WaterLogged

Could you keep guppies and gudgeons in the same tank with a whole bunch of plants?? I think if I can thats the road I want to be on.

Thanks for all that info that is great. The mono is pretty big maybe not 3" yet but close too. I'll try some plants and see how he does with them. The salt water tank is being torn down, and thats where the new planted tank will be. So I have no other place to put him. Anyways thanks for the info and I'll keep in touch!!

Mark

I am not sure if this is the right place for this post, so you guys can move it if you like. Before going crazy on my empty 90 gal. I want to see if live plants is the right road for me. I currently also have a 30 gal with community fish in it set up at home. I would like to try to put in some easy, low light plants. If anyone has some I could take, or has suggestions as to what to buy that would be great. The substrate in that tank is just 1/4" sized gravel and is about 3-4" deep. The tank has been set up for about a year now so the gravel is established. I do have a mono inhabiting the tank right now, not sure if he would eat the plants or not. I had the mono in my salt tank to start andthen moved him and acclimated slowly and now he is in the fresh tank. My lighting is not all that greaet. 1 watt/ gal. So any suggestions for fauna would be great.

Thanks

Mark

Well if I like things to run smoothly with less time envolved I would go with a fully automatic system. With the use of CO2 do you still need to dose all these diff. types of fertilizers i am hearing about?

So you dont need all that automatic stuff they are selling to monitor ph levels. Just get the Co2 bottle and regulators and a bubbler thing. Drip it over a powerhead and thats it?

Thanks alot for the reply's guys. One other question that I have is flow. Do you want lots of flow in your tank? I also have a fluval 404 that I took out so I could probably put that back into service.

Thanks again for the help so far!

Mark

Hi all. I havn't been on here in a while. Mostly in the Saltwater sectiona s well. After trying it for a year, with success, I have chosen to give saltwater up because of my budget. I'm sure lots of you know what i mean. So i want to switch back to freshwater and a planted tank. I have a ton of expensive equipment that I am not sure will do me any good in a planted set up. I just want your input on this equipment and if i should keep it.

I currently have a 90 gal, wavefront tank and custom stand. I have 2 - 150 watt MH and 4 - 96 actinics in custom stand. I am wondering if this is overkill for planted freshwater. The tank is more deep then it is long as well. 48" wide.

I also have a seperate custom tank underneath the stand where my skimmer used to be. That tank is 40 gal and was used for dosing, refugium ect. This was my main filtration for my tank. I could probably use this as a filter as well, just a little overkill is all. Have a place for media ect. Do i really need this other tank though?

Basically i want to know if any of this is overkill because i can sell it if i dont need it. (lets just say i was never going to get back into salt

Do I need a CO2 thingy, I have never even really looked into something like this so I am unsure on the topic. I will read up on it in the mean time.

Thanks for your input everyone.

Mark

Peeps from Calgary, where do you guys find pickling lime around here?? I must be looking in the wrong spots!

Thanks

Mark

Okay that is good to hear. I'm going to do a few WC and dose with the 2 part additive. Will that bring the levels up to par, or will it just maintane the levels i have now? Those Hagen guys sure like to make things complicated. They should have that chart printed in the little instruction book they give you!!

Thanks for the reply's midgetwaiter,

Mark

Well turns out I mis calculated my dosing procedures. I wasn't adding enough. I finally got my calcium levels to 340 ppm which is way better. But now my alk reading is 80 ?? the hagen test confuses me though, with all the dkh's and meq/l I don't know what 80 is refering to but I'm pretty sure thats way low.

I actually have only been dosing straight calcium. On the bottle it says it will raise calcium and keep magnesium levels. Do I need to get calcium chloride? I asked the guy at gold's(lfs) and that is what he gave me? That article you posted is very good though. Explains everything very well. Maybe I just have to wait longer before things change. I hate waiting !!!

The hagen test kit is about a year and a half old.

I use Instant Ocean marine salt.

And the tank has only been up for 6 months.

Thanks for helping me out

Mark

You think those values could be off by that much? Not doubting you or anything. But I paid alot of money for that test kit. hehe

Hagen master test kit.

Haha okay.. it sure felt long typing it. I am all thumbs

Hello everyone. I guess in order to answer my question im going to have to give you a bit of info, so here we go.

90 gal.

40 lbs. live rock

4" dsb

prizm pro deluxe skimmer

fluval 404 (mainly for flow) - got some phosphate sponge in there though

3 maxi jet 1200's

2 blue damsel

1 yellow tail wrasse

no corals yet

Last weeks

Ph 8.3

calcium- 220

Alk 7.3 dkh

This weeks

Ph 8.1

calcium 240

Alk 7.0 dkh

My problem is I need to get my calcium up to atleast 360ppm. Ever since I started I was using a Ph buffer whenever I added top off water, or changed water. I kept adding and adding calcium supplement without seeing any changes. I was told to not use the buffer anymore and keep adding calcium until you get to the desired level, then start using a 2 part additive. Because I dont have a kalk reactor or anything. I have been doing that and have not really seen any changes. There is nothing in the tank that really uses the calcium so I can't understand where it is all going. And now with my Alk and Ph dropping I am afraid it's going to get to low for comfort. Should I just keep doing what I'm doing and add the calcium. Or is there something I am missing here?? I am using RO water since 2 weeks ago for top offs and WC now. Any comments or suggestions are very, very welcome!!

Thanks all sorry it was so long.

Mark

Hi all, was wondering If anyone could ID those white beige lookin' things all over that peice of lava rock. Im thinkin' maybe sponges but not quite sure what these things are.

Thanks,

Markus

Here is a picture of my tank!! 6 months old..... not even close to being done But you all know how it is i guess

Thank you everybody!!

I live in SE Calgary. In Deer Run if your familiar with that area.

Thanks for the welcome Stacey, and Toirtis

Hello all... I currently have a 90 gal with only 35 lbs. live rock. I am wondering if any of you know of a place that sells dry rock that is good for denitrification. Would like to save some cash and let that dead rock rise again!!!

Thanks, Mark

Hello all,

I have also been chosen to spend most of my time and money on this wonderful addicting hobby. I have a 90 gal SW, and 30 gal FW. The SW has been up for only 6 months. 3 fish in there, 2 blue damsels, and 1 yellow tail wrasse. 40 lbs. live rock, 4" DSB, fluval 404, prizm pro deluxe skimmer(getting sump soon) 48" outer orbit 24 hr lighting system. and the list goes on and on. Just wanted to say hi! And let you all know that you will prbably be hearing alot of me from now on.... lol

Cheers, Mark