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Hi ElleDee yeah I think the American equivalent would be a Petsmart? It’s generally high price and poor quality with very poor range. We went to Horizon Aquatics to get some hardscape for the other half. It was a very long drive (5 hours) but for a hardscape trip it was well worth it. Never...

Some nice growth of plants from planting until today

Best of luck, Gill.

A 100 ppm drift that would be excessive in my opinion. You will have to look at the cumulative change and where you hit the equilibrium: equilibrium_tds = (tds_increase / (wc_percent / 100)) - tds_increase + wc_tds Theoretically speaking, if your starting point is water at 220 ppm and it...

Thank you very much everyone as always for taking the time to help. It’s people like you’re good selves that make this place so amazing a resource 😊 Apologies for the delay I’m on holiday with pretty poor access to internet to say the least! We’re going to order the tank at the start of the...

Cheers Michael J for your feedback appreciate that stay safe...

Wew. This project is one of the best I've ever seen on-line. Great inspiration 👏

The Strike has gained alot more momentum this week, now that the Unite Union has opened up the strike to non members aswell, who join this week and will be paid by them on strike days. That means that All Birmingham Engineers bar 1 will be striking Monday 28th. So they have Pulled non members...

The Halfbeaks have all but vanished. Can only see one chunky female that patrols the surface snatching aphids. and the occasional fly that dares to land. Im currently pulling out the Java fern as clogged with hair alfae atm. Been leaving in a bowl of clean water and then rinsing and pulling it...

My Fault I walked past you and MJ and it didn't click it was you. I will be there for def next year.

Tucano tetras, if you can source them.

Right, ladies and gentlemen ......... back to me understanding the science with your help. (Thank you, by the way). 24-hour degassed tank water by leaving in a cup to stand, pH7.7 (almost spot on my tap water readings, and would make sense). Tank water when CO2 is off seems to settle/buffer...

Black neon tetras are nice. Embers tetras is another nice option - and almost monochromatic (one color). Cheers, Michael

Hi all, The best of luck, it should be interesting. Are you going to use the Dennerle system of fertiliser addition? cheers Darrel

Ha! Maybe? I love them though. Are they bold enough to entice everyone to roam around more?

Hi all, For me? You probably have. cheers Darrel

Hello 👋

Hi all, It is a strange one, some companies sell good products alongside absolute tat, it is more the <"deliberately misleading"> advertising I don't like. Seachem are a prime example, their adverts are very carefully worded, so that they imply something without actually ever saying it. I'm...

Hardware is incredible. I look forward to your updates 😀

Thanks @AlemBa I understood, all feedback is appreciated

I think the black neons you have suggested would be a great option. Hardy, peaceful and colourful. They’re definitely an underrated species.

Hi all, Question here, I have a 58l tank currently with 8 neon tetras, 5 endlers 2 honey gouramis and 6 similis corys; the tank is plagued with loads of endler fry (which suprisingly haven't been eaten!!). I was wondering if I could introduce more fish, ie more tetras/cherry barbs/ some rasboras...

Are green neons too snazzy? They are subtler than neons/cardinals, slightly below mid water, a little lurky through the plants but nice shoaling in a big group, quite similar to the lamb chops, maybe a little more chill wont cause anyone any trouble.

I’m hoping for help in selecting an additional group of fish for my 100 gallon low tech tank. I currently have pearl gouramis that hover near the top of the tank most of the time, harlequin and lamb chop rasboras that mostly stay in a huddle in the left middle, and bronze cories that are all...

I wouldn't be concerned I've received and used RM. Technically they allow invertebrates but not vertebrates. From my experience (I can't speak for their sorting procedure) but DX who are licenced to carry live animals are worse than RM. The fish don't get any special care in transit same as RM...

Hi all, You can PM me your address. cheers Darrel

Thank you i am in that BAND group and currently in a conversation with them as well as a few others

Yes they sometimes do when going from emersed to fully submerged. I have a lot of beech leaf litter in my tank so I don't see as much now as when I first started with them

Speak to Waterford aquatics, she used to specialise in wild bettas. I received my Betta rubra and Albamarginata from her. She has a supplier in Indonesia who can source most things.

Thanks. I’ve popped to the local store and bought a couple of the petchii. I’ve read they can melt so I won’t panic if/when they do!

Tangent I do wonder about this a lot; how much insulation vs thermal mass of the water to calculate how many watts of electricity is use to heat the room. Fish houses outside the house tend not to be gas heated etc. a lot of factors to it.

Yes, my “not worth the risk” is that you cannot quarantine for everything, and tho pecs are relatively resilient it’s not a risk I would take. You then have the follow up punch, that eggs and fry are not that big, and would be food. Finally, I think to do right by these fish you should have...

thank you all

Yes, I can vouch for @Aquarium Gardens - they have been immensely helpful and supportive in all aspects of building my latest aquarium. Went above and beyond, and very sensible advice pre and post sales.

I like concept 3, gives a good sense of flow and direction

hello

Harsh but possibly true with some of them.🙂 I always recommend Aquarium Gardens, as certainly don't fall into that category, always good advise and on a number of occasions, they have steered me away from a big spend.

Thank you for those Shop recommendations. I have emailed Premier Aquatics and waiting on a response currently, I also emailed Aqualife Leyland to see if i get a similar response. I have also run the fish shopping trip pas the and we have come to an agreement, I can go Fish Shopping if we can...

i will be setting up a high tec tank based around the dennerle principles with the latest ph control and undersoil heating I plan to run it with a regular feed on the pfk web site will feature some new plants from tropica would enjoy ukap members imput I hope we can all learn from the year long...

Welcome to the forum, assuming it's just inert sand then it shouldn't cause an issue apart from a potential eyesore. Although as ElleDee mentioned, depending on which substrate you put on the top that could cause an issue, as some substrate is meant to be capped with something on top to stop it...

Thanks everyone ☺️

The Discus chap l know had many of the common tetras,dwarf chiclids, some sp..corys in his aquariums, he used to say the fish house kept so much heat in ,the heaters were rarely on. If carefully done ,airstones and so on ,think you have good choice

Cryptocoryne Petchii is a personal favourite of mine as is X Willisii they stay relatively small

Hi Darrel. I touiched some of them and they didn't seem at all gritty, just slimy. I also did a water test and no ammonia or nitrite, Nitrate was between 0 and 0.25.

If it's an inert sand you should be fine. What is the substrate you put on top of it?

I would have! About half went into my new build and the rest went to auction at my local club, so none went to waste at least.

Hi everyone i made very stupid mistake i put a layer off sand down first then a layer off substrate next then my rocks driftwood plants and so on, questions is will this effect the balance off the water conditions ? would be very grateful for any information thanks...

Sure thing - just pointing it out to make people aware that with cheap wide-range meters at the very low range, you are mostly measuring around the noise floor. I am sort of a TDS aficionado :) For tank measurements, far above the noise floor, it's such a great tool to establish a datum and...

Welcome to UKAPS

Just a couple of ideas that live in South America, but not sure if native to the Rio Xingu system... there will be many others also... Hockeystick pencilfish - Nannostomus eques- Live at the surface so very unlikely to interact with L046, mouths very tiny so can't eat fry even if the fry...

I’m thinking of adding some low growing foreground plants but having spent all evening looking online, different websites/suppliers give different conditions in terms of lighting. I see one I like which is easy care and ok for low lighting but go on another site and it’ll say it needs...

Welcome! :)

Think the system is expensive ,a bit of DIY with one of the discount store products

Thank you!

True, but whether it is 3 or 4 or 5 ppm it is still very much in the clean water range and suitable for using in his tank. I guess a good way to test the meter through the whole range would be to start with the test solution at 2000 and dilute it 50/50 with rainwater, test again and...

Well it is of more interest what it measures in the tank. In the range of my tap water (220) and my tank (currently 365) it is quite reproduceable in what it measures. So it gives me some indication of the tank status. This TDS stuff is al quite new to me but it gives me a feeling that you have...

Sure. However, cheap wide-range TDS meters tend to be off at the very low range. Unless it's a higher end lab grade device such as Hanna instruments optimized for low-range, I wouldn't really trust a reading much below say 5-10 ppm. Cheers, Michael

Yes. The last ICP report shows 44 mg/L Ca. With 50/50% waterchance I add 22 mg/L which I assume is more than enough. Mg is only 5 mg/L. So I have to add some Epsom salt. Next time I will adjust this amount to total Ca:Mg ratio of 3:1.

Well.... if you have 13 of them and lived next door you should have walked one over to me ;) then i could have given you the nurii's ;)

That is so kind, but I have that particular one. It makes sense you got it from another hobbyist, and even then it's not too common. Mine started as TC and yeah, pretty slow growing even compared to other crypts IME. It was one of three crypt species in a nano tank I just took down, and a single...

Thank you! It's just that I've seen a lot of people on youtube keep suitable fish with them, also I've read that keeping other peaceful active fish with them will help them to feel safer in the tank. I'd definitely quarantine them first as I have a tank spare for that if I did get some fish to...

Hi all, I'll assume you have some calcium (Ca) from your tap water? I don't add a calcium compound as such, I just use our tap water (about 17 dGH and 17 dKH) as a calcium source. Cheers Darrel

There are many fish that sit in that bracket, but I’m not sure I’d be adding any fish to a l046 tank; not worth the risk imo Not on PC at the moment, but when I get a chance I will get a DB export out of a list of fish that fit your requirements 👍

Hi all, Im on a mission to find species that can comfortably and ethically live in a tank that's 28-30°C. They'd have to live with L046 zebra plecos and preferably be small and shrimp safe as one day (After lots more research) I might consider seeing if Sulawesi Cardinal shrimp would be okay in...

I traded a bunch of nurii rosens (3 varities) and jacobi pink to another hobbist who was kind enough to send it to me. But if you live in the southeast you are at least near me relatively to someone who lives in the far west so maybe one day in 20 years when it sends runners i can send you some.

I was now adding Mg to a ratio of 1:1. Could this have a serious negative effect? Related to my original obeservation.

That is very interesting as I've noticed this issues at tge sane time as starting to use the solufeed tec sf and also messing up the dosing resulting in a large overdose of the micros. I've never considered that going over the top with micro would affect tge cec so rapidly, also explains why it...

This seems pretty accurate.

4. PLANTING, MAINTENANCE & ADJUSTMENTS In this episode, I will touch on these three areas to progress your work from HARDSCAPE DESIGN to FINAL PHOTO. Let's take them in turn! 4(a) PLANTING This is what I referred to earlier in the series as the paint pallete used to bring your work to life...

Yes that's 2Kppm

One gram of table salt on 500ml demi water (mine rain water?)? This should be 2000 ppm?

Nope. No calibration liquid. Can you make this by yourself? With some of the fertilizers our with salt?

Did the pen not come with calibration liquid? Mine came with calibration liquid of 342ppm to ensure that is reads correctly

Bought the tds meter one month ago. I read that it was already calibrated. Directly ready for use. I hope it is working well. Temperature is 14 degree celcius.

TThanks for quick reply. Looking forward to your updates 😀 good luck

Hey, in all honesty this scape looks like crap at the moment. Maintenance has taken a huge downfall as we're doing home renovations and I'm in the process of leaving the RAF. All being well I'll be able to devote alot more time to it from this weekend and will update in a couple of weeks when...

Great scape. Any updates?

Wow. This looks great 👍 I look forward to your updates 😀

This is what i meant. Sorry, English is my second language 😅

I didnt have this kind a scape before but i know comon moss and small fern will grow

Also after some recommendations for some plants to attach to the log above water, especially after plants that like their roots wet? Maybe a nice moss that’ll attach? I have some random ferns growing out of my walls which I might try but they’re for the dry bit…

Betta will Enjoy this for sure

This is great island looking scape. I would suggest you to lavel up the gravel on the back on the same lavel as it is on left site.

Thank you, I think this one may grow into quite a nice aquarium, but let’s see what the crypts do 🫣

Hello again everyone! It's been over 4 years, but I'm back with a new tank. I'm keeping this one low tech, with the hope of having more success. Will show some more angles and progress photos soon.

Another trick to make sure its degased is to put the sample in a container the DC can be fitted in - when its very blue its degased. My 50 litre tank took at least a couple of days to go blue with no CO2 injection

Impressive. Congrats 👏

Where did you find that C. purpurea? I have only seen it as TC for sale, and I love to learn about new sources of plants.

Thank you :)

Sample degassing as we speak!

:thumbup: Just give it more time for sample to degas - even more than 24 hours Like @dw1305 I trust the DC

Professional Nature aquariums have lights hang above open top tank. I cannot do that as I keep big fish that will jump out and must have LED strips sit on top of glass lid. The glass lid not only reflects some light away, but also invites algae growth on the underside from condensation where...

Some updated pictures: c. ferrguinea sekadaunsis - looks completely dead but i found a nice picture of what it shoudl look like so ordered some more from another vendor - to be honest it looked dead when i got it. c. green gecko - this is the shocker to me if you look at the original picture...

Many thanks Darrel - I will take a look this evening. If it IS diatoms, what is the recommended way to get rid? I have done nothing different to the tank / cleaning regime etc. for months no not sure why they should appear now.

Hi all, It does, the colour is due to the mix of protonated, and deprotonated, bromothymol blue molecules. When all molecules are deprotonated the colour is blue and when they are all protonated yellow, if you have a mix of blue and yellow? You have green. Acids are proton (H+) donors, the...

Assuming your meter is accurate... That is very clean! Out here in the rural mid-west I never think I saw a TDS below 5-6 ppm for the rain water or ice melt I measured. Cheers, Michael

Thanks everyone. I’m really pleased I found this forum as it’s been so helpful. Just an update - I have today reduced my lighting to 50% (from 90%) of the leds max intensity and I have reduced the time from 12 hours to 9 hours with an hour off between 2-3pm (cloud cover mode :-) ). All my...

I leave it on as maint takes longer for me - and it’s on because I want DO to keep getting to my mates in the biomedia. (My only mates). 🤪

If you take a jug of pH 7.0 water out of the tank and let it sit for at least 24 hours, what value does it stabilise at? This value would be where you need to measure your pH drop from, not water straight from the tank. Of course it might also be 7.0, but more likely it will be a little higher.

I turn my CO2 & Filters off during water change, smart plugs are convenient for water changes to disable/enable things from your phone or voice command. I wouldn't overthink it, just turn CO2 off (as your outlet will be above water level during water change so the CO2 would just be going...