airdrieaquarist

I'm just getting into the EI dailly dose routine and have just realized myself how crazy it is not to use Dry ferts. The one problem I am trying to deal with is the Hard water here in Airdrie. Out of the tap, ph is 8.1 KH is like 8 and GH is way crazy high. So for water changes, It would seem that I have no choice but to go with R/O which is kind of annoying. I don't dose KH2P04 because of the already high degree of GH/KH. I could change water with tap water IF I use Peat in my sump, but i really don't want the tea-colored water anymore. PPS-pro dosing system reduces the need for water changes but I don't think you would get the same type of growth with this system as you would with EI dosing. Anyone else in Calgary area have suggestions for water changes? Is half tap/half RO water an option on a weekly basis? Thanks

Hi all. I love stopping by these places after work once in a while and checking things out. Today I saw a planted discus tank which had just 2 really large discus and they are breeding like mad. It's pretty cool to see all those little hatchlings feeding stuck to the sides of their parents. I'm guessing they feed off the slime for the first little while? Anyway...worth checking out. very cool.

Because my tank is currently inhabited by African Cichlids, I only have some really large Anubias on driftwood (About 6 big plants all 12 inches x 6 inches with a total of about 40 large leaves.). They are doing ok now but i know the PH is starting to affect them. My lighting is a bit overkill. White Metal H 3x 150 watt and 4 x blue T5HO. I have started to reduce the duration of lighting to about 8 hours /day and I'm leaving only 2 of the MH lighjts on instead of 3. I will likely reduce it to one light shortly but once I get the PH/KH stable to where I want it, I will get all the plants I want and increase the lighting.

Excellent info but I will admit - a bit beyond me. I think what you are saying here is that because I will be doing weekly water changes (or bi-weekly), I will never get rid of my high PH unless i unless (in addition to a de-chlor) I use KH reducing additives (Sulfuric acid/acid buffer/peat) everytime I change water. It also sounds like my best option here (I eventually plan on moving my cichlids to a different tank so I can go full - plant) is to invest in a RO/DI system and use that water for my partial changes. If this is the route I choose, could I get away with just using a 2-stage RO system as opposed to a 4 or 5 stage RO/DI? Thanks for all the info btw

Hi all. I live in airdrie and I recently introduced a wack load of plants into my 200 gallon tank. I have a pressurized co2 system with a ph controller. My problem is with PH/KH. As you know, the tap water comes out at PH 7.9 - 8 I'm introducing co2 at a fairly high rate (around 3-5 bbls /sec) but I don't seem to be able to get my Ph to go below 7.75 I'm aware of the dangers of changing the ph/kh too fast , but that does not seem to be a problem because I can't get the ph to drop.I'm going to dial down the co2 to 1 or 2 bbls. From the chart I looked at, ph 75 and kh 7dkh means my dissoved co2 is only at around 7 mg/ L which is at least half of what it should be. Am i out to lunch? my co2 drop checker seems to be sitting green which (from what I understand) means that my dissolved co2 levels are at or above acceptable. My KH reading is 7 dkh and my GH is 14dkh. now correct me if I'm wrong but the 7dkh is the main reason why my ph won't drop anymore. These numbers are just too high for plants. my anubias seems to be fine, but i would like to start introducing a bunch of other plants. How do others in the area deal with these high kh/ph values? also - what does the crazy high gh of 14dkh mean in my situation? Thanks in advance.

Hi all. I just picked up this reactor which came with the co2 system/ph monitor/probe. I really just picked it up for the co2 stuff for my 200 gal planted tank, but i decided to use the reactor as an inline co2 difuser/reactor. Trouble is, i can't get water to circulate from the reactor back to my sump when I turn it on. I tripple checked which line is for in and which is for out. Not sure if that pump that's built into the top is supposed to pull water in from my aquarium or not...but I'm not sure how else the fugging thing would work. Anyone else use one of these reactors or know how they work? The manufacturer's manual is more useful as a puppy training pad.

Thanks blink & all. The guy with the nice system for sale got back to me yesterday. He told me that he had someone that was going to buy it all this Saturday at 10 am. If he doesen't show up, he'll part the co2 system for me which is a great deal. But it probablly won't happen. As for a bubble counter, i can get that anywhere right? Nothing really special about that piece is there? If anyone has a good needle valve and/or regulator and/or solenoid for sale, I'm happy to pay you good money for it. I just want something decent. I called a welding shop today and they want like $550 for a 2-stage victor o2 regualtor that they would convert to cga320 for free lol. crazy

Hi all. I'm trying to build a good pressurized co2 system. I found one on kijiji that a guy from Calgary was selling with his entire system. He agreed to sell me just the Co2 system but now I can't get him to commit... Sooo...I want a dual stage regulator with a good needle valve with a high thread count and a decent solenoid and 20lb tank. I've read too much negative shiz about the milwaukee stuff so I am hoping to find something like a victor regualtor / swagelok valve etc. I need a 20lb tank as well (probably end up getting that from Praxair). I would like to build some sort of inline co2 reactor. I have an extra internal / external pump that I can use for that. Anyone have any ideas on where I can pick this stuff up in Alberta? I could ebay it but i wants it meow!!!! thanks in advance

Hi there from Airdrie. I have always wanted to get into the hobby and finally did so a the start of November 2012. Started out with a 10 gallon tank with 1 feeder goldfish and a pleco. Fast forward a few months and I'm sitting here looking at my 200 gal bowfront with a 30 gal sump full of African Cichlids. The system i bough was originally used as a marine tank so the lighting is overkill: 3 x 150 MH, 4 X t5ho (all blue) and 4 led moonlights. My problem now is that I picked up a book written by Takashi Amano and now as of yesterday I have a bunch of Moss balls, Anubas and Java Fern/Java Moss tied to my driftwood. I'm really considering getting another tank to put my fish in so that i can drain this one and start over from the substrate up. I really want to sculpt something green! Thanks for having me,