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Tidy Jungle II, III and IV

Loving the tank and fish choice.

How bold are the congos? I’m thinking of changing the stock in my tank slightly for something a bit more visible and colourful. I have a little one now that loves the fish when they come into view, however most of my tetras would rather hide at the back in the plants.

Cheers
 
Loving the tank and fish choice.

How bold are the congos? I’m thinking of changing the stock in my tank slightly for something a bit more visible and colourful. I have a little one now that loves the fish when they come into view, however most of my tetras would rather hide at the back in the plants.

Cheers
Thanks mate!

The Congos are very very bold. They might swim away briefly if you walk past quite close (I don't have a choice lol), but they're back out within seconds. They are the first to grab the food so much so that I regularly get splashed with water! I also have to target feed the other fish sometimes. They're pretty much always out in the open. As for colour, they're the poster child for rainbow colouration.
 
How do you find the 120cm in terms of maintenance? (In the planning process for a new tank sometime next year)
Fairly simple, I'd say it takes not much longer than any other tank.

The main thing to bear in mind is that at that size everything needs to be bigger and in larger quantities; equipment, hardscape, plants, water changes, medication, fertiliser. It can add up quickly but you also cannot deny the impact and splendor of a big tank.
 
Thanks mate!

The Congos are very very bold. They might swim away briefly if you walk past quite close (I don't have a choice lol), but they're back out within seconds. They are the first to grab the food so much so that I regularly get splashed with water! I also have to target feed the other fish sometimes. They're pretty much always out in the open. As for colour, they're the poster child for rainbow colouration.
Thanks mate!

The Congos are very very bold. They might swim away briefly if you walk past quite close (I don't have a choice lol), but they're back out within seconds. They are the first to grab the food so much so that I regularly get splashed with water! I also have to target feed the other fish sometimes. They're pretty much always out in the open. As for colour, they're the poster child for rainbow colouration.
Sounds like they would be a good fit then, my tank is in a busy kitchen area so sometimes it can be an issue with shy species.
 
Morning Courtney,
Did you ever have any luck with the InVitro Cryptocoryne Albida Red? I tried 3 times and after an initial spurt they dropped their leaves never to return and at a tenner a pop.
Hopefully will try again once I've moved and try to start them/it off emersed.
Cheers!
 
Morning Courtney,
Did you ever have any luck with the InVitro Cryptocoryne Albida Red? I tried 3 times and after an initial spurt they dropped their leaves never to return and at a tenner a pop.
Hopefully will try again once I've moved and try to start them/it off emersed.
Cheers!
Hi Bazz,

I didn't unfortunately! I bought two and one was in my old shrimp tank and it was doing quite well, but when I took the tank down and moved it, it didn't like it at all. The other one I stupidly put into fresh soil in an uncycled tank and that melted away. It's a shame because the colours were great.

I think the key is just putting it somewhere stable and leaving it.
 
I dedicated a whole morning and afternoon to deep cleaning this tank. Glass panels, lily pipes, hoses, filters, substrate and plant trimming - the whole shebang! There was quite a bit of detritus build up, I imagine from ailing leaves...

One thing that is perplexing me is the CO2 injection. I'm aware of the 1 pH drop guide to reach roughly 30ppm of CO2 and I couple this with a drop checker as a sort of hurdle tactic to ensure I'm achieving this. However, I notice that a 1 pH drop in my tank doesn't seem to be enough and produces a very dark green drop checker. I've noticed this in every high energy tank one had actually. The degassed water is around 7.8 (although I've seen it read as high as 8.0). Yet at pH 6.8 the drop checker is nowhere near the ideal lime green colour... In fact, according to my pH probe, I'm only getting a somewhat green drop checker at pH 6.1. The picture shows my drop checker at 6.2 and you can see it's only just green. I know the design and position of the drop checker can have an effect but I've also used a traditional shape drop checker just above the substrate and it produces the same results.
51DF784B-C616-4C83-AB7E-F0C460844349.jpeg


This is after 4 hours of quite rapid injection and the pipes and hoses have all just been cleaned. I'm wondering if I'm adding enough CO2 or too much, or too little. I'm a bit confused. Some help would be much appreciated!
 
Those drop checkers look great but I don’t think they work very well. Perhaps not enough of an opening to allow CO2 in or out. I had one, always gave a false reading. Dark green for ages and then when it finally went lime green it stayed that way regardless.

If you’re getting similar results with a more trad shaped DC maybe the solution is suspect.
 
Those drop checkers look great but I don’t think they work very well. Perhaps not enough of an opening to allow CO2 in or out. I had one, always gave a false reading. Dark green for ages and then when it finally went lime green it stayed that way regardless.
I think I'll try using the traditional one with the wide opening today and see how I get on. Thanks for your input, Tim!
 
You could also try blowing on it, see if it turns lime green then. How to check your drop checker....
I think the design of it is definitely impeding it and the colour looks different in the elbow compared to the 'bulb'. I'm also dubious about the drop checker fluid. I did notice when I bought it that it was significantly darker than the previous brand I'd used.

Even after significant breathing into it, it did change green but still quite muted. I'll get some of the previous brand I used at Aquarium Gardens tomorrow and put it in the classic design drop checker. 😅

CFD90F10-1A0B-4284-B569-3518CE884A3F.jpeg
5F159092-86B0-4715-8790-AC616510426C.jpeg
 
One thing that is perplexing me is the CO2 injection. I'm aware of the 1 pH drop guide to reach roughly 30ppm of CO2 and I couple this with a drop checker as a sort of hurdle tactic to ensure I'm achieving this. However, I notice that a 1 pH drop in my tank doesn't seem to be enough and produces a very dark green drop checker.
I've never been able to fully understand the 1 point drop and dc colour certainty either.

From my understanding the 1 point drop is based on the assumption we have 3ppm of co2 in the degassed water, so a ten fold drop (1ph) equates to 30 ppm co2. However what if the degassed water only contains say 2 ppm of co2, that would only give us a 20 ppm reading, and maybe not the perfect lime green dc colour.

If the above theory is true, and I DON'T KOW if it is, then it might explain why some people need larger ph drops to achieve a nice lime green drop checker.

That's my random Saturday morning thought.
 
I think the design of it is definitely impeding it and the colour looks different in the elbow compared to the 'bulb'. I'm also dubious about the drop checker fluid. I did notice when I bought it that it was significantly darker than the previous brand I'd used.

Even after significant breathing into it, it did change green but still quite muted. I'll get some of the previous brand I used at Aquarium Gardens tomorrow and put it in the classic design drop checker. 😅

View attachment 203022View attachment 203030

That reagent solution definitely doesn't look right

I've never been able to fully understand the 1 point drop and dc colour certainty either.

From my understanding the 1 point drop is based on the assumption we have 3ppm of co2 in the degassed water, so a ten fold drop (1ph) equates to 30 ppm co2. However what if the degassed water only contains say 2 ppm of co2, that would only give us a 20 ppm reading, and maybe not the perfect lime green dc colour.

If the above theory is true, and I DON'T KOW if it is, then it might explain why some people need larger ph drops to achieve a nice lime green drop checker.

That's my random Saturday morning thought.
Could be a good point. And not only but also, I doubt the reagent is standardised to any high degree throughout the industry, which could lead to discrepancies. Some I've used just don't work very well at all. It'd be a review worth reading if someone could be bothered to test them all under controlled lab like conditions.
 
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