Do you treat the water at prior to WC or age it? Also are you on well water or city water? Just wondering if your water source has a contaminate of some kind?

Hmm, somehow I missed this question!

I don't treat the water before changing the water, I just age it for 24 h. I'm on city water. I'm an environmental scientist, so I always scrutinize the water quality report when it comes out. Denver Water is always below the MCL for all contaminants, including atrazine and other pesticides. Of course, fish are much more sensitive to chemicals in water than humans are.

I was actually coming here to report success with my algae problem! I had been wanting to get a SAE, but my LFS didn't have one, so I "settled for" a bushynose pleco. Holy cow, she's eaten all the algae off my amazon sword and my driftwood! I also bought some flourish excel, so that in combination with the algae eater has cleared the algae off my plants! I'm so happy!

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Elly

I know this thread hasn't been updated in a while. Don't forget to feed the algae eater once in a while. I use algae wafers, and a slice of cucumber about once a week.

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do not pretend conclusions are certain that are not demonstrated or demonstrable.

That's okay. Life gets busy and I don't update this thread very often.

I did start to feed my pleco once the prodigious amount of algae was gone. I've got algae wafers, but she really enjoys produce. I give her boiled greens or zucchini, fresh from our organic CSA share. She's the luckiest pleco I know.

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Elly

Yea i just discovered that my Pleco loves cucumbers. He refuses to eat unless no one is watching though!

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do not pretend conclusions are certain that are not demonstrated or demonstrable.

Well, all is well with my tank. I'm extremely pleased that all the plants in there are real. The fish are thriving. I've got some hard algae on the back wall, but I've just dialed back on feeding my pleco to "make" her eat that stuff. I see her back there every so often, so hopefully it works.

I've noticed that the tiny snails I've been tolerating (only a handful) seem to have gotten more plentiful. They seem to like my Marimo ball, so I think I'll just pluck them off that thing when I change the water.

I have noticed a slowing of the plant growth now that it's winter. I do want to get some short grass for the foreground, but maybe I'll wait until it's warmer. Even though I have a heater, and it's in an acceptable range, the water temperature does fluctuate a bit with the seasons.

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Elly

I can't believe it's been 2 years since I started my aquarium! I think I'm going to finally bite the bullet and change the substrate from gravel to flourite. I think it will be better for the plants.

I'll try to take pictures to track the progress. Should be interesting.

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Elly

yeah plants will like you better using that substrate..easier to plant also..

Rick

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POWER to the FISHIES

Finally switched the substrate today! It took a while to find a new base I liked and then assemble it and then wash the sand, etc.

There still is considerable cloudiness. Waiting for it to settle before I put the fish and plants back in there.

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Elly