ramuk

As someone who has had bottled CO2 in my tank, I highly recommend staying away from them. Yes, your plants will grow like hell, but I don't think it is worth it. It's just one more thing (like having heated gravel, for instance) At sea level (ChCh), my aquatic plants grow much better without CO2 than with heaps of CO2 at 6000 ft (Colorado) But yes, if you have money to burn, by all means.

I have also read that BGA can fix the N2 from the air. Another way to control BGA is to have teh plant called hornwort, which produces something which kills off BGA. Takes a few months to kill a complete infestation.

Guys, for substrate fertilizer, you can get away with using Jobe sticks (they are a lot cheaper) They come in different NPK combinations. Use the one with teh lowest P. I have used them in teh past, and they sit tight under the gravel and don't seem to leach anything.

I just got rid of a very stubborn BGA infestation in my 55 gallon (270 liters) Initially, I tried cutting down on light, massive water changes, physical removal etc. I even bought 2 flying foxes not realizing that they do not eat BGA. In any case, after reading up on the internet, I realized the cure to be either erythromycin (antibiotic) or Hydrogen peroxide. I tried to get a presciption for the antibiotic by calling my vet etc, but he was reluctant to do so. Further, even if you had a presciption, it will cost you $15 to actually buy it. On the other hand hydrogen peroxide is only $3.50 for 100 ml (3%) or $4.50 for 100 ml (6 %). I bought the 3 %. I removed all the fish from my tank (except for 2 neons). I slowly injected the 3 % (3ml at a time, all 100ml of it) at the bottom of the tank. I kept the filter running (it seems this is important to disperse the H2O2 all over the tank). I moved the fish back into the tank after 3-4 hours. The 2 neons I had left in were a test to see how the fish would take the H2O2. They survived just fine. The next day, teh algae were WIPED OUT. Given the price of H2O2, I am now planning to just keep a bottle handy and put in a few drops every week to keep any further algae growth under control. Of course, this does not target the CAUSE of the algae problem in the first place. But that is for another day :-) I hope someone finds this useful.

I have bred the bronze cory catfish before. After they lay eggs, I moved them out of the tank (the eggs are very sticky, just use your fingers and roll them off of the aquarium walls). I used methlyne blue to avoid fungus problems. Kept them in a well aerated bowl. They hatched after a rather long time (around 10+ days) I have read that feeding brine shrimp to cory babies can cause problems. Micro worms etc are good. Lots of water changes + blood worm food to induce egg laying.

I have successfully added HCl to permanantly lower the pH. I got it from a pool store (in the US). It does take a while to stabilize (so you need to do it outside the aquarium) I reduced mine to about 5.5 (to breed neon tetras)