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Just moved - some observations, several questions
Alright, just completed a cross-country move. Plants
spent over a week in plastic bags with no light, and
the entire substrate sat in a rubbermaid bin. Most of
the plants made it just fine - The swords lost a leaf
or two, crypt wendtii seems unaffected (do I see new
growth?), dwarf sag had no problems either. The hygro
took a bit of a beating, though, as well as the
wisteria, many stems were relegated to the yard, but
both are now looking to come around now that the tank
is set up. My wal-mart apon has no problems either.
Just the pennywort went AWOL - did I remember to pack
it? Oh, well. Also, my MTS population was up and
patrolling the glass before the tank was even done
being filled! (BTW: on MTS eating plants - they never
ate any plants when I had fish, and was feeding the
tank, but before moving the tank spent some time w/o
fish, and in that time, many leaves began acquiring
small holes which I would attribute to the snails)
Anyway, I now have dKH: 13, DGH: 13, and pH high;
somewhere around 8.0. It's well-water, so at least I
don't have to worry about chloramine, but there is
about 20-30ppm nitrate, and probably phosphate as
well. (I don't have any algae yet, though - have
added tetra flora-pride, and flourish as well)
Suggestions? This is a 15 gallon tank, 25# gravel
substrate w/ aquarium pharm root tabs, and 60W
lighting. I would like to do rainbowfish, and have
heard that their colors are brighter in alkaline
water? Should the plants do well? I am going to add
DIY co2, but don't expect it to lower the pH too much.
I would like to rebuild the plants to their previous
abundance for this tank
(www.geocities.com/djohnson1981).
Now, for the kicker - I'd like to set up a 20 gallon
_blackwater_ tank. Any ideas how to get my water
there? Would just diluting it with DI water from the
store, then using peat and driftwood for coloration
work? Has anyone used any of the blackwater additives
with any success, or would peat by itself be good?
Not as many plants in this tank, mainly scattered
crypts and other low-lighters would be all I'd go for.
Thanks, all
Derek Johnson
"BlueEyes"
djohnson1981 at yahoo_com
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