stunk? Really bad. This doesn't smell. I've had hair algae in other tanks and this looks nothing like it. This was a flat layer sitting on top of the sand, like there was a sheet laying on everything.

I just pulled this out of my 5 gallon, it's gross. What is it? I was removing plants to use in a different tank cause I'm tearing this one down, obviously. I was having a diatom problem so maybe that's what it is, it's kind of thick. It has cohesion, pulling up a sagittaria brought the whole thing with it. It's the size of a dinner plate. It's strong enough that you can grab it and flip it over. I pulled all the plants out of it and they look amazing! Nice and green, they haven't really grown any but they are alive. You know that scene in The Lord of The Rings, where the orcs are digging up the very first Uruk Hai and it's got that slimy protective coating. Same deal on my plants, if you pull slowly it just peels off. This is the bottom, it uprooted everything that was trying to grow through it. This is the top, the wrinkles are where plants used to be. On the edge you can see that it has an attached layer of sand. This is by far, the GROSSEST thing that has come out of my tank!!!!!!!

I'm thinking they are going to melt no matter what I do, that's a crypt. But I think I'm going to go with one melting, not two.

Ok, staying where they are. Thanks!

I'm starting a new tank and will be doing a dry start to get some moss and other things a chance to hang on before I flood. I can do 2 things. 1) Take crypts (parva, wendtii) from a submersed tank and plant them in this tank for an emmersed start. 2) leave them where they are and plant them when I flood the tank. I'm only looking at waiting 2-3 weeks, I have no patience for this surprisingly. Will this cause catastrophic melting?

Airmiles and Popcorn!!! It's almost like Christmas, I'm going to check that out!

Where did you order that light from? I'm looking around as well and those look pretty sexy.

I got the 206 running, it's not how I want it but I wanted to test it before I started putting stuff in the tank. Just in case I needed to do something different for a filter. When it's wide open there is quite a bit of flow but I don't think it will be too much flow. After playing with the flow adjustment I think it will be fine. Getting this thread back on track... How are Cory's with a ground cover planting? HOLD ON! I'm not covering ALL the sand with plants! Are they going to be constantly uprooting things? I plan to do a DSM to give some things a head start and let some moss attach.

I got a crazy deal on a fluval 206 so I'm working on getting that going. Hopefully it won't turn the tank into a jacuzzi. I plan on planting heavily.

Sounds good. What is a good stocking number? I've been playing around with the aqadvisor calculator and it's telling me SuperGuppyGirl is crazy! 6 otto's 6 pygmy cory's 6 habrosus

I have a school of chili rasboras in a different tank, so if things are looking boring I can move some over. I don't know Deano, Otto's are fairly entertaining as well and would occupy a different portion of the tank. And not each shrimp!

Lol, Of course! I can't believe I forgot. Ok, Cory's and Oto's. Thanks for the suggestions! I will definitely be going with the smaller varieties.

I'm putting together a 10 gallon planted, going to try to put shrimp in it, and cory's. I know there are ALOT of Cory lovers out there, so fire away! What should I get, and how many? If you've got a good idea of where to get them that would be great too.

I've been using excel, more in the 20g than the 10g and things are definitely changing! I don't think I've ever actually seen my moss grow without algae, it's nice to look at! After doing some reading over at TPT I'm also starting to be more watchful of my fertilizer. I tested today before doing water changes and the nitrate levels in the 10g were stupid, I'm not saying what they were, it's embarrasing. 20g) I added a few more stem plants and I'm looking for more, but of something that I actually want in the tank. I've been throwing around the idea of adding floaters or a screen to lessen the light. The plants at the bottom of the tank are doing great, no BBA. The plants at the top of the tank are where the problem is, too much light. So I'm not really sure how to solve this one without causing all the plants at the bottom of the tank to be starved for light. Remember it's a 20 TALL. Have been keeping the CO2 going and the drop checker is a lovely green color. I haven't noticed any new hair algae growing but I haven't seen any dieing either. The moss is growing free of algae but the stuff that was there is still there. 10g) I've been using less excel in this tank cause of the abundance of crypts. However, the cloud of hair algae has stopped reproducing! I put a few new stems in this tank too, and after todays water change I think I'm going to stop fertilizing for a few days lol. So things are going well I think, the algae is finally losing and my patience is starting to come back haha! I think once I get the fertilizer sorted out I'm hoping I can stop using excel.

If you were checking out polywest, also look at Flaman.

The Bag actually doesn't seem that expensive, I think I'll go that route. Thanks!