I’ve been getting lots more traffic to my blog since I started writing more about my aquariums, so I figured I would start highlighting my most popular pages and posts.  I use two analytics sites, Google Analytics and Woopra.  So here they are, February’s most popular pages and posts.

From Woopra:

• My Planted Aquarium CO2 Setup
• Product Review: Fluval 205
• Product Review: AquariumPlants.com Electronic CO2 Regulator
• 26 Gallon Bow Front Planted Aquarium

From Google Analytics:

• My Planted Aquarium CO2 Setup
• Product Review: Fluval 205
• 26 Gallon Bow Front Planted Aquarium
• Product Review: AquariumPlants.com Electronic CO2 Regulator

Blue Mystery Snail

One of my favorite aquarium inhabitants is my group of blue mystery snails.  I only have 4 or 5 of them.  Since many snails are grouped as Mystery Snails, I’m not sure what exact species mine are.  Water temperature should be kept between 70 and 82 °F.  Most care sheets and websites say that the pH should be kept around 8.  My pH is around 7.4 and the snails seem to be very happy.  Most mystery snails are active at might, but mine are active throughout the day.

Unlike most snails, mystery snails are asexual.  That means there must be a male and a female snail for them to breed.  In the two years that I’ve kept these snails, they haven’t bred once.  They lay their eggs above the water level, so if you want them to breed, you must leave some room above the water line.

They feed on algae, dead plant matter, and other uneaten fish food.  They also eat vegetables, such as zucchini and cucumbers.  Did I mention they love vegetables?  They do.  I should note that these snails are very safe in planted aquariums.

Since these snails can grow to the size of a golf ball, the general rule is 2.5 gallons per snail.  Most websites also reccomend that the aquarium be covered.  My aquarium is an open top and I have had any snails escape.

For more detailed information, check out the Mystery Snail Care Sheet at petfish.net.

I’ve been wanting to be more green at home. I’ve already looked at solar, which would make me at least 50% independant from PG&E, but is way over my budget and wouldn’t pay for itself fast enough.

I’ve changed all of my light bulbs to CFL’s. That’s great on energy savings, but it definitely isn’t near enough. I’ve considered going with LED lighting, but I think it’s a bit more expensive than the CFL’s. I’ll have to look more into that.

I need to start replacing my appliances with energy saving ones. Appliances such as my refridgerator, dish washer, washer and dryer. I’d also like to replace my water heater with a tanless water heater. I’d also like to replace the hvac system with a multiple zone system. But that’ll have to wait until after I have the room addition over the garage, which probably won’t be for another 5-10 years.

Being a computer geek, I have several computers. In my office, I have my main computer running Ubuntu Linux (also my file server), and my media machine that runs Windows 7 Ultimate. I rarely turn these computers off. I’m going to start turning off the media computer when not in use. I also have a 24″ iMac in my bedroom.

As for outside the house, I’d like to get a rain barrel connected to a gutter downspout and water my trees and plants using rainwater. That way I use less water from the water company and it’s environmentally friendly.

I’m already being green when it comes to mowing the lawns. I have a battery powered lawn mower that I charge once month. My next yard project is to install sprinklers.

What are you doing to be green and reduce energy usage?

I’ve never successfully made a budget before, and I really need one. I make plenty of money, but I over spend a lot and don’t keep good enough track of my bills.

My father keeps asking me if I’d like help making a spreadsheet for my budget, but I’ve been thinking about using Intuit QuickBooks. I know it isn’t a free product, but I want to try it out and see if I like it. I can have it automatically connect to my banks to download my transactions, and then create a budget for me.

From there, I can fine tune the budget, and track my bills better.

Have you set up a budget? Did you stick with it? How did you set it up? Did you use something like QuickBooks? Leave me a comment.

It’s February 2, 2010.  Wow, the last 3 years have flown right by for me.  I’ve been neglecting my 26 gallon aquarium the last few weeks.  I need to do some major maintenance on it this week.  My goal for this month is to keep up on my aquarium maintenance.  The top is overgrown with Duckweed, and my Cabomba furcata is also growing wild.  I need to do a big trim.  Hopefully, by the end of the week, I’ll post a video on YouTube of my maintenance routine.  Stay tuned!  =)

Fissidens fontanus from Aqua Botanic

I’m planning on making a tree/bush using Fissidens fontanus for my 26 gallon aquarium. I’m still researching on ways to do this, and also the best ways to trim to keep the tree/bush look.  I think this will look really good in my aquarium, once I’m able to replace the substrate and work a new aqua-scape.  I think it will look really good sitting close to my Cabomba furcata.  My new aqua-scape will be kind of a hill scape, with driftwood.  Of course I’ll have a ton of other plants in there, along with cryptocoryne parva, cryptocoryne wendtii, anubias minima, vallisneria nana, hygrophila corymbosa kompact, christmas moss, and peacock moss.  I might also try dwarf hairgrass again.  I’ll keep you updated once I start playing with the fissidens fontanus.

Do you have experience with Fissidens fontanus?  Leave a comment!

Make your own here.

About 8 months back, I purchased the Electronic CO2 Regulator from AquariumPlants.com.  Instead of using a needle valve, this regulator uses an electronic valve that opens and closes in fractions of a second.  You can adjust the bubbles per second, and the size of the bubbles.  It’s accurate from 4 bubbles per second all the way to 1 bubble every 10 seconds.  Since there’s no solenoid in this regulator, you won’t have to replace one when it overheats and fails (which is what happened to my old regulator).  There’s a build in check valve, though I use two of my own (can’t be too careful), and you don’t need a bubble counter, as it has an LED that flashes to indicate bubbles.

This regulator can be used by itself, or with a pH controller.  I have mine on a timer instead of a pH controller.  AquariumPlants.com also has this regulator with an optional LCD 8 digit resettable counter instead of the LED.  The digital counter also has a backup battery, so it won’t lose its count.  They also recently started offering the counter by itself, so you can use your own regulator.

Overall, I’m very happy with this regulator.  It’s super easy to setup and use.  You can see how I have mine set up here.  I plan on getting another one of these regulators in the future, when I get a large aquarium.

Among other things, a planted aquarium needs good lighting to promote plant growth.

I have a dual strip light fixture on my 26 gallon aquarium, giving me 130 watts, which is about 7.5 watts per gallon. The fixture I have is a Satellite Compact Fluorescent Fixture Dual 24″ Dual Daylight 6,700°K/10,000°K and Dual Actinic 420nm/460nm.

This fixture has four electrical plugs. One for each dual bulb, one for the LED moonlight, and one for the cooling fan. I have my lights on a timer that also turns on the cooling fan (which is built in to the fixture). The lights are on for 8 hours a day. When the lights turn off, the LED moonlight turns on.

I need to replace both bulbs soon, but I’m wondering if I should replace the dual actinic with a second dual daylight. If I go with a second dual daylight, I can see if there’s any growth difference.  There’s a lot of talk on the forums I visit about the usefulness of actinic bulbs on a freshwater planted tank.  I’d say it’s about a 50/50 whether or not they are useful.  I think I’ll do my own tests.

My lights turn on one hour after my CO2 turns on, and turn off one hour after my CO2 turns off.

I use a total of three timer power strips for all of my equipment. I’m planning on building a “power center,” which will be made out of plywood with electric outlets built on. I’m going to have a couple outlets for non timer equipment, such as my cannister filter, power head (which I don’t have yet), and heater. I’ll also have and outlets for the timer strips. I’ll consolidate both light strips, cooling fan, and moon light onto one power strip. This will allow better use of the cabinet space under the aquarium.

That’s about it for my lighting setup. What kind of lighting do you use on your aquarium?