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Looks like Crypt Flamingo!

Ultimate reef is pretty good to get some fairly rare macro algae

Higher lighting levels and longer lighting duration...Will increase the chances of turning both plants sp's red...l don't bother with limiting Nitrate! As this could have a negative affect on other plant species that l have in the aquarium. Only thing you need to watch out for is Green Thread...

Hi and welcome back :wave: So you just need to add a little KH as your GH is fine already, as mentioned above. When your present remineralisers run out, you save some money and get some Potassium Bicarbonate and make a solution as below and just add 5ml for every 1 litre of water added to...

Think the rotala to the right will become a nice addition :thumbup: What are the pink species to the left? C. Beckettii Petchii pink?

Thanks bazz I'll contact @shangman

Nice looking tank, I'm surprised those Crypts haven't started randomly popping up all over the substrate.

Welcome! :wave:

@Mr.Shenanagins That looks so cool! Never seen such a colour pattern on a costata and when i see the size of your ottocinclus i can imagine the size of the leaves. It's indeed a smaller version of the 'tiger' you created :cool: Few days ago i planted a few cryptocoryne costata in my own tank...

Have you seen this? Journal - The Mermaid’s Rockpool Garden, not solely macro algae but well worth a read.

Did you get the light screens in the end? What do you think of them?

Hi all, Just use a horticultural fertiliser <"Solufeed 2:1:4 and Solufeed Sodium Free TEC or Solufeed Coir TEC Combination">. This is the nutrient breakdown. I'd just use an "all in one" fertiliser mix, but at a low dosage rate. If your <"plants are nitrogen limited"> they aren't going to...

Hi all, You can leave them both in if you wish. Have a look at <"Is expensive bio media worth it?"> & <"Replace biohome ultra with foam?"> "Activated charcoal" stops being "activated" but is fine as a <"biological filter medium">, same with the <"ADA Bio Cube">. cheers Darrel

I did think of RO but Darrel on here suggested rainwater so I’ve been collecting it from a large shed roof into a 210L water butt. It gets cleaned out around once a year and I try to keep the gutters clean. I also filter the water through kitchen roll before use to help keep any bugs out. I also...

Very good question, I can’t help except to say when I’ve used Carbon to remove tannins it needed changing after three or four weeks. I also read somewhere that ADA don’t intend their Bio Cubes to be used long term? Hopefully someone will be along soon with some better information for you.

Have not used dry salts at all, so not sure what to buy at all. Ive been using TNC complete so far with my previous 100L inert gravel substrate, but have switched to a aquasoil now. I would like to use APT zero/1 to make my rotalas and red root floaters red. Im UK based so ive seen Aqua care...

Brilliant I'll keep my GH at 6 and drop my KH to 4 then, Thanks again.

Yes, you need to keep GH min 5/6 for snails and shrimp, KH for the plants 😀

I only use the tap for degassing after I did filter maintenance as it will dump a lot of air into reactor once restarted. I newer leave it open and also always keep reactor valve fully open. I never degass CO2.

Nice sun set tonight.

Hi everyone, popped a little poll on the post, if you could select an option it would help Horizon gauge numbers for refreshments 😁 Thank you and looking forward to seeing you there. Cheerio, Ady.

Thanks Keith, I've read the article and agree that a low KH is better for my plants. I think I will also drop mine down to 4 dKH, My main concern is for my nerite snails. Am I right in thinking they use the calcium from the GH to build their shells rather than the carbonate from the KH? I guess...

Looking for a little advice if possible. Currently running the ADA superjet 600 on my 60P tank which is 1 week into a planted, but fishless cycle. The media provided with the filter was ADA NA carbon so that's what I'm currently running. It also contains 2L of biocubes. Having done some...

Interesting. I know the albida/costata sort can have many different appearances. Do you maybe have a photo of yours?

And to follow up, I did place an order for some more plants - some of which I already have, but wanted to add more of. Ordered from Aquarium Plant Factory, and for any of the U.S. members haven't before, they ship great plants at great prices. There is always a buy 2 get 1 free running. Put in...

Unless cost is an absolute non-issue, I would definitely do my own fertilizers for a tank of that size (2400 L). Plenty of threads here on UKAPS on how to roll your own. Check out the IFC Calculator - mentioned above to play around with targets and compounds (dry salts). see above. I would...

Plan view. To give the right perspective Ta, Brian

I have been scaping, and before I glue rocks to wood and add some aqua soil for the front, etc. would you please cast an experienced eye over my first attempt. Constructive criticism welcome. Going for the 2 island look. Carpet across the front and up the middle (or that could be gravel/sand...

In general, if the fish is not territorial, then there is a minimum tank size for having one fish with a desired level of comfort, then adding extra fishes requires much less space, maybe even no extra space up to some point. The size required for a neon tetra to be comfortable is probably...

Those leaves look remarkably similar to albida costata, what I currently have under high light.

Can't believe how much it has grown in 3 weeks - and yes, I know the ludwigia is suffering - but am hoping it will come back as it has sent out lots of roots.

Hi all, <"Same for me">. cheers Darrel

That's the most important thing! For me it's nice to see small fish hiding in the plants just coming out occasionally, makes them more interesting when they do, I'm sure before long though they will recognize you as a food source (not personally). That tank looks perfect for those fish (and...

It's possible that their journey did to a degree take it's toll and weakened them, it looks from the photo that they had already dropped a few leaves, it wouldn't be until they started growing some new ones along with new roots that you would be back in business. As long as they are provided...

Looks good to me! :D

I think they are Parosphromenus deissneri. I knew about them before, but labelled them as a no go, because of the water requirements. The seller kinda convinced me about them, since he says he's been breeding them in tap water. I think my dH is around 5 and kH is 4. pH i try to keep below 7 with...

Rotala rotundifolia cuttings from a high tech aquarium added for some colour. Hopefully they will grow in and brighten up my aquarium. Let me know as all recommendations appreciated.

Curious if someone can lend a hand in figuring this out - After I moved the tank, things were fine for a few days, aside from forgetting to turn on the CO2. I had turned on the CO2 and thought I was out of the woods, but turns out I'm not. There has been a bit of die back and things generally...

Very nice! Hopefully mine will do the same.

Yes. The way the reactor is designed you’d normally not have a tap for offgassing anyway.

It is my understanding that the softness of your water (normally a low KH) is important for keeping certain plants. As you get to the higher end of KH levels, then you do better with harder water loving plants and may come across other issues such as availability of iron etc. I currently aim...

Its been only a few days but already some things are noticeable with the new plants. The petchii pink is lowering more and more its leaves and the costata is getting more colour and patterns on its leaves. The wendtii tropica is also getting more darker patterns on its leaves with a massive...

Hi all, This is my first post in 13 years 😂 I’ve been out of the hobby for the last 13 years due to work and having a family but have now decided it’s time to have a beautiful planted tank or two back in my life. My current setup is: Aqua One Betta sanctuary 10l with 100lph filter (I’ve put...

Mate if you can afford it i would go with masterline or APT , start with them but do your reserch based on what results you want , i.e if you want red plants which need nitrate limitation then dont got one which has nitrates etc etc

liquorice gouramis are hard, but as long as your water is soft and a low ph, and not too much flow they will do well. Do you know which species of liquorice?

I found a local breeder with Licorice Gouramis and decided to trade in the Betta and a Nerite for 3 of them. I really like them and I think it complements the tank nicely. I'm even considering getting a 4th Licorice, but I'm still reading about them to learn if that's ok. They look interesting...

Looking at the pictures of the aquarium ,l would fill all the soil areas with fast growing stems, placed in ceramic rings maybe for less soil disturbance and for now do daily waterchanges of 30%plus with something like an AIO TNC Complete, some of the stems could easily be removed later if...

I think once more than one male starts coexisting around breeding time the weaker male is going to have a very stressful existence in 60l as per:

Copepods are a group of small bugs, as far as I know those marine copepods you see in lfs won’t survive too long in a freshwater aquarium. An alternative to them is cyclops, which do meet your requirements 👍 However, (edit) as the marine bags are so generically labelled, who’s to say there...

Hey MrClockOff, I've been running my set up close to exactly like yours in your pics. Need to ask, for the line with tap which is connected to a bottle for degassing. Do you off the tap once degassing is complete? I'm just combining the two replies here, since LondonDragon mentioned never to...

Well, I decided to join this thread, not because I know much, but because I'm interested in this topic. I have two aquariums, 100L and 200L, more on the way. This is my 100L aquarium, with a sponge filter with a power head, 650L/h when not clogged 😅, it was one of my very first tanks when I...

Hi all, They honestly look quite different - <"Hydrocharitaceae | NatureSpot">. You can see the leaf whorls in Elodea spp. in the link. If you find a plant that <"looks like this">? It is Lagarosiphon major. cheers Darrel

With 60 to 80 litres l think it is a bit small, sticklebacks can get territorial and the likelihood of dominance and bullying is likely.

I’d probably need to see each side by side to have any idea of the differences. I’m not a botanist though and struggle to see small differences. The article suggests that two species are interchangeable names and when I google them they do look similar.

Welcome

Welcome

I know this sounds like aj obvious question but everywhere I see online the copepods are sold as marine and I can't seem to find freshwater ones. Can these copepods (sold as marine) still live and breed in Freshwater tanks (I'm guessing the answer is no but there's no harm in asking)? Sent...

It’s only small (60-80l thereabouts?) but nicely planted and well looked after so a few sticklebacks would be all the livestock. Any thoughts of size of added fish? Are sticklebacks usually aggressive to smaller fish?

Schooling, add a few more but barrels are kinda small.

Hi all. I have set up a 20 litre Dennerle Cube a month a go to save some cuttings from the bin. Its been great fun and allowed me to use it as a test tant. So far full of red stems and crypts and two Clinthon Snails to keep things going! Anyway today i wanted to remind myself not to be...

A question from my sister who keeps a lovely half whisky barrel pond in her yard: “I have one stickleback (originally two) and wondered what people thought about introducing 1, 2 or 3 more. Whether it’s best to have even numbers, whether the remaining one will be too big for young ones and will...

Hi all, "Curly leaves" is the easy way, but there are differences in the number of leaves in a whorl etc. The linked posts cover it in some detail. There are moves to legalise species that are unlikely to be invasive in the UK, but I'm guessing that "unlikely" could become "more likely" with...

Alright I decided to buy a pair of amanos so if all is well till Sunday I'll buy the rest of the fauna on Monday Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

I’m not sure how you could tell it apart properly to be honest. I’m sure services exist that could accurately identify it but I imagine the cost would be unreasonable compared to just chucking it in the compost heap (or just passing it on as Elodea densa). I didn’t realise quite how many...

Hello :wave: welcome.

My take on this, not endorsed by any serious research, but only my personal guess, is that cyanos are in constant battle for space. When the adversaries in the microbiota are strong, the cyanos are kept in check. The balance could switch because some parameter favors cyanos or because something...

Hiya @Hyenasden I like your brown and white/yellow fish. Are those the loaches? I strongly empathise with your experience to date - I'm a relative newbie at the planted aquarium (and fish) and it has taken a number of years to make things grow, helped a lot by lots of really good advice from...

Any macro alge keepers on here, i would like to know how to get started

It's been a while and thought I'd update those interested on my progress. Life got in the way, so progress has been slow. I have all the bits now though. Working on a pendant light mount for my Chihiros WRGBII. Chunky shelf brackets (40cm) on the top. May even put up a shelf 🤔 Also a pull-out...

Welcome :)

Hi all, I'm sure that is fine and I wouldn't have any reservations about adding fish. I understand that as well. Caution is never a bad thing. If you can wait a few more weeks? I would. Yes, that is sort of the issue. That is why "plant mass and time" works, there isn't any ambiguity...

Interesting. I live in West London and had not only problems with keeping plants but with neocaridinas as well until I started using RO water. It could very well be something in the water supply there, not just the hardness.

Hi all, We really don't know what causes any "algae" outbreaks. We think of <"BGA"> as a single entity, but there are hundreds of different species of cyanobacteria, some associated with <"low nutrient situations"> and some with eutrophication. Have a look at <"Fighting algae in a two year old...

No H2O2 is a very powerful oxidiser that will break down the organic tissues, including the cell walls of the cyno - that's what kills it - but it also has the capacity to damage plants too, and the beneficial microbial community you are trying to establish, which can all just lead to more...

I've noticed that you're not sure of the species of plants you've tried growing before. Knowing what plants have done well and what plants have died will be helpful. Would also suggest buying plants that have been grown submersed. You'll have better luck getting those to grow, rather than...

@Wookii That's enlightening. I will adjust the outlet to create surface movement. Hopefully it will improve things. It just occurred to me that by using hydrogen peroxide, I would be increasing the oxygen levels in the water. Maybe that is why it kills the cyanobacteria.

It's some thing you have to account for in the injection rate - good surface agitation is even more critical on a CO2 injected tank, to ensure stability in the CO2 level during the photo period. That may seem counter intuitive, but too little off-gasing causes an unstable CO2 level in the tank...

Interesting. I didn't think of that. What about escaping CO2. I would've thought that the lack of oxygen in the tank would correlate with increase plant growth. This might explain why my other tank has no BGA at all since I use a sponge filter to create water surface agitation.

I find the emergence of BGA correlates quite strongly to low levels of dissolved oxygen. I don't know if your filter is switched off in the above photo's @Calamardo Tentaculos, but if it isn't you have far too little surface agitation. That combined with the low plant mass, and the surface...

Is there a general rule to prevent the return or emergence of cyanobacteria at least? I see information from low flow, to too high light, lack of nitrates, abundance of phosphates, etc. Seems a bit vague or broad to be honest. I guess the secret to a longer and healthier life is.... less food...

Hi. Enjoy your time here.

Good morning everyone reading this, like most of you know, I'm from south africa and the products that you use isn't available in south africa 😊 ,so after some research I have found a company that can supply me with the salts, they can even go as far as pack it in ,individual quantities and...

Welcome

Hello all Would like to do a round of deworming on my tank (and another round if required) because I recently acquired some Corydoras CW51 and my stupid ass decided to take a gamble and not quarantine them. Only two appear to be unhealthy (one I've already had for a year and only recently...

Very true. The Fish we keep in the hobby are remarkably adaptable to a lean diet. Probably one of the reasons most of my fish will outlive me ;) geez... I need to change my diet .... well, joking aside I have Black Neon Tetras, Cardinals and Rubys in one tank that that by now are probably 4-6...

Lovely nano setup!

Welcome to UKAPS

Overfeeding is often overlooked

Yeah ill do that. Gives them a head start to hide and adjust Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

Seems unlikely. Do the inverts first then the Betta if you’re concerned?

I was dealing with a huge amount of ammonia during the beginning of the cycle due to a slight oversight on my part hence why it's taken this long. Made sure to not make that same mistake for my second scape now Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

I'm only planning to add 1x Clithorn snail, 6x Neocaradina shrimp and 1 Betta. I'm sure all these won't create a huge ammonia Spike that will upset the system? Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

Just err on the side of caution and introduce critters slowly and a few at a time if you're still not convinced. Normally my tanks cycle enough in a week or two to do just that.

Figured as much Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

Given your results are both the same shade of pink, but one sample has half the nitrite of the other shows that you can’t trust the test results.

When I lived in west London many years ago I couldn’t grow plants either. These days they grow like mad. I have a 60L and 37L cube, both with sand substrate. No CO2. I’ve chosen a few plants from the Tropica easy range plus Moss. I have shrimps in both tanks which are great for helping keep...

I like it too. Doesn’t multiply too quickly. It does get caught on a lot of stuff though. I think dwarf water lettuce is my favourite but Frogbit is the best for turning when it’s unhappy.

Today i made a bunch of capsules containing my own mixture of powdered clay and fe(dtpa). Tomorrow ill add them to the new plants. Im sure they will appreciate it :)