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Phantom240

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Posts posted by Phantom240

  1. On 11/5/2021 at 6:49 PM, Patrick_G said:

    Wow, that’s a plant growing machine. 

    Tell me about it. Kinda want to get a variety of rarer plants and see if I can make some bank lol
     

    On 11/5/2021 at 6:14 PM, PineSong said:

    Wow! What part of the country are you in? I can't believe the guppies haven't taken off in that tub. What do you think the problem is? It sure isn't lack of cover--maybe the boys cannot find the girls!

    There's only a few, so who knows. Then again, predation from wild animals and feral cats may be to blame. I'm in Southeast Louisiana, and this is on the back side of my house, facing north, so it really doesn't get much direct sun. 

    • Like 1
  2. I set up a tub (120 gallon, IIRC) outside to toss some dwarf sag and random overflow/trimmings/excess guppies (turns out, they haven't produced many) into, so I could immediately carpet a tank with dwarf sag, and maybe produce some plants to trade or sell. After about a year, this is the monstrosity that it has become, LOL. More dwarf sag than I can shake a stick at, about 10 amazon swords I've potted for future trading, enough christmas moss for me to probably fill a gallon milk jug... It's insane. 

     

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    Christmas moss literally growing up the sides of the tub, and it's DENSE. 

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    • Like 4
    • Love 3
  3. On 10/31/2021 at 11:23 PM, lefty o said:

    it looks like that sword is converting to submerged growth. the wider outer leaves are melting off, the newer leaves in the center are skinny and long.

    Ehhhhhh I disagree. Those look like already submerged growth to me, compared to my sword plant. I'd say that it's adjusting to his water parameters with the normal expected melt. The leaf structure of my (admittedly ragged due to excessive plantlets) sword looks pretty identical.

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    Shana, I'd say with a few root tabs and continuing to dose ferts, the plant should bounce back. It looks like a possible iron or phospate deficiency.  

  4. On 11/3/2021 at 12:00 PM, Patrick_G said:

    That makes sense. At the in person event Cory mentioned (very casually) that a Nitrogen Free Easy Green might be a possibility. I’d definitely buy that one. 

    It would make a lot of sense for low tech tanks, since the demands aren't quite so high. However, when you're adding 10+ grams of dry ferts to your tank every other week or so, it becomes a much less useful product. 

    • Like 1
  5. On 11/3/2021 at 10:15 AM, Patrick_G said:

    That sounds really low unless you have a very low stocking level. What kind of test are you using? 

    API master test kit and co-op strips. Pretty well stocked, 14 neon tetras, 12 rummynose, 6 emerald Cory cats, 7 kuhli loaches, 6 long fin black skirt tetras, 15ish guppies, some amanos, ramshorn and trumpet snails… but it’s well planted, intense light and co2 injected, so I dose everything but nitrates and the plants eat all the nitrates up immediately.

    • Like 1
  6.  

    On 11/2/2021 at 11:02 PM, Patrick_G said:

    I’ll admit to not doing many water changes and relying on the plants and a low stocking to keep Nitrate levels in check. The smaller tanks still require more changes than my 75 gallon.  Back in the days before I started planted tanks I tried to do 25-30%  per week no matter what the Nitrate levels were. 

    I haven't done a water change since I set up my 55 gallon back in september. Everything seems pretty healthy, and my nitrates stay below 5ppm lol. 

  7. I have a single stage CO2 Art regulator on my main display tank, and it's been great. If I could go back in time I'd have gotten the dual stage, because it does dump at the end of the tank, but my plants and lighting are robust enough to not gas the fish. I have an Fzone from Amazon on another tank, and I want to chuck it. The solenoid leaks, so even when the system is shut off, it still allows some CO2 into the tank. The regulator itself leaks unless I have it positioned just right and crank it like Soulja Boy. Wouldn't recommend. 

  8. On 10/27/2021 at 1:47 PM, JettsPapa said:

    I guess I hadn't really done the math before, but I just did.  When I'm buying the rock wool and pots my cost is right about $1.00, so I'm making $1.00 each on the Amazon swords.  The Keurig cups I use for the crypts would be going in the trash if I didn't use them for that, so the cost on those is only about 30 cents.

    That's fair, for sure. I was just thinking about it from a side hustle perspective, and also from the viewpoint of a medium/high tech grow tank since I have a spare CO2 rig. Obviously, this would create bigger plants faster, but is it really necessary? Mehhh probably not, and reducing the ferts will reduce my cost and potentially increase profitability. Waiting for payday for a 20 long so I can start the growout tank.

  9. On 10/25/2021 at 6:44 PM, Odd Duck said:

     

    I've only had Amazon swords and Vesuvius swords throw runners.  But most of my other swords are very “young” relatively speaking.

    What has me baffled is my big sword is something like six years old and finally happy enough to throw spikes. The other two taller narrower swords I got from either Petsmart or Co-Op less than six months ago, and are already popping off.

  10. On 10/25/2021 at 11:18 AM, JettsPapa said:

    I agree.  I have one Ozelot sword that throws those out, though not that often.  As soon as they develop roots I pot them, let them grow for a while, and then sell them at the local LFS.

    really want my red melon and "reni" varieties to start shooting off, mostly to get more, but they're also more valuable varieties. I've been exceptionally poor as of late, so I haven't been able to pot the plantlets just yet. I'm gonna have to do some heavy root trimming on some of the larger specimens when I do though lol

     

  11. Do daily 25-50% water changes until  your nitrates are at or below 20ppm, then test daily and record your readings. Chances are, you're either overstocked or overfeeding. Regardless, you can either do more frequent water changes or add more plant mass and dose ferts (minus nitrate) to the water column to increase your plants' ability to uptake the nitrate. CO2 helps when going that approach, as well. 

  12. On 10/22/2021 at 10:06 AM, Odd Duck said:

    Biofilm and mulm is your friend if you want babies to survive without intensive care.

    I think I have plenty of biofilm (plants from old tank, driftwood), but mulm is lacking, as the substrate in this tank is maybe a month old, and the snails keep it pretty tidy. If none of the fry survive, that's okay. The cories will have lots more time to make babies.

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