Recent content by DTWGulo

I've been wanting to do a paludarium for a long time. I ran a trial with a ZooMed 18x18x36 that went really well, so I had the LFS order me a custom size pal. 24x36x37 : water depth 12" (approx 44 gal) Drilled in the rear corners, connected to an FX4 that's routed through custom PVC pipe to my...

It can take quite a while for some plants to acclimate and then start growing. Monte Carlo in particular seems to idle for a while in my tanks and then take off like crazy. You might need a more comprehensive fertilization strategy if you have CO2 and light. Are you measuring CO2 level with a...

Update! - Growth has been "decent" I've trimmed 3 x already. :D

New Tank! My 180 is finally growing in better. Has been a journey!

Update! Got some plants in, dealt with a major thread algae outbreak, and things are starting to look better! All that ADA substrate put out SO MUCH ammonia that I wasn't prepped for the amount of water changes that would be needed. Holy cow. The testing results are after a 50% water change...

Yes! Just ordered: -Micranthemum Monte Carlo -Hydrocotyle verticillata -Eleocharis parvula Planning to order: -Ranunculus inundatus -Glosssostigma elatinoides I also have a bunch of red stem plants on order. There's a small crop of Cryptocoryne flamingo growing in another tank that I may...

Yes, there is a nice big sump (~30 gallons iirc) underneath. My CO2 reactor (NilocG) is plumbed in-line with the return from the pump, and I'll be using a pH controller to regulate CO2 delivery to the tank. I fertilize with GLA macro and Plantex CSM-B micro daily on my high-tech tanks...

I've been working on this (very) slowly for over a year. I finally got everything together and had the means and time to do it. Substrate: ADA PowerSand, Amazonia Lights: MicMol G3 Pro Hardscape: Acid-washed Black Seiryu stone Still planning out which plants and fish I want.

I used some of the Chinese black boxes from amazon for my planted 65high. About 27”. Works great. I just turn down the actinic channel. Mars Aqua brand.

HCl wash cleans off a bunch of the garbage on the surface and deepens the cracks and texture of the stone. For black seiryu stone, it brings out the black and white much much better. Going to try the stock light and see if it will grow Monte Carlo. Probably just shrimp. I have a backup...

Still in the just-built stage. Going to do a dry start to get the carpet in, probably. Seiryu stone washed in HCl acid. ADA Amazonia II

Super nice tank!

Just for kicks I emailed Caribsea to ask how Ecocomplete actually benefits plants if it's an intert substrate and has a very low CEC. This is what the company rep answered: CEC quantifies the how many cations (positively charged ions which includes the metals) are on the...

Fertilizer, light, and CO2 are the best way to get good growth of whatever you want to grow. I’ve had good luck with Monte Carlo and dwarf hairgrass. Less luck with baby tears but the light in that tank wasn’t great.

The side-by-sides come down to how strictly you want to adhere to experimental best practices. But, ultimately, we're not trying to grow sweet potatoes on the moon, here. For practical applications, I doubt that the chemical composition of inert substrates makes a big difference in low-tech...