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Hi all, There is definitely more to that than just the sand substrate. I'm not personally a great fan of <"controlled release fertiliser root tabs">, or of <"most test kits"> for water quality. I'd really like to know what the water parameters are in my tanks, but <"I have a practical...

Hello :wave:, welcome to UKAPS.

Hi Steve! Woo another Manchester person :)

Yeah, could be. Sometimes with plants "dwarf" just means slow growing (or, with shrubs and trees, tight internodes) rather than a truly smaller final size. Very misleading marketing imo, though probably less of a problem than owning a former micropig. I have no idea about peace lilies...

So far so good. It's a little fiddly to get it to line up to click back on in the tank, but I suspect I just need little more practice. I have used just a regular sponge as a prefilter, but have had issues with it collapsing onto the intake tube over time. There's a perforated plastic barrier...

Hi All, I've got a second hand eheim 400 air pump that to me seems to output quite low pressure. I've got two hygger piezo air pumps that came with air stones. I've tried to power the air stones using the eheim pump and nothing comes out, where as the hygger air pumps run them fine. I've taken...

Maybe its a bit of a 'micropig' situation!

Planted up, and ready for the Mantid. CuC added, feeds ready etc. Found a lego led set in my spares, so set that up to sit on the lid.

...This may also be useful for those who feel the need to add "nitrifying bacteria "<"Dr Timothy Hovanec's comments about Bacterial supplements">. *Urakawa, H. & Sipos, A. (2020)<"Application of the consortia of nitrifying archaea and bacteria for fish transportation may be beneficial for fish...

Hi all, We have a <"few threads"> where people have <"grown them accidently">. I think the common thread is probably hard water, but this suggests it isn't a pre-requisite <"Hildenbrandia rivularis">. This gorgeous, red plush, velvet cushion belongs to @EA James. cheers Darrel

Personally, I'd keep a bunch of the soil. Add some fresh substrate, stick the old soil on top and then top it off with a bit of fresh soil too. I did that recently and everything survived with no melt at all. Loads of crypts, no problems. Also no issues with ammonia spikes. And as you say...

This is great. You've made a nice job of it too. Everyone should be allowed to have one at work

@simon_the_plant_nerd So this is where I'm at currently. I trying the dark start method so will run like this with no light for a couple of weeks then drain down and get some plants in. Excuse the image quality it's just a screenshot from a video!

Absolute nonsense fortunately. Any grade of sand is fine, just avoid the sharper types if going for a larger grain size. The finest silver sands can be problematic as they can compact and reduce water circulation through the substrate, but that's only an issue where you have a deep substrate...

I've always struggled with Nurii in soft water tanks, but in harder tap water tanks it grows like a weed! Crypts I've had no issues growing softer water are Beckettii 'petchii', Spiralis tiger and red and X purpure. Some of them take a long time to get started, but are fine once they're going.

Ostracods. They feed on algae and detritus, so completely harmless and actually an indicator of good water quality.

Thanks. Yes, that has been my own experience also on previous occasions. I have found it a good practice not to divide the plants to too little portions at the start. But I have also read about other people’s experiences of complete melting of in-vitro pinnatifida on the first days of a new scape.

For a stand that needs to be living room approved, I’ve found that veneered plywood with a nice wipe on poly finish looks very nice and is easy to do for an amateur like me. I’ve built a couple stands and personally I didn’t find marine plywood to be necessary. Assuming that the plywood needs...

Welcome! :wave:

What is the substrate you are using? I also notice that it seems like you are using the eheim pre filters. How do you like those? Are they easy to detach and clean? I’ve considered getting some myself. Sorry I don’t have any great advice beyond what you’re doing. I had similar issues using...

I just noticed something similar in my tank today. Freaking out at the moment since it looks like my snails are battling with them.

Couple deliveries arrived today, ADA Vuppa II skimmer, and two 5m fastening straps for when I collect the tank, still to order transit blankets for the trip too….the joy.

Welcome! :wave:

Welcome! :wave:

Good luck with the Lineata, had to be one of the best fish I’ve kept. The male was stunning.

At least he can't complain about the price of electric.

A 4ft tank opens up a lot of options @ElleDee !

Thank you for saying it's fine! I'll see how far a mix of the two will get me in filling the bags. I did order the cat litter too, I'm already a bit of a crazy cat person anyway 😛

Report back to us how they do!

I wonder what water conditions are required for freshwater coralline algae. I'd love to have that on some of my rocks.

Yeah, getting more and larger fish was my main motivation for scaling up. I'm thinking either congo tetra or Bolivian rams as the big fish depending on the exact direction I take the tank, but I've got to get through the start up period before I start buying fish. I got to get a journal going...

I would have no problem mixing the two together in the bags and then cover them with whatever is pleasing to the eye or affordable, I know a good few people over the years have successfully utilised cat litter but I don't think I could live the associated stigma. 🙂

So I located the following blackwater plants and will try them in my next 29 (which is being setup for true a. lineta): c. willisii c. undulatus (red) c. ferruginea sekaduensis (not sure i will like this one) c. yujii - Unfortunately this going to cause a naming problem since my Blutkehl...

Nothing to do with your problem but rather than sporadically adding a lot all in one go just add 1 or 1/2 or 1/4 depending on the contents and brand in different areas each week after the water change, plants love stability and will not be adapted to take in a sudden massive influx of nutrients...

Hi all, Electronics and aquaculture apparently. https://atlas-scientific.com/ Cheers Darrel

Welcome! :)

"And they claim to be <"experts">." in what? :)

Great natural feel to this one, love it.

It’s over twice what I’ve got at the moment. I had a reef tank slightly narrower than that many years ago. You’ve got a good size there. Big enough for some really nice plants and lots of swimming space for some larger fish.

It's got 120P proportions - 120x50x50cm, 300L. It's a huge increase in size in size for me from anything I've kept before.

@Fluxtor How’s this going?

Hi all, joining the forum today as I currently have 2 small planted tanks (lo-tech) and a third in planning and progress. Tank 1 - 35cm cube, planted with spiderwood, lots of moss, some stems and floaters. It's shockingly well balanced and home to Ember Tetras, Endler males, some Amanos and...

How big is that tank? Looks like a nice size.

Hello Steve, I was thinking that if I had everything in mesh bags and no matter how hard the Corydoras dug into the sand they couldn’t take up soil or gravel. I wanted it to just be sand and not sand with aqua soil bits on top as I find that to be messy. I watched a Josh Sim workshop and...

Thank you 😊

Hi Rich, Definitely not an expert here, but I swapped one of my 30l tanks in a bit of an emergency earlier in the year. I did a change from a sand / dirt combo and went to a pure sand with root capsules for the plants I swapped the plants fish, filter, ceramic rings and most of the water as...

This absolutely amazing 6m long aquarium has just been installed in a fusion restaurant in Southport, JT Ashaya, which opened last week. Will update this post with progression photos as more plants are added. All the wood you see in the tank are handpicked pieces from a Royal estate in Wales...

Wow! Great news! The medicine is Chloromine T, which is meant to treat external issues on fish.So it must have been something external, as I can't believe it would treat internal. But great result so far!

I'm pleased to report the poorly fish is still alive and I've just seen her (I think it's a her as she is more rounded than the others) swimming around, sifting through sand and her breathing appears to have slowed slightly so hopefully that internal anti bacterial medicine I bought has done the...

Love it. The H. Pinna should come back with a vengeance - I wouldn't worry much.

Murray, what was the purpose of capping the lava sand with the Tropica aqua soil? As both were in mesh bags, I take that the capping sand, as well as being decorative, was used to anchor the plants until the roots penetrated the bags. Regards Steve

Hi all, I also have soft water and very little / no <"Green Spot Algae"> (GSA). cheers Darrel

...x 1000 = 10,000,000 litres (kg) of water in the pond. Then we have 350 mg O2 used per kg and a 1000 kg in a tonne, so the tonne of fish use 350 * 10000 mg O2 per hour = 350,000 mg O2 per hour. Then you just need to sort of the "figures of ten" (350,000 / 10,000,000) to 0.035 and 0.035 * 24...

So I started a second filter with the new filter material last night. It did not magically clear the water (alas!), but the problem is much better since I first posted. Top: perfectly clear immediately after flooding (9/9), Middle: the peak of the cloudiness prompting me to make the original...

I don't have a way to test the current draw of the filter. I did however replace all the pipework, clean the inflow and outflow pipes and the filter. The flow rate is much better but the filter still has a fault where it's stick in it's purge mode. I think I need to look at a replacement.

This is it currently

It is at the moment . I’ll shut it down when new one is ready as plants and fish will be transferring over .

Hi all, That is it really. @Happi posted how they got around the issue of replication in <"My thoughts so far">. I know that we all tend to have <"faith positions">, usually based on our experiences, but they aren't always optimal, or we might not understand why something <"new to us"> works...

I did find loads of research on fish DO consumption, all as confusing as one another due to variables. One piece said the below, but I cannot determine how they got to the 0.84mg/l per 24-hour mark!

Pufferfish are spawning. Males have been chasing the females for a few days heavily. Just seen them in the guppy grass corner, one of the males headbutting a female in the side. And then spawning amongst the grass. Not that anything will hatch as the shrimp live there. And will consume any eggs.

This is very interesting, and I think you should post on the blog to see what thier response is. My experiment does seem to heavily suggest that a good build-up of DO during the photoperiod provides good levels for non-photoperiod. That being said, I dont have any fish in that aquarium...

Awesome scape. Any fears with running a single in/out?

Same here. Mine is borderline too soft. I think there's definitely a connection.

This has been a fascinating journey @dw1305. I like it when things click into place between experience, research and some good old fashion testing!

Another question popped up for me. You compare the dosing of K and Mg. But often people add X ppm of K based on the total tank volume, and Y ppm of Mg based on the water changed, considering one to be a fertilization and the other to be a remineralization. For a 50% water change regime, one has...

...Produce Oxygen For Fish In Aquariums? | Atlas Scientific"> And they claim to be <"experts">. I'll try posting on their blog and see what happens*. I should say that I also like <"some water movement">. I see a <"large gas exchange surface to volume ratio"> as an unalloyed god thing. *This...

It's only been running for 8 days, so slightly nervous about pushing it up at the moment! Thoughts? Indeed Darrel. And this (very) rudimentary testing shows that for real. I was amazed at such healthy fish in a planted aquarium with almost a flat surface. I was also amazed at healthy fish (like...

Hi all, Try it again at 40% intensity? That is the point I've always tried to put over to the unconvinced, that plants are <"massively net oxygen producers">. When I started on this journey I had expected that this would be the <"consensus amongst serious aquarists">, but I met a lot of...

I also had situation when I been on vacation and CO2 runs out for a week. No major changes, everything will be good, fire it up and good luck

Arghhh Same day as 'Book Club' and Craft Fair at the Cathedral. Already got Evils for even suggesting not going.

I very rarely have green spot algae, my water is soft ,maybe helps ?

Again, this is a first pass and a rudimentary level of testing. Yesterday, the dissolved oxygen went to 7.25mg/l just before the photoperiod ended at 20:00. (NOTE: photoperiod is still only 6 hours at 25% lighting). This morning at 08:00, the DO remained at 6.10mg/l - which is safe and healthy...

Welcome to UKAPS Steve,you have soft water fom upland sources which aquatic planted aquariums will really benefit from

Hi all, As long as the <"rhizome is still hard and green">? The plant should re-leaf. If the entire rhizome goes yellow, or is mushy, the plant is dead. cheers Darrel

Is there a point with either anubias (or buce for that matter) where you accept that it has melted too far? I separated an anubias nana into three sections for planting. I thought I divided the rhizome fairly equally but two melted away back to the rhizome whilst one settled in immediately and...

Thanks everyone I appreciate it. I didn’t turn the light on today as I was at work till late but will turn it on very low tomorrow just to get them by till Thursday. I don’t plan on adding much else other than buce and the cyperus helferi I already have. Maybe some moss on the driftwood...

I do 7 ppm PO4 per week, as three every-other-day doses following this scheme: Estimative index - Fireplace aquarium

I think Cladophora responds pretty well to blackouts. If I were you I'd try a 48 hour blackout. I've been pretty lucky and not had major algae issues for a few years but when I did have some problems a very strict blackout worked well. It helps to have some big amano shrimp to hoover up the...

I used pier aquatics recently for some fish and they were very helpful and the fish arrived quickly and in perfect health. I thought the way they had packed the fish was odd but maybe they know something I don't. I would use them again for sure.

Green spot is one algae I've never seen in any of my tanks ever. I almost wish I did because I actually love the way it looks on rocks.

@Andy Pierce - i'm looking to increase my Phosphates to further limit GSA. Just to clarify, did you dose P or PO4 at this 7ppm? Also was this an individual dose or accumulated? If accumulated, what daily dose and uptake were you assuming? Currently, I am dosing EI with KH2PO4 yielding 1.8ppm...

Hello Steve, If it helps I capped lava soil with a layer of Tropica aqua soil (both in separate mesh bags) For the sand I used Unipac silver sand which is extremely fine. Couldn’t be happier with the end result - Think the only thing I would change is planting stem plants into the “thin” sand...

Band is indeed a strange app. But I bought some lovely shrimp off there a while back which I couldn’t get anywhere else and I was very happy with it but wasn’t convinced until they arrived. Switch off push notifications!

Think I may go :)

@Qwedfg if you want some floating plants send me a dm. I’ll send you some for the cost of postage.

I’ve let my co2 run out and forgot to replace the cylinder for a week. I noticed no real difference. I keep buce and lots of other fairly low maintenance plants. I actually turned it down a bit after that and it’s been good.

If you get any bottom dwellers, don’t underestimate their ability to remodel your tank to their own taste! Even the tiny ones. 😄 Im sure others will be along soon to add their experiences.

Welcome! :)

Howdy :)

You could still start it up low tech, if it’s just Buce they usually do well in lowlight setups as they are slow growers anyway. Just keep the lights relatively low. Do you have any fast growers like floating plants or stems? They can really help fight algae on a new setup (especially with...

Finally my cycled but currently empty 15l on my desk. Currently used as plant holding and hoping to hatch some rice fish eggs in here if I can get hold of them.

100l tank with Java fern/anubias/moss on wood. There is also a really healthy hydrocotle (sp?!?h, and Red root floaters and frogbit. Stocked with Bentosi tetras, 5 Marble Angels, 2 Ghost Angels (rescued), 4 Kuhli loaches (I think - 4 went in at least although I rarely see more that 2 at a time)...

A 15l nano tank with my first dragon lotus and, a vallis, and I think some dwarf Sag, which really needs a trim. Also ubiquitous Java fern, anubias, moss on wood and red root floaters. This also has a Ficus bonsai growing out of the top. Small school of Celestial Pearl Danios and Pygmy Corys in...

Thanks for your comments. I asked the question having read a review on a fine sand, which the purchaser blamed on the death of several of his fish. With regards to the substrate, I’m not looking to cap it as I expect the plants to camouflage it. The sand is to be a decorative addition to the...

Shoot, and Anubias Nano on all those woods as well.

Hello 👋, welcome to UKAPS.

Guppy and Cyberman Tank, with a bristle nose in there. Plants are red root floaters (not much red root though), some Vallisinaria (sp?) struggling at the back and more moss and Java fern on wood (can you see a theme developing?). There was also some Starogyne Repens in there, but it is no more.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Using an algaecide is very much a last resort for me. I have tried reducing the light and have been removing it manually with no luck. The algae adheres very strongly to the wood in particular so it's not possible to remove it all. I'm sure there's still an...

30l tank with Lambchop Rasboras, Ember Tetras and a couple of ottos. There is some frogbit in here (recently thinned out as it had thugged out the tank), Red root floaters which have started going red since thinning out the frogbit, and some Java fern and moss on wood). The base is Wio...