Jro

You learn something new everyday. http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/freshwater-chat-9/lace-rock-gh-kh-follow-up-25795/ 3rd post down. Apparently Lace rock is a trade name and depending on where you buy it, it could have different qualities. Jro

Assuming you're doing your weekly 50-60% water changes, I don't really think we need to get crazy technical about 12.6 gallons of water. I personally would eyeball it.

Lace rock is porous. A pretty common problem with it is fungus growing inside of it. White stringy fungus that stinks like dead beach. Is that the smell you are describing? This sometimes happens if the rock was used in a saltwater tank at some point. A good solution I found was to bake the rock. 375-400F for about an hour. Other people have had success bleaching the rock overnight then neutralizing the bleach in a 1 : 16 vinegar solution. I personally have never had problems with lace rock but if you can eliminate the rock as being your problem, you can focus on something else.

Like the others said above, dose total volume. Make sure your 50% water changes are of total water volume too.

11am - 8pm for me. Never thought of splitting the photoperiod, I might give it a shot.

Is there any fish or inverts in the tank? If there isn't, theres no harm in cranking the CO2 up either.

Black leaves could be caused from the HC adjusting from emmersed (sp?) to immersed. Just pluck the dead stuff out and get those ferts in!!

Black Java fern means lack of nutrients, mainly CO2 I think.

I should also note that I use an extra container to bring fish water with me. I put a heater in the containers when I get to the new place, fill the tanks with new water as well as the old fish water, and wait for the temperatures to stabilize.

I would go to Canadian Tire and buy 2 of those big Rubbermaid containers. They hold like 30 gallons of water and cost $20 bucks I think. Put some plastic drop sheets for painting on top, wrap duct tape to seal it and put the lid on top. I have moved 3 55gallons at the same time this way and haven't lost a fish in 5+ moves.

Tank Dimension: 55 gallons (48W x 20H x 13D) Filter Type: Fluval FX5 Substrate information: Sand, Fluorite Lighting/Illumination: Hagen GLO 48” 49W x 2, 8 hours per day Fertilization: KNO3, KH2PO4, Macro Micro Mix, CSM + Plantex, root tabs C02: Pressurized, on timer (during photo period only) Water Change: 50% weekly Temperature: 82 F Flora: Don’t know all the scientific names but I’ll give it a shot. Anubias barteri sp. Amazon Sword, Java Fern, Regular Vals, Red Tiger Lotus, Green Crypts, Gold Crypts, Some other sword plant with rounded red leaves, Alternanthera Rosaefolia, Some kind of moss (Christmas moss??), and some plant that looks like stringy clovers on the bottom left of the tank. Fauna: 2 dwarf loaches, 18 blue emperor tetras, 1 bristlenose pleco, 2 Bavarian Rams, 1 Siamese algae eater, 15+ amano shrimp This is my first attempt at a planted tank. Tank is 3 months old. Sorry for the quality, I really wish my phone camera was better.

Cool, thanks Jvision. Yeah those pads block tons of light. Good thing I have only Anubias and moss underneath it. There is something like 12 stalks dominating a corner of my tank with a bunch of daughter plants with 4-5 stalks a piece. I put a root tab underneath it about a month ago and it exploded from 3 stalks to 12. I will dig up the daughter plants later tonight and see if I can clean up the corner a bit.

Hello Fellow AquaBotanists! A few questions: Should I wait until the daughter plants under my giant red tiger lotus are a certain size before digging them up and moving them? Do I just snip the connection to the mother plant? Unrelated to propagation: How do I get this sucker to flower? There is about 7 leaves just an inch below the surface and I heard I had to get leaves to float before the plant would flower. Plant gets daily ferts and CO2. Thanks in advance. Jro

Hello!

I started my first planted aquarium a couple months ago. The tank is a 55 gallon with 2 watts per gallon (T5HO 2x 54w 8 hours on) with CO2 injection. Substrate is fluorite and sand. Fertilizer is Macro Micro Nutrient Mix from www.aquariumfertilizer.com. I do a 50% water change every week and dose daily. In the tank I have: 6 Emperor tetras 1 BN Pleco 1 Siamese Algae Eater 2 Dwarf Loaches 15 large Amano Shrimp When I bought the Macro Micro Nutrient Mix, I was hoping for an all-in-one fertilizer and was not aware that there was no phosphate in the mix and that nitrogen was lacking. This is what the package reads: Macro Micro Nutrient Mix is composed of equal parts of potassium nitrate, potassium sulfate, Plantex CSM + Boron, and magnesium sulfate. Macro Micro Nutrient mixing instructions: Mix with a ratio of 1/4 cup of Macro Micro Nutrient Mix to 2 cups water (or 60g to 500 ml). Dose 1-4 drops per gallon per day. Start with the lowest dose of 1 drop per gallon per day and stay with that dose for 2-3 weeks before deciding to increase the dose. Increase the dose based on the needs of your plants. There are 76 drops in a teaspoon. Not wanting to waste this fertilizer I bought, I decided to buy KNO3 (potassium nitrate) and MKP (Monopotassium Phosphate) to add to this solution. I want to mix everything in one solution and I came up with without water I would need: 1/2 Cup Macro Micro 1/4 Cup KNO3 1/16 Cup MKP Monopotassium Phosphate Note: KNO3 is in a 1 litre solution mixed 3:1 water to 250mL of KNO3. Assumptions: 1 tsp = 5 mL 1 Cup = 250 mL Sorry for being so long winded but my question is this: When I am mixing this solution following the Macro Micro instructions above, would this be correct? ½ Cup (125 mL) of Macro Micro 1 Cup (62.5 mL) of KNO3 solution 1/16 Cup (15.625 mL) roughly 3 tsp of MKP Monopotassium Phosphate 1 Cup of Water Is my math correct?

Are they dyed?

Cichlids are notorious for being dirty fish. Having plants would be a big plus as they help clean your water (in a sense) and provide more surface area for beneficial bacteria. That is, if you are able to keep them attached/rooted.

Get some freshwater rays, I think they look fantastic with arowanas and they don't compete for food in the same part of the water column.

Does the tank have optimal flow? I had this sort of algae on my Java Ferns and it has started to disappear after I corrected the flow. How often are you fertilizing and what kind of lighting are you using?

Is this happening on Java Ferns by chance?

I emailed him a couple weeks ago and have not heard a response. I found a post on here from 2008, someone had referred him to someone else. I assumed since the post was so old and I hadn't gotten a response, that he doesn't do that anymore.

Anyone ever get custom built tanks in the Edmonton area? Looking to build a showcase planted aquarium that is rimless with rounded corners but no one seems to sell any rimless tanks. -Jro

I'll be heading down to Aquarium Central tomorrow for some driftwood.

Never mind, I found a place called Aquarium Illusions in the West End. I'm kinda new to the city. Does anyone have any experiences with this place?

Didn't mean to double post sorry.