Recent content by ruud

Algae = light intensity + organics. Constantly diluting water to keep organics at bay is too much work (for me), hence I choose to reduce the light intensity. The primary function of aquarium light is to satisfy the owner. How much intensity do you really need? do you need it to light the...

I treat the whole tank as "filter media" and run my filters without filter media just to get water moving through the tank, like a "powerhead lite". I never clean my tanks, so that is my answer to your question.

The plant on the left, I assume you only put it there recently...

Looks like Rhabdocoela. To a lot of small fish, a glass covered with these worms is a buffet. Harmeless to pleco's.

I just gave an example, it doesn't matter if the tank is 10 gal, 50 or 300.... The difference between a medicine and a biohazard is not the compound itself but oftentimes concentration (of the same compound). I'm pretty sure your tank has cycling capacity after a 100 days in the presence of...

If some decay has been present during those 100 days and conditions have been kept more or less stable, in terms of water sources, additives (or without), etc, and some water movement is in place, then I would assume your tank looks and feels different than it did from day one; aquarium glass on...

Any light that can be dimmed, ideally different intensities for different times during the day; this way you can deliver some light in the morning for plants, while keeping it ultra dim in the evenings; this way, you can enjoy your tank in the evenings without disturbing biology. Recommended...

We always apply a single number for the pH in a tank, but in reality, pH varies very locally, also in nano tanks, and plants actively manipulate it in their near surrounding. And I'm not suggesting in the range of .1 or .2 but much more extreme.

If you never clean your substrate, it will turn darker over time. Water and debris move through the sand continuously, albeit slowly. If you have wood, botanicals and plants, the darkening goes a lot quicker. Bubbles might escape from the sand substrate if you would disturb it, which can be CO2...

csm+b - yes, a common mix EDDHA .... 0.1 ppm target ....common number, but I find iron overestimated; chemically it is a bit of a troublesome element, but that's about it. Even is precipitated and complexed in substrate, I assume microbes are able to make it bioavailable again for plant roots...

Certainly not. Slow growth is not the same as poor health. A plant can be healthy, well-colored and structurally sound without putting on large amounts of new biomass. Simply reduce the light intensity. But for red pigments, you want to push the intensity of course. I think most will argue to...

Your red plants already look red, correct? The issue is algae/BBA, correct? Under high light, algae seem to correlate strongly with weak plants, debris, organics. Weak plants correlate with high light and low CO2 or with fluctuating CO2 levels during the light period, or perhaps with a...

You can measure the presence of a mineral in water, but you cannot measure the amount stored in tissue or complexed in substrate, unless you work with tracers and destructive tissue analysis. Hence the best instrument by far is the human eye. Managing plant food can be a challenge in high...

I think there are two parts to this. The typical sewer-ish particles blown out of a filter after an intervention. Happens to anyone. And the haziness, which has two typical causes: - dissolved organics hosting microbes which scatter the light, typical of heavily stocked tanks - suspended...

And you'll be getting them here as well. It is always best to season a tank first for about a month. From there on, take a direction. But regardless, it is always about concentration. The different between toxic and medicine (or food) is 'concentration'. A betta weights a few grams. Your tank...