# Captivate's 29 gallon (56k) *5/28 Replanted



## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I've had this tank planted since June. I didn't really do a journal on it to begin with, but considering I'm in the middle of redoing it, I thought I would probably like to keep track of it.

Here are some old pictures, when it was at my old place

The driftwood









The tank quite a bit overgrown









It had a nice carpet of marselia minuta growing in









Can we say overgrown?


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Here's the equipment:

29 gallon tank
4x 18watt T5NO
DIY CO2, two 2liters
EI dosing, dry ferts
Seachem Iron
Excel

Flora:
Java Fern
Java Fern "narrow leaf"
Anubias barteri nana
Anubias barteri nana "petite"
Anubias barteri "coffeefolia"
Anubias barteri "marbled"
Crypt parva
Marselia minuta
Hydrocotyle verticillata (whorled pennywort)
Rotala nanjenshan
Rotala rotundifolia
Ludwigia glandulosa

After initial planting









After a trip to the LFS


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Hooked the co2 up to a powerhead. Works a crap ton better than the chopstick.

So here it is after the latest trim









I yanked out the jungle vals. They just weren't doing good, and were fostering algae.

I also started dosing Excel the day this was taken, and started dosing Seachem iron shortly after.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

Is there any room behind the drift wood for some stems? That could add a bunch of depth. Looks like you're off to a good start.


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## VadimShevchuk (Sep 19, 2009)

I would add a black background so that you won't have to see all the wires. looking good.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Yeah, there's some space. I have an order from Sweet Aquatics that was sent out today with different stems. When I get the order, much of it will probably end up behind the driftwood.

Thanks for the compliment :icon_smil

The ball of christmas moss that's just kind of hanging out there will get tied to the driftwood. Currently there's some BBA on the wood I'm in the process of cleaning up.

I also have an order from mGamer for some Clithon coronas! :icon_mrgr They are super cute, and should help with the GDA that's developing on the glass.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Ah yeah, I have to get my background on it. I've been procrastinating on doing that :bounce:

Should look a lot better with more plants and the black background...


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I got my shipment of plants today, and I'm disappointed. I ordered it on November 18, and it took to December 2 to get it. Fine, whatever, I don't mind waiting. But they failed to send one of the plants I ordered all together, and then sent this plant as "rotala wallichi".









Yeah, I don't think so. I know what a rotala looks like, and that red myrio. Not what I ordered. I don't mind if they ran out and sent a similar plant, but it was labeled as r, wallichi.

So I'm not ordering from there again. I think I'll stick to my honest LFS and the SnS from now on.

On the other hand, my snails came in today! And I'm super happy with them. Thanks to mGamer for sending some gorgeous Clithon Coronas plus an extra horned nerite. It has red and black stripes, almost textured like snake skin. Pretty cool!




























I'll deal with the plants I've received. If I don't like them, they are being trashed. I'll just have to get what I can at my LFS, where I can see first hand what I'm getting. They have a fairly nice selection of plants, so I guess I shouldn't be moping.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

So I ran out to my LFS to see what other plants I could cram in there, and guess what they had? The stupid rotala wallichi. The real one. They had the plant that I received as r wallichi, and they had it labeled as Red Foxtail. Great, they sent me a cheap plant.

Still not sure what I'm doing with the foxtail yet. I have it now, so I want to work with it, but now I have a good deal of red in my tank. It isn't the prettiest red either. It'll probably end up just hanging out next to the emersed ludwigia cuba for a while until I get my ten gallon up and going.

I'll be actually planting everything on Sunday, which is water change day. I'll update pictures then 

An update on the snails: I _love_ these things! Not only are they super cute, they are polishing the anubias leaves and tank walls of and GDA/GSA that's there. These guys are real workhorses. They make the ramshorns and MTS look completely useless.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*12/5 Update*

I got to work planting pretty much everything I got. I decided to leave the Red Foxtail in the tank for now. I tucked it behind the driftwood, so I'll see if I like it when it grows up over it.

I put up a temporary black background. I have to find a more suitable permanent one here soon.

I'm attacking this tank with everything I have! I redid one of my co2 bottles in the middle of the week with a whole teaspoon of yeast. It's producing really well, and I'll change out the other one here in a few days. I also hooked up a separate bottle on the other end of the tank. It now has a total of three two liter bottles. Still dosing with Excel, but there is no algae to really speak of now (knock on wood). I'm going to keep dosing Excel until I get my pressurized set up.

I also started adding Epsom salt to this tank. I did two teaspoons at this water change, and I'll adjust that slowly.

I'm in the process of getting materials to lift my lights off the tank. I'm not getting the light spread I want, and the lights being so close to the tank are causing problems. I want to reduce the light intensity, but not by _too_ much. Also while I'm out at Home Depot anyway, I'm getting the materials to make a RG style reactor.

*New flora*:
Purple Bamboo
Christmas moss
Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata "Cuba" (maybe)
Bacopa Caroliniana
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Myriophyllum tuberculatum
Rotala wallichii


*Pictures* 
One of these days I'll have a decent camera, not just my Droid.

FTS, still a little cloudy from tearing everything up.









Tied the christmas moss down to one of the piers. I hope this works out to my advantage, I haven't actually done this before.









REAL Rotala Wallichii









Another shot of a corona









The largest ramshorn I've seen. Definitely not as big as they come, but to me he's a beast.









I'll be (hopefully) posting pictures every Sunday to track this tank's progress in weeks.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Small update

I moved what was left of my colony of RCS over to this tank last night. Their ten gallon was still at my parents house (it was supposed to be moved weeks ago, but life got in the way). When I went over to visit with my parents, I checked on my tank and was mortified. Someone had unplugged the filter for whatever reason, and forgot to turn it back on. I have no clue how long that tank went without flow, but the water was stagnant. It smelled on par with sewer water. I was almost in tears, berated myself for not moving them sooner.

Of the hundred plus cherries I had in that tank, I counted 26 (mostly saddled females) that I managed to rescue. Of the twenty CRS I had in that tank, I only found three. One female, two males. The ten gallon is getting set back up for them, to see if they'll make a recovery. The cherries... I saw no reason NOT to put them in the larger tank. The water parameters are perfect for them, the heat is perfect, and the fish are too small to threaten anything but the smallest shrimplet.

So they are enjoying picking around the bottom of the tank, completely unperturbed by the rambunctious Gertrudaes. I guess they aren't afraid of fish that aren't much bigger than they are, even though they have never seen fish before. I'm concerned about my CRS, but there isn't much more I can do for them. Just give them all the TLC I can and hope for the best.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Since I was tampering with my tank today, I thought I'd to an update.

*Flora*
I trimmed the plant that was sent to me as Ludwigia Cuba. As of right now, I'm not convinced that's what it is, but it was starting to grow like a weed. I had left it in the pot originally, but the taller stems were nearly at the waterline, so I cut the bases off. I put them in a weight; I'm not sure if they are going to work yet, and if it starts turning into cuba, I want to cut the emersed stems off.

The other plants are starting to get settled in, so I'm feeling better about them. The plant that took the biggest hit when I moved was (believe it or not) the marselia minuta. Of the large carpet I had, I only managed to salvage a few nodes. I was on the verge of just tossing it out, but it seems to be in pretty high demand right now, so I thought I would just try to see what I could get out of it. It took some TLC, a few trimmings to get the old damaged leaves off, and time, but it's starting to boom. I can see several new nodes sprouting up, tons of tiny little leaves peeking out of the Flourite. I knew this plant would do this if it survived, and I'm happy it didn't melt completely.

_Marselia minuta_ is an interesting little plant. When I had it in my previous set-up, it was shaded so much by all the taller plants that it grew to be three, sometimes four inches tall. It got big (by MM standards), with less co2, lights, and nutrients. Now that it's been placed in a nice bright spot in the tank, being blasted with co2 (it's right in the flow), and with a couple root tabs and full EI dosing, it's character has changed so much. It's nodes are growing much closer together, and the leaves are staying much shorter (about an inch). I guess that holds pretty true for all aquatic plants, but with this one the difference is staggering.

*Fauna*
I think one of my large female RCS hit the Koralia powerhead Sunday night. She's missing a leg and her back looks torn up, but I still see her everyday; she pretty active and comes running when the fish get fed. She looks like she's healing, so I have some hopes for her if she can molt out of it. If not, there isn't much I can do about it.

*Misc*
I can't wait to get my pressurized co2 going. The DIY worked so well for me with the 10 gallon, I didn't think it would be such a challenge to keep up with on the 29g. My Ludwigias still have curling leaves, but there isn't much I can do about it right now. I need to lift the lights, but without a job, I'm at the mercy of my reluctant fiance for help. I hate asking him for it too; it's my project, not his. He said he would, but as to when is always the question with him. The regulator was the top thing on my Christmas list, and he knows it. But if he doesn't get it for me, I'm getting it myself with whatever Christmas money I hope to have. At least I have a ten pound cylinder, all ready to be traded in, so I don't have to worry about that.


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## v369 (Nov 14, 2010)

fantastic set up!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

v369 said:


> fantastic set up!


Thanks! :biggrin:


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

Looking good! Can't wait to see more pictures!

OMG I love the snails. I need to find some for my tanks


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

Wow! I wish I could have my 29 as a planted...right now it has tanganyika shellies in it....plus it has hard water stains and the silicon is old so I guess I need a new tank 

This is looking great! I think maybe moving/adding a red plant to the left would make it look more balanced but even now, it looks great!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

funkyfish said:


> Looking good! Can't wait to see more pictures!
> 
> OMG I love the snails. I need to find some for my tanks



Agreed, the snails are interesting looking. Never thought of keeping any till now.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Thanks everybody! :icon_smil 

The snails are awesome. They have polished the anubias leaves. I don't know if anyone else has issue with GDA on anubias, but I sure did. I had been looking for an "acceptable" kind of snail for a while, and I'm glad I settled on these guys.

Caton- I have the so-called L. cuba on the far left in the back, so if it really turns out to be cuba, it'll be a nice splash of red. I'm considering putting some Aromatica in there somewhere, but that will wait until after the pressurized system is set up. I think the purpley color will look nice with the current plants I have in there.


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

Yeah, I think this tank will be amazing.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Caton said:


> Yeah, I think this tank will be amazing.


Thanks! :icon_mrgr
*
~~~*

Due to my two year old daughter not believing in sleep and my fiance's work schedule, I've had quite a bit of time to really break down my ideas on aquascaping. I thought I would write them here, since I'm pretty much just writing out my mind anyway. Remember please, this is MY mind and what I want to do. I'm not knocking anyone's tanks;_* beauty is in the eye of the beholder!*_

First off, I don't like the whole "natural" rules. I understand the appeal, but to me this is a glass box and I'm going to use it as such. If I wanted a chunk of a river in my living room, I would have left the tank as it was.

I'm also not overly fond of "themed" tanks, ones with limited numbers of plants. The appeal to me is a nice "clean" tank that I can appreciate, but not overly interesting enough for me to want to stare out everyday. I don't want to memorize every square inch of my aquarium; I would become very bored with it very quickly and would probably rearrange the tank every three months.

Then there's the collectoritis tanks. For some odd reason that I never really thought about, these tanks are the most appealing to me. While some can appear very busy, some look very nice. When I thought about it, I compared it to a salad: I love all sorts of shades, colors, and textures in my salads. I love the different textures and colors of the plants in the aquarium. My tank doesn't glow the same shade of bright green that I find is hard to look at. It has different sized and shaped leaves, giving the tank something that appeals to my eyes and mind. So I may have 20 different species of plants in this tank, but they were carefully hand picked and placed for whatever qualities I've decided I like. I'm not done with this tank yet, not by a long shot. So many different things I want to do with it, so little money to play with :icon_wink

I'd hate to see what I would do to a tank that is bigger. I can't find enough room in this tank for all I want to do with it. What I would do for a nice 75g... That's NOT going to happen anytime soon though. It was hard enough to convince apartment places about a tank this size!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*12/12/10 Update*

I'm writing a book right now. So much to say, so little space to say it in reasonably...

*~~~*

Well, maintenance on this tanks has been infuriating today. None of the rotalas that I got at my LFS last week have sent down roots yet, so ALL of them decided to pop back out while I was draining the water, while I was trimming other plants, and while I was filling it back up. I still have a couple floaters... That's around thirty delicate little stems I've had to push back into the Flourite THREE TIMES today.:angryfire

My tank has Flourite Dark capped with Flourite Black. The black is great stuff, it grips things nicely, looks nice, and overall has good performance in my book. Flourite Dark... sucks. It's grain is larger and it's hard to push things into it, then it fails to grip the plants. The cap is thinner in the back behind the driftwood, and guess where all those lovely rotalas were?

At the same time, my cat decided he wanted to get into EVERYTHING and knocked over about a half gallon of water on the floor. His butt ended up getting shut in a another room while I cleaned up his mess and fought with the stupid rotalas. I think I Hulk Smashed a couple of them.

And I still have a few that are floating around, destined for bleach when I feel like dealing with them.

I pulled out the Red Foxtail. It just wasn't working out. I'll replace it with something prettier here at one point.

Other than that, I redid two of my co2 bottles and tried to get it right this time. I'm still not used to treating the tap water before putting the yeast in. That would probably explain why I'm struggling with co2 right now.

*~~~*

Monitoring my plants all week, I'm still seeing a deficiency in them. The magnesium isn't doing much. So I studied up and tried to put the puzzle pieces together. 

*My plants _look_ best after a water change.
*My plants look best on mirco fert days.

Those two are telling me that I have a micro nutrient problem.

*Many of the plants I have are _iron_ hogs

That's when the light bulb turned on. So I looked at the faster growing stems to confirm diagnoses...

*Pale leaves, between the vines, but the vines get lighter towards the end. The "L. Cuba" (which is the fastest growing thing in the tank right now) actually has some leaves that are very pale.

Now I'm beating my head against the wall. Geez, I'm stupid. It was all _right there_ in front of my face and didn't even see it. I figured my iron was good; I dose Plantex CSM+B (I had cut the dose in half for EI), I use pFertz root tabs (that have iron in them), and I dose 3ml of Seachem Iron on micro day. You'd think that would be enough iron. But between all the rotalas, ludwigias, and anubias, I guess not. So I'm dosing the Seachem Iron daily to see if that helps. I also started dosing the full amount suggested for EI, to cover the bases.

_*~~~*_

The hydra in this tank are making me mad. They are everywhere. I'm not buying the whole "they will starve if you don't overfeed" thing. I barely give enough food for everyone to be happy in this tank. I took my habrosus corys to the LFS because they couldn't seem to find enough food. And yet the hydra have gone bonkers. I would treat the whole tank right now with SafeGuard if I knew I wasn't going to just get more plants. But I seem to be getting hydra from my LFS, and they go through enough plants every week for me to know that they are getting them from their suppliers. 

I'm going to curse the hydra, shoot them with Excel, and bide my time until I know I have the tank where I want it. Then BAM! SafeGuard treatment.:angryfire

_*~~~*_
Last note; I'm keeping a close eye on my shrimp today. This is the first water change they've had to endure over here, the first time they've been exposed to fresh city tap. Granted, I treat each bucket with Prime before dumping it in the tank, and at the end it's a double dose (chloromine kicks the ammo reading on my test to 1.0 pmm), but I'm not sure how they will handle it.

Immediately after the change, most were still vibrant red, but a few had turned pale. I'm hoping it's just from the stress of 50% water changes which they aren't used to.

For the most part, they seem ok. I'm hoping to see some berried girls here within the next couple of weeks. I've witnessed some foreplay action from the males, so I know it's on their minds. The males seem to swim around more after the lights out; the Gertrudaes are "sleeping" at the top of the tank then. They've attempted numerous swimming excursions during the day period, and have often bumped head-first into the fish. The fish don't seem to care at all, but the shrimp don't seem to like touch the fish. It's funny to watch them go cruising for females, bump a fish, then flail backwards like their lives depended on it.

The female cherry that was injured via powerhead seems to be doing fine. She's back in her vibrant colors, adjusting to her lost leg, and the damage on her back seems to have scared over. I don't think she's molted yet, but I can still see her daily, picking around what seems to be a favorite spot under the blyxas with other larger females. I can usually see seven or eight large females hanging out there; I'll have to take a picture at one point.

*Pictures to come once the tank clears up all the way*. Dealing with the rotalas, I ended up tearing up the substrate a little bit. It isn't bad by any means, I just want to post clear pictures. This tank is so much prettier in person than on my crappy Droid pictures...


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*12/12/10 Pictures*

Here's a ton of pictures. After a regulator and T5HO lights, I'm asking for a decent point and shoot.

*FTS*









I trimmed a few small blyxa shoots and move them in front of the driftwood a bit. Also, about half my stargrass melted and ended up mucking up the tank a bit. This stuff melts if you blink at the wrong time. I want to replace it with some Rotala sp "green" here at one point. I need money... I think next week I'm going to trim the bases of the L Glandulosa down, it's getting a little tall and is being hit with the currents.

*Flora*

New growth on the Rotala Wallichii. It hasn't thrown down much in the way of roots yet. Iron deficiency?









The Marselia Minuta making a come back.









Top shot of the "L. Cuba". The newest leaves are getting pretty narrow, but very pale.









Top shot of L Glandulosa. Leaves are pale...









The Christmas moss this week. Not sure how long this whole moss thing is going to take, but I'm waiting it out until it either grows in or falls apart.









My first plant, a gorgeous marbled anubias I purchased from Craigthor. It was in the neglected shrimp tank, so I moved it here. I'm going to move it to a different spot in the tank...









Close up on that leaf. Too bad it has damage to it, it's so pretty otherwise...









*Fauna*

My Zebra oto, not doing her job 









The best picture I could get of a Gertrudae. I'm absolutely in love with these fish, they are lovely and so fun to watch.









More of the boys. The girls were being camera shy today









I accidentally left the flash on, but here's a good size comparison with a large RCS female and a curious Gertrudae male









Some young RCS females. Nothing special, just regular ol' cherries.









More RCS shots



























And the giant Ramshorn, who seems to be doing peachy still.









Anyway, that's it for now...


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

And because I'm bored out of my head today, here's a video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaFfmSjPzy0


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

How did I miss your thread! I love the gertrudes. Do fun. Following this


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Gertrudaes are great :biggrin:

I've decided what the issue is with my tank. Like Tom Barr said, it's a lack of co2. Even though I'm blasting the crap out of it with DIY co2 and Excel, it's just not enough.

Only two-three weeks to go before *hopefully* going pressurized!

I was flipping through the journal, and it occurred to me that I never listed what fauna I have in this tank... So here it is.

*Fauna*
8 Pseudomugil gertrudae
3 otocinclus vestitus (yes, vestitus)
1 otocinclus cocama
26 RCS
5 horned nerite snails
MTS
Ramshorn Snails

I'm hoping to add a small school of CPDs and maybe threadfins here at one point; I think they would look very nice. I'm still debating with myself over a farowella, but I think I'll probably pass with it. 

I won't be adding any more fish until after I get the rest of the plants I'm planning on getting are settled and that's waiting until after the pressurized co2 get's figured out.


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

I just called my local pet store about the zebra ottos.i don't see them getting them in considering they just heard about them through me.....ugh keep your fingers crossed for me


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I will! My LFS had them a few months ago, and they sold out pretty quickly. They were so excited to get them. I bought one, with the intentions on buying at least one or two more, but by the time I came back after pay day they were all gone.

I've heard people say they are very sensitive, but mine has been a real trouper. She's doing very well, and has since day one. The only thing I've noticed is that when I moved, after doing 50% water changes her gills turn pink. The next day they are fine again, so I'm not overly concerned. The habrosus corys I had freaked out in the city water; after WCs they would flip upside down and overall act horribly. They were usually fine by the next day, but I had enough of stressing the crap out of them and took them to my LFS. I liked them, but heck even the shrimp handle the water just fine.


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

I have some pygmy cories on there way...I'm really excited for these guys but I'm going to breed them before they go to my display


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Berried shrimp and my little girl!*

I was looking at my tank today, noting all the shrimp molts when I noticed this little beauty coming out to eat!









Not a very good picture, but she insisted on staying in a bad spot for picture taking. I was contorting myself around pretty good to get this shot.

Yay! The RCS like me again! Not that a berried RCS is really any news at this point, but hey. I'm happy.

And as I was typing this, my daughter decided to commence in a favorite activity of mine: "sit" on the medicine ball and stare at the tank. Of course, when I pulled the Droid out she looked around and decided to be a ham :biggrin:


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

Awwwww your little girl is super cute


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Thanks! :biggrin:

I just saw the scarred female. She's berried! I'm pretty confident she'll be ok if she's willing to breed and berry so quickly. So far I've spotted two berried girls (at the same time).


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*12/16 Update*

Just a few pictures and a video.

A bad picture of the scarred RCS. This was as good a shot as I could get. You can see the white patch on her back from her run-in with the Koralia.









I'm dosing 4ml of Seachem Iron and 4ml of Excel daily, as well as upping the amount of CSM+B (from 1/32 tsp to 1/16 tsp) and adding 1/4tsp Epsom Salt on micro day. I'm seriously considering just dosing mircos everyday and macros every other day...

Anyway, here's the L Glandulosa after four days of the new regimen. Starting to get a darker color going. Also, the lower leaves are starting to show an interesting pattern in dark green and orange.









And the L Cuba, which looks much happier. It's starting to kinda look more like L Cuba now, but it still has a way to go. The lighting was really weird in this picture, it isn't nearly that light colored. It's taken on a much brighter, less washed out shade of green in the last four days. This thing grows pretty fast, it's grown about two to three inches in the last four days.









And here's the video of my gertrudaes in their typical morning routine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXEihKjt8kw


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

They are such fun!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

GAAAH! I'm getting very frustrated at the moment! Everything that's supposed to just work isn't working. That's my life story in general, but it still is very infuriating.

My fiance went out and got the conduit pipes for my lights. The Home Depot cut them, but wouldn't bend them. So now we're trying to figure out how to bend them. My fiance used to work with steel all the time, he knows what he's talking about but I haven't the faintest clue. Everyone I ask seems to know everything about it, but it's so far over my head. I hate it, it's my stupid project and I have no clue what's go on. 

That's not the only issue of what's going on. There are many problems I'm trying to cope with at the moment. It's making me feel like I should just tear all my tanks down and give up on it.  I'm not going to give up this easily, not after fighting so hard to get this far, but fighting every little stupid thing that's supposed to be fine is getting at me right now.

That said, I now have to go show my fiance how to make coffee. He's telling me that coffee and the dishwasher are over his head, and he has no clue what I'm typing :icon_roll Oh dear...


I'll be updating pictures later today. Some plants are really starting to grow in


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

go back to hd and buy a conduit bender. bend your pipes then return it. say it's the wrong size or something. that's what i do. the bender is pretty much the only way to get nice bends. 
Oh, you might want to pick up an extra piece of conduit as well. (to practice on before you bend the cut pieces.)


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

Captivate05 said:


> Well, maintenance on this tanks has been infuriating today. None of the rotalas that I got at my LFS last week have sent down roots yet, so ALL of them decided to pop back out while I was draining the water, while I was trimming other plants, and while I was filling it back up. I still have a couple floaters... That's around thirty delicate little stems I've had to push back into the Flourite THREE TIMES today.:angryfire


My LFS gave me some of those bendable lead weights. I've successfully used those to weigh down some of my plants until they grow roots.


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

oldpunk78 said:


> go back to hd and buy a conduit bender. bend your pipes then return it. say it's the wrong size or something. that's what i do. the bender is pretty much the only way to get nice bends.
> Oh, you might want to pick up an extra piece of conduit as well. (to practice on before you bend the cut pieces.)


Good idea. +1


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## Vix (Oct 13, 2010)

If my tank grows in half as good as this I'll be more than happy.

Great tank and love the pic on post #22 of the 3 shrimp in a row, looks like they're playing follow my leader  

:thumbsup:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

oldpunk78 said:


> go back to hd and buy a conduit bender. bend your pipes then return it. say it's the wrong size or something. that's what i do. the bender is pretty much the only way to get nice bends.
> Oh, you might want to pick up an extra piece of conduit as well. (to practice on before you bend the cut pieces.)


I was thinking about doing that. I guess my finace's dad has a pipe bender, but we aren't sure it'll bend this stuff. I guess my fiance wants to ask his dad first, but if not we're going with this plan. As for the extra conduit, my fiance's response "Oh I know how to do this, we won't need another pipe." :icon_roll I told him if he messes it up, he's getting another pipe for me. :hihi:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

kcrossley said:


> My LFS gave me some of those bendable lead weights. I've successfully used those to weigh down some of my plants until they grow roots.


I had them in the weights for a while, but the stems started melting below the weights so I just decided to plant them. They have really taken off since separating them and have finally thrown down some roots.

The ludwigias I keep on weights until they have roots, but the rotalas don't seem to like them much...


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Vix said:


> If my tank grows in half as good as this I'll be more than happy.
> 
> Great tank and love the pic on post #22 of the 3 shrimp in a row, looks like they're playing follow my leader
> 
> :thumbsup:


Aww, thanks! It's still no where near where it'll end up (if I have my way), and it's still growing in itself. We have a long way to go, but I hope it stays looking nice and not turning into a wall of green like it did before.

You have no idea what it means to me to get these compliments. It helps me feel I'm doing it "right". I've been putting my heart and sole into this tank, it's the closest I can get to my dream tank. :redface:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*12.19 Update*

I'm not feeling that great today, I think I'm getting sick, so changing the water wasn't pleasant work today. But I survived and did a little trimming. I did much of the trimming on Wednesday because some of the plants were already touching the surface of the water.

*Flora*

The Purple Bamboo really likes this tank. I'm not all sure what to do with trimming it, so I cut the stem in half and replanted the top while leaving the base. I'm not what it'll do, but I'm hoping it'll send out a new shoot.

I pulled the rest of the stargrass out. It basically melted all the way and I had no more patience for it. I'm getting tired of fishing gray pieces of dead plant out of my tank.

I trimmed the rest of the emersed growth off my E. Vesuvius and moved it to where it can be seen here soon.. Cool plant, it's sent up a handful of new leaves over the last few weeks, but still isn't rooting well. I'm hoping it'll get to rooting better here soon.

I'm more convinced that the L Cuba is really L Cuba. It's definately taken on the narrow leaves, and it's still growing like a weed. I had to trim it again. I can't wait to see how this plant responds to the pressurized co2.

*Pictures*
And here's what anyone reading this wants to see, not my blabble 
The glass is still cloudy from stirring things up. It seems like a fine film settles on the glass that takes a few days to clear up.

FTS









Once again there's a bare patch behind the driftwood. I'll suffer with it for a couple more weeks before getting more plants. I'm too broke right now :icon_roll

The L Glandulosa this week. The color keeps improving slowly. After all the plants are in and settled, I'm going to cut back on the KNO3 bit by bit to see if it will help the reds pop.









I just trimmed the red one. The green one was being shaded over by it. I'll probably end up pulling a couple of these when I get more plants. There seems to be too many of them.









Rotala Nanjenshan. Neat plant, I like it. I'll be trimming it again to get it bushier.









And that's all I have for now. Hope you all enjoyed!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Since I'm not really going to be around this weekend, I thought I would do an update now. No pictures though, the lights aren't on yet. :hihi:

I'm going to be making some major changes to my tank arrangements over the next month. 

Firstly, aside from my insistence on the pressurized co2 (it WILL happen, darn it!), I'm going to adjust the hardness in this tank. I'm hoping to drop it from it's hovering zone of about 7-9 dGH, to about 5-6. The KH I'm hoping to keep at around 2. This will be accomplished by the introduction of RO water, in a complicated fashion. Since I'm not sure what all's causing my leaf curling, I want to add Equilibrium, which worked wonders for me in the past. The plan is to cut five gallons of tap with five gallons of RO, add Prime, add 3/4 tsp Equilibrium, and aging it for two days in a tub with a HOB filled with high quality carbon. Cutting it 50/50 serves to keep my fiance happy, because much more than that and I'll be trying his patience with running to the store. He already nixed the RO unit. I think I can make it work. The carbon is to remove as much of the chloramine as I can. Prime may detoxify chloramine, but I still don't like adding it to my tank. I don't run carbon in my canisters, and the filter on the 29g does not have a chemical media in it at all.

Second, after the hardness is dropped to where I want it, the remaining CRS are getting put in this tank. I'm failing to find a good reason to keep them in their own tank. I think they will be happier in the larger tank anyway.

The 10g that is currently housing the CRS will be redone and cleaned out, and planted over again with some easy care plants. It will then be dedicated to a male betta! I've been wanting to get one after Mrs Fancy Finns (my platinum HM female) kicked the bucket a couple months ago, but I wanted to put him in a larger tank. The three gallon tank the Mrs' was in just didn't seem big enough for her... So after the tank is all settled in, I'm taking my fiance and daughter to my LFS and having them pick out a nice male that they like.

That's about it for now. I'll update it with pics and what-not after Christmas.

_*Merry Christmas!*_


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

My Christmas present from my fiance! An Aquatek regulator. I snitched the bubble counter from the Milwaukee regulator I bought used several months ago that turned out was busted. Hey, it may be cheap but it gets me pressurized!

This is going to torture me all day... I'm avoiding stores at all costs until tomorrow; I hate super busy times and I live in a holiday shopping hot-spot. Driving is hazardous today... I don't have everything I need. My ten pound cylinder is empty, and we never did get around to going back to Home Depot and getting the parts for my reactor. Christmas shopping kinda took center stage and holy cow it never gets less stressful. 

But, to shut me up, my fiance also bought me my maternity clothes! Had to order them online (I hate buying things online), but we don't have an Old Navy anywhere near us and I swear most places believe that pregnant women don't want to look cute  But, I got free shipping, so it's all good. My belly is just getting too big for my pre-pregnancy clothes. I'm shocked it lasted this long; I'm nearly 29 weeks (six months) along! 

This is going to be my project for tomorrow! Set it up, make sure it works, and wait for it to work it's magic! :icon_smil I want to see if pressurized co2 is really all that and a bag a chips like everyone makes it sound!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Holy cow, that was a freaking headache. Went to HD to get the supplies for the RG reactor, and it was like trying to explain rocket science without knowing much about it. We eventually got all the parts we needed, but it took about an hour or more. Didn't help that my daughter was throwing a fit the entire time we were there. The reactor most certainly won't be built tonight!

We also got a pipe bender for the conduit. Hopefully it'll all start coming together better here soon... At least I hope it will.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Captivate05 said:


> Holy cow, that was a freaking headache. Went to HD to get the supplies for the RG reactor, and it was like trying to explain rocket science without knowing much about it. We eventually got all the parts we needed, but it took about an hour or more. Didn't help that my daughter was throwing a fit the entire time we were there. The reactor most certainly won't be built tonight!
> 
> We also got a pipe bender for the conduit. Hopefully it'll all start coming together better here soon... At least I hope it will.


LOL same thing happened to me when i tried to explain to a HD employee what i was trying to build (RG reactor). I even brought in a picture and names of all of the parts that i needed, but he still couldn't figure it out for some reason.

Your L. glandulosa looks REALLY nice. And grats on the regulator!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I had my Droid out and on Rex Grigg's website. The guy got us all the right parts, but man he wasn't very helpful about it.

Thanks about the L Glandulosa! That plant drives me up the wall because it just doesn't look as nice as it could. I'm hoping the pressurized co2 will bring it around the way I want it to be (like grow straight up, which mine doesn't), but the extra iron really helped give it and the L Cuba a boost.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Last picture for 2010*










I haven't touched this tank since last week... 

Got my reactor all cemented together today. It'll be set up the first of the new year! roud:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I'm getting close to just giving up and tearing this tank down. Everything is stopped at the moment because nothing involving the co2 is working. And mean NOTHING is working. I think I killed my needle valve, could've killed the regulator, and the reactor... Don't get me started on the reactor. I was going to replace the needle valve with my broken Milwaukee's needle valve, but for some reason the Milwaukee vanished. I can't find it! And, of course, the deadline to return the stupid Aquatek was yesterday, so I can't ship it back for a new one.

Basically every little stupid thing that can go wrong is going REALLY wrong. WTH? This seems to be so easy for everyone else, but it's just not working at all for me. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it's really discouraging. I can't afford to keep sinking money into this, and now I'm really hesitant to spend anymore money on it. What's the point, it's not like it will work for me anyway.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

what about the co2 is wrong? what doesn't work? maybe some pictures of how you've got it hooked up would help. your aquatek is pretty simple. 

connect to the co2 tank
install tubing
install check valve/bubble counter(in the right direction)
install more tubing
connect to reactor
open co2 tank
plug in solenoid
open needle valve


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

From what I can tell, it acts like the needle valve isn't even there. 

After it was plugged in, the pressure popped up to 30 psi and at first it sent out a nice steady stream of bubbles connected to my reactor. I was about to shut the stand door, thinking I was successful when I noticed the bubbles slowing (then stopping), so I turned up the bubble counter, but no dice. My fiance tried tampering with it, being the handy guy he is. I guess he cranked open the cylinder in an effort to get more pressure, and well... it worked... kinda. The tubing connecting the regulator to the check valve (it was on the right way) blew apart and with the cylinder open pretty far it started blowing co2 out like no tomorrow. He unplugged the solenoid and closed the cylinder, but it didn't work after that.

We bypassed the reactor and connected it to a glass diffuser, closed down the needle valve almost shut, and started over. We plugged it in and slowly opened the cylinder. It reached a certain point and the working pressure popped from 0 to 30 psi and blasted large bubbles out and into the tank. We closed the cylinder, and the pressure slowly backed down to zero. I tampered with the needle valve, opening and closing it, but it made zero difference in how it performed.

So I think what happened is the needle valve broke when all that pressure hit it. The regulator seems to be working, but then again, I don't know what I'm looking at. I can't adjust anything on it, but it wasn't violently spewing co2 everywhere when it was hooked up to the glass diffuser, there just was no fine-tuning and turning down the amount it was putting out.

And I don't know what's up with the reactor. Why didn't it let the co2 in? We connected everything, nothing was kinked or plugged up, and we constructed it just exactly how Rex Grigg instructed on his website. We went through a lot of trouble getting everything for it and putting it together (my Home Depot sucks) and priming it. I have no clue why it didn't work right. The only reason I waited so long to get everything up and running was because I wanted to get it running through the reactor. I probably should've just used the stupid little glass diffuser like the original plan called for...


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

First, you should turn the co2 open one full turn, then plug in the solenoid. Not the other way around.
And i might be misunderstanding this, but why did you close the co2 cylinder after opening it (the second time) while having the solenoid on?


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I thought it didn't make a difference if you turned the cylinder off but left the solenoid plugged in? I've read it both ways, but when you are fighting with it in front of you without really knowing what you're doing, you kinda just do things to try and figure it out. Add a temperamental hormonal pregnant women in her third trimester, a man who doesn't know anything about pressure regulators or fish tanks, and a demanding toddler who wants to "help"... you get the picture.

I don't know anymore, I'm way out of my league. None of this makes any sense to me and everyone seems to have a different way of doing things and that _their_ way is the only way it will work. I'm the moron who has no idea what she's trying to do. I hate not being able to wrap my head around this on my own, I hate asking for help. I hate sounding like an idiot.

Life is so damn easy when it's in writing, but one thing I've learned in the four years out in the real world is that nothing is ever what it seems. Nothing that should just work, works. It just doesn't. Fact of life. Knowing that doesn't make it any less bitter.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Captivate05 said:


> I thought it didn't make a difference if you turned the cylinder off but left the solenoid plugged in? I've read it both ways, but when you are fighting with it in front of you without really knowing what you're doing, you kinda just do things to try and figure it out. Add a temperamental hormonal pregnant women in her third trimester, a man who doesn't know anything about pressure regulators or fish tanks, and a demanding toddler who wants to "help"... you get the picture.
> 
> I don't know anymore, I'm way out of my league. None of this makes any sense to me and everyone seems to have a different way of doing things and that _their_ way is the only way it will work. I'm the moron who has no idea what she's trying to do. I hate not being able to wrap my head around this on my own, I hate asking for help. I hate sounding like an idiot.
> 
> Life is so damn easy when it's in writing, but one thing I've learned in the four years out in the real world is that nothing is ever what it seems. Nothing that should just work, works. It just doesn't. Fact of life. Knowing that doesn't make it any less bitter.


Sorry, i think i misunderstood... i thought you meant that you opened the cylinder, turned the solenoid on to start releasing bubbles into your aquarium, then closed the cylinder for some reason. :hihi:

It was very frustrating getting my pressurized co2 set up for the first time (i'm sure you've heard my embarrassing story of how i was burned on my leg by a co2 cylinder)... so i know how it feels (literally). Ok that was a lame joke... but anyway, i'd sleep on it for a few days then worry about it later. Being frustrated doesn't help anything when you're working with what _can_ be dangerous equipment. 

I don't know if you've seen this video by GLA yet, but it was incredibly helpful when i was setting up my co2 for the first time. Follow that video and ask questions here when you're ready to give it another go.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Yeah, I turned the lights off on the tank all day today, partly because I have no co2 running in it and algae is starting to build up, but mostly because I couldn't even look at it. Not being able to find my Milwaukee regulator (that's a big WTH, it's not tucked away where it belongs) was the final straw. So now it's sitting there like a big dark beacon on the other end of the room. So sad to look at, all my hard work falling apart before my eyes.

I always try to see the positives in life, after dealing with only seeing negatives, but I can't see too much good coming from this right now. Every time I try my hand at pressurized co2, things go wrong and I can't seem to learn anything from it because I can't seem to figure out what I'm looking at. Kinda like looking under the hood of a car... It obviously makes a lot of sense to someone, but that someone isn't me.

Tomorrow, my fiance wants to take the whole set up to my LFS. They deal a lot with pressurized systems (more for reefers, but it's the same thing). I'm not sure how much help it could be, but maybe putting it in front of someone who knows what they are looking at will help tell us what exactly we broke and maybe, just maybe, know or possibly carry what we need to fix it. Most likely they will just tell us "Yeah, it's busted. We carry these regulators though...", which is basically what they did when we found out my Milwaukee's diaphragm was blown out.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Yeah, taking it to your LFS sounds like a good idea-- i'm sure that they can help you and your fiance understand how to set it up better than any of us can explain it over the internet. I think it's always helpful to see someone do something in person (especially how to put something together). Plus you can always ask questions and get immediate responses, unlike how the forum works where you sometimes have to wait for hours... and they should be able to tell you whether something is broken or not.

Best of luck to you both, and keep us updated! You'll get the co2 up and running, just gotta be patient with it. You really do have a lovely tank, and i'd hate to see you take it down.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

well... what happened?


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Ok, we _just_ found the Milwaukee regulator a few hours ago. Turns out it was tucked away in my daughter's closet (which strangely enough is the largest closet in our apartment, so we use it for storage). We were going to go down to my LFS, but the roads aren't that great right now. It's not worth our lives to take a dangerous drive to the other side of the city with all the other idiots that can't figure out snow = slippery roads.

We put the needle valve from the Milwaukee on the Aquatek, and it works like a charm  Just like it's supposed to, granted it wasn't attached to anything to increase the pressure. I'm pretty leery of my reactor now, so tomorrow I'll hook it up to the glass diffuser again until I figure the physics of that thing. I hate all the little bubbles, but it can't be any worse than what I had before. For now, it'll be hooked up to my light timer until I get another power strip. I ran out of room on my current one.

My poor fish. Last night my daughter managed to unplug my power strip (which is the only electrical source of my aquarium) while I was napping on the couch. I didn't notice it was off when I woke up and chased her off to bed. The Eheim is so quite, and the lights are normally off by then anyway. So this morning I decided to take a look in and make sure everyone was alright, and the first thing I noticed was the my otos weren't active, when they always were at that time of day. I looked around, trying to decide what was up when I noticed no plant movement. Suddenly it started sinking in what happened, and I checked the temp: 66 degrees. Same temp as the apartment. CRAP! I plugged everything in and prayed the crappy little heater I have in there wouldn't quit on me. It's up to a much better 72 degrees, and climbing. I'm hoping it'll be back to it's normal 77 degrees by tomorrow morning. My poor Gertrudaes and RCS were pale all day long. I hope this doesn't hurt them in the long run.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Ok, just did some much needed TLC on this tank. A major trim, large water change (which hasn't been done in a couple weeks), spot treated some staghorn algae and BBA that was growing on some anubias leaves, and *finally* got the pressurized co2 in working order with the glass diffuser. I'm scared of my reactor now. I don't feel like killing another needle valve.

The cheap eBay diffuser will have to go here at one point. It does do a better job then the chopstick and powerhead, but I feel it doesn't work as well as it should. If I can't get the reactor figured out, I may splurge on one of GLA's new atomizers. I doubt it'll save me co2 verses a reactor, but if it diffuses better than the stupid diffuser I have, then it's worth it.

Well, the heater isn't working well. It got the tank up to 72 degrees and stayed there. So when I'm able to take a trip to my LFS, I'll look to see if they carry Hydor ETHs or Eheim Jagers. One of those two will work, but I'm leaning towards the Jager. I can hide it, and it doesn't require me tinkering with my filter.

I'll be resuming my weekly pictures on Sunday roud:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I posted these in the equipment thread I started, but I'll post them here too.

This is my reactor:









It's a 12" long 2" pipe.










Where the co2 line goes in the reactor. An 11/64 drill bit was used to make the hole it was run it, the same as my DIY co2 bottle caps. Yes it's silicon. Yes I know it permeates co2. No, I don't really care all that much about it.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*1.9.11 Update*

*Flora*

The growth is increasing a little since adding the pressurized system. Not by any crazy level yet, but I'm noticing other effects of going pressurized. First off, the plants leaves seem to be taking on a "sheen" I haven't noticed before. Also, the red on the L glandulosa is starting to get crazy! I couldn't get a good picture of it, but it went from a dull orangy-greenish red to as red the Christmas tinsel that's _still_ sitting on my desk. Really bright, and the lower leaves are turning purple. I keep pushing increasing amounts of iron into the tank because they are still developing iron deficiencies. But the blyxa is turning green again, instead of red and with how red the red plants are getting, I think I'm getting close.

I decided now was a good time to buy some more plants. My LFS had some nice selections, so I went ahead and got some. I got a poor looking L Aromatica, somewhat to test my tank now. They had some very nice (albeit green) stems of Ludwigia repens "narrow", so I decided to add that to the list of collectoritis. Then there was one that turned my head: some emersed stems of Pogostemon stellatus for $1.50. Thought eh, what the heck. If it lives it lives, if it dies... it was only $1.50.

And then I held my breath and took the plunge, buying a plant I've been drooling over for months and had planned for this tank from the get-go: Rotala macranda "Japan Red" from a fellow TPT member. He sent it out on Saturday, so I'm hoping it'll be here by tomorrow. Hopefully it didn't cook with that 72 hour heat pack in Arizona, but it's been falling to -10 degrees here at night. All it would take is my Post Office deciding it delivered the package when it didn't. They've done that before, and it nullifies any DOA guarantee. Gave an exact delivery time and everything, then delivered it the next day. I've readjusted the parameters in my tank for this sole plant, I hope I don't murder it too quickly.

I think I'm going to start adding some Flourish Trace to this tank on opposite days of the CSM+B. The rotalas really seem like they want more, and considering I just bought an expensive rotala, I want to cater to them a bit more. I'm not fond of CSM+B. I feel my plants did better with Flourish when I originally used it, but I got rid of the bottle. Something in the CSM+B seems to make the rotundifolia very unhappy, so I'm hoping the Trace will help bring this stupid easy plant back around... I also bought some peat pellets from RootMedic to put under the Rotala Macranda and Rotala Wallichii to see if it helps some. I read they like acidic soil, which Flourite most certainly is not.

*Fauna*

Everyone seems to be adjusting to the pressurized co2 fine. The one who's been handling it the worst is the Zebra oto, but she's adjusting pretty quickly. The other otos seem to be getting the "breeding bug" again. The female is getting plumper and males are sticking by her. Nice to see that again. I'm going to soak a few more Indian Almond leaves to add again. The shrimp made short work of the few that had been soaking in there a while, but they really seem to like them. I tuck them up under the driftwood in the back and it seems to buffer the water.

When testing the water, I wasn't happy with the results I got. Somehow, the gH increased to 11. I'm sure due to evaporation and the fact that I adding a gallon of tap when the filter started splashing the surface and we couldn't get to the store. So this water change I used 75/25 tap/ro to bring it down to 8. I think I'm going to keep up this routine and try to drop the hardness to 5 eventually.

I moved my remaining CRS to this tank. They weren't reproducing or even looking happy in the 10g they were in, so I decided to dump them in the 29g. They probably won't breed with the fact that it isn't super soft, but at this point I don't really care. They are my least favorite shrimp and I almost regret buying them. They seemed fairly happy after a few hours.

And some happy new on the shrimp department: I have baby RCS! I spotted at least three, but they are really hiding themselves good in the driftwood and blyxa to keep from being eaten by the fish. They are all white still, so they can't be more than a couple days old. I've noticed mine start turning red after a week or so.

*Pictures*

FTS








Starting to fill in some.









This picture is under exposed and looks really dim, but the colors are a bit truer. My tanks are so much more green in life than they are in pictures. I suck at pictures 

Plants









I'm convinced this is L Cuba. It turns pink when it gets closer to the lights.









The moss is coming around! I have to trim it, but was too lazy to today.

Fauna

I found the "macro" setting on my phone's camera :hihi:



























The scarred female RCS and a corona









About two minutes after being dumped in the tank. She was not a happy camper, they all hate the net. I don't know if it's just mine, but CRS seem really flighty in comparison with the other shrimp I have (RCS and BTOES). They kick away when I'm looking in the tank.









Baby RCS! I know a couple ladies have dropped, one of which has already molted and is berried again. They have gotten over the initial hump of carrying eggs and dropping them, unlike my BTOEs. I plan on redoing the BTOE tank soon anyway, see if a shrimp substrate will help them out any.

~~~

Anyway, that's all for now folks. I'm curious how much longer I'll be able to do water changes by myself. I'm amazed I can still do them now. I'm slightly anemic (got that way last time as well), and I can't walk without waddling. It must be funny watching me try to get elbow deep in my tank; I have to do it at an angle now because my belly is too big. Trust me, it doesn't give. And little Valerie doesn't care for being pushed on, so not only doesn't my belly give, it pushes back! 10 more weeks of this, and then I'll never be able to play with my tank much at all. So trying to get it maintenance mode before then! :icon_mrgr


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Pretty soon, you'll be holding a baby in one hand and lugging a bucket of water in another. Yay for baby shrimp!


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

I think I just peeped laughing envisioning you waddling and fighting with the unborn child about cleaning the tank


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

sewingalot said:


> Pretty soon, you'll be holding a baby in one hand and lugging a bucket of water in another. Yay for baby shrimp!


LOL, and dragging a toddler that's clinging to my leg!

I plan on dumping the kids on my fiance every Sunday for the tank maintenance. Should only take a couple hours for all three tanks, considering the other two are much lower tech. Yes, he knows this plan. Not sure if he's happy about it, but when he's at work I'll be on my own with two of them!  Oh gosh, I don't want to think about it. My first born will NOT be pleased about having a little sister around, she's too used to (and greatly enjoys) being the center of attention from everyone in my family. This is going to be hard on her...



> I think I just peeped laughing envisioning you waddling and fighting with the unborn child about cleaning the tank


Yeah, I imagine I look quite funny. Doesn't help when I'm concentrating on something (like keeping the *&@$! aromatica down) and she decides to give the tank a good kick, which actually pushes me back a few inches. My fiance is so oblivious to it all, even though he's in the same room. He noticed how hard it was on me doing the dishes, though, and helped me out there. Pregnancy isn't nice to me, the heck was I thinking?


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

It is funny in my mind!


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

Captivate05 said:


> Anyway, that's all for now folks. I'm curious how much longer I'll be able to do water changes by myself. I'm amazed I can still do them now. I'm slightly anemic (got that way last time as well), and I can't walk without waddling. It must be funny watching me try to get elbow deep in my tank; I have to do it at an angle now because my belly is too big. Trust me, it doesn't give. And little Valerie doesn't care for being pushed on, so not only doesn't my belly give, it pushes back! 10 more weeks of this, and then I'll never be able to play with my tank much at all. So trying to get it maintenance mode before then! :icon_mrgr


I get my hubby to carry and pour buckets for me  And I can only imagine how do I look elbow deep in my 55g LOL And I love when my belly lets me know I am pushing on it by pushing back :icon_mrgr My little girl actually punched my dog once when my dog decided that my belly is her personal pillow LOL I am trying to figure out how the maintenance of the tank is gonna go once the little one is here, since it needs burping due to air pockets. I guess my life will consist of burping baby then burping my tank :icon_conf

Congrats on baby shrimp! :bounce:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

funkyfish said:


> I get my hubby to carry and pour buckets for me  And I can only imagine how do I look elbow deep in my 55g LOL And I love when my belly lets me know I am pushing on it by pushing back :icon_mrgr My little girl actually punched my dog once when my dog decided that my belly is her personal pillow LOL I am trying to figure out how the maintenance of the tank is gonna go once the little one is here, since it needs burping due to air pockets. I guess my life will consist of burping baby then burping my tank :icon_conf
> 
> Congrats on baby shrimp! :bounce:


LOL, my daughter refuses to put her hand on my belly anymore. This one hates any slight pressure it seems, which made the ultrasound fun. My first was sleeping and didn't move at all, this one was wiggling all over the place and kicking at the emitter.

As for maintaining the tanks, I'm trying not to think about that part. I have a plan, but they don't always go the way I want. With my first, I couldn't figure out how to cook myself food and work with a newborn infant once my fiance went back to work. I lost a crap-ton of weight in the first two months because of that (I gained 55 pounds, lost about 49 those two months). Heck, I couldn't even sleep even though my daughter was really good about it. I would wake up every two hours and nervously hover over her. If my fiance was watching her while I tried to sleep, I would hunt her out. It was crazy because I couldn't stop myself. I was acting on instinct, and I couldn't ignore it or control it. I was defensive, possessive, and one of those mothers they hate at the neo-natal unit. Every time they took her to do something, I followed them and hovered around the desk nervously until they brought her back out. I didn't mean to, I just did. Funny thing: I never had any experience at all with infants (or kids under 12 for that matter) and I'm most certainly not a kid person myself. Every fear that I wouldn't be a good parent because of that went right out the window the instant she was born. I could trust her to no one but myself, and that included my fiance (who has a lot of experience with babies and small kids). People say it's not instinctive, but I beg to differ. For me it was. I have no clue how I'm going to react this time around. I'm not nervous or paranoid anymore about being able to care for her, because I know I can.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*New plant! Rotala Macranda "Japan Red"*



















I _really_ hope the Cuba plays nice and doesn't wage war on the Japan... It's such a fast grower in my tank, I'm going to have to hack it down again here soon to help even the playing field out. The macranda has some roots already, so I really hope that'll give it a boost. Waiting now on my order from RootMedic, and hoping I didn't screw this up.

Geez, as if I didn't have enough iron hogs in my tank before... I'm already ODing iron like no tomorrow to keep up with the demand, and then go out and buy some more ludwigias and rotalas.

The CRS look great today. One of the females has developed a saddle and is showing some lovely color. She looks happy, despite the heat and hardness level of this tank. Now, if the sole male can find her and starts thinking about some hanky-panky... :hihi:


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

Here is hoping!


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

Captivate05 said:


> LOL, my daughter refuses to put her hand on my belly anymore. This one hates any slight pressure it seems, which made the ultrasound fun. My first was sleeping and didn't move at all, this one was wiggling all over the place and kicking at the emitter.
> 
> As for maintaining the tanks, I'm trying not to think about that part. I have a plan, but they don't always go the way I want. With my first, I couldn't figure out how to cook myself food and work with a newborn infant once my fiance went back to work. I lost a crap-ton of weight in the first two months because of that (I gained 55 pounds, lost about 49 those two months). Heck, I couldn't even sleep even though my daughter was really good about it. I would wake up every two hours and nervously hover over her. If my fiance was watching her while I tried to sleep, I would hunt her out. It was crazy because I couldn't stop myself. I was acting on instinct, and I couldn't ignore it or control it. I was defensive, possessive, and one of those mothers they hate at the neo-natal unit. Every time they took her to do something, I followed them and hovered around the desk nervously until they brought her back out. I didn't mean to, I just did. Funny thing: I never had any experience at all with infants (or kids under 12 for that matter) and I'm most certainly not a kid person myself. Every fear that I wouldn't be a good parent because of that went right out the window the instant she was born. I could trust her to no one but myself, and that included my fiance (who has a lot of experience with babies and small kids). People say it's not instinctive, but I beg to differ. For me it was. I have no clue how I'm going to react this time around. I'm not nervous or paranoid anymore about being able to care for her, because I know I can.


LOL This little one hates when something on her too, she always tries to kick my lap top off and when I got an ultrasound @ 13 weeks or so the tech couldn't get her measurements because she was all over the place... :icon_mrgr It was funny to watch she looked like a jumping bean.

And I am trying not to think about tank maintenance part myself I deal with that once I get there LOL 
And I seriously hope this baby will make me loose 49 pounds as well LOL I need it! And I think I will be the same when she comes around, I already worry too much so I can only imagine what will happen when she is finally here. And I totally believe that mother instinct exist.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

You and funky are making my biological clock click.  Be sure to comment about crying babies and dirty diapers so this stops. LOL. Good luck with all the extra plants needing iron. How much extra iron do you dose?


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I add about 3.5 mL of Seachem Iron daily, along with pFertz Iron root tabs and EI dosing Plantex CSM+B. Any less than that, and the plants start showing tell-tale iron problems. In fact, they are still displaying them somewhat, but I'm letting it play catch up after the two weeks of not doing a thing for the tank. I'm a sucker for the iron hogs. roud:

I'm not a fan of the Plantex. I'm seriously considering switching to Miller's Microplex, but I'm not fond of the idea of mixing it with water first. I dry dose, and it works well for me just dumping the ferts into the tank without really thinking about it. For now, I'm going to start adding Seachem Trace and see if it helps out any. It's cheaper in the short run if it's not the trace that's the issue with my rotalas. I'm also curious how the shrimp will react to the extra copper.

Speaking of shrimp, I have a ton of baby shrimp, now that my eyes have adjusted to looking for them. The Gertrudaes have caught on to the fact that there's little live food in their territory, but they suck at catching them. They are such aggressive feeders, when one sees another actively hunting in a spot, it'll swim over and chase the other around and then forget what the whole fuss was about. It's funny watching them sabotage each other. Only one of the females seems to have figured out how to hunt them down, but she's not immune to dive attacks by the males. The shrimplets will be too big for them to eat here in another week or so, they can barely fit them in their mouths as it is. There has to be between 50-100 baby shrimp now, so I'm in no way concerned about what the Gertrudaes can pick off.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

You are making me think I need to up my iron some. I don't use it much any more. I am also disappointed with CSM+B. I don't know what it is, but I've found Seachem and the Millers are working better. So far, the extra copper doesn't seem to be bothering the shrimp. I started out adding 1/2 of the recommended dose and haven't been brave enough to raise that in the shrimp tank.

I keep wanting to put some cherries in my 55 gallon, but I am scared of the fish eating them. I wonder if the blyxa and other plants would be enough ground cover? You have 50 - 100 baby shrimp? Your house loves babies.  I can't wait to see some pictures.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

sewingalot said:


> You are making me think I need to up my iron some. I don't use it much any more. I am also disappointed with CSM+B. I don't know what it is, but I've found Seachem and the Millers are working better. So far, the extra copper doesn't seem to be bothering the shrimp. I started out adding 1/2 of the recommended dose and haven't been brave enough to raise that in the shrimp tank.
> 
> I keep wanting to put some cherries in my 55 gallon, but I am scared of the fish eating them. I wonder if the blyxa and other plants would be enough ground cover? You have 50 - 100 baby shrimp? Your house loves babies.  I can't wait to see some pictures.


Wet has added an alert to his fert calculator to let you know if you're dosing toxic levels.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/f...5-diy-tropica-plant-nutrition-mix-your-6.html


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*1.19.11 Update...*

I know, I said I would do this every Sunday, but I've had a crazy emotional week. Nothing happened, just being pregnant sucks.

So GDA is going crazy in this tank. It was slowly building up, but then went bonkers after setting up the pressurized co2. It's covered three sides of the tank...

Anyway, here's the pictures...









FTS









Blurry from the GDA...


















Limno Aromatica


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

Looking good though!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

problemman said:


> Looking good though!


Thanks! Sorry, I didn't even see this...

I've hit a brick wall with this tank... and all my tanks it would seem. I can't carry the buckets... My cup of coffee feels heavy to me. This is the crappy thing about me being pregnant: I get anemic. My docs are trying to combat it by shoving iron pills down my throat, but it's not working because even when taken with food I can't keep them down. They think it's all the iron in prenatal vitamins that's the reason I can't them either. My body has a hard time with the pills. I'm finally able to start eating high-iron foods (which also made me sick up until a couple weeks ago), so maybe I'll recover some hemoglobin, because I DO NOT want to end up were I was with my first, which was a hemoglobin reading of 7 after labor (normal hemo is 12+, my fiance's is 17+). I don't feel like having a blood transfusion...

Anyway, brain is starting to kick into baby mode, because even though I have two months left, I'm getting nesty and defensive. Old fears that I've effectively ignored are surfacing, even though I had a pretty good labor experience with my first.

I need my fiance's help to get the tank chores done. But with him working second shift, it's hard. So my tank is going a week without a water change. 

The algae that's showing up is just stupid! I thought the pressurized co2 was supposed to help this, not make it worse. I didn't have this algae with DIY. I have BBA, staghorn, GDA, and GSA. Probably a few others I forgot to mention. I discovered that with the cheap-o glass diffuser, I actually can't seem to gas my fish. They carry on like nothing is different now, so I think I'm not pushing enough co2 into the water column. I have my check valve, so I'll be playing with the reactor again, see if I can get higher co2 levels.

I plan on yanking most of the L glandulosa out. It's turned into a beast that just wants to twist and turn all over the place and most plants have a good deal of staghorn algae on their lower leaves anyway. I've spotted two smaller, straighter plants that are going to stay. The L Cuba is getting trimmed way down, because it keeps shading the R Japan and it's just not doing so hot because of it. The other rotalas are going to receive a good trim, and I'm going to place a good row of nanjenshan behind the glandulosa to give it some more depth. The hydro is going to be trimmed and the new nodes that are currently growing against the back of the tank are going to be moved forward, into sight. 

Then it's going to sit there, with minor trimmings to keep it tame, until mid spring. That's when the stuff that's needs to be done behind the tank are getting finished. The tank will be drained down most of the way and pulled away from the wall, the conduit pipes will be placed, and the background (window tinit) will be applied. The fish may hate me for this, but I'm sure they will be just fine. During this time, I'll be placing a large-ish anubias on the flat part of the driftwood, under the tiers. I hope to give more of a focal point into the midground and hide the growth of the stems behind the driftwood. I feel my tank lacks in midground.

Anyway, my fiance took some decent pictures with his phone of the highest java fern and the gertrudaes, so when he comes home from work I'll have to try to pry them out from him. He also took an HD video, which I'll have to figure out and post on here as well.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Fiance's pictures/video*

My fiance was trying to take some pictures of my fish, and I thought they looked awesome so I'm posting them here.

All these were taken with a Droid Incredible.




































































































And the video. It was shot in HD and you can set it to 720p if you want absurd detail of my fishies 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI8lHWJlBIc

You can really see the GDA a couple times, it's pretty bad. I "fixed" my co2 system and it's going through the reactor now, so hopefully it'll start starving and dissipating here soon.

EDIT: That grinding sound in the video is my Koralia 425 being stupid. I have no clue why it's grinding...


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

Dont look bad from my end!


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

Are you running an air stone in your tank or is that pearling I see in your video?


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

kcrossley said:


> Are you running an air stone in your tank or is that pearling I see in your video?


That's actually co2 from my POS glass diffuser. I finally did away with that thing, because I was blasting 7-8 pbs into the tank and getting no where. It no longer looks like a tank full of Sprite :hihi:

Problemman- Thanks! I think it'll start coming around now that the reactor is going. I'm already seeing a positive effect on the plants (at 2-3bps). My fish haven't started reacting to the co2 yet, so I'm still turning it up. I need to get a drop checker in there... I should e-mail my dad and see if he can get me some bromothymol blue...


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

l had gertrudaes, and to be honest they are some of the most beautiful fish l've ever kept once their true colors come out. l had em in a group of around 6 as they love to chase each other around.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

They are wonderful fish. I remember someone described them as "butterflies", and I feel that pretty well suits them. I have 8, comprising of five males and three females. I think I'm going to add a few more when I have this thing called "money" again. Kinda spent everything I had on my other hobby (showing rabbits). I'm also seriously considering a small school either threadfins or CPDs.

So....

I did a major trim on my tank. I actually didn't throw out that many plants. Just a couple sad looking glandulosa that were smothered in algae, inch long trimmings from trying to get the rotalas to bush up a bit, some BBA-laden moss ends, and the bottom ends of the stupid L Cuba. 

I trimmed the bottoms of the best looking L glandulosa and replanted them. They aren't really too red right now, two of them were actually large green baby plants, so maybe they will grow up faster without being shaded by the unruly larger plants. The third one is also small, so there's a bunch of room over there now for filling in. I replanted the taller rotala trims behind the glandulosa to give it some depth.

Still looks like I butchered my tank. Everything is so... short. I won't have much time to play it from now on. I'm having a few complications that's making playing inside the tank a challenge. I also need to get my apartment straightened around the way I want it; it's been fairly neglected of any interior design ever since we moved in. I want it to be done before little Valerie is born, because it won't happen after. I need to reorganize my cupboards and refrigerator so that when my mom is over to help she'll actually be able to find everything and not dig for it the way I do. The girls' room needs to be all redone as well. And meals prepped and frozen so I have something quick to cook up and eat. Anyway, so much to do. The tank is the only thing I have ready!

I successfully murdered my rotala macranda "japan red". I just don't have the light for that plant right now. Maybe someday, if I ever get a good grip on the algae and nutrients in the tank, I'll upgrade the back lights to HOs. Until then, screw it. A few things need to come first, before the lights though.

I also cleaned out my filter. Pulled out 11 baby shrimp. One tiny one was injured, and ended up being fish food. But the rest got over the light shock and hid themselves in the blyxa.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow!


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

Try running your co2 2 hours before the lights come on and after the lights go out....it cleared my tank up off all algae in a matter of 2 weeks. Oh my lights are on for 8 hours a day


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

problemman said:


> Try running your co2 2 hours before the lights come on and after the lights go out....it cleared my tank up off all algae in a matter of 2 weeks. Oh my lights are on for 8 hours a day


This is interesting. I normally run my Co2 two hours before the photo period begins, but cut it off an hour before the photo period ends.


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

kcrossley said:


> This is interesting. I normally run my Co2 two hours before the photo period begins, but cut it off an hour before the photo period ends.


Run it till the lights go out


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Yeah, I should stop being lazy and go get another powerstrip. There's no room left on the one I have for another timer. I'll set it up to two hours before lights on, then have it shut off at lights out, unless my fish start acting up. So far, they are unfazed with my slowly turning up the co2.

Looking at my tank this morning, I think I may have gone a little scissor-happy on my tank. I think it looks pretty nice, but I'm wondering if I murdered a few stems by cutting them too short. Like my glandulosa is about five inches tall, same thing with the cuba. Many of the new rotala trimmings are quite short as well.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*A couple pictures...*

Just three. I need a real camera. My phone's camera decided it wants to be a prick now. I can't get it to focus on anything, both in camera and video mode. Stupid smart phone...

OMG, Imageshack is going so -s l o w- today...









FTS. Yes, that's a strand of hornwort that popped up out of nowhere. I want to yank it, but the shrimp seem to really like it.









Some of these old bats are getting really nice color in. Most of my cherries I'd classify as "super reds". They almost look painted, and have red legs, but they definitely aren't Fire Reds. Stupid camera refused to focus on them, but there's twelve of them right there, eating an algae wafer. The wafers are a favorite food in this tank. I drop one in, and a feeding frenzy ensues. The shrimp try to drag it away from the fish, and will actually get right up and nasty with them. The zebra oto uses her whole body to try to hog the disk for herself, and usually ends up having multiple shrimp poke her face. I guess the Gertrudaes just aren't scary to the shrimp anymore. All eight of them will be swarming the disk and the shrimp will still get right up in there and ignore them.

Throw a spinach leaf or zuke in there... nothing. They ignore it. I need to feed them less junk food. I have some Kens sticks coming from BSmith here soon, hoping they will like that.









The old snail's shell is corroding. I'm hoping he'll eat the new sticks and not be finicky, but even he won't eat the veggies. In fact, I don't see him around the algae disks that much (but those only last an hour, tops).


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

Don't look bad at all


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Picture update!*

I noticed something wrong going on with a couple of my rotalas, and come to find out my co2 was turned down too far. I corrected the issue, and took out one of the bulbs. All this algae has started up, now I'm trying to fend it off. I think I'm going to start dosing Excel again to help it out a bit.

Anyway, here's the pictures... I was bored.









February 8, 2011 FTS









My Bacopa Caroliniana are finally deciding to actually grow. They seem to put out two new leaves on a daily basis now that they are actually in some light.









Blyxa due for a trim. I'll see how it likes lower light in my 5.5g which I'm planning on redoing here this weekend. The shrimp seem to really like it, so maybe my BTOES will start liking me again...









The hydro decided to finally send up several new nodes. Of course, I trimmed the heck out of it. Not too bad for only getting one node as a freebie. I love this plant, it looks so different and has such a nice color.









The only stem of stargrass that stayed in the tank (it hid from me when I was po'd at it), I moved to here and now after a couple trims and careful replanting, it's starting to look nice. This plant responds to co2 like crazy, come to find out.









This java fern has just gotten absurd. It's going to receive a good trim at the rhizome so I can spread it to my 5.5g and maybe the 10g.









This just doesn't look safe... But she had no issues navigating around the intake.


















She doesn't like me. As soon as I noticed her among the blyxa and starting taking pictures, she ran for cover. I actually see the CRS a lot more often now. They really like the Kent veggie sticks, come to find out. They don't get fed them everyday, but they like to look for them. These guys still don't like the fish, but they are getting used to them now. They refuse to compete for the sticks and will drag bits off to where the fish don't usually go to eat them in peace. Yes, the fish LOVE the veggie sticks as well.









I like my big guy! He found out during the last feeding that those Kens sticks are tasty, so hopefully he'll start getting more calcium for his shell...









This little lady has pale eyes! A few of my girls have this, no idea why. I wish I had a better camera and some skills with it, because it's so hard to see the details of these pale blue-grey eyes.









RCS girly on the marselia minuta









The best picture I could get of one of the juvie RCS. The Gertrudaes suck at population control, because they haven't made any dent what-so-ever. There are like 200 babies now...









Hard to see them all, but there's about ten baby rcs hanging out on this hornwort stem. Still haven't yanked it, but if I start dosing Excel again, it won't be happy.









Zebra oto chilling out









Pudgy little oto. They go bonkers for the Kens sticks too. This guy is a little under an inch long, and I've had him for several months.









You can tell why they are called "Blue Eyes". I noticed the females have brighter blue eyes than the males.









HOLY GDA! Hoping the increased co2 + less light will = this cutting back. I need to scrape it off, but I don't want to take a razor blade after my glass. I don't want to scratch it...

And that's it. Like I said, I was bored. :icon_wink


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

WOW! Nice tank!


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## Dempsey (Oct 27, 2009)

Looking good!

I can't wait to start my shrimp tank! And of course, now that I have that itch to get it started, it's a cold nasty winter..... Esp with all these awesome sales in the S-n-S!!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

What a fantastic little tank!

I love the livestock choices, too. :thumbsup:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Thanks everyone! I think it's rather growing into itself now, but I'm hoping it'll start looking better once I get the algae issue under control. Just hope I can keep up with it once the baby is born. And the 10g, and the 5.5g (which are both lower tech)...

:biggrin:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I saw this just now and had to take a picture. This is what happens in an hour to Ken's veggie and calcium sticks:









That's only a fraction of the baby and juvie RCS. I sat down and was counting them the other day, and just in my easy sight I counted 72! Untold amounts are under/behind the driftwood, in the moss, and hidden in the blyxa. Talk about a population explosion... I'm thinking I should probably order some Kordon breather bags so I can sell some of these guys off in the spring! 

And Mr. Charmer decided to come out and say hello. My sole CRS male, but he's by far more friendly and outgoing than his two ladies.


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

We are so coping each other. I just got 12 cbs and cbs...


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Mr Charmer has me charmed.  You are making me miss my marselia minuta!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I lost one of my CRS females and the large ramshorn last night 

The koralia was making an insanely loud sound that I'm not sure how my daughter slept through it. So, in my tired stupor, I just unplugged it to shut it up. Turned out that my the prefilter sponge on my Eheim decided to uber clog last night (was running just peachy when I went to bed), which killed the flow on the filter. So... my tank had virtually no flow going for about 12 hours, until I decided to figure out what was up with the powerhead.

So after tattling to my fiance on them, the powerhead started running quietly again and then he helped me think straight enough to figure out that the prefilter sponge was clogged. Now, after spending 10 minutes making sure that sponge was clean, the tank is up and running again.

I trimmed out a good chunk of plants to redo the 5.5g and 10g with, but I didn't think before I started cutting. We have to re-arrange the rooms that those tanks are in, and it would be much easier to do those tanks _after_ moving stuff around. So I just gave myself a time limit without thinking about it. Oops. I was so frustrated, and just couldn't calm down. I broke down into tears and crashed into my bed leaving a thoroughly confused fiance behind. I'm thanking my stars that I was blessed with the most patient man on the face of the Earth. He moved a bunch of stuff around, and is going to help me redo my tanks later, after we eat dinner (which he ordered, because I'm in no mood to cook tonight).

So it looks like a hacked out my tank again, without giving it a good chance to recoup from the first time. I'm just going to let it grow out a bit before playing with it. No point in stressing over it, I have too many things to stress over right now. At least all the equipment is working again!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I must have done something right. Tonight there's been loads of pearling action going on!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

As always, I keep changing my mind on everything...

I've decided that I'm going to start adding a gH booster to my tank after water changes. Somehow, this sneaking suspicion that the curling/wavy leaves are due to a Ca deficiency just isn't leaving me. Shrimps have molt problems, snails shells quickly deteriorating, plants with wavy new growth that slowly straightens out a little as it gets older... Sure sounds like a Ca problem at this point to me. Maybe it's my water plant's way of removing hardness that's stripping too much Ca... I don't know. I have still have a good amount of Equilibrium, I'll start adding a 1/4 tsp (pre-dissolved with HOT water first) to my tank after the water changes. I'm crossing my fingers that it will help out a little.

I also went back through and studied up on EI dosing again. I haven't been putting enough of a few things in, come to find out. With the pressurized co2, I guess the plants are taking in much more nutrients. After noticing a new anubias leaf with a pin-hole in it, I decided I need to just go back to the top and follow the chart for 20g-40g tanks.

KNO3: 1/4 tsp 3x / week (up from 1/16 tsp 2x/week)
P: 1/16 tsp 3x / week (up from 1/32 tsp 3x/week)
K: 1/16 tsp 3x / week (same)
CSM+B: 1/16 tsp 3x / week (same)
Iron: 4ml daily (same)
Flourish Trace: 7ml 4x week (new)

Started this on Monday, and I'm wondering if the sudden increase in KNO3 was why my plants started pearling like gang-busters. I have no idea why I was dosing so low, I guess I got stuck in a rut and thought everything was fine. Makes sense that the increase in plant mass was taking in more nutrients than what I was giving out. I also underestimated the amount of light over this tank (as always), and now that I've come to terms with it, I'll start doing what I need to do.

Well, hopefully I'll start seeing a positive effect from all this. I'm also prepared to deal with my 10g, which is starting to take a turn toward higher tech. I find myself so bored with the lower tech tanks. They are just too easy to me, I can't figure out the learning curve. The 5.5g has been adjusted to lower mid light levels now.

I'll be posting pictures tomorrow


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

Is the rotala mac japan coloring up with this ei dosing?


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

It died. :icon_frow It all melted, within two weeks of me getting it.


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

Damn! I have some but I can't get more then a little but of red out of it


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## Dempsey (Oct 27, 2009)

Captivate05 said:


> It died. :icon_frow It all melted, within two weeks of me getting it.


That happened to me the first time I got some. After upgrading my lights, Philip(AzFishKid) sent me some and it is doing awesome. Growing really nice and red too. And fast. I was thinking about testing it in one of my low light tanks. I might have some to spare in a few weeks....


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I put it next to my L Cuba, and I think the cuba just choked it out before it had a good chance to grow.

I'll have to tame it down when I put in Rotala Macranda again. I don't want to give up on this plant because it's so pretty, but I don't want to kill it again...

For now, I want to see these curling leaves go bye-bye. I don't fully understand why they are doing it, and cutting the light/upping the co2 didn't help much, at least not yet. So hopefully adding the gH booster will help, if not I'm completely stumped.


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

I can hook you up with some stems when your ready


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Small update*

So, this tank has taken a turn for the worse. It just isn't looking good anymore, even though the GDA is pretty much gone, the plants aren't "pretty" to me anymore. I'm coming to terms with the fact that it's just not going to work out the way I want it to, not with the baby almost here.

I'm planning a major change. The hardscape is staying the same, but some of the plant choices are getting kicked to easier plants. I'm sick of the L Cuba. Pretty plant, but it's not doing good anymore and just isn't filling in the area well. I'll be replacing it with willow hygro. It'll be a complete weed under these conditions, but I'll be able to hack at it without feeling bad, and it should fill in that area better. 

Behind the driftwood, there's a dark area that all the plants I've tried keep stunting and dying. Light gets there, but I guess not enough for the stems. So I'll be trying a smallish sword of some sort. Not fond of swords, but that area of the tank drives me bonkers. The low light should keep it under control, at least that's my hope anyway.

So it'll get a big overhaul here at one point, and I'll update it then roud:


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

From what I see in the previous pictures your tank looks great! And I love your fish  

How are you feeling? How many weeks you have left?


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I'm at 37 weeks, 5 days today. Pretty much two weeks left to go.

And I feel like hell. And I look it too. My hips separated at the pubic bone joint, so moving around isn't very pleasant. Sleep, in particular, sucks. But it won't be long now. She's been pushing down for weeks now, and pretty much no one thinks I'll make it to my due date. Who can say for sure? I went into labor two days before my due date last time, on my own, so I really could go any day now


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

Oh my you are due any day now! 
Sorry to hear you so uncomfortable but you almost there, so hang in there. I wish you all the best and hope you have a speedy and easy delivery. Can't wait for pictures


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

OMG, there are so many shrimp in this tank now. I threw an algae disk in there and walked away, and about an hour later my fiance walks over and was said "How many shrimp do you have in there now?" "I don't know, too many." "I can tell." Now, usually my fiance doesn't care what's going on in the tank, so my interest was perked. I'd been ignoring the tank for a while, so I hadn't kept track of how many shrimp swarm the algae disk at feeding time.

There was literally around 300 shrimp just crawling all over each other. It didn't even look cool, just... creepy. Like ants swarming a piece of cat food outside. I'm not really creeped out by anything, but this did.

So... I'm ordering shipping supplies now... Unfortunately, I can't list them up on the SnS yet. I'm going to wait until after the baby is born. Which should be pretty soon here. I already went through one bout of false labor, that lasted four hours long, the real deal has to be around the corner. If not, they'll just induce me within three weeks anyway


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Ack, my heater really did die now. Crap. I'll have to see if my fiance will buy me a new heater. It probably won't be the Hydor ETH I want, but I'll have to find something...


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Completely off topic, but completely necessary! :bounce: Your baby is due tomorrow! :bounce: I am so excited for you! Be sure to at least post pictures of the baby for us as soon as you are feeling up to it.

300 shrimp in one tank? You must be doing something right.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

LOL, yeah, Val is due and not showing any signs she wants to come out... I have an appointment tomorrow, and they will be talking induction. My blood pressure keeps going up, and it feels like my OBs are tip-toeing around me. I wasn't induced with my first, so I'm a little bummed out. BUT, it's getting to the point now where it's better for everyone involved for her to come out now, and not wait for my body to get in gear.

I thought I would take a picture of how absurd my tank is looking lately. The GDA, and pretty much every other algae, is gone. But the tank will need to be redone after LO is born. I'm very unhappy with it right now, but I'm not going to fuss over it right now.









I removed the background for now. I'll be putting something better up in a couple months...









A fraction of the shrimp in the tank. Some of these little guys are actually getting berries. In a few weeks, I'll be wanting to ship them out. I have my bags, labels, and styrofoam, just wondering where my boxes ended up. I think my apartment office lost them... Also need the weather to clear up again.









And... the closest I can get to a baby picture :icon_wink. This is what 40 weeks of pregnancy looks like! I know, I'm huge. Everyone has made a point of letting me know, as if I have no idea. Believe it or not, I'm measuring on the small side. I just don't have the cute baby bump like I had with my first :hihi: Hopefully I'll have a real baby picture to share in a little bit!


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Oh, you poor thing! Still carrying. You're quite the pregnant gal there, lol. Actually, you look pretty _small _to me (I've been around a _lot _of pregnant gals lately. ) Good luck tomorrow! I'll be thinking about you guys!

I really like the tank right now. The overgrown look always was appealing for me for some reason. And holy batman! That is a LOT of shrimp! You weren't kidding. What are you feeding them? A whole chicken? :hihi:


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

I love your hydrocotyle... i hope mine grows in as nicely as yours has =)


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I ended up unplugging a light and co2 from this tank. What lives, lives; what dies, dies. I don't have enough time or mental stamina to deal with the tanks right now. My fish barely get fed on a daily basis...

The focus of my life has completely shifted. Today was the first day I could pick up around my apartment and do laundry, and it's been two weeks since the baby was born. My fiance and I take shifts with the kids, and whenever he watches them I pass out. Yeah, I remember now that the first three or four months are pure survival, adding a very sick toddler to the mix really doesn't help!

My older daughter and fiance got a case of food poisoning. My fiance recovered after a day just fine, but it snowballed on my little girl :icon_sad: She ended up going to the ER and spending a day in the hospital to get hydrated. She's doing much better now (been home for a day), but now she has a cough and runny nose. If it's not one thing, it's another...

I'm sincerely hoping that in a couple months I can redo this tank a little. But my fiance was laid off (thanks GM), so at this point the tank may just get torn down. I can fit all the fauna into my ten gallon tank (I don't want to, but I can). The ten gallon costs less to run...


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

Congratulations!!!! Hope your recovery is going well and your youngest gets better soon. I don't know how you do it with a toddler :icon_eek: my baby girl is turning 3 months next week and she is handful, I hope once she can sit up and play I can get stuff done for now I am her only entertainment. Post pictures whenever you get a chance, I wanna see you little bundle of joy


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*I'm alive!*

Well, kinda...

I've had a _really_ rough time since my baby was born. My toddler is doing great now, but the baby is something else. She's _extremely_ fussy. I don't remember breaking down into tears so many times with my other one. More than once I've had to call up my mother and beg her to come help us out.

Long story short: My tank has been completely and entirely neglected. The fish get fed, that's it. Too much of my time and care is being used up that when I do get a break from my kids, it's spent doing "better" things (like SLEEPING, cleaning, taking a shower, driving the car to the store with the speakers BLASTING emo music, etc). It's had one water change to it, and that was two days ago, when I had a pretty good day.

There is some light at the end of the proverbial tunnel however. I'm getting more interested in my tanks again. I'm planning yet another redo that probably won't get done. This one involves yanking _all_ the stems out, going on a snail rampage, and planting some low-light, low care plants. As much as I enjoyed my high light tank (and all it's frustrations), there's only so much I can take at the moment, and that's not likely to change for at least a year.

Anyway, baby's crying. Have to go :icon_sad:


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Yup, changed my mind again!

Figured out that the baby has reflux, and now she's on meds for it. She's like night and day now. I'm suddenly feeling much freer now, so the tank is getting a re-haul!

I've decided to keep it high tech. Taking one of the bulbs out of the back fixture, reinstate the co2 system, and new plant choices. Here's the list:

Current plants:
Java Fern
Anubias (marbled, nana, coffeefolia, petite)
Christmas moss
Hydro
Blyxa j

New plants:
DHG
Vals

I plan on yanking all the stems (except the blyxa), trimming down the ferns and moss that went ape crazy, planting a carpet of hairgrass across most of it, have the vals in the very back behind the driftwood, and blyxa as the midground plant on the left side and the background plant on the right side. Yup, keeping the right side open and simplifying the crap out of it. The hardscape is staying the same.

I think it's brilliant. Without the stems, the amount of time it will take to make this tank stay looking good will be minimal (I hope). The vals don't count because I plan on just letting them grow to a decent length before trimming the ends.

The other issue I've been having is the fact that I have softened water. Soooooo, I'm going back to pure r/o with Equilibrium. That will solve all sorts of problems.

This will go into effect whenever LFS gets a new shipment of Equilibrium and DHG in (they think tomorrow). Hopefully no later than Tuesday.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Baby pictures!*

And here's some pictures of my lovely daughter Valerie!




























And because I like to show off my kids, here's my older daughter, Elaine!









Me and Elaine









At my parent's house, feeding the horses (namely Dandy) with Papa! She loves to feed them, but is afraid they will eat her hand too. BTW, that isn't the horses' pen. It's a temporary pen they were in so that their pasture could dry out a bit. If we don't move them for most of the spring, they ruin the pasture.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*I replanteded it *

BEFORE:









AFTER:









Fin~


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

The vals are growing in pretty new leaves and starting to send out runners. I was worried for a bit that they wouldn't recover, since they were in a crappy state to begin with, but they are doing fine in the rich water. The lily has received some snail damage, but it's sending out new leaves as well.














































I'm moving the BTOES into this tank. Yes I know, bad, don't cross tigers and crystals. But I can't get either of them to stay berried anyway, and the btoes are getting neglected where they are at. Even if they do manage to produce, I doubt I'd sell the babies anyway. Here they will get the care they need, and that's what is most important to me right now.


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## GaMeR (Apr 5, 2010)

Nice tank, any updates??


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## SJInverts (Apr 6, 2009)

What T5NO bulbs are you using: 6700K, 10,000K, Colormax, etc? What combination?

Your tank looks great.


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