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Re: Flourite and other things
Diane Politika asked:
> Being relatively new to lurking in here, I've got to ask about this
> flourite. What is it, and how does it work.
Flourite is a commercial substrate material used in the place of or along
with sand or gravel. This probably wouldn't effect anyone else on the
list, but being a geologist, I know that "flourite" is also a common and
often quite attractive mineral. I find it confusing that the manufacturer
would use a common mineral name for their product.
> And here's a lighting question. Our 30 gallon tank has two flourescent
> lights in the hood, just the standard size you buy at the pet shop. The
> tank has NO fish losses, but the plants go slowly downhill from the
> beginning of placement. I simply cannot imagine putting a halide or hp
> sodium light in the living room, but is this what you all are doing?
If that's two 30-watt flourescents, light shouldn't be your problem. If
it's two 15-watt flourescents, then you probably need more light. The
common rule of thumb is to provide 2 to 4 watts of flourescent light per
gallon, but you can get good growth with 1.5 watts/gallon if you have the
right plants and the right lights. A lot of us build our own fixtures to
get the necessary amount of light.
> And here's another question....how do you do DIY CO2?
CO2 is generated by yeast fermenting sugar water. You can get a
not-very-interesting alcoholic beverage as a byproduct.
> Sorry about the deluge of questions, but I keep hanging around waiting
> for these things to become self-evident, but you all are beyond this
> level.
The Krib -- Erik Olson's web site at:
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aquaria/Krib
provides a lot of background material, including detailed answers to
most of these questions. Give it a good reading!
Roger Miller