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Ohad

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Posts posted by Ohad

  1. On 2/5/2023 at 12:17 PM, MattyM said:

    As others ha d I think the market and culture is just different here. My LFS is awesome, great fish, decent plant selection, and a small hardscape selection. It's very close to me, I often bike there - I'm lucky to have it and I gladly pay their higher prices for the quality of items they do have (they also quarantine their fish before selling). 

    One time I was there and a family came in, bought a really expensive UNS tank, and just wanted to toss fish in it right away to appease their child. Best of luck to them, but that's all too often the culture here - immediate satisfaction. That's why the big box stores can get away with how they do things - I can barely bring myself tGermanyat the fish in those places. 

    Contrast that to a video the co-op did of a european store (germany?); it was like stepping into paradise. Stunning displays with everything you could want. 

    I think that most of these European YouTubers will say  that most of their audience is American. So I would assume that the culture exist here and the more knowledge is spreading online the more people will join . 

    I am only in my second tank and first time trying to use wood in scaping ( love it so far) .  I already know that my hard scape is not strong enough but I am focusing on the plants now and try to do a jungle style with what I got. Part of the reason my hard scape is not as strong is because I did not have material available. I had to order things online not knowing what I will get .

    • Like 2
  2. On 2/5/2023 at 11:00 AM, JoeQ said:

    South Jersey here (the true South, not Central Jersey but saying south...) My take is its just cultural differences, I don't think America has the market for a brick and mortar aquascapeing store. We typically do stuff to hurry up and get it done, where as Oriental cultures are stepped in beautiful gardens and KOI ponds,  Europe too but to a lesser extent. 

    True, patient and enjoying the process more than the goal is why I love this hobby .

    We work hard in America, running non stop that hobby is such a break from that 

    @JoeQ in jersey, do you mostly get your plants online? 

    • Haha 1
  3. Hi there,

    I am addicted to aquascaping videos on YouTube.

    All of the channels I am watching are from Europe. The UK, Holland, France, Hungary, you know, the ones.

    These YouTubers keep saying that most of their audience is from the US. 

    Where are the American aquascapes?

    Also, how come md fishtanks or MJ aquascaping and so on. can go down the road where they live and find a vast aquascaping store that will have all of the rocks, all of the wood, all of the lights, and co2 and then another room will have all of the hundreds of plants from Tropica fresh and ready 

     

    Most American YouTubers are fish keepers who sometimes like to put some plants in the background to clean the water.  

    I live in NYC. We have everything here, but we don't have that vast aquascape store. I still don't know if the water I have here is ideal (though I have had some success )

    Where are the local experts? 

    MD fish tank recently bought a Porche of his aqua escaping channel; just saying ... If someone wants to lift the glove .

     

    East coast please too! 

     

     

    • Thanks 1
    • Haha 1
  4. On 2/1/2023 at 6:11 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

    Hi @Ohad

     

    Based upon the size of the tank and the amount of CO2 I see coming out of the diffuser in the picture I would say that the Dennerle is probably the more accurate.  I have substantially less than that amount going into my 20 gallon.  -Roy

    Oh the bubbles in the picture are from an air stone I have on the opposite side of the co2

  5. On 2/1/2023 at 3:32 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

    Hi @Ohad

    Keep in mind that a drop checker provides a lagging indication of the CO2 concentration.  The lag varies with the design of the drop checker but it may take several hours for the drop checker to accurately reflect the CO2 level in the tank once the CO2 level in the tank becomes constant.  If a solenoid is used to turn off the CO2 at night and back on in the morning it could take a tank several hours to reach equilibrium and the drop checker several hours after that.  If it were me, I would only take the drop checker as an estimate until the end of day when it should be accurate assuming the use of a 4.0 dKH indicator solution.  Hope this answers your questions, -Roy

    Thank you and yes the drop checker is using 4.0 dKH 

     

    But the drop checker never showed this high level of co2 as the dennerle ... It's weird to me though that I would have such high level from one bubble a second for a few hours so I wonder if the dennerle test does not work on my water .

     

    I 6.4 Ph and moderate to high hardness. 

    Out of the tap I get 25 and hardness goes higher on the tank due to rocks to about 75

  6. On 2/1/2023 at 2:20 PM, Randall from Texas said:

    What's your tank size and parameters? Fertilizer schedule? I run co2 on my 100 gallon at only 1 bubble per second. My water is crazy hard, high buffer, and 82 degrees. I only run co2 for 6 hours with a 5 hour photo period. 1 fluval 3 and 1 coop light at full power. I dose easy green 10 pumps once a week and feed daily.

    I don't have a drop checker or co2 testers. I run enough co2 for the plants to pearl for about 3 -4 hours and keep the nitrates around 50 ppm on the coop test strips.

    Post your data and some of the experts will weigh in.

    Thank you!

     

    I have a new 20 gallon, 60 I'm tank, fluval nano light on 50% from 8 am - 5 pm 

    So far I am doing one pump of easy green a day and keep nitrate on 50.

    Added a picture as a reference to the amount of plants right now 

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  7. Hi there.

     

    I am new to co2; I have a 95g small kit. 

    I got a drop checker. After researching more, I decided to leave the co2 yesterday for 8 hours on one bubble per second.

    After a few hours, the drop checker finally turned from blue to dark green; this morning, again, the drop checker was blue and, after a couple of hours, turned dark green.  I thought I hit the sweet spot

     

     

    But then a package came in the mail from the aquarium co-op with the Dennerle co2 quick test. Right away, I tried it, and the result was bright yellow, like CO2 overkill 

     

    I still don't have any fish in the tank.  But I need a way to know CO2 levels or it goes in the garbage 

     

    Thank you 

    • Like 1
  8. On 1/31/2023 at 12:46 PM, JettsPapa said:

    It's typical for plants to melt back when introduced to a new environment, and as far as I know that's just as true for older tanks as new ones.

    Plants use ammonia as fertilizer, so I don't believe that's a problem for them.

    correct the melting will happen , the ammonia spikes will not and to me this is helpful , I guess if not cycled media I could do the green aqua way for daily water changes for the first week , and every two days for the next two weeks 

  9. On 1/31/2023 at 10:39 AM, JettsPapa said:

    Would you mind explaining that part?  How do plants benefit from cycled media?

    Only my experiences. But the first months with my first tank I got rotting melting plants and ammonia spikes that led to algae .

    If your tank can deal with ammonia ( maybe again its in my mind) less algae, you worry less about over-fertilization and so on  

  10. I have only two tanks so grain of salt but this is my two cents 

    On the first one, I listened to the people telling me, " you don't need that."

    And it was a struggle; I eventually made it work, but it took a long time ( over a year) and constant problem-solving. Now it's stable and on autopilot.

     

    On my second one, I spent. I got the good light; I got the expensive aqua soil, and I spent a month planning hardscape, boiling wood, composition, shade spots, and light spots.

    I spent almost $300 on plants to start with.

    It's easier to plant in aqua soil; the plants look greener right from the start. Stem plants with a combination of slow-growing "low light " will save you from algae.

    Try to find a cycled media, even for just the plants. 

    You do get what you pay for to an extant in this hobby and that is a good thing 

     

    • Like 1
  11. On 1/30/2023 at 6:12 PM, Ninjoma said:

    I used one in my 29g tank for a while. I think I did somewhere between 1-3 bubbles per second. I would personally set it to at least .5 bubbles per second. Then, wait a day and see if you are getting a c02 reading on your drop checker at the end of the day before your lights turn off. If it is still too low, then the next day do a higher dose, etc.

    Ultimately I ended up setting up a higher end system, because in order to get sufficient co2 with the fluval kit I had to replace the canisters a lot which was expensive.

    Did you turn it off at night? 

    Thank you 

  12. I got a similar model, 95g, not a fluval but another brand, but it worked all the same.

    At the local fish store I got it from, they suggested leaving it on a bubble for 6 seconds and forgetting about it.

     

    The drop checker does not even register CO2 ( which he warned me that would happen ).

    These systems are tough to adjust for the exact bubble count. It's a lot of tweaking each time which is why he suggested leaving it on a low bubble count.

     

    Does anyone have any experience with these things, and what is the best way to work with them?

     

    Thank you 

  13. On 1/28/2023 at 5:39 PM, JJenna said:

    Simply beautiful! I would be happy just looking at this tank with nary an inhabitant. Nice pop of red. Can't wait to see what you stock it with. What's your light?

    The light is the fluval 3 nano light 

     

    Thank you so much !!!

     

    I am aiming for tetras in this one or rasbora not sure yet which 

    • Like 1
  14. 1. hard scape
    2. substrate
    3. foreground and mid plants
    4. stem plants
    5. water
    6. pray to the god of nature 

    all plants are from aquarium co op
    thanks for all the help from this forum that got me here haha

    60 cm 17 gallon rimless
    fluval nano light 
     

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    • Like 1
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  15. Hi all again (sorry for the daily questions, haha)

    So for my new build, I decided to go with the Fluval stratum, maybe with the new stratum bio on top. (Yes, the commercials work on me )

    This will be my first time using it, and online, I see raving reviews alongside horror stories about water changed to mud.

     

    Any tips on how to work with it and keep everything clean will be appreciated!

     

    Thank you 

  16. On 1/23/2023 at 6:32 PM, JoeQ said:

    The crypt was most likely grown emersed and will convert into the familiar submerged version over time.  I usually just sink the whole basket and trim the leaves as they start dieing. Once there is new submerged growth will divide and then plant, leaving the emersed growth intact until it slowly diestandard well

    Thank you, but I have read that letting the plant die and re-grow takes a lot more energy from the plant as opposed to cutting and letting the new leaves grow under water.

     

    I have never tried it myself. My experience with not cutting was terrible, as mentioned above, but that could be because of many things, mainly because it was my first tank. 

  17. Whether to chop the leaves or not to chop is the question.

    I received my plants from the aquarium co-op, and boy, oh boy, they all look great—especially the crypts.

     

    My experience with crypts in my other 10 gallons tank is that they all melted and got lost. It's been two years, and I just now see a tiny leaf.

    The crypts I used in my old tank looked nothing like the ones I got today, but I don't want to risk it melting and taking years to come back.

    What's your experience with chopping or not chopping?

     

    Thank you!

    PXL_20230123_230942010.PORTRAIT.jpg

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