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The thing is, if you ditch the filter but go for a ciculation pump or powerhead instead, you are going to need something to stop inverts getting sucked into the pump. Something like a foam. So you will be back to square one. Envobee shrimp do a good upgrade kit for the Pat mini, btw: It would...

As I mention above, that filter wasn’t providing enough flow.

Kind of - I did have it initially hidden behind decor but I’ve since re scaped it and it’s now at the front (easier to access). What also made me wonder about no filter is my bucket pond in the garden (I know it’s probably a poor example) but the water is crystal clear and all the plants...

A quick google suggests that it came with a Ciano CF80 Filter with 1x 30 PPI Medium Foam and 1x Medium Water Clear. The 30ppm foam is an excellent bio filter medium. Not sure what the water clear is, but can it be replaced with another foam?

It wasn’t possible to use an external one because of the hood. I’ve tried the filter that came with the tank (only 380l/ph and media was rubbish), a 500l/ph but that was too powerful and I’ve currently got an Aquael Pat mini filter but the sponge traps snails and it’s borderline powerful enough.

Is it just the fact that you can see it that's bothering you? I'm much the same and don't enjoy seeing equipment in the display

Whilst only a small sponge, it will be doing something as sponges are one of the best bio media around. I seem to remember another thread of yours where you were considering an external filter…what have you tried since the , as you mention three filters that you’re not happy with? Not happy why?

In a planted tank much of the filtration is done by the plants and substrate. Water circulation is helpful though. Maybe think about the foam in your filter as a pre-filter for the circulation pump rather than a filter?

Thanks. My tank is certainly low tech and I have no intention of going high tech. As I say, I’m just looking at a well planted tank with several inverts - I’m 90/10 about not having fish.

I’m not particularly happy with my filter for a few reasons and I’ve tried three different types now. I’m the kind who likes to keep things as natural as possible and although I do understand the need for filtration, the single sponge on my filter is rather small and of course it will be adding...

It is possible. My low-tech tank does not have a filter. My high-tech tank has (in theory) an under-substrate filter but I haven't done any maintenance in years so I doubt it does much filtration any more. I understand why the filter selling people like filters but haven't really seen the...

What would you be hoping to achieve?

You already have a suitable filter by the sounds of it? I don’t really see the point in not using it if so. Yes you can run certain tanks without, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should though.

Evening, I have seen a few posts discussing filtration and I’m wondering if it really is possible not to have a filter on a tank? My (one month old) tank is 58l, with Tropica soil and is probably medium-to-heavy planted. At present, there are a few Ramshorn, plenty of Bladder, single Nerite...

Yip in the 1960s Creamola Foam.....:lol::thumbup: hoggie

Thanks for the heads up. I think I may have used them before. Anyway, I’ve just ordered some from them. 😉

I’ve used a variety of foams over the years, mainly in canisters and not had problems with any of them. They’ve all been relatively inexpensive compared to what you can pay. Maybe I’ve been lucky?

Thanks. I’ve ordered some 40 ppi to try. I’ve had stainless steel mesh but found it clogged with dead leaves/moss etc. Foam have proven not only to protect shrimp on one of my tanks, but also to act as an effective pre-filter for the canister.

We are using twin 45ppi block filters 50x50x80 in our 50 ltr tank and they have not blocked so far , though as said we do give each one a light rinse every 2 weeks. Have lots of really small baby red cherries in the tank, no obvious signs of any going though or being stuck on the filters. It...

Thanks. This is simple nano. Just trying to prepare my self for ada 60p :) Jumpers are sad part of the hoby

Yeah. I will order some floating stems. Thanks.

That is quite interesting, I have heard many of these species do grow in what are basically puddles in the jungle though. Doesn't have to be an exact match. It would be good to find anything that'll grow in this sort of tank as a lot of these plants I imagine would be endangered and it is...

Before doing anything drastic, I suggest getting a second thermometer to double check the temperature reading. I usually assume that thermostats are less precise in their calibration than thermometers, but thermometers are also usually all over the place as far as their offset. Especially those...

Thanks bazz, thats all great advice. Thanks.

The DSM is going okay so far. It’s been running for almost two weeks now and the hairgrass is doing nicely. There’s a lot of new growth so I’m happy to see that. The C. wendtii, Lileaopsis nz and H. tenellum are doing good as well. The C. parva is struggling a bit and some of the plants are...

Wow. Great tank. Very healthy jungl. Love the cardinals.

Lovely looking scape. Shame about the jumpers.

Did you notice at all if there were there Guppys and Dwarf Golden Barbs in the same tank where you purchased them from?

A vast majority are, those big ones you have will undoubtedly have been above the water line. I'm sure once they put down some roots and the new growth comes through it will be plain sailing. Yes. You will before long lose all the existing emersed leaves, high levels of CO2 will prolong the...

Hi all, They are <"George visits Dennerle>. All the companies (Tropica, Dennerle etc) are looking at plants that fit in with <"their production techniques"> and marketing - <"Tropica & Pets at Home">. This is why it is so hard to buy <"obligate aquatic plants">, <"like Blyxa spp."> etc...

Some floating plants and/or floating stems will help them feel more secure and they are not too keen on fast flow. Cheers!

Just read up on the Gelius Barb, apparently they prefer water ph5.5 - 7.0 but my endlers guppies prefer alkaline water. Can they go in the same tank together or should rehome it?

Are Echinodorus grown emersed by producers (all these are Tropica plants) ? I wasn't aware. I know they can often grow out of the top of the water. Is that considered "emersed" also ? and both leaves in the pics are existing leaves when the plants were introduced.

Thanks all. I'll put up another photo next week when it gets a little bit bigger.

I'm afraid it's highly unlikely your 4" SAE will devour any BBA, they are pretty good when they are young but seem to prefer fish food as they mature. It's difficult to tell from here for sure but it's highly likely your new additions are currently transitioning to immersed growth while your...

Small update. Everything looks good. Dont have any algae in the tank. Cleaning crew works great :). I am doing 50% water change now every 3 days all parameters of watter are good. I lost 5 rasbora first night, jumping from the tank :( must becouse too strong filter so i reduce the flow to 50%.

@PARAGUAY why do you say 3-4 days?

Hi and thanks for the advice. They are surviving. I wouldn’t say heavily planted yet. But they did find hiding place among the Anubis and driftwood. They are beginning to venture out a little more now.

A small update on the uprootings ....... protecting the bases of the vulnerable plants with rocks has worked really well, and there have been no uprootings for at least 3-4 days now. My SAE has annoyingly not yet been interested in the BBA I have growing on the parts of the wood high up in the...

I am aiming for Kanoko, which have almost purplish patches irl, but it's going to be a long process I think!

Great job. I'm loving those Vietnamese cardinal minnows. I have not seen them before. Glorious with those super red tails and then the really solid black lateral line. Nice.

I have had excellent experiences with the sellers bestaquariumshimpsuk and shrimpaqautics on Ebay.co.uk. I agree with others that bloody mary's are the ones to go for.

That was my thought too, looks like a tiny gelius Barb.

In practical terms 30 ppi. Some of the shrimp sites will say you need 40-45 ppi to be totally baby shrimp safe, but in the real world 30 ppi is going to keep all but the smallest babies out. 45 ppi would clog very quickly on a high flow filter, it is more suited to shrimp only setups with...

You can use an airstone instead of a skimmer - they will both disrupt/clear biofilm from the surface. The airstone does this when the bubbles physically disrupt the biofilm and fling it everywhere, which sounds not too great on the face of it. Upsides however are increased gas exchange /...

Even more expensive, 46 euro per bag

The same price with ADA Amazonia v2 here.

Hi all, I think it looks like a Cyprinid <"Cyprinidae - Wikipedia"> fry as well. cheers Darrel

Is Tropica Aquairum Soil no good? I am fairly new to planted tanks but seems to helping things grow nicely for me!

Hi all. Bit late to respond to the OP but I am adding in here what I found when I pimped one of these today in case anyone finds the thread on a search. I bought a second hand scaper tank with one of these included. Having read all the Reddits and watched the videos on how to pimp them, I was a...

Oh and a voucher just popped up so even cheaper atm. Ive bought from them a few times and always good service.

This is the perfect depiction of autumn in an aquascape. Beautiful.

It's hard to tell at that age but it looks very similar to the Gelius barbs I used to breed. They are a beautiful, peaceful little barb that's a nano fish, so could have been kept with endlers at the shop.

Hi there, we bought a few nerite snails and endler's guppies to our planted tank a week ago. Then to our surprise, we found a fry yesterday. We don't have female guppies in the tank so we think this could be a hitchhiker that came with either the snails or the plants. Does anyone know what...

What would folks advise as a good pore size for an intake foam to stop baby shrimp being sucked up without unduly affecting flow? I’m not adverse to rinsing it out every two weeks. One of my tanks has a very fine foam I got somewhere years ago but I think it’s too fine for my other tank that has...

Update on the second Kew scape! Got it planted on Friday just gone (apart from 2 plants that were out of stock). Everything is looking great upto now and has stood up with no signs of melt 🤞. There's a couple of areas I want to tweak, the main being the riccia on the stones I want to replace...

I have got a few different colours from Anto at Keep it Shrimple. I initially took a chance because I liked the name :). His quality is really good.

I didn't know that, very cool!

30 euro per bag and ada 42 euro per bag

How amazing, will have a proper read later. 🙂

@FrozenShivers When displaying males of many species show a bright strip of colour that they can literally turn on and off in a split second. They’ll flash this at females when trying to convince them to spawn and when sparring other males.

After 3 or 4 days good chance they will survive anyway . Like @FrozenShivers says heavily planted will help survival rates, you could add some stem plants and floating plants. Hygro.difformis is a good one for protecting ,as it grows to the surface they take refuge in the leaves

Amazing thank you all for your replies 👍🏼😀

Is your tank heavily planted? This will help them a lot with cover and increasing their chances of survival. Sounds like you have the right idea in regards to feeding. I know you can buy those little breeder box things that you attach to your tank to keep them separate from the adults, never...

Autumn walk.

You can use a spring brush to clean, if there is very stubborn algae you can soak it in a 50/50% water & bleach solution (easy if you have a spare skimmer), make sure to sit in water & dechlorinator afterwards and rinse well to ensure there is no bleach left before it returns to the tank. As for...

Really cool article, I love seeing the fish we keep in their natural habitats. I'd love to go and visit somewhere and see it my self one day, alas it will probably never happen but it's nice to dream!

Is Dennerle Soil well priced in the Netherlands? If so that could be worthwhile? Sorry, I've not lived there for best part of 20 years and I wasn't a fish keeper back then so no idea on what the best value good brands are.

As someone who has never kept Rainbowfish, what is forehead flashing? :bored:

That's good to know! I would be feeding them live food to encourage even better colour but it's hard to come by here and I don't really want a culture of anything. I also did think they were showing colours quite early. I used to have a Rainbowfish collection tank years ago and you're right, in...

Ok, so not so acidic then, and as you’ve seen above if you get the GH right and they’ll thrive and breed. I think you also need to determine your kh as I’d suggest a kh of 4 for your snails.

Okay guys, regarding soil. I will need around 10 bags and they fckn expenssive. I was thinking between Dennerle Scaper Soil and ADA Amazonia v2. Bud ada way too expenssive. Any thoughts?

malaysian trumpet snails

I have two nice 30cm sections of Lagenandra Meeboldi Red to give away for postage (from London). Had to clear out the tank a bit and struggling to throw them in the bin, keeping them floating in the tank for now. If there’s a better thread to post free plants please let me know 🙏

MTS Multi Tank Syndrome?

I think it’s oxygen related but I’ve only ever had it once, in my inert sand tank. I use them also, they do help oxygenate the substrate with their burrowing :)

MTS is your solution.

love these, they’ve got great colour already for juveniles. Rainbows normally take a long time to colour up so these should look amazing once they’re full grown. I was tempted to get some but went for their bigger cousins Melonataenia Mairasi. Rainbowfish are very underrated, it’s a shame that...

I am also very happy with this seller. Multiple good experiences.

Download the app Band and have a look on there. I’ve bought some really nice shrimp from a seller on Band. I think a few others on this forum have bought shrimp on there too.

I put tropica sand ontop of tropica soil at the front of my aquarium, as I planted a carpet and thought that it would grip the small plants better. I now have cyanobacteria in that area. I understand that cyanobacteria can start in the substrate when there is a lack of oxygen (happy to be...

Re-checked my pH just before CO2 turns off and I'm at around 6.4. Not as low as i thought to be fair.

Agree on this.

If it helps here is the seller I bought from. Prices are about 10% cheaper if you buy via messaging on Facebook but I found eBay to be safer for a first time purchase...

Just want to say I’m in complete awe about your rockpool tank 😍 my family’s favourite thing to do is exploring rock pools when we go to Bamburgh, Northumberland. Even a teacup size pool holds so much life! Your tank and pictures are amazing.

I've used bestaquariumshrimps and discount.aquatics.bolton both were fine. If you want very red then go for bloodymary as @Spartacus and @Little suggest

Hi all, Iron (Fe) is definitely a <"two-edged sword">, and you just need to have a <"Goldilocks zone"> amount. One issue is that, if you have a large excess of iron ions in solution <"you can start to precipitate out"> phosphate (PO4---) etc. This is the<" mode of action"> of Phosban etc. The...

With iron, unless you actually have a deficiency more is not necessarily better. I had what I thought was perfectly good plant growth in both high-tech and low-tech set-ups including with floating plants in the low-tech - in my case Salvinia minima What is the “Duckweed Index” all about? - and...

I agree. The fact that they say things like "you should throw away cheap biomedia such as foam, and replace with BIOMAX" speaks volumes.

I love Green Aqua's content, but remember that they are also a store and it's in their interest to push premium goods, I'll let you make up your own mind. I am using JBL volcano mineral for crushed lava.

Thanks @megwattscreative , for sure!

I bought 20 Bloody Mary from a seller on eBay and couldn’t have been happier. One unfortunately passed away in transit. Seller had sent a total of 24 to cover any potential losses. They are very red and worked out about 30% cheaper than local walk in shops. Happy to advise of which seller but...

Righty-ho, I’ll get myself some Chempack then 👍

Hi all, No, not at the levels we use it at. Iron (Fe) availability is the difference between "some" and "none", but "some" can be a very small number (~ 0.2 ppm). It is iron (ferrous) gluconate, so it really depends on how <"hard and alkaline your water is">, but normally it is a lot less...

Will do. This may be a silly question but the Chempack Iron you mention says it is harmful to aquatic life - I assume that’s not strictly true if I’m able to add it to my tank? I have seen the Seachem Flourish Iron isn’t a chelate, is that no good?

I`m not sure, but according to some Green Aqua tutorisal, it is really good to have base layer fertilization substrate. Which brand crushed lava are you using?

There’s so many different variations too, all different colours ranging from vivid red, orange or green. Beautiful species

This is gorgeous, Courtney!! Could I share some photos on the ukaps ig? :)

I use a small pestle & mortar to crush up my fish food, but I'm sure there's more efficient ways that use less manpower :D

I will soon be doing the substrate for a 120x50x50cm tank, I'm going to be using small layer of Tropica Substrate on the bottom (since I have a spare bag), then main layer of Tropica Soil, then a thin layer of Tropica Sand on the top (same as soil but just smaller particles), I may add some...