Ross Vandegrift wrote:

Whoa, that sucker is goregous!!

I assure you, it has nothing to do with me - just dumb, blind luck that
it does well in my tank.


As per my last post about the poor LFS selection, I might just have
to see what kind of special orders places will make for me...

You might consider ordering online. There are numerous reputable
dealers out there. Also, if you have something to offer in trade you
can often find other hobbyists in the newsgroups who can give you some
interesting things.


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

Eric Schreiber wrote:
There are two somewhat poor photos, and an explanation, of the
additional lighting at:
www.ericschreiber.com/aquarium/tank1.html

That is very cool! How do you prevent water from touching the add-on lights?

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
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Victor Martinez wrote:
Eric Schreiber wrote:

Right now, my favorite is the Red Melon Sword. This picture should
illustrate why - the one in my tank is gorgeous.


They are very pretty. Mine grew too big for the tank (110g) and I had to
remove it. Luckily, it had a smaller child nearby and I planted that one
in its place. Mine seems to have longer leaves, how much light do you
have in that tank?


Yes, mine has stems which are far too long for the 24" height of my
tank. When the leaves grow too tall they bend over double and make it
very difficult for algae eaters to keep the leaves clean. Mine get
covered in green fuzz and BB algae.

Nikki

wrote:
What is your favorite aquarium plant? How is the selection of aquarium
plants for sale at your LFS?

I'm lucky - I'm blessed with an outstanding LFS. They've had pretty
much every different common plant I've looked for, and they get rare
ones in regularly. The other day I went in and they had a big aquatic
fern that nobody could even identify.

I have two favorite plants. One is Rotala macrantha. I had a healthy
bunch of it growing once and it was so colorful it almost glowed. The
other is a plain old Amazon swordplant. I love the shape and how they
put out runners with baby swordplants along the length of the runner.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__

Victor Martinez wrote:

www.ericschreiber.com/aquarium/tank1.html

That is very cool! How do you prevent water from touching the add-on
lights?

I don't know if you're familiar with the Eclipse hoods or not, but
perhaps you can see from my photos that there is a filter area at the
back. You might be able to make out the two metal hooks I have hanging
from this filter area, into the 'gap' in the Eclipse hood design.
Resting on those two hooks I have a piece of Plexiglass, cut to just a
bit larger than the size of the add-on lighting fixture. The lighting
fixture then rests of the Plexiglass.

It isn't by any means moisture-proof, and no way would it pass a UL
inspection. :-) But, the Eclipse hoods don't make much splashing, and
as long as I'm careful when working in the tank, the fixture stays
pretty well dry. Because of the way it's all jammed in, and the shape I
made the hooks in, it's actually pretty sturdy. I'd really have to
wollop it to knock the add-on fixture into my tank.

I'm surprised that no one makes a commercial add-on similar to this. It
shouldn't be hard to manufacture a reasonably well sealed fixture with
a better hooking system that people could just drop in place.

Here is some truly awful ascii-art that shows the shape of the hook.
This will only work if you're using a fixed font, like Courier, to view
it. The left side hangs into the filter area, and the right side drops
into the gap to support the Plexiglass. Notice the upturn at the far
right, which serves to keep the Plexiglass and fixture from falling off
the hook. While I made this with a pair of thick, stiff wires, someone
with some skill in heating and bending Plexiglass or acrylic could made
a continuous form that served as both hook and splash guard.
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--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

Eric Schreiber wrote:
I don't know if you're familiar with the Eclipse hoods or not, but

I have one in my 20g long tank. :)

It isn't by any means moisture-proof, and no way would it pass a UL
inspection. :-) But, the Eclipse hoods don't make much splashing, and

If you keep the water level high... :)

My concern actually comes from the top part. Sometimes when the filter
gets a bit clogged up, there is some level of splashing up there. It is
a interesting concept though, I might give it a shot.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
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Victor Martinez wrote:

I have one in my 20g long tank. :)

Ah, good. My explanation wasn't very good, and probably wouldn't make
sense if you weren't familiar with the hood design.

If you keep the water level high... :)

I have to - I sit next to mine all day, and it drives me nuts with the
noise when the water level gets low.

My concern actually comes from the top part. Sometimes when the
filter gets a bit clogged up, there is some level of splashing up
there.

I do have water spots on the top of the add-on light, which supports
what you're saying. It's not entirely clear in the photos, but I also
attached a strip of Plexiglass to the top of the fixture, mostly to
provide support for the screws and to run the wires through. But it
also works somewhat as a splash guard on the top, too.

Really starting to wish I had skills with heating and shaping plastics,
as I can see some much better design ideas for my fixture. Maybe if I
get bored this Spring I'll play with the idea. After all, the idea of
playing with a blow torch and hot plastic in my garage, well, "a thrill
a minute" is the phrase that comes to mind :)

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
What is your favorite aquarium plant? How is the selection of aquarium
plants for sale at your LFS?


You need to specify whether we can grow it or not. That I can grow in my
well water: Hornwort, good old Echinodoras amazonica and tennelus
(grudgingly).

That I can't grow, all Crypts, Riccia, Tiger Lotus, Undulatus... and the
list goes on and on *wipes tear away*.

Big Als and SuperPet would be my plant store choices *if I could, wipes
other eye*.
--
www.NetMax.tk

NetMax wrote:
That I can't grow, all Crypts, Riccia, Tiger Lotus, Undulatus... and the

You *can't* grow crypts?!?!?!?!?!?! Mine are like weeds that need
prunning constantly. They're a nuisance... ;-)

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
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In article , "Eric Schreiber"
eric at ericschreiber dot com says...
Larry Blanchard wrote:

Pygmy chain sword - spreads like mad.

I'd like to try something like that to cover my tank bottom. What kind
of lighting do you have?

It's a 10 gallon tank with an incandescent hood, but I replaced the
bulbs with the compact fluorescents with 6500K color temperature. Mine
were AllGlass, but Walmart has some for a lot less.

I bought 6 plants from aquariumplants.com (IIRC) about 2-3 months ago.
I just took 8 plants out for another tank and you can't even see where
they were :-).

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description