HO or not really doesn't matter.

I have a 48" Coralife HO double strip, so the difference is that my fixture is 108W instead of your 56W. However, you have a second 56W fixture whereas I'm using the two 24" T8 fixtures that came with my tank.

The presence of that 10000K bulb changes things considerably! :-) The depth penetration of the 10000K balances out the lack of penetration in the Roseate. You've actually got a REALLY nice blend of lighting.

And FYI, I no longer inject CO2 (results were too GOOD) and I only use Excel for algae control - I don't dose daily.
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Oh, so I should be good then w/ my lights? Well, that's encouraging! Thank you again! :-) I've only been running the 2nd fixture for a few months, but I've seen some awesome growth w/ some of my plants. My Amazon Swords are producing new leaves every couple of days, (I use Root Tabs for them). My Crypts melted when I first planted them, but are beginning to bounce back.

What type of ferts do you use? Aside from the Root Tabs, I'm only using Trace.
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Since you have 2 double strips, I think the IDEAL setup would be (if looking at the 2 strips as one set of 4 lamps, front to back):

6500K - 5000K - 10000K - 6500K

That would give you the most even dispersion of each type of bulb.

I don't use any ferts right now. My substrate is a mix of Eco Complete and Seachem Flourite black, so there's a certain amount of nutrients already in there (the Flourite is especially rich in Iron, which is one of the main reasons to dose ferts I've found). If I do dose, I use my own liquid ferts that I mix from dry components following the PPS Pro method.
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Awesome information! I think I might try that set-up w/ the lights and see what happens. Thank you again for all of the advice! :-)
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One thing I just thought of - if you have a setup like mine with really tall plants at the back of the tank and really short plants in the foreground, put the lights like this:

6500K - 10000K - 5000K - 6500K
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That's my plant layout right now. Of course I won't change a damn thing if your lighting suggestion works out. :-)
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Cool setup; much higher production values than my video...

Rasboras and Danios!!! ARRGGGHHHH!

That's a whole lot of fin nippers you have in there that appear to be playing nice. I've had awful luck with those little fish so I pretty much quit trying. They just have a tendency to torture my larger, cooler fish...then die.

I like the planted tank - I've never seen one like that before.
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I meant to compliment you on your pics earlier, Pittsie! Nice setup! :-) Is the tank still up and running?

Thanks! I was having fun w/ my video editing software. I had more fun w/ the edits on my first video, (it's on my youtube channel if you want to check it out). I also had my 2 African Dwarf Frogs in that tank when I filmed the first video, (now the ADF's are in my 5 gallon).

Yeah, not much fin-nipping going on... I'm quite surprised. Oh and I don't have any Danios. I think you're referring to my Silver Tip Tetras.

I watched your video, (yet again), and I'm in love w/ your little Clown Fish! I don't think any SW tank is complete w/ a few of those guys. Your corals and anemones look really healthy btw... nice job!
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Okay, I'm having a bit of a crisis.

Tank has been up for nearly 2 months now with a single betta in it. 5 plants.

Ammonia levels were zero and trites and trates were zero.

So, I add 3 plants yesterday, and 6 cardinal tetras and did a 50% water change.

2 died overnight. So, I test the water and my ammonia levels are THROUGH THE ROOF. Like over 8 ppm. I just did an 80% water change, and added a 50gal dose of prime. Will re-check ammonia later tonight.

What gives? Why did it spike so high all of a sudden? I don't use Windex or any chemicals around the tank (and there are none in the house on that level), and I used the Aqueon water changer to change it. I tested my tap water and its levels were between 2 and 4 PPM, so I don't think that caused it.

Any other ideas on why it spiked so high? Will update with levels later.
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I have 30+ ball pythons.

Where is the forum for snake breeders?
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You really shouldn't have been showing 0 on your Nitrates. That's odd. Are you using test strips or a kit? As far as the Ammonia spike, it sounds like you're going through a mini-cycle. I wouldn't think that adding 6 Tetras would make that happen, but it's possible. I would just keep on top of water changes and testing until it stabilizes.

This is a 10 gallon, right? If so, I would definitely take it easy on the Prime. Adding too much could be a really bad thing, (at least that's what I've heard).

Snakes are teh ghey. :-)
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This.

And this.
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I picked this guy up at my local pet shop, City Pets in Westport(Great place, and still local as opposed to the Petsmart/Petco conglomerate.).

This is the Sunshine Peacock cichlid I mentioned earlier in this thread...

When I bought it, they didn't know it was a male, and priced it at $5.99 for a general peacock cichlid..... Pretty good deal. He's looking really good now, and will only get better. He looked just boring pale yellow when I bought him, and he was barely an inch long. But I just took a chance that he was a male, and I think it worked out. He should look really cool when he's 2.5-3" or so...







I'm really hooked on Peacock Cichlids....

This is my other German Red Peacock cichlid:


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Tested again after an 80% water change. Reading between 4 and 8. Not quite as bad, but still no bueno. Vacuumed the gravel durng the change as well. I'm stumped. There's nothing in the tank that should be spiking it so hard so quickly.

Test kit not strips.

I was under the impression that zero nitrates was normal for a planted tank.
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That was my thought as well - I'd be interested to hear why 0 nitrates is considered strange.

They'll be going up shortly (as the ammonia cycles to nitrites, then nitrates), but the plants are designed to take a lot of the nitrates out of the water and if you had a low bio-load prior to this, the remaining nitrates should've converted to nitrogen gas and simply 'evaporated' from the tank.

I always had nigh nitrates, but I had a massive bio-load and no plants; only way you can do Cichlids well, IMO.
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