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Rhonda

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Everything posted by Rhonda

  1. Rhonda
    I prefer to not have lessons related to killing my fish, but a lesson is a lesson! I ordered a GLA regulator and will make sure I can run it and THEN get more fish. Thanks!
  2. Rhonda
    Wow, thanks for such great information. The unfortunate part is I don't know what I don't know. (If that makes sense) When everything seems to make sense there is always something more that I didn't know to ask. We never stop learning something new!
  3. Rhonda
    Thanks. I have a feeling I won't be able to return the system, but I'll see what customer service says. Either way, I don't want to give up on using Co2. There is a brewery supply store not far from me that does tank exchange, so I think that will be my best option. As for the regulator, I will look further into the difference between Co2art and GLA and get one of their regulators. My son built his own computer because he knew each piece that he wanted to make it the "perfect" system for him. I feel like that's what I need to do, I just don't know the best of each part. I know the regulator is the most important piece for sure! Thanks again.
  4. Rhonda
    As I get more "adventurous" I am making mistakes, but none this drastic. I feel pretty confident that the mistake I made here was buying a bad system. I read everywhere and watched sooo many videos that said "don't go cheap", my ignorance of trusted companies is where I failed. This is why I won't buy anything live online - I don't know who to trust. I got really lucky when I found Aquarium Coop and realized the store wasn't too far from me. There is only one other non pet chain store near that I know of and I was really unhappy with some of the fish I bought there. So I will drive an extra 90 minutes just to get pretty much everything from Aquarium Coop. If they had a Co2 set up - I would have bought it there.
  5. Rhonda
    I was looking at this one last night. In fact it’s in my “virtual cart”. I went to a local brewery yesterday and showed them my tank, I knew it was the same threading as a paintball tank, but no one will fill it. They have 5 lb tanks for $95 with an exchange system. I will probably go that route. I know you said you use COArt2 equipment, have you had any issues with their products? thanks
  6. Rhonda
    I didn’t realize the atmospheric pressure would affect the flow rate of CO2. That seems really dangerous for anyone using CO2, not just aquarists. I don’t think that was the issue in my case though. The weather was about the same for the 3 days it ran. thanks for the info!
  7. Rhonda
    It is a dual stage regulator, and I didn’t think $200 was a cheap option, but based on some of the comments, I guess it is a bad company with bad products. I just didn’t want to spend $800 for something that turned out to be more difficult to manage than I could work with. I wanted a complete system, that wasn’t disposable so I could learn how to use it. I’m pretty disappointed in my mistake. I’ll look for one of the other company products you mentioned. Thanks.
  8. Rhonda
    An automatic water chemistry adjuster. This may exist, but probably costs a fortune. The system would read parameters and add whatever is missing or low or do a water change.
  9. Rhonda
    Thanks Frank. I sent an email to the customer service department to see if I can get a new regulator. Maybe it is a poor quality system. If there was a leak, I would expect that it wouldn't have dumped into the tank. Do you know how to test the regulator? I'm going to get the Co2 tank re-filled today and test it on just my planted tank. My snails are living in my other tank for now.
  10. Rhonda
    Thanks Daniel, I had read about the Co2 dumps that happen with a lot of the disposable systems which is why I bought the one with the regulator and timer. The reviews I saw about the Ista system were good, I am wondering if I have a bad regulator. It was a 1 liter tank at a really slow infusion rate - do you think it would have already emptied? I don't know how long a tank should last.
  11. Rhonda
    My tank was finally doing well, algae under control, fish and snails happily living together, perfect water chemistry....so I decided to try adding co2 to get some better plant growth. I also added some plants that grow better with Co2. I watched several videos and read articles about Co2, pros/cons and set up. I bought the Ista professional system, with solenoid and timer. Set it up on Monday, it worked fine, turned off overnight, Tuesday and Wednesday, Co2 levels were good, it turned off overnight. Thursday morning I left for work and it was at about 1 bubble every 3-4 seconds and microbubbles had started to come in. I left for work, all was well. I got home that evening, went to greet my fish and they were all dead, and my snails were not doing so hot. Co2 tank was empty and the indicators were yellow. I feel horrible that I upset my tank balance and killed my finned friends!! What did I do wrong?!? My snails recovered and are back in that tank. I really want to learn from this mistake so any insight on what may have happened would be appreciated. Thanks!
  12. Rhonda
    Wow! Thanks for so much info! Sorry about the pictures, I can’t figure out why they flip when I post them or how to orient them correctly. I have some work cut out for me today. My old tank was always crystal clear and I didn’t realize how much my pleco cleaned it. I’m trying to be proactive so I don’t loose anything. I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned in the last 3months alone. I had no idea how much I didn’t know!
  13. Rhonda
    I was going to do that, but it will remove nitrates. I feel like I’m adding fertilizer just to remove it. I suppose it’s better to just use it to remove the nitrites.
  14. Rhonda
    @Koihere is my tank
  15. Rhonda
    It has actually been interesting to see other points of view. I’m just so new, that I appreciate it. Today: nitrites still 2 nitrates up to 10 all other parameters the same I started this tank about 4 weeks ago, but most of the plants were in my other tank for about 6 weeks before I moved them over. The Java ferns are one of the first I bought. When I cycled the new tank, I moved the plants, driftwood, some rocks and about half the media from my other tank. It cycled in about 2 weeks so I added some of my fish. I left a 9inch pleco and a 7inch Rainbow shark in the old tank. My nitrate levels were off the chart with the pleco and the plants were great in that tank. I noticed the algae almost 2 weeks ago so added some Nerite snails and changed to Bently’s lighting then I had an ammonia level pop up to .25 so I freaked, did a 50% water change and have had problems since. I read that doing such a large change may have thrown off my bacteria. Ammonia has been back at 0, but nitrites have gone up, so I’m doing smaller water changes. Waterflow: I had a power head in the tank but then removed it thinking I had too much. I have an all-in-one Uniquarium, which I feel may have been a mistake, but hopefully once it balances, it will be easier to take care of. So, coarse sponge filters and bio balls are up the back of the tank. Then it’s pumped back in. I added the power head back when the ammonia spiked. I was doing the easy green once a week and was worried that I was over fertilizing since I had started with root tabs and then the liquid fert. I understand now that I am UNDER fertilizing. I did another small water change this AM and added more easy green. I removed as much of the stag horn as I could, but I can’t get it off the smaller leaf plants. I also bought some seachem Excell today, I haven’t dosed the tank yet though. I will add a tank picture separately. thanks!!
  16. Rhonda
    Thanks! I had watched this several times before, but after watching it again, I heard new information. Irene has great videos!
  17. Rhonda
    I am having multiple issues I need help with. I have somehow knocked my tank out of the nitrogen cycle trying to fix my plants. 55gallon tank water parameters: temp:75 PH: 7 ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 2ppm Nitrate: 5ppm GH: 4 degrees KH: 4 degrees I have a FluvalSmart 3.0 (using Bentley’s basic settings) which I decreased the by 50% on Monday - water is a green/brown. Using Easy green liquid and root tabs. My fish and snails seem to be doing ok. I have also done a 20%water change twice this week. (3 days apart). I know I have several issues, I’m just not sure where to start. what I think are my issues: nitrites too high staghorn algae algae growing on leaves of the plants low Manganese for Tiger Lilly low magnesium for Java fern light is too much or not enough This is my first planted tank and I am failing miserably.
  18. Rhonda
    Thanks@Brandy! It seems that most of the tank destroyers are larger and these are microscopic and can clearly be seen eating the material we swabbed with them under the lens.
  19. Rhonda
    My son has a high powered microscope so we decided to look at the “fuzz” and found nematodes. From what I read, nematodes can destroy a tank. Any experience there??
  20. Rhonda
    Oh wow! So does that mean that my Java fern is happy and decided to propagate or is it dying and trying to make more before it dissolves? Thanks for the info!! Super helpful, I’m new to plants in my tank.
  21. Rhonda
    2 questions- is this Java moss growing on my have fern? Or something else? what is going on with my Lilly bulb??
  22. Rhonda
    Added driftwood, rocks, plants and water! I have so many different plants in there, because I wasn’t sure which ones would do best. I also had another piece of driftwood that I had soaked for about 2 weeks in my other tank, I moved it over and it kept floating! I put it back in my other tank and it won’t stay down, keeps floating😂. It will be nice once the plants start filling in.
  23. Rhonda
    My new tank arrived almost 2 weeks ago and I keep forgetting to post as I go with the set up! It came on a pallet with a caution cone on top. I have been prepping for months and finally got my gravel, so I have been able to get started on the set up.
  24. Rhonda
    Thanks Dawn! I can’t move the filter over, but I can use the media- good plan!
  25. Rhonda
    Good to know. I have a canister filter now and my new tank has the filter built in. I could move the ceramic pieces and bio balls over to start it off. You’ve given me some good ideas- thanks!
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