25 Gallon Tall with ADA Aqua Soil

This is our tall 25 gallon that we plant to use as a stem plant farming tank.

This is the first time that we are using ADA Aquasoil with Power Sand underneath so I am very interested in how this substrate will help with overall plant growth since I've heard sooo many fabulous things about it.

Just finished setting it up and planting it this weekend - most of the plants we got from our plant groups at the swaps and auctions!

Should be interesting to see this one fill in!

30 gallon MTS update

Well, so we've been struggling with a variety of algae blooms and also a bloom of cyanobacteria as well. Plus many plants have melted as this tank is just seeming to take FOREVER to settle down and get its groove going.

Anyways, here is the update on where it's at now, it's not pretty but I've had worse, so not complaining! LOL!




Here is a close-up of this blue-green slime algae as it is called (it's actually a bacterial bloom and not algae at all) and how it's spread ...







Good news though, (I hope anyways! LOL!) ... I got C02 started on it! So tonight I will be scraping off as much of that gunk as I can, doing a 50% - 70% water change (no fauna in it as of yet so I can do whatever the heck I want to with it to get it under control!), squirt on some H202 on all the cyano I can see, and then clean out my filters and I'll remove the charcoal and the floss and see if that helps at all. Treating it with Maracyn at double the dose for 8 days did not see to really affect it at all unfortunately, so hopefully these other measures will help.

Taking Pictures!

Okay sooooo I have decided that I *HAVE* to wrestle this camera until it OBEYS me and does what I tell it to cuz my point and shot camera SUCKS.

So I made Ray help me a little bit with the settings and though it's still not where I want them to be, they are MUCH better!

Here are some of my attempts tonight off some of my tanks ... hope you like them!


Here is one of the Melanotaenia Splendida Splendida fry that I hatched out of eggs back in October! Getting a bit bigger, he is!




Here are two of the orange shrimp that I got this weekend next to one of my little kuuhlie loaches! I am trying to figure out what species they are. They are very pretty though!

C02 Explained

So I've been researching how to do co2 and have just found it hard to wrap my brain around certain bits.

In my research digging, I found this and wanted to put the link in a place that I could find it again easily and hey - maybe others will find it helpful as well!

A Treatise on DIY CO2 Systems for Freshwater-Planted Aquaria

I think it really covers the subject pretty thoroughly really, and I wish that I had found it months ago, lol!

Enjoy! :)

30 gallon ... MTS with sand cap

Well we finally got the cap for our MTS tank and got it all put in and planted!

Here it is right after we added the sand cap!



And here it is right after we planted it and filled it up!



Here is a close of the tank starting from the left side ...



And then the middle ...



And then the right side!



Can't wait to see it start to fill in! :)

Scored a Fluval Ebi setup, w00t!

Yeeehah! Looks like I just got a hold of a Fluval Ebi setup, might wind up being my dedicated shrimp tank for my office!

The fry are doing good after their move, feeding well as far as I can tell, doesn't seem like I've lost any - yay!

Going to try to score some micro worm and vinegar eel cultures I think, not sure. Might be a little too late for this batch of fry to get a colony established.

Think I'm going to redo my yellow shrimp tank soon, and switch out the Fluval shrimp substrate and add in the natural large grain sand instead. I just throw plants in willy nilly and the shrimps don't seem to mind so I left it/ The plants are doing well as they are, but I'd prefer it to look a lot better.

In their new tank!

So the fry are in their tank and doing well so far!

Thought I'd take a few pics of them getting the hang of their new tank to share with ya'll! :)