Recent content by jbtravis91

Love the 'bridge' look you've scaped in with the driftwood between the rocks!

I recently started using ferts, so I don't know how good of a purchase mine was, but I got a PPS kit from GLA. It looked like the simplest method out there. GLA Fertilizers EDIT: From my experience though, I think CO2 is a lot more important than the ferts.

I'm currently trying to carpet DHG as well - I'm starting to see it spread a bit. I'm working with med-high light, pressurized CO2, and I started dosing ferts. From what I've read, you won't see much success without the CO2 or ferts.

RE: Coyne: There is a flashing visual indicator when the power source is running, but it has a power adapter attached to it as well. You plug the solenoid into this power adapter, which you plug into your outlet, and it will cut the power to the solenoid when the pH falls below the threshold set...

You don't have to worry about end of tank dumps when you have the pH monitor. If you're worried about the solenoid valve breaking, that's another issue. I've heard a lot of people complain about the needle valve on the Milwaukee regulator, but I have yet to hear any horror stories involving a...

Personally, I think the best option is to get an O.K regulator (I use Milwaukee), and then get a pH meter. GLA has nice setups from what I can tell, but they're horrendously priced. Here's the MA957 regulator I use on Amazon for ~$100: MA957 Regulator And here's the pH meter you plug it...

You shouldn't really have problems either way, but just try to carry over some of the filter media from your old magnum to whatever new filter you get. That way, you won't have a sudden drop off in the levels of beneficial bacterial carrying out the biological filtration in your tank.

Try out something from Finnex - they've got more than decent build quality and the LEDs are strong enough to grow most things you would want in a tank that's 18" deep. I've been using a Finnex Ray 2 on my 60g cube (24" deep) w/ injected CO2 and ferts. I'm successfully growing some medium...

Just to add another great source for refilling CO2 tanks... I get mine filled at a local home brewery shop. There are, surprisingly enough, quite a few of these around, and they're used to filling CO2 tanks for their customers. See this link to find locations in your state if you're...

I also put my mechanical filtration before my biological filtration. I think of it like this: my filter is a tiered funnel. The highest level removes the big, unsightly chunks of *ahem* detritus that I don't want floating around and ruining the aesthetic in my aquarium. The biological...

My apologies for responding with a question, but do you do anything to minimize aggression between your gouramis? I was initially excited to keep a couple blue checkered gouramis together, but couldn't get them to stop fighting :/ Are there particular types that you seek out or avoid due to...

I introduced a humongous piece of Manzanita DW into my 60g cube about 3 months ago. Due to the dimensions I wasn't able to do much more than pour boiling water over it when I had time to spare. Needless to say, i got the full dose of tannins in my tanks. For the first month or so, there...

I don't think you'll have problems either - unless you start trying to add female rainbowfish into the fraternity.

I'm going to second the e-heim. It's simple, relatively cheap, and it works like a charm. The only downside is that the instructions for the initial setup aren't very clear. However, the only non-intuitive part of the setup is the fact that you have to section the tubing they send you.

It sounds like you might already have an understanding of what happened, but just to be sure, let's walk through this: CO2 goes into the water from the CO2 tank, and the reactor helpes the CO2 dissolve in the water so less escapes from the tank. Excess CO2 in the water that isn't absorbed by...