Recent content by Evad

Yes I would say this guy (gal?) is different from every other Bristlenose Pleco I have ever owned. Its over 5" long and I have had it forever. Not sure what the lifespan is of this species but I feel like this one is getting old....

Since we are on the topic, this is my Bristlenose - can you tell the sex from this photo?

Totally frustrating as I have had the same problem. When you say it showed up in all three tanks at the same time that tells me something in the water changed (unless you introduced something else to all three tanks at the same time). If it is something in the water then water changes don't...

They are all sitting on this boat

So in your opinion this on/off thing doesn't have a negative impact on the fish? And I am assuming the idea here is that you are building up CO2 in the off cycles and using them up in the light cycles in smaller "bites" vs. One large period with lights off?

Questions :) 1) I can definitely improve circulation a bit (have one large powerhead in addition to the canister filters but thinking about adding another) and I also have heard that changing the circulation during the day or at night is a good idea. I will play with that 2) When you say...

Thanks for that. Never gets direct sun and is in a basement so technically gets some light from outside but I can't imagine its enough to matter. I have already shortened the photo period to 7 hours, down from 12. It helped a lot. Do I dare make it shorter?

Unfortunately I just can't seem to get the algae in my tank under control. I have tried a lot of different things but now turning to the experts for some advice. I really have no idea what to do at this point so I am hoping I can get some advice here on next steps. Here is some baseline info...

Interesting point on less water changes. One thing I have noticed is that when I change the water (usually 40% every 10 days) then the tank looks great and algae growth is slow/non-existent for the first 3-4 days. Then I start to see the algae take off. So I believe its telling me that I am...

Can one SAE really make an impact on my tank? And also don't they work well as Algae eaters for the first year or so and then as they get older they stop eating algae? I noticed that with my Flag fish

Super helpful everyone! I suspect that even three strips wont quite do it, but going to start with another strip across and see where that gets me. I don't really want to get back into CO2, but would prefer to use Excel and a shorter photo period. I am really struggling with my Green Hair...

Sorry if I missed this on the forum somewhere but surely there must be a pretty standard way of determining how much LED lighting you need for a tank? In the old days (yes I am OLD) we used watts per gallon. That won't work here unless I guess something can figure out what the watt equivalent...

Super helpful. I definitely need to get a PAR meter and see where my tank is at.

Love this and please keep the thread going!

What PAR levels are we striving for at the substrate for low/medium/high light plants?