MrsFard

MTS? SAnd sounds alot cheaper and I am sure I can get some at home hardware

I've heard that stuff is seriously expensive...

is having sand in there better than flourite or all that kinda stuff? can I add JUST sand (and fert tabs of course), is that enough? what if i want to slope it and stuff; will there be problems if I have really thick spots? is silica traction sand the same as that target play sand?

I agree! for those of you who have read all my questions it has kinda ended up like a journal anyway... It would save those of us who know !!!!!nothing!!!!!, asking alot of questions if we have other's choices to guide us. actually one of my favorite sayings is " A wise man learns from other people's mistakes"!

so you can breed them successfully? how do you get brackish water? is it just 'x' amount of aquarium salt? I've researched breeding them and it seems pretty difficult. I only found 2 reports of people having much success. For brackish water you need Marine salt, not just plain salt. You need a hydrometer to get the right specific gravity of the water. I never much info about what salt content the zebra snails prefer for breeding. I assume anything in the brackish range would be ok. Some sites even said up to full marine is ok. Zebra snails aren't like other snails, where little baby snails hatch out of the eggs. Zebra snail babies go through a larval stage before forming into babies snails. So they are much more difficult to raise to the snail stage then other species of snail. sounds like too much work and larvae gross me out

I just googled it outta curiousity and this site should help (its all towards the bottom of the page):...http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

so you can breed them successfully? how do you get brackish water? is it just 'x' amount of aquarium salt?

I am pretty sure my nertile snails laid eggs, i found one image on the net and it looks like them (5 really white eggs on the glass), but everwhere I have read says its most of them don't breed and of the few that do...the eggs never hatch. apparently they need brackish water... and I can't find my camera to take a pic.

for a 250ml of the three you mentioned there its only about $4 each and the trace mix that they carry is $10 for 25grams.... awesome prices! and they have a T5 light set up with 6400K that will work perfectly for my tank that will only cost $30.... -roll-

that makes sense...

I was wondering about that! I'd probably use those ones until either they died out or I came into $$. and do you mean c02? I a practically holding my breath waiting for this person's responce!

ok, Jason, i found a neat light set for cheap on canreef (i don't know if he still even has it but it looks like odds are in my favor), but its for SW this is it: http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl366...oonglowledlamps it is 10000k, will that be an issue or a bonus...? most places i've read suggest 6700k but I was reading an article that disected Takashi Amano's tank lighting, anyway, in a nut shell it says he always uses 8000k .... If you guys are interested this was it: http://aendirect.com/aquarium/a-guide-to-g...ma-elatinoides/ and it links to this one about Amano's choices: http://www.fitchfamily.com/lighting.html and will my low light plants have issues with high lights? I reaalllly like the look of dwarf chain swords, clovers and other plants that grow into ground cover...so i came to the financially painful conclusion that if I am going to spend insane amounts of $$ on a light, I might as well do it right the first time... what can I say to justify this...ummmmm.... I like to make things grow...?

cool! if it feels over crowded there are some other tanks I can manouver someone into.

why a glass top? just outa curiousity....and wouldd a disected ice cream pail be sufficient?http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp17355/si3665099/cl0/caribseasupernaturalriogrande20lb would this stuff be too big? I might just start over with the substate for that one....I really like these colors and with a sandbox of a lighter shade,; it could be really neat... better than the colors I have now ...

compared to the goldfish they're all doing pretty good that way! and I honestly don't know about the whiptails... she's just got sooo much personality its cool

i was hoping someone would say something like that

I just realized the light I linked to you doesn't have a hood! (there was another one i was looking at but they don't ship to CA) My asteticly pleasing, but, useless hood is only 20 watts...is there anyway i can tweak it up? where do i get arcrylic? thanks for the sites...

with my 10 dwarf rasboras thats 10 '' (oh, I am going by their estimated full size) if i bring my brigette rasboras count to 13 thats another 10'' with four peppered cories thats 10'' and 8 pygmy cories thats another 6'' then there is the whiptail..another 6'' ---- to a total of 46''!!!! so, either i need a bigger tank or I have to cut back :cry:

I guess that settles it then 'eh! no fish allowed!

good to know... i suddenly don't feel so guilty...

-3 peppered cories -10 pygmy rasboras - 2 brigette rasboras - 3 pygmy cories -2 zebra snails - 2 cherry shrimp -1 whiptail catfish

yeah, there is just something sooo unattractive about fish who devour other ones. and thats what I was thinking with cories but then i thought maybe they would nibble a bit of the top of the algae or something...either way, my rasboras seem to think they are too good to eat off the bottom of the tank so, the cories are nice that way too. if I did get the otos (how many do you figure?) and upped my cories...and with what I've already got....i donno, doesn't that sound like a lot? can i comforably pull it off? keeping in mind I and thinking about getting 8 more brigette rasboras and, if i can ever find them, 6-10 ember tetras. Or up the rasboras schools instead of the tetras (although I reallly like the look of those tetras and it'd be nice to offset the mega rasboras school). too many choices! its funny, I have a fair count of fish in ther already but when you look at the tank it seems bare.

where can i get some peat? oh, and forgive the painfully obvious indications of my being a novice here, but, what in particular are you asking about with the set up??? do you mean like lighting and stuff?

sorry about ALL the non-stop questions guys! k, i want to do a 5g planted cherry shrimp tank...you know the super-cute kind..? most of the ones I've seen don't have tankmates but.... i think I want them....is there any kinda non-schooling small fish I could put in with them? like 1-3 max.

its actually ironic...with my goldfish it was a constant battle to keep them in a good solid alkaline ph and now, when my tropical fish require something more acidic, its perfect for the gold fish. :well: