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The fish colours are really good, perfect conditions for them

Looks great, planning on doing something similar next year 😊

Yes, shrimps. However, what is your pH, GH and KH?

Hi All, I purchased some ramshorn snails for the high tech CO2 injected tank and all seemed fine and they've even had a bunch of offspring but then the big ones started to die and I couldnt figure out why. My shrimps were fine and breeding and my fish seem to be fine, nitrogen levels are in...

Hi all, You can buy an "all in one" fertiliser and dose it as recommended. @Zeus. Will be able to advise you of which one is the best value for money. Cheers Darrel

I noticed that they seem very popular in sim setups! Very cool. After the stress of doing the measuring myself, the building part was enjoyable, as you said it’s like Lego/Meccano.

Lovely tank, lovely fish, and lovely photography 🙂

I haven't really had them long enough to answer your questions accurately. As for maximum size, mine have not got that far, but from all reports its around the same as Neos. As for temperament, they are certainly more active than the Neos in the same tank, but not greedy for food like amanos...

What kind of size are the Green Babaultis @hamfist? They look larger than most neos or caridina. Since they're okay in warmer waters im interested to try some. Would you say they have a similar boisterous temperament as amanos?

Heres a nice shot of some of my favourite anemones in the tank, would really love to add to this little Actinia Garden. I used small chunks of alfagrog around the base of the rocks to add some details to the scape, luckily they seemed to blend in flawlessly to the main aged chalk rocks! You...

The good news is that you're not doing the test wrong; the bad news is that a lot of people think those strips are not great.

Without wanting to sound like an advert I’ve always used Pond, Aquarium And Fish Tank Filters | Finest-Filters Free postage on any order and a good range. Normally takes about 2 days. Now if you excuse me I need to ban myself for spamming advertising 🤣

I agree, I'd go with actual leaves if I was going to buy something. Shrimp in particular will enjoy them in the tank, so you might as well have all the benefits that go with it.

Photo dump from yesterday's cleanup. I also managed to get a (slightly blurry) picture of the juvenile Rainbowfish. You can see all the different colours as they flash, and even the female is brightly coloured.

I run all my tanks with a temperature controller, usually easy to hide the probe behind plants or pipework. Also allows you to have more control over your heater, things like how many degree's the water temperature can fall until the heater kicks in so you can have say, a 3 degree window of...

Not recieved it yet, but recently made an order from here: QUICK DRY RETICULATED FOAM AVAILABLE AT THE FOAM SHOP - The Foam Shop [removed]scohi[removed] Only place I could input dimensions and get cut to exact size.

I've got some, I add a little in each tank after a water change. No idea if it's doing anything or not so I'll probably not purchase it again....doesn't really help you much either way but it wasn't expensive so figured I'd try it.

Add few drops of vinegar and if you see bubbles it means it’s limestone 😊

Sounds right to me.

Ok, thanks. I’ll be completely honest, I’m not the most savvy when it comes to all this chemistry etc. All I’m wanting is to provide everything my plants are going to need to ensure they are healthy and look good. I know it’s a very broad question but is there an ‘all-round’ combination of...

Some gratuitous close ups

When I bought my batch (around a decade ago) I sadly knew nothing about their dietary needs. All but one died. My one male adapted to eating "normal" fish food, pellets etc and has apparently just thrived on it. I am ashamed to say that the rest just starved to death I think. What are you...

Oooh this is good info - is that certain? It was on the South coast if that helps.

Hi all, Yes, Stephan Tanner is Swiss and was already very much a Poret foam fan before he went to the USA. Words after my own heart. Personally I've got a lot of time for Dr Tanner <"Aquarium Biofiltration - SWISSTROPICALS">, he is a high powered research scientist by day, so <"Swiss...

Hi Darrel - it's a bit circuitous but I meant the branding was American as a marketing ploy to make it somehow automagically different from every other polyether foam under the sun. That's the line Swiss Tropicals takes in marketing it to our American friends. I'm being excessively nit-picky...

Hi all, You can't effectively test for plant available iron (Fe). <"Unscrupulous vendors"> will sell you a kit, but they are just after your money, not your (or your plants) well being. The plants are a really sensitive indicator of whether you have plant available iron, this is because iron...

Well then. It turns out that some of the stone in my tank is limestone/seiryu. I've had it since around 2010 when I set up my first tank. I've just tested a bit that's not being used and it fizzes under white vinegar. So that's the Ca+ sorted then,! If I wanted to add 5mg/l Mg+, that would be...

thank you sir for the advice, I will implement it. I will buy a pot or two of limnophila and add it as floating plants. Did some testing: KH 5 GH 8 Mg 6 ppm Fe 0,05 ppm PO4 0,1ppm NO3 1ppm K >15ppm Seems like the NO3 and PO4 are pretty low, so I am going to increase the weekly EI dosage by...

Hi all, Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, two "changing clocks" news items on the same day Close, but no cigar. "Churchill Time" apparently -<"Clocks go back but Bedfordshire MP urges longer daylight saving">. Unfortunately it looks like the "forces of darkness" are also spoiling for...

Thanks yet again Darrel. I’ll read up on Iron - should I test for this down the line or just look for physical signs on the plants? I have seen the link to the Iron supplement (Chempack) in your quoted post - would you recommend getting some for when the time comes? I have made a few changes to...

I think it's worth getting an additional temperature controller to plug the heater into. All heaters fail eventually and bimetallic strip heaters are more prone to failure by design. I set the heater a few degrees above what I want, set the temp controller to what I want with the target, min and...

It's aliiiiiive!! Just spotted a tiny whitecloud darting out of the limnophila sessiliflora at feeding time. Must be no more than 1cm long, but lovely colours and very active chasing the food as it settles down through the water and then darting back into cover. Can't believe it - one...

Hi all, You are likely to see issues with iron (Fe) availability first, as the <"cation exchange capacity"> of the substrate begins to become exhausted. This is because iron forms a <"lot of insoluble compounds"> in harder, more alkaline water. Have a look at <"What is the “Duckweed Index” all...

Very true FrozenShivers - I will just get my nano fish first then get other fish in due course. I have ordered some No Planaria powder which should be here in a few days. I see no planaria kills some types of snails but I THINK Ramshorn snails are OK with no planaria 😊

That was a VERY helpful video. Thanks for the link. I have around 20 mixed rasboras in this shoal - mostly harlequin but a few lambchops and a few glow lights. They are all roughly 3 years old and the number has shrunk over time. Seems like a good idea to build it back up.

Thanks!

Plus for those wishing to blend their own fert regimes or clone a commercial fert, Solufeed 2:1:4 and others can be used on the IFC calculator alongside other salts So there is no excuse to not use Solufeed 2:1:4

Yes, I have used Tropica soil. With regards to how my plants will fare over time once the soil exhausts - as I have all ‘easy’ care plants, will they be badly affected? In time, will I need to add root tablets alongside dosing the Tropica premium nutrition? There is just so much to learn!

Ive used these guys in the past with great service.

Hi all, It is <"actually German">, but you are right about it being a "trade name". The company that makes it is <"EMW filtertechnik GmbH">. @JMorgan you have a thread <"Polyether vs Polyester/polyethylene foam filters (minor rant)">. I've still got some of the <"Yamitsu sponge blocks"> I...

Mmmm spotted a teeny ramshorn snail in the moss, Didn't realise they could live emersed. The Flamingo Pink Crypts new leaves have grown in Green, wonder if they will go Pink or Not.

you can also collect Fallen oak leaves and use them as leaf litter. Just be from a park and far from cars and carparks. and youll be fine. There are sellers who sell dried and oven dried leaves if you just want to have a supply of them.

Hi all, That is a good point <"KH, GH and aquasoil">. I managed this, in reverse so to speak, by soaking Moler clay cat litter in hard tap water <"Can old tropica soil exposed to hard water raise the KH of soft water?">. cheers Darrel

Agree this - measuring KH is easy with the right kit, but there are a lot of ways to generate what you think are water chemistry data that don't actually have much connection to reality. If you dig deeper into your water report you might find an actual measurement of alkalinity, but if not the...

Yes, I was a bit worried about the aspect ratio of the 75p, but then realised it’s pretty much the same ratio of the 60P, and seeing it in person made my mind up . Good to hear that you have had a good experience with UNS tank, I was vey surprised with the quality.

Thank you! I’ll post some more pics when I’m back from work

I have posted before - One recipe for remin agent Ca:Mg ratio 3:1 add 16 grams of Magnesium Sulphate Hepta aka -Epsom salts and 17 Grams Calcium Chloride To 1 litre of RO water add 1ml of remin agent solution for every 1.0Litre added during WC will increase GH 1.0 If after a 3GH add 3ml...

I'm by no means an expert but as discussed in the link above it's worth every penny you spend extra to replace polyester/ethylene foam with polyether foam - assuming of course you don't get ripped off. I have recently seen some available on eBay UK. I'd just make sure you pick a seller doing...

Thank you, I do have an affection for Gobies with my time with nano Reef Keeping. These were for sale in the Aquatics section of a local Garden Centre under Stiphodon Species.... I do believe that they are the "Cobalt Blue" version I am relatively certain that I have at least one male and one...

@oreo57 thank you so much for taking the time to explain this for me, I finally feel as if I understand properly now -- despite the old US/UK gallons difference 🥰. I have bought a second 42 watt, four foot, Hygger and offset them slightly on the cross bracers, so direct light gets right to the...

Ooh, I love Stiphodon. Those you have look quite like what are sold as Cobalt Blues at places like MA. (2 females and a male ?) They can live a long time. I have an S.ornatus male who is at least 9 years old and still going strong. He likes to think he is the boss of the tank.

Mine came with a flexi spring steel cleaning brush that’s around 60-70cm in length, l of course use that to clean the skimmer. Mine starts bobbing as you mention when it’s in need of a clean. I just take out the floating section and clean under the tap with the brush, the main glassware in the...

It would work fine. You could also just put some limestone type rocks in the ponds instead.

Love aluminium extrusion. I have a sim rig made out of it and the channels are dust collectors, which can be quite tedious. I've used the metalstore.co.uk to make a unit like yours. Used the 25mm box section and clamps. Basically Meccano for adults.

Please excuse my question, I'm not as experienced as most posters on here. I'll be looking to put in ground level ponds, I wish to bypass using tap water & use clean, fresh rainwater. I wish to make the water hard, ph suitable for Axolotl. Would crushed oyster shell grit be all that's needed to...

Thanks, I've never kept shrimp before, but looking at a little tank to put on a cupboard, and like everything in aquaria, you get a lot of conflicting and bad advice.

Little update on the removal of co2. Some leaves in the highest flow are getting BBA, one of the Buce started to flower and a minor amount of green spot algae appeared on the glass. Probably should have just got another refill and dialled it down slowly. It won’t be long till the new tank is...

As others have said looks about 20ppi. There are a few sellers on ebay, like this one that has good feedback and sepecialises in aquatics. If you have a local pond shop that is also a good source for sheets that you can cut to size....

It's probably not bad, and will likely slightly lower ph along with added tannins and all the benefits that come with it. Or go the natural route and add catappa leaves for all the same benefits, with added bacteria for shrimp to graze on, shelter under leaves, and enhance the natural look in...

I'm thinking of setting up a shrimp tank, I came across Easy-Life Catappa-x, has anybody any experience with this stuff? is it good or just snake oil?

Purigen should not affect the shrimp. Some of the Brita filters use ion exchange resin to strip out the hardness and heavy metals and replace them with sodium. That includes calcium and magnesium. It is worth checking which type of cartridge you use and whether it does this so you can plan...

Hi all, Not being funny, but just throw it away, it definitely isn't working - <"Testing and What to Test">. If you want a better test kit? A <"semi-titrimetric kit"> (drop test kit) <"would be better">, but even then you are still talking "ball- park" figures at best. The problem is that...

Hi all, Buying a dry mix designed for horticulture is a <"no-brainer"> for people with a large volume of water. It takes fertilisers from being a major expense to a very minor one - as an example, still £14 a kilo - <"2:1:4 High K 1 kg">. As soon as you buy a ready diluted mix you are trading...

You could try here, who list the size you need. We bought some square blocks of ppi 30 from them recently and it has not blocked at all, though we do give it light rinse it every 2 weeks.. Pardon our interruption...

I’ve been running these lights now for a few months, ( 100G ) and they’re definitely a worthy upgrade to my original oase bulbs for sure.

Thanks for that, I have two 270l tanks one is high tech and one is not at the moment. Soon I’ll be adding co2 in second one so I will need to start mixing my own. I just can’t figure it out how, long time ago I used to mix it with Instructions that come with the all in one package.

Hi Guys, Had two very silly questions but ones that I could do with some advice or help with. 1. I’m using a glass surface skimmer for the first time. How and when do you clean these? I also notice it bobs occasionally, what do I need to adjust. 2. The suction cups on the lily...

Important note - I am no expert !! I have just got a couple of litres of this as a short term option (I think I will be moving to mixing my own soon). On paper it looks decent and pretty reasonably priced if you are set on a ready-mixed product and are unsure of the exact needs and ratios of...

Doing a bit of catch up here, a fabulous aquarium

Good advice, you often see better behaviour, there is usually less issues and in my subjective opinion, it looks much better - I hate fish soup tanks with far too many species and not enough within to shoal/school properly.

Stainless steel screws have always worked well, and safely for me. They are a million times easier to use than wooden dowels too. You won't even need to drill, just use a power driver to whack them straight in.

I know many just add lots of fish at a time, but I like to do it incrementally if possible, as well as in reverse order of aggression/territorialism. This helps with the bioload as well as aggression etc, although I'm sure you're already aware of this, why not just add one species at a time? So...

Thank you ElleDee yeah I will just manually remove them as I go. Going to be careful in general about over feeding. Think I will pop into pets at home tonight to see if I can get some pannacur liquid for the Hydra. I could pick up some Dwarf Gourami to see if they would eat it but then they...

This is probably the slowest journal ever 😄 ....but some of my wood has been cut, so I spent the weekend sanding/priming/painting this 18mm board of ply to go onto of the cabinet, it's had another coat of paint this that photo was taken, not that it needs to look great as it's just for the tank...

Looks like you're sorted but from what I've seen Wio have good quality tanks (sometimes slightly thinner glass than ADA). I have a UNS 60S and the quality is very good with the mitered corners etc, I'm sure you'll be happy.

Welcome :)

Looks like it's around 10-20PPI, I have no idea what a good brand for foam is, once you find one just buy a larger piece and cut it to size.

Well, this is how Cory from Aquarium Co-Op did a long-distance transport of fish. Hot rooms, plenty of air, treated water and containers! I guess the advantage of this compared to postal is that you have direct control and monitoring of the little lives under your care.

I found this old thread about foam, and I have to say, the problem in the UK getting the right stuff (and ensuring it IS the right stuff) still exists! https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/polyether-vs-polyester-polyethylene-foam-filters-minor-rant.50253/

Hi and welcome!

Hello 👋, welcome to UKaps.

Welcome to the UKaps! :thumbup:

Best foam I’ve ever used is Poret foam, doesn’t shrink or degrade.

Welcome to UKAPS

It’s a Brita under sink filter. I’ve been using the same regime of rain/tap water for years. Then some months ago the shrimp in one tank started dying off, but not in the other tank with the same mix of water. I wasn’t bothered at the time as they were all natural coloured shrimp. I’d now like...

Not the most exciting image , but it represents a place to start ... a reference point .There's 3 different Crypts in here . Across the back - C.'Florida Sunset' ; next closest ; C. 'Tropica" ; and closest some C. parva which I moved from a tank downstairs where it was doing nothing to this...

Hi, I noticed you posted the above on another thread today. Do you mind elaborating as to what type of filter you use as it might (or might not) have a large bearing on what you need to add to your water for shrimp and in some cases the filter itself might make the water unsuitable. Ion exchange...

Ok, after MUCH thought and consideration and YouTube scrolling, I think I’m going to give this method a shot first. I will be in New Orleans next week and will see what I can find down there. IF I happen to stumble upon a nice group of black neons, I might come home with those also. Which brings...

Hello Everyone, I'm a new member, although I have been visiting the forum on & off for many years. I'm originally from Portugal but residing in the UK for the last 10 years. I was very involved in the aquascaping scene back in Portugal, when it was all beginning (it wasn't called aquascaping...

This is a good argument. I have enough trace elements to last me about 10 years. I have a shelf in the cupboard dedicated to ferts and minerals and it’s completely overkill for my little tank. Cheap though.

Hi Darrel, I dont need to connect the pieces together. Just want to prevent then from falling over.

From a thread of mine MichaelJ He's a clued up chap who keeps shrimps .. You don't need expensive salts. Considering the cherry shrimps only, you just need CaSO4 and MgSO4 to target ~27 ppm of Ca and ~9 ppm of Mg - this will yield a GH of ~6.0. The amount you need to add depends of course...

No, it is a strip that I dip in the water (it covers a few other things too).

Personally I don't see "mess" in this tank. I do sometimes find the sheer brightness of the green in a tank such as this quite daunting. Rather than thinking structurally, my personal curiosity would be to see some autumn leaves added, to create other colours, reds, browns, oranges, and a...

Isn't it a 'count the drops' test?

I had successfully manually eliminated bladder snails several times until this April, so it can definitely be done. But then I got another infestation from some new plants and despite my efforts I was never able to get them all before they started breeding. But even still, they are kept to...

Found this video (for 450) comparing version III to IV twinstar IV Is it just me, or so Reds look more purple & greens less saturated?

Algae Your lighting period is too short....reduce the intensity to 50% and increase the photoperiod to 8 hours! Increase the plant mass....use some of the stem plants as floating plants as per the tutorial below...

Hi Could well be a Nitrate/Magnesium deficiency or Iron? I would remove most of the Matrix from the filter and replace it with sponges! Algae Your lighting period is too short....reduce the intensity to 50% and increase the photoperiod to 8 hours!

New Location I recently moved to a new apartment (hopefully no more moves!!) and so the tank has been sitting on a temporary stand until I can find one. They're hard to find in the UK, but even harder to find in Canada. As a result, it's been receiving some neglect. The beauty of a low tech...