Ophitoxaemia

I thought about doing exactly this, but never got around to adding the pump. Fish and tub have been doing great since last February.

Years ago I had short Sagittaria (< 1") and tall Sagittaria (6-10"). The tall ones would sometimes flower. Today, I have only the short ones, which grow thickly. Everything else with the tank is basically the same as years ago. My question is: Are there different strains by height or is the difference purely due to cultivation?

I just realized that the beautiful fish tanks I remember my parents had in the 1960's were only 30 years after this historical tank and a more shocking 50+ years ago from now. I believe their 50 gal had a slate bottom.

I did a 50% water change on day 18 before adding fish. I usually added the amount of fish food for a fully stocked tank.

In case this is useful for anyone, my fishless cycle with fish food and a little seeding from a mature tank went smoothly and took 18 days. YMMV Here's the numbers I observed:

Update: I have returned to the siesta method, but it involved a little DIY project which I'll describe here in case someone else wants to do it too. I have a Hygger light, but the timer allows only for one photo period per day, and defaults to blazing 100% brightness if you use a cut-power timer. I bought a N***w timer with 6 programmable events, light ramp up and down, and 100 brightness levels for $13, but the connecters did not fit the Hygger light. I cut out the old timer and spliced in the new one, leaving the 3rd yellow wire unconnected as I don't use the red/blue LEDs. Light didn't work. Trick was the light reverses the red and black wires, which you can see if you look very carefully at the connection, perhaps to prevent such cheapskate tomfoolery as I was attempting. Soldered them and wrapped with tape, turned out nice for the cost.

I'd make sure the floor is level and shim the stand as needed. I have a laser level but there are ways to do it with water and tubing. I live in an old house with warped floors and used a slightly compressible pad under my tank. 10 years, no problems.

I would not worry about that small a difference. I just measured a half degree difference in mine and my fish have been happy for years

Yup, that's one. They come in many sizes. I powered my 50 watt heater and hang on filter for almost 12 hours on a core (won't start a car, worth $15), and little math and you can figure out based on the Amp hours of the batteries you have and the load. This is my cheapskate solution as I'm home all the time. A real UPS will auto fail over but is expensive and in my experience fail at the worst times.

A DC to AC power inverter has clips to connect to a car battery, and 115 AC sockets on it, so you can plug in the heater, etc. The small ones I use are about $35 and are pretty efficient.

I get mine at the LFS. I keep them in the fridge in a jar and rinse them with cold, dechlorinated water whenever the water looks cloudy, which can be daily or up to once every 4 days. If the water is too cloudy or too deep, they will die quickly in my experience

@Patrick_GIt was in a pot for several years and could not spread. It's about doubled in the last year since I finally planted them separately

@Beardedbillygoat1975I'll pull some of the PSO out, though it is so good at hiding the heater and the fish love it. It's not quite as bad as it seems because it is pressed up in the back half of the tank. I've also set up a siesta system again and we'll see in a few months. I might have had two types of sag, and one type died off during the Time of Too Much Light Thanks!

@Beardedbillygoat1975 Good to know. My dwarf sag used to grow like crazy before I used root tabs though. I forgot another difference, I used to have two 5 hour photo periods several hours apart, which when I think about it now is kind of like doubling the C02 available for the plants each day. Unfortunately the new light doesn't allow me to do that easily. Maybe the siesta method had a bigger impact than I realized?