On Sat, 19 Nov 2005 11:59:16 -0700, Liz McGuire wrote:

Right now I have an Eclipse 6 tank with a ton of flourite in it and
maybe 4 gallons is left for water. It comes with an 8W florescent
tube and I don't see an easy way to change this... You can see it
he

http://www.lizmcguireonline.com/6g.jpg

That's low light- I'd use crypts, anubias and java fern. Your stem
plants may do OK, but don't count on it.

...I've recently discovered that it has hornwort and cabomba (wasn't
labeled at the store - research indicates I probably don't have enough
light for it - we'll see) and something I can't identify (the store
didn't have good labeling and the plant expert wasn't around, but I
liked them, so I took a gamble).

It's a crypt species, possibly petchii.

Fish food is also high in phosphate.

Ah, this is new! I'm still looking for a test kit - guess I'll have
to get it online. Hopefully between fish food and what's in the
water, I'm OK (but we'll see).

Don't bother testing it.

Iron before pottassium, definitely.

Ah, this too is new - thank you. Perhaps I'll get an iron test too
(as I'm not familiar with any of this, it'll help me understand what
my water (and substrate?) have already until I get comfortable with
all this).

Likewise, don't bother- dose according to directions and keep up with
water changes.

I do perform weekly water changes as my research on fish (from before
the plant research) made it clear that this was best for them - so doing
it for the plants too is no problem. Thanks for the advice on gravel
vacuuming - this is another thing I've been wondering and reading about.

Good! IMO this is one of the most important keys to success.

Thank you - I'm not sure I've been there, so I'll bookmark it and add it
to my reading.

The forums are very handy too.

~Empty