"James" wrote in message
hello all,

I have a 46-gallon bow front freshwater aquarium and have a few questions
about lighting and replacing water using a tap water filter.

Fist, I seem to have a problem growing certain plants, especially ones in
the foreground. I have a coralife 192-watt compact fluorescent light, 6700k.
Which should be sufficient for any high light plant, right? I purchased the
stands for the light housing but I'm not sure it would help to offset the
light 2" off the top or not? The tank is bowed, so maybe that is why I have
a problem growing plants in the foreground. I have two one-gallon glass jugs
for DIY Co2 as well, with the tubing routing through the intake of my
canister filter. One of the plants I am talking about is; Micro
sword-lilaeopsis (looks like grass) I have standard gravel and some laterite
mixed in as well. The grass just seems to grow algae and die off. My water
parameters are, PH 6.5, ammonia is good, nitrite is good, and water hardness
is low.

sounds like the DIY CO2 isn't making enough gas, do you have a way to
measure your CO2 output?? Try this link
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/articles.htm and then
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm will measure your
CO2... It seems as though you are on the right track, and this must be a 55,
75, or 90g tank, because 192 is a buttload of light and without the CO2 to
keep up, algae seems to be taking all the CO2 and thriving....IIRC, you have
to have an abundance of nutrients for the plants, allow them to strip it
from the water, adjust when algae appears, backing off your lights timing if
necessary, guarding against any natural sunlight, and you'll be closer.

Second, the way I filter my water is with a "tap water filter" by aquarium
pharmaceuticals. I was wondering if there was a cheaper alternative to
filter tap water other than purchasing a replacement filter every month. I
have been looking at the RO filters, like the deluxe maxxima 35 HI-S by Kent
Marine. Would something like that save money later on down the road? Or
should I keep on buying the tap water filter replacements? My tap water out
of the faucet is very hard and high in PH.

I have a tap filter, a Pur, and there are many ppl who have tried, but that
doesn't really make water 'safe' for fish, it only take out some things
using salts, and you'll basically wear it out prematurely.... Get some
Wardley's Chlor out and or Prime, AmQuel or something and use it as a water
conditioner.... it's ok to use RO/DI, but you'll have to supplement to add
the stuff that is taken out with RODI water... again, not an expert, but
you're so close, be patient, wait for Chuck Gadd, Dave Milman, NetMax and
others to chime in, they ARE the experts... I just play one on the
newsgroups.... hahaha...

btw, get rid of the html, it's hard for the text only ppl to see your actual
post instead of the markup language....

Red