HO or not really doesn't matter.

I have a 48" Coralife HO double strip, so the difference is that my fixture is 108W instead of your 56W. However, you have a second 56W fixture whereas I'm using the two 24" T8 fixtures that came with my tank.

The presence of that 10000K bulb changes things considerably! ;) The depth penetration of the 10000K balances out the lack of penetration in the Roseate. You've actually got a REALLY nice blend of lighting.

And FYI, I no longer inject CO2 (results were too GOOD) and I only use Excel for algae control - I don't dose daily.

Oh, so I should be good then w/ my lights? Well, that's encouraging! Thank you again! :) I've only been running the 2nd fixture for a few months, but I've seen some awesome growth w/ some of my plants. My Amazon Swords are producing new leaves every couple of days, (I use Root Tabs for them). My Crypts melted when I first planted them, but are beginning to bounce back.

What type of ferts do you use? Aside from the Root Tabs, I'm only using Trace.

Since you have 2 double strips, I think the IDEAL setup would be (if looking at the 2 strips as one set of 4 lamps, front to back):

6500K - 5000K - 10000K - 6500K

That would give you the most even dispersion of each type of bulb.

I don't use any ferts right now. My substrate is a mix of Eco Complete and Seachem Flourite black, so there's a certain amount of nutrients already in there (the Flourite is especially rich in Iron, which is one of the main reasons to dose ferts I've found). If I do dose, I use my own liquid ferts that I mix from dry components following the PPS Pro method.

Awesome information! I think I might try that set-up w/ the lights and see what happens. Thank you again for all of the advice! :thumb:

One thing I just thought of - if you have a setup like mine with really tall plants at the back of the tank and really short plants in the foreground, put the lights like this:

6500K - 10000K - 5000K - 6500K

That's my plant layout right now. Of course I won't change a damn thing if your lighting suggestion works out. :thumb:

Cool setup; much higher production values than my video...

Rasboras and Danios!!! ARRGGGHHHH!

That's a whole lot of fin nippers you have in there that appear to be playing nice. I've had awful luck with those little fish so I pretty much quit trying. They just have a tendency to torture my larger, cooler fish...then die.

I like the planted tank - I've never seen one like that before.

I meant to compliment you on your pics earlier, Pittsie! Nice setup! :thumb: Is the tank still up and running?

Thanks! I was having fun w/ my video editing software. I had more fun w/ the edits on my first video, (it's on my youtube channel if you want to check it out). I also had my 2 African Dwarf Frogs in that tank when I filmed the first video, (now the ADF's are in my 5 gallon).

Yeah, not much fin-nipping going on... I'm quite surprised. Oh and I don't have any Danios. I think you're referring to my Silver Tip Tetras.

I watched your video, (yet again), and I'm in love w/ your little Clown Fish! I don't think any SW tank is complete w/ a few of those guys. Your corals and anemones look really healthy btw... nice job!

Okay, I'm having a bit of a crisis.

Tank has been up for nearly 2 months now with a single betta in it. 5 plants.

Ammonia levels were zero and trites and trates were zero.

So, I add 3 plants yesterday, and 6 cardinal tetras and did a 50% water change.

2 died overnight. So, I test the water and my ammonia levels are THROUGH THE ROOF. Like over 8 ppm. I just did an 80% water change, and added a 50gal dose of prime. Will re-check ammonia later tonight.

What gives? Why did it spike so high all of a sudden? I don't use Windex or any chemicals around the tank (and there are none in the house on that level), and I used the Aqueon water changer to change it. I tested my tap water and its levels were between 2 and 4 PPM, so I don't think that caused it.

Any other ideas on why it spiked so high? Will update with levels later.

I have 30+ ball pythons.

Where is the forum for snake breeders?

You really shouldn't have been showing 0 on your Nitrates. That's odd. Are you using test strips or a kit? As far as the Ammonia spike, it sounds like you're going through a mini-cycle. I wouldn't think that adding 6 Tetras would make that happen, but it's possible. I would just keep on top of water changes and testing until it stabilizes.

This is a 10 gallon, right? If so, I would definitely take it easy on the Prime. Adding too much could be a really bad thing, (at least that's what I've heard).

Snakes are teh ghey. :p

This.

And this.

I picked this guy up at my local pet shop, City Pets in Westport(Great place, and still local as opposed to the Petsmart/Petco conglomerate.).

This is the Sunshine Peacock cichlid I mentioned earlier in this thread...

When I bought it, they didn't know it was a male, and priced it at $5.99 for a general peacock cichlid..... Pretty good deal. He's looking really good now, and will only get better. He looked just boring pale yellow when I bought him, and he was barely an inch long. But I just took a chance that he was a male, and I think it worked out. He should look really cool when he's 2.5-3" or so...

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/733/1005838g.jpg

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8867/1005839n.jpg

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/3720/1005843m.jpg

I'm really hooked on Peacock Cichlids....

This is my other German Red Peacock cichlid:

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1...7722360280.jpg

Tested again after an 80% water change. Reading between 4 and 8. Not quite as bad, but still no bueno. Vacuumed the gravel durng the change as well. I'm stumped. There's nothing in the tank that should be spiking it so hard so quickly.

Test kit not strips.

I was under the impression that zero nitrates was normal for a planted tank.

That was my thought as well - I'd be interested to hear why 0 nitrates is considered strange.

They'll be going up shortly (as the ammonia cycles to nitrites, then nitrates), but the plants are designed to take a lot of the nitrates out of the water and if you had a low bio-load prior to this, the remaining nitrates should've converted to nitrogen gas and simply 'evaporated' from the tank.

I always had nigh nitrates, but I had a massive bio-load and no plants; only way you can do Cichlids well, IMO.

Beautiful fish, KC! I have the same tree stump ornament in my tank btw.

When you did a water change, (before the spike), did you replace your filter media or rinse it out in dechlorinated water?

Also, no, the plants need Nitrates. They will eat up Nitrates, yes, but if they bottom out, you will need to apply an additive, (i.e. Seachem Nitrogen), to boost them back up.

Filter media was not changed or rinsed.

Isn't the fact that the plants need nitrates the reason that many planted tanks don't see nitrate levels at all?

Honestly, my Nitrates have always stayed around 40ppm, (before and after adding plants). However, if they are reading 0, the plants will be lacking the essential amount of Nitrogen in order for them to flourish. This is why most heavily planted tanks require Nitrogen replacement.

Well, I'll definitely keep that in mind. For now, though, I'm worried about this crazy ammonia spike.

Good luck, Silock! :thumb: I hope your parameters stabilize and you don't lose anymore fishes. Keep us posted on how things are going.

Thanks. I just vacuumed the gravel again to make sure there wasn't any decomposing food I might have missed. Ended up doing another small water change because of it. I will test again in the morning to see what the levels are. Hopefully, this was just a mini-cycle and I can replace the two fish soon.

My tank is heavily plant and the nitrates are never under 10ppm (I do have to supplement initially after water changes).

I have to believe it was a mini-cycle due to the new fish. You cycled it with a single betta, right?

I'd say that's more likely than decomposing food. Decomposing food wouldn't cause a near-instant big spike like that.

Yes, single betta.

Tested again just now. Ammonia went back to "off the charts" at nearly 8 ppm (after a water change less than 12 hours ago). Nitrites are at .5 ppm. Didn't check nitrates. pH is about 7.6 or so.

Should I do another water change (how big) and dose it with a heavy dose of Prime?

There's really no need to overdose the Prime. Use the regular dose AFTER the water change.

At this point, you're likely going to have to let it finish cycling and hope you don't lose any more fish. Feed sparingly.

And if you have a quality LFS near you, you might look into some Turbo Start.

Did another 20% water change earlier today, dosed with a regular dose of Prime.

Ammonia tests were still sky high. Around 8 ppm (although, my tap water reads between 4 and 8 by itself).

Nitrites close to .5-1 ppm. Nitrates now around 40 ppm. So, I'm guessing this means I'm getting close to the last part of the mini-cycle, but I'm still very concerned that the ammonia is still so high, despite nitrites and nitrates being elevated.

Yeah, you're just going to have to let it finish.

I would recommend adding fish 1 or 2 at a time in the future, just in case.

DOH!

With Prime, if your test reads for both NH3 and NH4, you WILL test positive for ammonia even though your fish are NOT being exposed to poisonous NH3.

I use the API reagent test for Ammonia (it looks like this might be what you are using). If it turns green IMMEDIATELY, you have NH3, which is toxic.

If it doesn't turn green immediately, but turns green after waiting for several minutes, the Prime is working, your fish are (mostly) safe, and you just need to be patient.

I wish I would have told you earlier but it's been so long since my tank cycled I completely forgot. I would recommend you get a Seachem Ammonia Alert:

http://www.aquabuys.com/mm5/graphics...onia-alert.jpg

It only registers toxic ammonia and when you combine it with Prime and your reagent test, should give you a clear picture of what is going on.

Well, it does take a few minutes for it to turn green, so it looks like the prime is working.

However, it's too late for the betta. He's got dropsy, probably from the nitrites. I doubt it's from the tetras, but it's possible. I wouldn't think any infection would have gotten to the betta this quickly.

Dropsy is usually caused by Aeromonas bacteria. It's possible he had it all along and you only noticed it once it got bad enough to show external symptoms.

Nitrites wouldn't cause it but continuous exposure to ammonia and nitrites would certainly leave him VERY susceptible to Aeromonas infection.

Hmm. So, should I dose the tank to prevent the tetras from getting an infection also?

Aeromonas is very opportunistic and ultimately not very contagious. The best prevention for the tetras is to keep them healthy and stress-free by keeping the ammonia problem in check.

Treating aeromonas in tank is an option, since alot of the medications used to treat it will not destroy your nitrifying bacteria. However, given your water parameters and issues you're having, I wouldn't add ANYTHING to your tank other than maybe a bit of aquarium salt.

One other thing - aeromonas is an anaerobic bacteria. Increasing oxygen levels can be a big help. If you don't already have an air stone running, run one. If you have an air pump that can handle it, run 2 or even 3.

This is why I'm a bad freshwater owner.

My response? It's $6 worth of fish. You jumped the gun on your cycle, lesson learned. See if they pull through it and if not, well they're gonna die - shit happens.

Seems like a lot of work and worry for what amounts to a tropical bait fish, that's all.

In many ways, that's true.

That's why I suggested cycling with mollies.

They only live a couple of years anyway. They're "expendable" in that sense. And if you do happen to like them, just scoop up a few babies once in a while and protect them. They have FORTY AT A TIME.

How was I supposed to know I was jumping the gun on the cycle, though? The water parameters indicated that it wasn't a problem to add fish at that time, especially these small tetras. You are right, though, that it apparently was too much too soon. I'm just not sure how I was supposed to know differently.

From what I read about aquarium salt, tetras don't respond well to it, so I haven't done that yet.

Also, the bettas swelling is completely gone this afternoon, and he's no longer hanging out doing nothing on the bottom of the tank. He's back to being alert and active, swimming all over the place and eating. WTF? His belly was swollen and he looked like a pinecone this morning. Did his belly explode? LOL

You really can't know. A lot of it has to do with your filtration and what kind of surfaces you have for the anaerobic bacteria and other beneficial critters to multiply.

I did it when I set up my first freshwater setup, did it again when I set up my saltwater tank (and that !@#$er has 150 gallons of overall water when you include the water in the sump; 4 fish was enough to blast it).

Until you have a very very established system, you probably don't want to add more than a couple fish at a time. And even then, sometimes the only way to plow through a cycle is to...well, plow through the cycle.

Tetras are cheap, so there a viable solution, but they're also small so they probably don't really increase your ability to handle bio-load very well. Ultimately the mollies are probably the best bet. Unlike tetras, which are very susceptible to bad water, Mollies are pretty much tanks and will probably survive the spike. They'll also make enough waste to really finish the cycle, as opposed to the Tetras that are more likely to simply fall victim to it.

Tetras are fine with salt. Scale-less fish and sensitive fish like Corydoras catfish should only be subjected to half-doses of salt. Mollies and other livebearers actually love salt.

That being said, if you can get them, I'd go with Wonder Shells over aquarium salt. Better blend of minerals and overall just a better product.

REALLY?!?!? I gathered from your previous post that he was DEAD. ROFL

It's possible he was REALLY constipated - what are you feeding them? Feed him some bloodworms. Bettas LOVE bloodworms and they have a "husk" or skin which is high in fiber.

I thought he was dead, too. He was acting like he was about to kick the bucket, and his coloring was all off. Now, he's fine.

I give him bloodworms twice a week.

I went and got the airstone. Really, it's a 12 inch air bar hooked up to a 20 gallon Whisper air pump, so it's putting out a lot of bubble agitation. I may have to get a check valve to cut it back some, but it's nice and bubbly now.

Just did a 90% water change with a double dose of Prime, just in case. Also, I bought some Start Right, and dumped about 1/8th of the bottle in there after the water change. I don't know if those bacteria will live, or if they were even alive to begin with, but it can't hurt at this point. No one around here has Turbo Start, so this was my next best option.

Before the water change, ammonia was still off the charts at 8 ppm, nitrites have risen to about 5 (!!!!), and nitrates were somewhere around 100 ppm.

This is ****ed. I don't know why adding four 1/4" in fish caused it to spike like this. I mean, these tetras are REALLY small. I don't have any mulm. I'm feeding once a day, very lightly. No dead plants. Filter media hasn't been washed or changed since the tank was set up.

Oh well.

If he swells up again, try thawing and mushing up some frozen peas. That works well for constipation.

Does it have one or two air outlets? If you can, split the line and use two stones. This will eliminate the need for a check valve and increase the total oxygen input because you'll end up with more surface agitation over a wider area.

I wouldn't ever recommend doing more than a 50% water change. The potential change in water parameters when doing a 90% change will probably kill your fish faster than the ammonia ever would. Start Right is largely useless, sorry.

90%? Dude... that's way too much. You're not leaving enough water in the tank to maintain anything. Cut back on how much you're changing. I'd say that's part of your problem with stabilizing it.

Maintain what? The bacteria are in the filter and substrate, not the water, right? It's temperature matched when it goes in, so it shouldn't be shocking anything.

I only did the 90% once, when everything was spiked to hell and back. The rest have been 50% water changes twice daily.

Last night when I went to bed, ammonia readings were still pegging the 8 ppm mark. So, I did a 50% water change, added a 10gal dose of Prime.

Just checked again, and ammonia is down to 1 ppm or below. Nitrites still pegging the 5ppm mark, and did so almost immediately upon adding the drops to the testing vial. I'm guessing that the Start Right did SOMETHING, whether adding to the ammonia eaters that I already had, or what, because there's hardly any explanation for it dropping so quickly all of a sudden after not dropping at ALL for so many days.

Should I do another water change with some Prime, or just add Prime, or leave it alone?

Air pump only has one outlet, which is why I bought the large bar. It's giving a ton of surface agitation, probably too much. The air bar covers 80% of the length of the tank. It looked like the current produced was stressing the fish, as the Tetras lost their red, and were hanging out on bottom of the tank to get away from the bubbles, as was the betta. I have it turned off for now until I can get a regulator to slow down the bubbles.

Leave. it. alone.

The more you **** with this, the more you're going to screw it up. The cycle will never actually finish if you keep interfering with it.

Just set it and forget it for a week. If anything survives it - bully.

Went to a Chinese restaurant the other day, the proprietor there had an interesting fish tank that is apparently hard as hell to build/maintain. According to him he never feeds the fish, never cleans the tank, never does anything to it. He has duplicated the ocean.
He had live coral and other sea plants in there, and the right mix of fish (sucker fish to clean, etc. I couldn't understand a lot of what the bastard said).
He had a name for it but I didn't quite catch it. Sake bombers you know.

Corrent, the bacteria adheres to surfaces. However, by doing such massive water changes you're depriving those bacteria of ammonia (I know, it's a catch-22. That's why they call it a "cycle") and potentially changing water parameters like dissolved organic compounds, gH, kH, and other things that are important to allowing the cycle to finish.

Actually, cycles work that way. They run and run and all of the sudden - bam - finished. It's possible that the Start Right worked but there's also volumes of anecdotal and scientific evidence that it doesn't.

Prime detoxifies nitrite. I'd add your Prime and otherwise leave it be. It sounds like you're nearing the end which is good news.

Hmmm...I've not experienced fish being stressed from "too much" air, especially Tetras, which generally love as much current as you can give them. My guess would be that their discoloration and lethargy is due to the tank cycling but I guess anything is possible.

Right. I was just assuming (perhaps incorrectly?) that since my chloramine-laden tap water reads 5 ppm on the scale after dosing with Prime, that that was enough to maintain ammonia in the tank for the bacteria to eat. Is that incorrect? I was under the impression that Prime separates the chloramine into chlorine and ammonia.

Oh, I'm not doubting that it's entirely possible it did nothing. I just figured it couldn't really hurt with the levels being so astronomically high.

Sweet.

They were stressed with the bubbles on, but as soon as the bubbles turned off, they regained their color and began to school again. I've been reading that bubble bars can give a bit too much air for some fish, but I, like you, was under the impression that they liked currents...

Thanks again, everyone, for all your help.

Hang in there. Once you get through this, I promise your experience will improve.

I went through this at the beginning and again about 14 months in - I was so frustrated I was ready to quit.

That was a few years ago now and I've learned a lot. I learn more every day. It's one of the most satisfying hobbies I've ever undertaken.

FYI, I was at the store tonight and noticed a bottle of Jungle Start RIGHT. It's a chorine and ammonia neutralizer. If you're using Prime, it's completely useless.

The bacterial supplement is called Start ZYME and since it's not refrigerated and just sitting on the shelf, I'm pretty sure it won't be effective at all.

Yeah, it's neither of those. I'll have to look at it again to see what it is exactly.

Silock --

I know a lot about water chemistry and treatment, but I don't know fish.

I'm pretty sure that Olathe disinfects their water with chloramines. Most utilities just use chlorine. Chloramines are a combination of chlorine and ammonia.

A little water chemistry:

Free chlorine is: HOCl plus OCl-. The relative abundance of these will depend on the pH of the water, with more OCl- at higher values of pH.

Ammonia: NH_3 this is toxic to fish and is present at low pH

Ammonium: NH_4^+ this is less/not toxic to fish and predominates at higher values of pH.

Chloramines, sometimes called combined chlorine, made by reacting chlorine and ammonia <-- Olathe uses these
Monochloramine: NH_2Cl
Dichloramine: NHCl_2

So you will need a product that treats both chlorine and ammonia, like htis mentioned.

Yeah, I have that. Prime treats chlorine, chloramine and ammonia. What is perplexing is that over the past week, my tap water tested at 5-8ppm for ammonia. Today, it is back down to .5 ppm. I think that had a lot to do with my problems with water chemistry. And on a brighter note, I haven't lost any more fish, so that's good.

Been a few more days. All ammonia is gone, but my nitrites are still out of this world high. Doing a 50% water change daily, and that gets the nitrites down to about 2 ppm, but they are back up to 5 ppm in just a few hours. PH is still around 7.8, so that should help the nitrites not be quite so toxic. But, relying on Prime at this point.

Fish seem to be acting fine. Cardinals are full of color, betta isn't looking like he is going to die any more.

Plants aren't doing so hot with my 20w 6500k fluorescent. So, I ordered a dual incandescent fixture, and put two 20w CFL 6500ks in there. Looks to be getting a lot more light than my single tube.

I also fixed up a DIY CO2 generator with a Glass bell diffuser on the way. I'm hoping that will help get rid of this crazy brown algae bloom I have right now. Seachem Excel just wasn't cutting it for carbon, I don't think.

If anyone is interested in pics, I'll put some up.

Prime detoxifies nitrites so stay the course. You're almost there, IMO!

I have two 26W 6500K CFL in the 14G and those plants grow even better than my 55G. Even though the 20W should have been enough, you only helped yourself here.

The glass bell diffusor should work pretty good in a small tank. Not so well in a bigger one. Make sure to put it near your filter outflow - you'll get better dissolution and dispersion. Also, the benefit of a bell diffusor is that you don't HAVE to use a continuous CO2 supply. Since the CO2 sits in the bell and can't escape, you CAN just fill it rapidly and walk away. I would suggest you take a look at the Jungle Fizz Factory - you add a tablet and it fills your diffusor in about 30 seconds. It's pretty handy.

EDIT: The other HUGE benefit of using a quick reactor for CO2 over DIY yeast is that you can dose at almost exact levels. You can fill the bell and then fill it again the next day. With DIY you CANNOT shut it off, meaning it will feed CO2 into your tank 24x7. Plants actually only absorb CO2 during the day. It is possible that without proper aeration you will kill your fish.

With your current water chemistry, I'd be surprised if you have algae, especially with your plants. Is the brown stuff slimy and tinted towards pink? If so, it's not algae, it's a bacteria. It will go away over time.

Keep in mind, Excel is an organic carbon supplement, it is NOT CO2. I use Excel for algae control (high doses kill almost any algae, just be careful not to kill your fish).

Absolutely interested! :thumb:

I was just planning on taking it out of the tank at night and turning on the air curtain.

No, it's definitely brown. Looks like little balls in some places, and it covers the substrate like dirt in others.

Yes, but Seachem says the plants will use it in the CO2 reactions. Will look into the Fizz Factory, though. It's been 13 hours and no CO2 yet. There aren't any leaks, so maybe I killed the yeast when I put it in there.

While that will work, I'm pretty sure you'll find it to be a hassle after a while. ;)

Hmmm...does it move around when you disturb it? It might just be organic waste/mulm. Otherwise, it could be brown diatoms I guess.

Yes, they will. It also helps with their absorption of iron, which is especially important for "red" plants.

I would suggest just picking up the Fizz tabs themselves. All the kit is a diffusor (you already have one), air hose, and a "reaction chamber" which you could make with a medicine bottle.

That's probably what happened.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...9/490ad2a6.jpg

I vacuumed out a lot of the "algae", but you can still kinda see it on the right side, near the back under the plants on the substrate.

Plants are still alive, but not really growing.

Not sure if it's already been said but get a tank that is designed for saltwater. Meaing with holes in the back glass so your filter can run underneath the tank. If you use filters that hang off the back you will get salt creep like you wouldn't believe. I made the mistake of trying to convert a 55 gal freshwater to salt.

Then as everyone said, there is the expense. And I have not ever seen a place that gives you a guarantee on saltwater fish like they do fresh. So in other words when that $100 fish you just bought dies a day later you're ****ed.

OK, let's see...from left to right:

1. Water Sprite - fast grower, easy to propagate, thrives pretty much anywhere
2. Some kind of Fern, Windelov's maybe? Not sure on this one.
3. Anubias (behind the ornament) - appears to be too tall to be dwarf or nana, maybe Coffeefolia? Anubias of all types are VERY hardy and easy to grow, they just grow REALLY slow
4. Small sword, micro or rose? swords can be finicky but I've had good luck with Rose and Amazon in both my tanks
5. The two stalk plants with long slender leaves I'm not familiar with
6. Crypt wendtii - great beginner plant, impossible to screw up, will eventually shoot out feelers and engulf the bottom of your tank :)
7. The white and green striped plant (can't remember the name right now) is a bog plant and likely won't survive completely submerged
8. Can't tell for sure but it sure looks like a single leaf from a Java Fern in the back right corner. Another easy plant that is easy to propagate. Grows new, complete plants at the end of its leaves that can be planted elsewhere.

By the way, I like the layout and LOVE the black substrate - that's what I have. ;)

I need a new water testing kit. Any recommendations? I'd like to get a decent one this time.

I can't recall the name of that plant either, but yes, definitely not fully aquatic. It will eventually rot and pollute the water. Don't feel bad though, Silock, when I first started out w/ plants, I bought the "Aquatic Combo" from Petco, (I believe it had 4 plants, 1 of which looks like the plant in your tank). Dirty rat-bastards had them in the same tank as the other plants, and I didn't know any better. Lesson learned.

Beautiful tank btw!! :thumb: I really like that driftwood ornament!

Which one are you currently using? I have the API Freshwater Master Testing Kit and it has been working out pretty well. It's kind of a pain in the ass to do the Nitrates test though. If you don't shake the bottles/vile long enough, it could give you a false reading.

Well, that sucks. Oh well.

It's only been two days, and I still don't have my CO2 up and running, but just with the lightning, every plant looks like it's doing much better than earlier this week.

You could always put the plant in an indoor pot w/ Miracle Gro. That's what I did w/ mine and it's doing pretty well.

Seachem, Red Sea, and API all make freshwater test kits (not 100% sure about Red Sea) and all 3 are pretty quality brands in general.

The API is probably the easiest to find.

Like Lumpy said, it happens. I've probably purchased a half dozen plants that I've ended up throwing away after the fact because they're not really submersible.

And I will tell you this when it comes to plants - light is THE single biggest contributor to the health and appearance of your plants.

Fertilizer is nice, quality substrate is good, and CO2 is a bonus but good lighting is an absolute MUST.

Got rid of those plants. Not worth the hassle of keeping them separate, so I just tossed them. Replaced them with another Water Sprite and two Pygmy Swords.

Also, got a Blank Mystery Snail to help keep the algae under control and to keep the mulm to a minimum. Not sure if they help with substrate turnover or not.

Got my DIY CO2 reactor working (I think). Yeast proofed much better than the last batch, so it should be producing CO2 by tomorrow. Just in case of a leak, I used aquarium sealer on the tube/cap connection.

Snails are hit and miss when it comes to algae. They'll keep the green stuff down to a certain extent. They won't help with the black stuff (unless they're Nerite snails) but then again, nothing else really will either. Snails the reproduce might eventually contribute to algae, since they are poop machines. :)

Also, outside of Melanoid snails (burrowers), they probably won't affect substrate turnover much at all. Then again, that's what a small gravel vac is for. ;)

On the DIY yeast reactor, keep in mind that most drink bottles (juice, gatorade, etc.) use polyethylene in the caps. Silicone caulk won't stick to it at all. Eventually, you will leak at the insertion point (it might leak right off the bat).

Instead, drill your insertion hole in the cap about 1/16" SMALLER than the outside diameter of your airline hose. Cut the hose at an angle to create a sharp point that will stick in the hole and pull it through. The mechanical seal created has worked perfectly for me every time, no caulk needed.

Also keep in mind that airline tubing will corrode under constant exposure to C02 - regular cheap tubing will get brittle after just a few weeks and silicone tubing will eventually too, although it takes a bit longer.

I drilled the hole smaller than the tubing and pulled it through. The sealant was just for a backup. It's not leaking at all. Not worried about the tubing cracking. That shit is cheap enough to replace every time.

I'm getting a bubble every 2-3 seconds right now.

Well, water params stabilized. Took a sample to the fish store and they said the water was almost perfect. So, I replaced the two dead Cardinals, and added a Rhino Pleco. I hope he doesn't destroy my plants too badly, but if he does it's okay because . . .

I'm about to get the setup for my African cichlid tank (30g long) going and I can put him in there. Got my limestone rocks to boil, and then the Eco-complete substrate to put in there, and it should be good to go fairly quickly.

One of the new Cardinals doesn't look too good still. Not a lot of color, and he isn't quite as active as the other 5. Maybe he's just taking a bit longer to get settled in, because he is schooling with them. I hope I don't wake up to more dead Tetras.

Got an outbreak of Ich :( 3 tetras down so far, the betta not looking good. I'll be surprised if any of them survive, TBH. The pleco is the only one without visible signs of it, although I'm fairly certain either it or the last two tetras in were the carriers.

Increased temp to 82, salted slightly. Removed snail, treating with QuICK Cure. At this point, I'm more worried about the plants. They're far more expensive to replace.

All tetras down. Betta isn't eating, and just hanging out near the surface, so he's probably a goner, too.

Pleco is doing fine, though. Still continuing on with the QuICK Cure and small water changes.

Be VERY careful with Quick Cure - it contains malachite green and formalin:

1) it can be very hard on your plants and
2) it can be very hard on your BACTERIA, causing a mini-cycle

Yeah, I'm not overdosing or anything. Following the directions exactly. Not really worried about causing a mini cycle. I don't have many fish left . . . Just the pleco because the betta is about to be a goner.

Jesus... this betta is a ****ing champ. He's still not out of the woods, but he's eating now. Swimming around a bit. If he survives, it will be amazing. Again.

Wow, amazing to see how small my plants were before the CO2 system went up and the lighting got better. They're growing like crazy now.

So, quick update...

Lost all 6 tetras to Ich. Continued with the treatment for the Pleco and the Betta. Both are doing fine now. Stopped medicating today.

I thought that the meds killed off my biofilter, as I got a pretty big ammonia spike a couple of days ago, but it's back to normal today. Nitrites are still an issue.

But, since the meds were stopped, I had to change the filter media. So, it's got fresh media, and I did a 90% water change. I ordered an active Mag Sponge filter from Angelsplus, as they've gotten superb reviews. From all accounts, they fully populate the tank within a couple of days with all the needed bacteria. I'm hoping this finally solves my cycling issue.

Removed the fake deadwood. Replaced it with real deadwood. The fake is going in the new 30 gallon tank. Not going to do a cichlid tank, after all. Going to do a larger 30g planted tank, with dwarf hairgrass carpeting. That should look great. Plants I can apparently do very well. Fish . . . well, it's a work in progress.

I saved the mystery snail, but it must have been pregnant when I brought it home. Ever since he got into the tank, I've had an explosion of snails. I thought the Ich meds would have killed them off, but apparently not. I had the mystery snail in quarantine, and when I went to put it back in the main tank, I saw it was covered in snail eggs. I removed them from the snail, and got as many eggs out of the tank as I could find. I know I missed some, though. Might have to buy a loach to take care of the snails.

So, I'll try to get some new pics tomorrow. The water is still super cloudy from disturbing the substrate from vacuuming and all the moving around I had to do with the plants to make room for the new sponge filter.

"Keep a clean tank"
- A. Sipowicz

That's all I got. ;)

Yeah, the downside is that you'll soon be wishing they WEREN'T growing like crazy. That's the one drawback of live plants - you can never just leave them like plastic ones. They'll eventually need to be pruned so that you can start the growth process all over again.

Keep in mind the nitrites are also poisonous to your fish. Prime detoxifies nitrite just like ammonia so you may want to consider continuing to use it until both ammonia and nitrite reaches 0ppm.

Another 90% water change? That's too much but I think we've said that before. :)

I'm not familiar with the Mag Sponge - is it "seeded" with nitrifying bacteria then? Most of these products have limited use unless they're refrigerated. Seachem Stability is one of the notable exceptions but Stability is also not true nitrifying bacteria. It's more of a bandaid than a "cure".

That being said, I cannot say enough good about sponge filters in general. Sponge filters, in general, hold 10-20 TIMES the amount of nitrifying bacteria as traditional floss filters. In fact, you can run a 10-20G tank completely off of a single sponge filter as long as you don't mind that they're not great mechanical filters. I STRONGLY recommend sponge filters, they're awesome.

Good luck with the hairgrass. I never could keep it planted using Seachem Flourite. I think you really need to use finer substrate or even sand to keep it from just floating away.

Have any of the eggs hatched? Mystery snails are not hermaphroditic so they can't just reproduce like other snails. It's much more likely that your brought in common pond snails on your plants. Yes, the Ich meds should have have killed them but I have seen pond snails survive a dip in 25% bleach solution. I've found they're nearly impossible to get rid of so I just thin them out occasionally using a trap I fashioned from a clear plastic salt shaker. Honestly, a few snails are a good thing - they really keep the algae down. You just don't want too many because they are poop machines.

Yeah, I'm going to be moving them all to my 30g soon, so I'm happy they're growing like crazy right now.

That's what I had been doing, but I did a lot of water changes with it, too (20% daily) to keep the Prime from building up in the water too much.

Well, I wanted to get rid of as much of the meds as I could before I put the invert back in. Also, since I got the seeded sponge and was changing filter media anyway, I wasn't too concerned about losing my bacteria.

http://www.angelsplus.com/FiltersSponge.htm

Came double sealed in water-tight bags, with just a bit of water that it said to add to the tank with the sponge because it also carried tons of beneficial bacteria.

After 16 hours, water params are as follows:

Ammonia .25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10, pH 7.2

So far so good. If this product works, I'll definitely be getting a couple for my 30g, because they're so cheap for a seeded product. I did keep my other filter running (with fresh filter media) for mechanical filtration.

Is there a way to tell if I've got the lift tube set up correctly or incorrectly? I followed the instructions exactly, and there are bubbles coming out of the top of the lift tube, but I want to make sure that water is actually filtering in through the sponge.

Seachem has a new Black Sand fluorite substrate. That's what I was planning on using.

I thought I went over the plants with a fine-toothed comb to prevent them from getting in. I apparently missed one. None hatched yet. The whole reason I got the Mystery snail was because it wouldn't reproduce like crazy. There goes that plan. Do you recommend a loach? I want a clown loach, anyway, and this seems like a good enough excuse to go ahead and get one.

Ah, makes TOTAL sense now. It's not a "packaged" product. They're seeding the filters themselves in established tanks. The sponge filter is a packaged product (I've seen these square ones a few times) but Angels Plus is adding "after market" bacteria it appears.

This is difficult to do. You could try just stirring up debris around it - the debris should be sucked up against the filter if the current is flowing well. You could also try a SMALL amount of methylene blue, but any chemical agent you put in there could harm the bacteria so it's not a great idea.

Did not know that. Might have to get me some!

Several loach species are known snail eaters. The problem is that, much like most algae-eating fish, they will eventually opt for fish food instead of snails because they get conditioned and lazy, just like other pets. My daughter's yoyo loach ate snails for about 3 weeks before giving up. It now lives in a tank with hundreds of snails available for snacking and it won't touch them. They lay eggs right next to it's head in the little cave it made for itself!

Lame! Might just have to buy an assassin snail if things get too out of control. Based upon the number of eggs I removed, I see this becoming a problem very quickly.

Well, water params are 0 amm, 0 trite, 0 trate. Either my plants are eating all the nitrate, or the cycle has completely restarted and the filter is bunk. Not sure what to think at the moment, although the filter has been up for 3 days and there's been zero spike of anything with a snail, pleco and betta in the tank. You'd think they'd be kicking up some kind of ammonia by now, especially since the snail by itself in the quarantine tank kicked up 3 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours by himself.