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Hi all, Ideally you want it without bark, but yes you can just scrub the lichen off. cheers Darrel

Hello there!

Just to add my input, I have had two API Master Test kits and noticed that the Nitrate tests are the first to 'go off' and give very high readings - and this was in an established tank where the math did not make sense. Two seperate test kits (one was NTLabs and cannot remember another one)...

That is interesting. I found explanations like the one below, but I assume this is not true? Water conditioners chelate (bind) heavy metals, making them biologically inactive and non-toxic to fish. These bound metals remain in the water but in a form that's not harmful to aquatic life. The...

Hi, I believe aeration and KH can both affect availability of CO2 to plants in low tech tanks and have read a number of threads and sources about it. However, I am still trying to fit it all together into a "coherant whole" in my head. Surely there must be a simple explanation. So, to maximise...

I’m just going to play safe and use a wood I definitely know is hard and suitable! I’ve been out this morning and got some nice Cherry pieces so I’ll prob use these and maybe a piece of Ash I got. The Cherry has lichen on it, I’m assuming this will come off once it’s soaked and I give it a scrub?

I’ll also test my Tap water as it’s a new house but same area so although hard water should be ok

API Master Freshwatet Test Kit… I agree those levels seem off. I’m going to let things settle anyway and I want plants to root in and get some growth. I did the dark start method to avoid massive amounts of water changes but I’ll prob do 2x 50% over these 2 weeks to be sure.

Something isn’t right there, it’s a new setup, how can you have nitrate so high? Unless you have high nitrate in your tap water…… You surely have a dodgy test set or high nitrate in your tap water, which is to me unlikely.

In some very populous US States lead piping is still quite common in older houses - an estimated 9 million households rely on lead service lines. Its improving, but slowly. Cheers, Michael

Interesting that that link still refers to lead. Is lead still in common use for plumbing in the US, or are they referring to legacy/old houses lacking updated plumbing?

If I understand this correctly, you said you just changed 90% of the water and measure 100 ppm (!) of Nitrate (NO3) ? That sounds way off... What sort of level do you see straight out of the tap / water source ? and what test kit are you using? Yes, nice scape! Cheers, Michael

@Matthias Great tank! Cheers, Michael

Agreed. The EPA clearly discourage people from using the water from the hot water tap for drinking or cooking as the hot water supply may contain unhealthy sediments such as heavy metals. A dechlorinator or water conditioner will not remove heavy metals - only an RO system or similar will be...

Um... short answer: Nope! Long answer: I have known aquarists of all walks of life for the past +40 years and never seen a correlation with said diagnosis. My guess is that they (we) are just as diverse as any other group of people dedicated to a somewhat challenging hobby that takes patience...

This is all my personal experience in life and observations but also from reading the science I think its important to talk about these things as I felt the mainstream solutions didn't provide a full answer to these problems although it did help a bit You know scientists have literally...

You quite literally and repeatedly are. Stereotype: a generalized belief about a particular category of people. So far you've said that people with 'ADHD / Autism, learning disabilities and so on' have: less social skills a sense of creativity are less healthy are more sensitive to bad health...

But is it much to do with nerdiness... People with ADHD are usually athletic

You hear a lot of talk about the mental health benefits of gardening, yet it’s seen as something that benefits everyone, neurodivergent or not (that is assuming you actually enjoy it). Mental health is a work in progress, in the same way that an active lifestyle supports your physical health...

Welcome to UKAPS

The Band - Whispering Pines

Yeah, maybe the softer more decayed wood is in the large pore space parts of the ring. Might be a good candidate for a jetwasher to blast out the softy stuff and see what you are left with?

Makes you wonder what will happen with the assassination attempts... Year isn't over yet..

Yes, I am sure a certain American politician whose name rhymes with dump considers himself to be sane.

One thing comes to mind is that someone on another thread said we consider the wrong people disabled in our society. Some of the worst politicians and so on will never get help, or even think there is anything wrong with them... Yet they do more harm. But instead we focus on neurodiversity...

Hi all, Elm is <"ring porous">, meaning it has an obvious ring of larger pores in each growth ring. Cheers Darrel

Welcome to the forum :) Fluctuating CO2 levels are one of the things often listed as a cause of BBA.

Do you trust your test kit? the scape looks great 👍

Not sure I’d trust these measurements.

I'm interested in this too

Here’s the piece I cut off the bottom. I have just scraped off a bit of the outer with my nail and the inner wood also seems soft. Maybe the actual ring part maybe hard (the outer growth looks spongy?)? Elm is possible - it appears to have the historic larval feeding signs of the elm bark...

Stunning scape

Welcome! :)

Hi all, I think it is hardwood, from the branching shape. I'd guess it may be Elm (Ulmus sp.). You may be able to tell from rings, they are quite distinctive in Elm. Cheers Darrel

Generally pines and conifers are the unsuitable species. I don't know how long it would have to be in the sea to leach out all of the undesirable resins, but I guess it would happen eventually. If you can see any traits of these species in the driftwood then perhaps best to give it a miss...

At least we can discuss sensitive topics whilst remaining civil to each other with our differing views, which is more than can be said for most of the internet 😄

Im not stereotyping anyone Interesting someone said we used to live different in the past. My family is all like this and even though maybe some were bad at school and others not those family members bad at school were good butchers or blacksmiths or farmers. But not stupid at all. The opposite...

The girls looking pretty. Hard to take a good picture of them, they're always on the move!

Certainly, but it’s also alright to challenge views based on anecdote that only serve to perpetuate stereotypes. 🙂

Thanks. It’s still in the bucket so I’ll try tomorrow. The driftwood is quite close to home so I may pop back to see if I can find anything suitable.

Give the soft areas a good scrub with a wire brush or similar very stiff brush. Hopefully it may just be a soft surface layer and what is underneath is much harder. If it is soft all the way through then you are unfortunately out of luck with this piece.

I think it's ok to share our views as just that, biased views from anecdotal experiences as an interesting point of discussion? I don't think (or at least hope) that anyone is trying to pull anything concrete from this thread 🙂

I work with a couple of groups every week which mainly consist of neurodivergent young people - the purpose of the group is to help them with their social and communication skills, they have a special place in my heart for many reasons, one being that they sometimes will say things that are very...

I took delivery of some foam today from Envobee shrimp who sell on ebay and I think were linked earlier in the thread. I can confirm that what they sell is (as advertised) genuine Poret polyether type foam. Looking on their website it seems a lot of sizes of foam are out of stock, other items...

Planorbis rubrum - anyone had these survive a UK pond over winter?

Hi guys, So I’ve just set up a new tank. I added ADA power sand, Amazonia v2 and some powder soil along with hardscape. I connected up the filter and added stability every day for 7 days and it’s been running for 3 weeks with no light or CO2 running. Today I drained 90% of the water and...

As a neurodivergent person here's my take - we're labeled as thus because we take to modern society less smoothly than neurotypical people. We need nature more vitally, and we find the severence and lack of connection to nature that modernity&capitalism has created very painful (whether we...

It certainly fits with my observations too. All part of life's rich tapestry. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/meek-geek-inherit-the-earth.29895/#post-313338

As I can’t be sure on what type of wood the above is, I went and found myself some dead Ash instead - I read another post on here that Ash is suitable. It is a long time dead so I’m currently soaking it in a bucket. It’s a shame that piece of driftwood appears to be not suitable, I really like...

I think neurodivergent folks may well be overrepresented in the hobby, though I think that the deeper you get into any hobby or field of study the more you find yourself surrounded by unusual people of all sorts. I don't mean that in a pejorative sense at all! I think it's great and it always...

Doesn’t need to be all the time

Thanks for a detailed reply. 👍 As for gravel/oyster grit, Axolotl & other aquatic amphibians (Inc frog tadpoles) naturally swallow small stones as gastroliths. Because people are trying so hard to make their tank as free as possible from small stones (lots of false info), their axolotls often...

Hello and welcome, this is a great forum with some really knowledgeable people

Some years ago now a bloke with the handle 'pond guru' did a whole series of videos on YouTube about the benefits of foams with an undulating surface and how you should get rid of the 'rubbish' that came with your cannister filter and 'upgrade' it by putting in this undulating foam because it...

Hello :wave:, welcome to ukaps.

Sorry, but that is anecdotal and very unscientific.

Thank you. They've taken a while to colour up but it was worth the wait. They're probably not a million miles from the regular white clouds in terms of appearance and behaviour - maybe a bit more shy - but their size seemed to fit this mini tank a bit better.

Good afternoon all. Not new to fish keeping but fairly newish to the world of plant care. Allow me to elaborate on my reasons for joining this forum: Having got back into fishkeeping after a 15 year hiatus and falling down the rabbit hole of Youtube in my ever quest for knowledge on what has...

Hmm. A lot of people saying no but to be honest from my observation this does seem to be sort of true? I mean the reason I made this thread is because I honestly noticed a lot of people here seem to sort of show these types of traits? Now I’m getting some confirmation at least. But obviously...

Recently found i am indeed Neuro Divergent, Ism' 'Neuro Spicy' in friend group. It does make perfect sense. Im my most calm when scaping and fiddling with plants etc. And can spend hours planning all the minute details. At the same time sometimes inspiration hits and i tear it all apart and...

Perfect - I’m off looking for some then! How long is fairly long? Not sure how I’ll be able to soak it though, I have a water butt full of rain but emptying that and hoping for rain seems OTT? Edit - just been and collected a couple of pieces via a saw, this is prob the nicest piece. Really...

Hi all, It is. Ideally you want dense hard woods, and they don't float very well. Soak it for a long time to get rid of any salt. Salt (NaCl) is highly soluble, but may have soaked into the wood. If you don't have a pond or similar, you can use rain water, but you'll need to change it fairly...

As a neurodivergent person (does not mean I'm correct in my assumption though), I would agree this statement myself. I think the word 'conducive' sums it up nicely 🙂

This seems like a massive generalisation of both Aquarium/fish keepers as well as people with ADHD and ASD, and indeed personality types.

Just a head up, I can see you don't mean any malice but it's probably best not to group people into 'normal' and not normal... or to refer to neurodivergence as a 'problem'... ;) I imagine it's more stereotypes and confirmation bias than any direct link. According to the latest UK Pet Food...

Hello, I live on the east coast (uk) and often come across plenty of driftwood and I’m wondering if it is safe to use in my tank? If so, would it need anything doing to it beforehand? Thanks.

Looks good. Did you add what you wanted?

great, thanks I should be okay in that case

Long Covid: the comfort of a manageable indoor green garden, and entertainment, and the right to care for living things while doing no harm.

I thought there were some reports of the new internal parts being supplied as standard with recently produced original biomasters? As in they switched over the production line to the new components before they rebranded. Anyone with a recently purchased biomaster have any feedback on this?

That matches with my observations but I unable to verify whether it's because I just know a lot of fishkeepers/aquascapers or because there is actually some kind of link there. I will say though, of the people I know who are neurodivergent and are in this hobby, many are incredibly creative and...

No.

I think for me it’s about my mental health. I don’t have much to complain about my work can be a challenge but such is life. Nothing beats starting at a planted tank watching a shrimp or fish in its natural habitat. I forget all about the bad things and just enjoy the moment. Last night I saw...

Good reason why many hospitals, dentists, doctors surgeries ,will have an aquarium. Interesting that well known aquascapers will tell you how the aquatic hobby helped them with lifes challenges.George Farmer, also Balaz owner Green Aqua, he had a high profile ,highly paid job in film and media...

Has anyone ever tried using a live rail to run pendant lights above there aquarium.. I'll only be running it at 36v rather than the 240v it's rated for.. I'll also need to modify the light so it's hanging off it's cable with some extra strain relief. Current wise some of the tracks are rated to...

Hi all, Could we have a full-tank shot of the tank? It may help us. No ammonia (NH3) or nitrite (NO2-) is good, you will have some nitrate (NO3-) it isn't an issue, it is one of the major nutrients plants need. Often the easiest option are some <"tank janitors">, but I don't know how feasible...

Leaving dead leafs in won't help, remove any. Try to remove as algae much as you can ,winding on a toothbrush etc, careful not to overfeed your fish, it will possibly always look hungry, as this can be a recipe for algae, try reducing your lighting and watch .l would try adding some new fast...

Interesting topic, I would hazard a guess that this hobby is conducive to neurodivergent people, as well as mental health related issues. I work with deprived young people (many of whom are neurodivergent), so I often have to deal with pretty high stress situations and serious disclosures etc...

The No planaria is killing the hydra I have in my tank nicely which is good. 2nd dose due Friday so far so good. Still planning on collecting the fish on Saturday as from what I can tell No planaria treatment is safe for the fish. Shrimp are doing fine and it’s great to see the babies!

I agree, Oase have a good supply chain in the UK for spare parts. Since canister filters are relatively simple devices, it's not hard to replace parts yourself. I think It took me under 10 minutes to do both the upgrades on a single Biomaster for example.

I agree - the fact that 90% of Oase Biomaster is user-serviceable or replaceable makes the second-hand thing much less of a worry.

I think the new version goes in sale at some point in November. If you don't mind going second hand, buying a second hand one and then doing the concave & pre filter tube upgrade yourself will save you a small fortune, that's what I done for both of my filters, buy I appreciate some people want...

Would anyone know how to get rid of these? I've tried changing the water and taken out all the ones I could see but they grow back within a few days. No ammonia or nitrites, nitrate level less than 0.25

Tempted to get a Biomaster Thermo 250 but unsure if the new version (which seems to not in stock anywhere?) or just get the old version with the fancy new tube. Decisions decisions 😊

Its not something that I've really considered (ADHD, Autism, OCD & Dyslexic here)

From my research, using hot water in water changes comes with potential/additional risks compared to mains direct cold water. As @MrClockOff says, combi boilers are less risky as they don't store the water like a cylinder hot water storage system - thus, copper leaching due to dwell time becomes...

Thanks. I will

I wanted to see if the previous spawns were a fluke or if the spawn was the result of moving tanks. I tried the same approach as before (see above for details) essentially no water change, feed heavily while maintaining good water quality and increasing flow. To my relief it worked. The spawn...

I agree; it's "3 years old" and needs replacing and you have had problems with this substrate mix from the early days! It's best if you strip the tank down and use inert gravel for the next set-up if you are reusing the plants that are in this aquarium. Vallisneria does not react well to Liquid...

I have a combi boiler and use mixed water all the time + dechlorinator. Works well, never had any issues.

In addition to my previous comment, I would suggest hardly ever is too often, it would be better to aim for never.

I wonder if a lot of fishkeepers might have ADHD / Autism, learning disabilities and so on? Would make sense for people with less social skills or whatnot to keep fish no? to be honest I can't imagine normal people creating the aquascapes you see on this site half the time... especially the...

Yes it is a thing. No different to the inlet to a canister filter which shrimp keepers will make sure is screened. It is mainly for the protection of baby and juvenile shrimp and fish - if these entered your powerhead they would exit as mincemeat and you would be unlikely to see any evidence of...

Is it bad to mix hot and cold water so I dont use very cold water when I need to top-up? Just curious if there is anything I need to be aware of. Been using cold water so far to be safe in terms of water quality from tap.

Livebearers live short and fast lives so the majority of fry are predated but the few survivors seem to an instinct for survival, you often find then hiding behind hardscape in plants and in your aquarium l would say your guppy youngsters might have a good chance ,let us know how they do

Then again.. The vallisneria is managing to grow now somehow... I will see what happens over the next few weeks I did have this problem too before I even dirted the tank as well.. Sand substrate with water changes and fertilisation and so on. The plants grew 10x better not caring at all and...

I have hardly ever had either healthy fish or shrimp sucked into a powerhead. Is that an actual thing? I have had snails crawl into one and you hear their little heads rapped by the impeller until they back out again with no harm seemingly done.

Having read through the entire thread from the beginning, i am beginning to wonder if your substrate is indeed the problem. Because i don't see anything else that you are doing wrong. Big regular water changes, RO water, regular dosing, decent lighting. I know it will be a massive pain but you...