# Zzzzzzz.



## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Uh, since everyone is doing this I guess I'll join in. 

I'll just be posting fish related stuff/daily life stuff since it doesn't really fit into my tumblr or my personal blog, heh. I hope some people will actually read this. 

So today, after school I went to eat chicken wing with a few of my friends, it's a weekly tradition, Brewsters has $0.35 per wing every Tuesday, heh, we ate about 80 wings in total.

After that I decided to go my nearest pet store, PJ's Pets. They had more new Bettas in, I saw two Super Deltas, one boy was a metallic black one and the other was a blue with white wash, he was so pretty. I also saw a pearl double tail, I resisted buying the fish, they were kept in poor condition and I didn't want to support my LPS. They also had a recent batch of Crowntails, so pretty, there was a red big one, flaring away. 

As usual I saw a couple of dead boys in their cups. :T Half dying ones too. . . They had tons of Albino Julii Cories though, when I get my 20g I'll get some. . . They're so cute. They also had nice looking plants too, but they were so expensive, $7.99 for each, ack.

Heh, at least this time I walked out of there without buying anything. I have a strong will!


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## xjenuhfur (Jan 30, 2012)

I have the hardest time walking out empty handed at a pet stores.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I've always wondered what the point is in an albino version of a spotted cory cat. My LFS has albino Sterbai cory cats and without their spots/lines, they look exactly like albino bronze cory cats.  Ah, but albino or not, a cory cat is pretty irresistable, eh?


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## shadowpony (Apr 15, 2012)

Sakura8 said:


> I've always wondered what the point is in an albino version of a spotted cory cat. My LFS has albino Sterbai cory cats and without their spots/lines, they look exactly like albino bronze cory cats.  Ah, but albino or not, a cory cat is pretty irresistable, eh?


Maybe so they can make the cory more exspensive. Fishy marketing skills?


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Haha, could be.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Heh, I made a mistake, I saw albino bronze cories. My bad. Got bronze and Julii cories mixed up.

Anyways went to my LPS today again, I'll probably go once every week now. No new Bettas, except for one. They got a dumbo plakat boy, so beautiful, but so expensive too, $54. . . Eeek. I've also been keeping my eyes on this white super delta I believe, he might be silver with a little bit of cellophane, I dunno, I'm bad when it comes to all the fancy finnage and colors for Bettas. He's been there ever since I bought my plakat, I feel bad for him. 

Other than that, starting my NPT soon, I hope! Just need for my boyfriend's car to arrive and we're good to go, so gotta be patient myself. 

Here are some pictures!

Here's the dumbo plakat boy.










And here's that Betta I've been staring at for a couple of weeks.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

They're both so beautiful but $54? Yiiiikes! And poor SD boy. I hope he finds a good home soon.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Yeah Sakura, the SD boy is still there, I went to the store AGAIN today (I have an addiction~), and he's still there, the Dumbo boy is not though, someone bought him already! My friend who came with me, really liked the SD boy, if he's still there and alive in a few weeks I might just pick him up. 

But there's a new arrival at the store, a double tail, he's metallic silver and baby blue fins, very lovely. But he had a problem, has severe hunchback, and probably bloating, the guy could barely flare. c: 

Other than that, just more dead fish in the store. But they have a Honey Gourami in stock they're actually really pretty, actually doing a bit of research right now, I might get one for my 10g when I start the NPT project. Wooo~


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

So today I went to my LPS with my boyfriend, I keep going there, I'm pretty sure everyone knows me there. But! Big things happened!

First off, my new tank! It's a secondhand Fluval Edge! It's in almost perfect condition only problem I could see is a scratch. But it's not that bad, anyways, the Fluval Edge here costs around $110, with the LED lights that you have to buy its another $35! But it all costed me $30! I'm picking it on Thursday! I might put my SD male in it and get a new Betta. Teehee. 

Second of all they had a sale on Water Wisteria! They were $5 for a bunch, so happy to finally get some floating plants, two bunches covered all my tanks, need one more bunch to completely fill the 10g. Also they just got a shipment of Gouramis, I might get that for my Edge instead. Anyone know if I can house a Gourami happily in a 6g? Other than that, nothing much, I'll have to sneak that Edge in. Can't let my mother find out. 

Also going on Wednesday to buy some organic potting soil, and some sand to cap the soil. Can't wait!


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

No gourami for 6 gallons.
You could look into badis (scarlett badis are gorgeous). May be hard to come by and they are picky eaters, but it's the only pretty fish for small tanks other than betta.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

I thought so, I really want one badly. );

I'll have to wait till I get my 20g long and free up my 10g then. It might be awhile. Hope they'll stay there for awhile. >:c

I want my gourami!


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Woohooo! Good deal, Micho!

EDIT: A pair of honey gouramis might work. They stay pretty small.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

I'll consider the Honey Gouramis Sakura!  The LPS I went to had a lot of different types of Gourami but I didn't see any Honeys. 

I've been looking at several species of fish, I dunno if my LFS carries them anymore but, I remember they had some Dwarf Puffers, so I might actually go for them. Only problem is I dunno how I'm going to keep coming up with endless supplies of snails for them to eat.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

I think a pair is too much for 6 gallons, they are territorial. One male would be okay.
For the puffers, just take some snails, put in jar, add food source and voila!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

I do have huge pickle jars (they hold around a gallon), meh I might just get a Honey Gourami, less trouble. 

I believe my LPS marked them as "Sunset Honey Gourami" wonder of they still have him. c:


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

While I'm at it today I'll upload pictures of my current tanks and describe them, hehe showing off essentially. :3










This is my 10 gallon, it's decently planted, there's some swords (yeah the swords aren't doing well, I know, once I change this into a NPT that'll change for sure), recently got some water wisteria to float in all my tanks, lots of Moneywort, got two moss balls, some onion plant didn't think they would do so well growing like mad, along with that lovely piece of driftwood with Anubias on it as the centerpiece. It's stocked with some Rummynose Tetras, that one Balloon Molly, and with my Metallic Plakat boy. My future with this tank is to convert it into a NPT, which I will later this week. If I ever get my bigger tank, I'll transfer the Tetras and the Molly. Leaving my Betta, then getting roughly around 10 Pygmy Cories and it'll just be the Cories and him. 










This is my 2 gallon Fluval Spec. Originally home for my other Betta, it's now a RCS tank. You can't really see them. Tons of java moss and Christmas moss, along with java fern attached to a piece of driftwood. More water wisteria floating again! This tank will get untouched it'll remain as a RCS tank, planning on adding around 5 more RCS in the tank. 










My 2.5 gallon for my SD boy. Loads of Crypts, they do very well under the LED lighting. Gonna change this into a NPT, just full of Crypts! 

I would take a picture of my new Fluval Edge, but, I haven't set it up yet. 

So there you go these are my tanks. ;D


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

They're all beautiful, Micho! Your plants are doing so well.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Thank Sakura, wish the swords would do better but they're turning brown and dying, bleh.

Anyways, went to my LPS and took a shot of what I think are Honey Gouramis, they were moving so actively so this was the best shot, circled ones are "Honey Gouramis", there's like a tiny one there also, if these are really Honeys I'm gonna get the tiny fella. They lived with some Bronze Cories and Dwarf Gouramis.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

That's what my honey looks like, just not as pretty. Mine are definitely honey colored.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

I'm scared I'll be buying something that'll outgrow or get stunned in growth in my Edge. So I need to be 100% sure that they're Honeys, why do people make things so complicated, cannot trust my LPS.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Even a dwarf gourami will only get 3 inches so it won't outgrow the Edge or get stunted. As Olympia said though, it might get territorial.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Gouramis are social beings right? So they'll need a pair in order to thrive? Or can one do just fine on it's own like Bettas?


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I think one can do fine on its own. I read that honey gouramis like to be in pairs but it has to be male/female or the males will get territorial.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

In that case I might just get a Dwarf Gourami, or will he be too big? They're only 1 inch bigger than the Honeys, the reason why is that pretty sure there's no females for the Honeys or I'll be more than happy to snatch up a pair. 

I should look at my LFS before buying the Honeys anyways, I might find that they might have Honey Gouramis in stock too. c:


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Pitluvs has (or had) just one dwarf gourami and it seemed to do okay. Most stores only stock the males because they're prettier.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

You'd be hard pressed to find females of either type.. 
Think of gourami almost like a peaceful betta.. It's totally fine on it's own, or with some females, but 2 males need enough room to have their own territories.
Dwarf gourami are really active, which is why I say they need more space, but if you got one by mistake I'm sure it'd be fine.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Hrm, where do I even begin.

So yesterday I went to Home Depot, I found MiracleGro Organic Choice Potting Mix and Quikrete Playsand, took awhile though. Went to my LFS, they had really good plants in for a cheap price, got two bundles of Crypts for $5 (should have bought more), got some Camboda, along with an Anubias. Along with that buy I stupidly made the choice to buy more fish, I got more Pygmy Cories to bump up then numbers, along with a Dwarf Gourami to put in my new Fluval Edge. I tried to look for a pair of Honey Gouramis but they only had males so I made the choice for the Dwarf.

Here's the bad part now, I starting converting my 10g into a NPT, it was easy enough, getting the gravel out was really annoying so I just dumped it all into the backyard. I got my soil and put too much in there, around 2 inches or so, here's the thing though I didn't cap it enough with the sand. So while I was filling my tank up the sand got moved because the current was too strong, and I was even using a siphon to siphon in the water, so therefore the soil got exposed. I tried my best and covered the spots with more sand where the soil was noticeable, and after quickly planting, and filling up the whole tank, it became a mess. 

I had to put my fish in because they were getting cold in the bucket and I had nowhere else to put them, big mistake. I could see they were gasping, and I quickly reacted with doing 2 50% water changes right away, no luck the water was still was cloudy and they were still gasping for their lives. I didn't know what to do so I pumped more water conditioner into there and tested the water parameters everything came up as 0, so I just assumed that they were settling in. 

Then I started on my Edge, this was less troublesome, I capped the soil with a lot of sand, but some soil still got exposed but not as much as my 10g. Planted it with lots of Crypts, Camboda and the Anubias. Acclimated my new Gourami buddy, and I could also see that he was gasping a bit, but not that much, did a 50% water change and hope to God he would calm down. 

Woke up this morning and went to check on my tanks, my 10g two of my Rummynose have died, along with a Pygmy Cory. I was really saddened, these fish had died because of me being impatient. I had to run because of dance practice, when I came back one more Pygmy Cory was dead along with this White Cloud Minnow I had that my friend gave me. I did two more 50% water changes on the 10g and the water is now clearer but still cloudy, I'm glad that my Plakat boy didn't die. The Gourami is still alive though, which I really hoped for. I did a 60% water change on the Edge, and the water is now clearer too. 

Now I'm scared to change my 2.5g into a NPT. I might do it tomorrow and do it slowly and cap it with tons of sand. Sigh, I dunno.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I'm sorry, Micho, but don't be so hard on yourself. One time when I tore my NPT down to remove the soil, I forgot to put dechlorinator in the emergency holding tank for the fish. By the end of the day, I lost 7 fish, including cories, rummynoses, and neons. These things happen to every hobbyist. We all make mistakes.

I found that when working with soil and sand, the best way to put water in is to place a plastic ziplock bag flat on the surface. It needs to be a pretty big bag, like a gallon/quart size. Then slowly pour the water in over the bag. It keeps the water pressure from dislodging so many things. 

If the water gets really cloudy after a change, one thing you can do aside from another water change is to put an airstone in. The fish are gasping because they need oxygen and the airstone will help with that.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

It isn't safe to stock immediately with soil based tanks, they usually give off incredibly high ammonia readings for a couple weeks. I've heard some bad things about soil tanks so I'll never try one, especially with sensitive species. :/
That really sucks. Poor fish. I lost my pygmy cory too (though I think he died of lonliness- could never find more).


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Thanks Sakura. 

The ziplock back trick is a nice one, I shall remember that, probably will use it tomorrow with my 2.5g. To be honest I thought they were gasping because of the soil being exposed and making the water toxic. Which is why I did the 2 50% water changes, sigh. I just went to check on the tanks, everything seems fine now the deaths have stopped I hope. I'm about to go around with a chopstick and start poking at the soil to aerate it since I have no MTS. 

Yeah Olympia, soil based tanks can give off lots of ammonia during the first week or so, but I've been testing my water and there's no ammonia reading, I guess the plants are doing their jobs and soaking up all that ammonia up. I think the cause of death was simply because of shock and lack of oxygen. I think I didn't acclimate the fish correctly and dumped them in too quickly. 

Right now I'm sitting at 4 Rummynose Tetras, 6 Pygmy Cories, 1 Balloon Molly, and my Plakat boy. I'm considering on how to re-stock this tank. Before I got my Tetras I didn't know about water hardness, and my water is quite hard, so I'm wondering if I should wait for the Tetras to die out first and get some other type of fish or add more to make a proper shoal. 

Along with this issue, my sister doesn't like the fact that my RCS tank has just RCS, so I might have to house a Betta in it so that there's an actual fish in it. So many issues.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Here's another update on my tanks with pictures!

So only two of my tanks are NPTs now, the 2.5g and the 10g, reason behind this is because well, remember the Crypts I bought? Yeah they kinda all melted, to the point where there was no rescue, so I tossed them aside, there's a few left but not much. I need to find hardier plants, along with that reason I've noticed even with the LED lighting the Edge can't support plant life. I also got some Cabomba, messy little plant also really hard to plant since there's no roots just the stem. I moved my Dwarf Gourami into the 10 gallon, I feel like he wasn't doing really well in the Edge, he was glass surfing a lot of the time, and I found that really worrying, so I moved my Plakat boy into the Edge, and the RCS too, pretty sure they got chomped on by the Gourami. I've only seen one so far. . .

My Fluval Spec is still empty, I'm going to get another Betta soon, hopefully tomorrow if my mom isn't too lazy to drive me, might get a Halfmoon or a Crowntail, whatever is pretty! My SD boy has been blowing bubbles like mad lately for some reason. He used to blow them a lot too when he lived in the 2g but stopped when I moved him into the 2.5g. Guess he's back to doing it again. 

So my plan for tomorrow if I get to go to my LFS is; get four more Rummynose Tetras, get four more Pygmy Cories, see if there's any Bettas worth buying (if there is I'll need to pick up another heater), get some plants that won't die on me, get some RCS, and last is to get some NLS.


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

How many rummynoses and pygmy cories are in the 10 gallon right now?


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

In my personal experience, LED lights are bright but they don't have the ability to penetrate the water so that plants on the bottom get enough light. They're bright but not strong, if that makes sense. I do think they're making significant improvements in LED lights though but not for the Edge.

Both tanks look absolutely gorgeous, by the way.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

MaisyDawgThirteen said:


> How many rummynoses and pygmy cories are in the 10 gallon right now?


I have four of each right now, during my transition to NPT I made a lot of mistakes (you can read all about it in the last page), so some died off. Bumping the numbers to eight each will help them much better, since they're both such tight shoaling fish. 



Sakura8 said:


> In my personal experience, LED lights are bright but they don't have the ability to penetrate the water so that plants on the bottom get enough light. They're bright but not strong, if that makes sense. I do think they're making significant improvements in LED lights though but not for the Edge.
> 
> Both tanks look absolutely gorgeous, by the way.


Yeah I got the LED lights with the tank, luckily. I wouldn't want Halogen bulbs, the LED lights get hot enough wonder what the Halogen bulbs would feel like. Yeah that make sense, maybe they made the new changes to the new Edge? The one that holds 12 gallons.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Halogen lights are super hot! I remember I had a halogen bed lamp and it burned a hole in my pillow.  The new Edge is really nice too and they've even come out with cool looking stands for them. Ah, if only I had the space . . .


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Yikes! That must have been scary, really glad now I have LED lights instead of Halogen ones, good thing it came with the tank, or I would have to buy the LED lights seperate. Still trying to figure out some easy care stem plants. I need to take a closer look at what my LFS has to offer when it comes to plants, might just get tons of anubias and call it a day, since they're so easy to take care of, and virtually impossible to kill. 

Yeah the new Edge looks smashing, 12 gallons, you could do a community tank with that, be a great center piece to a living room since it looks so stylish.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Bacopa carolininia, bacopa monieri, and wisteria are good easy care stems. Try rotala indicia (also known as rotundufolia). Hygrophilia corymbosa stricta is a good low-light one, too.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

I have some Bacopa Monnieri already, it's kinda annoying too because it latches onto the leaves of the Wisteria and when I move the Wisteria they get uprooted but at least it's not dying in my tank, got some Water Wisteria too but they're floating right now, maybe I should shove some into the substrate and see how it does. I've seen some Hygrophilia before at my LFS, I'll take a look around and see. I'm lacking some stem plants after my major Crypt meltdown. 

Thanks Sakura.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

No problem. Good luck.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

Sakura8 said:


> Pitluvs has (or had) just one dwarf gourami and it seemed to do okay. Most stores only stock the males because they're prettier.


My single male dwarf is in a 29g community with large swordtails and he's quite territorial with them lol We don't have females here so I settled for just him. He was the last in the store (none new since) and his buddy was dead  My guy is VERY nervous though, I really don't think he likes being alone species wise.


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Pitluvs said:


> My single male dwarf is in a 29g community with large swordtails and he's quite territorial with them lol We don't have females here so I settled for just him. He was the last in the store (none new since) and his buddy was dead  My guy is VERY nervous though, I really don't think he likes being alone species wise.


My Dwarf Gourami kept picking on the Balloon Molly the first day, but they're fine now. He's also fine with the Rummynose Tetras and Pygmy Cories, guess he's more docile, he doesn't glass surf as much when he was in the Edge, so that's a relief. And yeah, I couldn't find any females here either or I would've gotten him a female friend. D;


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Hey look what a major bump, I'm hoping this is allowed not sure. Don't kill me. Last update was roughly three months ago, uh, my tanks haven't changed that much, just some moving different fish into different tanks and adding more plants, etc. If you see a Rilakkuma in the reflection ignore it, that's just my phone case. I didn't want to show the images because they're kinda big, and people with bandwidth limits might hate me. So just click the links to see the pictures, 100% safe. 

Fluval Spec 2g; there's just about 10 Cherry Shrimps in there, they're not active when it's light but at night you can see them swimming around and all that jazz, wish they liked the light more. Java Fern, marimo moss balls, and water wisteria are the plants. 

http://puu.sh/VZWE

2.5g; this is a NPT, tiny Crypts and water wisteria as floating plants, the crypts grow really slow so that's nice. It houses my plakat boy, he likes to flare at his own reflection and build bubble nests all day.

http://puu.sh/W08Y

6g; this was originally supposed to house a Dwarf Gourami or a Honey Gourami but I found it too small for one so I let my SD boy live in it, plants are java fern, java moss, anubias, and water wisteria, for some reason dark green sticky slimy algae keeps growing on the wisteria in this tank. . And only this tank, it kinda frustrates me having to clean it off whenever I see it which is often. It's probably the lighting, but oh well. ):

http://puu.sh/W0fb

10g; it houses one dwarf gourami, four rummynose tetras, eight pygmy cories, and one balloon molly, eh its a bit overstocked, well probably really overstocked. It's a NPT, with a bunch of plants, there's two sword plants in the back, some hygrophilia, ludwigia, onion plants, anubias, moneywort and water wisteria are the floating plants. I actually picked up four pygmy cories today to make a shoal for them since some died off during my horrible NPT transformation, they didn't have any rummynose tetras though I'll check back next week. 

http://puu.sh/W0fo

I dose all my tanks daily with Flourish Excel and weekly with Flourish, eh to be honest I don't really do water changes in the 10g any more, the plants really do a good job with sucking up ammonia I test every week but now I'm really apathetic about it and I believe in the power of my plants, nothing has gone wrong over the course of three months so, everything is probably alright. I don't do much water changes in the 2.5g either seeing how it has a lot of water wisteria and crypts, maybe once a week with a small 25% change. The 2g gets like once a month water change since it's just shrimps, the 6g gets a weekly 50%. But yeah most of the time I just refill water because it evaporated. 

And taadaa~ I'm back now.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

All of your tanks look absolutely bloody gorgeous and I am so very envious. 

The slimy green stuff is almost certainly cyanobacteria. Lighting can cause that. So can phosphates and excess nutrients.

EDIT: You don't need to test for ammonia in the 10g so much as you should test for nitrates. Even with an NPT the nitrate level does creep up.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Yes, you want to do large water changes weekly, even though there isn't ammonia there can still be buildup of urea, hormones, proteins, salts and other metabolites. As well as other nutrients from left over, causing algae blooms and nasty. ;-)


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