# Thank you everyone!



## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

I just wanted to say thanks. Some great guys brought me things I needed like "yuckweed" ainkille and riccia (which is really neat, I'd never seen it up close before) and MTS. -Maybe you think snails are a crazy request but it works for me. In fact, I was picking out every snail I could from the bags this morning. :wacko: It was so late, I saved them for the morning instead of throwing them out. My Betas are thrilled.- A special thanks to our host for the great starts. Thanks to _everyone_ for _all_ the plants. They are absolutely beautiful. I was planting until half past midnight. Hubby took some pics of the setup, so I'll post them tonight or tomorrow as soon as I get a final picture. For some reason he didn't feel like waiting up.  Ha. Your magnanimity allowed me to fill in my little 10 gallon shrimper and still set up the new 20 gallon, AND replant each of the Beta gallons. You all were very generous. Thank you!


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## megasycophant (Oct 22, 2007)

Hey, you should upload your pics somewhere (flickr, etc) then create an aquarium profile(s), photo gallery(ies) on the wiki. Let me know if you run into trouble and I'll bail you out.

Oh, and I loves my snails. Don't see that as a strange request at all, though I don't like the slimy little pond snails.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Sounds like we gave you plenty of homework to do!  You next assignment is to give us updates and pix.

The generosity of the club is one of the first things I noticed back in June 2005 and it keeps getting more generous. Between my first 2 meetings, I must have brought home a Hefty bag's worth of plants. Now I can contribute with extra trimmings or plant masses depending on the situation.

It's always nice to meet new members too. Speaking of which, I didn't catch the name of the young man in fatigues. I forgot to introduce myself.


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## megasycophant (Oct 22, 2007)

J!NX cap? If so, that was Torey (fishfinder on the SWOAPE site).


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

I am working on some pics, we took some before the camera battery died. Need a few more in daylight so the plants are shown. I copied from my blog for an aquarium profile on SWAOPE wiki. I need to change it some, and megasycophant has helped me with my pics, so the profile is on that site. Here's a pic of both of my aquariums, on the stand I hope to use for a 75 gallon in a year or so.
It's not quite finished. I need a new light fixture and background. 
I think the water would've been cloudy today if I didn't have a little (5w) UV filter running. The new dirt is adjusting to being submerged and I took a chance and used a bit of peat this time. I think I have bacterial bloom because I saw a white haze (slimy, not furry like fungus) on a few of the Creeping Jen leaves. Also, some of the snails are at the surface, which may indicate the O2 is low because it's being consumed by a rapid bacterial increase. I plucked out snails at the waterline and dropped them in another tank. Could be that the Lowe's soil wasn't very old. That was different this time too. I'd been using an old bag in the garage, had to but new dirt cause I was out. It will adjust. Five other times I've done small dirt based set-ups and this is the first one to cloud. I got too confident :heh:. 
I've been blogging about my new passion this year, partly in an effort to convert a friend. It's not working, she just rolls her eyes or says stuff like, "That's good. You need something to focus on..." 
I should have known if I posted a "how-to" on my blog I'd be cursed with every possible bump in the road.


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## fishfinder (Jan 7, 2008)

Yes this club is very generous to its new members. Ive only been to the last 2 meetings, but everyone is very friendly and willing to help. Sorry if I come off at first like im some kind of wierdo, but im just different i guess. Without this club and especailly Matt i dont think I would have become obsessed as I am with shrimp.


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## ohiodave (Nov 11, 2007)

Those are nice natural tanks you got there, congrats
My first meeting was in Nov.. What I've noticed is that all types of people tend to get along rather well when there is a common interest. We are just a bunch of plant nerds I guess.

Torry you ain't weird dude, at least no more than anyone else, nothing wrong with being an individual.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Torey, you ain't weird dude, a little quiet maybe, but not wierd...well no more so than the rest of us...no one in their right mind would try to grow perfectly good plants underwater! We get even weirder when we go and add excessive amounts light, which in turn causes us to spend more money on supplementing CO2 (or gluteraldehyde) and fertilizers so we don't get algae when most of these dang plants would probably grow on our window sills, algae free, with a minimal amount of attention  Ain't none of us right!

Ahh, enough of the joking around. We do have a pretty good group of people in the club so far. Everyone is more than generous and that is one of the first things I noticed about the planted tank hobby in general. People are always willing to share their knowledge or help out a fellow "plant nerd" as Dave calls us.

Maria, if you want a cheap background for your tanks, black paint works very well and is easy to remove with a razor blade if you change your mind later. Colors other than black will work but the black really makes the plants and fish "pop". I'm glad you were able to get enough plants to get your tanks off to a nice start. Nice tanks too and I can't wait to see the photo updates in a month or two. Do you plan on going Natural with the future 75g or do you think you will try your hand at a higher light tank and use supplemental fertilizers?

Oh yeah, Torey, don't go blaming me for your shrimp addiction unless I get to blame Brian and Chris for my soon to be Tanganyikan fish addiction


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## megasycophant (Oct 22, 2007)

If the snails in question are MTS, they come to the top during the night, so it's not uncommon to see a bunch of them near the waterline when the light kicks on.


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

MatPat said:


> Maria, if you want a cheap background for your tanks, black paint works very well and is easy to remove with a razor blade if you change your mind later. Colors other than black will work but the black really makes the plants and fish "pop". I'm glad you were able to get enough plants to get your tanks off to a nice start. Nice tanks too and I can't wait to see the photo updates in a month or two. Do you plan on going Natural with the future 75g or do you think you will try your hand at a higher light tank and use supplemental fertilizers?


Thanks Matt, I've seen the painted backs and I may need to do that. My husband did the stone picture background for the 10 gallon, and I want to him to do a matching one for the 20, if he has time. I know it's sorta "ugly duckling" right now. I also need to do something about the lights, even if it's only a new 45W 18" T8 flourescent. The one I have is God-knows-how-old? used that came with the tank.

I would like to stay with NPT because when its balanced, its tremendous. I hate water changes. I'd much rather trim once a month and just feed my plants. You guys have such beautiful plants. High tech is always a temptation, so maybe one day... The one tech thing I'd like to add to my NPTs is Glut. The only reason I didn't do Excel before is because I heard it could kill my shrimp. This tank will probably only have fish and I'd like to try it. I want to give it a chance to settle in first, but you could tell me what your Gluteraldehyde (sp?) source is...

How's the glut been working for everybody? This blew me away when I read it, we used Cidex to decon the Medic/Ambulance at my old job. Powerful stuff.


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

megasycophant said:


> If the snails in question are MTS, they come to the top during the night, so it's not uncommon to see a bunch of them near the waterline when the light kicks on.


These MTS are up during the day, so I was concerned. I was thinking O2 due to bacterial bloom, but there is a small ammonia spike. (I was Murphied because I said I'd never had a start up problem planting with dirt...) Both happen with newly submerged dirt. This was the first time it happened to me, but it's a common issue for NPTs. The (Sea Chem) ammonia alarm shows the first level (alert). Plus not all of the snails are up, maybe 6 at most. I figured all of them would be up if there was a true emergency, but who knows. I watched them pretty closely and I have another posibility: they may just be eating the tiny bits of peat that floated to the surface, at the waterline. I worry too much over this stuff. This hobby was supposed to help me relax and be less AR. Ha.

I did two more profiles, but I have to play with my pics again.


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

Thanks Dave!


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## megasycophant (Oct 22, 2007)

Heh. Matt is our Glute source.  seriously, though, he's picked it up from a local medical supplier in the past. he may have some extra.

regarding that, though, not sure you want to do it if you're trying to do NPT. it's that age old equation -- light, C, N, P, K, etc. if you add C, then you'll need to add the others in proportion or you'll just get more algae.


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

well crap. I remember reading that it was supposed to release bio-avail carbon into the water column, but since I've heard what it is, I've been thinking about algaecide. Thanks for bringing me back to the original goal. That is of course to have a beautiful tank garden without algae.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

mommyeireanne said:


> well crap. I remember reading that it was supposed to release bio-avail carbon into the water column, but since I've heard what it is, I've been thinking about algaecide. Thanks for bringing me back to the original goal. That is of course to have a beautiful tank garden without algae.


The gluteraldehyde is a carbon source for planted tanks and is also a great algecide as well. However, as Brian stated, if you plan on using it continuously, you will more than likely need to supplement with N,P, & K. For occasional use as an algaecide, you can squirt it directly on the algae in very small amounts using either a syringe or pipette and not need to supplement your tank with fertilizers.

Depending on your fish load and feeding routine (I don't remember your stocking level on this tank from your posts on the website) you may be able to get by adding glut for a week or two (as an algeacide) without supplementing N, P, or K. I'm not up on NPT strategy but it seems that once the soil starts decomposing, it will release small amounts of CO2. Until then, glut may be a good source for starting up this type of tank and may help to eliminate the start up algae in your tank.

I think I am mistaken here but are you thinking about adding an algecide? I would caution against it, since most, if not all, algaecides work against plants as well as algae.


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

I just did major work on the 10 gallon tonight. It got algae when I removed Hydrocotyl cephalata? and Hornwort. I also took my rocks out, (they were on top of the soil) and trimmed as many algae infested leaves as I could find, changed bulbs and did a major water change. I have shrimp in this tank so don't think I could use Glut.  But I am considering using it in the 20 if my ornery dirt goes to algae next. Good to know I can spot treat. No fish in this tank so far, just small snails. I plan to add fish as soon as the dirt settles down and quites putting off ammonia.


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

No, I haven't used anything except dechlorinater. I won't use an chemical sold as algaecide. Glut is still under consideration, and only for that purpose. I could really get into high tech plant keeping, but I'm trying to relax with this hobby....


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