Matt's 220 Litre Aquaoak

It is the conversion of CO₂ and water into carbohydrates (photosynthesis) which needs light. The processing of ammonia into amino acids and on to proteins, and other nitrogenous compounds, is not light driven, that just requires energy from the breakdown of carbohydrates into CO₂ and water (respiration).
Plants must take up ammonia 24 hours a day or those people with heavily planted tanks (few bacteria in these) would wake up to fish gasping in ammonia laden water.

It helps that I have studied biochemistry  The uni I went to had an unusual degree structure so I studied chemistry, biochemistry and zoology equally in year 1; chemistry and biochemistry in a 2:1 ratio in year 2; and just chemistry in year 3.

Schoaling species numbers successfully increased.  I now have 6 harlequins and 6 cardinal tetra (is a slightly odd mixture of sizes!). 

I also picked up 6 rummy nose tetras which have been schoaling beautifully this afternoon.  I have wanted rummy nose for a long time now.  They look so much more impressive in the tank then they did in the little tank at the LFS... they are all swimming in a tight group back and forth across the front of the tank. 

           
             
      
           

The new harlequins almost seem to have a thin white 'neon' stripe (like on a black neon tetra) above the black "lambchop"... not sure if I'm making this up, or if it will fade with age but they certainly look very impressive.

The store has some really nice honey gourami in which are a gorgeous deep orange colour so 2 of these were picked up as well.

I'll get some photos of all of these tomorrow.

Next weekend I will get 2 more of each of the schoaling species to bring the numbers up to 8, and 2 more gourami.  I will then be about 70% stocked and I don't think I will want to go much further than that.

Unfortunately there has been one casualty.. the golden ram never looked quite right and it had an "off day" on Wed, was fine Thursday, back to behaving strangely on Friday and unfortunately it died overnight. The other rams are doing fine and I think this was just a poorly fish from the store, these bred colour forms of the rams are known to be weak genetically also.

In other news, I have also been using the new "theaquascaper complete liquid plant food" and must say it is doing wonders for the plant which are now growing faster than I've ever     I would definitely recommend it. It even comes with a little syringe to dose it accurately.  You will probably be able to see the growth in tomorrow's photo.

Finally, I have also fitted a light into the cabinet below the tank as it can be very hard to see what you're doing in there, possibly due for the depth and the contrastingly bright lights above it.

Deep orange honey gouramis - was the tank labelled with the colour morph? Deep orange sounds like two males of the natural colour. If they are two males, make sure the next ones are females.
Honeys are fine with more than 1 male in a tank this size 

If they are red ones, that does make sexing a bit trickier.
I have 1 male natural colour - he is definitely a male as he is bright copper with a very black throat - and two females which are both beige with a brown line down each side. They are both definitely females because after the first male died and the tank was male-less for a couple of months neither of them developed male colouring. The females have longer pointier fins than the male    Though I suppose he could just be younger and not fully mature yet.

What a beauty.

I agree, lovely fish 

It does have the feeling of being male. I can't really explain why. 

Another way it is said to tell the difference - look at the anal fin. In a male, the end of it goes out towards the tail ad curves back in.With a female it is supposed to straighter.

Look at their behaviour. Males will be out and about all over the tank. Females spend a lot of their time pootling round. It is quite hard to explain but I can often tell the males from the females in a shop tank by the way they behave. But then I have kept honey gouramis for 15, maybe 16 years so I am very familiar with them.

Thanks for sharing your updates - much appreciated, although sad news about the golden ram. Interesting feedback on that liquid plant food - note to self, for when current supplies run out.

I now have 6 harlequins and 6 cardinal tetra (is a slightly odd mixture of sizes!).

Within a few weeks of being in the QT, my harlequins had quite a size variation - 4 larger, 2 smaller. The situation has remained like this for the past 2.5+ years. I seem to recollect that sizes can vary, depending on the location they're originally from.

Word of caution - it is not a good idea to have more than one species of cichlid in a tank and you already have rams........

Cichlids from different continents are a definite no because they don't understand each other's signals. But male cichlids are territorial and one male will consider the whole of the bottom of your tank as his territory. A newcomer would not be permitted in this territory.
If you had a 6 or 8 foot tank, it might be do-able but I wouldn't risk it in anything smaller.