alanmin4304

If someone was of a mind they could grow it emersed,and hopefully to flower then we all might find out.

Amazonian, I have the same book and can see what you mean, but have a look on the tropica site and see what you think.

Sagittaria are funny plants. A way to identify them is to grow them emersed where they will develop the characteristic spade end to the leaf. S. subulata may be called dwarf but it can grow to 500mm. I have a small one like that called S. microfolia which tends to stay small and often they look almost the same. People often think if it is small and puts out runners it is E. tennellus but it can grow to 100mm and is similar to E. magdelanensis but usually darker green and narrower leaves. The plantlets are usually small but if left to mature will grow larger where as magdalenensis plantlets usually have longer leaves. Sagittaria usually has very clear cell structure in the leaf, more obvious than Vallisneria or Echinodorus. Thats my tuppence

Waterplantz (John Peters) sells it on Trademe

All the same?

Swim bladder I think

2 pence---dwarf sag (Sagittaria microfolia)

He can but if he sold it to you he would have to kill you ( if it didn't). I have a generous friend with a very good still. Most people only get about 85% Yours is going well so the extra couple of % wouldn't be worth the mucking about. You can also strip the extra water with CaO and filtering but not worth the fuss if you only intend self medication.

If I told you that I would have to kill you. I am curious to see if it works or anyone has tried it as I have a tank that would be realy hard to get CO2 into and it could be an easy carbon source so long as it doesn't cause liver damage in the plants or fish.

I haven't forgotten Elmo. I was going to tell you where to get the lights but got distracted. Thats the place. Right by where Canterbury wins the rugby.

Your plants may be pot plants and not aquatics. There are plenty sold in the shops.

I have been thinking of adding ethanol to assist with plant growth. I can get 97%. Has anyone used it for this purpose and if so how much do you use. I think vodka is about 38-40% so I am thinking about 2mls/100litres/day. Any ideas?

Try lamp specialists 10 Stevens Street. The reflectors are not cheap because they are made in NZ. That is where I bought 2 x 3 ft tubes for $27. They only take cash, no eftpos.

Just to throw a spanner in the works. I use river sand and put it through a kitchen seive. Carefully wash the larger sand but leave the silt in the rest and put it all in your tank (I dont wash or boil) Place the washed gravel on top and it holds down the silt. With the addition of micronutrient to the bottom layer you should get good plant growth. If you fill the water into a jug on a large dinner plate it should not get stirred up.

I would advice against too much gravel cleaning also as gunk is good for plants and cycling bacteria (although your nitrates indicate that they are doing their job).

I hope Bob didn't take my grumpy old bugger comment too personally as there are a few of us about.

As you are probably aware you cannot drill or cut tempered glass. You can tell tempered glass by looking at it through your highly up market polaroid sunglasses. If you rotate the glasses you will see the difference.

I agree with Warren and I am not saying it is a bad thing, only that CO2 injection raises the leval of CO2 above what would occur in nature and creates unnaturally high levals (otherwise there would be no point) This then alters the natural equation and gives us other things which may have to be artificially altered. We are getting a long way from nature.

In nature the CO2 comes from the fish and the balance is retained. Injecting CO2 actually raises the levals above what would be found in nature and is therefore "not natural".

The point I was trying to make is that aeration will reduce CO2 levals in water.

Water has a greater affinity for O2 than CO2. An example of this is in water treatment. Some water supplies have a problem with too much iron, which is kept in solution in the ferrous state by acid conditions caused by dissolved CO2. If the water is aerated the CO2 is driven off and the iron oxidized to the ferric state which is pretty insoluble and drops out. Therefore aeration drives off CO2 in my opinion.

I would agree with the other Alan. Although the live ones may have less food value most fish have a natural instinct to snap at anything moving that will fit in their mouth. I could see it would have its uses though. I would be curious as to the shelf life of a one pound tin after it has been opened.

We may have to agree to differ. I have at various times bred and sold 50000 tropical fish a year and supplied most of the shops in Cristchurch and surrounds with aquatic plants and I therefore consider I have some experience in both sides of this discussion. I personally would not entertain the idea of returning a fish to any shop because it was being bullied by a fish I already had,or try to sell the bully fish to another customer in that shop. To me that is like expecting the shops to buy your goods after you have taken all the market by selling at the back door for half price. If a wholesaler sells to the public at wholesale prices they could hardly expect the shops to buy what is left.

Forthright is a characteristic I admire over BS. We are all grumpy sometimes, some of us more than others, and I am quite happy to continue trading there.

Small doses of hydrogen peroxide will often do the trick, but I have to admit I burned up some plant last time by adding too much, too quickly.