Jennifer

Hey Joe, if the seeds aren't sprouting that can mean that they are dead (no longer fresh) and will subsequently have very low nutritive value. That's one good way to check the quality of your seeds - it they don't sprout, toss 'em (assuming your sprouting technique is good).

http://www.wimp.com/strangelyadorable/

True! We should be calling them 'tanks' and not 'cylinders.' :smln: I should have mentioned that the vapor pressure of the CO2 in the tank will change according to the temperature as well. At very low temperatures it may get down as low as 600psi and if it is around 25 degrees C the pressure will read closer to 1000psi.

:gigl:

Got mine today. :mbh: Now, to sit down with what looks to be an excellent read.... :cofn:

Most cylinders have two dials. The dial in the line closest to the cylinder (usually showing around 1000 psi) is the pressure in the cylinder (and thus a measure of how full the cylinder is). The other dial is the pressure coming out of the valve nozzle (at the junction where the tubing meetings the metal valve) ie, the delivery pressure, and is usually around 50 psi. A good regulator should maintain that pressure until the cylinder is completely empty, and then of course that value drops as the gas runs out right at the very end. It's like a set point value above which the pressure wont go in an ideal world (but of course that 'dumping' phenomena of cylinders is due to something else related to the setpoint trying to maintain that deliver pressure in the face of a lower cylinder pressure at which point it opens wider to try and keep that setpoint).

:roey: Pfft Oh well, at least the guys are nice. On another note, I was remembering, and I think the 'new tap' was just an insert that they put in, which explains why it looks exactly as it did when it went in. :gigl: :oops:

Whoohoo! Raffle! Thanks HFF!! :happy2:

lol, seriously, I can't imagine how water got into the cylinder, through the regulator and one way valves and all that, but anyway, Air Liquide is good about it. A refill is only $30 so even if you took it in early for a refill, it would not break the bank or anything.

I have a recycled fire extinguisher but it was modified with a proper tap when I got it last year. This past May when I went to get it refilled at Air Liquide, they said the tap needed to be upgraded since that old style was known to explode. Some guy in Oz had water backflow into the cylinder and the wet valve couldn't handle the pressure and it exploded. So that caused an industry wide change of the valve types in both Oz and NZ. Anyway...they took the old tap off and put the new one on. Took 5 minutes, didn't cost me anything and the tap looked exactly the same as the old one... :dunno:

Sorry that you are having a hard time of it. Try not to be too disheartened, just about all of us could share a story about how things didn't exactly go to plan and we lost fish in the process. We hope it won't happen, but sometimes it is just a part of learning how to do it right - and sometimes it is just bad luck. :dunno: The basic rule of fishkeeping is to figure out how to keep good water quality. If you do that, the fish will take care of themselves (if you do not introduce a diseased fish to the group). The other rule is to avoid adding anything if you don't have to. I think most people will agree that it is hard to treat fish when they are unwell, and it is often not successful. As with all medications, there are risks that it can do more harm than good. You just hope that it kills the nasty disease but not the fish as well! Sometimes the things we add are not ideal and can do more harm than good so it is best to aim for solving the root of the problem (clean water) so you aren't chasing your tail trying to treat the diseases as the crop up! :nilly: It might be that you need to wait this one out. Keep the water nice and clean, don't overfeed, don't add anything unnecessary and once there is a good healthy group of fish left, you can go from there. We are always happy to give advice based on our own experiences if you need help along the way.

If it were me, I would get the second one although, it isn't a brand that I recognise, so it could be taking a chance. The trinocular one is interesting, especially if you aren't sure you know what you are looking at and you want to take photos of the slide. You might also try contacting a university, they often have a surplus storeroom where they sell off things for cheap. If they don't you could try contacting someone to find out who services them in your area, good deals can be found that way. If you want, I can send you a handy thing about using a microscope, that will help considerably to prolong the life of your scope.

For me a 5kg cylinder lasts about 3-4 months on a 400L tank, running 8 hours a day.

Love the substrate and those plants are looking fantastic! :thup:

Yuss!!

Good to see you here. The Mrs should be happy with your hobby, at least she knows she can always find you in the fishroom!

It may have to do with cellulolytic bacteria in your intestines (bacteria that can break down cellulose in plant material). Picture this, if you eat a raw carrot, some large bits come out the other end undigested because we lack the digestive processes (bacteria in this case) to break it down. That is exactly why cooking carrots releases so much more nutritional value for us, it exposes the surface area of the nutritious parts of the carrot so that we can digest it all. I would think it would be similar for other vegetables,

Revenge of the hunchcat :slfg: http://laughingsquid.com/revenge-of-the-hunchcat/

Stoopid nighttime aftershocks.....must work now...too tired....

buuummbbllbeee

Good on you! Fish clubs come in all shapes and sizes. Some are very formal and have official meetings each month, and others just use it as an excuse to get together and talk about fish and swap plants. Some clubs manage to do both very successfully. The first thing you could think about is what your prospective members want. if they want to get together to visit and look at each others' tanks, then potluck gatherings at members' houses might be the key. If they want to get together to hear speakers or go on trips, you can include those things. Or you can do a combination of those things. If you have a good group of interested people who work well together, anything is possible. I personally would recommend that you start off slow by having a get together once every 8 weeks, that will be a lot more achievable than having to organise something every 4 weeks. Give it a go and if after a few months you develop a great community of prospective members, then you can think about forming an official Coromandel club! :happy1:

Regarding nutrients, you could try adding twice as much Comprehensive as you are adding now (either by adding it more often or adding more at each go) and see if that helps. Regarding algae on parts of plants, those leaves are not growing as well (not using nutrients) so the algae has a place to attach and grow. You can remove those leaves altogether if they get bad as they are old and dying anyway. You are probably right about the ambulia taking off after the crypts have melted. There are only enough nutrients there to support a certain number of plants.

The green spot and staghorn are basically a sign of too much light for the available nutrients. The green spot is lack of phosphate and the staghorn is fluctuating ammonia and carbon levels. If your nitrates are almost zero it is a sign that your plants are growing well (this is obvious by the photo) but it is also an indicator that they are not able to grow as well as they can since the nitrate is all used up. There are a few things you could try: 1. Address the fluctuations in CO2/carbon - Each time you do a water change, you are adding a bunch of dissolved CO2 but it is quickly dissipated after 24 hours and it is that change in levels that will promote the staghorn and black beard. You might try reducing the frequency of water changes. In a balanced low tech tank, it may not be necessary to do water changes at all since all the fish waste products will be used by the plants. Alternatively, you could change some each day if you really like the sparkly clean water look. 2. Address the limited nutrients - Adding more nutrients will help the plants grow faster and use up any trace nutrients that are causing the algae. To do this, you could feed the fish a bit more, or add a couple of more fish, or cut back the number of plants, or change to slow growing plants. You could also add more fertilisers. It is good that you have the fast-growing ambulia as that is really a sponge and will be a bellweather for how well your tank is doing. If it stops growing well, you will know that there is something wrong. 3. Ignore it - As long as it isn't out of control, then you are striking some sort of balance. The more the plants grow, the more the algae will be out-competed but on the down side, there will be a point at which the plants will grow so thick that there is not enough nutrients for them all and some start to die off. If you prune before that point, you will avoid that, but don't prune too much or the plant growth will not be enough to stop the algae. Here is the thing: Nutrients in the water are floating around just waiting to be used, the plants can only use the nutrients if they have some carbon and some light, if they don't have those, then the algae can use the nutrients. It's finding that happy place where the plants are growing well that is the key.

There is not an easy answer to your questions about the lighting. You can have a seriously high amount of light and all will be fine as long as you have sufficient nutrients available. That also means good circulation to distribute the nutrients. With that size tank, the normal dose rate for Excel will mean you will be going through it a lot, and it is expensive. The DIY for that size tank won't be enough unless you have multiple bottles going or something like that. If you are going high tech, you might want to think about going with pressurised CO2. A complete setup with CO2 gas cylinder, regulator, solenoid and other bits will cost about $300, maybe a little less if you are lucky, or a lot more if you are into quality parts. One of the biggest mistakes people make when setting up a new tank is not planting it out heavily enough, or hacking back too much of the plant matter all at once. The aim is to get a lot of plants growing well and only trim a little at a time so that you always have a lot of plants growing fast to out compete the algae. It's a challenge, that's why people enjoy it (or why they hate it). :nilly: More info about nutrients can be found here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50222

My advice would be based on two choices: high tech (fast plant growth and more maintenance) or low tech (slow plant growth and lower maintenance). High tech: 1. Add the Comprehensive at double the dose daily or every other day 2. Consider adding a macronutrient (NPK) supplement, nitrate, phosphate and potassium. 3. Keep adding Excel daily, at the normal dose 4. Keep the CO2 gas levels stable if you are going to add it 5. Reduce the photoperiod or light intensity until the algae gets under control 6. Add some floating plants if you can 7. Do weekly 50% water changes 8. Wait for two weeks to see if there is improvement Low tech: 1. Add the Comprehensive once or twice a week depending on the types of plants you grow 2. Keep adding Excel every 2-3 days, at the normal dose* 3. Or, omit BOTH 1 & 2 altogether but this will result in slower growth 4. Reduce the photoperiod or light intensity - the more light you add, the more nutrients the plants will need 5. Add some floating plants if you can - these are great for low tech planted tanks 6. Do weekly 10% water changes or a 50% water change every 3 weeks or so (also feed the fish very lightly) 7. Wait for two weeks to see if there is improvement *If you add Excel, the carbon will 'allow' the plants to use the fertilisers that you have added. Conversely, if you add fertilisers and you don't have carbon/Excel, the plants won't be able to use the fertilisers as well, which will leave it available for the algae to use. So, if you are going to add ferts in order to encourage the plants to grow fast and outcompete the algae, add carbon/CO2/Excel as well.