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Tiger barb prefer a well-planted aquarium, that would imitate their original environment.
Tetras, in general, also like some plants to hide them from the light.
Since there are so many specimens of plants, with so many shapes, sizes, densities... I think the best way to "measure" how much plants you could have would have to take into account all ...
10
Assuming you have an appropriate filter setup and do regular water changes, this is probably fine. My caveat is that AqAdvisor treats the loaches as potentially reaching 10" (25 cm), which would be a bit large. Fishbase says the largest on record was about 6" (15 cm) though; I'm not sure which site has the better handle on that species. (Note that I picked a ...
9
Well, "in balance" could mean a lot of things, but I'm guessing you mean you want to add plants to keep your water quality in check. If that's the case, the better solution might be to look for improvements in your filtration and maintenance routine first: 30 or 40 fish is a pretty full load for a ~120L/30gal tank, so there might be more effective, or even ...
7
The short answer with respect to oxygenation is any freshwater plants will do this.
To explain... the oxygen from this presence is a natural byproduct of the photosynthesis and for a plant submerged in the water, it's only going to go where you want it to go. However, there are some added advantages to this cycle:
Removal of carbon dioxide from the water.
...
7
Not only can you put your plants in another container, but you should. It is always a good idea to quarantine plants in a separate container for a few weeks before adding them to your tank, otherwise you can introduce pathogens or snails.
Most plants will do fine (short term) in almost any food safe container of nearly any water (but you'll want to treat ...
7
It is Caulerpa algae, although it has roots, stems and leaves (may be C. prolifera or C. floridiana). Tangs, Moorish Idols and other fish eat it. It grew very vigorously in my aquariums and so can shade or choke out corals IF not trimmed. In a 75 gallon and a 55 gallon tanks I grew enough to supply a couple independent pet shops. As you note, it should look ...
6
Your Echinodorus tenellus should grow pretty fast if they have enough light and a good substrate. So, probably, your fish won't be able to destroy it.
And I would go with some Otocinclus. Although they are somehow sensitive, they do good in planted aquariums, specially if it has enough algae, that seems to be your case.
6
The import of live rock is under the control of United States Vital Reef Task Force in the USA.
International Trade in Coral and Coral Reef Species
International Trade Sub-Group
Report to the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force
In assessing the U.S. role in international trade and protection of coral reef species as prescribed by the President’s Executive Order, the ...
5
There are 3 main factors in setting up a planted tank: Lighting, Substrate, and CO2.
Lighting
Some plants may grow just fine with minimal light (Cryptocoryne, Anubias). But most need substantially more light than a basic aquarium light provides. For a planted tank you'll want at least 1 watt per gallon, but many (most) plants require more - 2 watts per ...
5
It sounds as though you already have a good knowledge of how water chemistry works.
In basic terms, KH (carbonate hardness) affects how much the pH can change within the water. The presence of the carbonic acid in the water stops the pH from fluctuating wildly when it is influenced by CO2 or by other pH influencers.
You'll probably be familiar with the ...
4
Lighting
It is first important to note that plants use photosynthesis for growth. In doing this, they have light requirements. Amount of light and Watts per gallon are useful measurements, however, the most important light requirements are color and PAR value. For standard T-5 or T-8 type lights, you'll want temperature color 6700K. This is light that is ...
4
There are numerous ways. Best way I know of is use very fine sand. Plant substrate which I assume isn't fine, and then pour some very fine sand on top. This should keep your weed down until it roots itself.
However it is also possible that you have trumpet snail infestation. Check if you do, and if it is the case then I suggest you make your substrate ...
4
Here's an update on my research and how it went in my tank.
I searched many sources for the cause of those algae and how to kill them. It was suggested to me that red algae appear in high pH water, which wasn't my case (around 7). I haven't found a cause for them to appear.
Here's what I did to remove them: I had quite a bit of brown/green algae on the ...
4
@Derrick K has the answer, first. You want to check with the specs on your aquarium. Sometimes the hood will say right inside it, or outside it, or include a sticker. You might also be able to look up the part online.
You can use any light bulb in any light socket, but it's not a good idea. You want to stick within the parameters of your particular ...
4
It does look like Hemianthus but the plant is dying so it's hard to say, it could also be a monte carlo plant.
I recommend reading this guide
Substrate
Substrates such as Flourite and Eco-Complete provide a long lasting supply of Fe to the plants through the roots. While each of these products can be costly per bag to buy, it provides you the best start to ...
4
Yes! Not only is it possible its a sustainable method of farming! Hydroponics is farming without soil, and aquaponics is hydroponics using fish. On a low level, the fish waste feeds the plants and the plants clean the water for the fish. Here are a lot more details.
If you want to grow food you can eat, lettuce is by far the easiest to use. If you just ...
4
Just leave it for a month or so. More than likely you will get some decaying material from the plants which will naturally kick-start the cycle. If you put food in there at all, it will absolutely kick-start a cycle as well, just don't add any more, you'll foul up the water too much at this point.
Some observations, I'm assuming you're using the test strips....
4
There is an aquatic plant called Ludwiga inclinada or curly tornado, that matches your description. I added a pic, although it may not be what you're remembering. I was originally thinking it was a type of sword, possibly Vesuvius Sword Plant, but with leaves seems wider than described, the second and 3rd pics are the Vesuvius Sword.
4
For up to 4 or 5 days, you can keep them wrapped in wet paper towels surrounded by wet newspaper. You might have some die off, but this is the way they are commonly shipped. I've had hardier species like anubias survive for weeks this way without any ill effect.
For more sensitive plants, just put them in a container in water at room temperature. They'll ...
4
The main problem is that the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate do multiply very slowly, and this is the reason for why the cycling of a tank takes a long time.
Here is a Wikipedia article about Nitrobacter.
Nitrobacter do multiply by growing and dividing itself and this takes about 24 hours, so one single bacteria divides itself in two in 24 hours and ...
4
For brackish water, your plant selection really depends on the salinity of the tank. In general, plants need nutrients and light. Again, not knowing your light setup or your substrate is a little bit of a challenge. I'm going to assume an inert substrate like sand and low to medium light.
Assuming you have a brackish tank, not saltwater (which it seems you ...
3
For my first tank I also bought some kind of soil and used it as a layer in the grit. Because the producer said it was very good for the plants and I did not have any experience.
Meanwhile I do not use it any longer (and do not know anybody else who uses it...) since it is quite expensive and when I compare my diverse tanks I do not see a big difference. ...
3
You can do either but it's hard to give specific advice without seeing exactly how it's attached. Most mosses take a long time to attach to whatever they are being mounted to so rubber bands or small zip ties are commonly used to attach them until they can grab hold and spread on their own. As far as the mesh goes, the moss will typically attach to it and ...
3
The best way I've found at planting plants that don't root is with Cyanoacrylate gel - super glue gel. This is safe for fish and cures in water. I superglue java fern and anubias to driftwood, rocks, everything.
Tying plants to items is dangerous if you have fish that like to cram into small spaces, or look for food in the substrate. They can get caught in ...
3
There's various ways. A lot depends on the type of plant and whether or not they put down roots or want to float free.
Pack some heavier rocks around the plant's base. You probably already tried this, but it works for most rootable plants.
Tie the plant to something, like a large rock or driftwood.
Use some string to tie the base of the plant to something ...
3
If the ball is not too small, you can force small pebbles inside it to weigh it down. As long as the pebbles are not big compared to the moss ball, the moss ball will grow around the pebbles with time.
You could also sprinkle the ball with fine sand, for a gentler approach, but the sand might fall off after a while.
3
So most driftwoods are boiled down or treated at some point to be safe for all types of aquariums and terrariums. When dried out and then placed back into water, marine or fresh a fungus can grow, sounds hard to believe that sterilization will lead to fungal growth but it's true. It'll start as white tiny docs, then patches, then spread to a fuzzy like film. ...
3
I am going to provide my insight to hopefully serve as a complement to existing answer and comments because I think this is an interesting question.
In addition to perfectly valid methods already mentioned, an additional approach for H2S management in aquarium could be also controlling amount of foods with a significant load of sulfur-containing amino acids (...
3
Yes.
Yes, you absolutely can inject the CO2 into the sump and many people choose to do this by default because, as you point out, it means less equipment in the tank.
As long as the CO2 is diffused into the water and pumped around so that it moves past the plants then you'll have just as good rate of diffusion as if you had the injection setup inside the ...
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