SteveKing88

In several of the Aquarium co-op videos, Dean is referred to as a “master breeder” and Cory is referred to a a “master aquatic horticulturist”. Are these some kind of official certifications? Or, are these more casual titles?

@Goldie Blue I am on the south side and usually go to Fish Paradise.

@Goldie BlueI am in Fort Worth and recently joined the DFW Aquarium Association. I met some of them at Aquashella and on facebook. The website is not great https://dfwaa.org/members/packages/ I think the next event is in February.

Welcome!

I've seen those videos. They don't answer my specific question.

I have a Fluval 3.0 48 in light on a 55 gallon tank. what I want to know is: is there a way to look at your settings (percent of brightness of each color) and determine the PAR number at a given depth.

Thank you all for the comments. Do you think these leaves will perk back up with corrections to water chemistry and fertilizer? Or, should I prune them back and wait for new growth?

Yes, I did use root tabs. I will add more.

I have two Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green that have taken a turn. I've had them for about three months. They initially went through the typical melt and them started growing into really nice plants. The first picture is from a couple of weeks ago. The second is from today. If it's not clear in the photos, today they look sort of wilted, darker green a kind of shinny. What could cause this? Water parameters measured today: Ammonia: 0 ppm; Nitrites: 0 ppm; Nitrates: 25 ppm; GH: 25 ppm; KH: 0 ppm pH: 6.4; Temp 77.5 F

Sorry, used the last one yesterday.

I'm pretty sure that if my GH were actually 300 ppm, my Discus would have died.

So, I've been using API 5 in 1 test strips for a while. I recently got some 6 in 1 strips from Aquarium Co-op. Today, I tested and my GH was 300 ppm. It's normally 30 ppm. So, I looked in the API can and found one last lonely test strip, tested my water and ... 30 ppm. I tested again with the Aquarium Co-op strip and got 300 ppm again. All the other tests on the strip are reasonably well matched. Has anyone else run across this?

ok, this is making a little more sense now. Thank you, Bobbie!

So, it sounds like there's two separate things going on here: 1 - The nitrogen cycle, which I understand well enough. and 2 - plant maturity, which I understand less. I can't see that the nitrogen cycle would dictate how much light you give your plants. And, how can you tell if your plants are rooting well, aside from digging them up every week or so? Sorry if I'm rambling.

When reading about planted tanks, I hear the terms "New Tank" and "Established Tank" a lot. Or, sometimes, "new" and "established" referring to an individual plant. Are these term well defined at all? I read or hear things like: "Algae growth is normal in a new tank but will subside when the plants are established." "Reduce the intensity of the lighting in when plants are new and increase it when they are established" How can you tell if a tank or individual plant is established? And, are there more phases or stages to planted tank growth than these two?

ok, so, I bought that one, and ... too short, by about half an inch.

Excellent!! Thank you KBOzzie59

I have a 55 gallon tank. Top Fin brand from Petsmart. The top plastic frame has a cross brace, front to back, in the middle of the long sides. So, the hoods are actually two smaller hoods rather than a single hood that would cover the entire tank. It was my understanding (or maybe I made it up) that the two hoods are essentially the hoods for two 20 gallon tanks. I recently purchased a Fluval Plant light and two hinged glass canopies from Amazon. The canopies are from H2Pro. I had never heard of them before; but, that's what Amazon had. The canopies are a tad too big for the recesses in the frame. They were advertised as "Fits Most 24" Aquariums". The exact width from the box is 23.07". The actual recess in the frame is 23" exactly. The supplied hoods measure 22-15/16" (22.9375"). So, I looked at PetSmart.com. Their "24 in" canopies are 23.19". Still slightly too big. Has anyone else ever run into this problem? Am I missing something?

Thank you all for the comments.

It's a 55 gallon. The light is a 46 watt Fluval Plant LED

In the tank I started a few weeks ago I have several south american plants. I'm planning on adding discus in a couple of weeks. Discus keepers generally recommend temperatures around 86 F. That's higher than the recommended range for most plants. How high can the temperature get before the plants start to suffer? Thanks, Steve

Thank you, Daniel and Brackon!

Hi, I'm setting up a planted tank. The volcanic soil based plant substrates are new since last time I did this (maybe 15 years ago). I have my hardscape done and an using shrimp king substrate. I'm starting to add plants now. I'm wondering, do I still need root tabs with this substrate? Or is it the point of these new substrates that they have enough nutrients for the plants to grow without the tabs? Thanks, Steve