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I find I have better results if I use RO instead of tap. (It's very cheap to buy just a litre or two from the LFS.)

A little update. I spoke to the buyer, who is new to fishkeeping, and explained all the substrate options. We decided that as some people have had success with akadama (thanks @zozo) it is worth leaving it in the tank and giving it a try. They are prepared that it might get messy and need...

It's fine to mix iron with different chelators. In fact some hobbyists specifically advocate doing so. This is regardless of dosing method, so don't feel tied down to allinone for that reason.

If anyone is interested in my take on this, I responded to @ian_m earlier in the thread.

It's not mentioned as most trace elements will include chelated iron already. The chelator used is usually EDTA, whereas I am suggesting adding iron chelated with DTPA. For lower ph water (this includes high tech tanks) the change in chelator is not as relevant, as EDTA is more effective at...

Allinone :thumbup: The intention behind this thread is to encourage people with low tech tanks and hard water to try an allinone which includes mg and DTPA chelated iron.

That works just as well. I did it for years. It was my preferred method when I was adhering to a regular water change schedule. I know you didn't ask about traces or iron, but I'll add the info anyway for completeness... On the other hand I found that once the plants hit a certain density...

Ebay. The seller was 'shrimptown'. A haze is normal for me. I get the same when adding dry salts. It goes after a few seconds.

Cheers guys, I guessed as much, but it's good to get confirmation akadama isn't suitable :thumbup: I'll remove the akadama before selling the tank and let the buyer know gravel or sand is ok.

I am selling my tank, and the potential buyer will be putting goldfish in. I don't know what to advise them in regards to substrate for goldfish. The tank currently has akadama, so the eaaiest solution would be to leave that in. I have very little experience with goldfish, but I have seen...

My understanding is that it is best to use the calculator for mgso4.7h2o because that is the form mgso4 takes as soon as it is exposed to air. You can get rotala butterfly to tell you what 1tsp of anything is. It's a bit of a fudge though. Ask it to tell you the results of a dry dose and fiddle...

I'm sure your not alone in wanting to compare them. You probably know this already, but the rotala butterfly calculators include conversions to teaspoons. Or you could email apf and ask them what the ppms are for their recmended doses (just in case they use a different conversion).

I don't think your coming across as stupid at all. I am genuinely sorry if the tone or content of my posts give that impression. If I'm honest I had got frustrated a while back (since then I've reminded myself not to post when in a bad mood), but not at all today. I have enough specifics from...

We're talking at cross purposes. I am asking how much do you dose in your tank each week. (Not the recommended dosing levels.)

How much do you add each week to your tank?

Post #19 of the thread gives details of how I mix it up. If I was combining existing macro and micro solutions I would do the following: add the acid and potassium sorbate to the existing micro solution. Wait for it to dissolve. Add the macro solution. Dilute with RO to get to your desired...

Not exactly what you described, but it's definitely a wild looking carpet, so could maybe serve as inspiration

Your choice as to what mix to use. If I was in your shoes I'd stick with the APF mix. That's assuming it is working for you. Just add the ro, vit c, pot. Sorbate, micros and macros to water. Observe mixing instructions given earlier to avoid precipitation in the bottle. You could add DTPA and...

Thanks Ian. Especially for your comments on Magnesium, I bet a Magnesium shortage trips a lot of people up. I just want to clarify a couple of points. I have seen this cloudiness in my own tank (180litre low tech) and it was resolved by reducing phosphate levels, as detailed in the first post...

:cigar: Congrats.

I met a marine biologist once who successfully bred them in their lab. They said it was easy, the main two points being 1/ having a large tank (500l) with just salt water and using water from that for water changes. (The shrimp themselves were in smaller tanks.) 2/ having multiple stable...

I've had great results :D :lol:

It's a personal choice, I'd go to a showroom or two and see what you like. I wouldn't buy anything where I couldn't comfortably reach the substrate. Some more clued up people than me can advise on H x W x D ratios that work best for scaping. I agree 60x60x45 is a nice size (big enough to...

Yes, that will work fine. Just be sure to add the ascorbic acid and potassium sorbate and let it dissolve before you mix together the micros and macros.

Are you referring to this tank?: https://ukaps.org/forum/threads/just-thought-id-share.52931/ I've done a few no filter tanks, just plants sitting in still water. Some with 2 or 3 snails and dwarf shrimp. Some with daphnia (they like the still water). Some just plain water. It does work, but I...

They never fought in my tank (not enough for me to see anyway), but it was heavily planted with lots of wood, so it was easy for them to avoid line of sight and to have separate territories. I had probably near to 150 CRS in the tank as well and I suspect that the darios were feeding off the...

^ This whole post is spot on IMO and IME. I'm a fan of interpet triplus tubes and daily dosing of DTPA Fe. The tubes can be a bit OTT by themselves (gives the water a pink tint), so good to balance it out with a white tube or two.

Both suitable. I've had both Peacock Gudgeon and Badis at the same time before. The badis stay hidden most of the time. I don't mind that though, it's fun trying to spot them.

I have a stainless steel shrimp guard cable (secured with cable ties) on the siphon tubing that I use for water changes. No more worrying about sucking up fry or shrimp. I capped the end of it (by lining it with a little foil), so it also diffuses the water when refilling. So no more worrying...

According to the attached MSDS a respirator and goggles should be used when handling glutaraldehyde. I appreciate that we are handling it at smaller dilutions than commercial applications. Aquarists do use it daily though. I don't claim to know how this balances out. Either way, I'll pass on...

I'm 5 min away from an excellent LFS too (Abacus Aquatics). Makes acclimating so so much easier. Only thing I can add to the thread is that as well as a dark bucket, I drape a towel over the top. And chuck some plants in if I have any loose. Its very satisfying putting pasty coloured fish in...

In order. The exact order isn't important, but you don't want iron and phosphate mixed together until after the ph has been lowered. So I add the ascorbic acid first, then trace, then iron. Give it a stir/shake. It looks dissolved at this point. To be sure I add all the other ingredients...

Some more... Cameroon moss..............no Creeping moss................yes Subwassertang (Lomariopsis lineata) .............yes Mini pellia (Riccardia chamedryfolia/graeffei).........yes Pearl moss - there a few different species using this common name. I'm trying plagiomnium cf affine at the...

Or put the air pump on a timer to only come on when your out of the room (overnight or at work?)

I've only grown buces low tech (I gave up the gas before buces reached the hobby). I've found them quite forgiving at the low light levels I keep (albeit slow growing). I can imagine if you up the light they could get touchy quickly. With regards to the unbound chelate building up (and...

Thanks for sharing that :thumbup: It would be interesting to see how uptake* in your tank compares to low tech tanks. (*edit - I probably shouldn't say uptake as we don't know what has happened to the iron. I guess I should say availability.) You've got me considering buying a test kit for the...

The idea is that the ascorbic acid brings the ph down, keeping everything stable in solution. I err on the side of caution and make it with RO. The longest I've had a batch last until it went cloudy was 18 months. Just make sure you add the acid to lower the ph, before you add the trace and...

IMHE regular WC and feeding make all the difference. TDS not so much. Either way you turned it around really quickly :cigar:

I'll do the best I can to answer :) I used the recipe without ammonium nitrate - DIY TPN number 3. I dont test regularly. When I last did, out of the tap was around 16gh and 10kh. I use digital scales with 0.1g resolution. It's good enough for me. (If I was mixing my own micros then I would...

Thanks for the feedback Angus. If you do go ahead, post in the thread what recipe you come up with. If your looking to experiment, then making up any solutions heavily diluted makes it easier to adjust dosing if needed. It also means you can finish the bottle quickly and try another...

The thread is now up: https://ukaps.org/forum/threads/dosing-a-low-tech-tank-on-a-thames-water-supply-with-an-allinone-solution.52972/

This thread is to share my allinone ferts strategy with others who are running a low tech tank with a Thames Water supply or similar (ph around 8, hard water, but low in magnesium). I go more by the plants than the water report, but if your inclined to see how much e coli and clostridium you've...

Welcome back PM :) I've been offline for a few years, but have kept one tank ticking over, which I recently rescaped a little so am back here again too. I'll start a separate thread, as I have a lot to say and I don't want to derail this one!

All of the elements in the EDTA chelate will be fine in your ph7.8 water, except for the iron. I would recommend you buy an Edta chelated trace mix and also Dtpa iron. The two together will do you well. Clives dosing recommendation is good, and I can also recommend JamesC's allinone mix...

That's good to hear. (Now I know its suitable long term I'm going to bite the bullet and buy an invitro pot.) Looking forward to your new scape (I'm subscribed), and I hope you keep a spot for the tonkinensis :p

I've read that tonkinensis periodically sheds it's leaves when submersed. Could you share how long you grew/are growing it for and what your experience is?

You can buy this at the pharmacy counter in Boots (I assume all or most chemists also sell it).

I'd just leave the sword roots to rot in my tank. I've done it before with no issues. This is with the proviso that you then don't disturb the substrate. If you do, then I'd try to keep as clean a substrate as possible. Also, I'm low tech so have more leeway. It's easier with crypts than...

Any update on this?

It's a great idea. Sadly, I'm not able to host or attend meetups myself at the moment though.

+1. I've been on the receiving end of his generosity before and was blown away. If you get a chance to hang out with him he's great company too. :wave:

I'm all about the simple techniques (Ideally while relaxing in a chair in front of the tank ;) ), and can add the following to the list: Observe fish and inverts behaviour Touch the glass to check tank temp Watch how much plants are swaying to see if filter is clogged Listen for pump whine to...

Same here. Except I do see the tiniest of babies on my driftwood, then once they reach a couple of mm they head down to the substrate and stay there. I also see the substrate moving 'all by itself' which never fails to amuse me. I'm confident the substrate is holding a substantial colony as if...

Your welcome. I don't have any pictures. I'll take some over the weekend for you.

Here in the UK mentioning melanoides species invokes an image of washed out beige coloured MTS, largely considered as pests. Germany is the invert capital of Europe. They are commonly sold there, often under the Tarebia name. So a search for 'tarebia granifera garnelen' will give you plenty of...

Just to give a contrasting opinion... I have a huge prefilter (as posted earlier in this thread), and my canister is 3/4 full with floss. Nice clear water and substrate. Takes 3 months for dirt to reach the top of the floss. I run low tech, so flow isn't crucial. If I had co2 I'd probably lose...

It's a decade old, so a bit out of date, but useful nonetheless: https://barrreport.com/threads/acronym-listing.302/

I've never used green leaves, so I'll let others advise there. The beech will be brown and on the floor.

Beech leaves decompose slowly enough that you can pick them now and they will still have good integrity.

You can also snap a healthy established crypt off at the rhizome and new leaves will usually regrow, but smaller until it reestablishes itself. Useful if you want to propagate without waiting for the plant to put out runners. On the small crypts list I can add pontederiifolia var jambi. Never...

Here is an example of spacing crypts to encourage different heights (excuse the crude phone pic). You can see the in the middle of the background the bronze crypts going up in height to the left. They are all the same crypt just the spacing between plants that differs. Dominating the rhs you...

Apologies if you know this already... That's a great shop to buy fish from, the fish are always properly quarantined and in fantastic health. (I'm lucky to live very close by, so have the same water supply which makes acclimating easier.)

I agree with you 100% (not just 36% :lol: ) I edited about a minute before you replied, changing it from 'it looks like a good quality food' to 'it has a good amount of spirulina' as I realised my words didn't reflect my thoughts. Its the same for the food we eat, you never really know what...

At 36%, that is a decent amount of spirulina. (Which you knew already from your shrimps colouration.) Full ingredients list according to http://taaquaculture.uk/Foods_Tropical.htm Analytical constituents: crude protein 48.0%, crude oils and fats 6.0%, crude fibres 3.8%, moisture 10.0%...

My local glazier will do this for me, takes them less than a minute. Useful if you don't have any wet/dry paper to hand.

Interesting question. I don't know know but would hazard a guess, that very little flow is needed in the filter. Sponge filters provide biological filtration with the absolute bare minimum of flow. I think the important point, as you say, is that the water flowing over the media has to contain...

That's on my todo list :oops: I did grow copious amounts of bba on them, they blended in nicely then :confused: The snails then cleaned it all off (Tarebia Granifera ftw).

I DIYed a prefilter to be the longest length that I could still easily remove. It consists of a pipe dremelled to have slots it's entire length with foam wrapped around it. It clogs slowly from top to bottom. If I clean it every couple of months the bottom 2/3 is still fairly clean. Takes 6...

They'll probably be fine with the flow once they've got fatter and fitter. Frozen baby brine shrimp is the best thing I've found for feeding up tiny mouths fast. (Bear in mind I'm too lazy to culture foods.)

Definitely. Even without co2, a couple of large back to back water changes gets my water column bubbling enough for me to check my distribution, very handy.

Lovely choice of fish. Good size for the tank and should do well with shrimp compatability too.

Nope. I've tried it in the past and pressurised co2, but I'm low tech now. I think Clive is right on the nail when he says melt is a co2 problem, as a decent dose of gas does fix melt. It's still possible to get stable plants without it, just more of a challenge.

There are lots of factors that can lead to crypt melt, so the above advice sounds really good. In addition to light, liquid carbon sensitivities and fert deficiencies I would add competition. Eg. I've witnessed continuous crypt melt like you describe, until I removed all the big greedy swords...

That all sounds good, you've found an aporoach that works for you, so I totally aporeciate you not wanting to try 24/7. I'll address one point though, for the benefit of others who might consider it. When advocating 24/7 my intention is low co2 throughout. As it never gets high, the the...

I'd echo this.... try your co2 at a lower rate for 24/7. It sounds like it would work well for your setup. You might be surprised by how even a very low injection rate provides benefits (assuming you have distribution nailed).

Akadama. It was labelled as 'double red hard line' and came in small or large grain size. I have the small. I like the colour and overall look. I wouldn't use it if I replanted regularly as it kicks up a little dust when disturbed. I also don't bother vacuuming it, I'm not sure how it would...

Oh sorry, my post was badly worded... I meant sand or gravel. Quite a few people do scatter a bit of gravel on top of sand, which does look nice, but keeping it tidy is too much maintenance for me. The only time i would mix substrates is having soil underneath sand (walstad style).

That's good to know the polyester never rots. Add nylon thread to the list, that also never rots.

There was no warning because in this instance they weren't aware of the risk (I can't say the same for all retailers, sadly). The nice side of the story, is that they ordered the plants in as a special order and when i went to pay their was almost no markup from the trade price, presumably as...

I discovered the hard way not to put plants that have been freshly imported from the far east into an inverts tank :hungover: :(

I have kept Babaulti green, I only had them for a few weeks though. For what it's worth, in that short time they were always a nice bright green. They also hid a lot, and when they did come out they blended in with the flora. I'd also be keen to hear about the different colour morphs (malaya...

I'm a fan of ta aquaculture foods. Keeping it in the freezer definitely makes a difference. I buy flake, but often make sinking pellets from it. Just crush it, mix with water to form a paste, flatten it out, let it dry again. You get a crunchy 'sheet' that you can snap bits off. If I had...

Also, check out the sticky thread about Akadama. It's a nice way to get an active substrate without spending silly money. I've had it in my tank for about 5+ years and it hasn't broken down at all. I'm also a fan of plain sand and gravel, I go for whatever is cheap and aesthetically pleasing.

Crack and aquascaping is never a good combo :rolleyes: Joking apart, I feel your pain Ryan.

Time for a test! Measure the difference and see. My guess is with a little media there won't be much difference if it is not tightly packed. Then you will have some data to work with for flow. From a biological filtration perspective, I see it is useful as a backup. Always good to have some...

First off, I appreciate you posting your WC setup, it looks beautifully engineered. The pertinent point (IMO) with regards to TDS is to observe the trend, i.e. is it rising, falling or staying steady. Then once you know that you can choose what to do next. If it is rising, it could be either...

What everyone else has said already, plus, whilst java moss will still benefit from regular haircuts, it is still a straggly moss at the best of times.

They didn't have the 4dkh reference solution though. That came later, IIRC it was a barr reports forum member who came up with that idea.

I came in to post the same vid, it must be doing the rounds on youtube recommendations. Seeing the varieties of plants that were about in the 90s, and the layout styles, was a nice memory lane and a clear reminder how long I've been into this malarkey for. Always good to see some crypt...

I think it is safe to say I am the epitomy of slow growth. I ran super low light for the last two years, and crypt leaves melted and grew at the same pace. The ultimate in low maintenance! I'm running 34w over 180l now and it is blinding me in comparison.

Cheers Hoggie :) Slow works for me, unless it's parva speed, that's where I draw the line. And difficulty wise, crypt flamingo is out of my reach without resorting to gas. Now i am wondering how much colour it loses submersed in low light, nearly all the pictures online are emersed. Even the...

Hello UKAPS long time no see! I've seen a nurii pink line for sale, and am curious how easy it is to keep long term, and in particular how tolerant it is to low light and low tech.

Now, that's how to do a meetup! Best of luck with the event guys.

Vaguely on topic.... Street collectors, the ones that get you to sign up for regular donations to a charity, are known as 'chuggers' in the trade. Short for 'charity muggers'. They are not directly employed by the charity they are collecting for and a huge amount of money gets siphoned off...

Trim it often, it will grow more dense. Don't need to trim it hard though just take a teeny bit off each time. Fish always find a way to get behind it. I intentionally leave a gap behind so they can get out again easily. (I don't have a moss wall anymore, I have an algae wall instead!)

I don't know where those threads are lurking either. I believe adding a wet\dry for this purpose has merit (it is on my list of things to try at some point in the future - probably via a sump). The furthest I've taken it is having a high flow rate and making sure that my spray bar creates as...

I've not fed glassworms, but have found that daphnia often get stuck on the surface. I think it is from air getting trapped in them when they hit the surface of the water. I get around it by putting the bag they are in underwater before opening it. Works for me. The downside of this is that...

I guess nobody knows the answer to this one then!

short question: Can I use magnesium carbonate (instead of a calcium additive) to help my snails survive and thrive in a tank with a KH of 0? detail: In one of my tanks the ramshorns snails don't do too well. I use London tap water, but the substrate (Akadama) pulls the KH down to 0. The...

Subject: The Karoo Dream I've got a little spare at the moment, pm me and we'll sort out getting some over to you - maybe an ADC meet next week after work if you've got some spare time. I'll post it if not. I've got to give Gerard the credit for the concept. It certainly is. It lifts...