I've been looking at all the substrates that I can find information on and have read several articles on Amano's aquarium artisanship. I'm just looking for some opinions here. Are his sands and soils worth the price? I took a look to see what it would cost to supply a 30 G tank--2-6 L bags of Power ...

I know this is an old post, almost 2 months old, but if you haven't gotten rid of all the Taiwan moss in your tank and are still offering it, then I'd be happy to take a few small patches of it. Let me know if you have any.

Thanks for the advice. I'll use the economical CO2 refill for my Nutrafin system and purchase a tank setup in January for my 30 g. I was looking at a setup that someone mentioned on the forum from the Aquarium Supply Store. Their combo setup, on sale for $179.99, from Milwaukee includes: # 1 sms 122...

More newbie questions. I purchased a Nutrafin CO2 canister and set it up with my 12 gallon tank. It's working perfectly, but I'm wondering if there's a danger that it may produce more CO2 than is safe. For instance, I stood and watched and over a 10 minute period 5 bubbles appeared, that's approxima...

I have a tank in which I was experiencing a problem with spiking amonia levels. Even with 50% water changes every other day and careful monitoring of chemistry I wasn't able to bring the levels down. I had just three Java ferns, one large and two small. The substrate was small gravel and there were ...

I don't have any rocks in the tank, but I am going to add a couple. I'm getting ready to add several plants and a couple of rocks this week. Will they effect the phosphate levels?

Here's what I know about my water chemistry. Out of the tap phosphates are only trace, almost zero. I run off well water, fed by deep artesian source. pH is high, between 7.5 and 8 so I use Seachem non-phosphate buffer to bring it down to 7. I always prepare my water before adding it to the tank, me...

Sorry, I can't attend the meeting tomorrow. I have plans already. Perhaps by the time I attend my first meeting (maybe in January) my new 30 gallon tank will be set up and I'll have something to share. Have a great time everybody!

I've been devouring a couple of books on aquarium plants but recently I spoke with someone who runs a business in it and he was insistent that phosphates are an important consideration in raising healthy plants. He considered 3ppm a goal amount. I haven't read anything about that elsewhere, but foun...

Thanks for all the encouragement. For a moment I was thinking I'd jumped in to the deep end of the aquarium! It's good to know that my rudimentry questions are welcome.