Recent content by magpie

Thanks, Matt - it certainly does help I have a 60% covering of some kind of water lettuce which is a) keeping the light from being excessive (was well scared off lights by the US crowd who seemed to think that 2 x 39 W on a 300l tank was *way* too much) so the free floating plants are under the...

WCs - I don't know - I'm checking all parameters daily just now and they seem pretty stable BUT I did add some TPN+ and my understanding is that it's better to do some water changes if you've added anything. I was hoping to get everything stable, but assuming that in the short term, I'd need to...

Thank you - currently dosing TPN+ on the assumption that this covers everything - and on a relatively low light, non-Co2, low-tech tank, hoping not to need too much... off to ebay now hugest thanks m

You're the man... :) so.... where do I find GH Booster? (I'd rather not make my own, but will if I have to)

Thanks, Matt - gH is between 10 and 12 degrees - I'm assuming that's enough? glad I'm not killing them slowly... :) and hadn't realised *at all* that kH was 'free' hardness and gH was total hardness... I need to do more reading. thank you

Dear all my 300 litre tank is swimming along nicely (:)) with the exception of the gH/kH values. I've filled it with 2/3 tap water (which starts off at pH 8, gH and kH about 20) with rainwater from a clean, mature roof, which gives me pH 6.5, gH about 10 - and originally kH about 10 also...

Hi people been off list for a while editing the book and then in the chaos of builders trying to insulate our ancient cottage (aka deep freeze) but have finally flooded the tank. The camera is buried somewhere under mounds of other stuff, but suffice to say that it's crawling with algae, the...

That easy? huh, who'd have thought - being a girl, I do happen to have some spare pairs of tights lying about... :) gosh, life's good when it's easy. mx

Re: question regarding T5 lighting over 80 gallon low tech t What fish do you have (I ask because fish come first for me too, but I'm about a month away from flooding the tanks)

I realise - but it'll have had 3-4 months of emersed growth first, so root system will be well established... mx

Re: question regarding T5 lighting over 80 gallon low tech t Soooo - can you fit T8s in the T5 holders? and where did you get your bulbs? tx m (also going low tech when the dry start is complete)

Stunning - glad I planted some in the corner of my DSM tank - looking forward to it reaching that kind of a size... m

Must be scary when we have 8 weeks without rain... :) m

Gareth - if we wanted 'Czech produced' gouramis, how would we go about finding them? m

If you look up recent threads by NeilW or myself, we're both starting tanks under DSM (Dry Start Method) I use Columbo Florabase from PlantedBox.com as a substrate - I've got plants growing well within it at the moment, but haven't flooded the tank yet... (and my tanks are relatively shallow -...