sm1ke

How were the most recent fish acclimated to the tank? Personally, I've never had issues with Big Al's fish or Pisces fish, but I take my time using drip acclimation. I put the new fish into a gallon jug with the LFS water, and run a drip line from my tank to the jug at a rate of 2-3 drops per second until the jug is 50% or 75% full (usually takes an hour or two). It's definitely overkill, but I haven't had any issues with NTS. I've heard that if you want to be even more careful, you can introduce the fish in the dark.

Here's the coupon code. Good until July 29, 2016. 6BBBIFTHQY

So I ended up going for this regulator from CO2Art: http://www.co2art.co.uk/collections/regulators-solenoids/products/professional-aquarium-co2-dual-stage-regulator-with-advance-swiss-solenoid-and-smc-valve Total price including taxes and 5-15 day shipping was $160 CAD, compared to the $205 USD for the GLA GRO-1. Something to note if you're buying from CO2Art.. I put the regulator in my cart and decided to hold off until I had more time to think about it. I browsed reviews for about an hour and decided to go for it. By chance, I checked my email first, and there was a 15% off coupon code from CO2Art just begging to be used Also I may have access to cheap (possibly free) CO2 refills because one of the training sessions my coworker leads is Fire Extinguisher training. I'll post again when I get it. Thanks for your help everyone.

Any updates on this? I'd personally like to hear more about photo period and misting schedule, issues with mold (if any). Is the tank completely sealed off? Wondering because I'm doing a DSM as well

Thanks Nicolas and Hung, I appreciate the quick replies. I do have some space underneath the desk, so I may end up going the 5-10 pound tank route. I'll check out CO2 Art before I make any decisions. Hung, I went with the Azoo Flexi M. Not as fancy as some of the other units, but I was drawn to the minimalist design and the fact that it swivels out of the way. I would probably be interested in the used setup route.. could you PM me the details/pricing? Here's a pic of where I'm planning to put the tank: The CO2 setup would probably go right beside the gray cabinet, or next to the black cabinet in this pic:

This is my first foray into pressurized CO2. I'm looking for a system for my five gallon office tank (currently in the DSM stage). I was looking at ordering the GLA GRO or PRO regulator and diffuser and then sourcing a 5-10 pound tank locally. Is this overkill for a five gallon planted tank? I'm looking to maintain some carpeting plants like micranthemum, HC and e. parvula. I don't really want to piece together and build a regulator, so my other option would be the Fluval 88g kit at one of the local stores. What do you guys think? Also, can any sponsors here bring in GLA equipment?

Looks great so far!

I've heard of using tabs, and I'll keep that in my back pocket. I bought a phosphate testing kit and found out that I had way too much phosphate in my water, so I'm going to increase the frequency of water changes until it decreases. The nitrates are also higher today, so the zero reading is likely due to the water change I had done right before the first test. I also went back to 12 hours on and 12 off for my light. We'll see what happens. Been a great learning experience so far

Ammonia - 0 ppm Nitrate - 0 ppm I did a pretty big water change before this, so I'll continue to monitor parameters over the next couple of days. Unfortunately I don't have a testing kit for other parameters like phosphates.

I actually haven't been dosing anything. I was hoping I could get away with not dosing, but I guess I expected too much with my first dip into planted tanks. I'm going to do a water change, then post my parameters. Hopefully I can learn from this.

Here are a few pictures.

So, little bit of an update. All fish are good and healthy, neons no longer school tightly but that's to be expected as they become comfortable with their surroundings. I have tons of pesky snails but I'm not too worried about them. I used to leave my lights on from 6:30am to around 4:30pm, but over the past couple of weeks I have developed an algae problem (no CO2 or ferts). I'm currently using a T5HO fixture with a 54W 6400k light. I've cut down the lighting to about six hours a day, and the algae growth seems to have stopped. That said, the algae is still present on some staurogyne repens leaves. My ludwigia repens and alternanthera rosaefolia have suffered (leaves started to brown and small holes have begun to appear). Should I be doing anything different to combat the algae? What's causing the holes in the leaves? I used to have a bunch of glosso as well, but the gourami I added has been ripping away at them and there's barely any left, lol. I think he's also responsible for ripping some of the ludwigia leaves off. I'll try to get a picture of the tank later today. I'm also working on getting a small office tank from SKA, pretty psyched for that!

Most people will simply create a new post in the Buy/Sell Livestock subforum. If you'd like them to go to a good home, you can ask possible buyers/rehomers (I don't think that's a word but whatever lol) to provide specific details like tank size/footprint, filtration, tankmates, even tank parameters. Then, based on what they tell you, you can make a decision. Just keep in mind that people are people, and may lie about these things because they're keen on the idea of cheap or free fish. Good luck!

Damn, I knew I should have bought a couple yesterday. They're all sold out now.

Beautiful!