Pinkmummy79
Member
Hi, thanks for this sciencefiction, I do have some new stems arriving from Big Clown so these will add some bulk to the planting from start up so i'll take it steady and watch daily, not yet ready still....soil still not dry enough for me, hopefully this weekend's heatwave may complete this process then I can give it a final riddle to rid the smaller stones remaining and add my powdered clay.
I've managed to get 2 more 2kg fire extinguishers today to keep me going if my existing one should run out while waiting for final bits, but as i've been blessed with a great local gent who only charged me £10 for 2 x filled FE's I have no grumbles over the past 18 months or so, he's now retiring so me going low tech is the right time, i'll most likely keep my c02 gear though in case I get an ADA60p or NA tank when I win the lottery lol...
My Lights while not worrying me too much, i'm sure they'll be fine being T5's, i've already reduced the lighting 3 weeks ago still running c02, i've had the 2 x 21W tubes running without reflectors and it was pretty low light indeed, i've since added back the reflectors and i'll see if this is my starting point, I do still have 2 x 39 watt t5's so I can mix and match and remove reflectors if necessary, I can't raise the height unfortunately due to the std hood.
I have received some lovely floaters from Hoggie and due to my water level being 2" from the lights, i've dropped the level now by 3", this caused a gap in the top of the front glass when looking where the light bounced through so I have simply used black electricians tape on the glass {neatly} to hide this gap, all looks standard still and hopefully the floating plants won't get fried now.
Water changes still 50% per week? well I was doing this to give me more time at home, with 2 kids etc weekends go too quickly for me, I enjoy doing tank maintenence but may look into an Eheim pump, I think Swell are having a pond pump clearance at the moment, i've just been syphoning into an old kitchen bin and jugging back in 130 litres every saturday night, my back can't deal with this anymore lol, so pump and a hose from the kitchen and i'll dose the whole tank volume with Prime rather than my storage buckets. Good thing with low tech is that I can do my water changes when I like, with the c02 set up i've always waited until the end of the week due to EI dosing and also when my C02 injection had finished on a Saturday, so I haven't been starting until 9.30pm, if I also do filter and hose maintenence plus some gardening etc, I don't finish til at least 2am Sunday! hence my need for a change to the dark side.
Anyway, i'm now waiting a few weeks as i'd like to buy some rocks, Manten stone maybe and a trip to Aquajardin in Gloucester as it's not too far from me, so next payday and i'll be off an running. However my wood has arrived so i'll post a pic in a moment.
cheers
I've managed to get 2 more 2kg fire extinguishers today to keep me going if my existing one should run out while waiting for final bits, but as i've been blessed with a great local gent who only charged me £10 for 2 x filled FE's I have no grumbles over the past 18 months or so, he's now retiring so me going low tech is the right time, i'll most likely keep my c02 gear though in case I get an ADA60p or NA tank when I win the lottery lol...
My Lights while not worrying me too much, i'm sure they'll be fine being T5's, i've already reduced the lighting 3 weeks ago still running c02, i've had the 2 x 21W tubes running without reflectors and it was pretty low light indeed, i've since added back the reflectors and i'll see if this is my starting point, I do still have 2 x 39 watt t5's so I can mix and match and remove reflectors if necessary, I can't raise the height unfortunately due to the std hood.
I have received some lovely floaters from Hoggie and due to my water level being 2" from the lights, i've dropped the level now by 3", this caused a gap in the top of the front glass when looking where the light bounced through so I have simply used black electricians tape on the glass {neatly} to hide this gap, all looks standard still and hopefully the floating plants won't get fried now.
Water changes still 50% per week? well I was doing this to give me more time at home, with 2 kids etc weekends go too quickly for me, I enjoy doing tank maintenence but may look into an Eheim pump, I think Swell are having a pond pump clearance at the moment, i've just been syphoning into an old kitchen bin and jugging back in 130 litres every saturday night, my back can't deal with this anymore lol, so pump and a hose from the kitchen and i'll dose the whole tank volume with Prime rather than my storage buckets. Good thing with low tech is that I can do my water changes when I like, with the c02 set up i've always waited until the end of the week due to EI dosing and also when my C02 injection had finished on a Saturday, so I haven't been starting until 9.30pm, if I also do filter and hose maintenence plus some gardening etc, I don't finish til at least 2am Sunday! hence my need for a change to the dark side.
Anyway, i'm now waiting a few weeks as i'd like to buy some rocks, Manten stone maybe and a trip to Aquajardin in Gloucester as it's not too far from me, so next payday and i'll be off an running. However my wood has arrived so i'll post a pic in a moment.
cheers
In low tech tanks having some sort of Ca/Mg realeaser isn't a bad thing, especially if you the source water is soft. That's providing you don't keep extremely soft water species like chocolate gourami or similar fish.