And another member

[daveoftn]

Hey guys!
I live in Chattanooga (there are no fish clubs here), but since I'm only 2 hours away, I figured I'd at least drop in and say hello and that I would love to attend a few meetings.

I am mostly into freshwater fish. For the past 6 months, I've been working on a 55 gallon planted tank. Right now, it has 2 Gold Gouramis, 5 Western Rainbowfish, 6 Cardinal Tetras, 3 Oto's, 2 Cory's, and a partridge in a pear tree. I hope to get some dwarf gouramies in there as soon as I get my breeding tank setup. For plants, it has some amazon sword, java moss, anubias, llimniphila, and water sprite. It's not where I want it yet, but it's getting there (the llimniphila has no red ><). I'm just waiting to buy a pressurized co2 regulator and that tank will be done as far as buying stuff.

My next tank will be a 30-40 gallon breeder's tank. I'm not sure if I want to specialize in a species yet, time will tell.

I'm also an active member of the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association. They have some interesting projects like people can donate fish/plants to the club to be auctioned at the end of meetings for points to get a plaque/title, etc. They also let anyone contribute to auctions at the end of meetings and have it to where non-members get 40% of the sale, and club members get 70% (the rest goes to the club). Just some ideas, it's very fun, helps breeders/growers get rid of stuff, allows people to buy things for cheap, and helps the club make money.

Anyways, I'm glad I found you guys. I will definitely start lurking the forums from here on. I've only been in the hobby for a few years and have a lot to learn (ie get ready for LOTS of questions!).

I'm looking forward to meeting everyone!

-DaveofTN

[jon carman]

Glad you found the site. I love Chattanooga.

[angel]

Welcome Dave! We would LOVE to have your questions, pictures, fish stories, and have you join in on the meetings and fun!

[bunnie1978]

Welcome, Dave!

Happy to have someone to talk plants to! Which Limnophila do you have? I have aromatica 'hippuroides' and I just ADORE it.

Other than your lights, the regulator is the most important equipment that you get for a planted tank. I have two, one I bought and one I inherited. The one I bought was from Green Leaf Aquariums. Orlando is the best. www.greenleafaquariums.com

I would recommend his regulator any day of the week, and three times on Sunday! It's way better than the Azoo one that I got used. WAY.

I got my tank from a fire extinguisher place in downtown Nashville.

How about some pics???

[davidtcb1]

Welcome Dave. I'm from Chattanooga...born and raised. And live north of Nashville now.

Glad you found us.

[daveoftn]

Ok, here are some tank pics. It's a work in progress still, so everything is still short. As you can see in the pics, the amazon swords are definitely gonna crowd out some things I have in there. So, some of the water sprite will eventually be removed. The mountain cave thing with the java moss will be removed soon also (I got it for a rainbow shark that unfortunately died).

The Llimnophila is aromatica, but due to low iron content in my tank is not very red. My nitrate and phosphate levels aren't helping either. So far I've just been dosing with Seachem Flourish and Flourish Excel. I know it's not ideal, but it's been enough to keep everything alive while I piece my aquarium together.

For lighting, I have T5 HO 1x 6700k and 1x 12000k. I was aiming for mediumish light. After I get the CO2 done, I will probably add some moonlight LED's on a timer to run for a few hours before I go to bed.

For filtration, I am actually running a SunSun 303B. It's a chinese brand canister filter that I inherited. It's built by the same factory that makes Marineland canisters (and uses a lot of marineland parts including the filters), and it actually works very well.

For CO2, I have the tank, just need to get a regulator/needlevalve/solenoid/reactor. Will probably get the $86 Milwaukee setup if I can't find anything cheaper from here: www.water-testers.com/contents/en-us/d100_milwaukee-ma957-co2-regulator.html CO2 regulators seem to be the one item that isn't traded very frequently.

I have checked out the greenleaf regulator in the past, but $250 is a little steep I think. Here is one for $159 that has identical quality components: www.bestaquariumregulator.com/CO2.html The only difference is the one I listed uses a Cornellius regulator which is identical quality to a Smith Regulator. Also, the one I listed does use a Clippard solenoid, but for a $100 savings, you can buy a very nice german-engineered solenoid.

But anyways, would you be up for selling your spare one Bunnie?

Ok, enough blabbering:

Here is a pic of the right side of my tank. The java hill on the left marks the middle of my tank.


Here is a pic of the left side of my tank:


And lastly, here is a pic of Marvin, my favorite gold gourami in my setup:

[angel]

I love the cave! Can't it stay? That is so neat.

[daveoftn]

Yeah, I was very proud of my cave I was trying to make it look like a hobbit house, lol. It would stay, but no fish go in it. Maybe at the next swap meet I will bring it and give you first dibs It would be perfect for someone that has a rainbow shark or even a sorority of bettas.

Otherwise, I think I got it at Petsmart for like $13 on clearance. The java moss really likes it and sticks easily to it. I used a small handful of gravel to weigh down a little bit of moss on top initially and that was it.

IMO, java moss should be in every tank, even people that don't do plants. It's a very versatile plant with no requirements (I'm convinced there is java moss on Mars), and it can turn even the dorkiest decoration into something really cool.

[angel]

The java moss really made the difference with the cave. It no longer looks like just a petsmart cave.
Java moss unfortunately doesn't work in every tank. African cichlids make mincemeat out of all plants for the most part. Some of them are tolerant--like kribs and Madagascars. Most of them do much better with sand and rocks tho.

[bunnie1978]

That's the only way I'll have anything fake in my tanks... if I can cover it up with moss. I like Christmas moss better than java moss though. Java moss and me... we're not friends.

[daveoftn]

How can you not like java moss? If there were ever a nuclear holocaust, all that would survive is black beard algae, java moss, and cockroaches.

I do like the structure of christmas moss, but I was told it would not grow well in a tank over 77 degrees?

[bunnie1978]

I don't know, I've never heard that. I also don't have any Christmas moss, though.... it's on the "eventually" list!! Most plants do fine in a pretty wide range of temperatures.

[bunnie1978]

I use all dry ferts for dosing, EI light. But I also use soft water. I do add a bit of Iron though. Low nitrates, because they get sucked up in 5 seconds flat!

I have it in two tanks.... one with 3.5 wpg CF and the other with 2 wpg T5HO.

Here is a pic of what it looks like with the CF:

[bunnie1978]

the other plant next to it is stargrass.

[bunnie1978]

By the way, I was thinking last night about your situation and wanted to offer one more "food for thought"... Since you have high light already, once you add CO2, what is likely to happen is that you'll be putting your plants on overdrive, and they will suck all the nutrients out of the water lickity-split! You might want to look at getting a high end fert regimen started. I use EI dosing, but I don't do as much as the recipe calls for and I add extra iron. There are other options as well, but beware... without giving the plants the food they need, you will likely start to have conditions algae just love!!