Ok locals, this forum needs activity

[JoeWhiteFish]

I am a total noob here, but I know there are folks here with some good experience and opinions. Let's get a little dialog going.

1. What are your thoughts on buying plants online vs local?

I have purchased plants from Atlantis, Marine Fish, Optimum, and Petland Dunwoody, none from online. It seems to me that the variety available online is far greater, but I have read some threads about the poor quality of these, particularly due to shipping conditions.

2. Are there any online places you highly recommend?

I have no experience here yet.

3. Are you interested in trading/selling cuttings eventually, given that everyone will hopefully get to a point that pruning is needed?

I certainly will be interested once the time comes. I also have a small reef that contains a few "weed" corals that need cutting back every so often.

4. Are you a driftwood fan or not?

Personally, at the moment, I have no driftwood, but I have some rockscape and a fake stump. The stump is necessary (as I see it) for my Bahia Red Cichlids. They need the cave like setting for hiding places. Without it, they get pretty territorial and begin to take out other fish. As I trade my Bahia reds in as they get bigger, I will probably go for a new look with different rocks and driftwood.

5. What dosing method are you using? Dry ferts or liquid?

I have been using Seachem products, but am considering going EI and dry ferts, perhaps from Rex Grigg.

I look forward to your thoughts and being a part of the forum.

[Sponsors]

[fish-aholic]

1. I personally either buy my plants from other members on forums or Marine fish & Reef.
2. Aquariumplants.com is supposed to be good but I have never used them.
3. I am definably interested in trading plants, etc. and dry goods too.
4. I am more of a rock fan. I'm looking for some good rock pieces for an iwagumi and was thinking about heading over the Pike Nurseries.
5.Once I start dosing for my high light,Co2 tank I will be using automatic liquid dosing.

[cah925]

1. I like to buy my plants from other forum members as well.
2. I only have experience from AquaspotWorld.com. Shipping is a little expensive coming from overseas, also had a problem with fragile plants not making it through the long shipping time. Again, I recommend the SNS here or on other forums.
3. It seems that we all have trimmings or various fish related items we would like to share with others rather than throw away.
4. I prefer driftwood to rock, but have both in various tanks, depending on what look I'm trying to achieve.
5. At the present, I use a combination of dry and liquid ferts (Seachem). I purchased a package of dry ferts from Rex Grigg, but I only use very little while I wait for my supply of liquid to run out. Once that happens, I'll primarily use dry. Personally, I enjoy dosing everyday. It gives me a chance to stare at my tank and wonder "what if's".

[fish-aholic]

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Don't you live in Florida?

[tylercrawford]

Originally Posted by fish-aholic

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Don't you live in Florida?

my only comments are for #5:

Using both flourish and excel as liquids and just started my homebrew drys.

Grant's stump remover and publix enema (ok so its a liquid)

Getting bothered by my lack of good diy c02 recipes.

[BiscuitSlayer]

Joe,

Sounds like we shop at pretty much the same places. My mailing address is Acworth, but I actually live closer to Woodstock. I could probably hook you up with some clippings or vise versa.

As far as buying local or online, I do both. When I buy online though, I buy from the members on this board in the Swap and Shop. You always get healthy plants from people who generally know what they are doing. They also care about getting the plants to you alive. Never had a bad experience yet.

As far as dosing ferts, I dose dry using the EI method. That coupled with good CO2 injection will get the algae under control and make your plant growth go nuts. I use the Flourish products for Iron and Micros, but thats just because its convienient. The dry ferts are way less expensive and they last much longer.

I love driftwood/bog wood, but I don't have enough space to add any more in my 29 gallon. I have a little piece about 15 inches long with 3 anubias covering about 75% of it.

It would be cool if we could get a little club together for some trading, etc. I am always up for new plants.

If one of you guys would like a very well established Amazon sword to trade for something, let me know. I have one in my tank that is getting way too big. It is actually starting to choke out light for my other plants.

*I just subscribed to this thread/forum*

[JoeWhiteFish]

Good to see a few folks here. I agree that we should trade. Once I get my CO2 system set up, I hope to get some good growth.

Stopped at Marine Fish on Friday, got an awesome melon sword. Never saw one before, it really provides some good contrast.

Today is D Day for my Bahia Red cichlids, at least the 2 biggest ones. They are getting too territorial. Heading to Optimum to trade them in this afternoon. It was a difficult decison, as they are some really cool fish, but I cannot add any fish that aren't pretty large, or they hunt them once the lights go out.

[fish-aholic]

Marine Fish is good for its live stock, but its dry stock are overpriced. I went over there to see how much a 34" 96 watt bulb was and they said $69.99! I'm heading over to Atlantis Aquarium today to check them out, as I've never been there.

[BiscuitSlayer]

All of the local shops are too expensive for dry goods. The fact of the matter is, they just can't compete with online prices because of their overhead.

Be careful of buying plants from Atlantis. They have a real problem with BGA (Blue Green Algae), and if you buy plants from them that have any BGA there is a very good chance that you will spread it to your own tank. I know this because I have done it two times now. Once from Marine Fish and once from Atlantis.

[fish-aholic]

Yeah I saw that some of their tanks had BGA, but others seemed fine. They have a nice stock of fish.

[BiscuitSlayer]

Their fish selection isn't bad. They are kind of overpriced though. They sell cardnial tetras for like $5 a piece. I have to admit though that I haven't had one fatality or disease from their stock.

None of the Atlanta metro stores (that I have seen) really know what they are doing with plants. The only one that really comes close is Marine Fish. They still have a ways to go though. The owner there is a freindly guy and he seems to want to be successful with plants and have his customers successful with plants. He is the only retailer that I know of that has a full line of ferts for plants. I think that they are going to start selling CO2 setups if they haven't started already. I can't imagine what they will cost though.

[BiscuitSlayer]

What size tanks do you guys have and what is your lighting/CO2 setup?

[tylercrawford]

Originally Posted by BiscuitSlayer

I think that they are going to start selling CO2 setups if they haven't started already. I can't imagine what they will cost though.

This is the one on Johnson's Ferry right?

I was in there last week and they had the basic "hydor" type co2 setups with the little gatorade type bottles. They do just about have all the liquid ferts though.

They did have like 4-5 10# bottles behind the register though . . . not sure what that was for.

Right now I have a 10g, medium planted with a old t8 that came with the tank like 5 years ago and a el cheapo t12 from home depot that was around $4. 2L bottle with yeast and the sugar water.

I am looking at setting up a pressurized co2 system though as I have a friend that owes me some money and has a nitrous kit with a 10# bottle.

I really don't have the funds to have nice, brand-name equipment. My two project cars get most of the money.

[JoeWhiteFish]

I saw CO2 tanks of various sizes behind the counter at Marine Fish. They are going to sell and swap them out, but at a higher price than non aquarium locations.

They have also started carrying a new line of ferts from BrightWell. They are comparable to the Kent and Seachem lines, from what I gathered.

My tank is a 45G (36w x24h x12d) with an XP3, 96W 50/50 bulb 6700K/10000K. At the moment I am dosing Seachem ferts according to their schedule on their website. An Excel version with calculators was created and posted at aquatic plant central. My CO2 tank is to be delivered today (5lb), and the rest of my CO2 system was purchased from Rex Grigg. It should be shipped this week, so I hope to have it running on the output from my XP3 asap.

[MiSo]

hello everyone.
<-- Cumming, Ga here

i would prefer to buy plants locally because i dont have to wait for shipping, but i mainly buy plants online because of the selection. i've only had one lfs that had a great selection, but too bad i had to move away.
the lfs around me now are far away and the selection of fish/plants are horrible.

i've always had good experiences from buying plants from other members. the only thing with me is i'm anal about keeping snails out of my tanks so i stray away from plants when the user has snails.

i've bought plants from ebay before. can't remember the seller but it was bought as a plant package. good exerience. i also recently placed an order with aquabotanic but i've yet to recieve so i can't say if they're great or not. but i chose them because i hear good things.

if anyone is interested in trading/cutting/swapping i'm game.
i'm looking to swap cherry shrimp with anyone also looking to diversify their gene pool.

i'm a fan of driftwood. i'm using manzanita in my tank right now. its lightly planted but i'm hoping for lush growth. i'm trying to get a hairgrass lawn but its going very slowly. i'm using aquasoil with ps, pps pro,pressurized co2, and 260 watts pc in a 75 gallon tank. i didn't start with much hairgrass so its going very slow. its only been set up for about 2-3 weeks now and haven't seen any new shoots. i'm just waiting for more dhg to come in from aquabotanic to get a better jump start on it.