Thursday, July 2, 2009

Aquarium Blog: Drop checker arrived!


My CO2 drop checker from Green Leaf Aquariums looks great!
The CAL AQUA crop checkers they also sell look nice, but if you notice I think they have a plastic plug in them. The Green Leaf drop checker is all glass and looks very clean. It does take some patience to get the testing solution in there, but it's worth the clean look. I think they should use my pic (assuming their profit is greater for their own product)! Green Leaf Aquariums also ships a standardized 4dKH solution included!
Reading more: I will say it's tough to discriminate the color from a distance. The Red Sea drop checker is easier to read from a distance, but doesn't look nearly as nice! Also the Red Sea drop checker does NOT ship with a standardized solution for mixing. Read more!

Aquarium Blog: Day 11 Planted


You can click on the image for a better view. You can see floating up top the cabomba I brought in from my outdoor container pond. All the fish seem to be doing quite well. Yesterday I may have tweaked the CO2 at little high as all the rams seemed to be working for oxygen so I dialed that back for the day. I turned on the airstone when I noticed their stress so don't worry. Most of the plants seem to be doing well. I should be getting my new CO2 drop checker today. You can see my current one attached to the front glass upper right. It contains a solution that changes color depending on CO2 concentrations. The new one comes with a standardized solution that should provide improved validity. Dry fertilizer should arrive in the next day or so. Reading more: Any questions? Just ask! I'm not sure if lighting or nutrients are my limiting plant growth factor at the moment. I should be improving the nutrients when the dry fertilizers arrive. It'll likely be my birthday before I can justify a lighting fixure that will up my watts per gallon to the 3-4 range. Read more!

Aquarium Blog: Rotala macrandra


Here you can see the test bed area of my tank. It's up front where I can observe new plants closely. Yesterday I added what I believe is some Rotala macrandra. It's considered a difficult plant to grow and needs high light, so I'm not expecting too much. Reading more: From a entry below you'll find I also placed some in an outdoor container. Who knows? Maybe it will really take off outside! Read more!

Aquarium Blog: Scarlet Badis


These tiny fish are amazing. Their small size makes the aquarium seem just huge! They're also difficult to photograph, he, he. Unfortunately they seem to be finicky eaters. The first meal of the day is always some frozen daphnia and I'm pretty sure they're eating it. Reading more: I'll post a blog dedicated to feeding.
Read more!

Aquarium Blog: Atlanta rocks!


Seriously, what's going on in Atlanta?! Do you have some great pet stores there? Is there an Atlanta aquatic club? Could it be any hotter? Post a comment! Reading more: Every day I look at the traffic report for this website and Atlanta is almost always at the top of the list. I do have friends and faimly there, but I doubt they are visiting every day. What's up? I'm glad to have you visit! What would you like to see more of? What could I do for Atlanta?!
Read more!