# 72 Dirted Planted Project



## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

just figured out how to add pictures so here are some pictures of tank I'm tanking down and the new 72 bow front I just recently got on august first. the tank has had water in it for a little under 2 weeks now and the plants hvae been in there since then too. i contemplated a dry start but after seeing the condition of the pogostemon erectus i filled the tank right away. that plant was pronounced Dead On Arival (DOA) and the rest of the plants seem to be doing fine other than the hair grass. I ordered 4 myriophyllum pinnatum, 4 pogostemon erectus, 4 rotala wallichii, 5 dwarf hair grass, 1 rotala rotundifolia from plantedaquariumscentral.com and couldn't be happier. They had a deal if you buy 4 of the stems they send a 5th free. to my surprise they added 1 extra of every plant other than the hair grass which instantly made me a life time customer (this was my first online experience with plants). The pictures here are of my old tank and the 5 fish I plan on moving to their new bigger and better home once it is up and cycled.


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## Jmlampert23 (Jul 25, 2012)

Where did you buy you plants


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

After finally getting the tank, I went on a little adventure. Bought two large peices of wood for 26 dollars each, and then went out into a forest looking for rocks I liked. After bringing home around 1500 lbs of rock, i bought a 21L pot to boil the wood and rocks. I poured my dirt into my tank and wet it down letting it sit for 3 days. Next I arranged the hard scape in an athstectically pleasing fashion. A couple of days later I recieved my plants and put them into my small tank for safe keeping. At first the discus didn't like the filled aquarium but after that they came around and seemed to love it. 

I purchased 3, 50 lb bags of organic choice dirt, 2 15lb bags of eco complete, and then about 40 lbs of black sand from my other tank as a cap. I also bought a aquaclear 110 filter for this tank and a 300 watt heater because the discus love their heat. I have been using a CO2 diffuser from petsmart for about 7 months now and am going to stick with that for this tank as well.


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## Jmlampert23 (Jul 25, 2012)

I read it but must have missed it


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

A problem dealing with Craigslist is that in order to get a tank for the right price, i had to buy it from someone who had previously used it for salt water... i called a bunch of local fish stores (LFS) and they all said it would be fine for my discus as long as i used vinegar to scrub the inside of the tank well. I also recieved the guys light fixture which had 2 t12 light bulbs for marine life. I couldn't find any t12s under 50 dollars online and then i found that lowes sells pairs for 8$! so i went to lows and bought another dual fixture and now my tank is lit by 4 T12 40 watt lights giving me a grand total of 160watts. all the light bulbs are 6500k and should be great for my plants. 

my tank has been cycling for 2 weeks now with the plants and i have done about 5 full water changes to re organize plants and to remove the tanis from the water due to the large peices of wood. I thought boiling them would be sufficent but i guess not. 

I am struggling to keep my hair grass alive and ws wondering if anyone had any tips for me. most of the clumps have turned yellow and I'm afraid i wont have that beautiful carpet I was hoping for. All the other plants seem to be doing fine.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

I bought 2 Bristle nose plecos two days ago and both cats are going NUTS over them. I think they like the way they swim sparatically in the water and don't gain ground well. I also forgot to mention that i painted the back of my tank black because it seemed thats how most of the beautiful aquariums look. on my 29 gallon i painted it blue and liked it but I think most of my discus don't really pop on that type of a background. I'm hoping this black background helps their color. I have also found that the plants had a few snails and now they are EVERYWHERE in my 72. its kinda funny cus i went through trouble to desnail my other tank and now here they are again. 

I was also wondering if that by not growing alge in my tank if that is good or bad. i was wondering if that meant i don't have enough light or enought nutrients or am i just lucky cus i used eco complete to ward off the attack. hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do!


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

With the dark background and dark substrate it may cause the discus to actually darken. the tank itself is looking very nice!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

NWA-Planted said:


> With the dark background and dark substrate it may cause the discus to actually darken. the tank itself is looking very nice!
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


 

Well I hope not but if it does then I will learn my lesson. I had them with a white gravel when I first purchased them and they would never come out of hiding. I read that light gravel hurt their eyes because it is so bright and when I purchased a black sand almost a year ago it was an imediate change in behavior. I guess I will just have to wait and see


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Someone had to start the triple didgets. 72 Bow dirted, yes please. 
after #97, 98, 99


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

ccbeauch said:


> Well I hope not but if it does then I will learn my lesson. I had them with a white gravel when I first purchased them and they would never come out of hiding. I read that light gravel hurt their eyes because it is so bright and when I purchased a black sand almost a year ago it was an imediate change in behavior. I guess I will just have to wait and see


funny little critters aren't they! 

People who don't like bacon can't be trusted.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

Any ideas why my hair grass is slightly turning yellow on me?


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

I think i figured it out


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## javajaws (Sep 4, 2005)

I couldn't help myself...


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## nonconductive (Jan 29, 2010)

nice start!


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

The DHG is probably turning yellow due to not enough light.
TO be honest, Im not sure if t12 bulbs have enough of a PAR reading at the substrate to make it effective. Someone call Hoppy into this thread lol.
Otherwise, I love everything


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

LMFAO! That picture of the cat and fish is awesome!

I just put the discus in the tank today! The plants are all doing great and the DHG has started to root and is super green. I cut the Foxtail in half and replanted. They are consistantly about 2 inches in diameter and were the fastest to reach the top of the tank. The rotala wallichii has started to grow upwards in the last few days because I added some iron tablets. prior to that there was little growth at all but nothing was dying. 

The discus are coming out and look very happy with their new tank. They do however look very small which made me laugh because they looked so large in the 29 gallon tank. I also used my last test strip yesterday so now I'm just going to have to be consistant on the water changes and hope everything goes well. I will add some pictures next time I stop by because right now the suns up and half of the tank is just one big reflection.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

*4 weeks later!*

closed the curtains and took a ton of pictures. here are some of the better ones that I liked. I think the light was the issue with the DHG so when i got 4 bulbs it really turned it around and saved them


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GPLSCYq1pg&feature=youtu.be

Made this video a while ago and just figured I'd let everyone know what a "fake" planted tank looks like. That one is gone now and the new one has never been better.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

*Week 5*

So this week i saw some major growth to my plants. I have been dosing with excel 3 times this week and am going to start doing it on a regular basis. I wanted to make sure the discus would be fine and that the plants were benefitting from it. Seems like they have if you compare last weeks photos to this weeks worth of growth. I also cut the fox tail in half for the second time and the rotala in half for the first time and replanted all of the stems. I am going for the bushy look and want a large background of plant. The rotala wallichii has started to grow for the first time noticably. Not sure if it is from the iron pellets or the excel but I'm hoping a bit of both. 

The dwarf hair grass has also started to root out which I am super excited about after its near death look two weeks ago. The only problem now is that the discus like to rip them up when some food goes near it. The blue diamond ripped a huge peice out just to spite me I think. 

Still no real sign of alge unless that brown stuff on the foxtail is a brown alge. I was thinking its just dirt dust because I managed to stir it up every time I mess with the tank and it makes the tank cloudy. 

Enjoy


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

Has anyone ever tried adding feeder fish to a discus tank to see if they would eat them to test if adding cardinals would be okay? Kinda on a budget and don't want to see loads of cardinals become an expensive meal.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

*Week 6*

Well my tank has survived all the way to 6 weeks and is thriving! It's still not perfect the way I want it but the tank is starting to settle and is starting to look really nice in my opinion. 

I was looking at the past two years and how aweful of aquascapes I used to have and how much I just loved them back then and still today even though they are gone. The angelfish that paired and had eggs are the reason why I have progressed and fell in love with fish keeping. Most of the pictures I added are of fish that are gone now other than the first week discus pictures I took when they were young little babies. That ghost knife is still alive and HUGE now in my dads 90 gallon tank back at home. It's been great so far and looking forward to advancing my aquascaping skills as this keeps on going. 

Two of those discus are still with me, Blue diamond and Marlboro Red. The Scribble jumped out one night and was dead on the floor when I woke up and the pidgeon blood (my favorite) wasn't eating because he was the runt and I took him back before he died too. Have fun looking at my past tanks


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

They only allow 15 pics to be added at a time and there were 3 more I wanted to add. Here they are. the discus that looked sick in the top picture was VERY sick and so were the rest of them at the time. I did a lot of changing to their tank at the time and it was just too much. Plus a LFS that I went to was very dirty and against my better judgment I got the two discus with the stripes. Then the discus rubbed on that lava rock when they had diseases and that cut them open like a hot knife through butter. I also found out later that it may have affected my pH level which could have added to the stress at the time. I have no idea how I saved them because two were belly up and I almost quit fish keeping but then they all came back to life and are now healthier than ever! I guess sometimes the fish keeping gods smile upon us


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

*Week 7*

This was a sad week for my aquarium. I had a fish die on me this week. All was fine when I left in the morning, but when I came back I noticed something was sideways and stuck in the plants. It was my smallest discus!? not too sure how he died but his stomach area was the size of a large marble. It wasn't like that when I left so my best guess was that he was shooting across the tank and when he smacked into the wall, his swim bladder exploded. After dealing with that on Thursday night, I then did a large water change Friday and this is what it looks like now. 

I think possibly next week I might buy a Parrotblood Red and something else from a LFS where my parents live, because they get the Stendecker kind that do very well at a reasonable price. That is the same store that the Blue diamond came from. Anyway, enjoy week 7 photos and updates.


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## 245Bettalover (Sep 13, 2012)

wow nice tank


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

245Bettalover said:


> wow nice tank


 Thanks a lot! It has been fun so far and I'm glad others appreciate what I've been doing as well. I was unsure if anyone else even looked at this, because I hadn't gotten any replies in a few weeks.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

*Week 10*

So I know it's been a while since my last posting but due to a lack of replies I decided to take some weeks off of uploading photos. A lot has changed in the last 3 weeks of tank operation. There have been many additions to the tank and a few things have been taken away. First, for the additions to the aquarium:
6 new fish have been added to the tank. I bought two of my favorite discus (pigeon blood red) from a fish store that imports Hans-Stendker Discus from Germany. It is the same place I bought my Blue Diamond from over a year ago. I tried to buy some cardinals from them but they said my discus might eat them and convinced me not to risk it. The following day I went to my local Petsmart to buy some frozen food and low and behold, they had cardinals on sale for 1$ each! I bought the remaining four that they had in stock and my discus could care less about them! I also added Purigen to my AC 110 filter and within 3 days the white bag turned a dark brown. So it must have been doing its job but now this weekend I will have to purge it of the dark color and give it another try in the tank. 
After 3 months of a high electric bill, I decided to take out two of my t12s and see the kind of impact a reduction of light would have in my tank. It has been almost a week and my tank has seen some repercussions. All of my plants are still alive but the HG is starting to yellow along with the tips of the sword plants and the middle of the foxtails. I think I am going to put it back in and maybe cut the time that the light is on down by an hour or two. At the moment it is on for 10 hours a day and the total increase for the tank jump from my 29 to 72 seems to be about 50$.
As a side note, I turned down the heat in my tank from 86 degrees to about 83-84 to see what type of impact that would have. I’ve been doing a lot of research on a newfound website of mine, simply discus, and have been learning more to discus keeping. I just checked the water and am showing 0ppm for nitrate, 0ppm for nitrite, a water hardness of 120ppm, alkalinity of 120ppm and a ph of 7.6-8.0 (which is the limit for discus). I think the ph is higher due to the type of wood in the tank. My old tank the ph used to sit at 6.4 to 6.6 so it is quite the swing of what I was used to seeing. I cleaned my petsmart CO2 producer and hid it behind the foxtail. I also have noticed that my albino bristle nose pleco (girl) hasn’t been eating the wafer I put in daily but the bristle nose pleco (boy) seems to chow down along with the discus on it. They almost fight over who gets to eat it. I was worried about her because her belly looks a little concave instead of fat like she had been eating. I was wondering if there was any other type of food I could try adding since the tablet seems a bit messy anyway to the water quality. The wafer is by tetra and is called tetra veggie algae wafer extreme with a concentrated algae center. It says on the back it does not cloud water but it does leave little particles floating all over the tank that the cardinals seem to eat as they swim. 
Thanks for stopping by and happy picture gazing!


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

Went back to Petsmart yesterday to see if they still had their sale going on (new fish come in on Fridays), and they did! So i bought out the rest of the 18 Cardinals they just recieved and walked away a happy man  22 total cardinals for 22, what a sale. Doing the math it should have cost over 100$ for all of them. Got to love that once a year great sale they have. Also noticed that they are selling dwarf hairgrass now and other plants worth talking about. More expensive than online but still they are moving in the right direction. Now they just nead a BA show tank to get the average fish person hooked.


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## Turtlemaxxx (May 8, 2012)

Very nice sir. I too, just started the dirty tank thing. I also started a journal, and, like you, am worried that no one looks at it but me. Consider me subscribed.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

Turtlemaxxx said:


> Very nice sir. I too, just started the dirty tank thing. I also started a journal, and, like you, am worried that no one looks at it but me. Consider me subscribed.


Thanks for subscribing!

Did a water change last night and took a couple of pictures. This was one of my favorites  Sorry I forgot to wipe my tank down before talking pictures... rookie mistake.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

*Weeek 15*

October just flew by. I’ve been really busy so I decided let the plants just "grow out." Last week I cut 24 large Foxtail stems and traded them in to a local fish store (LFS). Each was in the 10-16 inch range. Yesterday I cut the Rotala rotundifolia down and replanted 115 stems in the middle back of the aquarium. I have been doing twice weekly water changes and feeding them when they look hungry (about 5 cubes per day). Both Cardinals and Discus have become comfortable with each other. The Cardinals are similar to vultures when I drop a blood worm cube. They swoop in quickly, gobbling up stray floating blood worms. 

The Pigeon Blood Red discus are starting to get more white patches and are quickly becoming my favorite fish in the tank. 

I have been on a de-snailling vendetta. It seems like they were eating my sword plants and turning them yellow and sick looking. Since they have almost all been gone, I have gotten new leaves that are vibrantly green just like they used to look. That made me happy because I thought maybe my plants were old and dying and I was going to have to get rid of them. Turns out they are doing okay J

The dwarf hair grass (DHG) is thriving at the bottom and is green and longer than ever. The DHG has many off shoots that the discus sometimes rip up while they scavenge for lone blood worms. 

Recently also acquired a new pet! He is friendly, quite, and loves to explore/run. Very pokey but also gentle. He eats a special kind of cat food and the cats both like his food better than what they get. 

The first fish tank shot (FTS) is after I cut the foxtail but prior to cutting the Rotala. The next shot is after I cleaned up the foxtail and Rotala and replanted them both. 

That’s all that has happened for the month of October. Enjoy!


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## bbrackeen (Oct 22, 2012)

Hah!! Is that a hedgehog!?

Awesome tank! I keep waffling over discus or not until I see them again! That turquoise is just beautiful!


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

bbrackeen said:


> Hah!! Is that a hedgehog!?
> 
> Awesome tank! I keep waffling over discus or not until I see them again! That turquoise is just beautiful!


 
Why yes it is  He's a pretty cool pet too. Isn't afraid of the cats one bit and also came as a natural litter box trained animal which was lucky for us. 


Discus are awesome fish to keep once you learn what they like and need to thrive. I like him a lot too. He was my favorite but these two new Pigeon bloods are slowly changing my mind.


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## Evilgrin (Oct 2, 2012)

I like your tank so far looking good. I know how you feel about the lack of replies I started a thread about my 55g about 3-4 weeks ago only 2 replies so far.
Going to subscribe as I'm interested in how your tank works out, I'm doing a dirted tank as well all the plants are in still stocking the tank at this point.


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## Sethjohnson30 (Jan 16, 2012)

Your tank looks awesome! Where did you get that canopy? I have twin 72g's and I hate the blinding amount of light that comes out of my raised fixtures. 
I can't find a premise canopy for less than 400$, and I live in an apartment so I can't build one.


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## StraightAddicted (May 20, 2012)

Wow beautiful setup and love the journey pics to see where you came from to where it has emerged to. The cats and hedgehog were good mix to throw in 
Stinks to lose a fish or several, especially when you have them as little ones. But I'm sure your new colony will last for years to come. Once again, great job! and keep up the hard work


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## MikeS (Apr 27, 2008)

Beautiful tank!


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## simplicitysarah (May 14, 2012)

Great tank! What beautiful fish!


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## Mahlady (Dec 19, 2012)

Beautiful


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## Saxtonhill (Dec 28, 2012)

Beautiful tank and discus! Love the way the cats appear in the photo narrative (and what an interesting hedge hog) 

Very interested in the dirt-layer in the substrate...I'm going to subscribe


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## whiptail (Jul 13, 2012)

Nice tank. The LFS has been pushing discus. Are they as difficult to reaise as I keep hearing? The feeding is what worries me, because I'm gone a lot of weekends. 
Love the pics of your cat. We have a miniture Schnouser and she will sit and watch the bristlenose too. What's funny is when she tries to bite it. The bristlenose will stay on the front of the glass and just wiggle a little bit. It's like it's teasing her.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

Sethjohnson30 said:


> Your tank looks awesome! Where did you get that canopy? I have twin 72g's and I hate the blinding amount of light that comes out of my raised fixtures.
> I can't find a premise canopy for less than 400$, and I live in an apartment so I can't build one.


 
My canopy came with the tank when I got it from a guy off of craigslist. It is actually plastic and super light. He said he paid 150$ from some online store but had to build it himself, which consisted of glueing 5 supports on the inside together to hold it up... good luck!

even though it is palstic, it looks perfect up there and doesn't look cheap in person or in the pictures at all.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

Evilgrin said:


> I like your tank so far looking good. I know how you feel about the lack of replies I started a thread about my 55g about 3-4 weeks ago only 2 replies so far.
> Going to subscribe as I'm interested in how your tank works out, I'm doing a dirted tank as well all the plants are in still stocking the tank at this point.


 
Thanks! It has been a while since I looked at this but I have been keeping up on my water changes. Problems arose with algea:eek5: but I'm seeking help on fixing that now. The good thing is that no fish have died, just a lot of plant...


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

whiptail said:


> Nice tank. The LFS has been pushing discus. Are they as difficult to reaise as I keep hearing? The feeding is what worries me, because I'm gone a lot of weekends.
> Love the pics of your cat. We have a miniture Schnouser and she will sit and watch the bristlenose too. What's funny is when she tries to bite it. The bristlenose will stay on the front of the glass and just wiggle a little bit. It's like it's teasing her.


 
The feeding isn't a problem at all. When they are young they can go for about 2 weeks without food and at the adult age they can go for 2 to 4 months with out a meal, though I don't recomend it. I am gone most weekends too in the spring and summer and they are completely fine when I return. The biggest part is making sure you are up on your water changes if you are going to leave for a week or something like that. I usually do one right before I go just to be on the safe side. The more plants in the tank, the more problems can arise if you dose things, but also the longer the tank can go without a water change if need be. Right now I'm battling algea but the fish don't seem to mind one bit. 

my tank still turns a tea color 8 months later and I'm not sure if that is because of the wood or dirt in the bottom of the tank, maybe both. good luck if you decide to jump in. There is a guy named Paul or discus Paul who gives good advice on discus and such. Learned some key things from him.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

*Week 33!*

So it has been a really long time since an update. I'm kinda embarrassed of how the tank has been looking the last 10 weeks or longer and that's why I haven't done an update. Some algae started to grow (should have crossed my fingers sooner) and since then things in the tank have been on the decline. I'm not sure what type of algae it is or how to get rid of it and was kinda just hoping it would go away on its own... dumb. So now I'm asking for help and looking around to what it may be. I didn't start dosing ever and I have no clue what caused it because I’m pretty sure nothing changed when it first arose. No fish have died (thank God) so I wasn't too worried for a while, but now my plants are starting to be killed off as you can see from the pictures. (Green foxtail is all gone, along with most of the hair grass and all of the red plant-can't remember its name right now) My swords just recently (2 weeks ago) sprouted offspring and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. I've ripped some off and replanted and still have a bunch (20+) just floating around on the stem. 

I also think my bristle nose plecos have been eating my sword plants and that is why they seem so small. It also could be the small snails, but I pretty much wiped out there whole colony and the plants haven't changed with holes and such. 

My fish on the bright side are doing great! The one pigeon blood has grown to about the size of the other 4 (which isn't saying much since I stunted all of their growth due to prolonged captivity in a 29 gallon tank). The other pigeon blood was a runt of the group and I knew he would fit in with my other discus and couldn't pass him up to be left for dead. He has grown a little but is still small compared to the others although they have accepted him into their pack. 

I was saddened to find out that my LFS (local fish store) went out of business in the area 3 months ago (had been buying my blood worms and beef heart from petsmart...) and just found out this week. Now I’m left with just petsmart or a terrible local pet store that has half-filled infected fish tanks rampant and the overwhelming smell of ammonia that punches you in the face when you walk in the door, making it difficult to breath. Being a college athlete, I think that is kind of a big deal. Anyway, onto the pictures! 

Please be nice about the comments, I know how bad it looks and am trying to figure out what to do to get rid of the algae and get my plants on the upside of growing again. I have been doing my weekly water changes for the past 3 months so it isn't as bad as it really looks, I hope.....


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## El Zilcho (Jun 16, 2012)

Great looking tank, always wanted to have discus. Maybe next year will actually try. Having the same problem with the same looking algae now so a free bump.


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

El Zilcho said:


> Great looking tank, always wanted to have discus. Maybe next year will actually try. Having the same problem with the same looking algae now so a free bump.


Thanks. They are awesome fish. You can feed them right out of your hand and even pet them like a cat if you want to and some of them like it and push back. Just make sure to do a lot of research before you jump into this part of the hobby because it can be sticker shock and frustrating if they start doing the back stroke over night... When I first started I had one jump out of the tank and then a year later one decided to "shoot" in the middle of the night and rupture his swim bladder. Other than that no real issues other than ich once when I bought a plant from a dirty LFS. Thankfuly they all lived and I didn't do that again.


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## jameshill247 (Apr 2, 2012)

im just about to get 5 discus from someone i know thats shutting their tank down and they have the same peppering on the face that until reading through this i hadn't seen before 

my tank also has black sand and a black 3d background but the tank they are coming from has white sand and a darkish background but not black

did you ever find out if the peppering was caused by the dark environment? i don't think it would bother me anyway cos they are so colourful but they do have the peppering in a tank with white sand? maybe its not just the environment that does it i have read something about genes? 

i may have missed it reading through this thread seeing as its full of so much information looks good though!


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## ccbeauch (Jul 29, 2012)

I'm pretty sure that that background does not have so much to do with it as the hardness in the water does. I used to have white rocks (white clown puke as some would call it), the discus were very skittish and hid most of the time. I read online that they are from dark waters in the amazon and that the bright sand is very hard on their eyes. As soon as I made the change to black sand, within minutes they changed 180 degrees and were as friendly as the cats I have. Also, I've witnessed them as vibrant as others and as black as others too. I've found that how they feel is how they look. After a water change they are as bright as ever or right when I wake up and they are hungry. When the water is old and needs a change or when they are angry and fighting, or right when they fall asleep, they are much darker in general. But the peppering was there when I had bright white and blue background and substrate and it stayed when I made the change to black for both.


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## jameshill247 (Apr 2, 2012)

spose I will be able to tell, if the peppering gets any worse when they are in my tank then it might have something to do with it. just have to keep up with everything and hopefully they will be alright have spent ages reading up about them do you remineralize or do you cut with tap water. my water here is very hard so RO is a must i guess. I have read about some people slowing acclimatising them over a long period of time putting less and less RO in and more tap to condition them to the water we have here. some people in my area have been breeding them in our local water so i guess the ones born in our tap water would be tolerant of our water? 

you have probably answered this above but i think i might have missed it


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