Can't Touch This

Talked to the owner of a home built 52,000 gallon aquarium today in IRC. Check out his thread on building the tank http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8952 and his video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j6JAJeGRzI! Reading more: nice guy too!
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Aquarium Blog: Day 13 Planted- Ferts mixed!

Mixed up my first batch of liquid fertilizer from dry. Mixing is easy but deciding on amounts is kind of a bear. After adding iron early in the day I thought I could see my R. rotundifolia growing in real time! Reading more: I'd say the downloaded version of Chuck's Planted Aquarium Calculator and the Fertilator page were most helpful in making the final calculations. See the links to the right. Check the forums for help!
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Aquarium Blog: Day 12 Planted

Pic of tank Day12, dry ferts as arrived today, and bachelor lunch I ate while looking at my tank (wife at in-laws)! Reading more: The dry fertilizers are from Green Leaf Aquariums. I've been quite impressed with them so far. Now I need to select a method of dertermining how much to fertilize. There are a handful.
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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.
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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?!
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Aquarium Blog: New light fixture on the way from Big Al's.

I just ordered Coralife F/W T-5 Aqualight Double Strip Light-36 from Big Al's. I've been pretty impressed with this dealer of aquarium supplies. They advertise a low price guarantee. I tried www.aquariumguys.com, but ran into the problem of ordering something the website listed as "in-stock" and getting an email that they were out of stock and the website never updated to "out of stock". Sometimes you get the feeling that "in-stock" is the default for a merchant regardless of stock status. That's a deal breaker for me. So far I've NOT had this problem with Big Al's and I've found their prices to be quite low. I will report on the new lighting fixture soon! Reading more: Let me know what your online dealer experiences have been. Read more!

Aquarium Blog: The power of the sun!

Getting in my car yesterday (after it was preheated by the Arkansas sun) I chuckled as I wondered how many watts the sun has and what a shame it cannot be harnessed as an aquarium light. Of course we know sunlight can benefit the indoor aquarium, but that's a different story. I then remembered I'd tossed some Hornwort, Cabomba, and Anacharis is my goldfish containers a while back. I checked them out and the Cabomba and Anacharis were growing like crazy. No real surprise, but at least I remember I have a free source of both now! Also it occurred to me I could create a test bed for my other aquatic plants and see if any enjoy growing outdoors! (Note these are isolated containers miles from natural bodies of water.) Oh, a goldfish in one of the containers seemed to say "please, if you're not going to feed us, bugger off". Reading more: I'll take and post some pics of the Cabomba and Anacharis in my tank later today! Read more!

Aquarium Blog: Day 9 Planted

Wow, I'm really getting into this hobby. The fish are doing great, but I'm continuing to experience some plant die back. I have the Hydor Exclusive CO2 system up and running at about 40 bubbles per min. I'm dosing Seachem fertilizers and have dry fertilizers on the way. Ammonia and Nitrites are at near zero ppm. Nitrates are around 20 ppm (low?). So, I think I'm doing everything right. I just gotta be patient. Reading more: I'm considering getting a T5 36 double strip tomorrow. Shhh, don't tell my wife!
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Aquarium Blog: Day 8 Planted

Current fauna include (with names, if named):
2 Male Electric Blue Ram (Boron and Xenon)
2 Female German Blue Ram (Freon and Krypton/Helion)
2 Rummy Nose Tetras
2 Emerald Green Cory
5 Scarlet Badis
9 Cherry Shrimp (fish food?)
1 Mystery Snail

Reading more: my wife hates the name Freon.
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Aquarium Blog: Hydor CO2 green NRG Exclusive

I received my replacement Hydor "pressure reducer" and two disposable cartridges. I wore gloves screwing on the cartridge, he, he. First attempt the pin did not penetrate the disposable cartridge. The pressure reducer comes with two washers installed and I debated removing one, but instead just backed out and back in and succeeded. I hope the washer is intact. The pressure reducer leaked CO2 from a couple of places for about twenty seconds or so before it appeared to "settle". I thought that was pretty odd, but there are no leaks now and it's dispensing CO2 from zero to several bubbles a second as I adjust. I'm certain it's not a long term solution for a 50g tank as the disposable cartridges are not cost efficient for this size tank. I'm pretty happy to retire the DIY system after only one day. Reading more: I'm convinced I'm the only soul in the US using a Hydor pressure reducer. If you are make sure and let me know! Read more!

Rotala this, Rotala that!

So I'm thinking my Rotala may be Rotundfolia rather than Indica. That's thanks to forum folks at Aquatic Plant Central (see link to right). I'll be adding this link to the right as well: Plant Finder. AReading more: The forums are invaluable. Check the links to the right. Thanks "ingg" and Cavan Allen at APC forum! Read more!