I'm glad to here that all is going well with your new tank, sorry bout your shark though..

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10gal freshwater tank:
(upgrading to a 29gal tank soon)
2 platies
2 fancy guppies
1 BN albino algae eater
1 ghost shrimp

0.5gal tank:

1 Male Betta

Next addition to the tank is putting the canister filter on it. I should probably post a thread in DIY for that. The filter is a commercial unit, Magnum 350, but I am building the intake and return for the tank. If I put CO2 on this tank I may inject it into the intake for the filter......more to come later.

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"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15. "-Ronald Reagan

nice. I loved what co2 did to my tank. I never ran it to my intake, so i don't know how well that works. My fear is that it could mess up the filter motor or the syphoning. I think that most of the in line style set ups that I've seem used a co2 reactor on the return side of the filter. I would try it and see what happens. Also, I thought the bubble counters and solenoids were a waste of money. with a drop checker you can constantly monitor your co2 levels and set the co2 injection such that there aren't high ph swings when leaving the co2 on 24/7. In the morning my checker was green but on the yellow side. At night the checker was green but on the blue side. CO2 opens some doors on what types of plants you can keep, but you'll also need a good fertilizer schedule, and some good algea eaters. Good luck.

Oh I know where to buy good co2 equipment. As far as co2 cylinders (which I hope you plan to use rather than diy) there is a beverage company online that has the best prices i've ever seen on bottles. They are brand new aluminum hydrotested bottles. This was the best deal I ever found for 5lb bottles. I later upgraded to a 20 lb bottle which was cheaper through the place that I got my co2 refilled at. Anyway, here it is
Co2 & Nitrogen Air Tanks | BeverageFactory.com

As far as regulators I used ebay and bought a package with the aquatek regulator, needle valve, bubble counter, and solenoid. The regulator worked great. I never had any end of tank dump issues or any thing else. Since i didn't need the bubble counter or solenoid, I sold those to someone who thought that they needed them (I told them they didn't need them, but they insisted).

I used ebay for the drop checker and 4 dkh solution as well.

The co2 line and check valves i got from here. This place also had decent prices on the reactors. However, a diy reactor would work just as well.
Clippard Check Valve | Green Leaf Aquariums

as far as ferts. i suggest EI (estimative index) dosing.
This is where i got my ferts...
Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Home

this is the EI dosing schedule...
Welcome To The UK Aquatic Plant Society - The Estimative Index (EI)

What I did was do some math and come up with a mix of dry ferts and distilled water to mix in old prime bottles so that I could dose a capful or 2 each time I needed. What I ended up with was a solution that used 4 cafuls of micros everyother day, 4 capfulls of macros everyother day, and 4 capfulls of GHbooster/ iron chelate once a week in a 55 gallon tank. I labeled each bottle with the recipes so that it was easy to duplicate. The reason prime bottles worked well is because they were handy and they don't let a lot of light in. I forget which solution... macros or micros.. had a tendency to mold if not refridgerated. However, when using the prime bottles i didn't need to refridgerate.

As far as algea eaters, well, with co2 and fertilizing you get a number of different algeas that show up for different reasons. So, it's good to have the right fish for each occasion. I had ottos, bristlenose, and Siamese algea eaters (true SAEs). here's a guide on algeas. Some of the listing mention a fish that eat it, however i think that with the 3 I mentioned above, that you will cover all of your potential algea problems. This is however a great guide.
James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide

Well good luck again. ADMINS feel free to sticky this if you want.

MasRobert9,

Thanks for all the information. As far as hard water goes I have got it. Almost off the scale for gh and kh usually.

Could you elaborate on the micro and macro side of the fertilizers. This is the first time for me going with live plants and I am still learning.

I have always thought that a tank can be balanced between fish load and plant to create a system that the fish produce the CO2 and the plants replenish the O2 without having to fertilize. I am hoping to find that balance. The problem I see is fish type. If the fish are not using the plants for carbon intake(food) I must feed them which introduces more carbons that the plants will use to grow. I suppose the only solution is to remove carbon from the system by pruning and removing plant matter.

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"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15. "-Ronald Reagan

do shrimp eat algae?

ive seen saltwater shrimp eat algae

I have a freshwater shrimp that does a pretty good job at keeping the algae cleaned up

__________________
10gal freshwater tank:
(upgrading to a 29gal tank soon)
2 platies
2 fancy guppies
1 BN albino algae eater
1 ghost shrimp

0.5gal tank:

1 Male Betta

macro are the macro nutrients that the plant needs most of... NPK. Which is nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. There is a dosing called EI natural which refers to the fish providing all the nutrients for the plants or something along those lines. I think it'd be a good read. As long as you don't use 2.5 - 3 watts per gallon I would think EI natural might work. I'm really not an expert on EI natural, however I know that if you use high wattage lights on you plants then you need to give your plants a lot of nutrients and co2. The way I think of high wattage lighting is the wattage of light is like a person's pace. Low light= walking, high light= running, co2 to plants= oxygen to the person. Since plant photosynthesis is driven by light the plant is forced to work more when wattage is more. When a person walks they can breathe normally and maintain a normal moderate diet, however when a person goes running everyday they consume more oxygen and tend to consume more food (nutrients). So, same with the plants. If they work more then they consume more. If you don't provide enough nutrients then your plant can become thin, begin to wilt, and have less intense coloring.

I haven't changed anything with the tank yet. I am wanting things to come to a balance of their own. The anacharis is growing, the anubias seems to be putting on new leaves, the micro sword is hard to tell-I suspect it is a slow grower, but haven't researched that yet.

A bit of brown algae is starting to grow on the plants and sides of the tank. I have cleaned it from the leaves of everything by rubbing with my fingers and using a magnetic cleaner on the glass. It removes easily so not a big problem. I am still waiting for things to get a good root system before adding a bristle nose plecostemus.

The one that used to reside in this tank is in one of the girls 10g tank that was covered with algae. I let it go knowing I would do this so I could see just how good they work. The kids and wife are amazed at how fast the pleco cleaned the tank. The wife and girls both asked if I had cleaned the glass!

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"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15. "-Ronald Reagan

Well, I put the new intake and return in the tank and have the magnum 350 running on it. I have carbon in the cartridge now just in case the paint leaches any chemical.

On a side note, I lost a gourami. I think the other one beat him up. I had two males and they fought often. I noticed him acting a bit sluggish so I put him in the quarantine tank. He seemed to be getting better after a few hours, but the next morning he was dead.

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"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15. "-Ronald Reagan

thats sucks sorry.

yeah bn's are pretty great. I hear red lizard cats are pretty good too. sorry about your gourami

The canister filter is doing a fine job, however I keep getting a film on the water surface. I just run a HOB filter without a cartridge in it overnight and it is gone for a couple days. I think I may need to build a skimmer type intake for the Magnum 350 canister.

I obviously need more plants as the algae has started to grow well. I knew this when I started planting. When my schedule allows I will get more. All the plants seem to be doing well without CO2. The Anacharis is sprouting new shoots, the micro sword has new growth, and the banana lily has new leaves. I have started cutting back on lighting time to slow the algae. I do have to rub the leaves of the plants weekly or so to remove some brown algae that seems to like the plants.

Thanks to all who have posted and given advice, suggestions, and encouragement.

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"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15. "-Ronald Reagan

with most planted tanks in the early stages you will have algea that blooms. This is because the plants haven't learned how to take in all the available nutrients. However then plants will eventually (somewhere between a few weeks and a month) learn how to consume more nutrients. Unfortunelty there is a limit on what they can consume and that limit is based on several factors. So, if in a few weeks or month your algea is still thriving, then you know that something needs to be done to remove the excess nutrients.
Water changes will help but won't usually take care of it on its own. That's because with a 20% water change you only get rid of 20% of the excess nutrients. Another option is to add more plants. You can also increase the co2 (which is a suggested cure for many types of algea). Reducing the light will help the algea to quit growing, but won't actually reduce the amount of excess nutrients. However increasing the light (which would require adequate co2 concentrations) would drive the plants to consume more nutrients. Also, you can allow some of the algea to remain. I have done that effectively.
I kept a convict tank that I wanted to be low maintenance and I liked (still do) the look of algea covered rocks. It looked natural to me. So as the algea grew, I scrapped it off of the front and side glass and rubbed it off of the plants (when i had plants). I allowed it to continue growing on the back glass and the rocks. Eventually, the tank stablized in such a way that no new algea would grow, I had no nitrate problems, and i was able to leave the light on for 14 -16 hours if i chose to.
I think I posted this link before, but here is a great algea guide...
James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide

oh yeah, the film on the top of tank isn't real bad. It's actually kind of benificial. That film occurs because of the lack of surface aggitation. I'm sure you knew that. However, in a planted tank surface aggitation isn't usually a good thing. Well, the surface aggitation allows for oxygen to transfer into the water and it releases co2 from the water. So, if your fish are looking like they are suffocating without the surface aggitation, then then surface aggitation is good (at least temporarily), if the fish are breathing fine without the surface aggitation, then having a still surface will benifit the plants. As you probably know, they more co2 the plants consume the more oxygen they can produce. So, in essence, in a well planted tank, there is no need for surface aggitation other than aesthitics. In that case you can get a surface skimming attachment for your canister like the Tom Aquatic Surface Skimmer...
Tom Aquatics Aquarium Surface Skimmer
You may be able to find a better price, I didn't really look at prices.

After all this time, the plants are doing well. The Anubias Nana is doing great. The micro sword and cryptocoryne wendtii are spreading and filling in. I have lost a few more fish.

Green algae tried to take over, but things have started to come to a balance and the algae has become less and less.

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"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15. "-Ronald Reagan