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Today I have signs of my tank going through its natural silent plant cycle. White bacterial fungus has started growing on the drift wood. Although unsightly as it is, it will eventually die off in a week or 2. I did a 60% water change today and I also have noticed that my Phyllanthus Fluitans...

Other than what @Byron has already mentioned, another very nice floating plant is (Phyllanthus Fluitans Red Root Floater) I bought these for my new 90g set up and after a week they are already growing nicely.

There are plenty of fast growing Amazon Swords, Java Ferns and Phyllanthus Fluitans Red Root Floaters. I'm presently doing a 6 week silent plant cycle. I also have a lot of slow growing plants as well. Crypts and Anubias. This Wednesday I will take delivery of 2 Nymphaea Red Tiger Lotus Lilly's...

Below is my intended fish stocking list for my fully planted 90g aquarium. Inside tank dimensions are 47" L x 17.25" D x 24" H Substrate is river gravel that's contained in 6 nylon laundry bags with plastic zippers. The bags of gravel are capped with 2 to 3 inches of quikrete play sand. I still...

I agree with @Byron about prolonged intensified lighting and an abundance of nutrients. Also low C02 levels and low water flows are big contributors to BBA. I would definitely lower the day time lighting to 5 hours. High intensity of the cool white spectrum also plays a big part in algae growth...

After 24 hours, the aquarium pH is at 7.9 down from 8.7 yesterday. @Byron, as you have suggested in my "Tap water testing result thread", the pH looks to be settling out at 7.9 with the help of the driftwood and possibly the substrate. The API Tap Water Conditioner may have played a part in...

This thread is my 90g aquarium journal. After having it setup as a saltwater reef tank for the last 15 years, my wife and I wanted to get back into the freshwater side of the hobby. After 3 weeks of taking the reef tank down, cleaning the aquarium, preforming a leak test and then putting in the...

Get yourself a battery operated air pump. Most of them come with air tubing and a air stone. The ones that I have use size D batteries. You can buy them from Amazon fairly cheap.

@Fishfinder1973, what types of fish do you have in this tank? Unless I'm missing something, I don't see in your post a list of your fish. Also, what size tank is this?

I certainly will. Thank you so much! I am wondering if I should start a new thread for my fish selections or just post here?

What an excellent write up Byron. Thank you so much! I guess what I meant about being a centerpiece would be a fish that I can find other capatible fish to go with for a community tank. I really love the idea of having a choice of characin tankmates. I have my research cut out for me now lol.

Your thorough explanation is a tremendous help. I didn't quite understand @Essjay post. But Essjay's post makes since now. This has made up my mind with the M. Altispinosus (Bolivian Ram) then. This will be our centerpiece fish with other suitable tank mates centered around the Bolivian Ram...

Thank you @Byron. My Home Depot carries the tan color or buff. It is like the one pictured. I am not opposed to either of the colors. Just wanted to make sure that this was the correct sand. What would also like your thoughts on the Blue Electric Ram? Given my water parameters if you don’t mind.

@Byron, is this the same play sand that you use?

@Byron I will also have a glass cover on this tank. I forgot to ask you, you mentioned in a previous post on this thread about the Bolivian Ram. What are your thoughts on the Blue Electric Ram? It appears that the needs of the Blue Electric Ram are the same as the Bolivian Ram.

I'm sorry to hear about your health issues Byron. I also have some serious health issues which required me to retire earlier then I wanted to and I am now on total disability. On the plus side I now have plenty of free time to devote to my fish hobby and my wine hobby. I'm getting closer to my...

I was thinking that your nitrates were going to be low as I am sure mine will be very low to 0 ppm also given that there is no nitrates in my source water. I believe that we both have very similar water parameters in regards to ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. As mentioned in this thread, mine...

@Byron, out of curiosity, do you see any Nitrate levels in your planted tank and if so at what levels do you typically experience?

Thank you once again @Byron. I have been doing so much research and a lot of it is contradictory and becomes very confusing. I will stick to your tried and true methods. I just finished tearing down the reef display tank and will start tearing down the sump tomorrow. Shop vacs are a wonderful...

That's correct, I talked to the supervisor at the water authority and he told me that nothing but chlorine was being added to the water that I receive. When preforming a silent cycle with plants, do you add 2 to 3 ml of pure ammonia to see if the plants are up taking it?

48 hours later and the tap water is now down to 8.4 pH. Once the tank is set up with plants and driftwood the pH should further come down as the tank settles in correct? I plan on letting the tank cycle for a month or longer with just the substrate (play sand, gravel and rocks) plants and...

Just to update you @Byron. After allowing the tap water to sit out for 24 hrs, the pH went from a 9.0 to 8.6. I'm going to allow the same glass to sit out for another 24 hrs for a total of 48 hrs and test it again.

Thanks Byron, you've been a tremendous help!

@Byron, another question. Are you adding anything to your change out water or just straight tap water?

Thanks for your incite @Byron. You have been a big help. The Quikrete Play Sand sounds like a much better alternative. Your tank is beautiful by the way! Thanks for sharing your aquarium. What are your thoughts on using crushed lava stone below the sand bed?

According to the Fluval website they claim that this substrate is all natural. Here is a clipper from their website, "Fluval Stratum is made of mineral rich volcanic soil collected from the mineral-rich foothills of Mount Aso Volcano in Japan, Fluval Stratum makes an ideal alternative...

Another question, I'm also researching Fluval plant and shrimp stratum. They claim that is helps to promote neutral to slightly acidic pH within the aquarium. Do you have any incite on this @Byron?

Ok, so maybe I'm just over thinking this. I have placed a large glass of tap water on the side and will allow it to sit for a few days and test the pH again. Another thought is to do an initial start up of the tank with a 50/50% RO to tap water or a greater percentage of RO that would get the...

Thanks @Byron. Ideally I would much prefer to use my tap water after dissipation of the chlorine. I probably have a month or 2 from now before I will be able to start back up with the freshwater. So I have some time to do weekly testing on the tap water parameters. I'm just really perplexed over...

Today I have a dilemma, I tested my tap water again just to see if the parameters are steady. This past Thursday the tap water parameters were as follows; pH - 8.2 Amm. - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 0 KH - 8 GH - 2 Ca - 20 Today, Sunday, my tap water parameters are, pH - 9.0 Amm. - 0 Nitrite - 0...

That makes since @Byron. Thanks for your patience and responses. It's a pleasure to converse with you. Also to have someone with water parameters close to mind.

Thanks for pointing this out. I re-read the directions and your right. Each drop is 1° degree. So after converting, it would be 2° x 17.86 = 35.8 ppm GH and 7° x 17.86 = 125.02 ppm KH, correct? So out of curiosity, why are you expecting the KH to be lower? Just trying to learn.

That is exactly the way that I preformed the test. It even tells you to do it this way in the instruction booklet. Thanks for the response @Essjay. 👍

340 ppm is some really hard water that you have.

@Byron, after checking the KH & the GH again today, the KH took 7 drops or 7 ppm. The GH on the first drop was a light orange/greenish color. The 2nd drop turned to light green. So GH = 2 ppm which is still 0 to 1 dh range.