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I think i might go for the aqualife 48" quad light. It has some bells and whistles I don't need (LED lights) but seems to be a much safer name brand than the Current Nova Extreme. Plus my favorite LFS is selling it so my plants can have light by tonight. I've been searching the internet for...

I run a Current USA nova fixture with two 54w T5 bulbs. One of them burned out so I tried to replace it. This is done by twisting the bulb on each end till the plastic sockets do a quarter turn and release the bulb's prongs. These plastic sockets are stuck. I tried every tool I could to...

A good strong fan is the best solution. Set it to blow on the light and take away some of that hot air. Ideally, you could build a little shelf near the tank but otherwise just angle something as best you can. In times of emergency I'd remove my glass covers on the tank which helped a great...

From as far as street side? Eesh. I'll definitely bring up the saw technique.

What is the fuzzy white stuff on? Sometimes new driftwood gets an odd fuzz growth that will go away on its own in time. If it's fuzz on your substrate it could be from uneaten food? That might also explain the presence of ammonia.

fortunately the floor work will take place in a small room that is completely walled off from my fish tank room, so no chances of shrapnel. There will be horrendous dust, so i'll be unplugging pretty much everything and covering the tank in several layers of sheets and blankets. Its a high...

I read that the actinic light stimulates some sort of reaction in the water that can create iron issues which in turn will make hair algae go nuts. I'm certainly not the guy to prove or disprove that theory but it's at least a possibility.

I searched this site for "Jack hammering " and didn't get any hits. Go figure :). My 75g tank is in the basement where I've been having some flooding issues. The best solution seems to be installing an internal french drain (so long, tax refund!). This will involve jack hammering through the...

Thanks again Fort. I'm slowly whittling my phosphates down and have been actively reading up on the PPS method which sounds like my style (more for aquascaping ease than fast growth). It still sounds strange to me that WC's don't have to be mandatory! Also, that this fert system can support...

Follow up question. I'm dosing more K under the presumption that it will help stabilize things and that you can never really overdose on K. But my dry fert is in the form of potassium sulfate. Could the extra sulfates cause any issues?

Just received my phosphate test kit in the mail. Yep, you guessed it, P is off the scale! My plants have shown decent growth for some time now and the fish have always acted very healthy. I'm surprised the dangerously high P levels haven't caused more noticeable repercussions. I've been...

Dry ferts it is. Wow, thanks! I wasn't aware about a 2:1 ratio. Since I don't have a Phosphate test yet, I'll just double up on Potassium. How long do you t hink I should run the new dosing schedule before jumping to more light?

Alas I do not have a Phosphate test kit. They arent sold in stores around my area and I kept forgetting to buy one online. You can bet I'll do it before the upgrade though. My fert schedule will sound a little haphazard, but its worked for me so far. On the macros I dose a little less than...

Thanks! The choices are certainly daunting but I like those suggestions. I think the hardest part will be trying to decide which plants to throw out in order to make room for the red stuff and ground cover. Any thoughts on that algae in the last pic? It's hardly any trouble at all and...

Thanks! My tank is in the basement, and while not air conditioned i'm hoping it will still stay relatively cool. I certainly will be building a shelf against the tank which I'll put a fairly powerful fan on. I think I'm going to go through with this. I really like the idea of some color and...

I know I can't run just one bulb in my current fixture. I tried this back before I had a CO2 unit. And the fixture I'm intending to buy is one of the more affordable kinds i've seen on the net so I'm pretty set on purchasing that, if any. I like the idea of introducing things slowly though...

Have you considered Turface? I'm a big fan of it for planted tanks. Very cheap and relatively easy to work with. Just another option...

Barbs are big fin nippers, as you've already noticed. Is the male guppy the kind with the huge fluttering fancy tail? That could just be too big a temptation to pass up for them.

Has anyone reviewed the planted tanks/art of Takashi Amano? I just picked up one of his photo books and it's been blowing my mind! Be forewarned though, it might make you start critically analyzing your own tank. Every other page has a bookmark in it with little notes of how I might achieve a...

I have a 75g heavily planted tank with pressurized CO2 and a Nova extreme fixture with 2 T5 54 watt bulbs. The Plants all grow just fine, I fertilize as needed and keep the nitrates around 10 at any time. I probably shouldn't mess with a good thing, but I was thinking of adding another of...

I'm not at all familiar with rainbows but will look into them. I've heard horror stories about angels tearing up planted aquariums, though I agree it would be quite a spectacle to watch! Thanks for the tips.

Hello, I am concerned about an over population of marigold sword tails in my 75g heavily planted tank. It's not an issue yet, but I'd like to do something now before the other fish are lost in a sea of orange and yellow. Could I find a fish that might be aggressive enough to cut down on the...

Mind you these GFI trips don't happen all the time. Perhaps one in fifty times I turn off a light switch it'll shut part of the room down.

Eesh, now I'm getting nervous! The basement light is a ceiling light. Typical florescent fixture set in a lowered dry wall ceiling, though it is within about 5 feet of the wall outlet that has all the fish tank gear plugged in. Come to think of it, the built in GFI outlets in my bathroom...

The other issue I noticed is when I turn on/off my basement ceiling light, it will sometimes trip the GFI protector that I have my power strip plugged into. I suppose that means I'm really pushing the amount of electricity that part of the room was build to handle. I'll have to abandon the...