New to site, not new to fish

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Dave66 finally convinced me to say hi to everyone here. Been keeping fish for a while now, I've had a number of different tanks. Currently running a 125gal Reef, 46gal Discus (spawning pair) and a 10gal Planted. I've done lots and lots with plants and have had everything from low tech to high tech planted, even had a variation on Diane Walstad's "El Natural" setup. Love the plants but my main love with aquariums has always been Marine tanks.

[gem]

:ezpi_wink1: Haha Brad...told ya you'd end up posting here!!! :ezpi_wink1:

[sailor]

Hi and welcome to the site. Pics .....we need pics please. We are addicted to pics

[Levi]

hi

:goldfish:

[doug z]

Hi!

Welcome to the forum!

Do you have a more user-friendly name we could call you? :)

Would love to see your tanks...

[Nautilus291]

Welcome to the forum. Its good to have another experienced member on here.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Yes gem, I did end up posting. After a couple of messages from Dave I decided to say hi. I'm afraid I may become addicted to my 3rd forum.

Doug, I usually go by GB most places.

[gem]

Dave is a very convincing little devil ain't he? :wink2:
So...now that you have said Hi.....why don't you answer some posts and spread that vast knowledge of yours?

[doug z]

Ok, GB.. Thanks!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Dang ginger, let me get settled in here here. LOL These people don't even know me yet! Gotta go post some pics so they get an idea of my background. Gotta give myself at least a little credibility. LOL

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Ok, got some one picture uploaded to the gallery.

[doug z]

!!

Nice!!!!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Thanks. I have to admit, that is the setup I am most proud of even though my SW tank is my favorite.

[doug z]

Just gorgeous..

You say "housed" regarding the fish..

What do you have in there now, if not those?

Can I get a breakdown of the plants used?

Substrate, lighting, ferts used?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

The substrate and lighting are listed in the profile. For ferts I used Mono Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Nitrate, and Potassium Sulfate for my macro nutrients. Trace elements were dosed via Plantex CSM.
Plants? wow, now this will be fun. I'll try to remember them all.
Echinodorus tennelus
E. Red Rubin
E. parvif
Rotalla Roundifollia
Altelnenthera reineckii
Sagittaria subulata
Ammannia gracillis
Hygrophila corymbosa
Eleocharis acicularis
Anubias barteri v. ‘Coffeefolia’
Anubias barteri v. ‘Nana’
Riccia fluvans

I sold off the plants and the main piece of driftwood from this tank to facilitate setting up my Reef. Reef tanks are what I really love in this hobby. The high tech planted tank was something I attempted in order prove to myself that I was capable of doing it successfully.

[doug z]

Ok, thanks!

Hopefully mine looks half as good when I get it set up...

I've got some "cave" mopani driftwood, but I haven't decided what I want for my centerpiece.. Rock or wood..

Rock, probably, as you can't really get long interesting pieces of Mopani.. And having 2 different types of driftwood would look odd..

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Actually, it all depends on how you aquascape with it. Take another look at my tank, there are 3 pieces of driftwood in there and all 3 are diffent kinds. Exactly what kind I don't know but I do know they are all differnt. If you intend to attach plants and just use it as a building block for the aquascaping then having different kinds doesn't really matter. Now if you are wanting to display the wood that is a different story.

[doug z]

Oh yeah, I'll definitely be covering them with Java Moss, Java Fern, Bolbitis heudelotti..

I'd like to do Riccia fluitens, but I probably don't have the light (2.9w per gallon).

I'll see what I can find for rock around here (slate, mostly), and on Ebay..

I nice greyish well weathered rock cliff jutting out just off-center would look pretty good..

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

What kind of light are you using? 2.9wpg could be fine for Riccia with the right kind of light and if the plant is placed at the right level in the tank.

[doug z]

I'm using 2 Current USA T-5 strip lights.. 2x54w, one 7000K, one 10000K..

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/showphoto.php?photo=2436&size=big&cat=585

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Oh yeah, that's fine for Riccia if you will be using CO2 and ferts.

[doug z]

Hmm..

Ok, I'll just make sure I have it as high as I can get it, like you did..

I WAS going to do it instead of tennelus, but I'll settle.. :)

Was thinking if I had a sloping rock I could put it up along the back, like a little mountain top.. :)

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

That could be interesting. Do you have a mesh of some kind to use for attaching the stuff? Riccia won't grab hold of the rock on it's own.

[doug z]

Yeah, I'll get some..

Only thing with the mountain-top idea is that rock will take up alot of real estate..

I'm getting WAY ahead of myself, as I don't even have a tank, yet! :)

Also, I'm leaving for Ukraine in June for 6 weeks, and I don't want to get everything wet-up, only to have sick or dead fish and out of control plants and algae to deal with, so I'm waiting until I get back to add the water.. :)

I'm having a heck of a time sourcing Riccia fluitans..

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

It can be a pain to find. I ended up getting mine from Aquabid, however private sale could be a problem since there are not many from Canada on Aquabid and many won't ship cross border. BTW, I added 2 more tanks to my gallery.

[doug z]

There's plenty of sellers in S. E. Asia, if you want to risk the shipping.. :)

I'll check out those tanks, thanks..

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Exactly. I wouldn't recommend Aquaspot unless you are willing to pay the extra for expidited shipping. I ordered Blyxa japonica from them. They sent 20 plants and when they arrived, all but 5 were dead and 2 of those were on there way out and were beyond rescuing.

[doug z]

The only Cdn source for plants that has a half decent selection is

www.aquariumplants.com

No Riccia, though.. :(

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I love Aquariumplants.com. I've not received a bad plant from them once. They have incredible customer service as well. I had one problem with an order one time, for some reason it had gotten lost in the shuffle. I ended up calling after I noticed that it hadn't moved from "processing" status. The looked it up and were totaly baffled as to how it happened. They apologized a couple of times, upgraded my shipping to 2nd day air for free (it was dry goods) and when the package arrived they had also thrown in a bottle of their root tabs for free. They will always get my business when I need them.

[doug z]

Good..

Hopefully I have a similar experience...

Maybe they DO have Riccia..

I'll double check..

edit: nope.. :(

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

nope, they don't I was just there about an hour ago. :)

[doug z]

The search continues..

Let me know if you run across any reliable N. American sources, please..

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Will do for sure. I actually ended up throwing all of mine away, it got to be a weed in my tank. Every time the smallest piece would break off it would grow into a new plant and just suck down the nutrients like crazy. I was forever netting the stuff out of there. However, I also didn't use the mesh to attach it so hence my troubles.

[doug z]

Hmm.. Interesting..

Where did it try to spread from the driftwood?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

The surface of the water. LOL

[doug z]

Yeah, that's why Dave was warning me off them..

But if I attach it good half-way up the tank..

Can't hurt to try.. :)

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Probably not, just watch for fish that like to root around in it like Corys and Plecs. Those were the 2 culprits in causing the "garbage" in my tank from the stuff.

[doug z]

At the half tank level?

Really?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Oh yeah. My Plecs lived on that driftwood. I had 2 Ancistrus and a Panaque maccus in there and they would go at it. The Brochis splendens were the worst for rooting around in that stuff though because it was a food trap. Every time I would feed with brineshrimp or bloodworms, some would inevitably end up getting trapped in the Riccia and the splendens would go after it like a bull in a china shop.

[doug z]

Hmmm..

Maybe I'm better off with Java Moss, then?

Have you tried that?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Got some growing on driftwood in a 10gal right now. Nothing tears that up in that tank. The Endlers love spawning in the stuff.

[doug z]

Hmmm..

Dilemma.... :)

[Tigerbarb]

Welcome to AC! We could sure use another reef specialist! You and Cocoa Pleco will have alot to talk about.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Thanks. I'm sure we will. I wouldn't exactly call myself a specialist yet though. Plants are more my specialty right now. I'm working on the reef thing though, I've got a few books sitting around to read and I'm an active member if Kieron Dodd's site.

[cocoa_pleco]

welcome to ac!

[jbeining75]

Welcome to AC!!!! Hope you enjoy it....

[Dave66]

Howdy GB, glad you've joined the fun lol. Now there's four FI alums here. Now if we can just get the rest of our old FI aquarium malcontents rounded up . . .
Dalejr08 is registered here, but he hasn't posted in a month or two.
Glad you're back among the living, Gemmy bird :)

Dave

[cocoa_pleco]

You and Cocoa Pleco will have alot to talk about.

awesome point! always great to have another reef person on the forum!

[digital3]

Welcome GB! Any pal of Dave's is a Pal O' mine! I love your tanks! Especially your freshwater with the Discus!

:c5:

[digger]

hello and welcome to the forum

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Thanks for the welcome guys. I do look forward to discusssions with you cocoa, I will likely pick your brain a few times. Just as Dave, I've picked his brain many times. I'm not extremely experienced with the Reef but I am learning very quickly.

[Blue Ram]

Welcome to AC!!!!!!!!!!

[Blue Ram]

oops!! double post! Well Hello and Welcome to AC once more!!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Not a problem. Thanks. I was a bit leary of actually starting to post here because of my involvement in 2 other forums. However since I've started posting it seems that this forum is actually a good fit for me. Besides, Dave is here and I still need to pick his brain more. LOL

[cocoa_pleco]

haha, ive picked daves brain alot!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Who hasn't? LOL

[Dave66]

Pick away, folks, its why I'm here :)

Dave