Re: [GSAS-Member] Plants and Substrate Questions

[Robert Jones Jr <emmagatorone@gmail.com>]

To answer #1 based soly off of my personal experience.  I've just used plane
jane gravel.  Got like 2 buckets full of the stuff.  Rinsed it as well as I
could in a smaller tupperware container and dumped it in.
I can't really answe #2 as I am pretty new to this area as well and don't
really have a favorite per say just yet.  I'm not ready to bad mouth anyone
yet.
Why do you need a substrate heater?
Plants?  I just threw out a TON of stuff that'd get you started and then
some.  Give me a few weeks and I may have some stuff for you.  Please just
take it so I don't have to feel bad about dumping it into my front yard
anymore.
For a 75g tank, I'd go pressurized.  How to inject it depends on what type
of filtration you are/want to use.  For my 40 long, I'm just using 1 hagen
bubble ladder.

www.rexgrigg.com  Read it, Love it
www.plantedtank.net  Another great resource with great people!  Pick their
brains!
www.plantgeek.net Great site to pick out your plants and learn about them
Good luck with all of that.  Hope what I said helps and be prepared to be
bombarded with other replies as well.  Again, a lot of that advice is based
off my own experience.  I'm a cheapskate.

Awesome

On 1/5/06, myth <myth@loreseeker.net> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm new.  Very, very new.  For the last eight years I've been wanting
> to put together a planted tank, but kept putting it off until I
> settled somewhere more "permanently."  Finally I decided that I'll
> never really have the time or money, so I might as well dive in!
>
> I recently acquired a used 75 gallon tank, a 35 gallon tank, and two
> 12 gallons (oddly shaped, used as fry tanks by former owner).  Four
> breeding angelfish (three males and one female) came with the larger
> tank. The angelfish got stressed during the move and came down with
> ich, which I'm treating (I'll get back to that after my general
> questions).
>
> 1)  I really want to focus on making the 75 gallon a planted tank, and
> I don't care about breeding the angelfish.  They can have time off.
> :}  I do want them to be happy though, and I'm thinking of copying
> this kind of setup:   http://www.aquahobby.com/tanks/e_tank0509c.php .
> This leaves plenty of room for the angelfish to swim around, and I
> could add a couple of other fish, which I would enjoy. (I haven't had
> time to research types compatible with angelfish yet.  So, here's
> question #1:  Substrate?  I've done a ton of research, but everyone
> suggests something else.  Peat and laterite?  Laterite and sand?
> Laterite and gravel?  Peat and gravel?  Soil?  Clay?  Eco-complete?
> So far I'm thinking of going with 90% fluorite with gravel on top,
> simply because The Fish Store has fluorite, and as far as I can tell,
> no other substrate.  What would you recommend and why?
>
> 2)  Tell me about your favorite fish stores in Seattle.  Do you have a
> favorite for equipment? For freshwater tropicals?  What about
> interesting or cheap rocks?   I'm going to need a lot of those.  (The
> 35 gallon is going to be set up as a Lake Malawi tank.  It's not my
> first choice[difficulty], but I promised to take some fry for a friend
> whose labs won't stop breeding.)
>
> 3). I want to buy a substrate heater and I think Duplo is the only
> brand out there?  Can I find this locally?  I haven't managed to find
> it so far, but I hate to mailorder if I can help it.  How much can I
> expect to spend for a 75 gallon?  I think it's around a hundred bucks,
> but I'm not entirely sure if there are extra bits I'll need to buy.
>
> 4)  Plants!  Once the ich is cleared up I want to get started with
> plants.  Any members out there with extra plants that they want to
> sell?  I'm not sure what I want/need yet, but I'll have a list soon.
>
> 5)  I may try to make the CO2 dispenser myself.  Any tips?  I'm not
> terribly handy, but I'm a student, so I'm trying to cut corners while
> still keeping the essentials.  I figure it'll be cheaper than redoing
> everything in a year.  So, advice and tips are very, very much
> appreciated.  If you want to tell me about books you can't live
> without, that would be great!
>
> I've looked at tons of pictures and read a lot.  I'm feeling a bit
> overwhelmed and it hasn't all sunk in yet.
>
> As for the current problem, I'm not entirely sure the angelfish have
> ich.  There are very small white spots on the pectoral fin (er, I
> think that's the pectoral fin) of two of the fish.
>
> When I took the tank home, the gentleman warned me that one of the
> males wasn't going to live long.  He showed me the protruding eye and
> told me it was probably a tumor.  That fish is now showing red streaks
> at the base of one fin.  I'm starting to doubt that it was a tumor, so
> I've got him in a 12 gallon and am treating him both for ich (RidIch)
> and with tetracycline.  I don't expect him to make it, but I had to
> give it a chance.
>
> The other three angelfish are staying in the big tank (75 gallon).  I
> did a 50% water change tonight and added RidIch.  I'm gradually
> increasing their temp (I plant to get it up to 87 or 88 and keep it
> there for the duration of the ich treatment).   My question is this:
> On the ridich bottle, the instructions say to treat water every day
> after a 25% water change, but the instructions here
> ( http://www.thekrib.com/Diseases/ich.html) say to treat every 3-4 days
> with a 50% water change.  Which is better?
>
> The four otocinclus (the only other fish I currently have) are in the
> second 12 gallon tank and as they show no signs of being sick, they're
> not getting treated. Likely treatment would kill them and they may die
> anyway, as they're refusing algae tablets and the 12 gallon has no
> algae in it.
>
> I know this is terribly long...I hope some folks managed to stick with
> me and will forgive me for obvious questions.  I'm going to try to
> make it to the next meeting (the 10th, Seattle university, right?)
>
> Thanks!
> Alex
>
> There's no longer room in my bedroom for the bed, so a loft bed is now
> in the making.  I'm overrun by the 75 gallon tank!
>
>
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