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Old 02-10-2012, 09:12 AM   #316
htismaqe htismaqe is offline
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Originally Posted by Silock View Post
Wow, amazing to see how small my plants were before the CO2 system went up and the lighting got better. They're growing like crazy now.
Yeah, the downside is that you'll soon be wishing they WEREN'T growing like crazy. That's the one drawback of live plants - you can never just leave them like plastic ones. They'll eventually need to be pruned so that you can start the growth process all over again.

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Originally Posted by Silock View Post
I thought that the meds killed off my biofilter, as I got a pretty big ammonia spike a couple of days ago, but it's back to normal today. Nitrites are still an issue.
Keep in mind the nitrites are also poisonous to your fish. Prime detoxifies nitrite just like ammonia so you may want to consider continuing to use it until both ammonia and nitrite reaches 0ppm.

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Originally Posted by Silock View Post
But, since the meds were stopped, I had to change the filter media. So, it's got fresh media, and I did a 90% water change. I ordered an active Mag Sponge filter from Angelsplus, as they've gotten superb reviews. From all accounts, they fully populate the tank within a couple of days with all the needed bacteria. I'm hoping this finally solves my cycling issue.
Another 90% water change? That's too much but I think we've said that before.

I'm not familiar with the Mag Sponge - is it "seeded" with nitrifying bacteria then? Most of these products have limited use unless they're refrigerated. Seachem Stability is one of the notable exceptions but Stability is also not true nitrifying bacteria. It's more of a bandaid than a "cure".

That being said, I cannot say enough good about sponge filters in general. Sponge filters, in general, hold 10-20 TIMES the amount of nitrifying bacteria as traditional floss filters. In fact, you can run a 10-20G tank completely off of a single sponge filter as long as you don't mind that they're not great mechanical filters. I STRONGLY recommend sponge filters, they're awesome.

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Originally Posted by Silock View Post
Removed the fake deadwood. Replaced it with real deadwood. The fake is going in the new 30 gallon tank. Not going to do a cichlid tank, after all. Going to do a larger 30g planted tank, with dwarf hairgrass carpeting. That should look great. Plants I can apparently do very well. Fish . . . well, it's a work in progress.
Good luck with the hairgrass. I never could keep it planted using Seachem Flourite. I think you really need to use finer substrate or even sand to keep it from just floating away.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Silock View Post
I saved the mystery snail, but it must have been pregnant when I brought it home. Ever since he got into the tank, I've had an explosion of snails. I thought the Ich meds would have killed them off, but apparently not. I had the mystery snail in quarantine, and when I went to put it back in the main tank, I saw it was covered in snail eggs. I removed them from the snail, and got as many eggs out of the tank as I could find. I know I missed some, though. Might have to buy a loach to take care of the snails.
Have any of the eggs hatched? Mystery snails are not hermaphroditic so they can't just reproduce like other snails. It's much more likely that your brought in common pond snails on your plants. Yes, the Ich meds should have have killed them but I have seen pond snails survive a dip in 25% bleach solution. I've found they're nearly impossible to get rid of so I just thin them out occasionally using a trap I fashioned from a clear plastic salt shaker. Honestly, a few snails are a good thing - they really keep the algae down. You just don't want too many because they are poop machines.
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