Recent content by mattcham

Angelfish fry for sure. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

Amano shrimp are $2.99 at new jersey petco chain stores during the fall. They climb to $4.99 in the off season. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

Ask any fish vendor on aquabid, and they will tell you that a box labeled "fragile" or "live fish" is more likely to get damaged or severely delayed in transit. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

3) Nutrients Plant fertilizers are made up of 4 major components: a) Nitrate b) Potassium c) Phosphate d) Micros/Traces (iron, manganese, molybdenum, zinc, boron) There are a few sources for these fertilizers: a) fish waste products (costs nothing but more difficult to quantify) b) buy them in...

LIGHT INTENSITY REQUIREMENTS FOR VARIOUS PLANTS LOW LIGHT PLANTS - Require 15 to 30 PAR of light intensity Low light foregound plants: Aegagropila (moss ball) Staurogyne (star repens) Taxiphyllum (moss) Low light midground plants: Anubias Cryptocoryne (crypts) Lobelia Microsorum (java fern)...

LIGHT DURATION Plants use up nutrients when the lights are on, even though most of their growth actually occurs when the lights are off. Turning lights on while depriving the plants of carbon or nutrients will result in poor plant health and algae formation. It would be like forcing a horse to...

2) Light intensity Light intensity for aquarium plants is best measured in units of PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation). The amount of PAR is affected by the brightness of the light source and the distance from the light source to its target. Cutting this distance in half will increase...

b) Yeast fermentation I find this method too time consuming and impractical. It works great for small aquariums but for my 125 gallon tank it's not really a viable option. You can find info on yeast-based systems all over youtube. Just search for "yeast CO2". There is also a nice guide in this...

CO2 DIFFUER versus CO2 REACTOR A CO2 diffuser is a device that looks like a white colored airstone that breaks up the CO2 gas into tiny bubbles as they are released in to the aquarium. This allows the CO2 to dissolve quickly and efficiently into the water. When shopping for CO2 diffusers or...

Let's look at these carbon sources in detail: a) Pressurized CO2 tanks When people talk about high tech setups, they are referring to the use of a pressurized CO2 tank. You can find Mudraker's awesome step by step guide on building a pressurized CO2 system using this link...

1) Carbon (CO2) source You can measure the amount of CO2 using a device called a drop checker. You can buy a drop checer for about $10 at amazon dot com or ebay. Most drop checkers will come with a blue liquid that turns green when CO2 levels are at 30 ppm. Manufacturers recommend that the...

MATT'S GUIDE TO AQUARIUM PLANT CARE People ask me what I am doing to keep my plants thriving. It's really very simple. The 3 most important factors for keeping plants healthy are: 1) Carbon source 2) Light intensity 3) Nutrients In the following posts I will go over each of these.

A few close up photos of the Ludwigia atlantis. Photo of the plastic toothpicks for anchoring down patties of carpet plants like Dwarf Baby Tears, Monte Carlo, or even Marsilea Minuta. You can get these fancy cocktail toothpicks from any large grocery store: Planting one strand at a time...

Thanks, I just used my cell phone to take the photos, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which is old. January 17, 2015 update: The Marsilea minuta are continuing to spread along the left rear, growing considerably (10x) slower than the Micranthemum monte carlo carpet. The Staurogyne repens have recovered...

Just a weekend update. The Marsilea minuta are continuing to spread. The Staurogyne repens have recovered from their melt and are growing back nicely.