LauraFrog
Fish Gatherer
I've had planted aquariums for about three years now (my very first aquarium was planted) but I still consider myself a planted noob, because basically what I've done is shove a heap of easy plants in there and largely ignore them.
My own setups include a 6 gal planted with a betta and pygmy corys, and a 22 gallon brackish setup at about 1.006 SG.
Both got totally overrun by black beard algae. I stripped down both of them, and there is a small amount of algae now in each, and I'm not sure how to get rid of it. Does anybody have advice on getting BBA to go away and stay gone? Neither tank has ever had CO2, but I'm planning on setting up some DIY CO2 for them (the old soft drink bottle/sugar/yeast trick, because I can't afford a proper system). Is this dangerous (ie is there any way I could dissolve too much CO2 in the water and kill the fish using this method?)
At the moment both are lightly planted - the 6 gal with thin val, two anubias plants and some lilaeopsis, and the 22 with thin val and that's it.
My school is setting up some fish tanks as well, and since none of the science teachers are fishkeepers they've entrusted the whole thing to me. It's potentially close to a thousand dollars worth of equipment and stock, so it's a pretty big responsibility because before this it's been largely my own money and my own problem. They want the tanks planted, but no CO2 or complicated fertiliser regimes (a weekly fertiliser is fine).
I'm setting up four more tanks myself, all of which are 50L/15USG. The school tanks are the same size, and there are five of them. My tanks are on a sump which is shared, the school tanks have individual power filters.
The tanks will also be unheated. We live in the northern part of Australia and temperatures would not fall below 20 C even in winter - for a cold snap we would have heaters, we just don't want the expense of having to keep them around 27 all year, so we are choosing temperate fish species.
I've got a wholesaler's catalogue right here, and I'm just itching to buy up a heap of the pretty plants, but I don't want to overdo it. I don't want to stuff the tanks so full of plants that they become difficult to maintain without CO2, especially since they are small. I'm thinking thin val because it's extremely cheap and even I've had difficulty killing it. I'd also like to go with anubias, because I've found them very easy.
The catalogue has both emerse and submerse grown anubias plants. The submerse ones are much dearer - is it worth the extra money or can the emerse grown ones adapt easily to aquarium life? What about echinodoras (same deal)?
How difficult is cardamine lyrata and giant cardamine to grow and keep healthy? I want to grow it in my little 6 gallon which will have CO2. Could I try and grow it in the school tanks without CO2?
Will milfoil tolerate the amount of salt in my brackish tank? Several people said it will.
Is dwarf blyxa a common name for blyxa japonica, or are they different plants?
What exactly are the rushes (green rush, variegated rush, lime rush) and what conditions do they thrive in?
How hard are echinodoras to keep alive?
I'm sorry to go dump so many questions on you... I just don't want to screw this up.
My own setups include a 6 gal planted with a betta and pygmy corys, and a 22 gallon brackish setup at about 1.006 SG.
Both got totally overrun by black beard algae. I stripped down both of them, and there is a small amount of algae now in each, and I'm not sure how to get rid of it. Does anybody have advice on getting BBA to go away and stay gone? Neither tank has ever had CO2, but I'm planning on setting up some DIY CO2 for them (the old soft drink bottle/sugar/yeast trick, because I can't afford a proper system). Is this dangerous (ie is there any way I could dissolve too much CO2 in the water and kill the fish using this method?)
At the moment both are lightly planted - the 6 gal with thin val, two anubias plants and some lilaeopsis, and the 22 with thin val and that's it.
My school is setting up some fish tanks as well, and since none of the science teachers are fishkeepers they've entrusted the whole thing to me. It's potentially close to a thousand dollars worth of equipment and stock, so it's a pretty big responsibility because before this it's been largely my own money and my own problem. They want the tanks planted, but no CO2 or complicated fertiliser regimes (a weekly fertiliser is fine).
I'm setting up four more tanks myself, all of which are 50L/15USG. The school tanks are the same size, and there are five of them. My tanks are on a sump which is shared, the school tanks have individual power filters.
The tanks will also be unheated. We live in the northern part of Australia and temperatures would not fall below 20 C even in winter - for a cold snap we would have heaters, we just don't want the expense of having to keep them around 27 all year, so we are choosing temperate fish species.
I've got a wholesaler's catalogue right here, and I'm just itching to buy up a heap of the pretty plants, but I don't want to overdo it. I don't want to stuff the tanks so full of plants that they become difficult to maintain without CO2, especially since they are small. I'm thinking thin val because it's extremely cheap and even I've had difficulty killing it. I'd also like to go with anubias, because I've found them very easy.
The catalogue has both emerse and submerse grown anubias plants. The submerse ones are much dearer - is it worth the extra money or can the emerse grown ones adapt easily to aquarium life? What about echinodoras (same deal)?
How difficult is cardamine lyrata and giant cardamine to grow and keep healthy? I want to grow it in my little 6 gallon which will have CO2. Could I try and grow it in the school tanks without CO2?
Will milfoil tolerate the amount of salt in my brackish tank? Several people said it will.
Is dwarf blyxa a common name for blyxa japonica, or are they different plants?
What exactly are the rushes (green rush, variegated rush, lime rush) and what conditions do they thrive in?
How hard are echinodoras to keep alive?
I'm sorry to go dump so many questions on you... I just don't want to screw this up.
