Search results

Hi all, Welcome, we have a few <"Apistogramma fans on the forum">. <"Apistogramma baenschi "Inka"> is a nice one. <"I originally"> found my way here from <"Apistogramma Forums">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, If they have it, it is in the <"Tropica 3 for £11"> section, but there maybe post-Brexit problems with <"Tropica plant supplies">. I occasionally wander around the one in Bath, while my liftshare buys cat food etc. and they usually have it in. I guess that should do. I had Salvinia...

Hi all, I've kept them, and they will build a small bubble nest under a floating plant like Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum). The best plant of all is Indian Fern (Ceratopteris "thalictroides") , you can buy it at pets@home normally. In terms of non-plant spawning sites <"35mm film...

Hi all, I'm not trying to be funny, but the easy answer is that you just need <"to let the plants grow in">, and once you have a decent plant mass in active growth, your tank is fish safe. I'm <"not anti-testing">, but my opinion is that basing decisions, about fish welfare, upon the results...

Hi all, Looking at the test result definitely not in the "Skull tank", and probably not for another couple of weeks. I'm not a great fan of test kits, but nitrite (NO2-) is <"less problematic to test for"> than nitrate (NO3-). You really need the NO2 level to have been zero for some time to...

Hi all, Just stop adding ammonia and <"ignore everything"> that you read/are told on forums, web-sites your LFS etc. about cycling and test kits. Linked into your <"other thread">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I'm pretty sure they are, we will all get UKAPS results high up in our search list because Google knows we are frequent visitors to UKAPS. When @Andy Pierce started looking, he wasn't a frequent visitor to UKAPS, so Google placed us much lower down the search. Is there a frequent UKAPS...

Hi all, There is <"Aquajardinerie" at Three Shires Garden Centre, Newent>. I've never visited, but I went to their (same people?) Gloucester shop (Haresfield) when it was still open. @Oldguy may know, <"he is local to you">. Another vote for Newport Aquatics, I've never visited, but I'm on...

Hi all, Plant growth looks pretty good. cheers Darrel

Hi all, You could try <"Newport Aquatics">, they have an active Facebook page and an aquascaping room etc. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I've got <"solar panels as well">, they are much more effective than I'd expected they would be. When you get bright sun-light, and it is cool, they are more efficient, and my experience of W. Ireland is either raining or sunny, and not much in the middle. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I have <"them in my tanks">, it depends a little bit on the fish you have, but they are quite resilient. I've <"introduced Lumbriculus"> as well, but they don't persist in tanks with Corydoras, Apistogramma etc. That would work, my guess is that the Dario will actually hunt them fairly...

Hi all, Welcome. I'm a Pygmy Cory fan. It is worth getting a <"Banana or Micro-worm culture">, they really like small live food items. The <"Tropica easy range"> is a great place to start. You can stop adding ammonia, you don't <"need to "cycle" a planted tank"> in the same way you would a...

Hi all, That is where I got the <"Copella and Pygmy Corydoras"> from. "Sam" is the guy who knows all about the fish. I'm not sure what is in Trowbridge, there was a place downstairs in the market. They had some fish from me, but I've never been back to cash in my credit note. I haven't been...

Hi all, Bristol: If you want to have a look at the fish, you could try the Maidenhead Aquatics (MA) at Brislington (just past the Hick's Gate roundabout). There is the Aquatic Store in Bedminster, but that isn't easy to get to, and Parker's at Iron Acton, but I haven't been in there for a long...

Hi all, @brhau welcome and nice to see you here, you definitely have access to a lot more plant expertise on this forum. I also arrived at UKAPS from Apistogramma Forums, when <"@ Ed Seeley was an active member of both forums">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Nice introduction. They look like they might be <"Ophiopogon japonicus,"> unfortunately<"not actually an aquatic plant">. It would be fair to say that I have a bit of an issue with people who sell non-aquatics as <"aquarium plants">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Welcome, nice tank. Do you keep the Channa aurantimaculata cooler in the winter? I've been admiring them on the Fishhut (Colin Dunlop's) Facebook page. cheers Darrel

Hi Lindy, Welcome back. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Welcome Craig. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Welcome. I'm an <"Aroid fan as well">. Have a look at (inactive) member @hydrophyte <"threads">, he tried a lot of different Aroids, some submerged and some partially emersed. You'll need to keep changing water for a while. I'd add a floating plant for the moment, I like <"Amazon...

Hi all, Not the filter media then. Can we gave a picture of the tank? cheers Darrel

Hi all, Welcome, and a bit of strange question for starters, but what does the media set-up in your filter look like? One of the main differences between keeping planted tanks and un-planted tanks is that we tend to use the plants to remove the fixed nitrogen, rather than relying on...

Hi all, There are some nice small cube aquariums "out-there" (should "out-there" still exist) . I like the <"Dennerle cubes">, you can get a bare tank or a <"complete set-up">. There are plenty of plants that grow well without CO2, <"in hard water">, the <"Tropica "Easy" category"> is a good...

Hi all, Competitor in the <"World's most expensive water"> competition? cheers Darrel

Hi all, I am enjoying this. Great roots and you have some great fish,'Barbus' hulstaerti and a Lamp-eye, Poropanchax normani? They are much more yellow than the ones I kept. Brilliant, which is the "mimic" tetra with your Corydoras hastatus? is it Hypressobrycon elachys? cheers Darrel

Hi all, Thanks @Pratheep. That is very useful. So lacking in the three macro-elements (N: P : K), but containing all the micro-elements. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Welcome @Pratheep. I'm not a branded fertiliser user, but I don't think this contains any nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P)? If you add CO2 you increase the plants demand for nutrients, and nitrogen is the one <"that plants need most of">. You need to add a <"fertiliser that contains all...

Hi all, I'm a butterfly fan, I vote to keep it. cheers Darrel

Hi all, It looks like "White Spot", I've used <"EsHA Exit"> successfully in the past. Can you get to the Aquatic Store (in Bedminster) they should be able to advise you (or the MA at Wyevale by the Brislington Park and Ride? or Parker's at Iron Acton?). cheers Darrel

Hi all, I'm pretty sure you have both. Blue circle is BBA, red circle is Staghorn. BBA is the algae growing over the Anubias leaves on page.1. I'll be <"in a minority">, but I really like your <"green bog-wood">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, You probably just need some more plants. I know it is difficult with the Goldfish, but people can probably advise you of larger leaved plants that they don't eat. The algae is Black Brush Algae (BBA), we don't really know what causes it. Plants need all of the nutrients required for...

Hi all, Welcome. Tank looks really good, and I'm pleased to see another low tech. Limnobium fan. cheers Darrel

Hi all, You won't need to add "Prime" to the water you use to make up the fertiliser. I use rain-water, so I don't use a dechlorinator, but if I did need one I would probably use "Prime". Should be all right, you need to strain the near boiling water into a container, that way you will removed...

Hi all, It depends on how hard your tap water is, you use RO or DI water because the potential problem is salts, already in the water, before you add the fertiliser salts. If you have hard tap water (with a lot of carbonates) this will raise pH and microelements like iron will come out of...

Hi all, You can get a ferts. mix. <"Dry salts work out a lot cheaper"> than buying branded. Once an ion is in solution they are all the same, every K+ & NO3- ion is the same as every other K+ & NO3- ion, it <"doesn't matter where it came from">. You can use the <"Rotala Butterfly nutrient...

Hi all, Welcome, I'm a jungle fan, basically from the (average) small fishes point of view you can never have to many plants. Have a look at @Chris Jackson's <"Lazy Asian Biotope"> and @Tim Harrison's <"Windswept Eternity"> Don't add any ammonia, it won't help, and it may actually delay the...

Hi all, Welcome Michael, I’m just down the road in Corsham. Cheers Darrel

Hi and welcome, cheers Darrel

Hi all, It is a real issue, I'm not trying to be funny, but most of the information on forums, from LFS and on manufacturers web sites is any, or all, of: just wrong, half-true or deliberately misleading. There are forums, sellers, <"growers"> &manufacturers, where you will get good...

Hi all, I like the black lava rocks. Just add some floating plants, that gets around both light and CO2 as issues, this is because you don't need to add CO2 (for any of the plants you already have, and the floating plants have access to 400 ppm of atmospheric CO2) and you can use the floating...

Hi all, And another one <"Strangers in your home: Archaea thrive in aquarium biofilters – Dr Josh D Neufeld"> Pages 14 - 20. cheers Darrel

Hi all, There is also this blog which might be of interest to some. <"Aquarium microbial ecology: a living room approach to citizen science - By Darlene Cavalier">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, It may take a while for the tank to settle down following the ammonia addition, but it should be fine eventually. Just stop adding ammonia and keep your water changes up. If you have a planted tank you don't need to cycle it, you just need to let it grow in. Have a look through...

Hi all, Welcome to UKAPS, which one do you frequent? cheers Darrel

Hi all, Post a photo, we like a challenge. cheers Darrel

Hi all, It isn't a term I'm familiar with, but if it is the branches you would mount epiphytic orchids on? Then almost certainly you can. Rinsed is fine. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Ramshorn snails are a <"good thing in a planted tank">, they won't eat your plants. You won't need ten, five will be more than enough. cheers Darrel

Hi all, As @three-fingers says mosses don't produce seeds, so that should be good enough to prove he has knowingly sold you a wrongly identified item. cheers Darrel

Hi all, That's it. This is where the ecology bit of <"The Ecology...... "> comes in. Under <"Darwinian theories of natural selection"> altruism doesn't really exist, but complex, <"resilient and diverse ecosystems"> can, and will, develop over time. If you think about another "aquatic...

Hi all, I think Marcel is right, it is a bit of both. You have to make a differentiation between organic and <"inorganic carbon"> (D (or (T)IC), emergent plants aren't going to add much inorganic carbon (unless you have a deep tank without much water turn-over). Access to CO2 The main...

Hi all, Have a look at <"Walstad revises"> and links, it is quite a long thread but worth a read. Yes, that is pretty much it, tanks with a <"large mass of growing plants"> (these have <"plant/microbe biofiltration">) are much more stable and resilient than ones that rely on microbial...

Hi all, That's it, you can drive the water off by heating, but then you have to store the <"anhydrous MgSO4"> in air-tight conditions (either a desiccator or freezer). I have an Excel spreadsheet with a periodic table etc to work the percentage of elements in any compound, but a calculator...

Hi all, Magnesium sulphate ("Epsom Salts") are always ~10% Mg in use because they pick up atmospheric moisture (the "water of crystallisation") and become the stable <"heptahydrate MgSO4.7H2O">. Your potassium phosphate is K2HPO4. You can use the <"Rotala Butterfly"> Nutrient Calculator to...

Hi all, You are fine, all old hard rock is OK. If you have a wide choice I'd discard any bits with obvious quartz inclusions or pyrites deposits as they could possibly contain mineral deposits of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) or arsenic (As). Granite isn't usually green, the rock they sell as...

Hi all, The traditional Amazon Sword plant (<"Echinodorus bleheri">) would be my suggestion it is a tough plant, and good with low light etc. You can see E. bleheri in the Heckel Discus image in the post that @DutchMuch linked. And this is a Dan Crawford video cheers Darrel

Hi all, Noooo..., look at those lovely roots, every tank needs a plant with the <"aerial advantage">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, and I arrived <"at UKAPS"> via <"Apistogramma Forums">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, That is an issue with the test kit, you may or may not have any ammonia (NH3) or nitrite (NO2-), but you will definitely have some nitrate (NO3-). Waiting never hurts. Water changes are always a good idea. Do you have a picture of the tank how it looks now? cheers Darrel

Hi all, Has it been full of water since it was last used? You need to have no measureable ammonia, or nitrite, before you can add fish. At the moment I'd stop adding the ammonia, it won't do anything useful now you have the tank planted. In the <"traditional view of cycling"> you have to wait...

Hi all, Some of us do. cheers Darrel

Hi all, The small bright green plant is <"Riccia fluitans">. The larger plant is a moss (and possibly <"Java Moss">), rather than <"Java fern">. Riccia is a great "hitch hiker", have a look at <"Plant ID">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I'm sorry to hear that, it is definitely an oxygen issue, but there are a lot of different ways in which you can end up with low levels of dissolved oxygen. You are much more likely to have oxygen/water quality issues if you have an non-planted, or very lightly planted, tank. I would...

Hi all, You can use it for both. Sand substrate, some structural leaf litter and low tech plants. If you have Corydoras pygmaeus, Corydoras panda or Corydoras hastatus (and there are probably others where you get fry with the parents present) you can have a permanent set-up, other species (egg...

Hi all, Yes, before you film your-self you delude yourself that you look like George Clooney, and sound like Benedict Cumberbatch, but then the truth hits and you realize you sound more like Alan Sugar's less cultured older brother, and that Alan is the looker of the family. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Thank you, I was going to do one of the kit in the analytical lab. but I'll have to get some-one else to front them, because I look like a gargoyle and sound like a cockney market trader. Yes I'm not ill disposed towards denitrification, I just don't want it happening in a canister...

Hi all, Welcome, this is may seem to be a bit of confrontational post, but bear with the forum, every-one (well nearly every-one) else is a fairly friendly. Having seen a couple of the videos, I'd start by saying that: I like the idea of the scientific method, it is definitely possible to...

Hi all, Welcome. I only really like "wild type" fish as well. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I live in Corsham. cheers Darrel

Hi all, <"Grimm's law">. I've got a book (one of Stephen Jay Gould's) somewhere with a chapter about Wilhelm and Jacob ("The Brothers") Grimm and why they (and particularly Jacob) <"were interested in folk tales">. I'm pretty sure that it is this article <"Gould - Grimm's Greatest...."> (but...

Hi all, I know this is going to sound funny because this is a forum, but 99% of what you read on forums about "cycling" and the nitrogen cycle is wrong. Have a look at <"Best way to cycle...."> and <"Will filter bacteria survive....."> (and linked threads). I like a growing in period for the...

Hi all, Welcome, you've probably seen it but @Tim Harrison has written a tutorial for the <"dirted tank">. You don't actually need to dose any more ammonia, the nitrifying filter organisms aren't going to die without a continual stream of ammonia. It is really oxygen that is important. Have a...

Hi all, I'll be honest, it <"really p*sses me off">, and I don't think it should be up to the consumer. I think that the shops that sell these plants as "aquatic plants" are in <"breach of the law">, because it is false advertising, and they are not fit for purpose. cheers Darrel

Hi all, It looks OK. I have a question about the two green spiky plants, either side of the "Ozelot" type Echinodorus, and the plant with the metallic leaves in front of the Echinodorus. Are they recent additions? I'm pretty sure the metallic leaved plant is <"Hemigraphis alternata">, it is...

Hi all, Best of luck, I think we are all interested in this project, what you eventually decide and how it works. When you are ready PM me, I always have spare Anubias and African/Java ferns you can have if you want them (for a donation to the forum). cheers Darrel

Hi all, You don't need to have anaerobic denitrification with planted tanks, basically the "denitrification arc" is carried out by the plants, which deplete all forms of fixed nitrogen. You shouldn't get any build up of NO3 in the tank water, the plants should take it up. The problem with long...

Hi all, The snails look like <"Physella acuta">, if they are "Tadpole Snails" they are a very speedy mover. I think the small nippy animals are a Copepod Cyclops. If they have "saddle-bags" these are egg sacks. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I wondered about that as well, but I think the "back wall" is sponge, with an outlet near to the thermometer. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Same for me, started fish keeping in the 1970's, gave up when I went to university and only took it up again about 10 years ago. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Type the scientific (latin) name into Google, that should give you a link to a web site (Wikipedia is usually OK) with a common name (common names may vary from region to region), and a plant family. Try <"Limnobium laevigatum"> <"IFAS"> is a useful site. A source like <"Field...

Hi all, You often find Ostracods in big puddles, buckets of rain-water etc which you know have been dry for extended periods of time. A lot of species are parthenogenic and have eggs that can survive desiccation for several years, blowing around in the dust until they end up in water. One...

Hi all, I've got lots of <"Utricularia gibba"> you can have, and Asellus, Ramshorn snails, Lumbriculus, Ostracods etc. PM me your address, it will be £5 to cover p&p for as much as you like. If you just want the Utricularia at the moment, I can send that as a "large letter", so £2 should cover...

Hi all, There is a good orchid glasshouse as well (and fantastic epiphytes etc.) The day I visited it was about 35oC, and my wife and daughter were keen to visit the shops in Munich, and do a bit of sight seeing etc., so I didn't have as long a visit as I would have liked to. If/next time we...

Hi all, Hi Daniel, have you been to the Munich Botanic Garden - <"http://www.botmuc.de/en/garden/glasshouse_complex.html"> ? It is all good, but Glasshouse 4 - "Aquatic Plants" is well worth a visit. cheers Darrel

Hi all At "Hilliers" at Whiteway? that is interesting as it is only 2 minutes up the road from work. It was horrible last time I went in there (a couple of years ago), and I haven't been back since. cheers Darrel

Hi all, For "ordinary" fish your best bet locally is "Pet Care" a small pet shop on St. Paul's St, in Chippenham (SN15 1LJ), the owner is an aquarist and the fish are in very good condition. Other possibilities are the MA at Leekes in Melksham, and the MA at Hick's Gate in between Keynsham...

Hi all, Hi Steve, nice to see another Wilts member. Like the name "otolith", very snazzy. cheers Darrel

Hi Andy, Where are you living? I'm in Corsham. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Hi Tony, I'm another Wiltshire member, from Corsham. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Hi Geoff, as the others have said welcome, I think you will find this is a very informative forum. I'm very interested in Gardens, Wildlife and Ecology as well, but I haven't managed to make it a full time profession. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Via Ed Seeley on "Apistogramma forums". cheers Darrel