Recent content by gmartins

Thanks. Yes I am running a CO2 reactor inside the cabinet. I did not use a heat mat. No need here where I live. Humidity is naturally high in the Azores. Yet, I used cling film with some openings to allow the exchange of air and thus prevent mould. By the way, the tank is still up and should...

These are some data I got. The source lights are two 18W PCs... it's different but it should illustrate the point. cheers GM

Only 1-word: Fantastic!!!!

red-cherry, otocinclus sp., and 6 celestial pearls are in (they went in on different times) all looks good. Plant growth is moderate as I wanted. No algae. the pearls are still very shy though. They only come out to play when we are not in room or some metres away. I hope they are getting the...

I am not saying that they compete or that this should be the path. I use EI myself. I am just saying what is the ecological definition. If one uses EI it is impossible to have competition for nutrients as they are, by definition, non-limiting. If we were to use distilled water with no...

By definition, competition exists when two or more species use the same resource (e.g. space, nutrient, light,...) and that resource is limiting. If there is no limitation, there is no competition. The names have changed but the basics are still the same.

Excel kills everything but its effect is dosage-dependent (like any poison). too much and you kill algae, plants and animals.

Actually I disagree. ;) Plants and algae share the same resources for the most part: light, co2, nutrients. They probably require different amounts of each, but they do use the same resources. It's just that algae and plants have two very different ecological strategies. Algae have an...

I used a tile of basalt I had access to but any rock will do. Just drill a hole on it and use a screw driver to attach it to the wood.

it looks like basalt to me. even the melting bit seems to point to a igneous rock such as basalt.

I can access all sorts of lava / basalt of all shapes, sizes, smooth or textured, red or black, with or without olivines, with or without volcanic glass, etc... here (azores)... the problem is that it's the only thing you'll find around here... and you know what they say, we always want what we...

I will answer with pictures Was enough to keep it down since the very beggining.

My view of using UV in saltwater was that it induced a somewhat controlled reduction in zooxanthelid algae living in the corals resulting in colour enhancement. So they are actually deliberating causing "harm" to the corals (less algae, less food)... but I might be wrong here...

Yes I hope the trim helps the transition. Let's see how the plants react. They have been emerged for nearly 3 months so they were well adapted and had developed a strong root system (visible on the side and back glasses). I am using the empty 1-2 grow pot to grow glosso emerged. Thanks...

Gave it a trim to get rid of some of the emerged growth Before After And a few more