29 + 10 planted

[Barliman]

I'm with the testing Can't say I'm fanatical on it although I do like collecting them. I'm really hoping we will do a test kit comparison at one of the local society meetings (remember that old thread) next year.

Ammonia I test maybe twice a year now. Nitrates maybe every fortnight to once a month. It settles down until something gets changed.

I test once a week, but with Tetra strips (don't hurt me ), so it's fast. I save the liquid tests in case I want to double check something.

 

[nirbhao]

The liquid tests certainly do take time. It's quite the ritual!

I've been doing some block printing for a the past few months now, and the critters are great inspiration.

 

[nirbhao]

Here's some of the CO2 system-

 

[Delapool]

I'm lucky that the ph probe gives a digital ph reading so that takes out one test.

 

[Barliman]

Here's some of the CO2 system

I noticed the three valves: Are you feeding three aquariums from the one tank?

 

[nirbhao]

I noticed the three valves: Are you feeding three aquariums from the one tank?

Two are CO2, one is atmosphere.

 

[nirbhao]

I'm going through Flourish Excel much more quickly than seems reasonable even though I'm dosing as recommended. People earlier suggested some other fertilizers. Are those things I could use instead of Excel?

 

[Barliman]

I'm going through Flourish Excel much more quickly than seems reasonable even though I'm dosing as recommended. People earlier suggested some other fertilizers. Are those things I could use instead of Excel?

Excel is a carbon source, rather than a fertilizer, so it wouldn't substitute for them.

 

[nirbhao]

Excel is a carbon source, rather than a fertilizer, so it wouldn't substitute for them.

Since I have CO2, do I need a liquid carbon source?

 

[nirbhao]

In the meantime, my [redacted] dog ate the bottle of flake food. There wasn't a lot left, but I'm planning on not buying more flakes. I was still in the process of figuring out a substitute!

 

[Caliban07]

Since I have CO2, do I need a liquid carbon source?

I think I had best results using both but I'd liked to have weened off the stuff. Dosing became sporadic and far between eventually. It's definitely not a requirement to use both.

 

[Fresh2o]

I still use the liquid stuff from time to time but not as consistently as I used to.
When the Excel runs out, get a gallon of Metricide 14 on Amazon for $20-25. Volume wise it is equivalent to seven 500 mL Excel bottles. It's concentrated so strength wise, it more like 15 bottles. It comes with an activator in a little bottle; THROW THAT OUT! As with Excel, handle with care.

 

[nirbhao]

I still use the liquid stuff from time to time but not as consistently as I used to.
When the Excel runs out, get a gallon of Metricide 14 on Amazon for $20-25. Volume wise it is equivalent to seven 500 mL Excel bottles. It's concentrated so strength wise, it more like 15 bottles. It comes with an activator in a little bottle; THROW THAT OUT! As with Excel, handle with care.

Throw out the activator?

 

[coralbandit]

Throw out the activator?

Poison!
Used for sterilizing surgical tools...

The gallon of metricide...

 

[nirbhao]

Poison!
Used for sterilizing surgical tools...

The gallon of metricide...

Ah. Yeah the -cide part confused me, but that makes sense.

 

[Fresh2o]

Ah. Yeah the -cide part confused me, but that makes sense.

Yeah, from time to time we get folks chiming in saying they mixed the activator with the metricide 14 and their fish don't look so good now [emoji853]
Be sure to get Metricide 14 and not Metricide 28. Big difference not only in the concentration but there are (from what I've read in various forums) extra ingredients in the "28" that are not good for your tank.

 

[Delapool]

In the meantime, my [redacted] dog ate the bottle of flake food. There wasn't a lot left, but I'm planning on not buying more flakes. I was still in the process of figuring out a substitute!

Lol - I always figured our dog was just being friendly at fish feeding time. How did the dog get the food?

 

[nirbhao]

Lol - I always figured our dog was just being friendly at fish feeding time. How did the dog get the food?

Nothing stops him. He was starved as a puppy and so now will go to great lengths to get food. He can remove heavy lids. He can open cabinets. He's eaten out of cast iron cookware still on heat on the stove.

I made a batch of chocolates a few months ago and left them on the counter to cool for a few minutes. Seriously they were still HOT. $244 vet visit later...

The food was not in the *latched* cabinet.

Mostly the fish get frozen stuff, and he has yet to conquer the freezer.

 

[Barliman]

Since I have CO2, do I need a liquid carbon source?

I shouldn't think so, since you're running pressurized CO2. The glutaraldehyde can be useful in suppressing algae, though.

 

[nirbhao]

So anyway I threw a snail... Do mystery snails eat other snails?

One of the mystery snails (Vanilla) was completely suckered on to one of the rabbit snails (Beatrix). It looked very wrong, and my brain went to those "interspecies disasters" images I saw when I looked up axolotles.

I reached into the tank to separate them and make sure they were okay. Vanilla had actually pulled himself back into his shell and Beatrix was caught between the operculum and lip. I gently twisted him to release his grip and then put him back.

I looked at Beatrix to make sure her shell was intact and, you know, that she was alive. She shot water at me! I didn't even know they could do that! I kind of threw up my hands in surprise, and I did not keep my grip on her. Her shell was damaged at the lip, so I filed the sharp edges down. I put her back in the aquarium, and almost right away she started rooting for food. BUT Vanilla immediately went over to her. He ran her over and then kept going. What the heck is that about?