Recent content by lilirose

This looks exactly like trimmings from Rotala rotundifolia 'Orange Juice'.

I would not recommend removing the soggy ones, that's new growth. I usually throw handfuls of it away every week, because when it's happy, it grows like crazy- you don't have to do anything for it other than remove some when it threatens to take over your tank.

Your Red Root Floaters are doing beautifully. I can tell because of the long red roots in your first photo at the top of the thread- if they are melting/dying, the roots turn dark brown/black, shrivel, and finally fall off. They don't grow lovely and long and red as shown in your photo. Some of...

Looks like you've already seperated them, so you could get some airline and two suction cups for airline, and use the airline to divide the top of the tank with the suction cups holding it in place. Then you can have one on one side and one on the other, permanently.

Yes- the waiting will be much easier this year because I already have four gorgeous tanks to stare at! I actually plan to let the plants grow in for quite a while before I add fish or shrimp.

I know that many professional shrimp keepers use an ordinary food dehydrator for this- though you'd need to do it outdoors if you're using something that stinks in it. I can't say for sure if this will work for fish, but I also can't see why it wouldn't- it works beautifully for shrimp food.

Just as an offhand anecdote, I fishless cycled four tanks last summer. One of them cycled in three weeks- I'm pretty sure people on this forum told me this was probably impossible when I mentioned it, but the tank has been heavily stocked for a year now with no issues. Another cycled in about...

The beneficial bacteria live in the filter, not in the water. Mixing purified water with hard tap water will not affect them negatively. However, if you go that route, you will need to make sure the water is well aerated, as both distilled and RO water are stripped of literally everything...

I finally got the time to do the "weekly" water change on my 90 liter tank. I intended to do it last Tuesday but this has been a really rough week in my house and I just didn't have the time or energy. While I was doing the water change, I blasted the BBA that's trying to overgrow the Christmas...

My shrimp love blanched stinging nettles from my yard and cooked frozen green beans split open so they can get the soft insides. Other vegetables don't seem to excite them very much.

I looked at your old post- if you still have a 10 gallon tank stocked with goldfish, a common pleco, and a loach, then overstocking is probably the problem. Chasing the ideal numbers according to your test kit really won't help. You need a bigger tank or different fish.

Water lettuce comes in a dwarf variety, though IMO it doesn't look all that much like the regular version from above- it has similar root structure, though. You could try finding it from an online shop or Ebay if you can't buy it locally.

Why do you feel it needs to be higher than that? If you are keeping some kind of hard water fish like African Cichlids, you could try using a remineraliser like Seachem Alakline Buffer, but that will also raise your pH, which could be a problem. Most fish will do fine with a KH above 35 or so...

I recommend avoiding products like pH Down- as you have seen, especially in small tanks, it will cause the pH to bounce all over the place. It's better to have a stable high pH than it is to constantly chase a lower number using chemicals. Is the high pH caused by hard water? If so, then you're...

Please note that I haven't actually tried the plastic container trick myself, though I plan to with one of the tanks I am in the process of setting up for Caridina shrimp (probably Crystal Reds, or Blue Bolts if I can get any, they are rare where I live). However I plan to use Akadama bonsai...